How the right Field Service Management system
In the ever-competitive world of field service management, simply showing up on time or meeting an SLA is not enough to maintain customer satisfaction. To win and retain service contracts, you need to solve the problem, and you need to do it the first time.
Improving first-time fix rates (FTFRs) requires full visibility of the spare parts stock carried across a business at any time so field service engineers can be correctly and efficiently deployed. With potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds invested in valuable stock, and service profit that relies on using that stock quickly and effectively, investing in the right system has never been more important.
Why FTFRs matter
Customers want their problems solved. Doing that on the first visit is not just a good idea, it is the key to providing a profitable service that customers value. Service businesses are being pulled in many different directions by economic and environmental policies and pressures, but it is vital to not lose sight of what matters to your business and your customers. Don’t give customers a reason to complain, or worse yet, switch you for the competition. By helping them you help yourself.
First-Time Fix Rate, according to The Aberdeen Group, is impacted by:
- Parts unavailability (i.e., incorrect or no part available) – 29%
- Customer/asset not available for service – 28%
- Improper diagnosis at time of dispatch – 19%
- Technician did not have right skills – 15%
- Resolution was only temporary – 8%
With the lack of correct spare parts accounting for 29% of FTFR failures, investing in a robust critical spare parts management system is crucial.
Critical Spare Parts Management
Those responsible for the auditing and procurement of spare parts in any service organisation will know only too well how difficult it can be to keep tabs on inventory.
UK businesses are reported to lose around 190m every year as a result of theft. They lose even more by simply not having a system to track parts and consumable items. By automating the process of ordering, tracking and reserving parts for jobs, stock loss is minimised, administration is dramatically reduced, and first/second time fix-rates increase.
Service Management organisations, that often have hundreds of thousands of pounds invested in valuable stock, need the security of a parts management system to ensure every spare part and the value of that part is accounted for, whether it is held in a van, a warehouse, at a pickup, drop off point (PUDO) or a forward stock location.
Service profit relies on using that value quickly and effectively and this means achieving first time fix on as many calls as possible A good Field Service Management System will allow you to automate your stock management and parts ordering to ensure FTFR, accurate billing and stock control. Furthermore, automating the mundane improves administrative accuracy and can reduce back-office headcount.
How the right Field Service Management Software can help
Parts management is often managed via spreadsheets and time-consuming stock audits but a platform that can automate every aspect of the process including supplier management and customer billing adds accuracy and value.
Having a system that offers sales order and purchase order processes is essential, enabling your service business to complete more jobs per day without having to add additional back-office headcount to handle mundane administration.
Aeromark field service management system offers automated vehicle stock templates to control which parts engineers need onboard to complete the jobs. As stock is used, the, the van stock replenishment system automatically sends orders to your supplier to replenish stock.
Whilst out on a call, field service engineers can provide quotations and have easy access to ordering nonstandard parts from menus with real-time pricing via their hand-held devices, avoiding back-office administration and lengthy delays.
The system also provides a complete audit trail of transactions. It can even allow users to add unused parts back into stock so that every item can be accounted for to avoid tying up cash in overstocks.
The system will identify at what rate the part can be charged at as well as automatically applying the correct schedule of rates for the labour. Finally, three-way matching ensures the invoicing is accurate.
The visibility and control afforded by a Field Service Management system ensures critical data is available as required so your business can maintain customer satisfaction and service profit and not tie up cashflow in unconnected parts management.
To find out more about Aeromark Field Service Management Software, get in touch with our team today.
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Sharon Dewdney is Aeromark's Head of Technical Delivery. She creates a collaborative link between the project delivery and technical teams within Aeromark.
Aeromark’s smart Service Management platform transforms the efficiency of service-based businesses. The Aeromark suite, including Service and Asset Management, Optimised Workforce Scheduling, Mobile Apps, GPS tracking, Interactive Portals, and Insight Analytics, provides one of the most comprehensive and powerful Field Service Management solutions available, delivering previously unattainable efficiency and customer experience improvements.
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