Achieving Service Excellence Through Effective Capturing of Field Service Data

According to a research report by the Aberdeen group on field service, the no. 1 reason why customers were unhappy or dissatisfied with the service they received, was that the technicians could not fix the issue the first time.
This shows how important it is for the technicians to get service right the first time.

With the traditional system of field service, technicians relied on handwritten notes and manually filled forms, all done on the fly or while at the customer’s site, which they would later re-enter into the office systems. This process eats away a lot of time, at the office as well as at the customer’s site, which can cause further dissatisfaction on their end.
It is high time that the technicians cut down on this time too.

New age mobile field service systems provide several facilities like audio, image and text notes, along with a comprehensive knowledge repository for technicians to refer to, while at their work site. These help in capturing and utilizing data from onsite, in the most effective way. Let’s see how.

To record job details instantly with forms and notes

Instead of writing down field notes on paper, the technicians can record job details like activities done, parts replaced or ordered, procedures and the like on easy-to-fill forms and notes available on the field service mobile app. And these forms are integrated with the back-end or office system, which automatically processes the notes in a matter of seconds, thereby saving hours of data entry and paperwork.

To ease the ordeal of actually writing

Voice notes or audio notes! This feature gives the obvious benefit of not having to go through the ordeal of actually writing or even typing notes while fixing a customer’s broken asset. The technicians can simply speak into the mobile device whilst working, and their notes get recorded.
Now you probably have sound recorders, just for this purpose, but you need to bring them back to your office and re-enter them onto the system, which again adds to the time.
Voice recording systems integrated with your field service solutions can automatically do the job in much less time and store it against the particular job type and job number, in the knowledge repository for future reference.

To capture the exact details

It goes without saying how impactful an image can be. Just like any other industry, an image can help effectively deliver accurate information even in field service. For example, the technicians can capture the images of a broken part or asset, parts that need replacement, tools that they require etc. and have them fixed. Such information can be extremely useful for the inventory management team to stock up on necessary items.It can also help the technicians look back and check previous conditions of a particular asset so that they can analyze the cause of the current condition.
These pictures are also instantly captured, processed and reported back to the office for effective analysis later.

To backup your technicians’ knowledge with a repository

A treasure trove of knowledge for your technicians to rely on anytime in the future. That’s what a knowledge repository serves to be, with all the information collected with the help of audio, image notes etc. on site. It provides instant access to crucial information for field service like technical documentation, instruction manuals, product manuals, repairs history and the like. With the help of the cloud, it can be accessed from anywhere and at any time by the technicians, thereby helping in fixing issues quickly and easily.

This way data from the field can be captured effectively, and can be utilized to improve service to customers.

Service excellence is increasingly becoming the expected standard in field service these days. And with the tight competition in the industry, all in the quest to win over more customers, it might just mean a matter of survival for field service companies.

The world of field service has actually become more complex now, with all the new technological advancements and new opportunities being identified to speed up issue resolution. But the end goal remains the same for every company in the industry – to keep customers happy and satisfied.

On our next blog, we’ll see how such data captured from the field can be utilized in the best possible way. Stay tuned!