On booking an uber the first thing you are shown is the uber drivers location on a map moving in real-time. This is the standard for taxi apps now but it wasn’t too long ago that we booked a taxi over the phone and had to wait for them to arrive.
For those that remember that experience it wasn’t very nice, we wouldn’t know if they were late, whether they were not going to show, and we would wait at the pickup spot as soon as we made the booking. After waiting half an hour we would call and speak to an operator half expecting to learn the taxi had been cancelled. Then to get an update with a typically vague answer “yes they are on the way, should be there shortly” before waiting again.
Nowadays this whole experience has been turned on its head. We expect to see the taxi being tracked on a map in real-time with an arrival time in minutes. On a rainy day we can even wait inside until we see the car turn down our street.
These old ‘taxi’ problems have been solved using technology and the proliferation of mobile phones. However Field service businesses have are only now moving towards the same technology solutions, with software penetrating the market estimated at only 25% according to Gartner Inc.
The experience is about removing uncertainty for customers by providing visibility of the service. Not only providing customers with tracking of the service professional when they are on their way, but allowing customers to contact field staff directly with job based communications.
Software can remove frustration for field staff by allowing them to contact customers directly in case of some change to the job. Say either person is running late, site access is tricky, or a booking is cancelled.
On top of improving the experience between customer and field staff is the benefit to management. Having visibility of how well jobs are being executed gives supervisors tools to identify training gaps and improve on them. Unexpectedly technology gives management the ability to support field staff on a more personal level, a significant challenge for field service teams.
The technology continues to improve as software moves towards mobile first and mobile phone use is ever increasing with people consuming ⅔ of their content on mobile. This combination indicates that the market penetration is only set to increase.
Getting visibility over your mobile workforce is a must to keep up with competition and market trends have you started to bring an ‘uber’ like experience to your business?
