How to improve Customer Experience with a Field Service Solution
Field service customer experience is the summation of all of a customer’s interactions with a company.
This could start off being as simple as the prospect hearing your brand name for the first time to booking one of your services and having it completed. Field service customer experience is about offering a service where customers completely understand and know what to expect at each stage of the customer experience journey.
It is also very important to continuously look to improve your customer experience journey. This could be achieved by surveying customers to understand what they want, in other words listening to the Voice of the Customer (VoC). As per Wikipedia “Voice of the customer is a term used in business and information technology to describe the in-depth process of capturing customer’s expectations, preferences and aversions”.
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Any improvements you make based on VoC feedback will increase your customer loyalty. This is because customers will feel part of the company when their suggestions are taken into consideration and implemented. They can see that they have helped improve the customer journey not just for themselves, but for others having a similar experience.
Now to understand what solution would be suited for field service customer experience, first we need to understand the term Field Service Management (in short FSM).
What is Field Service Management (FSM)?
Field Service Management is a means of organising and optimising operations using a company’s resources to execute tasks performed outside in the field. Examples of services would be things like repairs, installation and maintenance.
As per Gartner “Field service management (FSM) is a discrete market within the broader customer service and support software market.”
The field service management market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 11%. At this rate, the FSM market that has an estimated value of $3 billion in 2020, will reach $5.1 billion by 2025. (MarketandMarkets, 2020).
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Organisations would generally implement a Field Service Solution to empower their staff with all the capabilities required for Field Service Management.
What is a Field Service Solution?
A field service solution is an amalgamation of integrated systems allowing field service staff to manage all functions within Operations. The solution operates across multiple communication channels including websites, supply chain solutions, third-party solutions and analytics.
Field service solutions should provide capabilities that manage demand, plan work, inform and enable technicians, debrief work orders, and perform analysis and integration. Some interesting facts about FSM as per financesonline:
- 48% of organizations use FSM software according to a 2020 study by Fieldpoint
- 51% of fleet management companies use FSM software, while 52% integrate FSM with their fleet tracking solutions. (Verizon Connect, 2020)
- As of 2020, 72% of US fleets use GPS fleet tracking technology, an 8% increase from 2019. (Verizon Connect, 2021)
- 96% of companies that use GPS fleet tracking software find it beneficial. (Verizon Connect, 2021)
What capabilities are a must for a Field Service Solution?
The following features are critical for a successful customer experience:
Planning and Scheduling: Planning gives you visibility into your resource allocation, helps drive efficiency and quality to your field service team. Scheduling is the process that organisations use to ensure that services and field workers are scheduled.
Work Order Management: Work order management allows you to manage your field management team utilisation, productivity and most importantly manages the customer journey. It includes various sub-capabilities including Job Management, Work Orders, Workflow, Invoicing and Reporting.
Resource Management: Resource management ensures the correct and efficient utilisation of work force including time management, slot allocation and resource geolocation. Workforce resources can be employees, external suppliers, contractors, consultants, specialists, and accredited surveyors.
Enablement: Enablement allows the management of contracts and agreements with the resources you are engaged with.
Integration: Allows you to integrate with all systems that are part of your field service customer experience journey.
Connected: Allows your field service workforce to be able to process the work with data in real time. It is very important for the solution to be able to work offline in certain cases where network may not be available.
Scalability: Ensures the field service solution implemented will be cope with increase or decrease in demand.
Extensibility: Ensures your field service solution adapt to changing needs. This includes from changing forms and reports (allowing modifications based on the changes in regulatory requirements) to change in the workflows.
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How Can ACS Help?
We at ACS understand the challenges our clients face in enabling our field workforce to deliver a better customer experience.
We have successfully implemented field service solutions for clients in a range of industries including housing associations and automotive. We focus on customer centricity allowing us to implement best-in class bespoke solutions.
Start the conversation about your own field service customer experience requirements by booking a FREE consultation with our team of expert consultants. Or if you’re not ready to talk, download our Free Guide to Implementing the Best Customer Experience Strategy.
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