Measuring the True Cost of Service Delivery

Increased competition between service providers over the last decade has fueled the growing trend of providing ‘free’ delivery for services as diverse as HVAC maintenance and broadband installation. However, companies are beginning to understand that such an offer can incur a complex set of costs – to the balance sheet, the environment and brand reputation.

Costs of service delivery are often underestimated. Beyond the impact of fuel consumption, the environmental impact of poor driving behavior, such as harsh acceleration or braking, or of poorly planned routes leading to unnecessary miles, should be monitored and minimized to keep field operations costs down.

Balancing risk with reward
Many large organizations are using field service technology to manage the costs outlined above; the best systems are able to base scheduling decisions on a sophisticated balance of factors such as the location, job length, skill set, travel distance and average fuel consumption to determine the most cost effective use of their resources.

Real-time monitoring
Offering hour-long delivery windows is becoming popular with many companies, and consumers also appreciate pre- or after-hours appointments.

For the most innovative organizations, Field Service Management solutions are unequivocally helping to bridge the gap between cost and customer value, helping deliver greener, more consistent, more efficient service delivery, and helping maintaining the profit margin, reputation and environmental credentials of the company. In the future, the variety of services and deliveries we expect will require a network of vehicles and people in the field responding to changing priorities in real-time, and technology is enabling this shift.