Field service businesses face some unique challenges when it comes to managing customer and technician data. When your technician schedules are in a separate platform from your customer service calls, it can be tough to tell who is free when, and what calls have already been addressed. If you have been looking for ways to simplify your scheduling and tracking, it may be time to reach out to an ERP consulting firm for some advice. Here are three benefits that an Field Service ERP platform can offer your business.
Reduced Customer Call Duration
Running a field service business means a lot of inbound customer calls for sales and service needs. Without a Field Service ERP, your customer service team may have trouble getting the information that they need, including customer histories and service call scheduling, without having to go to another source. This delays call resolution, and can lead to frustrated customers when they are left on hold.
With an ERP platform, your customer account history is in the same place with the technician scheduling information and any other notes that may be relevant for each customer’s account. It allows your customer service team to see everything at a glance, making it quicker and easier to resolve incoming calls. When calls take less time, your productivity increases along with customer satisfaction.
Improved Order Processing
When sales and service orders have to be transferred from one platform to another for processing, it delays your processing time. It also increases the potential for order entry errors that can lead to unhappy customers.
Investing in a Field Service ERP eliminates this risk because orders are entered and processed from the same platform. That means your service scheduling and order fulfillment teams will have real-time access to incoming requests, allowing them to process them faster.
In addition, the reporting tools integrated into an ERP will make it easy for you to see the processing metrics and identify anywhere that things are slowing down. Faster order and service fulfillment means happier customers, which means an increased potential for return customers.
Clear Time Accounting
Especially when a large portion of your staff works in the field, it can be difficult to verify time tracking. Whether you are seeing issues with on-site times or you are unable to easily identify where your technicians are at a given time, both can lead to significant operational issues.
Implementing an ERP will help you gain better visibility of your field technicians and their use of time. You can generate reports by team member to see onsite times, billable hours, and more. This also simplifies your payroll accounting and even your scheduling.
There are many different options available for your Field Service ERP needs, but when you are looking for something specific to field service, Microsoft Dynamics 365 may offer the features that you need. Contact us today to learn more.
