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INSIGHTS
Unleashing the Potential: The Role of Rostering Software in Field Service Optimisation
By Caroline Dent, Senior Product Pre-Sales Architect – Velrada
The demand for scheduling and dispatch software in the field service industry is on the rise, driven by customers’ evolving needs. Organizations using Field Service have already experienced the advantages of reduced travel times, improved resource utilization, and enhanced visibility using scheduling and dispatch tools. Field service has become their platform for growth, enabling them to uncover new opportunities and optimize resource allocation.
What was once considered a challenge in field service operations is now being effectively addressed through the integration of rostering software. This article will explore how rostering software such as PowerRoster™, is transforming the field service landscape.
Enhanced Scheduling and Dispatch:
Scheduling and dispatch play a vital role in delivering timely and effective field services. Rostering software empowers businesses to create optimized schedules and efficiently dispatch technicians to customer locations, enhance their field service solution, and expand into new areas.
By integrating rostering functionality with field service software, companies can streamline their scheduling process from improving the management of resource relocation to reducing overtime and associated call-out costs.
Despite having a field service solution in place, some customers still face gaps in their schedules and incur overtime expenses and call-out shifts. Often, this happens because workers are not available or working when customers require assistance. By utilizing demand forecasting alongside rostering, PowerRoster™ enables you to understand where and when resources are needed, allowing for efficient scheduling, and managing those frustrating temporary resource relocations! Many of our customers have transformed their working hours, offering split shifts and more flexible patterns, resulting in improved service delivery to customers. Moreover, this approach reduces the need for overtime, costly callouts, and reliance on expensive ad-hoc contractors.
Additionally, rostering can be utilized beyond managing personnel. It can optimize the availability of equipment, spaces, vehicles, and rare assets. Frontline managers often face frustration when vehicles are unavailable due to servicing, leaving technicians idle at the depot. Rostering allows for advanced planning and updating field service before RSO runs, ensuring technicians are scheduled for two-person jobs on the day, maximizing utilization and productivity for everyone involved.
Shaping the Future:
Integrating rostering with field service opens numerous possibilities for optimizing workforce management.
Let’s consider the example of an ageing workforce, which many of our field service customers have. By optimizing shifts based on demand, companies can ensure a surplus of frontline workers and offer flexible working hours and environments. What makes this transition even more seamless and technologically advanced is the integration of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service with PowerRoster™, both of which are built on the dynamic Microsoft platform. Leveraging the capabilities of Microsoft’s Power Platform, organizations can easily extend into emerging technologies.
This dynamic integration empowers experienced workers who are looking for a change, especially in the wake of the impact of COVID-19. They can be seamlessly redeployed into roles that involve educating and supporting the next generation through cutting-edge advancements like AI-driven assistance, remote support, and chatbots. In fact, some workers have embraced the opportunity to become contingent contractors for their employers, gaining greater control over their work-life balance while still contributing to the organization’s success.
This transformative approach, made possible by the combined power of field service and rostering on the Microsoft platform, not only provides a competitive advantage for the business but also significantly boosts employee satisfaction. With the flexibility to choose their working hours and adapt to new roles facilitated by advanced technologies, employees find themselves more engaged, empowered, and aligned with the organization’s evolving needs. It’s a win-win scenario that underscores the incredible potential of integrating rostering software with Microsoft’s innovative ecosystem.
Future-Ready Field Service:
Rostering software is reshaping the field service industry, addressing key challenges, and offering new opportunities. It streamlines scheduling, optimizes resource allocation, and reduces costs. By integrating with Microsoft’s platform, it enables businesses to embrace emerging technologies, enhance workforce management, and boost employee satisfaction. Rostering software is the driving force behind a more efficient, agile, and competitive field service landscape.