TECHNOLOGY Streamlining customer relationship management gives


the crew the chance to focus on doing their best work with- out worrying about juggling additional information gath- ering or upselling, says Garrett Wilson, CEO at FieldBin, Charleston, South Carolina. A good platform also details exactly what work the customer wants to have completed and includes any notes from the sales team about problem areas. Photos attached to a customer’s work order or profile can help point a new tech directly to the next step of the project, creating the impression of seamlessness between a company’s sales team and crew. “It takes out all of the guesswork,” says Wilson. “I think


it creates an opportunity for the techs to really show what they’re capable of as far as business value for the owners.” Field service software doesn’t just let crew members


concentrate on the job at hand, but also provides custom- ers with the ability to rate the work that’s done easily, says Wilson. Tat helps a business owner see not only which of their crew members are getting jobs done quickly, but also which are getting the highest customer ratings. It’s possible that one crew member doesn’t work quite as fast as another but is very successful at customer interaction. Tat data can be useful in scheduling the most effective crew makeup for future work with difficult customers. Scheduling and routing are another point where job


management software can make a difference for contrac- tors, says Streit. It’s important to be efficient both with fuel


Try not to focus on the presentation of the data overall,


and instead think about how the software can use the data to break down that information for the people in the field who need it, says Wilson. “Everybody can put the same data on a mobile app


screen or an iPad screen,” he says. “Tink about how it makes it easy for the techs to get the information they need, to get them where they need to be and tell them what they need to do and how to get it done.” It’s worth taking some time to really consider what


makes a good fit when it comes to choosing software, says HindSite CEO Ted Rightmire. “One of the things we try to be careful about when we


talk to contractors is to say when they’re doing an assess- ment, don’t just run down the feature list and look for who has the most,” Rightmire says. “It’s really about what tools you need for your business. Who’s going to do that in a way that’s easy to implement and efficient for your money?” Some software platforms have extensive lists of features


that run circles around others. But if the contractor isn’t making use of those, then they’re wasting money, he says. Plus, making a quick decision and then having to pull back after implementation because it doesn’t deliver what the company needs can cause even more chaos with internal processes. “Don’t get trigger-happy,” he says. “Focus on the aspects that you really need to be efficient and successful today.”


One of the most important jobs that field service software can help with is CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT.


and overall windshield time, given that labor is often the highest overall cost for the business. “If you can reduce your fuel costs and reduce your wind- shield time and get an extra one or two jobs per tech per day — maybe you go from eight to 10 jobs? You just added 20%,” says Streit. Making an effective route that fits as crews are going out the door in the morning is one thing, but a good soft- ware platform will allow for flexibility throughout the day as well when there are job changes based on proximity and workload.


Routing can tie back to overall job tracking to help the office understand how many hours a particular customer is requiring or what types of materials are being used and have to be restocked, says Wilson.


TOP PRIORITIES


When it comes to choosing what features a company needs, contractors need to think about what work is being done manually and taking the most time or concentration to get right, then look for software that can automate those processes, says Keyko. “Te top priorities will likely vary by business,” he says.


“If a business has a lot of employees, a software that in- cludes scheduling and dispatching features will be more important for them than a business that is a team of two.”


32 Irrigation & Lighting Late Fall 2022 Another reason to take the time to determine what fea-


tures the company actually needs is that it might turn up the possibility of a custom feature to request. While many of the basic features fit a lot of a company’s needs, it’s never going to be an exact match at first. Contractors have re- quested in-app weather notifications that prompt the crew to reschedule jobs on rainy days or geofence timers that start based on location or time to streamline the need to start or stop time on a job, says Keyko. Te most common custom requests are built around re-


porting or collecting sets of data in different ways to track a specific metric, says Rightmire. When talking with a soft- ware team about what kind of a custom feature to request, it’s often helpful to talk directly about the business problem that needs to be solved. It might feel challenging to ask for a specific consid-


eration, but most teams are going to welcome the oppor- tunity, says Wilson. In some cases, it can trigger a brain- storming session that leads to an entirely new feature for the overall platform. “When I get requests for features, it’s a chance to dig


deeper,” he says. “Tis is helping me learn the customer’s needs and how to make their jobs easier.”


Kyle Brown is the editor-in-chief of Irrigation & Lighting magazine and can be reached at kylebrown@irrigation.org.


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