Archive for March 12, 2012

Field service round up: FedEx FAIL, HVAC TV and running for Mayor.

Hello and welcome to the field service round up. We work in a world where there is always something going on – a broken air conditioning unit, a delivery to be made, a network to install – so check out the latest news from the field:

  • HVAC has its very own channel: Tune in to HVAC Channel.tv, where HVAC professionals can access training videos and advice for running their businesses. There are dozens of free resources in the library (requires IE).
  • From field service to city servant: A Wisconsin Rapids mayoral candidate – Andy Nelson – is proud to campaign as a former field service engineer for Siemens. Nelson is hoping the variety of his business past will prove his value in running the city.
  • Unfortunate FedEx FAIL: customer service slacking caught on tape outside the house of a delivery. Surely this man must have had a bad day. Or bad year, perhaps?

FieldOne Training Schedule for week of March 26.

Keeping up with the FieldOne Training Schedule? Here’s a rundown of our live webinars for this week. All times are in EST.

Monday 03/26 | 12:00 PM

FieldOne4All Training – FieldOne FAST START
This session will get you started with the work flow life-cycle in FieldOne.

Tuesday 03/27 | 12:00 PM

FieldOne4 All Training – The Office Manager
There are so many great tools in the Office Manager that can help you manage your work flow in FieldOne. The session will walk through the various features in the Office Manager TABs, and provide specific targeted ideas to help you be more productive.

Wednesday 03/28 | 12:00 PM

FieldOne4All Training – Employee Details: Security Settings
This session will examine how to manage the Security Settings for your employees.

Thursday 03/29 | 12:00 PM

FieldOne4All Training – Time of Service Contracts
This session will show how you to manage your Service Contracts/Agreements, if you bill at the time you perform service.

If you have questions or specifics you need worked out, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

 

Everyone’s a company evangelist in the field service business.

It’s something that has been true for ages, but it’s really starting to become obvious lately: Every company has marketing staff, since everyone in your organization is a company evangelist. Especially with the use of social media (a topic for another time), reaching out and making the right impression on customers has never been more time consuming, connected, or worthwhile.

And no one is a more untapped resource as a company evangelist than your field technicians. They’re actually face to face with your customers every single day! They’re company representatives found in the customers’ homes, talking directly to them, with complete attention paid.

So what is your company doing to bolster the impression your field tech is giving over? Does your field team  have a set of guidelines for customer treatment?

Make sure your team isn’t only equipped with tools, technology and parts. The right representation – in the form of words, appearance and even smile – means an excellent company reputation.

The near future: sunny with *more* than a chance of clouds.

Hey… you… get on to my cloud!

According to a new report released by Gartner, the personal cloud will replace the PC by 2014. It’s going to get cloudy, but in a good way: the personal cloud will become the center of users’ digital lives as soon as two years from now. It means more flexibility for our devices – we can choose which is the best to use in any scenario, while keeping everything we need accessible.

So between our laptops, smartphones and tablets, we’re never left wondering where that document was saved.

That includes a crossover between personal and business material, in the office and at home.

“Many call this era the post-PC era, but it isn’t really about being ‘after’ the PC, but rather about a new style of personal computing that frees individuals to use computing in fundamentally new ways to improve multiple aspects of their work and personal lives,” said Steve Kleynhans, Gartner’s research VP.

The report also discusses several ‘megatrends’ which are the driving forces behind the dawning of a cloudy era:

  1. Megatrend No. 1: Consumerization — You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
  2. Megatrend No. 2: Virtualization — Changing How the Game Is Played
  3. Megatrend No. 3: “App-ification” — From Applications to Apps
  4. Megatrend No. 4: The Ever-Available Self-Service Cloud
  5. Megatrend No. 5: The Mobility Shift — Wherever and Whenever You Want

Get the full report here: Gartner Says the Personal Cloud Will Replace the Personal Computer as the Center of Users’ Digital Lives by 2014

Brought to you by FieldOne Sky: Lift your business higher, securing your data in the cloud.

Billing problem solved with FieldOne.

We’re proud to share a recent testimonial from one of our HVAC clients. The New York company was seeking a way to get their billing process down from nearly a month.

After implementing the FieldOne desktop version over a year ago, the company managed to go from a three-week billing process to five days! A true success story when time really does mean money for any-sized service company.

Four months ago they equipped their techs with FieldOne Mobile, transitioning from paper to electronic processing.

We love to hear feedback from customers, no matter what it is you have to say. Please share you comments, suggestions and questions with our team at any time.