Four Ways to Maximize your Investment in Field Mobility
In Field Mobility 2017 – a Look at the Year Ahead, the question is asked about what mobility will look like in 2017. Sarah Nicastro, editor of Field Technologies - the publication behind the report - states that an interesting starting point for this is to look at what their survey respondents said when asked about why they were investing in field mobility.
The Field Technologies survey found that nearly half of all respondents state their primary objective with their field mobility investment is maximizing productivity. This was followed by 37% saying that improving the customer experience is most important.
Whatever your reasons for looking at investing in field mobility this year, here we look at four ways to maximize any investment you make.
- Easy Integration
Organizations with a team of workers out in the field often use a mix of different solutions and technologies to carry out their work. There are many different parts to the workflow and different systems are used to oversee these. This can often mean that systems are used in isolation and data from one system doesn’t always ‘talk’ to others.
Back office processes are essential to any service operation, so a field service solution which integrates easily with the existing systems is important. This means that all parts of the business and the workflow can be connected. There is visibility of the work and the day’s performance and decisions can be based on real-time information.
- Make Better Use of your Existing Systems
Integrating with back office systems (such as accounting systems, ERPs or CRMs) means that the worker out in the field has access to the job history and customer records. They can get information about the job they are going to and also, if they need to, see what has happened before and why. Knowing the details of the job like this can make the difference between being able to sort out the problem first time or not. This means delivering better customer service, as well as reducing the need for further visits to fix the problem.
- Get Up and Running Quickly for a Better Return
With any new solution, how fast you can be up and running is key. A solution which integrates easily with existing systems will be far quicker to implement – a great benefit in any technology choice. Being up and running in days, not weeks, months or even years, means your business is not affected and you get a better return on your investment as it starts straight away.
- Keep it Simple
Managers and technicians all report that the difference between good and bad technology choices is often how easy it is to use. Taking time to learn new, complicated ways of working can mean that workers don’t like them and may go back to the way things used to be done or patch together their own way of working round it. With a solution that is easy to use alongside existing systems, the implementation is easier and the quicker people start using it, again the better the return on the investment.
Even if you are not 100% sure of your field service technology needs today and where to make that investment, with an easy to integrate solution you are able to future-proof your requirements because of the flexibility it can bring. It is provided via technology you already have – smartphones and internet - and upgrades, changes and adaptions can all be quickly and effectively made as your business needs change and develop.
For the best results, you need a solution that meets your business needs. FieldAware helps field service companies simplify this decision-making of where to invest.
To find out more on how FieldAware is simplifying field service with innovative field service solutions – join one of our 30-minute webinars here.
Or for more information on Field Mobility 2017 – download the full report here.