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How to design processes for your field service organization

Recently, there was joint research from the Stanford Graduate Schools of Business and Engineering on rules and processes within an organization. The essential findings were:

  • Companies with too many rules tended to “hit a mark” — i.e. release a product — but it tended to be the wrong thing relative to what everyone wanted.
  • Companies with no real rules tended to basically get nothing done — no outcomes or deliverables.
  • Companies in the middle — 4 or 5 simple rules — tended to achieve the most.

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There was something of a ‘Goldilocks Effect’ to the results -- for processes and rules to be effective, they need to fall somewhere in the middle: not too many, but not too few either.

This research is important to remember as you develop your field service organization’s processes, rules, and protocols. We’ve worked with hundreds of FSOs over the years and it always bears itself out: those organizations with the most rules and processes tend to have a hard time accomplishing goals, because their organizations can feel choked in process. In order to do something that should be relatively simple related to a customer need, it feels like you need to jump through dozens of hoops. Productivity wanes.

On the other hand, when a growing field service organization has too few rules, it can feel like the Wild West -- and there’s very little consistency around customer information or invoicing because everyone is off processing elements in the way that’s most comfortable to him or her.

The sweet spot in the middle on process often involves using a field service management software tool. This allows you to integrate core business functions (scheduling, dispatching, inventory, communication with technicians, etc.) and puts everyone in your organization on the same page in terms of being able to see what’s happening with customers, billable hours, first-time fix rate, revenue growth, and more. (Of course, if you want to limit some information to only the top tiers of your organization, you can.)

Field service management tools allow you to build (or ‘bake,’ depending on your favorite analogy) your processes right into the software -- so people need to follow Steps A and B before C can be unlocked. It reinforces best practices in that way.

Thinking about processes for your FSO is a crucial step that some organizations jump right over, preferring instead to dive right into billable client work. If those processesare not defined, though, growth becomes very challenging. It is part of a suite of ideas around how to move field service beyond fix and repair -- namely, the core aspects of your business you need to consider if you want to grow and be around for a while.

We’ve put together an entire eBook of these ‘beyond fix and repair’ issues that you can download. If you’re already doing well with basic on-site client work, definitely give it a read and start making notes on areas you had not considered yet around sales, marketing, analytics, and more. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us.

 

Written by Julio Hartstein


This was originally posted here.

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