The current slogan seems to be “Do more with less”. Nowhere is this hitting harder than field service management. After all, any mention of price increases raises concerns about customers being able to afford them.
But instead of bracing yourself for those hideous pricing conversations, there are many ways that your business can save time and reduce costs without relying on price hikes. In fact, several common field service management software features are designed to drive greater efficiency and boost profits.
💡Yes, even if you don’t think you have the budget. Or there’s no time or energy to re-evaluate your existing tech. Specialist field service management software like BigChange proves their ROI and integrates across your existing tech, so you get more from your current investments.
Read on to find out how. 👇
The cost of doing nothing: The impact on your business
You might think, "If it ain’t broke, don't fix it." But here's the twist: it is broken and desperately needs fixing. Here’s why:
🤏Low productivity: Juggling multiple systems, re-entering data in multiple systems, or struggling to access the right information drains time. It means slower response times, increased errors, and declining service quality.
🥱Poor morale: Plus, the manual and repetitive nature of this is demotivating for teams, which decreases morale and service quality, and increases staff turnover.
💸Missed opportunities: You can stay afloat without field service management software but the lack of speed and data insight alone can mean being too slow to react to expansion opportunities and innovation.
⌛Wasted time: Every minute lost to inefficiency is a minute stolen from potential profits and growth. Inefficiency can be hidden in job scheduling, invoicing, and communication. Whereas with automation, it streamlines a lot of these processes and saves precious time.
Time… perhaps the biggest drain of all. But don’t worry. Here’s how you can get it back—and then some! 👇
How common field service management software features can help
Manually tracking and drowning in spreadsheets becomes a thing of the past with the right field management software. Everything from scheduling to invoicing is much faster, freeing up your teams to focus on customer service, business growth, and more.
Businesses have literally seen profits soar, whilst costs plummet (just a few examples here).
So, what makes for the right field management software? It’s these features…
Time-saving feature #1: Automated scheduling 🔁
The best field service management software is powered by algorithms that take on decision-making. One of these benefits is the ability to quickly match engineers to jobs, based on location (including considering congestion), skills, availability, job priority (based on SLAs and high-value clients) – and so much more.
Automating this part of your operations makes for:
✅Improved scheduling efficiency and route optimisation – more jobs are booked in within a day.
✅Lowers operational costs like travel expenses – as a result, fuel and labour expenses are reduced.
✅Reduced manual effort previously spent on coordination – freeing up time to work on strategy and boosting morale.
✅Enables more responsiveness to service requests – meaning fewer missed opportunities to pick up more work.
✅Enables quicker assignment of emergency calls – engineers can quickly be reassigned to jobs with minimal disruption.
By handling the scheduling logistics, this automation also allows back-office teams to focus on more high-value tasks. This includes proactive initiatives around customer satisfaction, business performance, and market growth.
The results can literally be measured. Take a look at our ROI calculator to quickly crunch the savings.
Time-saving feature #2: Real-time tracking ⏱
This one unlocks game-changing visibility over operations that allows you to make instant decisions.
How?
Well, with real-time data and live reporting, you can spot trends, avoid bottlenecks, and optimise resources. There is so much opportunity to flip strategies. Plus, it means you can keep customers up-to-date.
For example, with vehicle tracking alone, you can share engineer’s locations and provide ETAs. And you can use it to assign the nearest engineer to a nearby emergency, call-out, or a new quote.
So, as well as optimising time, it allows field service businesses to tap into the potential.
Time-saving feature #3: Easy integration 🔗
This one is often overlooked by other field service management software providers, but it really shouldn’t be. The ease of integrating your existing processes and software – like accounting – is essential for speedy and accurate invoicing, wage calibration, and more.
Why? Because it saves reentering the same data into multiple systems and minimises mistakes.
As a standard, the right field service management software will have these plug-ins:
- CRM & Sales: Transfer new customers and jobs into the system
- Department Tools: Log new tasks and update status
- Accounting Software: Send completed work details for billing
- Microsoft Add-ins: Boost efficiency by integrating docs with Outlook and Word
- Cloud Phone Systems: Screen popup caller info and common actions on inbound calls
As well as efficiency, it powers better reporting. With all the data in a single dashboard, there’s a one-stop shop for assessing all areas of the business’s operations.
And it doesn’t stop there.
This one platform means engineers can access all the information they need to complete a job first-time. Which leads us nicely to our next feature.
Time-saving feature #4: Mobile access 📲
Accessing everything, from everywhere and at any time is a must-have for engineers. This is why mobile (and tablet) access makes it a top feature.
Put simply, it means you can improve first-time fix rates thanks to having the stock, equipment, and parts you need – or being able to quickly see where the nearest stock is. Add satnav to the mix and you've got a team that can attend jobs faster and even complete more jobs within a day.
Plus, access to all the latest work history makes for faster job completion. Without the need for physical paperwork, they can even capture signatures and take photos on the spot – whilst also acting more sustainably.
On top of this, instant updates mean back office teams, engineers, and even customers are kept up-to-date. And with all this instant data, reporting, and real-time decision-making, field service businesses can pivot strategies.
The bottom line? It stops delays. Minimises mistakes. And keeps operations smooth and slick.
Time-saving feature #5: Self-serve customer portals 💞
Online customer portals provide 24/7 communication channels. This means customers can manage bookings, access documents, and self-serve at a time that’s most convenient for them.
Personalised to the client, this option saves the need for multiple calls. Customers can literally track live job progress and download job cards and invoices once the work is complete.
So, what does this mean for you?
Well, for field service businesses, it safeguards against repeat routine tasks, saves on customer delays, and builds loyalty – because customers expect this kind of digital service now.
Going beyond this, customer portals are a pool of hot business intelligence. Just to start with, you can harness interaction data, preferences, and feedback for service innovations.
Clever, right?
Transforming time into profit: Save time with field service management software
Adopting field service management software isn’t really a choice… If you want to continue to retain and grow your customer base, the right tech is essential to drive operational efficiency and do so much more – and better!
The power of automation makes administrative tasks like scheduling and job tracking super easy. It reduces unproductive practices so that you can manage higher job volumes and respond quicker with the same resources – directly improving profit margins.
And by spending less time on paperwork, field engineers can focus on service quality. As well as happy customers, it improves team morale and drives continuous better performance.
On top of this, the field service management software features we’ve mentioned provide additional strategic benefits, like:
✅Real-time data for informed decision-making
✅Ability to identify issues and resource allocation opportunities through reporting
✅Maintaining a competitive edge by leveraging software innovations
✅Laying scalable foundations to facilitate business growth
To sum it all up, if you’re looking to generate more revenue, you need to save time with field service management software--these are the field service management software features you need.
Ready to transform time into profit today? Take a look at our leading field service management software. Book a personalised demo here. We’ll talk you through the stand-out features like:
- 🔮Real-time insights: Split-second decision-making. Instant visibility allows agile responses to any situation, steering around delays and issues. The time savings and risk reduction keep operations running smoothly.
- 🔁Seamless integration capabilities: BigChange delivers seamless integration with other software like accounting and CRM. By bridging systems, it syncs data to eliminate manual entry and error risks that sap productivity.
- 👍Customer self-service options: Our customisable portals allow customers to self-serve and access information – drastically reducing delays in communication.
- 🚀Scalability, as standard: BigChange flexes to fit businesses of all sizes, scaling up seamlessly as you grow. This future-proofs your operations for continual time savings even when business needs become more complex.
But don’t take our word for it. Hear from real customers in our reviews, right here.
🤫Pssst. We’re rated 4.5 out of 5 stars ⭐ on independent reviews site Capterra.
