In recent years, smartphones and tablets have evolved from nifty consumer-centric devices used to make calls, send text messages, and watch YouTube videos, to sophisticated devices that add value to business. Tablets and smartphones are rapidly transforming the way business is done in multiple industries, and the field service industry is no exception.

If you work in the field service industry, and your company has not already taken advantage of these powerful devices, you ought to jump on the bandwagon ASAP. Not yet convinced that adopting tablets and smartphones into your business is the way to go? Let’s look at a few benefits to embracing wireless technology that might make you reconsider.

Improved communication with the field

Give all of your field personnel a tablet and/or smartphone, and your team members in the office will never have an issue communicating with them. If a client changes or cancels their order, you can easily notify your field personnel immediately via phone call or text. Many field service management softwares also integrate easily with tablets and smartphones. In that case, your field service personnel will be notified as soon as a change has been made to an order. The result? Less time wasted and happier customers.

With a tablet and/or smartphone, your employees on the field will also have access to email, social media, and video conferencing wherever they go, so you can assure that they will never be left out of the loop.

Increased productivity

In the past, field personnel have had to get clients’ payment information, personal information, and signatures on paper contracts, only to have them transferred to a computer by an office employee later on. Why bother with the extra step?

With tablets and smartphones, clients can manually input their payment and personal information, and sign with their own index finger, making the whole process easier, less painful, and more efficient. Having the ability to update and process work orders in real time saves you time AND money.

There are also numerous apps available that help streamline work processes. For example, there are apps for tracking time, calculating expenses, scheduling, routing, capturing signatures, scanning barcodes and much, much more.

Reduced overhead and administrative costs

Remember when I mentioned that you wouldn’t have to draw up paper contracts for your clients anymore? Not only does that make your work processes more efficient, but it also saves you a ton of money on paper and toner. The amount of paper and ink you use up printing form after form really does add up–eliminate this cost by equipping your field personnel with tablets.

Since tablets eliminate the need for paper contracts, you will no longer require someone to manually enter information from the contracts into their computer, or scan clients’ signatures. This significantly cuts administrative costs, and allows your office employees to focus on more important tasks.

Enhanced customer experience

It’s important for any business to ensure that its customers are happy. Satisfied customers are much more likely to remain loyal, and they are also likely to refer their friends to your service.

Use of tablets and smartphones in field service dramatically improves the experiences of customers. The ability to receive alerts for tasks created, respond to these alerts immediately, and resolve issues from the customer site makes for outstanding customer service. Not only that, but instant invoicing and the ability to capture the customer’s digital signature is bound to improve the customer experience.

Embrace mobility

By now there should not be a single doubt in your mind–tablets and smartphones are transforming the field service industry, and you must take advantage. Let’s do a quick recap of the benefits that come with mobility:

1. Increased communication with the field
2. Increased productivity
3. Reduced overhead and administrative costs
4. Enhanced customer experience

With these benefits and more, you’d be crazy not to go mobile, so what are you waiting for? Embrace mobility today!

This guest post is courtesy of Jeffrey Mortensen, Content Manager for DataXoom. DataXoom is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) which provides simple and flexible mobile data services to businesses in the United States. If you’re using 4G or LTE to access your Kickserv app, we’d love to connect!