In field jobs especially field service business, it is very necessary to track your resources and their utilization because even a few indirect routes can have an impact on your expenses as they keep adding on for days, weeks and months. When you combine all the little extra expenses, they become a big amount which has a potential to be saved.
Tracking is done so that the management can have insights into the progress of ongoing tasks. It helps to make sure that all the tasks are being performed as scheduled, prevents misuse of resources and shows areas of improvements that can increase work efficiency and help in cost cutting. Whereas, routing provides workers with the most optimal routes to job locations to save as much fuel cost as possible along with saving time.
Field Service Management through software
Field Service Management solutions offer multiple features and integrations that help to perform all the work efficiently so that cost saving measures are taken and make sure that as much revenue is saved as possible. This helps a company to manage their income efficiently without having to worry about spending too much on unnecessary resources. By saving expenses, a company creates opportunities for itself to grow and deal with more customers on a larger scale.
Geo-location
The feature of geo-location helps management to track their field workers through their mobile phones. It is made mandatory for the workers to install the app on their mobile devices and make sure that they are connected to the network. This feature provides real-world geographic location of the mobile device and by using that information, the management is able to make sure that their workers are where they need to be.
Geo-fencing
The management is able to define a virtual perimeter for a worker with the help of the geo-fencing feature in the app. This means that they are able to assign a specific region to a worker which restricts any extra movement and ensures that all the jobs done by the worker are in that region only. If a worker moves out of the region or crosses the virtual boundary defined by the management, an alert is automatically generated against that worker which is received by the management. The worker is instantly notified that he/she has gone out of the specified perimeter, through the mobile app.
Geo-tagging
When a worker reaches the job location, they take a picture through the field worker mobile app to provide authentic location to the management. This is done with the help of geo-tagging. This feature adds geographical identification to pictures which provides details about when and where was this picture taken, along with the information of the device with which it was taken.
Inventory Tracking
Keeping track of all the essential equipment is really important in field service industry. To make sure that the equipment available in the inventory is being used correctly and at the right place, the mobile app of field service management allows inventory tracking. When a task is assigned, the field worker is able to select the equipment that will be required to perform that task. The selected equipment is assigned to that worker for the task completion. When the task is under progress, the management is able to view what equipment is assigned to which worker. Furthermore, the management is also able to know the location of the equipment that too with the help of geo-location.
Vehicle tracking
TomTom integration helps track vehicles through the Field Service Management solution. A device is installed within vehicles that provides real-time location of the vehicle. It means that if the worker’s mobile is not in connectivity, the location of the worker and vehicle is provided through TomTom. It not only provides location information rather it also provides driving behavior information such as speeding, turning, acceleration etc. This helps in providing optimal driving training to workers which helps to ensure maximum fuel and cost efficiency.
Intelligent routing
Third party integrations such as Google, Apple and Waze come in really handy when the need of routing arises. With the help of these integrations, the most optimal route is provided to the workers that ensures travel time saving, fuel cost saving, increased productivity and ease of planning. This automated function proves to be very beneficial as workers don’t have to worry about deciding what route to take while keeping multiple factors in mind such as traffic, time and fuel consumption. With all these worries gone, the field workers stay motivated and hence play a major role in a company’s growth.
