Having Trouble Maintaining a Workforce of Skilled Field Technicians? Comarch’s Field Service Management Solution Can Help

It is harder than ever for service providers to maintain a hard-working, well-trained workforce of field service professionals. According to an article published by the United States Chamber of Commerce just last month (July 2023), there are approximately 9.8 million job openings in the United States in this sector, but only 5.9 million unemployed workers.  This means that every qualified person in the country could find a job but there would still be around 4 million vacancies. There is nearly 2 million fewer Americans participating in the labor force today compared to just three years ago (2020). These concerning statistics make it more difficult and more crucial than ever to maintain a hard-working, knowledgeable workforce. Here is how Comarch’s Field Service Management product can help service companies such as Internet service and utility providers maintain their workforce by making their employees’ jobs easier and keeping them happy while working.

Improved knowledge management

As companies adopt new technology and IoT devices crucial to their business operations, the number of tasks and skills required of technicians increases. This can create a complicated work environment for service technicians, where they are conducting a different task during every on-site service visit. Comarch FSM’s Knowledge Base improves management and control of knowledge transfer among employees. Using this module, you can upload instructions, specifications, how-to information and any other documents that may be helpful for your employees working in the field. You can make these documents available to your field staff on their mobile devices, and link them to specific tasks or work orders so they are easily accessible to your staff without having to search through a large database. This feature will increase your first-time fix rate and give technicians confidence that they have all the necessary information to complete any given task. Comarch’s Knowledge Management module will raise your company’s quality of service and improve customer and employee satisfaction.

Real-time scheduling updates

Last-minute schedule changes are common in the field service industry. Whether it’s the customer cancelling or rescheduling an installation, a service visit taking longer than expected, a technician calling in sick, or an emergency request, there is a consistent need for field staff to adjust their schedules on the fly. This can easily become overwhelming for a technician when not properly managed. Comarch’s FSM solution simplifies things by automating and executing the optimal schedule adjustments based on a multitude of factors to make sure all the required tasks for that day are assigned and completed properly.  Comarch’s FSM Mobile App also keeps staff in the field up to date with real-time notifications sent to their phones. These notifications inform the worker when changes occur and how they affect their schedule. Empowering your workforce in this manner allows them to better manage their daily tasks and reassures them that they constantly have the most up to date scheduling information.

Improved employee engagement

If a customer’s problem is misdiagnosed, or a task turns out to be more complex than originally expected, the assigned technician has to consult with colleagues. Comarch FSM makes this process simple by enabling effective communication between team members. Thanks to our internal chat feature, the task steps can be explained in detail (with photo attachments if necessary). With the ability to exchange information quickly and securely with other field service professionals, dispatchers and managers, your field technicians will have all the support they need to resolve issues during the first visit. This functionality will increase your field team’s internal communication and their confidence that they can complete tasks properly.

To sum up, the shrinking pool of available workers in the United States has made employee satisfaction more crucial than ever. Comarch FSM helps make your field service technicians’ jobs easier by keeping them up to date when changes occur, improving employee engagement via the chat functionality, and providing documentation to raise the first-time fix rate and inspire confidence in field staff that they can complete any job required of them. Comarch FSM has many more features that will improve your company’s field service process, keep your workers on the same page, and simplify day to day operations for your field service team. Our FSM solution is a great option for any company struggling to maintain a strong field service workforce.

Source: Understanding America’s Labor Shortage | U.S. Chamber of Commerce (uschamber.com)