These are undoubtedly unprecedented times, which have caused important changes for field service companies and the way they manage work with their custom field service software, like Synchroteam.
Now that we’re already in mid-2020, it’s time to take a look back at the past six months and analyze the top trends in field service. A necessary time to take a break, reflect on what has happened so far and foresee possible effects on the remainder of 2020.
The coronavirus pandemic is like an earthquake, followed by a tsunami. It has shaken the pillars of human society worldwide, impacting it both at an economic and sanitary level. Even today, meses after the outbreak was detected in China, the way you work and do business in your field service company is still affected. And of course, customer loyalty also suffers the consequences of this unprecedented situation.
According to the International Monetary Fund, this is the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. The organization predicts that global growth in 2020 will fall to a 3%, which is 6.3 percentage points from January this year. Countries are in lockdown, stores are closed, people are confined at home… how do you gain and retain customer loyalty these days? Let’s take a look.
Acting quickly in an emergency, like the one we’re immersed right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is vital. Unlike other industry areas, field service is generally considered an essential service. This means they’re expected to deliver an emergency response in a timely manner. In other words, your field service company cannot afford to stop working in these times.
On the contrary: it’s precisely field service companies in many different areas (medical, energy, maintenance…) the ones fighting to keep the world running during the coronavirus outbreak. In disasters such as this one, there are important key points you can’t miss in order to accelerate emergency response times. Here’s a few tips you should consider!
The reality of managing and running your field service company has dramatically changed over the course of the last few weeks. The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down and altered the way we work and interact with each other.
Amidst the chaos, your field service company probably falls into the category of essential services. This means you’re allowed to work even if your government has ruled a general lockdown for the country during the pandemic. But besides still providing service to your customers, you need to be taking precautions to protect your team.
We’ve already given a few tips on how to confront the coronavirus pandemic from your field service business. Here’s a few more to learn how to virtualize your office, and therefore reduce contagion risks.
In this blog we usually talk about the different ways technology can help you with your field service company. From social media to field service software like Synchroteam, technology can make a difference in your business. However, in the last few weeks the world is facing an unprecedented crisis caused by COVID-19… and everyone must make the appropriate changes to adapt to this new situation.
This means that, instead of talking about how you can keep your field service company running with the help of technology, we need to think how to basically keep the world running during this COVID-19 crisis.
For a field service business, this is quite the task. Being by nature the kind of work that requires moving around a lot, you need to take certain important considerations into account. In other words, you must adapt your business to the current situation – with no plans or blueprints for orientation at all.
With this in mind, here are a few tips that can help you ensure the safety and health of your teams and customers while maintaining your field service company up and running during the battle against COVID-19.
It’s everywhere these days – and we’re not referring just to news outlets and social media platforms. Coronavirus is not a just a public health risk anymore. It’s responsible for manufacturing shutdowns, event cancellations and heavy fluctuations in the stock market. All of which, in turn, can have a negative effect on the field service area.
In fact, the harsh reality for field service professionals is that they must make a few necessary adjustments in order to overcome new business challenges created by coronavirus. As temporal shutdowns impact the availability of resources, field service companies will have to change the way they work with inventory management, service pricing and customer support.
Amidst the current situation of confusion about the full extent of the impact caused by the coronavirus outbreak, it’s important to make those adjustments as soon as possible and start acting now. Only with a quick, accurate response will field service pros hopefully soften the economic blow on their business. And here are five tips to get you started!
Have you heard about The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? You probably have, because this book by Stephen Covey has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide since it was first published back in 1989. But why are we talking about books in a field service blog? Because it turns out that many of the ideas provided by Covey can be translated into the field service area.
So let’s take those seven basic points developed by Covey, and apply them to the most important elements in any field service organization. You’ll be surprised at how much you can improve with just a slight change in your mindset.
What is team routing, exactly? Well, imagine you’re in charge of a field service company (easy to picture, I guess), When you’re in this position, your success depends on several key elements. For starters, you need a team of highly skilled technicians who can work efficiently with professional results. You also need to have a minimum stock of common parts, and a fleet of company vehicles. Not to mention the necessary organizational skills to keep the company up and running – and eventually, turning a profit!
It may sound simple, like a set of basic skills, but the truth is that sometimes it’s harder than it looks. And the one thing that helps you put everything together and achieve success is, precisely, team routing.
By planning the routes your technicians will follow during the day, you help them complete more jobs in less time. Also, it’s a great way to make sure you waste no extra fuel and time in crossing the town from one side to the other and back again.
Here’s a few tips and tech tools that can help you optimize your team routing and therefore increase efficiency in your field service company.
Technology can help deliver a great customer experience, there’s no discussion about that. But besides artificial intelligence, digital assistants, big data, internet of things and all those other tools derived from today’s technology, sometimes all you need is to go back to basics.
Surely modern communication systems enable you to keep in touch with your customers more easily. What’s more, field service software like Synchroteam can be a real asset when thriving to provide the best customer experience. However, it could also be fun if this year you chose a few, say, different ways to connect with your customers and build better relationships with them.
Here’s a few ideas to inspire you to achieve excellent customer experience in 2020!
From upcoming cutting-edge technology and growing customer expectations, to new service delivery models and an evolving workforce, surely there are many important changes and field service trends coming to the industry in this year.
And in order to stay ahead of competitors, one needs to be flexible, anticipate customer needs and adapt to new times and new technologies.
Here are the main trends that we expect to rule the industry of field service in the next few months.
Field service trends in 2020
