If your company recently invested in field service technology, you’re already on the right path to future-proofing your field service operation. The next step is to connect your field service management solution to your customer relationship management (CRM) platform to get a complete view of your customer – and then gauge its effectiveness. 

There are eight key metrics to measure progress, from the tactical – such as first-time fix rate and time to site – to the holy grail: customer satisfaction. Read on to see how your company stacks up. If you’re not seeing improvements, we’ve outlined simple fixes and capabilities that can power positive results.

1. Have you seen a decrease in call volume?

Customers want service on their terms, and they want it to be as easy as placing an order for food delivery or requesting a ride through Uber – with an accurate, up-to-the-minute estimated time of arrival. If your dispatchers are still fielding a high volume of calls with scheduling requests and status updates, implement the following:  

• Self-service capabilities. Enable self-service through a customer portal on your site or your customer-facing app. Customers can make and change requests and access a knowledge base with answers to frequently asked questions, like how to access service history or when it’s time for asset maintenance.

• Automated notifications. Keep customers in the know with automated updates via email, SMS, or the customer portal when a mobile worker is nearby or if there is a delay.

• Live tracking. Give customers the ability to see where a mobile worker is on a map with an arrival calculation, similar to what you would see on a ride-sharing app.

2. Are mobile workers improving their time to site?

Nothing diminishes customer satisfaction faster than an inaccurate estimated time of arrival – it wastes their valuable time. If you’ve implemented a connected solution but mobile workers are still not getting to their job sites on time, leverage the following:

• Route optimization. Help dispatchers effectively manage each location, find the shortest routes, and facilitate planning journeys with a full map view from their screen. 

• Intelligent planning. Eliminate dispatcher bias by using intelligence with a full view of the field to assign (and reassign) the right mobile worker for each job based on location, availability, skill set, and equipment.  

• Geolocation tracking. Embed GPS technology into the field service app to navigate mobile workers to the shortest route to site and give dispatchers a bird’s eye view of resources in the field.

3. Have you boosted the number of jobs per day?

The major benefit of a field service management solution is deep visibility into the field. Dispatchers optimize simple or complex scheduling and take on more jobs by seeing as little as two weeks and as much as six months ahead to make appointments and account for absences. However, if you’re taking on the same amount of jobs per week as you did prior to implementation, ensure dispatchers are using workforce analytics to assign jobs based on a set of business rules:

• Location

• Skill set

• Worker availability

• Equipment availability

• Inventory on hand

Dispatchers can also intelligently flow each mobile worker’s schedule and reassign tasks on the fly in the event of delays or scheduling crossover with a view of preexisting schedules.

4. Is the amount of first-time fix rates going up?

If mobile workers still struggle with first-visit resolution, ensure they have the best mobile capabilities in the field:

• Consolidated information. Give mobile workers access to job information, customer data, task details, asset history, connected device insight, and schedules from their mobile devices to prepare them before they even walk through the door.

• Offline and online capabilities. Oftentimes, jobs happen in remote areas without cell service. With offline capabilities, mobile workers can download customer information ahead of time and log updates offline that sync once reconnected to data or Wi-Fi.

• Ongoing support. Empower mobile workers with helpful resources for more complex cases, such as knowledge articles and video tutorials available from their app. Offer the option for mobile workers to connect directly with a remote agent via phone or chat to walk through the right solution. 

5. Has customer satisfaction improved?

Historically field service had little-to-no visibility into customer satisfaction (unless, of course, a customer called with a complaint). If you’re still in the dark on satisfaction, give customers the ability to provide feedback seamlessly through your portal, email, or SMS. You can close the feedback loop with a short survey, open-ended questionnaire, or direct outreach on everything from appointment booking to the experience with a mobile worker.

6. Has employee turnover decreased?

Field service sees a high turnover rate from mobile workers who struggle to get paid on time due to slow, manual time-tracking and approval processes. If turnover is still high, embed time-tracking capabilities into the field service app and create timesheet templates for week or month-long periods that track tasks, travel, and break time. Mobile workers clock in and out from their mobile devices, and the payment process is expedited.

7. Is there a reduction in costs?

Your connected field service management solution drives efficiencies for dispatchers and improves productivity in the field with a complete view of the customer. If you have yet to see a reduction in costs because of it, consider the following:

• Faster time to invoice. Most mobile workers still use a sheet of paper that initiates the invoicing process, but there’s a high chance that paper gets lost along the way from the field to the office. By giving mobile workers a digital notice through their app, job completion is confirmed from their mobile device, and customers are invoiced faster. 

• Flow of processes. Optimize field service with a simple flow of processes that require minimal effort through field service automation. Intelligent scheduling helps dispatchers assign the most skilled and available mobile workers and map out planning journeys that reduce windshield time and potential overtime costs.

• Job status. Mobile workers log updates before, during, and after appointments to give dispatchers a real-time view of job status and effectively create planning journeys.

8. Are mobile workers generating sales leads?

If a customer needs a costly repair or replacement, a mobile worker can guide them through their options. If you haven’t already empowered mobile workers to capture sales opportunities, connect sales capabilities to your field service management solution. Mobile workers attach opportunities when they log job updates from their mobile device, which filter to reps who can follow up with customers for a personalized sales experience.

If you’ve noted opportunities for improvement after comparing your field service operation against these core metrics, take our field service basics guided learning path to ensure you’re making the most of your field service management solution.