Three critical components of service management software

You need top-quality software to successfully manage your service department. Software that helps you to schedule and execute work orders and to handle the administrative tasks from start to finish. This requires three important components.

1. Service management in ERP

First of all, your ERP system or Dealer Management Software must contain an extensive service module. It should cover creating quotations and work orders, registration of maintenance contracts, planning work orders, equipment information, customer information, warranty claims, invoicing, etc. A complete module for service from quotation to invoicing. And this service module should be an integrated part of the rest of the system. After all, the service department also communicates with other departments, such as finance, sales, rental and the warehouse.

2. Graphical Dispatch Board

Scheduling work orders efficiently is a major challenge for equipment management organizations. Where preventive maintenance can already be scheduled in advance, there are also breakdowns and problems that need to be addressed suddenly. And every day brings new surprises, such as technicians who are sick or in a traffic jam, customers who cancel appointments last minute, missing spare parts or complicated service jobs. A graphical dispatch board helps you to keep your service schedule tight and under control. The graphical dispatch board visualizes how the work orders are assigned to your service technicians. New work orders immediately appear in your screen and you drag them to the resource that fits best to it. You can schedule based on location, skills or preferred resource. You can see where your technicians are and how far they have progressed with their work. With the graphical dispatch board, you have real-time information about your service department and you can respond quickly to unexpected situations.

"The result is that technicians are more productive, work faster and more pleasant and provide better service."

3. Mobile solution

Service technicians from equipment management organizations are often on the road. And so, they need a rock-solid mobile application to keep track of their work. A mobile application that connects to your graphical dispatch board, so you can see when they have finished a job and where they are located. Add photos, get a signature from the customer, order spare parts, fill in the timesheet, look up all relevant information, prepare quotes, email service reports; it is all done very quickly with a mobile field service application. The result is that technicians are more productive, work faster and more pleasant and provide better service. Select a mobile solution that also has offline capabilities. After all, technicians often do not have an internet connection, but you want them to be able to continue their work without any problems.

It starts with optimal processes

Good service starts with the right business processes. You then support these processes with strong software solutions. If you want to take your service department to a higher level, only good software will not be enough. Talk to experienced consultants about how to organize your service department in the best way possible and choose the tools that facilitate these processes.