The opportunities of digital resource planning for service providers
For many service providers, Excel is often still the tool of choice for planning operations. At first glance, this seems logical: almost everyone can use it and adjustments can be made quickly. On closer inspection, however, you will quickly realize that Excel was designed for completely different purposes than resource planning for service providers.
Efficiency, transparency and flexibility are lacking without deployment planning software
Let's start with the layout of the deployment plan. In particular, if your service company has several dispatchers working in deployment planning, an individual view and arrangement of the Technicians is often required. Dispatcher A is responsible for area A, while dispatcher B is not interested in the Technicians from area A. He would prefer to see only his service technicians - preferably in a customized order.
In addition, there is a lot of manual effort involved in maintaining the Excel work schedule. New dates have to be inserted into the cells in a time-consuming process and are therefore often abbreviated (illegibly). If the planner now receives an operation for an unplanned malfunction, the painstaking planning has to be overturned again. It usually takes a lot of effort to find out which Technician has free capacity, is best suited for the Operation due to their qualifications and is closest to the Plant. They often switch between Excel and Google Maps to check the distances of the Technicians in question - nerve-wracking and time-consuming, especially in situations where things have to be done quickly.
The last major disadvantage is the lack of transparency for service technicians. In order to obtain information about the operation, many drive to the office in advance and only then continue on to the customer. In our experience, a large cluster of Technicians then forms in front of the planner's office, especially on Mondays. Chaos, stress and the resulting mistakes are inevitable in a hectic environment.
Using the opportunities of digitalization with a deployment planning app
A resource planning app offers enormous potential compared to Excel planning. Digital planning, for example, has no write protection and no memory conflicts. It simply works, regardless of how many users are accessing the planning at the same time. In addition, there is maximum customizability for each individual dispatcher. From switching between daily, weekly and monthly views to adjusting the cell size, every user can set up the schedule in the way that best suits them. There are also user-specific filter options such as by:
- Areas: North, East, South, West etc.
- Departments: Service technician, workshop, sales etc.
- Specializations: Mechanic, electrician, commissioning engineer, etc.
- Appointment category: On-call duty, vacation, illness, etc.
Sophisticated planning board solutions also integrate an intuitive map to simplify route planning for the dispatcher. With the help of a map section, you can see directly which Technician is currently located where. Service technicians can be sorted by distance from the location with just one click - ideal if you need to schedule operations at short notice.
The route planner function in combination with skill management is ideal for medium-term planning of scheduled maintenance. This ensures that the Technician with the required qualifications is selected and takes the best possible route for his operations.
Do you still see plenty of room for optimization in your deployment planning?
Please contact us.
Service technician app as an ideal addition
The combination of dynamic scheduling and a mobile Technician app is essential for service providers today in terms of smooth interaction between schedulers and technicians. If the planner makes changes to the operation or releases new operations for the Technician, the latter receives a direct notification in the mobile app. In addition to the usage data, all information about the customer, the Plant incl. of the service history and past measured values. The tedious task of collecting information from folders and Excel files is no longer necessary and errors are consistently eliminated.
The entire order processing is carried out completely on the move and reported back to the head office after completion without any detours. The dispatcher immediately sees in the plan whether the Technician has already completed the operation and is still available for emergency service assignments.
Conclusion
Digital resource planning offers great advantages, especially for service providers, which lead to long-term cost savings through less effort and improved quality. Digitalization is therefore increasingly becoming a decisive factor in the competitiveness of service providers.
If you have any questions about digitizing your service company with the right service software, we will be happy to help. Contact us now with no obligation.
