5 Ways ReachOut Enterprise Field Service Software Reduces Your Maintenance Costs

How ReachOut Enterprise Field Service Software Cuts Maintenance Costs

Enterprise field service software like ReachOut help reduce maintenance and operating costs by improving first-time fix rates, boosting field employees’ productivity, optimizing mobile workforce management, automating scheduling, dispatching, and inventory, and offering real-time visibility into all operations.

ReachOut’s enterprise field service management software empowers field service businesses to stay ahead in this hyper-competitive age.

Field service providers operate on razor-thin margins, and profits come by reducing expenses. Unfortunately, price hikes can lead to losing customers. The key to survival for field service businesses is becoming hyper-efficient and passing on some gains to the clients. ReachOut enterprise field service software offers a structured way for field service providers to reduce costs without compromising essential maintenance activity or degrading the quality of service. Here’s how.

1. Preventive Maintenance

Breakdown maintenance is expensive. Preventive maintenance is way cheaper.

An enterprise with a reactive maintenance culture is inefficient and wastes money. When issues linger, it causes inefficiencies and causes more damage. For instance, a leaky pipe adds to the water bill. Left unchecked, it could erode the entire piping system and even damage the floor.

But it is not viable to undertake preventive maintenance on every piece of equipment.

Target crucial equipment to reduce recurring maintenance costs. Focus on the priorities or the failures that have the most implications.

Use CMMS and Petro charts to analyze the preventive maintenance program in terms of priorities and usefulness.

ReachOut enterprise field service software makes it easy to track and schedule preventive maintenance. The software:

Work order management: ReachOut enterprise field management software assigns field agents for scheduled and upcoming maintenance jobs. Typically, the system assigns a field agent to do the maintenance task when someone opens a new work order request. The latest, IoT-enabled equipment transmits real-time information to the connected maintenance suite. For instance, when a generator runs low on fuel, it alerts the connected contractor. As a result, the system generates a work order instantly.

Facilitates timely inspections: Inspections highlight the issues that need to be nipped in the bud. ReachOut inspection software enables agents to download the relevant inspection forms and conduct the evaluations efficiently. ReachOut’s digital forms automate data collection and allow adding audio, images, and videos into records (work orders). Styled digital forms enable digitizing the pen and paper replica of inspection forms. This allows getting the best of both worlds, viz. capturing the efficiency of the accustomed system and enjoying the benefits of automation provided by digital. Custom reports enable each stakeholder to get reports curated with the information relevant to their needs.

Allows full traceability of the work: Many preventive maintenance programs fail because of incorrect task lists. Some missing tasks could, if done, prevent major recurring breakdowns. Side-by-side, the inclusion of tasks with little to no value inflates maintenance costs with little ROI. ReachOut creates a work order when routine maintenance becomes due and ensures full traceability of the work. Timely alerts to all stakeholders keep everyone in the loop.

2. Intelligent Scheduling

Labor costs make up a major chunk of the operating expenses for any service business. The time spent on the road to reach a service location is unproductive. Equally unproductive is the time spent searching for spares, getting permits and approvals, and waiting for the equipment to become available. Proper planning and scheduling will increase wrench time from the standard 30% to about 45%. This is equivalent to expanding the workforce by a third, spending nothing extra on wages.

ReachOut’s intelligent scheduling software factors in all these eventualities:

ReachOut ensures that agents assigned to a job face minimal waste and wait time. Technicians spend more time servicing client equipment and less time on the road. Fuel costs decrease. HR utilizations ratios improve. Employee morale also increases, leading to better work output and lower HR turnover.
ReachOut offers a skills database that makes it easy to identify qualified technicians for each job. The algorithm assigns the nearest competent technician, considering leaves, off-duty, and other factors.

3. Control Of Parts

After labor, the significant chunk of the operating budget is on parts. Parts include spares, consumables, and tools. About 54% of field technicians do not have the complete information when they visit the client’s premises. This invariably results in a revisit, for want of parts. Such revisit drains the enterprise financially. It increases fuel expenses. It also blocks the technician’s time when they could service another client. Delayed resolution increases downtime and triggers a downward spiral in customer experience.

ReachOut enterprise field service software integrates with the inventory suite effectively to offer the following advantages:

Connected enterprise field service management software allows viewing stock-in inventories in real-time and reordering parts to reduce stock-outs and overstocks.
Seamless API connectors ensure a smooth flow of data, even between third-party systems. Integration with inventory software ensures the technician proceeds to the worksite only with spares. This improves first-time fix rates.

4. Analytics And Reporting

ReachOut enterprise field service software offers comprehensive analytics and reporting capabilities. It helps in the following ways:

Identify how long field agents take to complete different tasks. Pin-pointing areas where the technician spends more time helps identify trouble spots in maintenance activities and seek resolution.
Identify equipment that causes most breakdowns. Eliminating such equipment reduces the maintenance budget and workload considerably.
Gather critical information on contracts, warranties, invoices, work orders, and other documentation. These processes get automated, eliminating the administrative costs associated with maintenance.

5. Recruitment And Training

Finding talent for field service jobs is becoming increasingly difficult. As the millennials retire, Gen Y and Gen Z are not too keen on such jobs. A bad hire may cost a company $25,000 or more in lost productivity and increased costs. Wrong hires have low morale and low productivity. In addition, they go through a lengthy learning curve.

Reducing maintenance expenses requires investment in HR, specifically in recruitment and training. Recruiting the right technicians saves valuable costs down the lane. Here are some best practices to follow:

Do not hire looking at the skill set alone. Instead, consider the attitude, adaptability, and willingness to learn. Skills become obsolete anyway in today’s fast-changing tech landscape. Employees with essential competencies and a positive attitude may quickly learn new skills.
Train employees for the needed skill-sets. Without training, maintenance employees may do the job the wrong way and add to the cost. ReachOut enterprise field management software allows managers to build a custom performance profile for each technician and tailor training programs. Managers may track the field movements and performance of each technician. Tracking metrics such as the number of work orders finished per day quantifies performance.

With ReachOut enterprise field service software, field service companies can keep their maintenance costs to the minimum and focus on boosting their core competencies. Get in touch with us to understand how ReachOut can improve your business’s bottom line.

Digitize your field service operations from scheduling to invoicing with ReachOut. Connect your technicians with the companion mobile app to execute jobs and reduce paperwork in the field. Try ReachOut now and give your customers the fast and quality service they deserve.

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Ashmitha Chatterjee

Ashmitha aspires to enhance the efficiency of service technicians. With a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities within field service management, Ashmitha frequently shares her knowledge through industry blogs, articles and workshops.