Why self-service is expected by Medical Device Maintenance Customers

88% of customers expect a brand or organization to have an online self-service portal. Those are the findings of a survey published by Statistia and highlights a change of behavior in your customers.

Medical Device Maintenance businesses are no exception to the rule. To meet the ever-increasing demands of their healthcare and medical facility customers, these service businesses are looking towards Job Management Software with cloud-based, customer self-service portals to provide the 24/7 support and on-demand information their clients demand.

People are choosing digital over in-person interactions

The report from Statistia highlights the growing trend of decision makers, business owners and B2B customers preferring digital self-serve interactions, in their report 70-80% of B2B decision said they prefer remote or self-service interactions.

The key reason stated for choosing self-service interactions over in-person were the ease of scheduling and time saving aspects of a client portal.

To align with these expectations Medical Device Maintenance businesses need to introduce innovative ways of interacting with their customers. The nature of healthcare and medical work demands accessibility to information beyond normal working hours and the constant pressure to provide exceptional levels of patient care doesn’t leave a lot of time to make phone calls or emails.

Welcome to the new self-service era

The self-service technology market is growing fast and is expected to reach $28.3 billion by the end of 2022 and is expected to grow at a rate of 7% annually. Key drivers for the adoption of this technology by businesses are cost efficiency and a change of habits post Covid-19.

The average cost per customer contact for a business in the US is $12 for Call Centre Support team members, while the cost of servicing a customer through a Self Service Portal can be as little as $0.10 per contact.

Retailers have been moving away from physical stores in favor of e-commerce for many years. It was the recent Covid-19 pandemic that pushed digital solutions for business interactions into the mainstream. Covid-19 forced us all to work in different ways and it affected B2B sales, support and relationship building in a significant way. It may have started with hastily arranged Zoom or Microsoft Teams calls, but since then interactions have evolved into a boom in digital solutions for customer communication.

The events of Covid-19 not only changed the way we work and interact with each other, it showed our customers there are other ways of getting results that require less time.

How Medical and Healthcare B2B customer expectations have changed

In a report by McKensey & Company it showed only 20% of buyers hoped to return to in-person sales. The same results were found in Field-Sales models previously dominated by in-person interactions such as Pharma and Medical Products.

Medical and Healthcare businesses have been under even further scrutiny and pressure over the last few years. Meeting compliance standards and regulations is a complex and time intensive task, that’s why those who service medical devices have turned to Job Management Software and Self-service portals to provide more clarity on the status of their customer’s products and patient care equipment.

What is a Field Service Customer self-service portal?

A Customer self-service portal provides complete transparency for your customers on their job progress, quotes for new jobs, outstanding invoices and offers them a chance to create new work orders, directly through a Client Portal.

This information is displayed in dashboards, charts and lists that are easy to view and provide customers of Field Service businesses with all the details they need. These are fully branded and professional looking portals that utilize the power of Cloud Based Job Management Software to provide a real time view of their jobs, quotes and invoices.

The benefits of using a Customer self-service portal

The fundamental difference a Customer Self-Service Portal has on a service business is the reduced need for constant interactions for the customer. By providing a secure source of information, accessible at any time, it means Field Service businesses can concentrate on the work and not emails and phone calls from the customer.

Time saving for both customer and service provider

While rapport building with your customer is important and should not be overlooked, sometimes you and your customer simply don’t have a lot of time.

Medical Device Maintenance businesses have a busy and very demanding workload. Engineers need to keep on top of planned preventative maintenance (PPM) and routine inspections while responding to reactive jobs. That leaves little time free for booking new jobs, adding new medical devices to service schedules or remembering to book services for equipment that require periodic inspections. Often it’s only noted that a piece of equipment needs it’s scheduled inspection to meet compliance at short notice which creates further pressure on the service teams to fit in the work.

A Customer Self Service Portal cuts out the need to send emails, to make phone calls or gather information it’s all there in a professional, secure, branded portal.

Open 24/7

To provide an exceptional and competitive service Medical Device Maintenance businesses need to align their availability with their customers. Operating outside of office hours is challenging without a web-based, real time customer portal. Using these can provide Medical Device Maintenance job details and field service finance information such as quotes to approve and outstanding invoices, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Professional approach to account management

The Customer self-service portal helps you maintain a professional approach to your account management. These branded portals not only look great but they help forge long lasting relationships with your customers as they begin in depend on the insight you can offer them in real time.

Secure new jobs

The ease in which your customers can log on and book new jobs makes it perfect for winning additional work. The increased expectations that organizations have these Customer Self Service Portals, will put those businesses using them in prime position to win new contracts.

Future Proof your Medical Device Maintenance business with a Customer self-service portal

Cloud based Job Management Software has simplified the process of adding Customer Self-Service Portals to your Medical Device servicing business. The ability to access real time data from your single job management system has meant your customer is never more than a few clicks away from the details they need.

Expectations are changing, businesses need to modernize to keep up with customer demands, but the accessibility of new software for servicing businesses has made this technology a realistic and cost effective option.

Implementing Job Management Software with customer self-service portals now not only helps you secure work from new customers it ensures you’re able to keep up with the demands of your current clients, avoiding churn and satisfying more customers.

The difference a Customer Self-service portal can have on your customer’s experience

Eddie Loughran, Klipboard’s Head of Customer Experience has seen first hand the positive impact having a Customer Self-service portal can have on a Field Service business.

Eddie is in a good position to see the impact a customer self-service portal has on a service business. As Head of Customer Experience at Klipboard he regularly speaks with Field Service businesses who need to find ways to streamline what they do, day to day to save time and money by using Job Management Software.

Field Service businesses have introduced self-service elements to their service because of the need for round the clock access to information. In highly competitive markets it’s a disadvantage to not have the ability to offer this information. Eddie comments “one of the major benefits of a customer self-service portal is allowing your customers to request jobs at any time. This means they don’t have to call you, potentially saving hours of phone calls and emails each month. They simply request work through the portal and await your conformation”.

“Not only does it provide transparency and loyalty with your customers, it also takes the pressure off your office-based team” – Eddie Loughran, Klipboard

Eddie has found Field Service businesses are initially hesitant because they believe these portals can be difficult to set up and manage, however Klipboard’s Client Portal can be activated in minutes, tailored for their specific needs and is updated and managed in real time by the Job Management Software.

Summary

Over the last couple of years customers of Medical Device Maintenance businesses have changed their expectations of what good service looks and feels like.

Everything they need to know is available to them on-demand and in real time. That’s extended to their service providers and the minimum expectation is to retrieve this instantly in a secure way. Self-service customer portals provide this in a slick and elegant fashion. Easy to set-up, minimum fuss and can go a long way to impress a new customer or retain a current one.

We aren’t just entering the self-service era, we’ve been living in it for the last few years.

For more on Client Portals click here.