Field service management is one of those fields where logistics, strategy and timeliness are all equally key, and as a result, computer aided facilities would really come in handy for making this go more smoothly. When someone needs a field technician of some sort sent out, and it’s an emergency, the last thing they want is to wait for this to be set up and dispatched, which has often the case. Field srvice management software would remedy this.
When repairs, assistance or other field service is required, the inability to really strategize at light speed has resulted in the much maligned time window concept for when people arrive to handle something, and so forth, and in this modern time of instant gratification for so many things, this has to go.
Thankfully, the SaaS revolution has brought about a lot of easy to set up and very helpful field service management software offerings to choose from. So, if you’re sending people out into the field, stop making people wait through time windows to be present when the technicians arrive, or wait for you to strategize to address the problem that needed handled yesterday.
Here are a few suggested titles to help you stop that nonsense right now!
#1 – Mhelpdesk
Mhelpdesk sounds more like a customer service app by its title than something for field service, and well, it could work for that too, but field service is what it’s geared for. And, yeah, it’s geared properly at that. This one is the bigger one on the list, so it’s going to be more expensive, but the feature repertoire for it more than makes up for that, if you have enough traffic and business to need these features at all.
It offers work order tracking, built in CRM, Quickbooks integration, apps for iOS and Android, scheduling and dispatch automation, a client portal, custom fields, invoicing, estimate tabulation, online scheduling widgets, custom email templates, custom document templates, Google Calendar integration, and file and document storage.
So, this is an all in one solution for you if you do field service of any sort. The one caveat I have with this is, while it has built in CRM, you’re probably using other CRM for your other business aspects, which means that you could wind up with some sync issues. Fortunately, Salesforce could be made to map to this suite’s internal CRM, but I can’t guarantee that for other CRM’s.
#2 – Jobber
Similar to Mhekpdesk but a wee bit cheaper, Jobber is another powerful all in one solution for field service. This one actually offers a little more customization, which I’ll talk about in a second, but it also has internal CRM, so you may have the duality issue that the prior list entry caused, unless you’re wise and use Salesforce, which can map to darn near anything web field-based.
But, it does offer scheduling, job tracking, invoicing, quote management, electronic payments, mobile compatibility, mapping, custom reports, real time data capture, custom quotes and invoices, customer list importing, permanent storage, dedicated support and a strong internal search tool.
So, if you don’t mind that CRM duality dilemma, and want more customization than Mhelpdesk (meaning the potentiality for more difficulty to train for it), then Jobber might be a better choice.
#3 – Loc8
This one’s cloud-based, and I always like to offer an alternative like this. Loc8 offers full features like work orders and jobs, asset management, inventory and warehouse, help desks, contract management, field reports and timesheets, integration API, service dispatch, time management, CMMS and fixed asset deprecation. It also offers the most mobile support, with not only iOS and Android, but also Windows Mobile support too – something that’s rare for the moment.
So, if you deploy services to the field, like many companies do, then you need strong field service management software to make this quick, responsive and cost effective to do. These are, in my opinion, the best options to make that happen, and they are indeed good designs.
