To successfully manage your service department, you need top quality software. Software that helps you from start to finish to properly plan, execute and administratively handle service work. This requires three key components.
1. Service management in ERP
First of all, your ERP system or Dealer Management Software should include a comprehensive service module. Think of creating quotations and work orders, recording maintenance contracts, scheduling 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. Graphic Plan Board
Scheduling work orders efficiently is a major challenge for equipment management organizations. While preventive maintenance can be planned well in advance, there are also breakdowns and failures that need to be picked up in between. And every day brings new surprises, such as mechanics who are sick or stuck in traffic, customers who cancel appointments at the last minute, missing parts or complex work. A graphical plan board helps you ensure a tight schedule. The graphical planning board visualizes how work orders are assigned to your service technicians. New work orders appear immediately on the screen and you drag and drop them to the most appropriate resource. You can plan based on location, skills or preferred mechanic. You see where your technicians are and how far they have progressed in their work. The graphical planning board gives you real-time information from your service department and allows you to respond quickly to unexpected situations.
"The result is that mechanics are more productive, work faster and more pleasantly, and provide better service."
3. Mobile solution
Service technicians at equipment management organizations are on the road a lot. And so they need a rock-solid mobile application to keep track of their work. A mobile application that connects to your graphical planning board, allowing you to see when they have finished a job and where they are. Adding photos, getting a signature from the customer, ordering parts, filling out the timesheet, looking up all relevant information, preparing quotes, emailing service reports; with a mobile field service application, it's all done in a flash. The result is that technicians are more productive, work faster and more pleasant and provide better service. Opt for a mobile solution that also has offline capabilities; after all, it happens frequently that technicians do not have an Internet connection, but you do want them to be able to continue their work without problems.
It starts with optimal processes
Good service starts with the right business processes. You then support these with strong software solutions. If you want to take your service department to the next level, good software is not enough. Talk to experienced consultants about how best to organize your service department and choose the tools that facilitate these processes.
