In 2013, Forrester announced the beginning of the age of the customer, “a 20-year business cycle in which the most successful enterprises will reinvent themselves to systematically understand and serve increasingly powerful customers.” The age of the customer continues to dominate as organizations continue to try to deliver exceptional service.

Increased Customer Demands on Field Service Delivery

New technology and innovation continue to shape customer interactions with companies. Consumerization has become an absolute imperative. Customers now expect instant gratification and information, whether it’s the ability to watch newly released films on-demand or know precisely where their Uber is located.

These expectations are no different when it comes to what consumers want from organizations that deliver field service support. They expect to have their needs met quickly and efficiently on the first visit. To support these ever-increasing demands, it’s essential to equip field technicians with mobile tools.

Field Service Success is in Your Technician’s Hands

To set field teams up for success, technicians require the correct information delivered at the right time in context to help them satisfy these increased customer demands and deliver an exceptional customer experience (CX).

The best way to put valuable data in technicians’ hands is to leverage mobile devices. This enables workforces to stay connected and empowers field teams with information to resolve customers’ problems the first time around. Several ways mobile tools contribute to field service success include:

  • Providing access to real-time data such as an asset’s history, the company’s inventory, availability of parts, and more
  • Offering step-by-step workflows and contextual information with intelligence that supports technicians of any tenure to complete highly complex work
  • Enabling increased collaboration with the ability to hand off work that’s in progress, streamlining activities
  • Delivering training and support materials such as photos and videos that provide immediate guidance

The use of mobile tools in field services ensures greater efficiency and faster first-time fix rates. Productivity is enhanced compared to pen and paper and other time-consuming methods. Field service technicians can now gain support and record data about their work with a tap of a finger on a smart device.

Technicians are the Face of Customer Service Success

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores have increased in importance for companies with field service teams. FSN Research discovered that 51% of companies are now equally weighing operations-centered KPIs and CSAT-oriented KPIs.

Technicians hold an incredible amount of sway in positively influencing customer satisfaction. In a study by Qualtrics XM Institute, almost 80% of consumers will forgive a bad experience they’ve had if they’ve rated the service team as “very good.”

Given their proximity to the customer and increased profile as trusted advisors, field technicians are the face of an organization in this age of the consumer. Results from a survey performed by Field Service News showed that 27% of organizations believe the primary function of field service workers is to be an ambassador for their company’s brand.

[Related: What Do Technicians Have to Say About the Future of Field Service?]

Mobile Tools Provide a Competitive Advantage

The end goal for all sophisticated field service teams is to become customer-centric. It is a major differentiator for one’s business. Beyond ensuring customer satisfaction, mobile tools can also help organizations achieve results such as:

  • Increased revenue. Technicians can generate additional profit given their deep understanding of how customers use the product. They’re able to add complementary products and services based on these interactions.
  • Elimination of operational silos. Information becomes bi-directional, flowing from the field to the back-office and back again. Employees can leverage valuable data from existing business systems for greater operational efficiency. This can have profound business impacts, from improved warranty claims processes to better asset engineering. More teams have greater access to field information that is relevant to their team’s goals.
  • Enhanced safety. Providing field teams with guided instructions and contextual information when using a mobile app ensures they’re not skipping any important steps which could put them in danger.
  • Employee retention. Data from The Service Council’s Voice of the Field Service Engineer survey shows how CX is linked to a positive employee experience. By providing your technicians with contextual information to their on-site workflows, they can pair their expertise with relevant data to perform their field work and provide your customer with service and information that they now expect.

In this age of the customer, the rewards gained from embracing mobile tools are far-reaching. It’s time to enhance your field service platform with mobile tools like apps and forms to exceed the consumer’s needs at every stage of their journey.

 

ABOUT Huberto Garza

Avatar photoHuberto Garza is the alliances manager at ProntoForms for the Premier ISV Partnership with ServiceMax. He works with channel partners, customers, and prospects to unlock the value of ProntoForms integrated with platform solutions like ServiceMax and Salesforce for service organizations. Huberto has performed customer-facing roles in sales engineering, customer success and service delivery focused on business transformation through SaaS and mobile technologies.