Salesforce’s Gary Brandeleer offers six key considerations field service companies should be aware of when approaching how to empower their field workers with best-in-class mobile technologies...

A necessary change in field service is well underway: 71% of service decision makers have made significant investments in mobile technologies and headcount. As customer expectations continue to rise, the new wave of field service workers entering the mobile workforce have their own expectations: that employers equip them with the best tools and technology to do their jobs. 

Many jobs and tasks still require in-person service. When mobile workers have the same capabilities (and visibility) as office-based peers, they work more efficiently, increase the rate of first-visit resolutions, and improve the overall customer experience. If you’ve already made the investment in your mobile workforce — or are planning to - make sure you prioritise these six tools to equip field service workers for success.

 

1. Enable Field Service Workers with a Single View of the Customer

Before the leading 3D printing provider Stratasys implemented a connected field service solution, it was challenging for their field service workers to get background information about the asset or the customer before arriving on site. Now they have full control of customer engagement because of a complete view of the customer and job information from their field service app. 

The Stratasys field service experience should be the norm — but it’s not yet. A mobile worker who has to switch back and forth between screens is not operating efficiently, and 49% still toggle screens on the job. This can cause difficulties in finding customer details and all the information needed to complete a job quickly while on site.

Having all customer information easily accessible in one place on a mobile device helps to boost efficiency and improve first-visit resolution.

A mobile worker’s field service app should enable them to deliver the best customer experience. With the right field service app, a mobile worker will have complete insight to know everything before they even walk in the door, allowing them to log real-time updates and collect any needed data like photos, signatures, and more.

 

2. Give Field Service Workers Complete Access with a Connected Device

Being a mobile worker in field service can be a solitary profession, which is a leading contributor to the high level of churn in the industry. Giving those in the field a connected device allows them to stay in sync with everyone back in the office. A connected device also links to your field service solution via an app or mobile website. This provides mobile workers with a complete set of data and insights they need to perform their jobs from any location, including:

• Customer information
• Work history
• Task lists and recommended next steps
• Schedules
• Real-time alerts from dispatchers
• Knowledge base

 

3. Allow Easily Synced Offline Access

With offline capabilities, mobile field workers download job details before they set out for the day, eliminating any need to print out (and accidentally lose) important information. That information is fully available in offline mode on their device when they’re in remote locations with the same level of access they would have online.

Mobile workers log updates and sync them once in range of service, keeping dispatchers updated on job status. Stratasys opted for offline capabilities to help their mobile workers access job information — even while serving high-security industries — and the result was better service and growing customer satisfaction.

 

4. Enable location tracking to keep everyone in the know

When field service is connected, no one is left out of the loop. Dispatchers know where a mobile worker is through location tracking and can alert them in real time of any cancellations or shifts in their schedule.

Additionally, mobile workers are able to notify dispatchers back in the office if there are any delays. Meanwhile, customers are notified with an estimated time of arrival, similar to the real-time updates they may receive about an Uber ride.

 

5. Provide Visibility Into Maintenance and Inventory

Not all mobile workers can easily tell if a customer is under warranty for a part or service — only 57% say they have that information. Enabling mobile workers to see customers’ warranty information for a part or service helps them view the maintenance information for each asset.

With a complete picture of the asset, mobile workers can better and more accurately serve their customers. When they need a part that’s not on hand, they can instantly ask any field workers nearby if they have a spare and coordinate pickup.

 

6. Offer Support for Complex Cases

When field service workers are on a job and unsure of how to solve a complex issue, they shouldn’t have to muddle through it alone — they should have a knowledge base of articles or video tutorials through their field service app. Make sure mobile workers have additional support by allowing them to connect with a remote agent via chat, video, or phone.

This helps them to achieve a resolution quickly, without needing a second visit. A chat function is particularly important since the new generation of field workers prefer chat over phone calls.

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Further Reading: 

• Read more about digital transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/servitization-and-advanced-services
• Read more about mobile workforce management @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/managing-the-mobile-workforce
• Find out more about Salesforce Field Service @ www.salesforce.com/uk/products/service-cloud/field-service-lightning/
• Connect with Gary on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/garybrandeleer/
• Follow Salesforce on Twitter @ twitter.com/salesforce
• Read about the recently announced latest iteration of Salesforce Field Service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/salesforce-announce-the-next-generation-of-field-service-ai-powered-tools-for-trusted-mission-critical-field-service

We’re at a defining moment for field service management — invest in digital transformation or risk getting left behind writes Gary Brandeleer, Senior Director of Product Management, Field Service Lightning at Salesforce...

Sketching calendars on whiteboards, managing schedules on spreadsheets, and sending mobile workers into the field with clipboards and mounds of paper forms means we’re not giving customers the same level of convenience, personalization, and connectivity in field service they receive in their daily lives. Eighty-four percent of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services, and that shift is reflective of business consumers as well.

If you’re a business consumer, you still request pick-up via a ride-sharing app, get assigned a driver instantly, see where they are on a map, receive notifications, and leave real-time feedback. The same should be true for your field service appointment.

The business world needs to catch up to what we’re experiencing as consumers. The future of field service needs to be digitally connected from your business to your customer, but transformation can’t happen overnight. So, how do you take the steps now to future-proof field service management?

 

Invest In YOUR Mobile Workforce

Businesses aren’t competing with products anymore — they’re competing with experiences. Delivering in-person service is a competitive differentiator because it connects your company directly with customers, establishing a relationship now and for the future. But the service experience must be streamlined: 89% of service decision-makers say the experience a customer has with a mobile worker is a reflection of their brand.

Seventy-one percent of service decision-makers are already making significant investments with improved technologies and increased headcount. Despite this prioritization, mobile workers still face challenges:

• Only 50% report having access to a connected device
• Nearly half (49%) still toggle between screens to complete tasks
• Forty-five percent have wasted significant time because of inaccurate or outdated job information

Your mobile workforce must have access to current customer information and tasks to turn a critical, vulnerable moment with a customer into an opportunity for loyalty.

In the next section, we’ll discuss how an investment in a connected field force solution drives efficiencies and improves productivity in the field.

 

Leverage A Connected Field Service Solution

Digital transformation connects your entire workforce and drives consumer-like experiences. A connected workforce solution unifies customer data, from service history to communications preferences, for a complete view that’s shared across the entire field service operation. This streamlines communication with customers, drives efficiencies for dispatchers, and gives mobile workers the information they need to resolve cases faster:

• Be customer first. Customers want the flexibility to self-schedule from your site or app. Self-scheduling capabilities allow customers to make, change, and update requests – just as they would schedule a pick-up with a ride-sharing app.
• Automate notifications. Customers don’t want to be kept in the dark on the status of their appointment. Similar to receiving updates when their driver is nearby, customers get notifications about their mobile worker. Location tracking and artificial intelligence (AI) work together on the backend to power these automated notifications, keeping customers in the loop, and free up dispatchers from fielding calls on location status.
• Intelligently schedule. Dispatchers no longer spend time searching for the next-available mobile worker based on time, skill, location, equipment and manually scheduling appointments. Through a workforce field scheduling tool with intelligent capabilities, scheduling is automated to help dispatchers ensure route optimization and on-time appointments.
• Seamlessly reschedule. In the event an appointment needs to be rescheduled, a customer can make updates through an online portal, app, or on their favorite channel of communication. Dispatchers see the change as soon as it comes in and easily reassign mobile workers in the field with real-time notifications.
• Empower mobility in the field. Mobile workers need the ability to understand an issue before they step on-site and communicate with the team back at the contact center. With mobile capabilities, workers in the field get visibility into current job information, schedules, inventory, tasks, and customer data from their phones. They can also log updates before, during, and after the visit and leverage offline capabilities when Wi-Fi or data is unavailable to download customer information.
• Close the feedback loop. Customers easily provide feedback via your site, app, or another preferred channel on everything from whether the issue was resolved to whether their technician was polite and easy to work with.

Define Success Metrics

It’s no secret that digital transformation requires an investment in resources and technology to deliver the experiences all customers expect. To gauge whether it is working, companies can measure effectiveness against a core set of metrics:

• Improved first visit resolution. When mobile workers have visibility into all pertinent customer information and tasks, they are able to get to resolutions faster. If a mobile worker is unable to resolve an issue, they can even connect with a remote expert to walk them through a resolution, decreasing the likelihood of repeat visits.
• Decreased call volume. When customers have the choice to reach out through preferred channels and receive updates on their appointments automatically, call volume diminishes. Dispatchers are free to focus on top priorities and assign cases versus providing status updates.
• Minimized windshield time. Workforce field scheduling reduces the time in which mobile workers spend unassigned to tasks because dispatchers have a full view of who is available in the field. For less complex cases, customers can even connect with a remote agent directly to fix an issue, minimizing truck roll.
• Increased opportunity. Mobile workers can help identify new opportunities out in the field for incremental revenue. For example, if a customer has a need for a costly repair or a new part, a mobile worker can walk them through their options and next steps.
• Improved customer satisfaction. A connected solution puts the customer first, from the minute they schedule an appointment to the moment a mobile worker walks out the door. By putting in place the capability to receive feedback directly from customers, you’ll know firsthand what the experience was like and gather the information you need to improve processes and training.

The future of field force management is now. If you’re ready to take the steps to future-proof your field service operation, learn how to connect your entire workforce with Field Service Lightning.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about digital transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/servitization-and-advanced-services
• Read more about mobile workforce management @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/managing-the-mobile-workforce
• Find out more about Field Service Lightning @ www.salesforce.com/uk/products/service-cloud/field-service-lightning/
• Connect with Gary on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/garybrandeleer/
• Follow Salesforce on Twitter @ twitter.com/salesforce