The Importance of Field Service Management for Utilities: Enhancing Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction

High-quality field service management is imperative for companies in the utilities sector. The utilities industry typically scores lower for customer satisfaction than other industries like retailers and banks. Traditionally, some utility companies haven’t prioritized exceptional customer service and focused on the job task. However, this severely impacts the company’s bottom line, so it’s in their best interest to improve the customer experience.

Many utility companies now understand that they can’t just come in and fix an equipment issue. They must also focus on building positive relationships with customers.

Leveraging FSM Technology to Enhance Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction

Utility companies are beginning to leverage field service management (FSM) technology to propel customer engagement and satisfaction. Field service platforms like Gomocha can help organizations streamline operations and personalize their services to enhance the customer experience. Utility companies are also leveraging technology to measure data like usage rates. Collecting this information can help them adapt standard rates in the favor of their customers.

Key FSM Platform Features for Utility Companies

There are several key features and functionalities that FSM software offers explicitly designed to benefit utility companies:

Automated Compliance

Utility companies are required to comply with multiple regulatory standards, which can be difficult and expensive. FSM technology helps organizations monitor compliance with in-depth analytics and reporting capabilities that track performance metrics.

Work Order Management

Utility businesses frequently handle complicated work orders requiring specialized skills and assets. With FSM technology, organizations can develop, monitor, and manage work orders to utilize all necessary resources for site visits.

Scheduling and Dispatching

FSM software enables utility companies to schedule job site visits and dispatch technicians seamlessly. Field service platforms examine various factors, including expertise, proximity, and availability, so the scheduled technician is best suited to complete the job.

Customer Communication

Transparent and timely communication with customers is essential for utility companies. FSM platforms facilitate communication by enabling organizations to send appointment reminders and real-time updates to customers and collect feedback. Strong communication with customers boosts satisfaction and trust in your brand.

Route Optimization

Some utility companies have large service areas, so route optimization is critical to minimize the time technicians spend traveling to and from job sites. FSM software determines the most efficient routes, improving response and reducing travel time and fuel expenses.

Asset Management

Utility companies manage a wide range of equipment and parts. Field service platforms help them monitor equipment performance so they can proactively predict when maintenance is required and fix issues before equipment failures occur. Further, FSM technology enables utilities to keep track of their parts inventory efficiently.

Benefits of Improving Customer Satisfaction with the Help of FSM Technology

Not only do customer engagement efforts using FSM software boost customer satisfaction, they also decrease customer service expenses. Utility companies can use self-service platforms and provide the ability for customers to answer questions online, which is significantly less expensive than the costs associated with a call center team.

Utility companies strive to meet energy-saving, climate, and economic goals. However, many of these objectives require customer participation for them to succeed. It’s in a utility company’s best interest to prioritize customer satisfaction to encourage its clients to help with these initiatives.

Further, there are times when a regulated electric utility is allowed a higher return on equity when it has positive customer satisfaction scores from the previous year, which could result in a significant amount of additional earnings.

Customer satisfaction is essential for the success of utility companies. FSM technology offers numerous features and capabilities, including automated compliance, work order management, and route optimization, to help them enhance efficiency and provide a seamless, personalized customer experience.

Gomocha Is the Must-Use Field Service Platform for Utility Companies

In utilities, one thing is certain. Outages are a problem. Keep things running as expected with the field service platform trusted by utility operators … Gomocha.

With Gomocha, you’ll streamline your utility operations and make your customers happy. See what Gomocha can do for your company.