Does your sales or service team go out into the world and feel like they’re a bit disconnected? It’s not uncommon for employees out in the field to “have to get back to my desk” to look up something for a client or get important data back to the office.

That disconnect costs businesses time and money in productivity costs and can make sales cycles take longer than they need to because a sales team doesn’t have what they need when they’re face to face with a client.

73% of sales teams say that collaborating across departments is important for the overall sales process.

Whether your team is selling to a new lead or servicing an existing client, automating the communication processes can give them the ability to do more and be more effective, so when they do get back to their desk, they can actually move forward to the next task, rather than playing catch up.

When technology is infused correctly into a business process it equals unlimited potential. That includes full service IT management, real-time data analytics, and field automation that keeps your team connected to the tools they need no matter where they are. 

Benefits of Field Automation for Your Business

Business workflow automation is trend that’s reducing costs and increasing productivity. It’s estimated that 60% of occupations could save 30% of their time with automation and that organizations lose approximately 20-30% of their annual revenue due to inefficient processes. 

What is Field Automation?

Also called Field Service or Field Force Automation, it simply means keeping your field service or sales teams connected to the information they need while they’re away from the office and out in the field. 

It can include the use of mobile enabled cloud-based applications that streamline processes with features such as scheduling, quoting and invoicing, dispatching, data capture, file sharing, and more. 

Here are some of the benefits that your organization could see from implementing field automation.

Improved Data Accuracy

How much information is “lost in translation” between your field agent scribbling down a customer project spec on site and then typing it into their computer when they’re back at the office?

You can greatly increase accuracy and reduce redundant work by enabling your field staff to enter data on their tablet or smartphone that will automatically populate it into a work order or customer record in your central cloud-app database.

Faster Sales Cycle

In the time it takes your salesperson to drive back to the office, create an invoice, and then email it to the customer, a competitor could swoop in and steal the sale. By using field automation, you can reduce lag time in your sales cycle by having field sales reps create quotes and invoices right on the spot, so they can close the deal while still in front of the customer.

Recapture Lost Scheduling Time

It’s inevitable that appointments will get cancelled while your service technicians are already on the way. Reduce travel costs and recapture that time by streamlining scheduling that will automatically serve them the next best appointment to visit based upon criteria such as:

  • Location
  • Immediate need
  • Skills needed for the service call
  • Timeframe availability

Improve Customer Satisfaction

When a field technical or salesperson has a client’s full service or order history at their fingertips it’s not only a way to impress your clients, it facilitates the service you provide to them. 

Even a new team member will already know what to expect and what a customer’s likes or dislikes and be better able to provide personal service that keeps them loyal.

Improve Speed & Productivity

Does your administrative assistant have to enter service call forms when your technicians return from the field? Those manual entry tasks eat up time that could be spent more productively. 

By enabling field automation that dynamically captures data at the source, your agent could enter the service call details on a tablet instead of writing them out by hand and eliminating the need for duplicate data handling.

Your response time can also be streamlined by instantly sending customer data back to your office from the field. The office team can then move onto the next stage before the tech even makes it back to the office.

Improve Staff Management

With GPS enabled field automation tools, you know just where your service vehicles are at any given moment and can re-route on the fly as needed to meet any urgent needs that arise.

You can also empower your customer service team with better real-time information. For example, if a customer calls wondering when their technician is going to be there, your customer service rep could let them know just how far out the technical is and their estimated time of arrival.

Keep Your Team Connected No Matter Where They Are  

Fluid communications enable streamlined operations that lower costs and improve company performance. Genuine Technology Group can help you keep office, field, and remote employees connected and productive.

Call us today for a free consultation at 971-288-0880 or reach out online.