Keeping Up: What You Need to Know About Mobile-Empowered Customer Service Trends in the Field

Nothing slows down field agents like lagging communications, poor technology, and missing information. Without a mobile platform, agents must wait until they return to the office to connect to peers and resources, and so waste time on travel and return appointments. Problems that could have been solved in a few moments take longer to fix. Without mobile connectivity, field agents simply don't operate at peak efficiency.

Even if your agents may not be taking advantage of mobile to maximize productivity, your competitors’ agents are. According to Swift MEAP, 40% of surveyed field service companies budgeted to add mobile tools in 2014. They're part of a transformative trend in field service management: 50% of field service businesses have already made their support documents and knowledge bases mobile friendly, and more are making the switch. With CSG's announcement that 89% of customers want Uber-like services for tracking technicians, it's clear that field service companies will have to adapt. Otherwise, they will be outperformed by businesses that do.

Adapt or Lose Touch and Customers

Without adapting to powerful, mobile-enabled field service management tools, your field agents will be out of touch in an increasingly in-touch world. They’ll have poor access to the critical knowledge that customers expect them to have. They'll misunderstand SLAs and do work that's unbillable or fail to bill for work that is. Without the efficiencies gained from powerful mobile solutions, you won’t be able to narrow scheduling windows, and in effect, alienate customers as their expectations change.

Manage a Mobile Workforce in Real-Time

Imagine that your field agents could reach one another and their supervisors immediately, as issues arise on-site. Imagine they could pull up any document related to a customer's need (from service manuals to SLAs) the moment the customer had a question about it. Imagine that agents’ locations are instantly updated and visible to supervisors and that customers are automatically notified of expected arrival times.

This would mean customers receive better, more reliable service, and could boost satisfaction and lower attrition rates. Your workforce utilization rates would jump along with productivity. Costs of service delivery could decrease due to increased predictability, while revenues could increase as agents make more calls and additional upsells.

Field Service Management software uses native, multi-platform apps to connect field agents with the people and information they need in real-time and provides the above-mentioned benefits. Give your field agents access to your entire knowledge base on native mobile apps. Connect them with peers and supervisors in real-time with voice, text, and Skype. Provide customers with their own mobile apps so they can see exactly who has been dispatched, where they are, and when they'll arrive.

Ready to Transform Your Field Service Management?

Field service capabilities for Microsoft Dynamics CRM works smoothly with almost any mobile device to provide these transformative advantages. With one of the most robust integration features of any field service management solution, deploying field service requires little or no customization. With its rapid deployment time and lightning-fast learning curve, field service can be ready to go faster than you think — and ready to connect field agents with the people and information they need to transform your field service organization.

Questions on Microsoft Dynamics Business Solutions? Call 1-888-477-7989

Matt Kresch

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