Definition and meaning of service
The service department (also known as customer service) is a department within a company that provides services for customers. This includes services such as the maintenance and repair of machines and assets by a fitter or service technician. The aim is to increase customer satisfaction and increase sales in the service area.
In the past, the service business was often seen as a tiresome sideline that was considered a necessary addition to the lucrative sale of new systems. Reliable and high-quality service has become a unique selling point and differentiator among all (service) providers on the market. As customers often want to purchase everything from a single source, good customer service also serves as a driver and important sales argument when selling new systems. In addition, the service industry is a comparatively crisis-proof business in terms of maintenance and repair companies, as assets and machines frequently undergo and require ongoing maintenance and servicing.
To summarize, the service area has become significantly more important in the past. Reliable and well-organized service is an important factor for sustainable corporate success now and in the future.
Sub-areas and tasks of service management
Customer and plant management
- Management of customer data incl. Relevant contact person
- Documentation of customer communication in a CRM history
- Maintaining the customer's system master data and the installed components (e.g. serial number, location, performance data)
- Storage of spare parts lists, measurement logs, maintenance plans and technical manufacturer documentation
- Ensuring a complete service and Technician history for the customer and their assigned objects
- Monitoring of warranty periods and outstanding work on the assets (urgency, due date)
- Planning regular maintenance work, taking into account service and maintenance contracts
Strategic and operational service
- Analysis of all customer interactions and service assignments and derivation of optimizations for operational service
- Monitoring and evaluation of the entire service process: How many service hours are spent on which activities? How is the ratio of travel time to working time developing?
- Technical analyses: Which type of system fails most frequently? Which solution approach helps with which error codes? In which Areas are the service technicians understaffed compared to the number of Assets?
- Sales: Identification of customers and assets that have not been approached for some time. Monitoring of maintenance and service contracts and their remaining term.
Operational planning of service technicians
- Coordination of maintenance and repair work with customers, taking into account special requests (observance of the Appointment window, if required by the service technician)
- Fast and smooth processing of ad hoc repair or fault orders (troubleshooting) and associated rescheduling Operations already scheduled
- Determination of optimal routes for the fitters to the planned operations (route optimization)
- Scheduling of service technicians according to their skills and the requirements of the respective operation (Skill management)
Mobile customer service
- Consideration of customer requirements when carrying out operations (instructions, safety guidelines)
- Step-by-step implementation of service activities, e.g. by following maintenance checklists
- Logging of measured values, analysis of past measured values and their progression
- Complete documentation of work carried out, recording of outstanding work for follow-up assignments
- Recording the operation times, discussing the service report with the customer and obtaining the digital signature
The ADASMA functions.Tailored to your service requirements.
Advantages of service software
Increased transparency across the entire service process
Service software (also known as service management software) can - in the Comparison with island and makeshift solutions such as Microsoft Excel - contribute significantly to increasing transparency, as they can be used in is integrated into all of the company's key service processes. Starting with the service request from a customer to the Appointment allocation and planning in Operational planning through to service execution in the service technicians' mobile app, all process steps fully documented. Every employee can see the processing status of the respective operation. and track changes made on an ongoing basis.
Service software can also initiate workflows that are triggered for certain events are triggered automatically. This includes, for example, a customer order recorded by the service technician on site or the request for a material return.
Even after an operation has been completed, the Service management software when evaluating the recorded operation data. These include key service indicators such as the distribution of service hours to various operation classifications (e.g. maintenance work, troubleshooting or warranties) or the Ratio of working time to travel time.
Less effort and cost savings
With the help of a modern software solution for service, you can avoid The preparation and follow-up of operations also involves time-consuming duplication of work. The service report is often laborious and entered into a manually managed asset history, which can be fully automated using service software. can. Furthermore, the avoidance of media breaks (Excel, paper, ERP) leads to a significantly faster turnaround time for the operation. Multiple checks and manual data transfer between different systems can be carried out via a simple interface connection - a for example, between the ERP system and the service management software - can be reduced to a minimum.
Another positive side effect is the increase in liquidity. The digitalization of the service technicians in particular means that operation data can be reported back on the same day and directly be settled. The wait for illegibly completed service reports is now over.
Improved service quality and positive interactions
The aforementioned components of increased transparency in service, The reduced effort and better data quality consistently lead to improved service quality in all departments.
Here are some negative examples that can be avoided by using service software:
- Frequent queries from service technicians to operational planning due to a lack of operational information
- Problems with the service report: illegible data, missing documents, long processing times
- Numerous invoice corrections, high express/courier costs due to incorrect delivery of spare parts
In summary, the service software increases both internal and external also the service quality that is perceived externally. Customer satisfaction with the service increases significantly, which consequently also influences the corporate image. Not to be neglected are the interactions with other divisions of the company - e.g. on the New system sales. If the customer appreciates the good service, he is more likely to place new orders for new installations and accept new orders. usually also higher prices than the competition.
ADASMA as the ideal service software
With ADASMA as a service software, you achieve all the advantages mentioned above. Due to the extensive range of functions, all the listed sub-areas and tasks in service management are supported. The software remains clear and easy to use throughout - both for the office staff and for the service technicians.
ADASMA's target group includes, in particular, maintenance and repair companies that carry out service work on technical objects. These include applications such as the maintenance of motors, gearboxes, CHP units, wind turbines, emergency power systems and industrial refrigeration systems. ADASMA stands out here in particular thanks to its intelligent Asset history and flexible management of your assets and objects.
Whether a manufacturer-independent service provider or in-house customer service - ADASMA meets all requirements thanks to its high level of customization options. Convince yourself of ADASMA in a personal meeting and arrange a non-binding webinar appointment today.