White Paper Overview: The helping hands of field service management

Apr 25, 2016 • Features • assisted scheduling • resources • White Paper • White Papers & eBooks • Exel Computer Systems • scheduling • Software and Apps

Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: Field Service News (sponsored by Exel Computer Systems)
Title: The helping hands of field service management
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Synopsis

How to stay ahead of the ever-changing suite of Field Service Management (FSM) tools, including a focus on exactly what is the latest development of Assisted Scheduling?

Overview

helping hands white paper.pdf-1 The need for companies to employ some form of scheduling engine is clear, the benefits of adopting such an approach are thoroughly documented and clearly tangible. Introducing some level of automation will certainly deliver improvement in field service efficiency and productivity.

Indeed, the introduction of any level of optimisation within the dispatch role will inevitably lead to the reduction of fuel consumption costs that can make a compelling argument for implementation, for even the most cautious of financial directors.

The pile of case studies available to read extolling the benefits of scheduling are stacked high and readily available – each of them stuffed with positive examples and statistics to back up the claims FSM providers make, including how quickly companies have seen a return on their investment.

And of course the benefits of improved scheduling go far beyond the elements that are so clearly identified on a P&L. Customer satisfaction levels are often dramatically increased with the introduction of such tools.

The benefits of improved scheduling go far beyond the elements that are so clearly identified on a P&L.Customer satisfaction levels are often dramatically increased with the introduction of such tools.

The field service manager’s mantra is to get the right engineer to the right place at the right time, when this is achieved the customer of course feels the benefit of minimal interruption to their own workflow.

With customer satisfaction becoming one of the key differentiators between you and your competition in this current age of information, the investment in a good scheduling engine that can empower your team to deliver top tier service could appear to be ever more vital.

Imagine if every person within your team could effectively schedule a service call...

This white paper takes a look at the on-going evolution of field service scheduling systems from manual solutions through to fully dynamic and automated optimised solutions, exploring some of the benefits and challenges of each.

It also then takes a closer look at the latest type of solution appearing 'assisted scheduling' and assesses whether this approach found in a number of next-gen solutions bridges the gap between those scheduling engines which are sometimes seen as prohibitively complex and expensive and those that offer little in the way of true optimisation.

Do assisted scheduling solutions offer a perfect balance for smaller and mid-sized organisation between the efficiency improvements of a high end solution and the human intuition of an expert dispatch agent? Finally the white paper touches on some of the other factors within a wider field service management system that can enable companies to truly take advantage of their scheduling system- be it manual, assisted or fully dynamic.