What is Field Service Management Software?
As the name implies, field service management software is software intended to help manage the operations of field services. Field service management software typically helps to manage the scheduling, dispatching, and communicating of field service professionals to help improve operational efficiency.
Consider this example: You call your home warranty provider and tell them your dishwasher is broken and they promise to send someone out right away. Your home warranty company will call Joe’s Plumbing and ask them to take the job. Joe’s plumbing might use an FSM software to choose the right professional to fix your dishwasher, dispatch them to your house, and keep communication flowing with you so you’re informed.
In this example, the home warranty company is out of the loop once Joe’s plumbing agrees to accept the job. That’s the problem Dispatch was uniquely created to solve.
Why Do Companies Need FSM software?
So why do companies invest in field management software? With FSM software they are able to
- Automate a lot of expensive manual processes,
- Provide a better end customer experience,
- Complete jobs more quickly
Back to our home warranty company example, without FSM software, the homeowner calls the home warranty company to request service. An employee at the home warranty company has to call around to third-party service providers in their network to see who can take the job. Then they have to update the homeowner on who will be showing up and when.
Joe’s plumbing has to manual find the right tech, schedule your visit, and hope that the tech has all the information they need to complete your job successfully.
There are plenty more calls and touchpoints that may happen in this scenario but this is a baseline. Every single call costs the home warranty company money and Joe’s plumbing money. When you start to calculate the costs of these manual processes, the ROI on this type of software becomes clear.
Is Dispatch A FSM Software?
Dispatch has a lot of functionality of traditional FSM software. However, we’re purpose-fit for enterprises to make working with independent, third-party contractors easier. Dispatch is different from the average field service management software because we help enterprises grow and retain their service networks. We specialize in helping companies that work with third-party service providers because it’s hard for companies that use this workforce model to get visibility into the customer experience.
Once the service provider (Joe’s plumbing in this case) accepts the job, the home warranty company has no data on when the third party service provider is on their way to the homeowner, when the work is complete, or how the service experience went for the customers. Providing that visibility to the enterprise is what Dispatch does best.
While we used the example of a home warranty company, companies across many industries rely on FSM software to automate processes such as utilities, healthcare, telecom and more.
When companies have w2 employees they can mandate that employees use their FSM. But when enterprises use third-party contractors there’s no guarantee they’ll use the software the enterprise provides. Getting third parties to adopt your software is a challenge. Dispatch has a team that engages and onboards your third party network for you.
You may be wondering if your enterprise can benefit from FSM software. If you’re struggling with manual processes, limited visibility into the customer experience, and inefficiency in operations, it may be time to consider a FSM software.
