Companies with parts sales operations can acquire new customers and more revenue with e-commerce
According to TSIA’s State of Field Services report, one of the top business challenges for field service organizations last year was dealing with parts and logistics.
Field service firms using field service NetSuite software and MSI to manage inventory and service parts consumption will find a strong companion for online parts sales in SuiteCommerce.
Depending on your market, you might be starting to branch into the e-commerce space while building out your field services. NetSuite is a great place to manage your entire business and centralize all of the data.
With add-on solutions like SuiteCommerce Advanced and MSI, e-commerce can become the core of your field service business.
The SuiteCommerce Strategy to Growing Revenue
E-commerce is becoming a primary source of revenue for companies all over the United States, and the field service industry is not an exception. Companies are finding ways to build more channels of revenue in their business while providing more value to their customers.
For companies looking into creating more streams of revenue, utilizing NetSuite’s flagship e-commerce platform is a no brainer. SuiteCommerce is a scalable business solution that is pre-integrated into NetSuite, including order management, customers, and an advanced customer center solution for My Account.
Field service companies are using SuiteCommerce to sell their products via the website both direct to consumer and direct to business. A single website that allows for both options keeps the process controlled with less management. Companies are using SuiteCommerce to list the products that are going to be used in the field or to manage job requests.
In this website example, this field service company in the oil industry allows customers to submit a job request online. The user can select whether they are an existing customer or a new customer by utilizing NetSuite customer relationship management.
This is an excellent example of one way you can utilize your website with your field service organization. Through SuiteCommerce, you can also have your customers submit quote requests and manage the quote inside of NetSuite with your sales rep, then send it back to the customer to review on your website when they login to their account.
These simple operations can streamline your sales engagements to most effectively utilize both NetSuite and SuiteCommerce.
In the image below, you can see what an example of a full online form is before it submits a request in NetSuite.
SuiteCommerce can be utilized for more than just a quoting and job request tool, you can also use it to build your direct to consumer or wholesale/distribution streams of revenue. Luckily, you likely have a good amount of the processes in place to add on an e-commerce stream of revenue.
A perfect example of a company that is primarily in the field services is Fire Door Solutions. They provide inspections and services that keep buildings to code. Their primary business is the inspections aspect, but as time progressed, there are areas of the business that make sense for maintenance staff to handle.
These are fantastic opportunities to start branching out into the e-commerce space. After a little time, your product lines grow and begin to bring your company more sales opportunities as a result.
Using NetSuite eCommerce, you can integrate with other popular platforms like Amazon to increase your exposure to new customers. Since the e-commerce aspect has been handled, what about solutions that help your primary field service operations become more efficient and profitable?
Key benefits of mobile forms for managing your field service operations
Now that you are getting new job requests, quotes, and additional sales through your SuiteCommerce website, you will need to manage your field service operations more effectively. MSI Data helps streamline your workforce through its mobile field service solution. There are a variety of software solutions used for service management and scheduling.
Scheduling your workforce is one of the most important aspects of any field service organization. MSI Data provides features beyond this vital business operation because it gives you more insight and accessibility to inventory, timesheets, work orders, payments, and more. Best of all, it integrates flawlessly into your NetSuite ERP to ensure your data connects to a single location.
What NetSuite consultants have to say
At Anchor Group NetSuite Consultants, we consistently suggest to our field service clients to utilize MSI Data because it offers the best features that add the most value to organizations.
Since we are highly involved in helping to organize data and create automations in NetSuite, the MSI Data solution is the best at quickly getting a company operational while connecting all of the vital data back to NetSuite.
An ERP needs as much company data as possible to be effectively used, and this field service solution gives the flexibility required to maximize efficiency.
About the Author
Caleb Schmitz, SuiteCommerce Strategist, Anchor Group
Caleb is a leader, agile project manager, and NetSuite consultant with experience in ERP implementations, mechanical engineering projects, and manufacturing. He is passionate about using his skills to provide world class software development support to growing businesses in the Oracle NetSuite platform environment.
