3 ways to get valuable insights from your field service business data

June 5, 2019

Without access to business data, it is nearly impossible to gain valuable insights into your organization. Data analysis is changing the game for businesses as reporting tools are stepping up to meet the requirements of larger and deeper datasets. However, before you dive right into your business data, you should ask yourself if the information you're collecting will give you the insights you want.

Here are three ways you can get the most out of your data and gain valuable insights.

Narrow down your current business challenges

Arrange a staff meeting and have an honest discussion about the pain points that are impacting day-to-day workflows or overall success.

A field service professional talking about business challenges with his staff.

Try asking questions like:

  • What is limiting you in your day-to-day work?
  • Are you missing any tools that could help you do your job better?
  • Do you feel like we are meeting customer expectations? Why or why not?
  • Is there a way you prefer to receive information?
  • Could we improve general workflows? How?

Having this discussion will help you better understand what your staff needs to complete their work effectively.

For example, maybe there are areas where you can improve inventory management. Open discussions with staff can also help you uncover larger issues like miscommunication between field staff and office staff or inefficient workflows that are affecting customer satisfaction.

Determine what data you need to run your business better

Let’s say one of your team members mentions that they are concerned their different hourly rates aren't being accurately recorded.

A man looking at business data on his tablet.

Consider the different datasets involved in calculating labor rates and time tracking:

  • Travel time
  • After hours rates
  • Billable hours
  • Average time to complete
  • Type of work required for a job
  • Amount of time a job may be on hold
  • Travel time to source parts to complete a job

Each of these sets of information will influence your field staff’s payslip at the end of the day, so it's important that your business has the ability to record these details as effectively as possible.

Find a solution that can help you record and manage your data

There are a range of software tools that can not only help you optimize data collection but also organize all of the information in one place.

A laptop computer screen with a Simpro report

Simpro offers powerful field service management software that can assist you in collecting data such as:

  • Health and safety reports
  • Proof of compliance records
  • Site documents, photos and other details
  • Start, stop and travel times on a job

Plus, Simpro also has more than 60 standard reports which you can use to analyze the data you've collected!

Knowing the why and how behind your data collection will help you obtain the best data for business analysis.

As a business owner you don’t have that kind of time to waste and neither does your business! That's why understanding what data you're collecting, and why, is important.

To learn more about Simpro's features for data collection and other job management processes, visit the Simpro website.