Improving sustainability in field service management

Sustainability in field service management protects the environment, boosts return-on-investment, and generates revenue. But how do you get started?

Field service management is a sector traditionally plagued by efficiency challenges. From paper based planning to high carbon emissions, and inefficient operations. 

As the effects become more visible, the days of deciding whether or not to ‘go green’ are long gone – it’s now accepted that we all have a part to play in reducing emissions to save the planet from irreparable damage. 

For example, on World Environment Day, there was a call to arms to restore our planet. This theme is becoming more urgent, and BigChange echoes the need to take action. 

The time to act is now, and business leaders can be a powerful force for change. 

The good news is, evidence suggests the tide is turning towards a more sustainable approach, with 40% of field service organisations saying sustainability is a top priority1. 

For some top level ideas, in its practical guide to living sustainably, the World Environment Day organisers lay out some achievable steps for all businesses:

• Set emission-reduction targets, and work to continuously improve energy efficiency.
  
• Offer employees the opportunity to pay into a Green pension fund, which supports sustainable investments.

Taking this a step further, here are some of the key ways field service businesses, specifically, can operate more sustainably – that are also sure to have an impact on your bottom line.

Did you know? The right field service management solution helps reduce carbon emissions, enables paperless operations, and saves time and money. BigChange is already helping over 2,000 field service businesses work more sustainably. 

Here are just some of the ways we help our customers make an impact:

Cut van miles that hit the environment (and your bottom line)

Fuel consumption is one of the biggest sustainability issues for field service management. Therefore, the fastest way to reduce your carbon footprint is by driving fewer miles. 

One way to drive fewer miles is by using intelligent scheduling. It routes the right teams, assets and vehicles to your job’s location in the most efficient and sustainable way.

“Route optimisation makes sure the right person, with the right skills and parts always wakes the most efficient route.”

Live traffic updates help find the best route between jobs, saving time and fuel.

Improve driving practices to use less fuel

As well as driving fewer miles, you can also encourage better driver behaviour. 

For example, with BigChange, managers can set driving behaviour alerts and view driver data, in order to curb idling, speeding, and harsh acceleration.

Not only does this keep your people safe on the road, it also cuts fuel costs and emissions. For instance, driving at 55mph uses 25% less fuel than driving at 70mph.

Cut paper out of the picture

If you’re a field service business, you will likely use a fair bit of paper. You can start by recycling everything you don’t need.  

But to make the biggest change, consider going paperless with your entire field service operations. BigChange is a paperless system. It brings together CRM, job scheduling, live tracking, field resource management, financial management and business intelligence into one simple to use and easy to integrate platform.

This way, we helped customers save 60 million sheets of A4 in 2021 alone. That’s roughly equivalent to 7,200 trees.

Now that you know some of the key ways field service management can become more sustainable, let’s go through three simple steps to start your journey today.

3 simple steps to kick-start sustainability

While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to becoming a sustainable business, there are a three simple steps you can take today:

1. Establish where you are today: Understanding your business’s carbon footprint is key when you’re trying to become more sustainable. The Carbon Trust’s SME carbon footprint calculator is a good place to start. You’ll soon see your organisation and all its vehicles fuel consumption, energy consumption and more. 
2. Put a plan in place: After using the carbon footprint calculator, you will have a clearer understanding of your current situation and identify areas to introduce changes. For instance, if your fuel consumption is high – consider solutions that allow you to optimise routes and drive fewer miles. 
3. Make changes: The initiatives you introduce will be unique to your business. While there are no hard and fast rules, consider which initiatives will have the biggest impact to the planet and your bottom line. 

Once you start on your sustainability route, don’t keep your progress a secret – shout about it! Sustainability achievements are great to share with your customers. 

It shows that you don’t just value the bottom line, helping to win over an audience that is increasingly drawn to responsible brands. 

Just look at what VM Elevators managed to achieve. 👇

Example of a sustainable field service business

VM Elevators (VME), is boosting its green credentials using BigChange job management software. Using our cloud-based system, VME delivers 100% of its client reports digitally and has moved its business to an entirely paperless system. 

Intelligent scheduling and routing, and collaboration with other BigChange users through the BigChange Network, is also improving efficiency and reducing mileage whilst live vehicle tracking, complete with driver behaviour alerts, promotes greener driving across the fleet of mobile service engineers. 

These benefits have combined to save VME more than £120k per annum and reduced its administrative resource by 80%.

“Here at VM Elevators we care!” commented Simon Whitbread, CEO of VM Elevators. “We care about the people who work for us, the people we work for and the world in which we inhabit. BigChange helps us turn this attitude into action; with workable solutions that deliver tangible benefits for our employees, our clients and the environment.

“Using BigChange we have eliminated paper from our business model. This not only saves trees, it saves printing costs, it saves on the amount of office space we have to heat and light and it reduces journeys backwards and forwards to pick-up or drop-off reports. We are also reducing harmful emissions with home working, advanced scheduling and sharing of resources with other BigChange users. These are real savings for both the planet and the business.”

Simon Whitebread, CEO of VM Elevators

Become a more sustainable field service business

World Environment Day’s message is clear. There are billions of planets, but there is only one Earth.

What’s more, customers want to team with companies who are working towards sustainability, and this will only continue to rise. 

The best bit? Sustainability in field service management protects the environment, boosts return-on-investment, and generates revenue.

We’re committed to leading the field service sector to greener, more sustainable ways of working. We hope you’ll join us.

Find out how BigChange can help your business, book a free consultation today. You can also get helpful guides and tips delivered to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter below.

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1 Source: Future Enterprise Resiliency & Spending Survey – Wave 1, IDC, February, 2022