In this age of technology, automation is more available and important than ever to further optimize your field service business.
From managing routes, technicians, and service reports to integrating customer-friendly invoice and payment options, business automation greatly helps your daily operations work harder for you instead of the other way around. Keep reading to learn how implementing automation in your small business can prove invaluable to you and your team!
Quick Links:
- What Is Business Automation?
- Why Does Business Automation Matter?
- Top 5 Benefits of Business Automation
- Business Process Automation Examples
- How Business Automation with ProValet Supports Service Management Companies
What Is Business Automation?
Business process automation, also known as business automation or digital transformation, is the technology-enabled automation of complex business processes. Essentially, it entails utilizing technology to streamline a business for simplicity, achieve digital transformation, increase service quality, improve service delivery, and contain costs.
When technology is adopted to perform repetitive tasks, it frees up you and your employees for higher-value work. This results in a wide variety of applications and benefits to your field service business, which makes it a no-brainer advantage in today’s highly competitive market.
Why Does Business Automation Matter?
Whether you’re running a small business or a large enterprise, automation is an excellent way to streamline operations and drive business growth. Automation tools are designed to replace human labor with machine labor so you can put those human resources to work elsewhere in the business.
To realize the full potential of automation, businesses need to consistently utilize proven automation software and best practices across all workflows — from creating faster digital customer experiences to simplifying internal processes. After all, business automation is about leveraging technology to fully capitalize on the potential of your field service company’s team and future.
Top 5 Benefits of Business Automation
Business automation has a multitude of applications across your business operations and provides a handful of benefits like:
Increased Productivity
When you enable technology to carry some of the load inherent to running a field service business, you free yourself — and your team — from spending time doing busy work.
Without needing to worry about mindless tasks, you can dedicate more energy to strategizing your company’s future, mentoring employees, and building rapport with your community. After implementing automation, you’ll find yourself wondering why you didn’t transition your operations to it sooner!
Better Planning
Automation affirms routine in your business operations, which further helps you plan your field service company’s future. Whether it’s a matter of regulating service routes or calculating gross income to strategize your company’s projected growth, business automation makes certain repetitive tasks are handled so you can have the information you need to make moves.
Faster Payment Processing
Tired of licking stamps to send invoices through the mail to customers every month, only to painfully wait for their check or cash to take forever to return to you?
Automating your payment process with technology means your customers receive their invoices for services rendered almost immediately and have the opportunity to pay just as quickly. This means money gets deposited quicker than it would via snail mail. After all, you don’t want to make it difficult for customers to give you their money!
Peace of Mind
With business automation, you won’t have to worry about if you sent an invoice to the wrong person or if you forgot to make a note regarding a customer’s request; in general, the chance for making small mistakes — which could have a big impact on your reputation — decreases as you utilize business automation.
When your payment process is seamlessly integrated into one system with customer notes and requests that keeps everything in one spot, you’ll no longer stress about misplacing sticky notes or tracking down email threads.
Saved Time and Money
Business automation overall saves you and your team time and money. Say, for example, you stay late for one hour every day in order to process invoices and follow up on billing matters.
When this process becomes automated, you save yourself five hours a week that could be spent on more important tasks like growing your company, connecting with new customers, or enjoying more time with your family.
Business Process Automation Examples
There’s no doubt that business process automation can significantly improve your business operations, but how exactly can you implement it? Check out these examples:
Expand Your Reach to Grow Your Business
With communication automation, companies can use software to send out emails, texts, and notifications to a client distribution list on a predefined schedule, reducing the costs of running campaigns manually or having to call each one independently, or worse, NOT communicating at all.
Marketing efforts can be tied into a customer relationship management — known as a CRM — system and even do things like target specific audiences with automated messages through the platform.
Streamline Your Company’s Finances
By automating financial planning and accounting functions, field service companies can free up time for important tasks like analysis, strategy, and collaboration with the community.
In accounts receivable (AR) management, for example, data capture is automated, invoices are automatically matched to services, and payments are automatically routed into your bank account. This saves time, reduces data errors, and helps prevent fraud through background controls.
How Business Automation With ProValet Supports Service Management Companies
When you use a powerful platform app like ProValet, you get access to your entire business from a command center. With ProValet, this comes in the form of our reliable manager app.
Where in the past, you had to call to check in on your technicians to see where they were along their route, with our built-in GPS you can now see where they are during the workday on a live map display. Also, you’ll see their service notes via real-time uploads, so you know exactly when issues arise and can respond appropriately.
Most importantly, with a dedicated customer mobile app, your clients will enjoy unparalleled ease of communication within the easy-to-use interface. This app is beautifully designed and was engineered with client satisfaction in mind. Your customers will be able to quickly pay invoices, leave reviews, and see their service dates, request ready-to-dispatch services, amongst other helpful features.
Whatever routine service industry you’re in, ProValet can help optimize it. Explore our website to learn more about the ProValet collection of service apps. If you have any questions about our services or would like help to set up your business on ProValet, please feel free to contact us. Our team of business specialist app experts stands ready to help you with whatever you may need.