BEST PRACTICE GUIDE:

Flawless Dispatch andWork Order Management

The drill starts with customer calls coming in, field

technicians rushing out and repairs happening in the

field. It’s really nothing new, but have you ever

thought about the little things that keep your service

organization from offering flawless field service?

It could be simple stuff like, not being able to find

customer information or service history or not being

able to confirm a technician’s location. Are you

ready to go back and reevaluate the entire service

delivery process?

Luckily, here are three time-tested best practices

that can help you rethink field service. Practiced

everyday by more than 300 companies worldwide,

these best practices are well thought out, easy to

adopt and help you perfect your entire service

delivery chain from initial customer call to work

order close.

BEST PRACTICE GUIDE SERIES

DAY AFTER DAY - FIELD SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS GO ABOUT SERVING CUSTOMERS IN VERY SIMILAR WAYS

Empower the Call Center FIELD SERVICE IS REACTIVE

When a customer calls, you don’t know who’s on the other end or

what problem they are facing. All you know is that they are

expecting you to fix it. It is nerve racking. As the front office agent

taking the call, don’t wipe your brow yet. What happens when the

field engineer arrives at the customer site? Does he have every-

thing he needs to fix the problem on that visit? How do you

ensure that the tech arrives on time, has the right parts and

leaves the customer delighted? The answer is in how you

prepare them with the right field service tools. Being proactive

during your call center routine is key.

No matter who handles the call, confirming the customer is

entitled to the service visit, checking the customer’s installed

product details, looking up the service contract or warranty and

then making sure the right technician is sent to the job can all

have a huge impact on your customer’s satisfaction. Let your

customer be amazed at how prepared you are to take care of his

problem.

Tools that alert call center agents to who’s calling combined with

an integrated customer relationship management solution can

not only help agents prepare field technicians for what’s coming

next, but also help them manage customers’ expectations for the

upcoming service visit.

† Miller, Mark. “Do You Love Me? JD Powers Top Drivers of Customer Satisfaction in the Call Center.” PowerPoint presentation, March 27th 2012.

One of the top and increasing drivers of customer satisfaction in the call center is “concern for the customer” with a 15% increase in importance year-over-year.†

WHY YOUR CASE MANAGEMENT PROCESS MATTERS

CUSTOMERSCALL

HANDLERSTROUBLESHOOT

VALIDATE CUSTOMER& CHECK ENTITLEMENT

RESOLVED

DISPATCH

Create the Perfect Scheduling View DISPATCH IS NOT JUST TAKING A CALL, LOOKING UP A CUSTOMER ADDRESS AND ROUTING THE NEXT AVAILABLE TECHNICIAN

There’s a lot of information involved and, more often than not, it

lives in the dispatcher’s head. Which techs are preferred at each

customer, what territories they cover and what technicians are

eligible to do a job are amazing details to have at the top of your

mind, but no service organization can be profitable running on

human “memory-power”. These are critical details that are

susceptible to turnover. By recreating some of that tribal

knowledge as a document, database or automated system, you

start to streamline your scheduling process.

Think about all the key pieces of information you need to make

the perfect match between your service team, the customer, their

expectations and the problem at hand. Now, make sure those

pieces are at the dispatcher’s fingertips.

Empower your schedulers with an effective console to show

every technician’s schedule, filter the technicians based on

expertise, availability, proximity or other eligibility criteria and

alert dispatchers to critical jobs and high service level

agreements. With the right dispatch console, the right technician

will be dispatched for the right job, every single time.

†Dutta, Sumair, “First-Time Fix: The Underappreciated Field Service Metric,” Field Technologies Online, August 23, 2013, http://www.fieldtechnologie-sonline.com/doc/first-time-fix-the-underappreciated-field-service-metric-0001, accessed December 2013.

First-time-fix rates and customer satisfaction go hand-in-hand. Organizations with first-time-fix rates below 50% also have customer satisfaction scores below the 50% level.†

WHY YOUR DISPATCH PROCESS MATTERS

CALLHANDLERS

INTERACTIVEDISPATCH CONSOLE

SkillsExpertise

ProductSpecialization

Capacity &Availability

SLACommitments

DISPATCH

Create the Perfect Scheduling View

The average service organization that adopted mobile technology experienced a 7% increase in productivity due to the elimination of paperwork.†

Boost Your Field Technicians' ProductivityTECHNICIANS HAVE ENOUGH DISTRACTIONS

Cell phones ringing for customer emergencies, global positioning

maps to figure out, trunk-stock to check - why would you want to

add paper time logs, checklists and manual work orders to that

list? Yes, these are necessary evils, but these paper demons are a

thing of the past now.

To maximize utilization, equip your technicians with a smart mobile

device, such as an iPad. The technician has everything he needs

in the palm of his hand. He can pull up the work order, get driving

directions, look up parts pricing, present a pro-forma invoice,

capture the customer’s signature on the spot and close the work

order when he is done. With an end-to-end field service tool that is

easy-to-use and intuitive techs will stay focused on fixing

customer issues.

A fast repair or maintenance is critical – it saves the customer

billable hours and keeps their business running, while it gets your

technician on to the next job. It’s a win-win situation.

Shake up your field service delivery process. Call today and ask about Rapid -- ServiceMax’s best practice implementation that will get you on the road to flawless field service, fast.

† Sumair Dutta, Aly Pinder Jr., “Field Service 2012: The Right Technician,” Aberdeen Group, February 2012.

WHY YOUR WORK ORDER PROCESS MATTERS

ACCEPTWORK ORDER

PARTS CALL DEBRIEF& LOG VISIT

WORK ORDERCLOSED

DIAGNOSE RESOLVED

SIGNATURE CAPTURE& SUMMARY REPORT