In just about every industry, chatbots are becoming increasingly popular for a variety of reasons. For example, some companies use them to save time and money on customer service requests. In fact, chatbots help companies save up to 30% on these requests. Others rely on chatbots as gatekeepers for their team. Still others view chatbots as a way to serve their audience during the business’s off hours.
Chatbots & Field Service Management
Field service management isn’t exempt from this growing wave of support for chatbots. In fact, many field service management platforms can use chatbots as a way to simplify processes and help customers get the right information as quickly as possible. For instance, some companies require a customer to go back and forth with someone on their team to book a call. With a chatbot, that team member doesn’t even need to be involved. Instead, the bot will communicate with the customer to schedule the call at the best possible time.
That’s not the only way chatbots can help, either. They can help save even more time by answering basic customer service questions. Once you create a baseline script for them, they can respond to the most commonly asked questions. Then, as the artificial intelligence program learns, it will better be able to communicate and provide the right information to your customers.
Speaking of artificial intelligence, chatbots can also help recommend products as a personalized marketer for each of your customers. The technology can find chances to upsell, and it can deliver marketing messages in a targeted way, rather than just an auto-response.
Chatbots can also help your team in more tangible ways than simply saving them time. Rather than needing to manually search for a customer’s history or try to find additional information while in the field, your technicians could use a chatbot to access any necessary files. This can result in better service for your customers, as the technicians can spend more time with them, delivering the needed services.
The Need for Technology
It seems technology is becoming increasingly valuable every day. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, being able to handle problems and work remotely has become a very important option. Remote solutions are certainly a key to success in 2020, and chatbots are another layer of this important technology.
Chatbots can even, at times, serve as a troubleshooting salesperson by walking a customer through their problem, and then recommending the piece they need or the order they should place to be able to fix it. While people are working remotely, they might be less inclined to pick up the phone and would rather type through their issues with a chatbot.
Getting Started with Field Service Management
Implementing field service management software is a key piece of technology for your company, whether you choose to add chatbots to your strategy or not. That said, rolling out this type of solution can take substantial effort. From finding and choosing the right platform to getting your team on board to implementing it, to encouraging the team to use it, there are plenty of steps along the way.
You don’t have to do it alone. Here at Kinettix, we’ve helped managed service providers and global IT services companies not only implement their platforms but ensure they’re using them to their fullest potential. Field service management platforms can make your team’s jobs more efficient, so you want to make sure you’re using every element possible.
Using Chatbots for Your Business
Chatbots are likely the way of the future for many industries. Maybe you’re ready to add them to your business strategy now, or maybe you’re planning on waiting for a little while longer. Either way, it’s important that you understand how valuable this technology can be for your customers and your staff.
