Using Excel, or a spreadsheet, instead of field workforce management software on the surface appears to be the cheaper solution in the short term, but in the long-term, it will cost you more and not be nearly as effective.
We don’t walk into work one day and think that Excel is going to run all our complex field service teams. In the beginning, we typically start with a spreadsheet because of ease-of-use and because all we have to do is launch Excel. After all, Excel is a very powerful program and is capable of creating complex workbooks, including formulas, calculating quotes, invoices, and the like. That solution seems to work really well from an affordability and productivity standpoint, that is, until it doesn’t.
In the last few years, our field service workforces have become more complex and are required to do more per service visit than ever before. Couple that with the fact that our technicians are now servicing multiple customers per day and we are seeing inefficiencies from the office out to the field. These inefficiencies can lead to lost revenue opportunities and poor customer service.
Data Propagation & Transfer
Problems start when the back office needs to push the data to the field. How is that done? How long does it take? How do the field techs keep track of inventory or get notified of availability? In the field, there needs to be real-time information updates and bi-directional communication and collaboration to increase efficiency and decrease costs.
Field Service Management Software like Field Squared’s Platform is designed to address issues like this. Because the application is served up from the cloud, it is immediately ready for field technicians from any mobile device, enabling them to know their daily schedule, inventory levels, changes to their job or calendar, all in real-time.
Need for Automation
No matter how elaborate you get with Excel, there is no way to push notifications to the field, rearrange the technician’s schedules at a moment’s notice, let alone create in-depth analysis and reports easily. What if all of these important tasks could be automated? Automation is the key differentiator between a Field Service Management Platform and Excel. Automation can greatly impact your workforce planning, workflows and performance. With the ability to generate automated data-driven intelligence reports, not only do you save a tremendous amount of time but you gain insights into the efficiency of your entire field workforce helping to drive profitability and performance.
Field Squared Field Service Automation Platform connects all the powerful feature sets like scheduling, dispatching, route optimization, field data capture, inventory/asset management, work order management, maintenance tasks, business reporting and intelligence, and more.
Replace Your Spreadsheets with Field Service Management Software
If you are currently using Excel or find yourself spending a lot of time managing a spreadsheet and not enough time managing your mobile workforce, then you need to look into Field Service Management Software. Contact us today to find out how Field Squared really helps move companies forward, do more with less, reduce costs and realize revenue faster.
