Field service turns into a revenue center from a cost center when service calls are properly managed, leading to increased profits as well as customer satisfaction. Field service processing becomes more efficient with automation, which cuts down on redundant processes, while proper system integration ensures its optimization.

Integrating enterprise systems with field service management (FSM) proves economical by preventing unnecessary customer visits. A regular schedule of preventive maintenance tasks aids in this.  Field visits can also be cut down by ensuring that technicians have everything required for their job, including materials, parts and service procedures, complete with updated data, equipment inventory records, and finance. Mobile applications can also be deployed to better utilize technicians’ time, but this requires FSM software to not only run on mobile devices but also integrate with back-end systems including inventory and warehouse management, and ERP and CRP systems.

Efficient system integration enables better management of work orders and reduces the time taken in resolving customer problems. Integration of customer and service systems can eliminate manual data entry altogether, instead, IoT-enabled machines which sense malfunctions can immediately generate a work order.

System integration is required to convert field service departments from cost centers to revenue centers—companies who haven’t completed this process are expected to incur losses in the near future. This becomes more important as IoT provides for sensors and machines to predict equipment failures and alert technicians accordingly.

These are merely some ways of improving customer service quality through system integration and converting field service centers into revenue channels. Automation becomes the key to providing better customer service and increasing the return on investment.