This blog post will cover the critical points of Fighting Inflation with Field Service Management. Here are the top four tips for fighting inflation in the field service industry. FSOs will be prepared to implement cost-cutting strategies that ensure field service profitability and success if they are equipped with intelligent Facility Maintenance Service Software.
Top four Strategies for Combating Inflation in the Field Service Industry
1. Reduce Costs through Technology
Innovative field service management technology must be implemented to mitigate the adverse effects of inflation. Field service organizations (FSOs) can automate complex workflows, optimize efficiencies, and improve the customer experience by leveraging cloud-based, AI-driven field service management software. Furthermore, these advantages lead to increased productivity, lower costs, and optimized ROI.
AI-powered scheduling and dispatching software, for example, ensures that the most qualified field service technicians are dispatched for each service job. Technicians can arrive on time and fix complex issues on the first try, thanks to route optimization, parts and inventory management, and real-time access to customer data. Furthermore, Augmented Reality (AR) can assist technicians in superimposing 3D visualizations of part numbers or instructions over real-world equipment, as well as remote diagnostics and triaging.
2. Encourage Resource Efficiency
Reducing manual workflows and service redundancies is essential in promoting resource efficiency and combating inflation. Furthermore, manual workflows increase the risk of costly human errors, especially with fluctuating service demand and the last-minute nature of service scheduling. FSOs can implement efficient workflows that are immune to the adverse effects of last-minute changes by deploying the right field service management solution. In fact, some field service software can increase the number of service calls completed daily and, in some cases, eliminate repeat service visits and equipment downtime.
When combined with IoT smart-home devices, advanced field service software enables FSOs to provide predictive maintenance services. This means that field technicians can remotely analyse equipment that needs to be repaired or replaced before any problem arises, potentially resulting in equipment failure or downtime. IoT-enabled servitization is critical for increasing resource efficiency and technician and customer satisfaction.
3. Reduce risks while increasing safety
Risks can be expensive and dangerous and harm an FSO’s reputation and bottom line. FSOs require a software solution that can reduce risks across the entire organization, with risks spanning operations, technician management, and customer service. FSOs that invest in comprehensive training and onboarding software can create a safer and more skilled workforce that is less likely to be involved in workplace accidents. Cloud-based software can help to reduce the risks of organizing and storing technician and customer data. For example, modern safety software with cyber security features can manage workforce device access while mitigating sensitive data leaks.
Furthermore, eliminating duplicate or fraudulent claims can result in significant savings for FSOs. For example, one customer saved more than $30 million annually by eliminating fraudulent claims. While manually analysing large amounts of data is extremely difficult, field service software can seamlessly and securely analyse each service transaction, providing accurate and safe results that reduce costly risks for FSOs.
4. Enhance Customer Retention
While customer churn has always been a significant concern for FSOs, it is now more critical than ever as inflation rises. Because both customer churn and inflation can reduce FSO profit margins, FSOs must keep customer churn from increasing during times of inflation. Similarly, FSOs must concerted effort to improve their customer experience to boost customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. For example, 89% of customers have stopped doing business with a company because of poor customer service.
Field service software helps to modernize the customer experience and demonstrates a “customer-first” strategy, which has numerous advantages. Self-service customer portal software has been shown to improve the customer experience by enabling customers to manage their schedules, communicate with technicians via online messaging, and provide timely service feedback.
Securing Future Field Service Profits and Success
Combating inflation is notoriously tricky without the proper tools; however, field service management software is the ideal tool for making this task easier. Field service leaders who have this knowledge will be able to reduce costs, increase efficiency, reduce risks, increase customer retention, and ultimately improve field service ROI. Field service leaders can use cutting-edge technology to reduce costs, increase resource efficiency, reduce risks, and increase profits through customer retention.
