What does SAP Field Service Management mean in practice?
SAP FSM – or SAP Field Service Management – is very helpful to streamline your customer service as it combines all field service processes in one handy cloud solution. If you want to know what this solution can do: you'll find it out in this blog.
I wrote up a blog about FSM, after being briefed by my expert colleagues. You can read it here, but you don’t need to in order to understand my story below. To know how FSM works in real life, I had a recent experience with this which leads me to explain how it actually works and which benefits I experienced.
SAP Field Service Management and your customer
A couple of weeks ago I had an issue with my washing machine. It leaked water and I could not fix it myself. Off I went to find the invoice where I found the support number of the brand’s customer service. I called them up and had a lovely call with a lady – let's call her Mary. She took note of my problem, asked the information about the machine (Serial Number), the date I bought it and checked the availability of their technicians to come and fix the machine.
Now as a caveat, she told me that I could create an online account as well, which would have allowed me to report the problem myself, with all the technical information about my machine. I could also indicate when it would suit me for a technician to fix the machine.
But as I didn’t create my online account, everything was dealt with over the phone: Mary and I agreed on a date (a Wednesday), and she told me that I would receive notifications to narrow down the timing. And indeed, on Monday, I received my first text message: a reminder to let me know a technician would come to fix the washing machine on Wednesday. The next notification arrived on Tuesday, with a more detailed timetable: I could expect my technician to turn up on Wednesday, between 08.30 am and 11.30 am. And on Wednesday morning I got two texts: when my technician arrived at the customer scheduled before me, and another when he set off to my house.
SAP Field Service Management and your customer service
So, what happened on Mary’s side when I decided to call her to discuss my issue and schedule an appointment? Well, she had the SAP FSM system open, and ready to go when a customer calls in. She took down my information: contact details, address, technical details about the machine before proceeding to the actual issue. If I had had an account, she could have accessed that information instead of having to ask me which would have saved time. She then checked the schedule of the technical teams in my area so she could dispatch one my way as quickly as possible. Because it was summer, it took her a bit longer to find an available spot, but all in all someone would be coming around the next week. She locked the date within the system, explaining me what kind of notifications I could expect – like texts and calls – and also what kind of payment options were available to me when the work was done. She told me to have a nice day, and the conversation ended.
Within the system, everything was saved, and they sent out the reminder text two days in advance. On Tuesday, the scheduling assistant narrowed down the actual time when the technician would visit my house, sending out a text alert again. From then on out, the texts would be prompted by the technician when he was on the road.
SAP Field Service Management and your technician afield
My technician, let’s call him Mark, got his schedule on Tuesday so he knows exactly where to start on Wednesday morning. Before coming to fix my washing machine, Mark needed to visit another location. When he arrived, he indicated this on his mobile app, sending me a message he had started his round and would come to my location forthwith. About thirty minutes later, he had finished with the first job and set off to my house, prompting another automatic text message he was on his way. Arriving at my place, Mark took a look at the machine and repaired it. He then dealt with the admin side of the job: detailing what was wrong, how it was fixed and how much it costed. I then paid the man using a card machine and digitally signed the repair document, received 30 seconds later in my emails. Mark went on his merry way to the next customer that was scheduled using the SAP FSM system.
Smooth customer service experience: check
Afterwards I also got a survey to indicate my level of satisfaction with the whole experience, which was also sent out with the SAP FSM system my washing machine brand uses. All in all, it was a very good and efficient experience. Mary was very helpful on the phone and the communication leading up to the actual intervention of the technician was to the point and frequent enough: I personally had to be spammed by notifications to let me know what is happening. I prefer to have the essential information: everything has been registered, and this is when it will happen. Mark, the technician, was very kind and relaxed when he arrived. He was very familiar with the technology he had to use; there were no hiccups with the application, no need to wait for a connection or anything, and the payment went through quickly as well.
SAP Field Service Management and you?
I can heartily recommend an SAP FSM system for your company if this is what it does: it makes the whole experience very enjoyable. As a customer, I had the feeling I was helped quickly by professional people, who were on top of everything. They had all the information they needed to fix the issue with my washing machine, without needing to be pushy or needing any follow-up calls because they forgot to ask something.
If you don’t have an FSM system yet, you might also consider the benefits for your workforce: Mary was very relaxed because she only had to follow the steps on her screen, gathering information and the system did the hard work for her. It found the ideal time for Mark to drop by, making his schedule easy to follow as well. He didn’t need to rush anything: he took the time to fix the issue, did the admin and then went to the next client without having to worry about timing. I can imagine this not only increases time savings, but also employee satisfaction. So, everyone is happy.
From writing up the previous blog dealing with Field Service Management – which you can read here – I know there are more features that can be added to your system, so if you want to know which ones would be perfect for your company, don’t hesitate to contact my colleagues. They will be happy to assist you with your questions, constructing the perfect SAP FSM mix made for your team. Then you can make your customers as happy as my washing machine brand made me.
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