Field Service Managers Need Real-Time Field Visibility

Effective management of the field workforce and the operations is critical for the successful on-time delivery of the maintenance services. But as maintenance services are out-of-office operations, that are performed in dispersed locations and involves too many stakeholders right from field workers, vendors, accountants, and clients, so, often it becomes challenging for the maintenance service managers to maintain coordination with all the stakeholders and ensure that everyone is abiding by their responsibilities and doing what needs to be done to wrap up the service within the time promised to the clients.

Field service managers need real-time field visibility

When it comes to managing the field services, the real hindrance for the manager is the lack of field visibility. If the manager is not aware of the work status updates of the field workforce or gets the updates after a gap of time, then it becomes impossible for him to make the timely interventions necessary for the smooth processing of the services. What the manager needs is the real-time visibility of the field activities. Real-time visibility is the core necessity for every aspect of field service management, be it the job scheduling and dispatching of the right technician or performance tracking or customer communication, or inventory management or fleet management; the manager needs to keep a tab on everything that is happening out there in the field.

Maintenance management software is a dynamic tool that is compatible with all types of smart and computing devices. The software is powered by technologies like automation and artificial intelligence, also it has data mining capacities. These kinds of software suites provide the maintenance service manager the desired real-time visibility into field activities. The manager can live track the current locations of the technicians, know when are they checking-into a job or when are they finishing it, when are they traveling, what are they communicating to each other, what data are they accessing from the enterprise database, what is the clients’ feedback on a particular technician, with the aid of the maintenance management software everything is trackable.

How the maintenance management software assists the field service manager?

Real-time field visibility enables the service manager to have a clear picture of what needs to be done to ensure customer satisfaction. The maintenance work order software, not just provides the manager with that clarity but also assists him in his job roles by facilitating him with automation capacities that speed up the processes. For instance, using the software, in no time the manager can track down who is the nearest available, rightly skilled technician for a particular job. This way, the manager can ensure the dispatching of a technician who can reach the job site at the earliest.

By ensuring that the skill set of the technician matches the job requirement, the first visit effectiveness can be improved. This reduces the need for follow-up trips and thus helps in curbing the travel expense that builds up if the technician has to make several follow trips for the same client. Not just that, follow-up trips also means blocking the time of a particular technician, which otherwise could have been used to serve a fresh client and generate revenue.

Also, to ensure that there is no communication gap within the team, the software facilitates automated communication, wherein it sends automated push notifications and reminders to the concerned stakeholders, like intimation regarding the schedules, or the change in schedules, etc.

The final words

The maintenance management software is designed to streamline the field operations. For the service manager, it is a tool through which he can imbibe more efficiency into his team. He can make better schedules for them, ensuring there are no scheduling conflicts; he can help the workforce save the productive hours from getting wasted in traveling, by assigning them job duties as per location proximity, and also through the software he can provide them optimal routes to the job site. Besides, by facilitating automated communication the software ensures complete coordination among the team.