Field Service Lightning Mobile App: What You Need to Know
As the leading Salesforce Field Service Lightning (FSL) partner in Australia, the team at ProQuest couldn’t be more excited about the new FSL mobile app. We chatted with our CEO, Aymeric Zito, to get his thoughts on the release and answer any questions you might have.
1) How is the FSL mobile app different from Salesforce1?
They are significantly different. Salesforce1 is essentially a mobile app to access Salesforce with an experience tailored to smartphones and tablets. It’s user-friendly and generic like Salesforce, not designed for a specific use case. Salesforce1 has some offline capabilities – thanks to data caching – but it still requires a connection to access all its features.
The FSL app is custom-designed for work order execution. Therefore, you won’t find the usual Salesforce objects like Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Reports, etc. It’s a totally different interface focused on providing only the relevant information for technicians to complete their jobs as efficiently as possible. The app is built with genuine offline capability, to accommodate network coverage issues faced by a lot of technicians who work in remote locations or underground.
2) What features are you most excited about?
It’s fast! We get such a thrill when we present it to new clients. Because the app is designed to work offline, the screens don’t require a network call to load, which makes a huge difference in terms of user experience. ProQuest was part of the Salesforce FSL pilot program, and we’ve interacted extensively with the mobile app team, so we know how hard they’ve worked to develop an application that fits the reality of the field. Their objective was to create a configurable but straightforward mobile solution to make technicians’ lives easier in any network conditions, and they nailed it.
The app features maps (plot jobs and directions to get there), contact shortcuts (text, call or email), capture customer signature, and the central lightning bolt menu (as obvious as the home button of the iPhone and iPad) for technicians to capture status updates and provide visibility on progress made. These features work offline, and they are super fast.
In terms of user experience, the FSL mobile app is really slick and aesthetic, and aligned with the Salesforce Lightning experience. Nothing like the legacy look you may see with other vendors! In terms of user adoption in 2017, it’s crucial for an app to be intuitive and user-friendly.
3) How does it help technicians be more efficient?
Efficiency is the FSL mobile app’s main driver. As soon as you log in, you can see your schedule in a calendar, as well as your recommended route for the day on the map. For each job, you instantly know where to go, who to contact, and what to do. You have access to historical data such as previous work done, notes from the previous visits, etc. As you progress on the job, you also receive guidance to make sure you don’t miss a step in the execution. Have I already mentioned that the app is super fast? It’s a great piece of technology for getting things done.
4) Can this app support all field service operations?
Well, the app supports technicians executing work orders that have been dispatched to them. The actual dispatching is not made on the app but through the browser, as well as defining teams, skills, territories, type of jobs, manual or auto-scheduling, etc.
5) How much customisation is possible from the app?
Just enough. You can configure the work order fields, the status flow and required information to be captured at each stage change. You can put your own company logo on it as well. Because of its offline capability, they are obviously some limitations compared to what the Salesforce platform offers, but considering the purpose of this app, it’s not a problem.
6) How do you get started with Field Service Lightning?
ProQuest has been specialising in Field Service for the last 4 years, and we’ve been working with Salesforce Field Service Lightning solution for almost a year already. We recently took several customers live and they are very happy with the early results. If you think your company could benefit from FSL, contact us and we’d be more than happy to help you get started.
Click here to read the official Salesforce post on the release.
Have any other questions about the new Field Service Lightning app? Feel to contact us or leave a comment below.
