How FSM software makes solar business operations predictable
The Solar Industry is experiencing a growth spurt as nations unite to battle climate change. Gone are the days when ‘costs’ were a factor for solar adoption, as for the past two decades, it has steadily declined by 90%.
Besides technology breakthroughs, efficient operations via solar business software have played a key role in resource and cost optimization. If you’re a solar contractor, read further on how you can implement field service management software for your solar business.
What operational challenges does a solar business face?
The solar industry has to bring the latest innovation to real-market scenarios. Thus, major challenges lie in the installation, operation, and maintenance of their innovative products as follows:
Weather dependency
Weather plays a critical role in the maintenance of solar panels and other products. One has to optimize for various weather scenarios to ensure contractors face minimal repair rounds.
Periodic maintenance is a need
You cannot run a solar business without accounting for maintenance. As a solar contractor, you may have to make efforts to explain this to your clients. One has to describe how regular maintenance ensures peak efficiency and more Return-on-Investment.
Labor maintenance
The solar industry is still new and requires technical expertise in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering.
Solar businesses have to account for expert labor costs for their service activities. If you run a global solar business, that means you have to manage different labor laws and on-ground efficiency remotely.
Procurement and Inventory
The solar industry relies heavily on the import of raw materials, typically from China. Solar businesses also have to take care of inventory stocking, predicting demand, managing maintenance cycles, etc on regular basis.
How field service management software can help overcome solar business operation challenges?
The solar industry must adopt digitization as means to protect itself from operational fallouts. For this, you should explore field service management software to automate various tasks and build systems.
Here’s how field service management software like Zuper can take care of your operational challenges:
Improve visibility across any installed locations
FSM includes job tracking which ensures you can know at what stage your technicians are on the field.
You can make real-time decisions to remove or appoint more labor, depending on the job status. This helps you save resources and use them for clients who need them the most. All this, without having to travel to the field.
Make your inventory predictable
Being predictable is key to ensuring healthy business operations. With field service management software like Zuper, you can prepare your solar business for any fluctuating customer or market demands.
Using FMS, solar contractors can:
- Track where their equipment or raw materials are
- Reduce any wastage of materials due to over-purchases
- Conduct quality inspections by setting up necessary systems
FSM also helps with resource allocation – where you can ensure sufficient equipment are available when required across your client locations.
Accounting isn’t tough with FSM software
Tips to purchase solar business software – a good FSM will include accounting features by default. With Zuper, you don’t need any external software integrations to carry out invoicing and business accounting.
You can also build estimates so that you can prepare for any rainy day.
Send the right technicians for the right job
Field service management software helps in efficient dispatching. Based on location, skill sets, and availability (if hired on contract), you can assign labor with jobs. You can manage work orders and support tickets from clients for installed solar equipment.
Ensure your clients are at ease
Solar business software like FSM will include features that help communicate with clients, create reports and provide regular updates. You can automate maintenance appointments and provide visibility to job progress.
Such activities help you build trust with your clients in the long run.
A Field Service Management software pushes your solar business for growth
As a solar business owner, you may have questions if FSM software is practical at ground level.
Field Service Management also includes employee training as a part of its offering.
Once you define your workflows via Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), you can use FSM to automate them. Then, you can teach your employees and on-field technicians the best execution practices using solar business software.
A good FSM will include measures to ensure digitization disrupts your sales and NOT your solar business operations. The right choice of FSM would mean it upgrades your solar business operation and does not cause more confusion.