Key advantages of mobile apps for work order management

Companies that manage mobile team members and field technicians face multiple challenges. The mismanagement of work orders can seriously affect productivity and impair organizational performance. This is why a SaaS management software-based (hosted in the cloud) mobile workforce app is needed to intelligently create, schedule, and manage the various work orders your business receives daily. As experts in SaaS management software and work order management solutions, we’ve compiled some compelling benefits to service organizations with multiple technicians in the field.

Mobile solution adoption drives efficiency across service company operations

An Aberdeen Group report on service mobility reveals how integrating field data into an organization’s information system is the first strategic approach to work order management solutions. The report also observed that leading Field Service Management (FSM) companies are 71% more likely than their competitors to develop a standardized mobile work order management software strategy across their organization.

These findings indicate that mobile solution adoption and the speed at which qualitative information is transmitted are two primary factors differentiating a successful service company. Furthermore, they appear to be essential to work order management solutions success in the following areas:

• Route optimization
• Instantaneous data transmission
• Collection and processing of reliable information captured in the field
• Development of relevant performance metrics
• Customer satisfaction

Companies can significantly enhance their operational efficiencies and customer service capabilities by utilizing comprehensive mobile work order apps.

5 major limitations affecting mobile technicians today

Every day, field technicians must manage multiple tasks and demands while keeping customers happy. Competition is stiff in the service sector, so many players are continuously developing ways to optimize their performance and provide the best possible experiences.

A question that tends to arise around work order management solutions is how to keep up with the growing demand for outstanding service. Many field service management professionals today believe that field service customer satisfaction is the most important metric for quality of service. This puts extra pressure on them to meet those expectations.

Challenges of work order management without software

Often, the problem with work order management isn’t in the lack of expertise or complexity of the work but rather in everything else.

• Route planning issues: The driver or technician often requires field service route optimization in the face of changing traffic conditions. Customers expect their service to be done on time, every time. Additionally, vehicle-related breakdowns and maintenance can cause tardiness and work order cancellations.
• Missing information: Field technicians don’t always have all the pertinent work order management solutions information at hand including customer location, accessibility, type of operation, necessary spare parts required to fix it, etc.
• Paper-based problems: Paperwork isn’t easy, especially with multiple service jobs being worked on simultaneously. The data collected by the technician may be incomplete, subject to interpretation, or illegible. Paper work orders can get lost or misplaced on its way to the office, where the data will be manually entered by an administrator.
• Spare part complications: Without real-time insight into inventory status and material availability, technicians must call multiple people to find out where their equipment is before bringing it with them.
• Unforeseen circumstances: In the event of a canceled appointment or emergency job, the technician must be informed as soon as possible. A new technician might need to be assigned and his/her route must be quickly re-optimized according to these new parameters.
• Problematic communication with the customer: A technician who doesn’t have access to accurate contact information, job history, or clear instructions on the task being done directly impacts field service customer satisfaction. Customers also want to be notified when the technician is on the way or when the work has been completed.

This goes a long way toward addressing a number of challenges more efficiently by integrating leading work order management software and field service technician management software, respectively.

4 benefits of a mobile work order management application

A SaaS management software-based field service management solution allows you to achieve significant efficiency and productivity gains using a single mobile app.

1. Increase the efficiency of your field technicians

The best field service management software solution, Praxedo, provides your technicians real-time access to all the work order information they need to complete the job successfully. A mobile field service management software application goes everywhere with them and supplies them with critical tools and features on the go, such as:

• Their schedules: available online, 24/7, and on all end devices (e.g., phone, laptop or tablet, Android or iOS).
• Their routes are always optimized in real time through field service route optimization (e.g., work order details, best road to take, traffic info, contact details).
• Work order information: address, schedule, customer details, list of actions to be performed, equipment and parts required, as well as inventory status are all available.
• Data accessible online and offline: working in an area without cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity isn’t a problem. The field technician app is functional and syncs once the network connection is re-established.
• Electronic field service reports: Technicians complete online forms with work order descriptions that can be enriched with images and sent immediately to the service center. This dramatically improves reporting accuracy, promptness, and invoicing times.
• Instant messaging: Field personnel can contact the service center or dispatcher/scheduler at any time, using an integrated instant messaging module.

2. Reduce operational costs with digital communications

In any industry, saving on unnecessary costs helps tremendously. With automatic field service route optimization, travel times are reduced, saving the company money on fuel and mileage. Since most field techs now use instant messaging, money (and time) is saved on phone calls to the service center. Today, digital communications make it possible to dramatically reduce the costs associated with paper-based transactions – paper, printers, and ink. And that’s on top of the storage space eaten up by files and archives.

3. Boost productivity while being more responsive

In a nutshell, using apps for work orders can save considerable travel time while increasing the quality of service. When field technicians have all the necessary information in an app with them 24/7, they can:

• Increase their first-time fix rates
• Create work orders themselves while on the road
• Manage their own schedule
• Communicate better with customers, thereby improving loyalty and field service customer satisfaction

4. Reach new heights when it comes to customer satisfaction

In the service industry, you want to increase your chances of a customer referring you to their friends or returning to do more business. Superior customer experiences provide a competitive edge. In fact, according to PwC, 17% of people surveyed wouldn’t give a business a second chance after experiencing a single negative experience.

However, more efficient scheduling and being more responsive with superior route planning helps to increase field service customer satisfaction ― especially when your platform helps you:

• Generate custom work order management solutions reports to fit your requirements or those of the client
• Inform your customers in real time of their work order status through notifications and alerts
• Acquire electronic signatures from the client at the end of a work order
• Track your contractual commitments (punctuality, response times, recovery times) in order to improve it even further the next time
• Grant customers access to a portal that allows them to plan their own work orders