Customers of equipment dealers expect top quality service and maintenance. To meet them, the entire process from service planning to invoicing must be perfectly organized. And that requires good automation. Here are the main benefits of automating your service department.
Better planning
Preventive maintenance, inspections, malfunctions, recalls, breakdowns and emergencies. It is not easy to plan and organize maintenance, service and repairs of equipment flawlessly. Every day brings new surprises and challenges for service planners. But with the right automation tools, proper planning does become a lot easier. Planning preventive maintenance automatically, for example. A graphical planning board to make scheduling clear and assign work orders to mechanics quickly. Intelligent planning that takes into account mechanics' skills and availability, and distance/location. And a mobile application for the mechanics to determine their own schedule and route.
Working more efficiently
Automation contributes to efficiency. After all, you work much faster and more efficiently than manually or with pen and paper. The same goes for the service department. Think of planning, changing the schedule, assigning work orders, making quotations and invoicing. But automation also dramatically increases productivity in service and maintenance output. Service technicians can focus on what they are really good at and administrative tasks are reduced to a minimum. From a management perspective, good automation of service processes means that management can be directed according to the principle of "management by exception. So instead of checking and controlling everything, you can devote your full attention to special cases, abnormal figures and rush jobs.
"Thanks to good automation, you get a perfect insight into the ins and outs of the service department."
More sales
The gains in efficiency mentioned above also mean more sales. Less administration means more time spent performing service, maintenance and repair. Through better planning, smarter routes and allowing (teams of) mechanics to make their own decisions, productivity increases even more. Customers are served faster and better, making them more satisfied and willing to use your services more often. Quotes and invoices can be sent to the customer faster, which increases the chance that they will agree to them.
Better management
Thanks to good automation, you get perfect insight into the ins and outs of the service department. What parts do you need often? How long do mechanics take to complete jobs? How productive are your employees? What are the costs and revenues per type, model or individual object? By collecting all this data and converting it into useful information, you can manage the department better. Monitor KPIs and adjust accordingly. You can see where mechanics are, which ones you can best use for what, what customers' preferences are, what has happened in the past, what the outstanding items are, etc.
Most importantly: more satisfied customers
Ultimately, service is about customer satisfaction. For equipment dealers, the initial sale of a machine or piece of equipment is only the beginning of the cooperation with the customer. It is precisely through good after-sales that you retain the customer and it becomes a positive, profitable partnership for both parties. Good automation allows you to make clear agreements, respond quickly, deliver quickly, provide top quality service, solve problems better and thus make the customer happy.
