Three Ways Contactless Mobile Service With Microsoft Dynamics Can Improve Communication Between Office Staff, Technicians and Customers

Change is a constant in business. Smart organizations have learned to cope with rapidly changing circumstances, technologies, and work paradigms, taking the changes in stride. It is important for manufacturing and service companies to improve their overall efficiency and take advantage of new innovations in contactless mobile service to improve communication.

The upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of ensuring the safety of employees and customers while carrying out normal business operations. Toward the beginning of the crisis, a manufacturing client saw the need to share important information with their field personnel in real time. Even though they always placed importance on communication, they quickly realized that email wasn’t the best tool – in fact, their field personnel couldn’t regularly access it!

However, with the ExpandIT mobile app for their Microsoft Dynamics system, office staff were able to send important information regarding health and safety protocols directly to their agents in the field, visible as soon as they opened the app – and afterwards those messages would be saved in the messages section of the application for easy reference.

Manufacturers and service organizations know that managing downtime is critical – and whether it is scheduled maintenance or a surprise event, communication is key to getting back up and running as soon as possible. During those times, some of your intraorganizational communications services may not be available. Traditional tools such as pen-and-paper, or even some on-premises systems, require a high level of physical contact between employees (and sometimes customers.) Contactless mobile service provides everyone with a way to get the job done safely.

Let’s take a look at three areas where contactless mobile service can improve interactions between office staff and technicians, technicians and customers, and customers with office staff.

Office staff and technicians:

Field technicians are among the most visible members of your team, and those who are the most at risk during a pandemic. Daily they visit multiple sites and unavoidably interact with other people. How can they communicate effectively and complete their assignments while minimizing physical contact? ExpandIT’s Planning Board allows the planning and dispatching crew to easily schedule and allocate resources electronically. Meanwhile the technicians can view their schedule right on their mobile phone or tablet, meaning they make fewer trips to the office. What is more, they can access other important information, such as previous work orders and customer history, right from their device, ensuring they are prepared before starting a job, saving time and eliminating needless travel.

Technicians and customers:

In a traditional business model, the customer calls the office to request changes or to communicate important updates to field technicians. If there is a disconnect between the customer-relations software and the field service software, the divide then becomes even more pronounced – often leaving those in the field way behind the curve. This not only causes productivity issues, but more importantly, can affect the health and safety of your crew. A more modern approach is provided by ExpandIT’s Service Portal, enabling customers to communicate that critical information (for instance, an update to safety protocols) directly to the technicians assigned, thereby minimizing the number of in-person interactions between customers and technicians.

Customers and office staff:

Providing greater transparency to your customers via digital solutions can not only improve safety, but also elevate the customer experience. ExpandIT allows you to provide your customers with a self-service portal, giving them 24/7 access to request service, see the status of a job, view past invoices, pay invoices online, and view past service orders and reports. Their needs are satisfied without ever leaving their home or office, while your office staff is now free to simply act on the customer’s requests.

Are you ready for a change?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, NAV, F&O/AX, and GP are powerful ERP systems. When combined with a field service management system from ExpandIT, service and installation organizations can provide contactless service, while improving safety and optimizing business operations.

Qixas has certified staff to implement Microsoft Dynamics for manufacturing companies.

Would you like to know how we can implement a system for you? Book a consultation with Qixas to learn more about ExpandIT’s field service solutions.

By Qixas Group, qixas.com

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