How Field Service Management Software can Benefit Your Cleaning Company
By: Vadim Zakharikov
Tags: Cleaning, Field Service

How Field Service Management Software can Benefit Your Cleaning Company

Cleaning service companies underwent significant changes during and after the global pandemic. On the one hand, customers are more likely to clean their houses and offices by themselves to prevent the spread of the virus. The survey dedicated to average spend on cleaning products proves it as well. Customers began buying more cleaning products, showing that they are less likely to rely on cleaning service businesses.

On the other hand, cleaning companies faced a notable boom in the last two years. The reason is that companies have to comply with COVID-19 regulations and keep their workplaces clean.

Nevertheless, handling fluctuating demand is challenging for companies that are operating the way they did before the global pandemic. A study by ZipRecruiter shows that cleaning service businesses that are able to meet changing customer expectations embrace digitization and modern IT solutions.

One of the most practical ones is the integration of Field Service Management (FSM) software. One more study by McKinsey & Co. suggests that the FSM solution can increase the speed of the workers’ performance up to 2 times. Let’s look at the benefits an FSM solution provides to make the processes in your cleaning service business more efficient.

Eliminate Redundant Paperwork

With the increased demand for cleaning services, manual paperwork becomes troublesome, raising the risks of errors or missing documents. Taking down notes regarding clients’ personal information and job details on paper or in Excel sheets can’t be disseminated efficiently. Cleaners, overloaded with equipment may mix up documents or lose them, which will definitely annoy clients and taint the company’s reputation.

An up-to-date FSM software helps get rid of these issues. It allows putting all necessary information in one place. By placing information in one cloud-based application, it’s automatically spread on all devices, including cleaners’ smartphones. By eliminating paperwork, you streamline workforce management and ensure error-free reports.

Monitor Quality of the Work in Real Time

80% of field service management providers believe that mobile field service applications are essential to increase service efficiency, a Fieldpoint survey shows. Cleaning service is no different.

Besides digital information input, managers can easily monitor cleaners’ geolocation and make sure they’re working when they are supposed to. Planado, for example, has applications for any device. It allows employees to inform managers about the status of the work in real time. Thus managers can rate employees’ performance by automatically generated statistics on the number of completed jobs and average completion time. Consequently, the software helps create illustrative and descriptive reports according to gathered data.

Additionally, you can add checklists with tasks that must be completed. As a result, cleaners won’t miss any steps, while managers get the updated information on time.

Source: Planado

Increase the Number of Jobs Done

Monitoring current cleaners’ locations is also convenient for increasing the quantity of the jobs done. First, you can assign emerging tasks to those who are closer to a new client’s location, optimizing their routes. The schedule will be automatically updated in their mobile apps and after finishing their current cleaning. As a result, less time is spent on traveling to another place.

Schedule page in the Planado FSM app

Moreover, geotracking and a built-in map in FSM apps will help your company handle time-sensitive or urgent orders. Choose a team of cleaners on the map who can reach the site faster and assign the task to them.

With convenient task allocation, cleaners won’t spend time calling the office in order to find out what is the next job or idly wait for the rest of the working day. The FSM app provides workers with the quickest route taking into account traffic jams and other circumstances.

Map view in Planado

Improve Customer Service

After cleaners inform that they’re on their way to a site in an FSM app, it sends a message to a client’s phone, so he or she is ready to let cleaners in. To ensure your cleaners did their job properly and didn’t forget any steps, they can use the checklists mentioned above. Furthermore, such FSM apps as Planado provide the option of taking photographs of the performed job. This will become a 100% guarantee that the job is done in the best possible way and a client is satisfied.

Bottom Line

89% of customers want to see modern, on-demand technology applied to the field workers’ scheduling. Nearly as many customers would be willing to pay a premium for it. Therefore, both the pandemic and increased customer expectations provoked cleaning companies of any size to change their business strategies and integrate digital solutions.