One of the key factors to ensuring a satisfied customer is a seamless customer experience. By that, we mean issues resolved before they even become a problem, accurate invoicing and service technicians who are both proactive and well-prepared. This is the kind of experience you can create with a connected field service.
Here are some benefits of a connected field service:
If an on-site visit doesn’t go as planned, it often results in a disappointed customer as well as a waste of time and money. Some reasons why a service can’t be completed include:
The right field service software will have resource scheduling optimisation capabilities. For example, Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) Field Service automatically generates an optimised schedule for field service technicians, based on their location, availability, skillset/expertise and customer preferences.
This helps your managers and dispatchers assign the right technician for the job. Your technicians can also check their schedule while on-the-go via a tablet or mobile.
If there’s a change to their schedule (e.g. if an unexpected job takes priority because it requires someone with a specific skillset and no-one else is available), the technician will be notified and a new route drawn up. And once your technicians have finished one job, the next will automatically be set up to come straight after.
This ensures the right person is always assigned and maximises your field service team’s productivity, ensuring minimal time is lost between jobs.
If there’s a larger project, such as 100 boilers needing to be replaced, D365’s schedule board provides an overview of all the available technicians. This makes it easier for managers to plan and organise schedules based on:
Ultimately, it’s an approach that takes into account the needs of the customer, technician and your company.
We mentioned this briefly in the previous section. If technicians don’t have access to the information needed, they may struggle to get the job completed. With the connected field service Dynamics 365 provides, your team benefits from:
If a piece of equipment breaks down, it would save a lot of time if it could tell you exactly what caused it. This is what machine learning and IoT are for. D365 Field Service uses IoT sensors to monitor and send data on asset performance in real-time.
This means:
The last point is particularly beneficial. If you know the exact nature of these problems, the solutions suggested and the solutions that worked, you can be prepared for future incidents.
You might even be able to set up the system in a way that any future problems are fixed in advance, whether it’s by a preventative/predictive maintenance schedule or the customer being provided with clear step-by-step instructions/guidance.
One of the benefits of using a cloud-based solution is you can access more information, more quickly and easily - even remotely. This is perfect for your field service team who are often on-the-go and can’t afford to waste time searching for information they need to complete jobs.
With D365 Field Service, you can benefit from Azure IoT Suite, which features multiple technologies that can be easily accessed via a single tool in the cloud. These technologies include:
This is everything your field service team will need to provide fast, efficient and positive customer service and experience.
Speaking of customer service, did you know that customers are four times more likely to stop purchasing from a brand after just one bad experience? That’s one of the reasons why your customer service matters.
The connected field service provided by the D365 platform facilitates that by (and this is a recap of this blog post):
Our factsheet on D365 Field Service explains the concept of a connected field service and the solution’s capabilities in more depth. Check it out below.