White Paper Overview: Field Service Scheduling - Standing alone or part of a bigger picture?

Sep 07, 2016 • Features • Optimisation • resources • white papers • White Papers & eBooks • IFS • Scehduling • Software and Apps

Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: Field Service News (sponsored by IFS)
Title Standing alone or part of a bigger picture?

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Synopsis:

Scheduling- Stand Alone or Best of Breed-1 The benefits of adopting a scheduling solution for field service companies are well documented. Increases in efficiency and productivity are matched by clear and tangible return on investment, whilst enhanced service delivery standards lead to greater customer satisfaction.

However, scheduling solutions come in a number of different flavours including manual, semi-automated and fully dynamic plus there is the consideration of whether to opt for an integrated scheduling engine or a stand alone 'best-of-breed' solution. So which is best for your organisation?

Overview:

For those that have already implemented a scheduling tool as part of their field service delivery, whether it be a fully dynamic system or something simpler that is designed to assist a human dispatcher rather than fully automate the dispatch process, it is almost certain that there will have been some important savings made in key performance areas.

However, there is another perhaps equally important argument for implementing some form of scheduling tool – the impact it will have on a company’s ability to deliver the highest levels of service excellence.

We live in an age where service is absolutely a key differentiator between similar competing brands.

If Amazon can guarantee to deliver products to me within 60 minutes for no extra charge why can’t my service provider improve his Service Level Agreements

It is certainly fair to say that the consumer of these early few decades of the twenty first century is more empowered, more knowledgeable and far more demanding than ever before.

But does this translate across from our consumer lives into our working environments?

We have already seen the consumerisation of technology within the working space and very simply the mind-set of many is “If Amazon can guarantee to deliver products to me within 60 minutes for no extra charge why can’t my service provider improve his Service Level Agreements (SLA) so I can expect an engineer on site within hours rather than days?”

So in a world of high customer expectations can field service companies afford not to assess their own scheduling set up and see what solutions are available?

Almost certainly not because they can be assured that their competitors most likely will be doing so at some point in the near future, such are the clear benefits identified in any given case study on the implementation of a scheduling solution.

However, scheduling solutions come in many different flavours and across the following pages we shall look at some of the considerations field service companies must take into account when selecting a solution that is right for their organisation.

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