With the advent of modern technology, the world has undergone a paradigm shift in the last few decades. Business is not beyond its scope either. And in this age of cutthroat competition, it is only wise to leverage every possible competitive advantage. Especially when it comes to field service management, it is important to stay ahead of the curve to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of business. So, if you are still counting your options, it is time to use technology to your advantage.
The rapid growth of digital tools has now made it possible to achieve a lot of things that we cannot even have imagined just a few years back. Now, you can use technology to automate tasks, streamline processes, improve remote collaboration, facilitate better communication, and do a lot more. By doing so, you can save time and resources that can be spent on other aspects of your business. In other words, digital tools can help you optimize your business performance in several ways.
When choosing new technologies for your business, however, it is important to keep in mind your specific needs. The current market is overflowing with gadgets and software solutions. But the right one for your business will depend on your specific requirements.
In this blog, we are going to explain a few cutting-edge inventions that significantly boost productivity, simplify operations, and in turn, increase profitability in your business. If you are looking for those things, this is going to turn your business as well as your life around. So, stay tuned and keep reading.
- Store on Cloud
The biggest asset of any field service business is customer information. At the same time, it could be your biggest drawback as well. To be more specific, managing and organizing your customer database could be a cumbersome task, especially if you are still using traditional paper-based methods. Relying on the same old ledgers and spreadsheets means you have overflowing cabinets, piles of paperwork, and crowded files on your computer. Now, it is just a matter of time before you misplace something, or mistakenly use an incorrect one. Not to mention the toil when asked to produce a specific file, the older the file the harder it is to find.
Modern technology has brought the world to your fingertips. So, why not leverage it for your database management as well? Instead of fumbling with an ocean of paperwork in terms of customer information, here is an easier solution– cloud storage for field service companies.
Cloud storage is essentially a cloud computing model that stores, organizes, and transmits data on the internet. It is a virtual storage infrastructure with accessible interfaces maintained by a cloud computing provider and provided on-demand just in time as a service. This way, you don’t require any hardware or storage for your database, organize data with complete transparency and scalability, and access them whenever needed. It adds more operational efficiency across the board along with enhanced security.
- Optimize Everything for Mobile Phones
Since its introduction, mobile technology has transformed our daily life. Considering the skyrocketing popularity of smartphones and other handheld devices, it should come as no surprise. Both customers and employees are using mobile phones for all sorts of needs, from communicating to making purchases. Now, if you don’t have your brand of services available via smartphones, you are losing an advantage right there.
What’s more effective is if you can convert your business into a mobile application. Something through which your employees can stay connected with the office even when they are working in the field or traveling from one job site to another. And this is very much possible. Now there are various companies that offer mobile apps for field service technicians so that you don’t have to invest to build your own. Through these apps, your field technicians can receive job notifications, accept or refuse work orders, view schedules and routes, access customer information, report time, and do so much more. Through the same app, managers or business owners can track employee locations in real-time as well, thanks to GPS technology.
- Digitize Accounting and Bookkeeping
One of the most crucial aspects of running a field service business is managing accounting and bookkeeping efficiently. It is of paramount significance to maintain transparency and accuracy in this process. Besides, if your accounting process is disorganized or disrupted, it will in turn affect your payment cycle and cause serious revenue leakage. However, if you are doing things manually, you are leaving room for manual errors. So, the smart move here is to automate the entire process of bookkeeping and accounting. And this is most easily done by accounting software.
Having said that, accounting software is already highly popular across industries. Almost every organization around the world has gone digital with its finances in the last few years. But that is not the end of it. The technology has moved further and offers even more lucrative features. For example, most leading accounting software now integrates with other software solutions. For example, most leading field service software platforms now offer QuickBooks Online Integration.
- Track Time On The Go
For any business, time is money. When it comes to service delivery, it is even more important. Because your customers are paying you not just for your service, but for your time as well. On the other hand, you are paying your field technicians for their time. Now, if you cannot keep track of their total billable hours, you cannot charge your customers accordingly. As a result, you will have to pay the technicians out of your own pocket, and there go your profits.
To track your employees’ time, it is not sufficient to confirm their time spent on the job itself. Rather, you would need to know when they are clocking in or out, when they are reaching the job site, and how much time they are spending on the road. Now, if you don’t have a system in place to track all of these, you will have to rely on whatever they report. However, you cannot expect complete honesty or transparency in this regard. Besides, if your technicians have to visit the office every day to report their time, it means added mileage and time spent unnecessarily. But if you have a time-tracking system that they can access via their mobile phones, all your concerns are addressed. They will simply log in to their profiles on the app and check some options, and you get the complete log of your technicians without leaving the office.
- Automate Your Processes
The most defining trend of today’s business ecosystem is digital transformation. Field service is not beyond its scope. Digital transformation refers to the complete automation of business processes. And you can leverage that in your service delivery business through field service management software.
Essentially, field service software solutions are cutting-edge digital tools that automate and streamline your business processes, It offers a suite of features and functionalities that could simplify all your tasks with just a click of a button on your computer or smartphone screen. What is so special about this smart technology is that it includes all the features mentioned above, and more. In short, it is a one-stop solution for all your technology needs. From work order management to scheduling and dispatching, from cloud-based database management to customer relationship management, and from billing and invoicing software to accounting– you can take care of everything on a single platform, both via smartphone and computer. This is the best way to increase efficiency and optimize your business performance while reducing overhead costs significantly.
Final Words
Technology undoubtedly helps improve the efficiency of your business in manifold ways. For example, it increases profitability, improves productivity, enhances customer experience, and helps you to set the right KPIs and objectives that best suit your business. In a way, today’s technology drives the business world forward at a lightning-fast pace. So, if you want to keep up with the market and ensure sustainability in the long term, you cannot but embrace digital technology.
The good news is that it is now possible to achieve this without spending a fortune. Even small businesses are now taking advantage of these tools and technologies to amp up their operations and optimize resources with zero effort. So, if you want to jump on the wagon, make sure that your growth strategy is backed by paperless business solutions as well.
Author Bio
Joy Gomez
My world is made up of codes. It is the central element that drives my universe. I am a self-taught, process-driven programmer with a creative bent of mind. Since I was an engineering student, I dreamt of creating something unique. To satiate my creative appetite, I took to coding. Blessed with abundant support and generous scholarships from my employers, I simultaneously worked full-time and pursued my dream. My passion and high productivity helped me in my journey as well. Finally, I created Field Promax to follow my drive of coding and streamlining processes; and do more of what I know best—coding.
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