RSMUS.comSalesforce Field Service is a key application in the Salesforce platform that helps organizations modernize their field operations. For companies that provide onsite services – whether it be to survey, estimate, install, upgrade or service – it can be a game changer in being able to organize processes and scale the business. Salesforce Field Service has a number of capabilities that stand out. As with many cloud solution customers, companies can leverage the parts of the platform that they need and add them as their business matures. Some of the key capabilities include:
Resource Management
Resource Management helps you optimize your workforce utilization. You can manage your resources, such as technicians, equipment, or vehicles, based on their location, preferences, and availability. You can also assign shifts and manage skills for your resources. You can even track skills and certifications so that you can match the right resource to the right job.
Work Order / Project Management
Work Order and Project Management helps you create, monitor, and manage complex work orders and projects with multiple resources, tasks, and locations. You can match work types and skills to the right resources and requirements. You can also monitor your work orders or projects and SLA compliance. You can provide knowledge articles to your resources for information and instruction.
Scheduling Dispatch
Scheduling and Dispatch helps you schedule the right resources for the right appointments. You can manage planned, multi-day projects and adhoc (same day) route optimization to adjust your schedules based on real-time events. You can set up scheduling policies and priorities to handle the most important or urgent appointments first and optimize your schedule to balance workload, reduce travel time, and increase efficiency. You can see the status and location of your work orders and resources.
Mobile-First Appointment Execution
Salesforce Field Service gives your mobile workers a mobile app that works online and offline. Your workers can get reminders and notifications, see their agenda and route, use geolocation and directions, and update their work orders. They can also access knowledge articles, get customer signatures, create service reports, and communicate with the back office for help while onsite. Your mobile workers have everything they need to do their jobs well and fast on their mobile devices.
Customer Entitlement and SLA Management
Salesforce Field Service helps you provide reliable service by managing customer entitlements and SLAs. You can manage service contracts that show your service terms and conditions and link them to your entitlements and work orders. You can set up automatic SLA calculations to see compliance for work orders, appointments, and customer’s business hours and time zones. With Salesforce Field Service, you can ensure your customers get the service they expect and that you successfully fulfill your contractual obligations.
Asset Management
Salesforce Field Service helps you manage the assets that your technicians service, such as machines, equipment, or devices. You can make and track asset records that store information like serial number, location, warranty, and maintenance history. You can also link assets to accounts, contacts, entitlements, work orders, and other assets to see your customer’s assets and their relationships. Salesforce Field Service supports different kinds of asset maintenance, such as ad hoc, periodic, and usage-based. Customers benefit from fast support and proactive action to avoid downtime and improve customer experience and value.
Inventory Management
Salesforce Field Service helps you manage the inventory of parts that your technicians need for their work orders. You can set inventory requirements for appointments based on service type or asset condition, so that your technicians have the right items in nearby warehouses and eventually in their van on day of service. You can also track inventory use during service appointments and update the inventory levels and costs. If a technician needs more parts that are out of stock, they can make an inventory request from their mobile device and get it approved and delivered by a dispatcher or a warehouse manager. You can also track inventory moves and returns. Shipment status notifications can keep you up to date on delivery or delays.
Integration and Core Platform Capabilities
Salesforce Field Service is built on the Salesforce platform and thus provides the customizability and single data foundation that generates even more value as you expand. You can use code, middleware products and/or Salesforce API’s to connect to other tools and systems, such as route optimization, asset tracking, or inventory databases. The Salesforce development platform enable you to make customized alerts, notifications, and workflows to automate your field service processes and increase efficiency and quality. You can also customize reports and dashboards to measure and analyze your field service performance and metrics and get a 360-degree customer view for insights and recommendations.
Next steps:
The Salesforce Field Service product is one of the leaders in its category and provides a full set of features as well as customizability options to enable you to differentiate your field operation capabilities. Because of its powerful capabilities, having the right plan is critical to a successful implementation and ongoing improvements. Building a strong roadmap with phased deployments enables you to align your business goals to the technology so that you can drive quick, short term benefits on your path to larger gains over time.
For more information please download our Salesforce Field Service buyer’s guide or contact us.
