Service businesses are operationally tricking to own and operate. Not only do you have to have a central hub to run your operations, but you also have to manage many different contractors who are sent out to various job sites in your local area. This can make operational efficiency difficult, and is notoriously difficult to scale outside of a small radius of your centralized office. One way to expand and scale your service business without sacrificing quality is through the use of software. Software can help to automate a lot of the work orders and scheduling of jobs across your local area. This, in turn, can help you to expand and increase your area of operation.
First though, you need to implement the software that can actually help your business expand. With that in mind, here is why you should be using service dispatch software to help increase the operational efficiency of your service business.
Make better schedules
One of the hardest parts of running a service business is scheduling jobs correctly. Contractors who accept jobs may not be located near the job site, or they may have jobs that are scheduled too close together. This is why you need a software that can help you get a top-down view of scheduling so that you can understand what can be accomplished in a particular time frame. If you run a plumbing company, for example, unclogging a toilet may be a quicker job than evaluating a water piping system for repair. This needs to be kept into consideration when scheduling, and using a service dispatch software can help you in making these scheduling decisions without sacrificing the timeliness of your service to other clients.
Creating schedules like this will also allow for the syncing of personal digital calendars. These calendars can then be kept into consideration when scheduling jobs. As most employees of service companies are independent contractors, they can often choose when and where to work. If they have something in their personal schedule that prevents them from working during a particular time or day, then you can be aware of this so that you do not schedule them to work during a time that they have blocked out for themselves.
Real-time text and email notifications
One of the more difficult parts of scheduling is actually making updates in rea-time. Sometimes clients cancel jobs at the last minute (which they will still often still have to pay for) and sometimes employees will be a no-show to a job they are scheduled for. It is important that you have a dispatcher who keeps a close eye on the service dispatch software. This dispatcher can then go through the texts and email notifications generated by the software so that they can make any changes on the fly that you need to make to keep work orders fulfilled and complete the schedule for the day.
For employees on the go, these notifications are often invaluable. Getting real-time updates is essential for contractors who may have a change in their schedule that disrupts their day. This can then allow them to notify you of any delays so that you can let your patiently waiting clients know as soon as there are any issues.
In summary
Service dispatch software is helpful in a number of ways to help service companies expand their operations. Having an organizational core is important to complete more work orders and make sure that your employees are well aware of their schedule in advance. This can avoid confusion or problems that come with expansion, and it can also help service businesses better plan for an increase in both work and revenue.
