Top 5 Uses of Salesforce Field Service

Field Service involves delivering consistent work services for customers at their locations by properly arranging employee schedules and service appointments, and tracking work order completion. Salesforce Field Service is an invaluable resource for organizations with mobile field technicians that have various “moving parts” in delivering their service. Learn more about what Field Service can do for your business and discover specific use cases that streamline and scale daily tasks.

What is Salesforce Field Service?

What makes Salesforce Field Service stand out from other solutions include automation, intelligent workflows, and real-time data. Salesforce Field Service provides a comprehensive 360 view of workforce management to boost productivity and accelerate collaboration:

• Improved Work Order & Scheduling Workflows
• Streamlined Territories and Dispatching
• Enhanced Field Service Reporting
• Modern Field Service Mobile App
• Smart Self-Service Features

Top Salesforce Field Service Use Cases

There are three scenarios and processes when it comes to field service operations: repairs (a single visit or multiple to carry out service), maintenance (scheduled, repeated visits), and sales (visiting prospects and customer sites). All these operations need to be managed to provide successful service to customers and this is where Salesforce Field Service is the right platform to consider.

Field Service Work Orders & Custom Scheduling

Field Service implementations our team has worked on help agents create Work Orders from a case that requires parts and services via Salesforce’s technology. Support Agents have visibility into the status of work orders and any delays that may occur. They can select critical parts for ordering and the specific provider from a recommended list based on skill, location, and available inventory. Provider or service managers can assign skills to all providers based on their ability to complete different work orders. The system also allows providers to manage their availability for upcoming installations and view their current skill assignments.

Common challenges such as complex scheduling requirements can be resolved by adding Custom Scheduling capabilities within Field Service instances. This means you will have built-in and predictive travel times to daily schedules and easily eliminate additional trips. The system ensures the optimization of provider routes for efficiency throughout the day. Additionally, utilizing a custom single-screen module with visibility into every job request of the entire mobile workforce helps automate job assignments and proper utilization of team members’ capacity to its full potential. 

For clients like Core Health and Fitness that deal with repairs and maintenance, they can provide their customers with the ability to request repairs on their equipment, track the necessary parts and associated costs, and know when the repair would occur. And third-party providers can place orders and pay for parts, track their installation process, and see the repair appointment status.

Field Service Resources & Reporting

The Salesforce Field Service installation management capabilities focus on improving equipment tracking, better visibility on serial numbers and invoices, as well as quick access to assembly and calibration documentation. As parts usage tracking is vital for calculating job costs, techs now can see when parts needed to be available for jobs are on hand or when they can get them. Efficient inventory management allows for improved scheduling when parts are on hand and shipping only when needed. Knowing what equipment is in the field and being able to see its history also allows technicians to have the most important attributes and asset information at their fingertips.

Modern dashboards and smart reports help the executive team and managers to have a clear view of key metrics from multiple locations. Specifically, resource managers can also monitor operations metrics to track the performance of resources and scheduling strategies. Other vital system reports include tracking return orders and product requests, measuring the number and types of service appointments and work orders across service territories, as well as asset maintenance plans and replacement requests.

Field Service Territories & Dispatching

Field Service territories are not just geographic territories but can also be used for other types of divisions, such as distinguishing between sales vs service boundaries. A fundamental factor in delivering efficient service is ensuring that you regularly monitor and reorganize your service territory. And defining territories also helps dispatchers to use them as a filter for resource scheduling optimization to allocate territories to resources on specific dates.

For clients like California Closets, improved communication across all territories enables their teams to deliver exceptional customer experience. Providers can be assigned to specific territories/regions to track their location on a work order-by-work order basis from within the system. Salesforce Field Service helps to create well-planned and geographically balanced service territories that help to manage the field more effectively and reduce travel times.

Field Service Self Service

Self-service use cases can bring down the cost of service and quick access to information but don’t forget some customers still prefer face-to-face communication. Salesforce Field Service enables smart self-service options in customer portals to provide information, answer questions, create cases/work orders, book appointments, and make payments. This way you provide all options for all various customer needs. 

The Appointment Assistant Self-Service Scheduling allows customers to schedule, cancel, confirm, or reschedule appointments and seamlessly adds them to the main scheduling flow within the system. The scheduled appointments then automatically adjust technician schedules and service resources for your newly updated schedule without any human error. Customers can also use the tracking maps capability to see where the technician is en route to their location.

Field Service Mobile

The mobile app empowers personnel in the field to view appointment schedules, reach contacts and verify addresses, while also being able to chat with other mobile workers, dispatch, and management. The Field Service mobile app also enables technicians to track stock and inventory consumed on the job, track updates with push notifications, and view knowledge articles that can aid in completing unfamiliar or complicated tasks.

The mobile app we developed for California Closets designers with the Salesforce Field Service technology provides up-to-date information on appointments to achieve a personalized consultation for better on-the-ground selling to customers. Additionally, key metrics and dashboards are easily accessible remotely with the app. 

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Having implemented Salesforce Field Service for multiple clients, including those in the Health and Fitness, Manufacturing, and Home Renovation industries, Groundswell can start on a fresh project or make enhancements to an existing Field Service implementation. Contact us today to discuss a customized solution to help you provide trusted service at any time from anywhere!