5 Pivotal Parts of a Field Service Software Implementation
Implementing field service software is a must to stay competitive in the industry. The growing number of field service software vendors give companies the ability to improve operations, the employee experience, customer satisfaction, and ultimately revenue.
Whether you are looking at a real-time communication platform like Zinc, or a field service management solution like ServiceMax, there are common steps that should be completed for a successful implementation.
Follow this checklist for implementing field service software to ensure it goes off without a hitch.
1. Plan ahead for the scope of the project
Implementing new technology is a major undertaking so it’s important to start off with a complete understanding of the scope. Find out the answers to the following questions:
- How long will the process take?
- Will I need a team dedicated to the project?
- Who will I need to pull in from other departments?
- Who are the key stakeholders I’ll need to get approval from?
- Who are the champions that’ll get frontline employees excited?
By understanding what resources you’ll need and securing them from the get-go, you’ll set yourself up for a successful implementation.
2. Choose a vendor that wants to build a relationship, not just make a sale
You know the problem that you need to solve and you’ve isolated the solutions that can work. How do you decide which solution is the best? Just like when hiring an employee, enlisting a new vendor is a costly process if it doesn’t work out.
The best thing you can do to get the results you want is to find a vendor that understands your business and wants to work with you to find the best ways to set up the software for your goals and objectives. When you enlist a vendor that wants to have an ongoing relationship, you can be confident that when you have issues or ideas for improvement, they’ll be listening.
3. Put your Change Management Hat on
Implementing new technology is a disruptive process, even if the technology is highly intuitive. Employees will have to learn new processes as well as learn how to use the actual software. For some, this will be a welcomed change, but others won’t be so happy about it.
Checklist for implementing field service software: Change Management
To make it a smooth transition, rely on your project champions to create hype among their teams about the solution. It should be clear to every employee why the company is rolling out new technology and what benefits employees can expect to find in their day-to-day.
Many companies utilize video content to get this process started. These “Hype” and “How to” videos are a fun and engaging way to keep everyone in the know and excited about the ways their jobs will become easier because of the software.
4. Always mandate usage (or risk low adoption)
The biggest challenge when implementing new technology is adoption. As stated above, new field service management solutions require people to change the way they do things, and many people don’t like change.
They key to overcoming this hurdle is to mandate the usage of the new solution. Block access to the old system and require that employees use the new one. This is incredibly important because, for most field service software, the true impact and value are only realized when the entire field service org is using it.
The best way to do this through a phased approach. First, get management and administrators trained and then they can help their teams get rolled out. Using analytics throughout this process is invaluable. For example, Zinc provides real-time Membership and Activity Reports that show who has logged into the app and what their usage looks like. This visibility allows admins to track roll out and ensure that no one gets left behind.
Checklist for implementing field service software: Track Adoption with Analytics
5. Ask for feedback
Last part of our checklist for implementing field service software is to get feedback from the employees who use the software each day. Have managers talk with their teams or conduct online surveys. Find out what employees like about the solution, if there needs to be any additional training, and if there are any processes that could be revised.
Sharing employee success stories is a great way to keep up continued enthusiasm around the software. In addition to improving service metrics, the software should make employees’ jobs easier and more enjoyable to do. With reduced friction employees can kick productivity into high gear and feel great about the work they do.
Your Checklist for Implementing Field Service Software
There’s no doubt that switching to or replacing a software system is a great undertaking. Advances in the market are making it easier than ever for field service businesses of all sizes to purchase and properly implement field service software. Follow this checklist for implementing field service software and your employees, customers, and bottom line will thank you.
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