Embracing Mobility and Improving Customer Service
It’s no secret that tablets and smartphones are transforming the field service industry. In fact, more and more companies are equipping their field service representatives with these powerful devices in order to improve productivity and communication and reduce operational costs. But these devices do more than just save your company a little money on paper, they also dramatically improve the experiences of field service customers.
You may think your reps are doing just fine without tablets or smartphones, but the implementation of these devices could be the difference between okay customer service and excellent customer service. Allow us to explain how embracing mobility will lead to satisfied customers who keep coming back.
Faster, more efficient processes.
The elimination of paper forms and contracts means that employees can process payment information and work requests faster. Your employees will never again have to waste all of their time manually transferring information from paper to computer. Instead, your reps can have their customers fill out a form on their device, and their information will be processed instantly.
Tablets and smartphones also drastically improve communication with the field. Need your rep to complete another work order? Rather than waiting for them to return to the office, you can communicate with them instantly through various instant messenger apps, making phone calls and emails things of the past. Improved communication leads to faster response times, which means less wait time for your customers.
Real-time communication and GPS.
You know what field service customers just hate? Being told that a rep will be at their house between noon and 5. “Great, there goes my whole day then!” What customers really want is to know exactly when they have to be home, not some vague, large window of time in which they have to stay home doing nothing.
Equip you reps with tablets and/or smartphones, and you will be able to use field service management software to track your reps in real-time. The ability to see exactly where your reps are and what they’re doing enables you to provide your clients with more accurate departure and arrival times. Additionally, when a new order is placed, you can figure out which of your technicians is closest to the client so that you can provide lightning-fast response times.
Better customer experience on the site.
Nothing’s worse than having to wait hours for a technician who doesn’t even know what you need, and then having to explain again what you need from them. With tablets and smartphones, your reps will constantly be alerted and notified if and when changes are made to work orders, or if work orders are canceled, so reps and customers are always on the same page.
In addition, your reps will be able to provide their customers with accurate invoices instantly, and capture their digital signatures, both of which make for a better, more professional field service experience for customers.
Access to important information on the job.
When your reps complete work orders, customers are bound to have questions, questions your reps aren’t always able to answer off the top of their head. Your reps can’t be expected to know everything, but it does make for a bad customer experience if your rep can’t answer a customer’s question, or has to leave and come back to complete the work order another day.
Equip your reps with tablets and smartphones, and they will always be able to answer customers’ questions without fail. Your reps will be able to look up valuable information, like parts inventory, warranty information, and technical documents. This will allow your reps to resolve pretty much any issue on-site, leading to a higher first-time fix rate, happier customers, and more repeat business.
This article was written by Jeffrey Mortensen from Business2Community and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
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