What is field service management software and why is it a good investment?

Field service management software is a technology that allows field-based businesses to manage their teams and streamline their processes to avoid operational errors and inefficiencies. 

In other words, it’s software that helps make your business more organised and effective.

This software massively increases efficiency, saving businesses over 10 hours a month of previously wasted time. Despite this, only 48% of field businesses are taking advantage of this technology.

If you're one of those businesses, read on to find out more about how this technology works and why it’s an investment you should be making. 

What is a field management system?

If you run a field service business then it’s essential to have a process in place to make sure the work gets done. 

It might be that you use a combination of Excel spreadsheets, text messages and a Google Calendar and with this, you are able to coordinate your team and make sure the right staff are working on the right job, at the right time, in the right place.

In all likelihood, however, this approach is not totally effective. Field agents may not receive all the information they need, sharing resources takes time and details might be missed in the write-up. 

In one sense you could consider this hodgepodge of different platforms to be your field management system, however describing it as such is probably a stretch.

An effective field management system is organised from one platform where you can track all your projects, manage all your field agents and serve all your customers using just one coordinated and aligned system.

What is field service management software used for?

So what exactly is this software used for? The main function of field service management is to reduce operational overhead and make it easier for field teams to get on with the job at hand.

This is done by providing a centralised system where field agents can access all the information they need to carry out the work on the ground. This might include the ability to build a quick quote while with a customer or to take payments on-site. 

You may require your field agents to be able to book in repeat jobs, or fill out forms and then save them to the particular job they were working on.

Everything needs to be joined up and logical. If a field agent can’t find and access the information and resources they need in a couple of seconds, then that is wasting time and costing the business money.

And on the other side of the business, the admin team need to be able to track the work that’s being done. They need to understand where their field agents are and what the status of each job is.

Combined together, there are a lot of moving parts and unless you’re very organised it’s easy for things to get missed.

So field service management software is used to bring all this information together in one place and make it easy to manage all the various aspects of a field service business in a logical and user-friendly way.

By using this software a business saves time and by extension a lot of money, while making life a hell of a lot easier for the staff. 

Why do we need field service management software?

If your business is making money and you’re winning work and maybe you’re even growing, it’s easy to ask “Why do I need field service technology?” And that is a fair question. 

But then you need to ask yourself another question, how sustainable is your current way of working? Particularly if you are growing or are ambitious about scaling your company, then you need to consider how your business is going to function as it gets bigger.

Because the reality is, the bigger your business is the greater the strain will become on your resources and your processes.

While it may be possible to run your business off a few spreadsheets and text messages when there are only a couple of you on the ground, as you get bigger you’ll soon find this isn’t sustainable.

By investing in field service management software early on, you help your business in multiple ways.

For one you will profit from the time-saving and organisational benefits that save your business money, but you will also make it far easier to take on more work and more staff without putting a strain on your systems.

The other benefit to bear in mind is the impact of putting the right system in place early on. Because the reality is, if your business is growing, then at some point you’re going to need to move to a more organised system.

The earlier you make this change, the easier it’s going to be. Better to get the right processes in place early on, when there’s only a small number of staff to think about, than trying to move across a massive company and thousands of spreadsheets. 

So if you’re asking yourself “Why do I need this technology?” maybe you should consider reframing the question and start thinking about all the reasons why this technology could start helping you.

Field service management software will make life easier for you and your business and will ultimately make you money, so what reason is there not to give it a try?

If you’re interested in finding out more, check out our field service software at Payaca. 

There are many awesome features, from quoting and invoicing, to time tracking, dispatch, automations and more. Or if you want to jump straight in, you can give the free trial a go - no strings attached. 

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