Maximize Resources by Increasing Utilization Levels—Here’s How
Utilization is the primary KPI for every project-driven company but how do you know if every minute spent is maximized?
Utilization is the primary KPI for every project-driven company but how do you know if every minute spent is maximized?
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Utilization is a primary KPI for every project-driven company. Of course, utilized resources generate revenue. But it’s not only through projects or service calls. It’s also through the opportunity to meet face-to-face with customers to talk about their ongoing needs or purchasing additional products and services.
And the more your team interacts with your customers, the higher your customer satisfaction ratings. They can show your customers just how much the company cares about the value your products and services deliver.
But the benefits of utilization don’t end there! Utilized resources get challenged to apply their skills, and they can expand their experiences with on-the-job learning opportunities. They also don’t sit around getting bored and restless, which can lead to low morale in the short-term and low retention rates in the long term.
To help you increase the utilization rates of your team, we’ve pulled together six key capabilities to start on the right path:
As a bonus tip, in addition to increasing your billable utilization rate, also look for opportunities to decrease your overall idle time—by keeping resources productive in other ways. If billable tasks are not available, consider opportunities to assign meaningful tasks. For example, you can provide on-demand training or arrange for junior resources to shadow senior resources.
Perhaps your team can also attend to in-house needs—such as data clean up or internal projects. Another option is to offer pro bono work to select customers. Although these activities don’t generate revenue, they present better options than idle time and keep your resources engaged.
A key tool for many Velosio clients to manage their operations and to increase utilization levels is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations, part of the Microsoft Cloud Platform. For schedulers and project managers, the solution leverages pre-set parameters and artificial intelligence to align resources (based on skills, location and availability) to specific projects. The familiar, easy-to-use Microsoft desktop also accelerates project and service delivery while providing the ability to make resource changes on the fly (when unexpected events occur) to mitigate any inconveniences for customers.
Your team will also appreciate D365 Project Operations for its integration with the D365 Customer Engagement (CE) suite and Office productivity applications. Within Microsoft Teams, field resources can easily collaborate on challenging incidents with each other and with managers at the home office.
And while in Teams, field resources can see all key customer and project information in any other D365 CE application. Essentially, your team can do anything they need to do from within Teams or Outlook, such as submitting work orders and time & expense reports.
D365 Project Operations is powerful on its own but can be expanded by customers who require more operational capabilities from the rest of the D365 suite. These include marketing, sales, human resources, customer service, finances. Whether you want the added functionality of another D365 application or a custom application built with Power Apps, everything works seamlessly together because the applications share the common foundation of a secure, private, and compliant cloud solution.
For more information on how Velosio can help you increase the utilization rate of your field services team, of your field services team, contact us today.