Grow, Evolve and Transform Your Business

This Readers Platform explains how the elevator contractor management software you choose today will have lasting effects on your business tomorrow.

Elevator contractor business owners have a big decision to make. They need to think very carefully about their technology stacks, both in terms of what they have today and what they’ll need tomorrow as they move toward a digital, connected ecosystem. They must plan and implement technology solutions to stay current and competitive. But, the speed at which innovation and technology are moving makes it difficult to keep pace. Field service software is more complex than other industries, because the work is disconnected from the office. Elevator contractors need solutions that can accurately and efficiently schedule to jobs offsite and equip mechanics with the resources they need, while offering back-office features like payroll and customer management.

Many elevator contractor businesses rely on legacy systems that cannot keep up with current technology trends. Others have, over time, created a hodgepodge of software systems. They operate with technology and data silos through using nonintegrated solutions and spreadsheets/ tools like One Note, Microsoft Office Excel and even paper to manage their various operational and administrative functions. This siloed system causes business inefficiencies and productivity challenges such as:

• No single source of truth for customer and business data
• Inability to access and consolidate customer and business data in a timely manner
• Disparate customer sales and service experiences
• Lack of data insights into sales, service and operational/process efficiency
• Duplicate and inefficient business processes
• Absence of business insight into business process flow and resource needs

Elevator contractor business owners commonly say they can’t find downtime to implement new software, are worried about how all the change will affect staff, and that the cost is too expensive. They find it easier to put a technology bandage on the problem. These jumbled processes are leaving money on the table, both in terms of inefficiencies and lost revenue. Organizations, therefore, have an obligation to their customers and stakeholders to reevaluate their technology stacks.

Built for the Microsoft Cloud and within Dynamics 365, FIELDBOSS is a scalable, flexible and configurable solution that contactors can use to support their profitability and growth strategy. This solution connects customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) capabilities with custom applications that work together as one system.

FIELDBOSS can help elevator contractor businesses grow, evolve and transform in seven ways:

1. End-to-end elevator service management: An end-to-end elevator service software that offers real-time visibility of important metrics is vital to the success of any elevator service operation. From CRM, field dispatching resources, accounting and ERP, an end- to-end seamless integration provides clarity and drives new opportunities and levels of service.
2. Connected interactions: FIELDBOSS provides technicians with a 360° view of customers and real-time guidance to improve resolution time and earn customer trust. By using the common data model in Microsoft Dynamics 365, all core information such as customer and product data is saved in a central place. Access to this data is available in real-time across multiple applications within the Dynamics 365 suite.
3. Integration to Office and other Microsoft technologies: Since Microsoft has many common technologies that businesses already employ, such as Outlook, Office and Exchange, they have the advantage in seamlessly integrating those technologies with Dynamics 365.
4. Development and flexibility: Another reason we chose to build FIELDBOSS within Microsoft Dynamics 365 is for development. The platform employs common, universal web standards such as Java, .Net and Hypertext Markup Language. This means field-service businesses have the advantage of developing their own customizations based on their individual needs without having to rely on a specific programming language. If they don’t have the capabilities to handle these customizations in-house, experienced partners can help.
5. Real-time customer data: End-to-end integration offers enhanced visibility and control of customer information to field technicians onsite. It can help ensure warranty repairs are properly made, non-warranty repairs are invoiced and new warranty upsell opportunities are taken advantage of. Dynamics 365 and FIELDBOSS share and synchronize customer data in real-time across the organization.
6. Futureproofing: While Microsoft’s focus is on R&D and innovation (in which it invests massively), we can focus on solving industry problems and staying ahead of industry trends. The result is that FIELDBOSS helps customers futureproof their businesses.
7. Meet industry trends: FIELDBOSS allows you to implement a business management platform that can meet the industry trends an obsolete platform cannot: specifications that elevator consultants are inserting into new maintenance contracts, integration with elevator Internet of Things telemetry solutions, compliance with increased warranty and government regulatory requirements, meeting young staff ’s expectations for more modern software, serving as a platform to acquire competitors as the industry consolidates, and the ability to maintain competitiveness with upcoming OEM capabilities.