Dispatching keeps your business organized and your customers happy. But if dispatching feels like it’s dragging your business down rather than driving it forward, field service dispatch software could be what you’re missing.
With the right field service management software, dispatching becomes automated, so you can spend more time growing your business to its full potential.
Keep reading to discover the top 10 benefits of using field service dispatch software to drive your business’ success.
1. Easy scheduling and job dispatching
The number one perk of field service dispatch software is, of course, dispatching.
Dispatching is the foundation of your daily operations. When there’s an issue dispatching a job, you risk bottlenecking your entire system.
The best way to prevent bottlenecks is to keep organized, and the way that field service businesses stay organized is through scheduling.
With job dispatch software, you can:
- Gain a full view of your field team’s schedule.
- Plan optimized routes in just a few clicks.
- Send and receive real-time updates.
The best field service dispatch solution makes dispatching and scheduling more efficient by integrating it with your other business workflows.
Let’s continue with what those other workflows are.
2. Simplify your estimate to work order and invoice flow
For any job, a customer concern is money, which is why it’s important to document costs throughout the job.
Typically, you give three forms to your customers throughout the sales process:
- Estimate.
- Work order.
- Invoice.
Chances are that these forms have similar information that carries over throughout the process. There might be variation, but not enough to create new forms each time.
With the right field service dispatch software, you can create an estimate, then upon approval, easily convert it into a work order for dispatching. Once the job’s done, modify your work order with the final job costs and convert it to an invoice to deliver to your customer.
This flow eliminates manual data entry and ensures consistency throughout the job, leaving you time to manage other aspects of your business.
3. Customer management capabilities
The best field service dispatch software doesn’t just manage your jobs. Field service software manages every aspect of your business, even your customers.
Customer retention is the best way to increase your revenue, so it’s essential not to lose track of your loyal customers. Service dispatch software simplifies customer management, so you can provide top-notch customer service.
Field service software lets you easily manage your customer’s information, including details such as:
- Name and address.
- Service history.
- Special requests.
- Payment status.
What’s more is that you can set automated reminders to notify your customers of upcoming appointments.
Another plus is that the right job dispatch software’s automated follow-ups will ensure that each of your customers feels that they receive the attention they deserve.
4. Online invoicing and payments
The way you manage your payments can make or break your business. Especially when you realize that if you lose track of the status of your invoices, you risk payment delays and a dent in your revenue.
Luckily, this doesn’t have to be the case, as one of the best ways to manage payments is through a customer portal.
An online portal allows your customers to receive, view, and pay invoices online at their convenience. The portal also lets you track the status of each invoice, ensuring that nothing slips through the cracks.
The best field service management software offers an online portal to make invoicing and payments simple for you and your customers.
Say, for example, that your customer does forget to pay their invoice. With online portals, you’re notified by your field service dispatch software solution to follow up swiftly. Better yet, you can set up automated reminders for your customers for overdue payments.
Thanks to payment gateways, the best field service management software also expands your customer’s payment options, boosting the quality of your customer service.
5. A field technician mobile app
One of the biggest challenges for field service businesses is communication. This is because part of your team is in the field while others are in the office.
However, communication is key to ensuring that everyone is on the same page. To bridge the gap, choose a job dispatch software with a mobile app. Here’s why.
A mobile app allows your field service technicians to communicate with your office time while they’re on the job — and vice versa.
This means that you always know the status of a job and are quickly informed if any issues arise. Likewise, a mobile app lets your office team communicate in bulk with field techs if, let’s say, a job is canceled, or poor weather conditions are on the way.
A mobile app also enables your field techs to:
- Track their time spent on the job.
- Upload photos.
- Capture e-signatures on site.
6. A QuickBooks or Xero integration
By now, it’s clear that there are several benefits to field service dispatch software. But if the software you choose doesn’t fit into your existing business processes, it can result in more problems than solutions.
This is why it’s important to choose software that integrates with your everyday business tools, from payroll to your email software.
One of the most important tools for your field service business is your accounting software.
Accounting tools such as QuickBooks and Xero are essential to managing your expenses and revenue, but have limitations when it comes to other tasks, such as field service dispatch. This is why integration between the solutions is key.
Field service dispatch software that easily integrates with your favorite accounting tool creates an all-in-one solution.
Together, the best dispatch and accounting software integrations automate tasks, such as:
- Time tracking for payroll.
- Sending invoices.
- Building reports.
7. Contactless e-signature capture
The sooner your customer signs off on a job, the sooner you get paid. So the best time to capture a customer’s signature is once the job is complete. Luckily, the right software solution allows your field techs to handle that part.
The best dispatch software lets your field technicians capture customer signatures using a mobile app. This allows you to:
- Get quick approvals.
- Send your customer invoices sooner.
- Minimize the risk of paperwork going missing.
If your software solution also converts your work orders into invoices, your customer receives their invoice before your technician even leaves the site!
8. Progressive and recurring invoicing
You’ve heard a lot about invoicing so far, and that’s because it’s one of the most important parts of your business. But since every business owner manages invoices differently, it’s best to choose a software solution with multiple options for billing.
Your field service software solutions should allow you to progressively invoice your customers, especially for large jobs. For example, you can send half the total cost of the job for payment once the estimate is approved and then collect the remainder once the job is complete.
Better yet, for your loyal customers who you service regularly, set up recurring invoices in sync with their service schedule to minimize your manual work and maximize customer satisfaction.
9. Weekly and monthly calendar views
Field service dispatch relies on scheduling. That’s why you need an easy-to-read schedule that’s familiar to everyone on your team.
The good news is that field service scheduling software can simplify your job scheduling with the tools you already use.
Get an at-a-glance view of your dispatched jobs by integrating your field service dispatch software with calendar tools, such as Google Calendar and Outlook.
Better yet, when a new job comes in, adjust the calendar view to see which technicians have availability and quickly assign the job in one click.
10. Work order management
Managing work orders can take up a whole day on its own since work order management requires actions such as:
- Creating.
- Modifying.
- Scheduling.
- Assigning.
With a number of actions to keep track of, it’s difficult to stay on top of your work orders while taking care of other aspects of your business. Thankfully, contractor dispatch software lightens the load.
Since work orders are an essential part of dispatching, the best field service dispatch software reduces the work required to manage your work orders so you can spend more time growing your business.
How to get started with field service dispatch software
Dispatching is the glue that holds your business together, so it’s crucial to have tools that simplify the process.
The best field service dispatch solution enhances every part of your business and improves your bottom line with must-have features such as:
- Automated job scheduling.
- A strong estimate to work order to invoice workflow.
- Customer management.
- Invoicing and online payment processing.
- A mobile app.
- A QuickBooks or Xero integration.
- Contactless e-signature capture.
- Progressive and recurring billing.
- At-a-glance calendar views for scheduling.
- Work order management.
Ready to take you dispatching to the next level? Start your free trial of Method:Field Services today!
Image credit: Berkley Communications via Unsplash
