Field Service Automation: 5 Practical Applications

1. Scheduling optimization

Automated scheduling coordinates customer needs, job details, employee qualifications, workforce availability, and other data points—sorting in seconds what takes hours or even days to plan with spreadsheets or paper. Integrations with HR, CRM, and ERP software bring together all the data points needed for effective field service scheduling.

Schedule optimization software helps field service companies:

• Coordinate complex field work – Smart scheduling technology handles the complexity of field service scheduling with agility and significantly reduces administrative workload. From a single view, it can organize sequential or multi-stage jobs, assignments that require workers with specific credentials or expertise, unique scheduling requirements, team-based work, and collaboration with other vendors. 
• Schedule for business needs – Each field service provider has specific business objectives, workforce constraints, customer preferences, and geographic footprint that influence scheduling. With smart scheduling optimization, field service providers set custom parameters and settings for the scheduling engine to follow as it matches workers to jobs. Based on the recommendations and results, tweak as necessary to achieve the desired business outcomes. 
• Adapt to changing conditions in the field – Change is constant in the field: in a survey of Skedulo customers, almost all respondents (86%) say they have to modify their schedule at least occasionally, and more than one-third (37%) have to change it “very frequently or all the time.” Smart scheduling software is better equipped to handle real-time changes than traditional scheduling methods. Dynamic, real-time assistance from AI finds the best scheduling fit under the (new) circumstances and speeds up the company’s response to last-minute changes and delays. 

With automated scheduling, field service workers engage more effectively in their work. Better job matching enables field technicians to be more productive, delivering the attentive service and first-time fixes that customers expect.

2. Status updates from workers in the field

Field service automation software saves time by keeping field workers, dispatchers, and customers informed during the service workflow. Consider these simple but powerful ways that automation simplifies everyday communication:

• When there is a significant delay or change, automatically send the technician’s updated ETA to the customer
• Remind customers about an upcoming appointment a certain amount of time beforehand
• If a customer requests to cancel or reschedule a job, automatically notify the assigned technician to avoid unnecessary travel
• Automatically send estimates, bills, job summaries, and other documents to the customer ASAP
• Reschedule jobs to the next available time slot that meets the job criteria
• Notify worker(s) and customers of revised appointment times

Field service automation’s real-time, responsive communication benefits everyone. It keeps workers safer on the road by reducing the need for texts or calls in transit, and customizable, automatic safety check-ins keep supervisors informed of workers’ location and progress. It also minimizes customer disruptions by proactively informing them about the status of their job requests, service history, and upcoming appointments. 

3. Troubleshooting workflows

Without timely support and reliable workflows, complex field work can slow down even the most experienced technician. Not only is it frustrating to stop to hunt for information, it negatively impacts customer and end user experience. For example, when a regional clinic’s MRI needs service, the technician must be able to promptly identify and repair the problem without further delaying patient diagnostic services.

Field service automation centralizes resources like manuals and established troubleshooting workflows so that technicians can spend as much time as possible delivering excellent service. It can curate these workflows based on specific job details, like equipment models, service history, work order, or customer-specific insights from CRM. Field workers can access this information immediately through a user-friendly mobile app, and they can chat directly with supervisors or colleagues as questions arise.

When they know they have reliable, accessible troubleshooting resources at hand, field workers arrive confident and prepared. They pass this confidence on to their customers with higher first-time fix rates and improved productivity. And field workers say when they’re well-equipped with FSM technology, they’re more likely to be satisfied in their roles and stay with their employer long-term.

4. Route planning

Field service automation can also generate the best possible route between field service appointments based on job details, scheduling requirements, and real-time weather and traffic data. 

This decreases windshield time, increases worker utilization, and improves worker safety. It also improves on-time arrivals, which has a positive impact on customer satisfaction. But it also has major benefits at scale: AI-assisted route optimization can double fuel cost savings, and increased staff efficiency drives up service capacity and revenue growth potential.