HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwire - May 8, 2012) - According to a recent survey of field service industry professionals, only 66 percent of respondents rank customer service as a top priority at their place of employment. An even lower number -- 51 percent -- listed high service quality as the key value in the organization, despite operating in a technology market sector specifically dedicated to service.
The survey, conducted by mobile field force automation provider Retriever Communications at industry tradeshow Field Service 2012, polled more than 130 attendees. Of those polled, just over half work at organizations that employ field service agents. However, 35% of respondents who work for organizations that deploy field agents admit to either not having confidence in their employer's strategy for managing the performance of field employees responsible for interactions with customers, or indicated uncertainty their company even had such a strategy.
Recent viral videos showing a UPS driver throwing packages during the holiday gift-giving season and JetBlue employees making a scene are just a few examples of what can happen when company service representatives don't put customer service first. Such examples highlight the need for empowering field technicians operationally by giving them what they need to succeed while operating within their current workflows. The survey respondents who said their organizations have field technicians cited interactions with these representatives and the schedulers as the two main factors that contribute to customer perception of service quality.
"Today's dynamic wireless environment increases employers' expectations of technicians in the field, but these same businesses have found difficulty adopting solutions because they have prescriptive workflows and practices," said Mary Brittain-White, CEO and co-founder of Retriever Communications. "Field technicians should be equipped with solutions that reflect their company's processes and their customers' needs, rather than a software company's idea of a standard service process that competitors may also use. How a company's staff is empowered to service its customers is at the heart of its market differentiation; a 'me too' strategy puts a businesses' brand and service quality at risk."
Retriever Communications just announced its US expansion as the latest step in the company's global growth plan. An alternative to standard, inflexible field service management point solutions, Retriever's Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) has a unique "write-once, deploy always" approach where applications are structured to allow dynamic change and ensure its ongoing currency on any device.
For more details, see http://www.retrievercommunications.com.
About Retriever Communications
Retriever Communications has been providing field force automation technology internationally since 1996. Privately held with corporate headquarters in Sydney, Australia and North American headquarters in Houston, Texas, Retriever supports deployments in over 21 countries. Retriever's wireless field solutions improve productivity and automate processes for field workers -- from scheduling to wireless in-field applications operating on rugged and consumer-grade mobile devices. Retriever supports Windows mobile, iOS and Android operating systems. Differentiated by the breadth of its product capability, scalability, reliability and high quality of service, Retriever maintains local offices in Sydney, Milan
Contact Information:
Amy Robinson / Michael Ellis
LEWIS PR for Retriever Communications
619-677-2700