Giving the ‘second oldest profession’ an upgrade

The ‘oldest profession’ is pretty well known and hasn’t changed much over the centuries. But what many people call the ‘second oldest profession’--the house call—has evolved quite a bit. Now it’s not doctors but other types of businesses making house calls: appliance repair and maintenance, computer service, even Joe the Plumber. Every day in the United States millions of field service technicians are making house calls, and the way they’re making those calls and managing those calls and profiting from those calls is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Smart phones and GPS devices and ERP systems have helped to make folks like the ‘cable guy’ easier to reach and easier to manage. But there are still problems. Having a smart phone is great, but only if it truly helps you do your job smarter. Having GPS to give you directions is wonderful. But only if you’re really the one who should be making that particular house call. And having an ERP system is fine. But if you’re still relying on technicians to fill out accurate and timely paper invoices, you’re wasting time and money.

There’s a new wave of technology that’s working to integrate all that gadgetry, eliminate costly errors, and turn those guys (and gals) making ‘house calls’ into thriving profit centers. It’s called Field Service Mobilization. And FieldConnect is one of the companies leading this technological upgrade of the ‘house call’.

FieldConnect makes a suite of products designed specifically to:

--Connect technicians by turning their mobile devices (PDA, iPhone, Blackberry, etc.) into ‘house call’ management centers that can help them keep track of their time and orders and parts and even upsell services where it makes sense.

--Empower customers by giving THEM real-time access to service call information, and in some cases the ability to generate service calls themselves.

--Track an entire fleet of technicians—not only to make sure they’re not wasting gas by driving across town on a call, but also to make sure they’re not wasting time (or fudging about their time on the job).