Customer Self-Service in SAP FSM
Author – Siva Ulaganathan, SAP CX Expert, NTT DATA Business Solutions UK
Field Service Execution through SAP FSM
The evolution of consumer behaviour in the last ten years has forced businesses to adopt digital transformation and provide customers with an experience fit for this digital age. Customers expect to get things done at the click of a button, be it mobile or web. Self-service is increasingly becoming an important component in customer service and field service execution is no different.
SAP Field Service Management provides customers with a solution that embeds the digital age tools and technologies into field service execution. It includes a planning board functionality for the dispatchers to plan service appointments or uses the built in artificial intelligence to let the system plan the appointments automatically. The mobile app (for iOS/Android/Windows) that is included in the solution enables the field service technicians to execute field service seamlessly.
Customer Self-Service for Field Service Execution
A Self-service option would enable customers to control and manage the service appointments themselves without having to contact a customer service agent over phone or email. It would also give them an overview of the service records and let them track the service status of equipment instantly. This is particularly useful in an enterprise scenario where the maintenance department is required to keep track of the service status of a huge number of equipment.
In this blog we will look at how SAP Field Service Management (FSM) provides an out of the box capability to quickly enable customer self-service center tailored for Field service execution that gives customers full control over the servicing of all their equipment.
Self-Service Channels in SAP FSM
SAP FSM provides self-service capability through two channels – Portal & ChatBot. System administrators can apply branding i.e. colour schema, logo and back image etc. and also configure what options are provided in the self-service center.
Customer contacts can be setup as users in the self-service center through email invitation and once setup they will have access to all tickets & equipment that belong to their organisation.
Customer Self-Service Portal
The link to the customer self-service portal is specific to each tenant and is sent to the users automatically in the welcome email.
Upon login, the overview section provides a brief into all the existing service tickets and the equipment that belong to the user’s organisation. The status icons on the tickets gives an indication of the current status of the ticket.
Customers are able create a new ticket from within the portal through an easy to use intuitive wizard.
Customers are also able to view the ETA of the technician once the status of the tickets moves to ‘Travel’.
Customer Self-Service Chatbot
Apart from the self-service portal, SAP FSM also provides an out of the box ChatBot that can be used on the mobile. Customers only need to scan the QR code Label that is attached to the equipment and they will be automatically directed to the ChatBot to view equipment details or book a technician.
Customers are driven through the process of creating a ticket/booking a technician. Images are captured and attached to the ticket on the fly.
Conclusion
Implementing a self-service center for field service is quicker, cost-effective and efficient through the standard functionality provided by SAP FSM. Customers in the digital age demand full control and visibility over their equipment and how they are serviced without having to wait in seemingly never ending call queues. With SAP FSM self-service center companies can provide exactly that to their customers, improve the customer experience and with that gain a competitive advantage!
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