There comes a time, when a piece of paper or an excel file is no longer enough to get current tasks under control in a service tasks management. If you’re reading this post, I assume you don’t need to be convinced of the benefits of using tools that support planning and order management. Choosing the right tool is difficult and affects the quality of our work and that of the entire team.
The most important features of service management software
Service management tools should make it easier to organize work and improve communication with customers and colleagues. Here are the functionalities that should be available in any good service order management system:
- The ability to create and edit orders in a simple and intuitive way, broken down by milestones, priorities, deadlines and responsible parties.
- The ability to track the progress and status of orders, both by contractors and by customers, with the ability to send notifications, comments and attachments.
- Ability to generate reports and statistics on completed and current orders, broken down by category, time, cost and quality.
- Ability to integrate with other tools and applications,
- Ability to customize the tool to your own needs and preferences, with the ability to create your own templates, filters and views.
How to choose the right field service management tool?
When choosing a service management tool, we should consider many factors. First, we need to consider what actual tasks we want to perform with its help, what functions are crucial for us and what goals we want to achieve. To begin with, I have suggested 5 questions to think about when choosing a field service management tool.
Question 1: What do we actually want to manage?
Depending on whether we are interested only in order management or complex organization of team and project work, we will consider other tools. It’s worth thinking about it carefully, so that we don’t end up with a “sledgehammer to crack a nut” or, on the contrary, something insufficient. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves, whether we need an entire management platform, or is a simple task list enough?
Question 2 – what additional tasks do we want to perform?
What, besides order management, should the application enable? Do we need support for communication between service technicians and coordinators? Do we need a database of customers and facilities and advanced reporting features?
Or do we only need a place where we assign orders to the right people? How should the implemented solution support our processes and streamline our work? Do we expect to automate certain processes? Do we expect the selected application to have the ability to integrate with other applications we already use? Or do we want to replace some current solutions? Is it important for us to give the client access to the system?
Question 3. How big are our projects/teams and how do we work?
What scale are we talking about? Do you handle dozens of orders per day or a few per week? Are they large installation projects lasting weeks and requiring complex documentation or simple service orders of a few hours?
Do you need features for reporting or forecasting? Let’s also consider whether this tool is to be used only by managers for planning and supervision or to be used by the entire service team. How often do working conditions change and how flexible do we need to be to adapt?
Do we work mainly in the office or in the field? Do we need to access the tool via smartphone or tablet?
Question 4: What is your budget?
Another, but no less important, question is the cost of the tool. How much can we allocate to purchase or subscribe to the app? Is the fee fixed or does it depend on the number of users or orders? Are there any hidden costs or additional fees for premium features? Can we take advantage of a free trial period or demo version?
Question 5 What “digital capabilities” have the people who will use it?
This will determine how complex a tool we can choose. When implementing a new tool, we must remember that any change takes time and that people, as a rule, are not fond of change. Developing habits of using the new tool can also often be problematic. The more complex the tool we choose, the higher the entry threshold of our users.
We need to balance this well so that the tool is actually supportive and not frustrating. If it’s too difficult, people won’t use it or will treat using it as a punishment.
Summary
Choosing the right service management tool is not easy, but it is worth taking the time to analyze our needs and expectations. This will allow us to find the solution that best suits our business and will help us increase the efficiency and quality of our work.
It is important to find a tool that meets your expectations and fits your work style. Together with the Serwico team, we have created a system that supports field service management on many levels.
Serwico is a modern solution for service companies that want to streamline and automate their operations. Serwico allows easy management of service requests, scheduling of periodic maintenance, and maintaining a database of customers and service technicians.
Serwico runs in the cloud, so you don’t need to install any software on your computer. All you have to do is register on the website and invite your users. Serwico is also available as a mobile app for service technicians to check and process orders in the field.
Our system is flexible and adapts to your needs. You can create your own order types and protocols, set your own statuses and priorities, and customize the workflow to suit your company’s specific needs.
Serwico is the perfect tool for service companies that want to improve the quality and efficiency of their services. Check it out for yourself and join Serwico today!
