Solar energy usage is gaining traction worldwide. The market size of the Solar Power industry measured by revenue was $10.8bn in 2021, projected to reach $223.3 billion by 2026. There is a lot of scope for your solar energy business to grow. And solar field service management software can accelerate the growth of your solar maintenance business with better functionality and business efficiency.
Let’s dig deep into the benefits of solar service software for your solar energy business.
Why does Your Solar Service Business Benefit from Solar Service Software?
As the solar energy business grows, it gets cumbersome to handle customer data, work order management, field workforce management, etc., with manual systems. Solar energy companies are moving towards technology, using solar CRM software, solar project management software, GPS-tracker, etc.
Solar maintenance companies suffer from a convoluted set of generic software tools – some for sales, some for customer management, some for tracking workflow, etc. More tools need more human intervention to operate these tools. The business workflow scatters across various software, leaving room for miscommunication and errors. And using more than one solar business management tool, the soft costs for solar maintenance companies go up.
Your solar energy business needs a single central hub and a solar software stack to manage your entire business and its resources. This is where the benefits of solar service software come into play. Solar field service management software is integrated with various solar software solutions to manage your solar service business and field workforce from anywhere at any time.
With the help of the field mobility tool, you can keep track of everything related to your solar energy business from anywhere.
What is Solar Field Service Management Software?
A field service management software (FSM) is a solar software stack that helps you run a digitized, paperless business with a set of discrete solar software tools. It is an end-to-end solar business management software that combines the functionality of various standalone solar software solutions like a service scheduler, GPS tracker, etc., on a single platform.
Solar FSM helps automate business operations, track business processes, monitor work orders and manages your distributed field workforce from anywhere using a web or mobile application.
In a simpler analogy, solar field service software is a bouquet of assorted flowers whose magnificence is attributed to the beauty of individual flowers forming the grand bouquet.
What are the Key Features of Solar Field Service Management Software?
Unoservice is an all-in-one field service management mobile app combining solar software solutions like employee task management apps, service call scheduling software, work order dispatch software, service reminder tool, field invoice generation tool and field reporting software.
Unoservice solar maintenance software has various features that make your solar business easier, smoother and smarter.
- Customer data management with field service CRM
- Work order management with real-time job updates
- Service technician scheduling and dispatching
- GPS-enabled tracking of the field workforce
- Real-time communication with the field team and customers
- Automated service reminders for service follow-up
- Business report generation and quick-view dashboard
Our guide to solar field service management software describes each feature of solar service software in detail.
Benefits of Solar Service Software
1. Paperless Business
Do you find yourself rummaging in a pile of paper files to search for particular customer data?
You would then know how tedious paperwork is!
Solar energy companies usually maintain sales lead data, customer data, service history, previous work order data and photos, warranty cards, SLAs, etc., in manual pen and paper-based systems. First, manual input of such information is tedious and error-prone.
Secondly, if many users enter data, there is a chance for duplication of entries and illegibility of handwriting. Even a single mistake in entering any one piece of information can cause significant delays in processing service requests.
With paper-driven systems, your business suffers from incomplete information and missing or inaccurate records. As a result, solar maintenance companies recently moved from paper-to-software solutions, such as Excel spreadsheets. Yet, data entry is manual, requiring more time and chances for errors.
Solar field service management (FSM) software helps you automate data entry from various customer acquisition channels like online forms, social media, email leads, etc. The solar field service CRM records every interaction with every lead and customer to give you better insights into the buyer’s journey.
There is no need to keep physical copies of your records, paper service tickets and customer site photos that get shuffled up only to create a mess. The field team can upload service tickets, work order history, documents, and relevant photos on the Unoservice FSM app instantly from on-site.
You do not miss out on any piece of information as everything is neatly organized in the centralized database, unlike the difficult-to-organize paper files. Your business data always stays in your hand wherever you are in the form of mobile CRM integrated within the field service management mobile app.
2. Ease of Data Access
Cloud-based servers store an enormous amount of data so that you never run out of space.
With your solar project management software, you can keep track of every single job for each client. You can store all the relevant documentation related to each job, including photos, floor plans, roof drawings and other materials used during the solar installation phase.
All business data stored in a centralized database enables anyone in the company with authorized access to access the data at any time from their FSM mobile app.
Cloud CRM systems offer high processing power so you can quickly retrieve data, even when working at a remote location. If your field worker needs to access past client records, they can do so easily by accessing them through their CRM system without troubling the in-office service manager or travelling to the office.
3. Optimized Scheduling and Dispatching of Field Technicians
The work order dispatch software notifies the in-office service contractor of every incoming service request to schedule. It sorts the work orders based on priority and urgency.
The in-app calendar gives a clear picture of the availability of field technicians. This helps the manager schedule technicians for the jobs, eliminating the mess caused by double booking or overbooking field workers. This way, the in-office staff saves time otherwise spent calling technicians to check their availability and schedule the jobs.
On job assignment, the technician dispatch software integrated into the solar maintenance software notifies the assigned solar technician on the Unoservice mobile app.
4. Increased Productivity of Field Workers
When a solar field engineer receives a job assignment notification, he can open the app and access all the details and instructions, the key documentation attached to work orders, including system design and specifications, AutoCAD drawings or other information they need. He can also access customers’ data, previous work history, and customer location.
68% of customers think that a critical factor for customer service employees is to know about their service history.
The Google map integration in the Unoservice field management app plots the customer’s location on the map and guides the field service engineer with the route to reach the site. This helps the engineer reach quickly, and the data access keeps them informed to complete the job quickly and with more efficiency.
Once the solar engineer completes the task, he marks the task status on the mobile application along with uploading any relevant documents and images. He also requests the customer to upload his/her signature on the app, marking the completion of the service task.
The data uploaded generates an invoice on-site from the field mobile app to collect payment from the customer. Thus single platform to access customer data, upload work order details and generate on-site invoices eliminates back and forth to the office and completing the job on time, boosting the overall productivity of the field workers.
5. Stay Connected with Better Real-time Communication
A smooth running of a solar service business requires proper coordination between the field workforce and the in-office team. Depending on phone calls to share work updates result in service delays, miscommunication and poor customer service.
With the solar field service management app, your business teams communicate in real time with more clarity. For example, assigning a job to a solar service technician on the Unoservice job task app notifies the solar technician on his app. The in-office manager receives a notification as the technician accepts the job.
Similarly, the progress of the task, inventory usage, job completion and payment collection, every step in the service process gets marked and notified to the concerned authority in real-time.
6. Improved Customer Experience results in Higher Customer Satisfaction
Customers can raise service requests, view quotes and track assigned field technicians’ details and arrival on the Unoservice customer app. Modern-day customers want to know who will arrive at their door and when. Providing access to field service technicians’ data keeps the customers informed and assured.
With task automation, customers receive a quick response to their service requests. Faster and good customer service helps customers become brand advocates of your solar company.
The solar field service automation software is also integrated with service reminder software. This solar service reminder software fetches customer data from the solar CRM and sends automated service reminders to customers for preventative maintenance of their solar devices. This builds a positive image for your brand in customers’ minds, and they realize how dedicated you are towards lifetime service rather than a one-time job. Staying on top of consumers’ minds yields recurring business, and steady income keeps flowing into your business.
According to research conducted by Bain and Company, increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by between 25% and 95%.
Happy customers bring in new leads, expanding your customer base and strengthening the scope for scaling up your business.
7. Save Time, Reduce Costs & Boost Income
Time is money!
What if we tell with the Unoservice field management app, you can save both time and money?
The task automation, one-click remote data access, real-time work updates, on-site invoice generation and data upload prevent travelling back and forth to the office. This saves travel time and real-time communication saves time wasted on phone calls.
The technician’s travel history recording and field service time tracking automatically calculate the reimbursement and manages the payroll, saving time and preventing errors.
The office staff and the stakeholders can use the extra time to focus on improving customer experiences, devise marketing strategies to expand the customer base and scale up the business.
Reduced travel means reduced fuel expenses; reduced paper usage means reduced paper costs. Solar field service management software eliminates maximum unnecessary expenses in your solar business.
Happy customer experiences mean returning customers, new customers and more business. More business means more revenue and more income.
8. Increased Business Efficiency
With the entire organization connected, your business becomes more efficient. All the business and customer data stored in one central location enables more useful business insights and report generation. You can use these insights to make better evidence-backed, data-driven decisions that uplift your solar service business.
Integration of GPS in solar field force management app lets you monitor and track your field workforce at any time. This keeps them conscious about constant monitoring, leaving no room for trickery.
You might already be using solar CRM software or GPS-enabled technician tracking software. But using standalone apps scatters data and cannot generate better reports. Switching between different tools is cumbersome, reducing productivity. Unoservice solar field service management software combines the functions of all solar software solutions in one platform.
With Unoservice, you don’t need to spend time managing multiple platforms for each part of your business. You can easily handle everything from initial installation to recurring service requests in one location. This saves you from spending on different tools and boosts your business efficiency and employee productivity.
Conclusion
You can grow your solar service business with a single platform to manage your entire solar business and store all your past, present and future business and customer data. Solar maintenance software automates certain service tasks, streamlines business operations, saves time and helps provide quicker customer response.
The Unoservice solar field service mobile application allows you to manage your entire solar business operations from one place. You can schedule jobs, dispatch employees, track their activities, invoice clients, and check key performance indicators (KPIs) in just a few clicks. Get started today by signing up for a free trial.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Benefits of Solar Service Software
What is field service software for the solar industry?
Solar field service management software helps to manage the entire solar business operations from anywhere at any time using a mobile app. It records customer data, automates the scheduling and dispatching of field service engineers, real-time job progress updates and tracks technicians’ locations.
Why should I buy field maintenance software for my solar energy company?
Make your solar service business paperless and easily store enormous customer data in a digital database. Quickly access any piece of information with a single click on your field service mobile app. Track your field workforce and work order progress on the go. Save time, reduce your business expenses and increase customer satisfaction with the solar field service automation software.
What is solar scheduling software?
Solar scheduling software is an automated scheduling tool that makes scheduling easier, faster and more efficient. It assigns priority to the incoming work orders based on urgency and priority and shows the availability of field service technicians whose skillset matches the job requirement of the in-office service manager. Thus the solar scheduling software helps with a quick and efficient assignment of field engineers for solar panel field jobs.
Is solar project management software the same as solar field service management software?
The solar project management tool helps manage individual solar projects with a complete overview of open work orders and details of the jobs. However, it does not allow you to schedule technicians or nurture the leads and requires further software integrations. Solar field service management software is an integrated solar software solution that combines all the necessary features to manage your solar business, from lead generation to recurring maintenance services of solar devices.
How much does field service software cost?
Unoservice field service software is quite budget-friendly and comes with a free trial. You only pay for one Unoservce field management tool instead of multiple tools like field service CRM, GPS-tracker, etc. The monthly subscription to Unoservice solar software ranges from 3000 to 5000 INR.