By Mark Engelberg – TimeLinx
The world is changing. It’s changing so fast that we should be forgiven for feeling a bit overwhelmed with it all. We shop, send and receive texts, research products, take pictures, and more. We consume data on the go and input it for any number of purposes. Our mobiles are the devices we all carry everywhere, almost by instinct now. It’s the first thing you’ll grab when the fire alarm sounds. And in the professional sphere, giving mobile access to your workforce could be the key to helping them and you be successful. Mobility has become our everything. But without an internet connection, we’re stuck.
Service Technicians, Efficient, or Not?
Being a service technician is one of those jobs that have stayed largely the same over the years. You have to consult, install or service something. You do the physical or mental work, which consumes time. And when you’re all done, you STILL have to go and record that work somehow. Whether it’s back at the office or hotel at night on your laptop using a spreadsheet or faxing a written paper report, you’re working many hours later entering the information by trying to remember all the details of what you did and how much time each activity took. And how much billable time you spent on phone interruptions helping other customers. It’s not only difficult for you but your information likely isn’t as complete as your company would like or doesn’t include the billable time you spent with the other customers.
Surely there must be a more efficient way to allow our mobile teams to record what they’ve completed and how much time they spent. No one wants to finish a long day of work and still have homework at night that takes additional time.
Get Them to Log Time, and more, from Anywhere
With the upcoming mobile Project Service Management app from TimeLinx, staff can log time and activity anywhere they are, whether there is an internet connection or not. Using their phones, they simply log in to the app and update the job. Add notes, log time, and update work details from anywhere, at any time. Or look up information on the job provided by the sales team, project manager, or other members of the group. Understanding what the salesperson promised is the only way to give the customer the satisfaction they deserve.
Mobile workforces are a product of the times. Love them or hate them, we now have teams spread across large areas, sometimes even continents. Everyone on the team needs to connect to your PSM data anywhere they are, including your remote workers in the field.
OK, so imagine you are a service technician. You arrive at the worksite and discover you have no internet connection. Or cell service. Or you just can’t get a signal inside the steel building. But with a disconnected, or untethered, app, you have all the information you had when you left the office. You can do the work you planned and record your time, your notes, details, and even take photos to attach to your work record. Rather than swearing and kicking some rocks or finding a spot with a connection before you can record anything, you’ll get your work done, and all the details of that work recorded immediately without wasting time or counting on your memory for entry hours later.
Maybe you need to add notes from your contact with your customer and get a signature when leaving the site. Or update information on a machine you repaired and recording the parts you used. All very easy with an internet or cell connection but pretty tricky without one. But now, imagine that you can do all this without worrying about that connection.
At the end of your work, log the hours, make any notes about your progress, and head off, resting easy that all your information has been sent back to the office automatically. And on time. Better than sitting there after dinner entering all the data, right?
Single Solution, Simple Answer
This level of efficiency not only allows your service technicians to be vastly more efficient but with immediate transmission back to the office, it’s ready for processing, analysis, approvals, and invoicing. Gone are the days of Bob from accounting chasing everyone to get their timesheets and checking all the entries to make they are attached to the right job and task. And then handing it to someone else to re-enter onto invoices.
All of this leads to happier, more efficient teams. People in the field no longer have to stop what they are doing to log info or jot notes down before they forget. Employees back at the office can access the data in one manageable chunk, in one place, and work with it accordingly. Who doesn’t want to boost morale, reduce redundancy, and at the same time increase efficiency?
To learn more about mobile-first service management via integrated CRM and PSM, contact us today.
About TimeLinx Software
TimeLinx delivers innovative project & service management solutions that perfect the sell-track-manage-support-bill processes that consultants and service organizations must provide to delight their customers. TimeLinx brings those processes together within a single application that offers less frustration, better project management, complete reporting, and improved profitability – all specially designed for Infor and Sage.
