Overview of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service

If you want to improve the experience your customers have with your field service organization, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service could be your answer. Gartner ranks Microsoft as a Leader in their Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, and it can make a significant positive impact on the satisfaction of your customers and your competitive edge.

This overview will give you an idea of the key things you can achieve using the Field Service technology.

Improve Customer Communications

Communication is one of the most important aspects of customer service. Using Field Service, you’ll be able to determine when it is most convenient for them to schedule a service visit and you’ll use on-time scheduling and technician location information to make sure your customers’ expectations are met.

Field Service allows you to keep your customers up to date on when the technician will arrive, which frees them to attend to other business until the technician arrives on site.

Right now, a self-service capability is a preview feature of the Field Service module. That means it’s not approved for production work, but you can see that Microsoft is working on the capability for customers to schedule their own service calls. That capability will allow your service department to offer 24/7 scheduling.

Boost the Effectiveness of Your Field Technicians

Your Field Technicians will use a new mobile app that is built on Microsoft’s Power platform, giving them the latest capabilities and a path to move forward as Microsoft adds capabilities to the platform.

Your technicians will have access to knowledge articles that have been attached to their work orders to give them on site support. You can also create 3D models of equipment that technicians can access on site to guide them in trouble shooting and repairs.

The mobile app can be used to collaborate with other technical resources to get the insight they need to fix a problem during the first visit. Technicians will be able to manage work orders and appointment schedules, take photos and videos and make voice notes using the app.

Boost the Effectiveness of Your Dispatchers

Dispatchers are the key to getting the right technician with the right skills to the customer at the right time. Scheduling and dispatch tools are a critical part of the Field Service capabilities.

Scheduling can be done manually or using semi-automated or fully automated tools. The AI-enabled scheduling tools considers a variety of criteria including skills, availability, geographic location, and more. The dashboards available to the scheduler show everything they need to know in order to ensure client expectations are met. A drag and drop schedule board and interactive map simplify the process of scheduling and tracking assignments.

All of these tools and insights are intended to increase the number of visits that result in a fix the first time.

Use the Power of IoT

IoT sensors can delight your customers by spotting emerging issues and resolving them before your customers have felt their effects. IoT data will also allow you to move from a break-and-fix model to predictive maintenance model initiated by IoT data.

Manage Your Processes and Employees with Analytics

Your managers won’t need to spend time analyzing reports to convert data into actionable information. The available dashboards do the work for them.

Your managers can spend more time coaching agents or working with customers when they can use a dashboard to determine what is driving the trend in customer satisfaction. They’ll know exactly how many work orders are being created and how many are open. They’ll know whether work orders were completed in the promised timeframe.

Managers can drill down to see how specific technicians are performing based on the number of resolved cases, and customer satisfaction scores, and more. They can see where there may be gaps in the knowledge articles that are attached to work orders and add to those based on their own insights.

Achieve Positive Economic Impacts

Forrester Consulting prepared a total economic impact study of the Field Service technology. Their findings indicated that the use of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Services resulted in reducing technician drive time by 50%, reducing overtime pay, and improving customer satisfaction. Microsoft produced a calculator based on those results to allow you to estimate how your results would compare.

What Can Datavail Do to Help You?

If you’re considering using Field Service, you know that it will be critical for you to do the planning necessary to ensure a smooth implementation. However, many of our customers lack the in-house expertise to accomplish those tasks. Some companies need to expand their in-house expertise to meet their goals.

Datavail’s Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service experts can work with you to plan, deploy, train and manage your Field Service installation. We can also help you migrate from on-premises to the cloud, develop customized apps, provide consultation services as well as ongoing maintenance, support and managed services. Learn more about Field Service by downloading our white paper ““What You Need to Know About Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service Module,” or contact us for more information.