PALM SPRINGS, Calif., April 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Until recently, organizations offering great customer service had an advantage over competitors. However, the advent of always-on social media, the ubiquity of self-publishing, and the rise of the instant gratification economy have made fantastic service more than a differentiator – it's now a basic requirement. Customers expect immediate and outstanding service, and they are ready to be vocal about organizations that aren't delivering.

Businesses have long desired to better connect with customers, but what has changed is that now customers also want that connection – a shift that businesses can leverage. But when and where is the best time to start creating those connections? Customers are most likely to feel disregarded and voice dissatisfaction while waiting for service. So this waiting period, or what many companies call a service window, is actually a prime opportunity for businesses to improve their relationships with customers. And they can do it better than ever before through their field service teams.

TOA Technologies will be at Field Service USA 2014 in Palm Springs, April 22-25 at booth #17, to discuss this topic with field operations leaders. TOA will present a session on how an analytical approach to field service management can enable organizations to build more meaningful relationships with customers and actually realize savings in the process.

The session, titled "Winning the Customer Waiting Game: How to use predictive field service management to improve the customer experience," will take place on Tuesday, April 22, at 11:30 a.m. PDT. It will be led by TOA Vice President Jeffrey Wartgow, who will discuss:

• Why predictive technology is the key to building better customer relationships, including meeting commitments on time, every time, while still meeting all internal efficiency requirements
• How to start leveraging predictive technologies in field operations
• What type of field data should be collected, and how to organize and apply this data to power a predictive approach to field services
• Why it's important to remember that every field service employee is different, and how to leverage every detail of these differences to get more out of field services
• How to build a future-proof field services strategy that can continuously flex with the organization's growth and changes
• How the customer waiting game will continue to get more complicated with the advent of trends like customer self service, instant gratification and machine-to-machine technologies, and the growing responsibility of field service organizations to address these trends

TOA Technologies provides cloud-based field service management solutions to businesses in a range of industries worldwide, and is a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, 2013. For more information about TOA Technologies and its ETAdirect solution, visit http://www.toatech.com.

About TOA Technologies

TOA Technologies is a leading provider of field service and mobile workforce management software solutions. ETAdirect, TOA's complete cloud-based field service management application suite, holistically manages the entire service delivery process from start to finish: from the moment an appointment or service is requested, through planning, routing and scheduling, to real-time customer communications and field management. ETAdirect measures everything that happens in the field, from travel times to appointment length, and creates unique performance pattern profiles for each and every person in the field. TOA's patented statistical analysis engine then uses these personalized profiles to predict when things will happen and how long they will take. With the most accurate schedules and ETAdirect's browser-based and device-agnostic field service mobile app, mobile employees are empowered to get the job done right, on-time and the first time. ETAdirect is quickly deployed, highly configurable and easily integrated with existing CRM, ERP and other systems.

Across six continents, TOA Technologies and its ETAdirect solution suite manage diverse mobile workforces in the satellite/cable/broadband, telecom, utilities, insurance, home services and retail industries, helping them achieve their goals of reducing operational costs while dramatically enhancing the customer experience. TOA Technologies is headquartered in the United States and has offices throughout Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

Media contact 
Kayleigh Fitch 
216.902.8547 
kayleigh.fitch@toatech.com

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SOURCE TOA Technologies