What Do Field Service Techs Want in a Mobile App?

September 6, 2024

The day-to-day interactions between field service technicians and customers are incredibly important. The field service tech may be the only one from the company who meets the customer in person, and they directly represent the company’s service quality and expertise.

They play a crucial role in company success—but field teams can’t do it without the right technology. Technicians often work alone or in small teams, in unfamiliar environments, and without network connectivity. A good field service app helps address major barriers like these.

But despite the importance of technology in field service, field service workers say there is room to improve. For example, very few utility employees (12%) say their company offers the best technology, and most utility employees (60%) say their company needs to update its workplace technology.

Here are five things technicians expect from a field service app:

Access to customer info and troubleshooting tools

Field service technicians want to have the right information ahead of time to deliver the best possible customer service.

When workers arrive prepared, they are better-equipped to make the most of the visit and complete the work efficiently. This saves time, cuts expenses, and demonstrates reliability to customers.

Preparation starts with accurate, up-to-date information about the client and the job. A technician assigned to an upcoming appointment should be able to view customer details from the customer relationship management (CRM) system, appointment history from the scheduling system, and details about their assigned job.

Field teams should also have access to external data: equipment specifications, manufacturers’ recommendations, and tutorials for new or uncommon tasks. This level of knowledge and access means a higher first-time fix rate—a key trait of top-performing field service companies.

With the right contact info, notes from previous appointments, and relevant specs, a field service tech can be more confident and effective.

Must-haves for your mobile app

  • Integration with CRM system
  • Role-based permissions
  • Troubleshooting database (manuals, guides, etc.)
  • Real-time updates to/from customer records

Key outcomes

  • More prepared and empowered workers
  • Higher first-time fix rates
  • Higher customer satisfaction scores
  • Lower rate of repeat/rescheduled jobs

Communication tools

Field service techs want reliable and accessible communication tools.

To run field service operations efficiently, workers in the field need to be able to communicate with several different groups:

  • Main office – get cancellations, updated schedules, and other job changes from schedulers and dispatchers in real-time
  • Supervisor – escalate problems, troubleshoot complex problems, and discuss time-sensitive issues with managers ASAP
  • Other field workers – coordinate schedules and share information for jobs that require multiple workers or sequential tasks 
  • Customers – send appointment reminders, post-job follow-ups, and forms for signature with help from automated workflows

The ideal app should feature communication tools for each of those purposes—or integrate with the communication tool of choice. But the ideal setup will depend on the target customer, the nature of the service(s) provided, and other factors. For example, field work that is highly varied, complex, or time-sensitive will require more communication with colleagues and supervisors. Workforces that complete a high number of jobs per day or experience a high rate of schedule disruption will require more communication with customers, schedulers, and dispatchers.

With a great field service app and a workflow to back it up, technicians spend less time on simple communications and more time on strategic, valuable communications. The right technology can provide easy templates and logical rules to automate tasks that are routine, but essential—like sending appointment reminders, forms, job summaries, and invoices.

Must-haves for your mobile app

  • Internal messaging features
  • Customer messaging features
  • Automated appointment reminders, invoices, and follow-ups
  • [optional] Integration with other communication tools

Key outcomes

  • Reduce time spent on the phone
  • Reduce miscommunications
  • Improve dispatch processes
  • Eliminate unnecessary travel to canceled or reassigned jobs
  • Improve consistency of appointment follow-ups

Simple data entry

Technicians want an easy way to record key information in the field.

Every job generates useful data: travel time, travel distance, service(s) performed, equipment used, job duration, resolution, and more. When data is well-managed, it becomes a competitive advantage for the business. But when the data is inconsistent, incomplete, or inaccurate, it quickly becomes overwhelming.

Field service technology should make data collection a natural part of the process. To be effective in the field, a mobile app should have:

  • Mobile-friendly workflows: techs need to take photos, collect signatures, and complete forms easily using mobile devices, even when offline
  • Prompts encourage data entry: system prompts and required fields remind workers to log key job details and avoid common errors
  • Integration with other data sources: track equipment and vehicle usage with info from enterprise resource planning (ERP) or asset management systems
  • Data-informed insights: predict job duration, complexity, and equipment needed based on past job data and historical trends
  • Reduce manual entry: use pre-filled fields based on the technician’s profile and automate other recurring tasks to reduce time spent on data entry

Data collection and data entry is an underappreciated part of field service work. It affects every part of the field service business, especially invoicing, time tracking, staff efficiency, staff satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. For a field service tech, excellent data management means less time doing paperwork and more time completing revenue-driving jobs.

Must-haves for your mobile app

  • Ability to sync data with CRM, ERP, time logs, etc.
  • Offline data entry (and automatic sync when connected next)
  • Customizable forms
  • Ability to take photos and collect signatures

Key outcomes

  • Less paperwork and other admin work
  • Higher workforce utilization rate
  • More accurate record-keeping
  • Quicker follow-ups after jobs
  • Faster invoice processing

User-friendly and responsive interface

Field service technicians want a fast, intuitive app that loads well on mobile devices.

High-quality consumer apps have raised the bar for all workforce technology, including field service apps. They must be reliable, fast, intuitive, secure, and based on UI/UX best practices.

The ideal field service app should be prepared for the complexity of mobile work. It should be user-friendly, easy to learn, and even easier to use in the daily field service workflow.

Whether the job is providing security for an event at a massive sports complex, or installing equipment for rural homes, the app should be able to function and collect essential data. Even when service is spotty or the network is overloaded, the app should intake the info and automatically sync it to the system when the device re-establishes connection.

If it doesn’t meet those expectations, the employee experience will suffer. Across industries, most employees (70%) say they don’t have the tech to support day-to-day work. And while almost all C-suite executives say their company considers people’s needs when deploying new tech, only 53% of staff feel the same. Poor workforce technology causes technicians to waste valuable time, become frustrated, find workarounds, or even abandon the app entirely.

Must-haves for your mobile app

  • Intuitive visual interface
  • Fast load times
  • Efficient use of phone battery
  • Optimized forms to reduce unnecessary steps
  • Ability for users to submit bugs and feature requests

Key outcomes

  • More productive field service teams
  • Increased employee satisfaction
  • Higher rates of technology adoption
  • More consistent technology usage

Schedule optimization

Field service technicians want functional schedules that are easily accessible using mobile devices.

Schedule optimization has a major effect on the daily experience of field service techs, despite being a back-end feature that may go unnoticed. When schedules are more realistic, well-balanced, and adapt to real-world changes—and take a fraction of the time to create—field techs see the difference.

The benefits of smart scheduling for field service include:

  • Job matching – assign field service technicians to jobs based on location, qualifications, customer history, and other factors
  • Route optimization – build efficient routes based on distance, traffic, and real-time changes
  • Better, faster schedules – automatically generate a first draft of team schedules that account for many different variables
  • Schedule automation – basic scheduling tasks that meet certain criteria are handled quickly and accurately using AI tools
  • Change management – process a high volume of data, including real-time requests from customers and changes from field techs 

Scheduling practices should support and reinforce the company’s field service goals and KPIs. A field sales team that wants to maximize the number of daily interactions with prospects will prioritize the closest rep and the locations that have the most potential customers. On the other hand, a utility company that offers complex field evaluations may prioritize the technician’s experience in the client’s industry when creating team schedules.

Optimization tools help managers fine-tune many different variables within one field service scheduling system. But regardless of the internal complexity, the experience in the field should be simple. A technician needs an easy way to view the schedule, accept changes, see the best route between job sites, and report issues in real-time.

Must-haves for your mobile app

  • Mobile view of schedule
  • AI scheduling features
  • Optimization engine with customizable business priorities
  • Report delays and other changes to the main office
  • Receive, view, and download updated schedules ASAP

Key outcomes

  • Higher rate of schedule adherence
  • Increased rate of on-time arrivals
  • Higher rate of successful job resolution based on job matching
  • Increased schedule stability
  • Higher employee satisfaction rates
  • Efficient scheduling means more productive field service teams

Choose the right app for your workforce

Technology enablement should be a top priority for any field service workforce. Among companies with a field service team, nearly 90% of decision-makers see their field teams as critical to business growth.

To be effective, a field service mobile app should enable data sharing, communication, and more. But the most important thing a field service app can do is to keep it simple for the field and allow technicians to focus on customer service. 

Skedulo Plus is a mobile app built for field service teams. Set business priorities and KPIs, create custom forms, and use smart scheduling rules to make the most of skilled workers’ time. Use integrations and extensions to connect Skedulo Plus with CRM, ERP, and other tools for field service operations. 

Dig deeper into the Skedulo Plus mobile app, and see what makes Skedulo a leader in customer satisfaction, user adoption, and time to ROI.

Field Service Industry Trends Mobile Workforce Management
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