How should a service team be organized in order to provide effective remote support and avoid unnecessary field service calls by technicians?
In mechanical engineering, there are usually 4-5 calls to your hotline for every single field service call in the Field Service. At least if it is designed in such a way that technically qualified personnel are present. Most problems therefore do not necessarily require the physical presence of a specialist on site. This ratio varies in different areas of activity. However, the general rule is that well-organized remote support prevents the need for field service. This can save costs for the manufacturer during the guarantee and warranty period.
Remote Support is the area of customer service where technicians solve customer problems and machine malfunctions remotely. In addition to telephone, chat and teleservice, innovations such as smart glasses and VR technologies can also be used for this purpose.
Generate profits with remote support
Many companies find it difficult to charge customers for internal service activities such as hotline service. To ensure that the customer is not the only one to benefit from savings on field service calls, you should Service contracts Price in your remote support costs. Promote the sale of service contracts in order to generate revenue with your service!
Even in the case of remote solutions, customer service should not just be a cost factor for your company, but should be developed into a profitable business area. This is the only way you can offer outstanding service in the long term.
Because only with the right financing can you invest in innovation and provide the resources you need to inspire customers. Your customers will also understand this if you provide the right service. Outside of service contract solutions, it is very difficult to cover the costs of internal service activities.
Using technologies in remote support
There is a wide range of software solutions and service technologies to implement remote support even more effectively. Strategies from the area of Self-service provide your customers with tools to rectify simple faults themselves and thus relieve your team. For this purpose, the use of Chatbots be useful.
However, some office work can be performed by Robot Process Automation can be automated, freeing up capacity to respond even more effectively to customer needs. VR technology and smart glasses, on the other hand, allow your employees to get closer to the customer without having to move. This can also save your field service team work.
The list of innovations in service is long. Stay up to date here! Digitalization makes completely new ways of working in service possible and strengthens the importance of remote support in customer service. This goes far beyond the use of a ticket system, which is the cornerstone of successful remote customer service. Invest in innovation in good time - but don't forget to develop a business model to ensure that your investment pays off.
Knowledge management for excellent service
Creating a comprehensive knowledge database is essential so that information and expertise can be passed on from one technician to another. Storing knowledge in an easily accessible location allows office staff to find the right solution more quickly. Many faults have occurred in a similar way before and it saves an enormous amount of time to be able to fall back on a tried and tested solution.
Your knowledge management strategy should be designed as a learning system so that your technicians do not have to carry out the same fault analyses over and over again. Appropriate software can provide your employees with probabilities as to what the cause of a malfunction could be.
In this way, your colleague can check the cause with the highest probability first. The result is an enormous saving in costs and effort. The use of AI technology already offers effective possibilities in this area and will become even more important in the future.
The organization of the service team in remote support
Your team needs to be set up correctly in order to provide excellent service. To be successful with your strategy in the Service Excellence you need to inspire your customers. To achieve this, it is important that your employees pull together. So you need to give them the opportunity to exchange ideas with each other.
This is becoming increasingly important and difficult, especially with the increase in working from home. Provide your employees with channels through which they can get in touch with each other. Set times for video conferences to bring everyone together from time to time.
Another important aspect of team building is the technical orientation of your technicians. In small departments, all technicians often need to be familiar with all machines and malfunctions. In larger teams, it makes perfect sense to train specialists, which ensures a good Skill management is becoming more important.
However, specialist positions should always be filled by several employees. Specialist knowledge should never lie with a single person who can be absent at any time due to illness or job changes. To avoid being left out in the cold in this respect, always follow the following principle "One is none!".
Utilize data and information generated in remote support
Knowledge from field and remote service is aggregated among your office technicians. Field service employees are far less aware of the work of their office colleagues than the other way around. Back office technicians prepare field service assignments, assign jobs in the field and read the assignment reports afterwards in order to be able to close the cases systematically.
It is therefore the responsibility of the office staff to take care of the utilization of the resulting data. They are responsible for the feedback loop to development. The problems with the existing machines should be taken into account both in the ongoing series development and in the development of the next generation of machines. In this way, products are continuously improved. In addition, the requirements that the service department has for the machines must be coordinated with the development department.
