Digitalization has increased the measurability of machine use and operational processes in industrial companies. The use of IoT technologies has made predictive maintenance possible, and a Field Service Management solution (FSM) is used to quantify service calls. But only the combination of data insights from asset, machine and employee performance provides a meaningful picture of a company’s industrial service. In this blog post, you can read which key figures you should definitely keep an eye on in the technical field service in order to derive strategically relevant measures.
The measurability of the technical field service
Your service technicians represent your company externally and often have the most customer contact. Therefore, professional service assignments are decisive for customer satisfaction. A good service technician assumes sales responsibility in direct customer contact and can make an important contribution to increasing sales. For this reason, the working conditions of service technicians have received increasing attention in recent years.
But how do companies gain transparency in the work performance of the technical field service? By using a mobile Field Service Management solution. FSM not only provides service technicians with a knowledge database that supports them in their assembly and repair work. They can document their tasks directly and independently initiate processes with their coordinators, the warehouse and the purchasing department. The software enables precise time recording that automatically distinguishes between executive tasks, administrative tasks and travel times. An FSM solution promotes the performance of service technicians and makes their work measurable.
Between a jungle of key figures and data stagnation
There are different trends in industrial enterprises when it comes to data collection. Some measure almost everything thanks to the digital possibilities and rely heavily on data analysts for their future business success. Then there are companies that have hardly any data at their disposal and where the technical possibilities are not implemented to quickly change this analogous situation. Other companies are actively digitalizing their work processes. The establishment of performance measurement systems is an important part of the digitization strategy.
Focus on customer satisfaction
Regardless of which digital development phase your company is currently in, it is helpful to keep a regular eye on the most important key figures in industrial services. First and foremost it is always about customer satisfaction. How or whether they actually query them is irrelevant. After all, they notice the effects of customer satisfaction directly at various points: the development of sales, service requests and compliance with service level agreements. But all the key figures that they collect should be reflected in terms of the central goal of high customer satisfaction.
Selected FSM key figures
Just a few key figures will help you to continuously improve your service organization. If your technical field service uses a Field Service Management solution, data is automatically collected that you can use for your strategic planning.
1. First-time-fix-rate
In industrial services, the first-time fix rate is one of the most important key figures. Because a high value influences customer satisfaction, but also has a positive effect on the cost structure of the entire organization. Depending on the company, the first-time-fix rate varies between 50% and 90%. In order to increase the first-time fix rate, many measures can be useful. It is helpful if the problem areas can be narrowed down using other key figures.
2. Mean time to repair
By using FSM software you can compare the average repair time per employee and machine. This can be informative in many ways. You may have to recalculate your product offers because the service effort was not taken into account in such an order of magnitude. It may be that individual employees need training to increase their productivity. But also a feedback of the average repair time to colleagues who are engaged in optimizing machines can lead to new important insights.
3. Field visits per field engineer per day
Service technicians are a bottleneck resource in many industrial companies. Optimized route planning means that the technical field service can carry out more assignments per day. A comparison of the first-time-fix rate with the daily assignments per employee can clarify whether a longer discussion of the technical problem on site might be more business-critical than forcing more assignments.
4. Ratio of engineers to schedulers
The success of service technicians depends heavily on good cooperation with their coordinators. They are responsible for assigning the most suitable service technicians to service calls. In addition, coordinators are the contact persons for administrative and organizational questions. Here too, a high rate of support can indicate an effective coordinator. However, perhaps a different ratio of technician to coordinator would influence the process quality.
Workheld as digital sparring partner
Workheld is a Field Service Management solution for industrial companies. If you decide to use modern technology in the technical field service, it is important that you also receive strategic advice. Because cross-departmental optimization potential is not created by software alone, but by a software implementation that is based on a holistic understanding of the organization. Key performance indicator systems are an important part of this.
Start with us into your digital service future within the Digital Strategy Workshop – contact us and learn more!