Before making repairs, technicians usually perform comprehensive system diagnostics. Often technicians discover not only the cause of the current problem, but also potential problems in one or more other areas. These potential problems may not affect the immediate functioning of the system, but they may compromise the safety or efficiency of the system or the comfort and health of the customer in the future. To prevent future problems from arising, technicians will provide customers with a list of additional recommended repairs or maintenance services.

Previously, technicians would manually prepare a list of recommended services. With the new recommendations feature in the Skeds software, preparing a list of recommendations is simplified. Technicians just use their smartphone or tablet to choose their recommendations for repairs or maintenance tasks from a standard service list. The Service Skeds software then uses those choices to present the customer with a menu of possible work to be performed. Customers can then approve or decline each recommendation and sign for the work electronically.

According to Skeds, the recommendations feature provides service companies with a range of benefits such as giving the company the ability to generate immediate revenue from additional recommended services and produce revenue during slow periods by initiating contact with customers with “open” recommendations that have not yet been accepted or declined. The service company can also build customer loyalty through repeat maintenance visits. The recommendation feature also reduces the risk of legal liability from customer problems by maintaining a list of recommended customer repairs.

Skeds president Stephen Chambers said, “This has been a feature that many companies have asked for and we now are able to provide this feature to the entire service industry.”

For more information, visit www.skeds.com.

Publication date: 4/8/2013