Hey
@Joseph C. Markovich,
Thank you for the input by way of questions; here are a few answers, lets see where it leads us:
- Email is On-Prem (at least, all of our Exchange infrastructure is); we do use webmail through MS, though, but the does not provide the same apps to leverage as O365, correct?
- If not using O365, we do not have access to the Bookings app, correct?
- Since our CRM deployment is on-prem, we have almost zero usage of CRM through mobile devices (phones, tablets or otherwise). Would it be worth starting to use more mobile devices to leverage some Dispatching visibility service?
- Would love to hear more about the modifications to the appointment entity to initiate labor tracking! We do make some small usage of the Appt. entity in our Sales Dept. with customers. Will that present complications?
- Automated surveys: again, we do not have O365 proper, but we do send out surveys randomly upon completing and resolving customer support cases. Would we be better off to build automated survey delivery along the framework that we currently have for support cases?
Best,
Erik Guthrie
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Erik Guthrie
IT Data & Business Applications Group Manager
Spectra Logic
Boulder CO
CRMUG-Denver Chapter Leader
erikg@spectralogic.com------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: May 05, 2020 12:02 PM
From: Joseph C. Markovich
Subject: Field Services Alternatives
Hi Erik-
Just throwing things out here -- am a fan of possibly using what you have first before buying something else.
Is your email system on-prem or O365?
Scheduling visits: Could the Bookings app in your O365 apps work? This will read the calendar of all your users you set up for it and then scheduling them can either be a web form it provides or someone adding items to their calendars.
Dispatching: Visibility through the D365 app on the phones.
Labor tracking: A couple of modifications to the appointment entity with some fields to track hours worked, travel time, etc.
Automated surveys: check out Forms in your O365 apps. You can create a survey there, grab the link and then use workflow to send an email after the tech visit.
Joe
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Joseph C. Markovich
IT Manager
Okaya Electric America
Valparaiso IN
Original Message:
Sent: May 05, 2020 10:40 AM
From: Erik Guthrie
Subject: Field Services Alternatives
Thanks for the follow up, @Mary Cunningham!. We do currently use the Cases entity, though we have renamed it incidents, to better align with our other, integrated systems. But it's the Cases entity for all intents and purposes. And yes, we use Cases/Incidents to manage calls and run customer support operations.
Our requirements are as follows:
The top 3 "needs" from a Field Services "lite" type of application are:
Scheduling on-site visits for technicians or service partners
Dispatching
Labor tracking
And two "nice-to-have" items might be:
Inventory tracking
Automated customer follow up surveys
Thanks,
Erik
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Erik Guthrie
IT Data & Business Applications Group Manager
Spectra Logic
Boulder CO
CRMUG-Denver Chapter Leader
erikg@spectralogic.com
Original Message:
Sent: May 05, 2020 08:14 AM
From: Mary Cunningham
Subject: Field Services Alternatives
What basic features are you looking for? Have you looked at Cases? This would help you to manage the calls, but wouldn't have any dispatch board kind of functionality.
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Mary Cunningham
Director - Service Technology
Comfort Systems USA
Ocala FL
Original Message:
Sent: May 04, 2020 11:37 AM
From: Erik Guthrie
Subject: Field Services Alternatives
Good Monday morning, community!
Our organization is in need of some of the features Field Services for CRM provides; but a full implementation of Field Services in our On-Prem environment is both overkill (would provide way more tools, features, and complexity than we need) and to costly for our available budget
What other "Field Services-ish" type of products/modules/application/add-ons are out there for CRM, and currently in use by anyone?
Best,
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Erik Guthrie
IT Data & Business Applications Group Manager
Spectra Logic
Boulder CO
CRMUG-Denver Chapter Leader
erikg@spectralogic.com
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