Mastering the Field: Three Keys to Elevating Service Quality and Profitability

More companies are utilizing field services operations as another tool in their toolboxes to keep up with the evolving needs and demands of society.

From the health care sector, where the Baby Boomers are driving demand for more remote medical care, to telecommunications, where companies are installing infrastructure at breakneck speed to support cloud computing and 5G demands, more remote work is being deployed across all industries. The field services market (FSM) overall is on track to more than triple in size to $12 billion by 2033.

Field operations are an entirely different animal when it comes to the breadth of logistics and variables that can come into play. Unless Nostradamus is on your payroll, mistakes will happen. But as we always advise our clients, there is one virtual certainty – if you make the customer and their needs the centerpiece of the entire process, good results will follow. We know this because the vast majority of companies engaged in field operations (94%) say the service experience weighs heavily in future investment decisions. Also, studies show that higher customer satisfaction levels link directly to increased profitability.

Room For Improvement

We also know from data that many field service operators have plenty of runway to get better. Using first-time fix rates (FTFRs) as a measure of call quality shows that the median FTFR for all companies is 76%, and that there is a wide swing from the bottom performers (55%) to those that do it best (87%). Within manufacturing, some industries are consistently above median, such as testing and measurement devices (79.8%) and food equipment (77%), while others – including printing (69.4%), medical devices (69.1%), and industrial machinery (72%) are lagging.

Three-Point Performance Improvement Plan

The good news is that companies committed to improving their call quality have a lot they can do around the edges operationally to cut down on delays and mistakes, and even turn their field operations into significant revenue drivers. Companies often focus on change in three core areas because they directly affect the customer experience and tend to be conducive to value enhancement.

1. Standardization Streamlines Workflows

   Not every field services process or procedure can or should be standardized. But there are certain areas where tightening workflows can positively impact first-time fix rates, including demand forecasting and capacity planning; scheduling and dispatching; and ongoing performance monitoring and reporting.

   • Demand Forecasting & Capacity Planning. The best field managers are good at anticipating service calls and needs, which they do by capturing insights and patterns from historical data, yearly trends, and past customer interactions. These areas alone – predicting demand and planning for it – continue to inspire all sorts of new technologies that can optimize technician availability by balancing workloads, checking for potential scheduling conflicts, and tracking demand levels. Taking advantage of what these new technologies can offer is a field services planning no-brainer and strong satisfaction catalyst.
   • Scheduling & Dispatching. When it comes to ensuring that the right parts and skill sets all get to the right places on time, field service managers face many of the same challenges as busy air traffic controllers. The multitude of variables in play makes delays inevitable. But here again there is an abundance of innovative, new technology being developed to take much of the heavy lifting out of these detail-oriented tasks, including AI-powered solutions focused on predictive scheduling and route optimization.
   • Performance Benchmarking. A commitment to improve in anything requires acknowledging the need to improve, charting a plan of attack, and perhaps most importantly, actively monitoring and tracking performance in real-time. Field services KPIs often revolve around metrics such as FTFRs, average repair times, and customer satisfaction rates. Collaborative progress dashboards can also easily be developed to help build accountability, engagement, and a continuous improvement mindset.

2. Empowering Technicians Never Stops

   Four in every 10 field services teams (40%) experience recurring difficulties or delays due to improperly skilled or outfitted technicians. Some of this stems from human error, as schedulers sometimes send the wrong skillsets or parts to job sites. However, it also reflects uneven commitments from many companies to arm their field technicians with everything they need before arrival, from best-in-class technologies to ongoing education and skills development.

   Whether your technicians are working on cell towers in the middle of nowhere, heavy machinery in an urban area, or human beings in homes, they must have ready access to effective troubleshooting sources such as manufacturer’s manuals, and to centralized customer information and parts inventory portals.

   In terms of education and development, these areas all too often get pushed to the priority backburner when budgets get tight. But field services managers would benefit from doing the exact opposite and doubling down on investing in these areas. If higher FTFR’s is the goal, keeping your field workers updated and in the know on technologies and best practices is critical, and can be accomplished through online training modules, digital standard work, workshops, and certificate programs.

3. Soliciting 360-Degree Feedback

   Becoming a customer-centric organization means stepping into their shoes to better understand the prevailing challenges and opportunities they face. Hence the many surveys and polls we all receive. But across industries, many companies still barge full steam ahead on plans without doing their peripheral research. Making the client the north star in field services means building a 360-degree feedback mechanism – for customers and employees – that better facilitates two-way dialogue and collaboration.

   Some effective strategies include:

   • Creating Feedback Loops. Conducting surveys post-service to measure satisfaction and identify improvement areas immediately. Positive reviews can strengthen a company’s reputation over time, while constructive feedback often provides valuable insights into key potential enhancements.
   • Increasing Transparency with Customers. Offering real-time tracking of technician arrivals, regular pulse surveys, and maintaining open lines of communication helps instill trust and reliability and improves satisfaction levels.
   • Asking the Experts. Establishing feedback loops with employees and field technicians is also important, both for better service quality but also for retention and morale. Field operators know their work inside and out and have every incentive to want to make the experience better. A change suggestion recommended by a field tech, for example, and ultimately put into action, can be very empowering.

The Ways and Means Are There – Is the Will?

The opportunities to improve the quality of your service calls are there for the taking, in these three key areas and more broadly. The technologies and solutions are there too and are getting better and better by the minute. And the data shows that higher-quality service calls keep them coming back for more and driving growth. Operational enhancements, done well, will get your company rolling on the road to better service calls, happier customers, and stronger bottom lines.