How many extra miles do your solar technicians travel trying to reach customers’ locations? With the rising fuel costs, too much of unnecessary commutes only pile up additional operational costs for your field service business.
According to Verizon Connect’s research in 2021, 44% of fleet managers see increasing costs as their top challenge in this time of economic and regulatory uncertainty.
What if your solar technicians can quickly reach the exact location without wasting time and fuel?
For the success of your solar service business, it is important that your solar service technicians reach the right locations at right time. You can optimize the routes for your field service employees in advance to cut down your operational expenses and improve business efficiency.
The route optimization software is crucial for both small and large field service businesses. This article walks you through the benefits of solar technician route optimization software for solar service businesses.
What is Route Optimization?
Route optimization is an important part of any delivery operation including solar service delivery. Field service businesses like solar maintenance and repair involve technicians travelling to multiple locations every day.
Route optimization for a solar service business is the process of selecting the most cost-efficient routes that help the technicians reach the right location at the right time.
Optimizing delivery routes involve planning routes that would take less time to reach the destination, free from heavy traffic and congestion while also ensuring safety and security.
What is Solar Technician Route Optimization Software?
Automating the process of service route planning helps businesses save time and money. The delivery route optimization software is a tool that automates service route planning for solar field service technicians by optimizing travel times and minimizing fuel consumption.
Solar technician route optimization software is an indispensable tool for technicians to plan his/her route. This software allows you to generate multiple routes based on different criteria such as fuel efficiency, distance travelled, and even the amount of time it takes to complete each leg of the trip.
Some delivery route optimization software solutions like Unoservice solar service software include features like GPS mapping, trip planning, and reporting capabilities. These tools can also help solar service managers track solar technicians’ live locations and monitor their mobility.
Manual Route Optimization vs Route Optimization Software
If you’ve been planning your technicians’ routes with a pencil and paper, then you know this isn’t the best use of your time. Manual route optimization is inefficient and often inaccurate.
If you want to plan out your entire route manually, you’ll spend hours doing research and writing down every single turn. You might even end up spending too much time researching and planning because you’re trying to make sure everything goes exactly according to plan. This is why automated solar technician route optimization software is better.
Benefits of Route Optimization Software for Solar Service Business
i) Increased Convenience
Paper maps aren’t the most effective way to create routes. They’re bulky, difficult to read, and often don’t include enough detail about the roadways. Plus, they need constant updating as roads change over time.
Spreadsheet-based route planners are less robust. They demand manual entry of data, which makes them prone to errors. Additionally, they lack the ability to easily change settings or modify existing segments.
Manual route planning is not very reliable either. Even if you take the time to enter the necessary data into a spreadsheet, there’s no guarantee that you won’t miss something along the way.
You must plan routes ahead of time, and field service route optimization software makes it easy to do. Automated route optimization provides flexibility and scalability. With automated route optimization, you don’t have to worry about making mistakes or wasting time. You simply input your destination address and let the system do the rest.
An effective route optimization software for solar service business allows you to set preferences, like preferred speed limits, lanes, types of roads, etc.
You can also add notes to each segment of the route. For example, you could write “I’m running late,” “This road is dangerous,” or “The weather is terrible.”
ii) Enhanced Employee Productivity
Another reason why optimizing the routes makes sense is it helps avoid unnecessary stress. When your technicians know exactly what they need to do to reach the destination, they can relax knowing that everything is under control. Route optimization reduces unnecessary chaos, stress and delays that hamper the productivity of field employees.
Along with reaching destinations on time, solar technician route optimization software supports other features. For example, the best route optimization app integrated with a service scheduler lets you bulk schedule upcoming jobs in nearby locations.
This helps the technicians to finish all jobs in a particular locality in a single visit. This saves technicians time and fuel from commuting to the same place on different days.
iii) Eliminate Errors
Route management software aims to eliminate human error. It automates the process of creating routes, updating maps, and distributing route information. Manually documented or informed routes are prone to errors that make the technicians get lost or travel extra miles.
For instance, there are chances that you shuffle the route plans of two technicians and they end up reaching the wrong customer locations. On reaching the wrong locations, they have no data about the customer query, service history or the right tools and knowledge needed to complete the job. This in turn leads to unnecessary chaos.
Route management software for solar service businesses makes it easier for solar technicians to follow the correct path, helping the right technicians reach the right locations with the right information.
iv) Real-time Data Saves Time
The most obvious benefit of optimizing your field service route is saving time. Plotting locations on a map and explaining to technicians how to reach locations is time-consuming and draining.
With solar technician route optimization software you only input a customer location and assign a technician to the job. The software automatically updates the technician with the right routes and real-time traffic data to reach the destination quickly and safely.
There is no need to waste time trying to figure out where your customer’s location is. You can easily reach their places without wasting time on multiple calls, directions from passers-by and communicating with the service manager.
Real-time updates of routes also help solar technicians avoid delays caused by unexpected events such as road closures, construction, and accidents. By making sure your route takes you where you need to go efficiently, you save yourself precious time.
v) Reduce Operational Costs
Field service route optimization solutions increase on-time arrival rates by providing accurate up-to-the-minute traffic data to solar technicians and giving them the tools to plan ahead. These tools help reduce mileage while saving fuel.
In addition to helping solar service technicians save fuel, it also helps companies save money. With route management software, businesses are able to optimize routes based on their needs. This way, they can avoid unnecessary miles and save money.
Conclusion
Solar technician route optimization software is utilitarian for technicians to improve job completion rate with better productivity and reduce the consumption of time, fuel and expenses. Unoservice solar FSM tool integrates the best route optimization app for free.
With Unoservice solar service software, you can not only optimize routes but also optimize scheduling and dispatching, track technician’s live location and improve your customer service. Try Unoservice field service management software for free to explore its functionality and how it optimizes your solar service operations.
Frequently Asked Questions about Solar Technician Route Optimization Software
What is the purpose of a route plan?
Route planning is the process of creating a set of routes that take technicians to different customer locations within a facility. A route planner creates these routes based on the needs of the business, such as the number of employees, the type of equipment needed, the time of travel, and the costs incurred. Pre-created routes minimize travel times and maximize efficiency.
What are route planning and monitoring?
Route planning and route monitoring are two different ways to manage your routes. Route planning involves creating a plan for your employees to follow when they go out on jobs. This includes setting up schedules, assigning tasks, and keeping track of any issues that may arise along the way. Route monitoring is essentially the same process, except that it happens automatically. Your GPS device tracks your location and sends alerts whenever something goes awry. This could include missing a turn, getting lost, or running late. These tools are especially helpful for field service businesses like plumbers, electricians, landscapers, and others who perform home improvement projects.
Can I use Google Maps to optimize my route?
You can use Google Maps if you manage only one or two technicians and have limited service jobs in hand. However, when there are many technicians and more jobs in hand, you need robust route management software that automates the optimization process with better efficiency.
I run a small business. Is field service route optimization software only for big companies?
A route optimization app is an excellent tool for any type of business, regardless of size. Whether you’re running a large corporation or a small service shop, optimizing routes is a smart move. There are many benefits to route optimization, such as saving money by reducing fuel costs, increasing productivity, and lowering employee stress levels.