Empowering Recurring Service Workers: The Impact of Real-Time Information Flow
Information is power. And this is particularly true for the recurring service industry, because workers need the right details to do their job. Without it, a recurring service company has to contend with delays, mistakes, unhappy customers, churn, and job dissatisfaction. These problems have a knock-on effect for the business in both the short and long-term. Fortunately, an operations system that promotes the free flow of information across teams in real time empowers service workers. It streamlines resource allocation and revolutionizes both operations and results.
In this article:
- Why the Lack of Information Makes Service Workers’ Jobs Hard
- How It Hurts You As a Recurring Service Business
- What Real-Time Information Flow Brings to Service Workers
- The Extra Benefits You Get
Recurring service workers need accurate instructions on where, when, how, and what they’re supposed to do.
The problem is that many recurring services companies don’t give them what they need to delivery a service. So how can they do their job correctly?
The short answer is they can’t. And that can have a massive impact on the bottom line of a recurring brand.
But providing all the information necessary is a mammoth task if your operations are manual. This article will discuss the problems that come with the lack of free-flowing information. It will analyze how these problems impact your workers and your business. It will then give a good picture of what is needed to turn things around, smoothing out service provision and improving the bottom line for your business.
Why the Lack of Information Makes Service Workers’ Jobs Hard
Recurring service workers have jobs that require information to be correct and available. This includes things like contracts, terms, and usage.
Recurring services companies that use manual processes will have fleets that struggle to deliver consistent, reliable services. In these circumstances, here are the ongoing pain points they contend with on a daily basis:
Silos everywhere: When there’s little or no information sync between the financial, sales, customer service, and other teams, the chances of the information going through being correct and timely plummet.
Delays aplenty: Thanks to both the manual recording of data and the manual retrieval of information, the data’s delayed, and so is service delivery and decision-making.
Bottlenecks in the day: Manually created workflows (especially combined with the delayed and incorrect info) impede service workers’ productivity and service quality. This makes bottlenecks that can put them hours or days behind.
Mistakes in delivering service: Any outdated data (which can occur at any time with siloed data) leads to costly mistakes in service provision.
Resource misallocation: Without reliable information, and with bottlenecks, effective resource allocation becomes impossible.
Plunging worker morale: Frustration from manual processes, delays, and lack of access to real-time data, and mistakes in resource allocation can lead to decreased job satisfaction and motivation.
All of these throw a monkey wrench into your operations and revenue while both disappointing and infuriating your workers.
And these problems will impact your business as a whole as well.
How It Hurts You As a Recurring Service Business
These problems can spread across anywhere in your recurring service organization. Do any of these impacts sound familiar to you?
- Higher cost and less incoming revenue: Inefficient operations cut into revenue at any given time because you have to spend more to get results. It also cuts future revenue, because you have continual delays in service onboarding, contract processing, etc.
- Resource allocation: This is one of the most important challenges in recurring service. You can’t allocate your resources properly when there are delays and data silos that stop information flow. Because manual operations mean phone calls with suppliers. Sales and customer service teams phoning customers putting out fires. Finance checking with sales and customer service about contracts and terms so they can set things up and approve installation. And these scenarios are just for starters.
- Expensive worker turnover: Employees in burnout or employees who quit are expensive. Either way, it’s most costs for you as you look for replacements who will face the same challenges.
- Customer dissatisfaction: Customers need consistency in their service quality from installation all the way through the lifetime of your relationship. Without it, customers get unhappy. They rumble. They complain to your customer service department. You’re forced to offer benefits and discounts that you wouldn’t have had to before.
- Less cash flow: Because inaccurate invoicing, billing discrepancies and delayed payments slows down inbound revenue, you’ll get cash flow issues, and perhaps creditor and supplier issues too. That adds more pressure to workflows to find the money from somewhere else.
- Churn: There are multiple reasons why you’ll have more churn, and not just because of the problems directly related to your service team. Word of bad service gets out. You competition will notice you’re losing customers. If your base catches wind you’re having service delivery and operations problems, that damages trust in your brand. It also harms your relationships with your customers which drives up customer acquisition and cuts Customer Lifetime Value costs.
Given these harms, it’s no wonder that original problem of lack of the free-flow of information poses such a threat.
Fortunately, with the right information flow, things can look up, and fast.
The solution comes in the form of subscription management platform that analyses and shares data in real time. It brings all the benefits of real-time information, with zero additional effort from you and your workers.
In fact, you’ll save them time and resources.
What Real-Time Information Flow Brings to Service Workers
Subscription management software eliminates data silos so that all the information about your customers, their needs, their contracts and terms, and usage are readily available, anytime, and all the time.
It’s accurate and free from manual errors too.
This information is available to you, your sales team, customer service, finance, fleet management, and anyone else in your operations who need it.
Real-time information flow transforms how service workers operate within recurring service businesses. They get real-time access to important data, which includes usage, changes in contract terms, offerings, and service schedules, preferences, inventory/supplies, etc.
This helps them with any decision-making they’ve got along the way.
When data flows in real time across the service-related departments, service workers know where they are supposed to go, when, and for what.
Management becomes more…manageable because the free-flow of data also gives them bonuses – proactive issue resolution, predictive maintenance, and personalized customer interactions.
Workflows are nicer too, because they’re not based on errors or guesses.
Which all means…satisfied service workers with a much less stressful day-to-day schedule.
The Extra Benefits You Get
Just like the lack of data flow causes knock-on impacts for you and the greater business, so does free-flowing information.
Here’s how things turn around for the greatest business and brand beyond your happy service workers:
- Your customers get an exceptional experience: Everything from fast responses to personalized services right down to the service delivery and invoicing/payments, everything’s customized end-to-end for them. That creates loyalty and cuts churn in general.
- Siloes are cut down, and communication is better between all teams: Real-time data that is automatically and freely shared means that numbers are more reliable, forecasting more accurate, and reports are great foundations for strategic decisions. All people can collaborate more effectively because no one has to chase or guess anything.
- Resource allocation is optimized: It won’t just be your service team that loves this free flow of information. When your scheduling is efficient, your maintenance planned, and your resources utilized in the best way, you cut costs and boost efficiency.
- More revenue growth: With proactive service management and the best billing and payment processes that are automatically run for you by a good solution, revenue grows because you don’t have costly errors. Your teams aren’t throwing out expensive discounts to keep customers with later service on side. You aren’t replacing your burned out service workers. You’re not waiting for payments. And word of mouth works in your favour between customers.
Long story short, you get the competitive edge.
Conclusion
Real time information flow isn’t just a tech upgrade. It’s a necessary investment in the contentment of your service workers, and the future revenue growth of your business.
The efficiency and effectiveness of service workers will play a pivotal role in any recurring service business. They just need the tools necessary to their jobs.
Going with the right subscription management solution will solve these problems and bring so much more to the table.
Curious to see how it will work for you? Book a free Discovery Call with our team today.
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