Location: Canada
Industry: Building Management Systems, Commercial & Industrial HVAC
Productivity
Streamline Processes to improve productivity & Employee Happiness
Background
Field Service technicians aren’t always equipped for the task at hand. It’s often necessary to purchase tools, or materials in order to complete a job for a customer in a specified time frame, but when a purchase can’t be made on a credit card, a tech is required to get a purchase order to acquire the necessary materials.
The Challenge
For a purchase order to be approved and actioned, it must be filled out correctly, and paperwork must be submitted to management. This can cause delays in a technician’s progress, and ultimately leave the customer unsatisfied, with a job that is awaiting completion.
The likelihood of maintaining a customer’s loyalty for the long-term is based on the fact that a technician need only make one visit to complete a job. Delays caused by red tape often lead to the customer seeking out different vendors who can do the work faster.
The Solution
Our customer sought a solution that would allow Field Service technicians the ability to remotely submit a purchase order for instant approval. A faster turnaround can improve the customer experience, and give technicians time to entertain additional opportunities, ultimately increasing revenue.
Our mobile business app, Service Technician Purchase Order Pad, is a simple, unified product that allowed Field Service technicians to utilize existing technology – either company-issued or personal devices (BYOD) – to submit purchase orders directly to specified management-level users for immediate approval and faster turnaround.
Built-in features included the ability to complete, photograph, produce and deliver PDF purchase orders to replace credit cards where that method of payment wasn’t accepted. Copies of the PDF were delivered to the main office for record-keeping, and breakouts were delivered to designated individuals who would be handling the items in question, such as service, health or safety equipment, etc.
With a digitized, unified workflow, not only did technicians spend less time in the field filling out and waiting for paperwork to be approved, but a new standard was set company-wide, and record-keeping became streamlined.
The Results
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Our customer became compliant with industry standards, paperwork and record-keeping became unified, and the company was able to economically introduce an environmentally friendly solution that was simple and sustainable.
- Purchase order submission occurred in real-time
- No longer had to allocate purchases without customer assignment
- Eliminated instances of missing paper purchase order pads
Digitization, enabled by a connected install base, plays a key role in moving beyond the traditional methods of shaving a few minutes off of travel and repair time and improving utilization rates.
Regardless of whether supplied by the company on paid for out of their own pocket, the vast majority of Field Service Technicians are utilizing a mobile device while out on the road.
Given that almost half of these individuals (Finances Online) believe their current technology can’t keep up with the demands of their position, it makes sense for Field Service Organizations to implement a comprehensive mobile solution that can improve productivity and increase employee happiness, and doesn’t involve shelling out a fortune for brand new hardware to outfit your staff, company wide.
With solutions like our Purchase Order Pad, we can help you to meet and exceed the needs of your staff and your company.
