Using Work Orders to Improve Internal Processes

This article about work orders is by Lisa C. Dunn, a writer for TechnologyAdvice and copywriter who develops high-quality content for businesses and non-profit organizations. For over 20 years, she has worked with numerous PR and digital marketing agencies. Her work has been featured in well-known publications including Forbes, VentureBeat, Mashable, Huffington Post, Wired, B2C, USA Today, among others.

Many field service business owners believe that modernizing their company’s work orders is unnecessary. After all, if your existing system works for you and your team, why change it?

The issue is not necessarily that your current solution is not working — it may be that it isn’t working well enough.

Digital Work Orders — A More Efficient Way

One of the best ways to streamline your business’ processes is with digital work orders. The latest work order technology and solutions can help you assign work to your company’s professionals in the field efficiently, tracking all jobs from start to finish. All without having to struggle with time-consuming, messy paper-based work.

Free Up Time to Focus On What Matters Most

Traditional paper-based work orders tend to be inefficient, and the price of printing forms can be costly. Incomplete or inaccurate orders due to human error can cost your business both time, money, and most importantly, loyal customers.

According to an Accenture study, approximately 64 percent of consumers say they have switched providers in at least one industry due to poor customer service.

The latest work order solutions can streamline your sales and operations processes to enhance efficiency while also freeing up more time for you to focus on delivering excellent customer service.

An Aberdeen survey published in a 2015 Field Technologies magazine article stated that 82% of field service companies are now using a digital work order solution, or are currently in the process of implementing one.

Three Ways Work Orders Can Help You

1. Save valuable time. Save precious time on monotonous, tedious tasks, especially data entry related to vital customer information, invoices, and resolution of issues or problems. Digital work orders autofill customer information from your CRM and integrate directly with your accounting software, ensuring all parts of the business communicate quickly and efficiently.
2. Streamline data entry and minimize errors. When your team members are entering data manually on paper, you increase the risk of error. For every mistake made with this approach, you also risk losing revenue, as well as the trust and loyalty of your customers. Ultimately, these mistakes can lead to losing your customers, along with a noticeable reduction in operational efficiency.
3. Reduce the number of incorrect invoices. One common mistake in the service business space is sending invoices with errors in the charges, or delivering duplicate invoices. In the long run, this type of mistake can damage your service company’s reputation. As a result, your customers may decide to use your competition.

Transport Your Service Company From ‘Outdated’ to Cutting-Edge

Field service companies still putting pen to paper are wasting countless hours waiting for significantly less accurate information. Here are a few more reasons why digital work orders can help your business:

• They deliver more accurate information
• They capture every detail of each job
• Your customer service team can view job progress in real-time, 24/7
• They don’t take up your employees’ time with manual data entry and work orders chock full of errors
• You can retrieve digital versions of these documents from anywhere, anytime
• You can bill your customers sooner

With digital work orders, your team members can fill out all pertinent information that would typically appear on traditional paperwork via a tablet or smartphone. They also can take photos on a job site and enter notes that can be digitally attached to a work order when they send it back to the office following a job.

Finally, work order technology allows you to keep your inventory records up-to-date in real time. For example, let’s say one of your technicians uses a specific part on a job; you can have that information automatically updated in your inventory management system via work order software. Your team can then simply search for the parts they want to use, choose them, and then your system will instantly update your inventory records.

The Bottom Line

Paperwork is not just a hassle due to its physical clutter capabilities. It can compromise the overall integrity of your field service business. Additionally, when you handwrite orders and invoices, they can easily be misinterpreted or get misplaced.

By embracing the latest work order technology, your team and your valuable customers can more easily interpret and understand a job, from beginning to end.

Consider adopting work order software to manage your business operations. Your team members will gain the ability to process existing work orders, modify them or create new ones. And all from the convenience of their smartphone or tablet. They can be more proactive by pre-scheduling and even upselling follow-up appointments.

Are you ready to optimize your service company? Want to know how work order software can make your business more efficient and profitable? Book a free, private demo of Vonigo.