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Is it possible to Automate Field Service Management and Remotely Manage your Properties?

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Growing a Field Service Business and achieving your objectives requires overcoming significant challenges, uncertainties, and tough competition due to market changes and other unexpected circumstances.

These days, customers expect fast, reliable, and high-quality services, and if you aren't meeting their expectations, your competitors will

Only a few businesses can remain open and competitive in a highly challenging field service environment if their resources, time, and costs are not properly managed.

Many Field Service Businesses still manage functions and coordinate tasks manually.  Unfortunately, they are having difficulty keeping up with software solutions companies. Field service management software has become a must-have workforce management tool as tech-savvy customers expect their jobs to be completed quickly and effectively. It can assist you in automating your business to improve operational efficiency, customer service, and profitability.

Field Service Industry Trends

As customer expectations shift, field service industry trends shift as well. More contactless and self-service options, as well as new technologies, are among the major areas of change.

Contactless Field Service Management

COVID-19 has transformed everything. From how customers place service requests to how technicians carry out the service in the field and the interactions between both parties. These changes in interactions include safety protocols, such as contactless capabilities to keep everyone safe.  While adopting these new changes was not easy, going back to the previous way of doing things might be even more difficult.

Contactless field service management - i4T Global

Related Article: What Impact has COVID-19 had on the Field Service Management Sector? Is the Omicron Variant a Threat as well?

Organizations can get in touch with customers to make sure they have their updated information, tailor their CRMs to match their preferences on how they would like to be contacted and make data more predictive for future needs.

Cashless and Mobile Payment Capabilities

Due to health concerns and restrictions, fewer customers have used cash during the pandemic. The use of currency in B2B transactions has decreased, while digital payments have increased. The element of convenience and security have been the main drivers behind this change.
Cashless and mobile capabilities - i4T Global
Organizations that cannot afford to purchase contactless card readers can still accept mobile payments in other ways. Customers can now pay online via a company’s website, mobile app or through a third party payment platform such as PayPal, Square, or Stripe.

More Self Service Opportunities

Self-service portals function as the first point of contact between a customer and an organization, capturing information about the customer’s problem. These specifics inform field service teams about what to expect and where to resolve the customer’s issue.
Self service opportunities - i4T Global
Self-service also provides a starting point for field service teams to find solutions. Field service workers and customers can stay in sync and manage expectations on both sides if an organization uses a software-enabled device or mobile app that employees can update in real-time.

Adoption of Advanced Technologies

Companies are heavily investing in IoT and Artificial Intelligence. These technologies have the potential to improve the future of field service management.

IoT sensors and augmented reality glasses could assist field service workers in determining where a customer requires assistance and providing remote assistance and support.

Advance technologies - i4T Global

What does the Future of Field Service Management Hold?

To meet customer expectations and remain competitive, field and customer service must evolve, and the future of field service management. As remotely working employees, technicians in the field, and technology grow and change, the demands placed on field service management evolve accordingly.

Field service organizations will be able to monitor equipment status and predict customer needs thanks to connected devices and artificial intelligence (AI)

Technology is changing fast and in order to keep a competitive position adopting the latest innovation is a must.

With a mobile first mindset, digitization at home and in workplaces and flexibility to work from anywhere, the traditional way of handling service requests has been disrupted forever. Field service management is now more about preventive and predictable maintenance than a break-repair maintenance.

Related Article: What is Preventive Maintenance? A Complete Guide to Preventive Maintenance

Managing these processes through digital communication is a massive undertaking for the traditionally manual field service industry

Service chatbots, for example, automate task and staff scheduling, data collection, service operations, human resource management, troubleshooting, and repairs. Advanced digitized field service management tools are becoming a norm to facilitate a hybrid workforce. With automated software to run processes and workflow, solution providers are at the front of this massive evolution

Hybrid or Flexible Work Options

Before COVID-19, few field service workers believed that something would prevent them from working in a customer’s home. Nonetheless, organizations all over the world have unexpectedly closed their doors while learning how to run their businesses from locations other than their offices.

Organizations with remote work processes, on the other hand, experienced few to no workflow interruptions, except for social distancing when necessary.

As a result, many employers provided employees with flexible work options, such as hybrid work. Long-term hybrid work has the potential to benefit the following areas:

  • Work-life balance. 
  • Productivity as employees work in ways that best suit their needs. 
  • Trust between employees and employer. 
  • Employees who choose to work remotely should be concerned about their health and safety.

The shift to remote work allowed organizations to use cloud-based software to access data and enable employees, including field and customer service teams, to work from anywhere. Hybrid work success requires the right technology to support employees in multiple locations for field service workers and customer service representatives.

Artificial Intelligence to Enable Automation

COVID-19 also strained the supply chain. As employees leave the workforce, the field service industry, in particular, faces a skills shortage. As a result, many businesses have embraced AI and automation. AI automates processes and can use algorithms to schedule field service workers, allowing businesses to complete jobs ahead of schedule and increase profits.
Artificial intelligence - i4T Global
AI also generates new data that organizations can use to better understand the customer experience, its strengths, and areas for improvement. AI data has been helping organizations in developing proactive ways to deal with service requirements rather than a reactive approach.

Inventory Management Software

Due to the pandemic a lot of supply chain issues popped up causing delivery delays, material shortages and price hikes in the maintenance industry. To manage these issues, many organizations turned to inventory management software to handle problems in real-time.

For optimal pricing, the software can also monitor inventory and identify price fluctuations.

What is Field Service Management Software?

A Field Service Management software allows suppliers to manage their employees, communicate within the field, effectively run workflows and connect with the customers. When choosing to invest in a Field Service Management solution for your business, ease of use, training and customer support are important factors to look at.

Features that a Field Service Management Software should have;

  1. Work order management for generating, assigning, and tracking work orders.
  2. Single interface to manage all field service information.
  3. Invoicing and billing for customers and suppliers.
  4. Inventory management to keep track of equipment and resources.
  5. Payment processing to collect payments in the field.
  6. Mobile access to information, schedules, and other data on the go
  7. Repetitive process automation, service routing, and historical audit trails.
  8. Contract administration for ongoing and one-time agreements with contractors, suppliers and
  9. Contact management for the storage of all customer and supplier information.
  10. Quote creation to provide potential customers with accurate estimates of service costs.
  11. Dispatching for after-hours service requests or jobs that take longer to complete than expected.

As your teams and business verticals expand, you can take a look at more advanced functions based on your industry and given business needs.

Features that should be in a fsm software - i4T Global

i4T Global Field Service Management Software

i4T Global is a highly Innovative Product Ecosystem that connects the dots between multi-stakeholders of Field Service Management while addressing their pain points and providing the best customer experience.
Field service management software - i4T Global

The core of i4T Global is about interacting with Multi-Stakeholders’ FSM interests in real-time

What distinguishes us from the other FSM Key Players in the market is that we connect Multi-Stakeholders of the Field Service Management by categorizing our platform into Individual Market Segments comprised of B2B, B2C, and B2B2C clients, as the Key Stakeholders. 

For Authorised Service Agents to effectively manage and maintain multiple property assets.

Related Article: Unique Value Proposition and Competitive Edge of i4T Maintenance Property Management Software

For Field Service Suppliers to deliver a great field service experience. 

For Property Occupants to easily find a Tradesperson.

These three verticals seamlessly connect Authorized Service Agents, Field Service Suppliers, and Tesla Owners in a 360-degree approach that addresses the pain points of all three Stakeholders and provides an end-to-end work order life cycle service experience. i4T Global Product Suite is highly configurable, deeply integrated, and provides omnichannel solutions.

i4T Global recently launched Version 3.0 with Rebranded Product Suite, GDPR Compliance, and a variety of comprehensive features.

Refer to the press release by visiting From Australia to a New Lucrative International Market, i4T Global is Expanding its Reach.

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With our cutting-edge technology and in-depth knowledge of how the Field Service Management sector operates, the i4TGlobal Team loves to share industry insights to help streamline your business processes and generate new leads. We are driven by innovation and are passionate about delivering solutions that are transparent, compliant, efficient and safe for all stakeholders and across all touch points.

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