In the world of field service fleets, time is most certainly precious. Every wasted moment is time taken away from client work. This means an efficient schedule is vital to a well-run field service fleet.
Fortunately, today’s technology makes it simple to optimize schedules for your field service techs. Here are a few tips to help things run smoothly.
Simplify with Technology
It’s easy to get bogged down in the details and miss the big picture. This is true in almost any type of optimization, and perhaps especially so in fleet scheduling. You could spend hours every day planning out routes and charting the time it takes various technicians to complete specific tasks. But one change in scheduling will throw the whole thing out the window. Instead, you need a tech-based solution that allows you to easily reroute or change the schedule as required throughout the day.
GPS fleet tracking software today is more efficient than ever for route planning and scheduling. When you use a simple solution like Azuga Fleet, you can adjust schedules and reroute techs in moments. Not only that, since you will always know where each technician is in real-time, it’s easy to see who is in the neighborhood when an emergency situation occurs at a client address.
Stay Ahead of Fleet Maintenance
The last thing you need in the middle of a busy workday is for a technician to be stuck on the side of the road because of a breakdown. Yet fleets who don’t prioritize maintenance scheduling find themselves in just this situation on a regular basis.
Predictive maintenance programs allow you to take care of routine maintenance issues and diagnose mechanical trouble before a breakdown occurs. Instead of wasting time on the side of the road, vehicles can be maintained during their “off” time, allowing your technicians to spend their time doing what they do best.
Prioritize Driver Safety
As horrible as a breakdown would be, road accidents are even worse. Unsafe driving habits such as speeding or hard braking can make your drivers a hazard to themselves and other drivers on the road. Not only can this lead to accidents and all of their unfortunate results, but it can also damage your company’s reputation in the community.
A driver safety program is a must-have for any fleet-based company. But your drivers don’t want to feel like big brother is watching. Instead of simply punishing bad habits, choose a program that actually incentivizes good driving habits, like Azuga’s Driver Safety Rewards. By turning safety into a game with real prizes to be won, you’ll have drivers competing to be the safest on the road, giving them a morale boost and making the workplace safer and more enjoyable too.
Continue to Improve
Fleets and field service are constantly evolving. In most cases, what worked best 10 years ago is obsolete today. If you want to keep your fleet running smoothly and efficiently, you need to continually evaluate your scheduling and other business processes to see what improvements can be made.
Stay on top of technology developments that impact your business and industry. Make sure you’re always on top of updates for your chosen software. Network with others in your industry to find out what is working well for them. Never settle for good enough – always seek out better.
Get Feedback from Your Drivers
Your drivers want an efficient and effective scheduling system so they can go about their daily business with a minimum of difficulties. Not only that, they want to feel valued and understood, and to know that management takes their concerns seriously.
The best way to accomplish all of this is by periodically asking for feedback, especially after you make major changes to the way things are done. Ask drivers what they think of the way schedules are done, and really listen to their answers. Since they’re the ones out in the field all day, they probably have opinions on the way things are done. Not only that, they may have valuable input that could make your whole fleet run more smoothly. But you’ll never know unless you ask!
At the end of the day, field service fleet schedules are a major part of your fleet business that should be optimized for best efficiency. Do this by using the right tech, keeping your fleet well-maintained, prioritizing safety, continuing to seek out improvements, and valuing driver feedback. You might just find that having a more efficient fleet is easier than you thought!
