10 Ways Technology Can Transform Your Service Department
Most fuel dealers understand the benefits of diversifying their businesses with an HVAC service department, but many are not living up to their full potential. Leading companies rely on technology to increase the revenue of their service departments. The right software speeds up scheduling, dispatching, and billing so your team can focus on getting the job done right and providing outstanding customer care. Here are 10 ways technology can help you make the most of your service business.
Task-based setup. With service software, you can set up templates based on tasks, like an AC tuneup. Each template can be assigned an hours estimate, parts, and billing parameters, like flat rate. With templates, your technicians have a starting point for each job that they can modify as they complete the work instead of starting each job from scratch.
Automated service contracts. In addition to task templates, service software allows you to set up service contracts based on your payment terms. When a service contract is applied to a work order, the software will automatically track the parts and calculate the bill based on the terms of the contract.
Digital work orders. With service software, every work order is created digitally, making it easy to track your ongoing jobs, tasks, and assignments. Completed work orders are saved to the customer’s account, making it easy to find and view past work.
Digital scheduling. Service software uses a digital calendar so you can easily see each technician’s availability and add assignments. You can filter the calendar based on technicians’ qualifications and geographic area so you can easily match the right technicians to the right jobs based on their skills and location.
Advanced scheduling for tune-ups. With a digital calendar, you can block out time for tuneup work farther ahead and assign it to a specific technician closer to the date of the appointment.
Real-time dispatching for emergencies. With a digital calendar, you can instantly add urgent work orders to a technician’s schedule. Most service software will allow you to see the location of your technicians in the field so you can identify the technician closest to an emergency job. With wireless dispatching, you can send emergency work orders directly to a technician’s mobile device, even if they’re already in the field.
Mobile app. Service software with a companion mobile app gives your techs powerful tools so they can work more efficiently. A mobile app connected to your back-office software allows your technicians to view and edit important information like equipment history and serial numbers. A tech can take equipment photos on site and save them to the back office. A mobile app can also be used to update the status of a work order, sending notifications to the service dispatcher in the office so he knows the current status of each and every job.
Simplified billing. Technicians can use a mobile app to print or email an invoice and capture a customer’s signature on site. Once the signed invoice has been sent to the back office, it can be posted immediately.
Real-time inventory tracking. Service software and mobile applications allow you to track physical inventory digitally. This way you can see the levels of your physical inventory for each warehouse location and service van in real time. You can also set up inventory level triggers to automatically reorder parts from your preferred vendors.
Reporting. By capturing all the data related to your service business in one place, you can use it to learn where you’re making money, track progress against your goals, and make strategic decisions. With service software, you can run reports to evaluate information like contract profitability, service callbacks, calls by task by day, and more.
Cargas Energy HVAC Service Software
Cargas Energy’s HVAC service software offers all of these features and more to help you achieve record results with your service department. With back-office software and a Mobile Service application that work together seamlessly, your office team and field technicians can work in sync to serve your customers. Learn more about what your team can accomplish with Cargas Energy.