Maximizing Field Service Profitability (Whitepaper / Part 1)

This is an excerpt from the FieldConnect Whitepaper titled

"Maximizing Field Service Profitability" To download the full document please click here: http://www.fieldconnect.com/

Maximizing Field Service Profitability
Is your corporation constantly looking for new ways to improve customer satisfaction, maintain customer retention, stay competitive, ensure cost effective productivity for field-based technicians and find news ways to cross-sell or up-sell on every field service call? Would it surprise you to know that only 20% of the corporations in the United States achieve “best in class” field service and they deliver on average 300% more profit margin (18% versus 6%) to their bottom-line than corporations that don’t meet this standard? These statistics and more are readily available from in-depth studies done by analysts firms such as the Aberdeen Group, but they really gloss over the fundamental challenge for field service organizations today. In an effort to improve field service efficiency, resiliency, and competitive standing, real-time communications need to be maintained between all service stakeholders: customers, technicians and dispatchers. Yet currently most service organizations rely on manual methods for this “last mile” of service management. This creates unprofitable service organizations with terrible customer satisfaction ratings due to:

- Lost paperwork or misquoting of parts and labor costs
- Poor route planning
- Lack of parts and equipment availability
- Delays in time-to-invoice

In today’s trying economic times, corporations have to expect more from their field service organization. In doing so you can realize the benefits of those companies who have already achieved “best in class” status.

It may be a blatant statement of the obvious, but if you could just find the answers you would have them… Answers to questions like: Which customers need attention today? Where are my technicians and what are they doing? What is the current cost for parts and labor? Where are all of the corporate field service assets (trucks, inventory, equipment and tools) and are they in good repair? Which technicians are productive, which are not and who sets the standard for technician profitability?

The answer to all of these questions and more may be found in a Field Service Mobilization solution. An effective Field Service Mobilization can eliminate the communications bottlenecks between all of the service stakeholders: dispatchers, technicians and customers while delivering on the promise to connect technicians, empower customers and track your fleet.

An effective Field Service Mobilization solution can address a number of critical business issues effecting all organizations that rely on their field service organization to maintain customer satisfaction, retention and follow-on business. Specific business issues include:

- Eliminating paper and easing dispatcher duties – Real-time communications between all service stakeholders: customers, technicians and dispatchers.
- Enhancing customer satisfaction – More timely response combined with self-service equals happier customers.
- Regulatory compliance – Having complete information at your fingertips not only for audit purposes but in the event a customer wants to resolve an invoicing issue.
- Time to invoice – Typical 30 day invoicing delays can be reduced to real-time emails or daily system runs.

Today, business success is increasingly defined by how well you can satisfy customer requirements after the sale as well as before. The timeliness and completeness of response is a key differentiator separating “best in class” from the average field service organization and ultimately impacts the bottom-line profitability.