When you were first in the market for field service, did you know which functionalities you needed or the best deployment model for your business? A recent data analysis from Software Advice identifies what buyers look for in a field service solution, with most of their sample (70 percent) being first-time buyers. Here’s a quick look at some of their findings:
More than 80 percent of buyers requested a system that improves efficiency
Reasons First-Time Buyers are Buying
You’ll see in the charts above and below, first-time buyers and seasoned field service users alike were both looking for systems that offered better efficiency than current methods. Most cited specific capabilities that would improve overall productivity, such as a dispatching tool that tracks workers in the field as well as asset resources. By deploying a system that executes these day-to-day tasks with more efficiency, organizations are likely aiming to improve bottom-line objectives such as reducing processing time or shortening the time to fulfill service. SME from High 5 Software achieves these goals and empowers companies to “Run a Better Service Business”.
Reasons Existing Field Service Users are Replacing
The top 3 most-requested field service software features: scheduling, work order management and dispatching. SME is one of the few service management solutions addressing all of these needs.
Ninety percent of buyers requested at least one of the top three functionalities – scheduling, work order management and dispatching – while 76 percent requested two. Among other top must-have features were invoice, customer management and mobile communications applications.
Most companies were unsure of the best deployment model for their business
The research suggests that deployment model is actually not a significant determining factor, with 67 percent of buyers not committed to a Web-based or on-premise offering. However, this could be due to the large pool of first-time buyers that might not be familiar with the benefits of web-based applications, such as customer portals that provide easy access to work order status. Of those that did have a deployment model preference, 89 percent wanted to evaluate web-based systems. This is likely because most surveyed were SMBs with 20 users or less, since cloud-based solutions typically have a lower cost to entry. High 5 Software offers on-premise and hosted options with SME and fully web-based cloud solution with SMO.
