Having quick, convenient access to effective procurement tools is essential for today’s field technicians, who typically work in fast-paced environments under strict deadlines. Traditional procurement methods may have (eventually) given field technicians the tools they need to complete their jobs, but they were far from effective. They often resulted in unnecessary delays that led to poor customer satisfaction and decreased employee morale.
Modern procurement for field technicians prioritizes speed and accuracy, ensuring that workers can work more effectively than ever before. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the many advantages that mobile procurement solutions can provide.
Get Real-Time Access to Inventory
Expert field technicians know exactly what item they need for a job. Modern, mobile procurement solutions include field service inventory tracking, providing the worker with real-time insights into the parts that are already available.
Rather than assuming that parts are available, technicians can simply take out their smartphones, get updated inventory levels, and confirm that they’ll have what they need before they visit a job site. Having real-time access to inventory also helps to eliminate the risk of a duplicated order.
Quickly Find — And Order — Parts
If the part isn’t in stock, then the technician can quickly find and order the part that they need. By adopting automated procurement tools that allow for better job-site materials management, field technicians can remove many of the pain points that could impact their effectiveness. By incorporating the right mobile procurement tools, field technicians no longer have to return to the office to make an order or even wait for their procurement request to be manually approved.
These tools are quick and convenient to use, and offer field technicians an empowering level of autonomy, ensuring that they can get what they need with a few clicks of a button.
Liaising With Procurement Teams
Field technicians want to simply get on with the job that they’ve been assigned, not be in a constant process of back and forth with the procurement team. Modern tools help to boost worker productivity and reduce stress by making it as easy as possible for technicians to get the parts they need. Older procurement protocols may have involved lengthy approval processes that resulted in project delays. With the right tools by their side, field technicians can have confidence that the product they need will be on its way as quickly as possible.
Live Order Updates
The best procurement tools don’t just make it easy to find and order the part that’s needed. They also provide live order updates that provide the field technician with the status and location of the order. This handy feature makes it much easier for the technician to plan their work and is significantly better than the older procurement tools, which typically offer less specific delivery time updates. By knowing exactly when the part they need will arrive, field technicians can plan their work accordingly. This results in more effective working processes that reduce downtime.
Enhanced Flexibility
Fieldwork is notoriously difficult to plan with any meaningful level of precision. Unexpected issues or changes of direction can occur at any time. In the past, these unexpected shifts could result in long delays — or in some cases, even the abandonment of the project. By utilizing the power of mobile procurement tools, field technicians have the capacity to quickly make adjustments. It offers the work another level of flexibility that allows them to make decisions based on what they see before them, rather than what they assumed they would find.
Advanced Ordering
Mobile procurement tools allow field technicians to order anticipated parts immediately. And since the latest mobile procurement tools for field technicians automatically send orders to the supplier, the field technician can have confidence that the resources they need to complete the job are on their way as soon as possible.
Reducing Cost, Maximizing Efficiency
Mobile procurement tools also remove the possibility of errors in the ordering process, which is a repeated problem experienced by field technicians who rely on paper order trails or who have to make orders once back in the office. Those orders are more likely to contain errors because of the amount of time that has lapsed. With mobile procurement tools, the field technician can simply send a recorded, accurate order directly to the supplier, reducing the risk of incorrect orders.
Conclusion
Ultimately, mobile procurement tools help field technicians to work better than ever before. From analyzing inventory to making on-the-fly orders, they’re an essential tool in an area that rewards flexibility and efficiency.