Benefits of mobile apps for work order management

Key Takeaways:

Here’s a quick overview of how mobile apps improve work order management:

• Technicians can access work orders in real time, including schedules, routes, customer information, and inventory status, whether they are online or offline.
• Route optimization reduces travel time, fuel consumption, and vehicle mileage by adapting to traffic and unforeseen events in real time.
• Paper and phone calls are replaced by electronic forms and instant messaging, reducing costs and enhancing the accuracy and speed of reporting.
• Technicians with all the information on-site achieve higher first-time fix rates and greater productivity.
• Real-time status updates, electronic signatures, and self-service ordering portals lead to higher customer satisfaction.

Companies that manage mobile teams and field technicians face multiple field service management challenges. Work order mismanagement can seriously affect productivity and impair organizational performance. That’s why a SaaS-based (hosted in the cloud) mobile workforce app offers many compelling benefits.

What Are the Growing Challenges of Work Order Management?

An Aberdeen Group report (Service mobility : The right technology for the tech) noted that, according to the companies surveyed, the first strategic action for work order management is the integration of field data into a company’s information system. Additionally, the report observed that leading Field Service Management companies are 71% more likely than their competitors to develop a standardized mobile strategy across their organization. These findings show that the speed of qualitative information transmission, as well as the adoption of mobile field service management solutions, are two key success factors. Indeed, they appear to be essential to the work order management sector as related to: 

• Route optimization
• Instantaneous data transmission
• Collection and processing of reliable field information
• Development of relevant performance metrics
• Optimization of customer satisfaction

6 constraints that affect mobile technicians

Every day, field technicians must manage multiple tasks and demands. Often, it isn’t their expertise or the difficulty of the work order that’s problematic. It’s everything else:  

• Route planning (by the driver or the technician) requires optimization in the face of changing traffic conditions. Vehicle-related problems, such as breakdown and maintenance, can also cause work order cancellations.
• Field technicians don’t always have all the necessary work order information, including location, accessibility, type of device or operation, necessary equipment, and spare parts.
• Data collected by the technician, if it’s paper-based and/or unstructured, may be incomplete, subject to interpretation, or illegible. Not to mention that paperwork can be lost before being transmitted to the service center where the data is manually entered.
• Spare parts management can be complicated if the technician does not have real-time knowledge of inventory status and material availability.
• A work order can quickly become a failure if the site is inaccessible.
• In the event of unforeseen circumstances (e.g., canceled appointment or emergency work order planning), the technician must be informed quickly. The route must be re-optimized, according to these new parameters.

• Customer communication can also be problematic, especially if the technician doesn’t have accurate contact information. Poor communication multiplies the negative consequences: a dissatisfied customer and an embarrassed technician or field service dispatcher.

Can operational costs be reduced while improving productivity?

For field service organizations, this is the heart of the matter: greater efficiency reduces costs and increases field service productivity. But achieving this goal is not that easy. Communication among the service center and the planners, the field workers and the customers needs to be seamless. It is also essential to have reliable data so that costs can be analyzed (e.g., fuel costs or storage space).  

Can escalating customer demands be met?

Another major issue around field service work order management is the prospect of satisfying ever more demanding customers. 68% of field service management professionals believe that customer satisfaction is the most important quality of service metric. That’s because customer satisfaction is tied to the profit generated and the First-Time Fix Rate. Plus, as we all know, the churn rate of dissatisfied customers churn is very high. 

Can service organizations set themselves apart?

Competition is stiff in the service sector so the leading players are continuously developing ways to optimize their performance. According to the Aberdeen Group, the benchmark service companies are:  

• 33% more likely to use mobile field service management tools for their field technicians
• 20% more likely to access data and performance indicators in real time
• 2.8 times more likely to use mobile technologies to enter new work orders and have them validated by the service center.

What Are the Benefits of a Mobile Work Order Management App?

A SaaS-based field service management solution allows you to achieve significant efficiency and productivity gains using a single mobile application.  

1. Increase the efficiency of your field technicians

By choosing a field service management solution, such as Praxedo, you’ll give your technicians real-time access to all the work order information they need. With them every step of the way, the field service mobile application provides:

• Schedules: accessible online 24/7 on all types of devices (e.g., phone, laptop or tablet, Android or iOS).
• Routes: field service route optimization in real time (e.g., work order, routes, traffic info, contact details), even in case of unforeseen events.
• Work order information: address, schedule, customer details, actions to be performed, equipment and parts required, as well as inventory status are all available.
• Data accessible online and offline: When working in an area without cellular or Wi-Fi network access, the field service mobile app is functional and it synchs as soon as the network connection is re-established.
• Electronic forms: Technicians complete online forms with work order descriptions that can be enriched with photographs and sent immediately to the service center. This dramatically improves reporting accuracy and timeliness.
• Instant messaging: Field personnel can contact the service center or scheduler at any time, using an integrated instant messaging module.

2. Reduce operational costs with digital communications

With automatic field service route optimization, travel times are reduced, saving you money on fuel and vehicle mileage. Since the majority of field communications now use instant messaging, you also save money on phone calls to the service center.   In addition, digital communications makes it possible to dramatically reduce the costs attributable to paper-based transactions: paper, printers, and ink. And that’s on top of the storage space eaten up by mountains of paper archives.  

3. Boost your productivity by being more responsive and efficient

When field technicians have all the necessary information, they can:  

• Increase efficiency and their first-time-fit rate
• Create work orders themselves when they have the time
• Manage their own schedule
• Communicate better with the customers thereby improving customer satisfaction.

For field technicians, a field service mobile app saves considerable travel time, while increasing the quality of service. 

4. Achieve all-time highs in customer satisfaction

More efficient field service scheduling and more responsive route planning help to increase customer satisfaction ― especially if your platform allows you to: 

• Generate custom work order reports
• Inform your customers in real time of their work order status
• Allow the client’s electronic signature at the end of the work order
• Track your contractual commitments (punctuality, response time, recovery time …)
• Create access to your customers using an “ordering portal to help them plan their own work orders.

As François Michelin astutely observed: “Every day the company is elected by its customers.” That’s why, as service providers, it’s our job to find ways to keep our customers happy. Fortunately, technological advances, such as field service management software, can help us rise to the occasion by meeting the field service management challenges of a fiercely competitive marketplace.”  

Conclusion

Work order management doesn’t need to be a lost paperwork, wasted miles, and frustrated customers. A mobile field service application based on SaaS can overcome these common challenges and provide technicians with the information they need in real time, while also reducing costs in fuel, paper, and communication. The outcome is a tangible increase in productivity, first-time fix rates, and customer satisfaction.

In the service sector, organizations that adopt a mobile-first approach pull ahead. With a solution like Praxedo, you can equip your field teams with the tools to work smarter, respond faster, and keep your customers electing you day after day. Looking to revolutionize your work order management? Find out how Praxedo’s mobile field service solution can help your business.

FAQs:

What is work order management?

It involves creating, assigning, tracking, and completing field service jobs, providing technicians with the necessary information and tools to complete their work efficiently.

How do mobile apps improve work order management?

They provide real-time access to schedules, routes, and customer information, eliminating paper forms and enabling technicians to report faster and more accurately.

Can a mobile work order app work without an internet connection?

Yes. A good field service app should work offline and automatically sync data when a cellular or Wi-Fi connection is available.

How do mobile apps reduce field service costs?

They save on fuel and mileage by optimizing routes and save on paper, printing, and phone expenses by moving to digital communication.

What is a first-time fix rate, and why does it matter?

It is the percentage of jobs that are solved during the initial visit. Increased rates lead to increased customer satisfaction and fewer expensive repeat visits.

How do mobile apps improve customer satisfaction?

They enable real-time status updates, electronic signatures, custom work-order reports, and self-service portals, keeping customers informed and in control.