Five Ways to Improve Field Service Dispatch

The thing about field service dispatch is that it has a lot of moving parts. Staying organized and efficient can be a challenge. First, customers hate to wait for service workers. If you combine that with coordinating schedules, traffic, weather, and equipment, running a smooth field service operation takes a lot of work.

Keeping yourself and your business organized can not only make daily operations more efficient, but it can also increase your profits and promote a healthy working environment.

Here are five ways to improve your field service dispatch process.

1. Improve response time. Customers hate waiting for service. Even if it’s during a hailstorm in the middle of the night, if the service isn’t prompt and reliable, a customer is going to complain! Improving response times is the first way to improving your customer experience. This means lining up your employees’ jobs in a logical and smooth manner, providing good directions, and keeping up with the local weather and traffic.
2. Collect data and analyze it. There are likely many places you can improve your business, but it all starts by taking note of all your statistics. Knowing how many returning customers you have, how many miles your dispatchers are putting on their vehicles, and the average time it takes at each location will go a long way in improving your company. With these numbers, you can also compare your workers to industry standards and know where you fall in comparison to other field service dispatch companies.
3. Maintain good communication. Providing and maintaining good communication is key to any good business. However, when it comes to field service dispatch, you have to maintain communication in three different ways, and they’re all equally important. In this case, over-communication is better than too little communication, so don’t be afraid to keep in constant contact with your workers and your customers.
4. Schedule equipment maintenance. Rather than wait for your equipment to break out on the field, schedule routine maintenance at times where your service workers aren’t on the clock. Keeping your equipment well-maintained won’t guarantee a lack of onsite mishaps, but they will be far and few between. Keeping your equipment maintained also instills a quality value in your customers and will keep them coming back to your company for future jobs.
5. Use an app for the organization. If you’re not a naturally organized person, it’s best to invest in an app. Quite literally, there’s an app for that! Apps like Hellotracks are designed with field service dispatchers and workers in mind. They streamline the job dispatch process, offer real-time tracking for workers, and collect necessary data for overall company improvement.

Making improvements is a necessary part of business, and in the field service world, making those improvements can mean more than happier clients, it can also mean an increase in profits. Improving your field service dispatch company doesn’t have to be difficult. Start by collecting data and seeing where improvements can be made, and if the idea of more paperwork overwhelms you, remember there are plenty of apps that can help.