Are Service Challenges Affecting Your
HVAC/R Business?
Here’s How A Modern ERP Can Help.

Challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace

Advanced technologies have helped raise the requirements of today’s customers, who now expect to be able to shop, schedule service appointments, and receive quick support around the clock. In the face of these heightened expectations, today’s HVAC/R business deals with increasingly complex services such as equipment installation, inspections, and maintenance at customer facilities or other off-site locations. Specific challenges that HVAC/R businesses face include:

• Lack of real-time visibility into the location of their technicians and the current status of appointments
• Inefficient routing and scheduling
• Cumbersome and ineffective inventory management
• Disconnected administrative functions, which can lead to delays in billing and inaccurate or missing customer data
• Lack of expense controls
• Manual data entry, which can hamper data-driven decision-making

How emerging technologies can solve challenges

With a carefully chosen, configurable Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, your company can take advantage of emerging technologies that can help future-proof your business and keep you ahead of the competition. Most modern ERPs are cloud-based, can run on mobile devices in the field as well as on an office or call center computer, include robust data sharing and analysis capabilities, and can provide real-time updates and documentation. With capabilities like these, HVAC/R businesses can:

• Improve communications, visibility, and scheduling through better data and location-sharing between team members in the field and the office staff
• Gain greater visibility into inventory levels and movement, which can help minimize carrying costs and increase the rate of on-time deliveries
• Automate financial processes, leading to greatest efficiency, accuracy, and productivity
• Optimize the supply chain and have more control over the flow of goods from suppliers to customers
• Improve order management and procurement, including reducing errors
• Increase warehouse efficiency by optimizing the put away process and reducing picking errors

Key features of a modern ERP created specifically for HVAC/R businesses and other field service companies

NetSuite Field Service Manager addresses the need for these capabilities and more, with features such as:

• Visibility dashboard with real-time mapping of field tech locations as well as traffic layering to automatically update ETAs and appointment status
• Optimal route planner that generates daily job sequences and schedules based on employee locations, skills, and availability
• Inventory integration that ties into the supply chain and updates item stock counts as usage is logged at point of service
• Unified platform giving field techs mobile access to customer records, assets, products, warranties, and full work history onsite
• Skills matching engine allocating work orders to technicians based on competencies, proficiencies and availability
• Real-time reporting providing detailed visibility into payroll hours, work order costs, parts utilization rates, asset lifecycles and more
• KPI scorecards feature out-of-the-box metrics on workload distribution, first-time fix, mean time to repair, customer satisfaction, and SLAs

Contact us to learn more about NetSuite Field Service Manager and receive a complimentary Business Health Assessment to help our experienced team evaluate your needs.