Texting, Fleet and Service Management

Text Request (www.textrequest.com, 423/218-0111 phone or text) is a text messaging platform, usable on any computing device, that allows you to initiate and continue communication with prospects and customers (as well as text your employees) through your existing office phone number, VOIP, or toll-free lines you already use.

Useful for expediting lead generation, conducting sales follow-up, appointment scheduling, customer service, the solution is available in several tiered plans, with escalating capacities of number of texts, contacts, and dashboards, and increased capabilities.

Messages come directly into your dashboard and you can incorporate a desktop app for the solution. The Text Request dashboard can show a classic view, condensed view, and combined view. You can also use the Text Request mobile app, iOS or Android—same functionality.

All plans support unlimited users and contacts, two-way SMS chat originating on your website with a web chat widget (to spark inbound conversation); mass texting to any/all of the your contacts through BCC group messaging and with replies coming back only to you; picture messaging; message templates to ignite or reignite interest, share new products or services, or other information (template examples available in the Resource Hub); and the ability to request and collect secure payments through SMS. Also included: contact stats, contact tags, and contact status—active, opted out, or blocked.

All plans except the Basic plan include the abilities to schedule seasonal, reminder, and other messages and to send location requests to customers that can result in a pin with an exact address.

Depending on the plan, you can use Text Request on multiple dashboards with multiple phone lines. Automations can include voice greeting for text-only numbers telling callers it is text only and sharing a phone number to call, if desired; activation of an out-of-office auto response; the marking of texts as delivered or error and resolved or unresolved; the capability to manually forward a text to another number; and the ability to tag individual texts with custom labels. Administrators can set up three permission levels for company users.

Pricing: per month according to plan selected. All plans include unlimited contacts, devices, and user groups. Each plan can be customized with a la carte features from higher plans.

Fleetio

Fleetio (www.fleetio.com, 800/975-5304) is a centralized mobile fleet management solution suitable for fleet managers, drivers, technicians, parts managers, and other personnel. Available in three tiered plans, its capabilities focus on fleet asset tracking and maintenance, vehicle life cycle management, and fleet management reporting.

The Starter plan suits fleets ready to organize vehicle inventory and manage inspections. Fleet managers can use Fleetio’s VIN decoder to automatically add 90+ vehicle specifications to vehicle and large asset records; create and assign custom mobile inspection forms; utilize preventive maintenance scheduling and reminders; and report on fleet insights, including cost of ownership.

The Pro plan suits fleets ready to automate their outsourced maintenance and centralize fleet data. Digital repair orders allow fleet managers to automate maintenance authorizations and transaction workflows, eliminating the need for phone calls with drivers and shops. Data integrations centralize fuel card, telematics, and maintenance shop data, syncing mileage, location, and fuel usage, and enabling real-time flagging of exceptions. The plan also includes vehicle assignments and scheduling; fault and recall management; customizable permissions and data fields; and API access, enabling integration with internal or third-party software.

The Advanced plan suits fleets that perform maintenance in-house or keep parts on hand. Fleet managers can track and control garage maintenance and inventory across multiple locations. The plan includes work order management; parts and inventory management including automatic stock adjustment and low stock reorder notification; purchase orders; and the ability, via webhooks, to automatically push data to other systems and applications based on Fleetio events.  

Pricing: per vehicle, per month; free 14-day trial (no credit card required)

Asset 360

ServiceMax Asset 360 for Salesforce (www.salesforce.com), jointly developed with Salesforce Field Service (covered in my January 2022 column), provides a 360-degree view of assets on one platform. It complements Salesforce Field Service with asset-centric features and automation for asset-centric service management so companies can drive efficiencies in service processes, reduce costs, and deliver maximum uptime to customers.

Taking an asset-centric approach to service management, Asset 360 is suited to organizations and manufacturers who service complex, high-value assets. The platform offers multi-level hierarchical views, instant access to asset data, real-time data and reporting, insights into the install base, contract and warranty management, entitlement automation, third party contractor management, and asset performance trends.

Asset 360 includes pre-packaged best-practice process flow templates and transactions that are complementary to Salesforce Flows. A Service Process wizard assembles various workflow steps that can provide guided execution of business processes.

Other key functionalities include: contract and warranty automation, allowing service teams to define and track granular terms for individual assets, contract and service (on top of the selected Pricebook), and to select the best coverage option. Numerous data-driven dashboards give real-time and historical insights into various types of asset data, including, for example, a service revenue and renewal dashboard for sales and account managers that gives a view of contract margin, service consumption, customer surveys and SLAs (service level agreements).

The solution includes dedicated features on the Salesforce Field Service mobile app enabling field technicians access to information on equipment maintenance history, service coverage, product configuration, exact location, and other critical data. ServiceMax Engage, an end customer mobile app for equipment owners and operators, provides visibility to asset data, and the ability to create service requests, view work orders, and see service history of installed equipment.

Patti Feldman writes articles and web content for trade magazines and manufacturers of building products. She can be reached at [email protected].