Choosing field service software: the checklist for every demo

Choosing software for a service company: why demos are hard to compare

A demo is made to convince. The supplier shows the route they know best, with data that looks neat, and that makes comparing difficult:

• Every demo tells a different story. One starts with the schedule, another with the invoices, and afterwards you are comparing impressions.
• The technician was not there. At the office the screen looks good. Whether it works in a boiler room without signal, nobody knows.
• The awkward questions come too late. What does getting started cost, how do you get your data in and back out, what is not included in the price? That often only becomes clear with the quote, or after signing.

A wrong choice costs more than the subscription: a start-up you have to do again, data you enter a second time, and technicians who go back to paper.

Start from how you work: three to five real scenarios

Write down how a job runs today, from the phone call to the paid invoice. Then pick three to five scenarios from your own week and send them to each supplier in advance, asking them to play them out in the demo:

1. An urgent breakdown. A heat pump has stopped working. Who takes the call, who can still get there, and what does the technician see on their mobile phone?
2. A visit under a maintenance contract. How is the visit created, and what is included or invoiced?
3. A part is missing. How does the second appointment get made, and does the warehouse know about it?
4. Invoicing work on time and materials. Three hours of work, two parts, one trip: what does the office still have to type in again?
5. A customer asks for their report or the history of a unit. How quickly do you find it, and can the customer look it up themselves?

Bring along someone who actually does the work: the planner, accounting and at least one technician.

Which questions do you ask in every demo?

Ask every supplier the same questions, in the same order, and write down the answer straight away. After each answer, ask: “Can you show me?”

In the field

• What works in the app without a network, and what needs a connection? Ask them to put the mobile phone in flight mode and complete an intervention.
• Does the app have to come from an app store, and on which devices does it work?
• Does a technician see only their own work, or their colleagues’ work too?
• How do they record hours, parts, photos and the customer’s signature?

Invoicing and accounting

• Does a completed intervention become an invoice without typing anything in again?
• Can invoices be sent via Peppol? Since 1 January 2026, Belgian companies liable for VAT have had to send each other structured electronic invoices; the obligation does not apply to outgoing invoices to private individuals (efactuur.belgium.be, in Dutch). What that means for your customers is explained in e-invoicing via Peppol; discuss it with your accountant.
• How does the data reach your accountant: an export or a connection? Who builds and maintains that connection? What to ask about it is in API connections and webhooks explained.

Your data

• How do your customers, sites, installations and contracts get in, in which format, and what happens if there is a mistake?
• Who owns the data, and how do you export it during and after the contract? More on this in nine questions about your data in the cloud.

Permissions and language

• Can you decide per role who sees prices, hours and invoices?
• What language are the screens, the documents for your customers and the support in? In a bilingual team, or with French-speaking customers, that makes a difference.

Start-up, support and price

• What is included in the price, what is optional, and what is quoted separately: training, data migration, configuration?
• How do you reach the support, at what hours and in which language?
• How long does the contract run, how do you cancel, and what happens if the price goes up?

A scoring table to compare demos

Set the weight of each criterion before the first demo, with the people who share in the decision. Straight after each demo, give a score from 1 to 5, multiply it by the weight and add up.

Adapt the weights to your company. If a supplier scores 1 on a criterion with weight 3, discuss it separately, even if their total is the highest.

Red flags during a demo

• The demo sticks to slides, or to a prepared story you are not allowed to steer.
• “Can you show me?” is answered with “that is coming in the next version”.
• There is no way at all to test with your own scenarios, not even for a fee or with a few users.
• The answer to “how do I get my data out?” stays vague.
• The price only becomes clear after signing, or nothing says what is optional.
• There is no user guide, or it never says what the software cannot do.

A trial period with one or two technicians

If you are still in doubt, have one planner and one or two technicians work with real interventions for a while: one technician who is open to something new and one who is critical. Ask in advance what such a trial costs and what happens to the data if you do not continue. Let the trial run until every scenario has come up at least once, and note every day what got in the way. How to bring the whole team along afterwards is explained in rolling out new software.

An example: a heat pump installer makes a choice

An installer of heat pumps and ventilation with six technicians works with Excel and paper work orders. The owner, the planner and the accountant write out four scenarios and send them to three suppliers. A technician sits in on every demo.

The first demo stays on the schedule; the invoicing “can be shown later”. The second does not show the app with the mobile phone in flight mode. The third plays out all four scenarios, without a network too, and says what the software does not do. In the scoring table, the criteria with weight 3 make the difference, and two technicians test the chosen software for a few weeks before the whole team switches.

How it works in Digitalnatie Service Suite

The same questions, with the answers for Digitalnatie Service Suite, including where the answer is no.

• Without a network: the technician app opens in the browser of the smartphone or tablet, without an app store. Without a network, the steps, the report, the photos, the signatures and the parts keep working; they are sent as soon as the network is back. Logging in, starting an LMRA (last-minute risk analysis) or a PPE (personal protective equipment) check, opening a QR code and invoicing on site do need a network. The technician only sees their own interventions.
• From intervention to invoice: on a completed intervention, accounting creates a draft invoice with the billable hours and the parts used. If your organisation and the customer are on Peppol, you choose Peppol when sending; otherwise the invoice goes by email with the PDF. Peppol registration is done at the start, together with Digitalnatie.
• Getting your data in: the administrator imports ten types of data from an Excel or CSV template, from customers to maintenance contracts. The check does not write anything yet; an import cannot be undone with one click. Data migration is a separate service, quoted separately. See importing customer data.
• Getting your data out: you export any list to CSV. The data remains your property, and after the end of the contract you can still export it for 30 days. Other software connects through API keys and webhooks; this needs a technical permission that you request from Digitalnatie. A custom connection is quoted separately.
• Permissions: a role sets a level and a scope for each module, and the server checks every action again.
• Start-up and support: the start-up checklist checks twelve steps by itself. Onboarding, data migration, configuration and training are separate services, quoted for your situation. You reach the support by email, in Dutch, French or English, during Belgian office hours.
• Price and contract: one Service Suite, per user per month, from two users, billed annually or monthly, with a twelve-month contract for monthly billing. The subscription is renewed unless you cancel in writing at least 30 days before the end of the period. The amounts are on the pricing page.
• Testing: the personal demo starts from how you work, and the demo videos (in Dutch) show the main flows. A separate test environment can be quoted along with the implementation.

Good to know, the limits you should hear about in a demo:

• The application, the documents and emails for your customers, the user guide and the support exist in Dutch, French and English.
• There are no push notifications: the app refreshes its data when it is opened and when the technician comes back to the app.
• You can connect and test WhatsApp Business; sending messages is not yet available. A quote is not sent by email from the application: you mark it as sent and send the PDF yourself.
• There is no connection with a social secretariat (payroll provider): the payroll export is an Excel file that you pass on yourself. There is no live GPS map either.
• The AI report assistant is an optional module, quoted separately and set up by Digitalnatie. It rewrites, summarises, translates or prepares an email to the customer, and never sends anything by itself.

Include your scenarios when you request a demo, so the demo starts from your own week.

Frequently asked questions

Which questions should I ask during a demo of field service software?

First ask the supplier to play out your own scenarios. Then ask the same questions in every demo: working without a network, invoicing and Peppol, import and export of your data, permissions per role, language, start-up, support and price. For every answer, ask them to show it.

How many suppliers should I compare?

Two or three are usually enough to compare without the demos getting mixed up. First make a shortlist based on your scenarios and the price information that is publicly available.

Is Service Suite available in French and English?

Yes. The application, the documents and emails for your customers, the user guide and the support exist in Dutch, French and English.

Can Service Suite send push notifications or WhatsApp messages?

No. The app refreshes its data when it is opened and when the technician comes back to the app. WhatsApp Business can be connected and tested, but sending messages is not yet available.