How many times have you had a technician come to your house to fix an issue with your internet, only to find that the problem could have easily been solved on your own?

Although there are instances where a field technician’s presence is needed to solve a customer issue, on average, only 60% of truck rolls—when a technician is dispatched to fix a problem—are necessary after they are scheduled. Often, due to a lack of optimization for field operations resources, these unnecessary truck rolls cause many companies to lose millions each year and can leave customers with frustrating wait times and long delays.

This is where a strategic business partner like eClerx, with Field Technical Operations experience, enters the picture. With operational expertise, trusted technology, and agile resources, our team is focused on reducing costs and improving customer journeys. That’s why, in 2012, we launched programs to reduce truck rolls such as the eClerx Virtual Tech initiative. As part of this initiative, we analyze client operations, discover inefficiencies, and streamline processes to influence positive growth.

What is a truck roll?

A truck roll is a term in field service operations that describes the dispatch of a technician to a customer’s location to either:

• Install or repair equipment
• Conduct routine maintenance or inspections
• Provide on-site technical assistance

This essential service is typically only scheduled when a customer issue is unable to be solved remotely, or requires additional expertise or tools that only a field technician can provide.

Common causes and issues with truck rolls

• Unnecessary appointments
  Often times customer issues with a with a device or service are problems that could be solved remotely by a support agent. However, agents still frequently create a technician appointment in these situations, resulting in the customer waiting longer for a solution, and the specialist being taken from other higher-value tasks and visits.
• First Call Resolution Rates (FCR)
  A helpful metric used to track how often technicians are able to solve customer issues during their initial visit, FCR rates can be leveraged to gauge support effectiveness. If a technician is unprepared for an appointment—ranging from lack of information regarding the issue or missing vital tools to complete the job—more often than not an additional visit will need to be made. This not only causes sharp drops to FCR and customer satisfaction, but also results in increased costs and more resources being needed than what was initially necessary.
• Knowledge gaps
  In industries like telecommunications and high-tech, the products and services being offered grow in number and complexity each year. Without the proper training and upskilling, both support agents and technicians will struggle to identify and fix certain issues, increasing the rate of unnecessary and repeat appointments being created to solve customer queries.

Unnecessary truck rolls and how we solve them

But first, what causes truck rolls?

Meaning, issues from miscommunication or inefficient touchpoints force technicians to tackle simple challenges that could be solved remotely—meaning you lose, and so does your customer.

What is the real cost of a truck roll?

Unnecessary truck rolls are expensive because they consume operational resources without ensuring any meaningful boosts to customer satisfaction.

When technicians travel to unnecessary service calls, they spend hours on the road instead of addressing issues that genuinely require in-person expertise. This not only impacts the overall productivity of technicians, but that other more legitimate service requests will often get pushed back to accommodate these preventable jobs.

Additionally, each truck roll involves fuel consumption, vehicle wear and tear, scheduling coordination, and administrative support, which in turn leads to large operational expenses accumulating across each call.

So, the next question is, how does eClerx solve this?

With a simple three-step strategy:

1. Technology – Our experts sift through and organize client data to pinpoint patterns with unresolved cases and identify leading issues.
2. Strategy – eClerx’s experienced, highly skilled technical agents develop and roll out strategies to call centers to help customers quickly with these challenges.
3. Analysis – The Virtual Tech team analyzes the results of these strategies, regularly delivering detailed reports and insights to clients for feedback.

What are the benefits of Remote Visual Support?

Remote visual support—consisting of technology like augmented reality (AR) field service—helps organizations eliminate truck rolls by enabling technicians to diagnose and resolve issues without physically traveling to the site.

With many interactions coming into contact centers involving issues that could be solved quickly or require minimal work, a technician or mobile app can walk them through to a solution remotely via AR-powered remote support overlays. By preventing the need for a physical appointment, organizations can reduce travel and fuel costs, as well as improve response times.

Delivering results with impact

What has this strategy accomplished?

Over the last three years, we have achieved significant wins for clients, including a leading US-based television provider. Starting as a vendor solution provider like most outsourced relationships, the Virtual Tech team wowed this firm’s (field tech operations) unit within their initial 90-day pilot period.

From that success, this leading firm dubbed eClerx the best partner they work with because of our experience, knowledge, professionalism, and flexibility. Now, eClerx has moved from merely a vendor to one of their strategic partners in 2022, expanding the relationship from the sole Virtual Tech program to six engagements of various sizes and scopes.

Francisco and his team don’t plan on stopping there in the coming years, either. Going into the end of 2022, the FTO team has a few pilot engagements that are set to ramp into long-term production while they uncover additional opportunities in Plant and Network Support and Automated Outage/Ticket clearance for 2023.

Are you ready to optimize your operations and solve inefficiencies within your dispatch program? Click below to get in touch with our team and learn more about our service offerings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q) How much can you save by truck roll reduction?

Truck roll reduction can generate substantial cost savings, ranging from $150 to $500 per visit depending on the industry and job complexity.

These savings are typically made up of several factors, ranging from immediate field service operational costs—fuel, vehicle maintenance, and labor, as well as more indirect costs—lost productivity, delayed service resolution, and increased carbon emissions.

When scaled across the thousands of service calls made each year, these expenses add up quickly. In practice, even a 10–20% reduction in truck rolls can significantly lower operational expenses while increasing organizational efficiency.

Q) Is reducing truck rolls better for the environment?

Yes, a reduction in truck rolls can result in significant benefits for the environment over time.

With the US EPA estimating that the average truck roll produces ~145 pounds of CO2 emissions, the reduction of even 10% of avoidable technician visits could prevent around 17,40 pounds of CO2 being released into the air.

With investments into predictive maintenance, remote support, and IoT technology, organizations not only can save money and resources, but also reduce their overall carbon footprint.

Q) What are the most common reasons for wasted time on a truck roll?

Wasted time on truck rolls typically are a result of easily avoidable gaps in information, coordination, or preparation.

The most common causes include:

• Incomplete or inaccurate job details
• Poor first-time fix readiness
• Scheduling and routing inefficiencies
• Communication gaps between contact centers and dispatch teams

Through stronger coordination between support teams, visual assistance software, and more efficient technician scheduling, organizations can improve their rate of FCRs, as well as reduce truck rolls.

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