Automated Visual Scheduler: How Field Service Process Automation Can Keep Your Organization Alert (Part 2)

Welcome back to our process automation series for field service. If you haven’t already, check out part 1, Mobile Events Manager: How Field Service Process Automation Can Keep Your Organization Alert. Part 2 is all about how you can use alerts, escalations, and workflows to make your schedulers’ jobs easier, while boosting efficiency in the field. Field service schedulers are like puzzle masterminds; they need to match each work order with a technician while keeping the company efficient and the customers satisfied. Why not make the puzzle a little easier by including integrated process automation as part of your scheduling process? See how your whole company can reap the benefits of a more informed organization and more accurate and efficient team of schedulers.

Why Process Automation?

Field service is a unique industry because employees work at varying locations each day. Each worker has different responsibilities and tools needed for each job. With these challenges in mind, field service schedulers have one of the most complicated jobs in the business.

How the events planner and visual scheduler work together

With alerts and workflow capabilities, schedulers can become more keen and efficient puzzle solvers. Here are just some of the ways the events planner works with the visual scheduler:

• Auto-generates service ticket based on incoming email: In companies with a lot of incoming calls and orders, scheduling orders in a timely manner can feel like counting grains of sand at the beach. With an events manager, you can rely on the software to do that tedious scheduling for you. Incoming emails for service orders are immediately converted into a service ticket, ready for scheduling with all the information you need right in front of you. This automated system allows schedulers to focus on getting the right technician for the job instead of filing service orders or performing busy work.
• Integration with mobile: When you use the drag and drop visual scheduler to move a job from one technician to another, both techs are sent alerts on their mobile devices to inform them of the change. Also, if a tech is running over time on one job and is going to be late for his next job, he can update that information through integrated mobile field service software, which alerts the scheduler, triggering her to schedule someone else, and finally sending an alert to the customer informing them of the change in technicians.
• Automate preventative maintenance visits and send reminders: New work orders are good for business, but preventative maintenance rotations are great! Not only do recurring visits provide predictable and guaranteed income, but you also don’t have to keep selling them over and over. In order to maintain these regular income sources, you need to provide the best service possible. The events planner in the scheduler ensures PM visits never fall through the cracks by automating visits and sending reminders to techs, schedulers, and managers. Instead of putting the scheduler in charge of remembering to book PM visits every six weeks, for example, you can simply automate a service visit in the schedule every six weeks, which will proceed to alert whoever needs to know at the appropriate time and date. Take out the variable and potential for human error by automating your most important processes.

All of these features combined create a complete picture out of a complicated puzzle. No pieces are missing because everyone involved, including the customer, stays up-to-date about the status of the order.

How scheduling process automation helps

Scheduling process automation helps in several ways, but two really stand out:

1. Scheduling efficiency: With automated alerts and workflows as well as a drag and drop scheduling set-up, schedulers can make sure they have the best technician for each job, saving the company wasted fuel costs and technician idle time, while improving competency in the field. 2. Customer satisfaction: Not only are you keeping customers in the loop (which they love), you’re also improving response times and increasing your chances for first-time fix rates by scheduling smarter and more efficiently, which boosts your chances for continued, recurring service contracts.

Your next step

The events manager lets you rely on the system to tell you what to watch for and how to respond to conditions when they occur. It keeps everyone—from the scheduler to the technicians to the customer—informed with relevant information and keeps the whole organization knowledgeable and, therefore, more efficient. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to improve scheduling efficiency and customer satisfaction by investing in integrated field service scheduling and alerts, escalations, and workflow software.

The post Automated Visual Scheduler: How Field Service Process Automation Can Keep Your Organization Alert (Part 2) appeared first on MSI Data.