This attitude is all too prevalent within the modern entrepreneur community. Where is this attitude popping up the most? You might have guessed it; the service industry. Think about it. The service industry often involves comprehensive tasks such as scheduling, taking customer feedback notes, relaying information to field employees (aka techs,) and also selling new potential clients as proactively as possible! It is for this reason that an industry-specific info system is so imperative. We’ll begin by discussing what one is and then preview some of the benefits that one might offer.
Explain how it Works
The most popular example of field service management software would be restaurant software. Many of us have had jobs within this field, at one point or another, and we know how the point of sale screens and other user interfaces work. The idea behind any service industry IS is the same. One type of end user will gather information pertaining to new or existing clients and then enter it into the system. The system, depending on the type of information and what needs to occur operations wise, will take care of the rest. Technicians are scheduled (aka servers sent out,) in-house items are prepared for customer interactions (aka the cook receives a grill ticket,) and etc… The software organizes it all and directs the information through the correct operational work-flow.
I’m Sold…Share some Benefits
Speed would have to be the first benefit to come to mind. Not enough people know, making a paper schedule is extremely time-consuming! Some of these packages go as far as spitting the estimated schedule out based off of information feed into it! You can’t get any faster than that. This is especially true when considering that the end user was feeding it data as he worked and did things he was already required to do.
Are there any Benefits Outside of Speed?
Well, even though they certainly make errors, the IS is actually less statistically likely to make a scheduling error than you are. This means there is the benefit of enjoying a higher level of accuracy. Also, the software makes field employees better prepared to do their jobs by requiring user interaction and input to close a work ticket. It just seems as though every employee, from every department, is more in tune with their goals for each customer with these systems.
Then there is the Biggest Benefit of them all
Perhaps the most important benefit to enjoy is the fact that you have freed up the time to concentrate on other, less mundane, business tasks. These packages allow the entrepreneur to be more of a boardroom employee and less of an office one! The time saved on no longer manually scheduling alone…just think about it. Everybody saves time to work at a higher level really. All of the customer’s needs have been organized, presented, and tackled. An ambient employee (aka a leader,) will say something along the lines of, “I’m bored now, how can I make my department better?”
