Last Updated on May 20, 2021 by Guest
Once upon a time, field service companies were known for their fast, efficient, and effective repairs. All was well until a pandemic took over the world in the year 2020 and altered the way everything functioned. The virus that spread its evil wings above the globe was named COVID-19. The deadly virus is still at large, and it has forced companies to restrict or, in some cases, entirely halt their in-person field service visits to forbid its spread.
With an undying hope and a re-evaluated business model for contact or remote service and predictive maintenance, it is time to embrace the change towards a better future. Since your service is a priority for many organizations, both private and government, here are six field service trends, best practices, and technologies for 2021 that you should consider implementing.
Field Service Software is Essential to Communication
First, it would be wise to incorporate field service management software for improved digital communication because the definition of being in touch has surely changed since the beginning of 2020. These cover seamless communication via email, live chat, and application messaging, portraying your company as a digitalized workspace.
Mobile and the workforce
In today’s scenario where remote work has become the need of the hour, it is time to introduce your staff to the field service and mobile roles available with this tiny yet magnificent device.
The sooner you adopt the latest mobiles and the accompanying field service solution in terms of software, the quicker the advanced technology will enable a bridge between your field engineers and office-based workforce. If you don’t wish for your staff to lose traction in the ever-rising mobile-only world, provide them the opportunity to learn about mobile apps and technology.
Utilizing New Technology in Field Service Management
With the rapid rise in technology that can get leveraged to make it mutually easier for both the organization and the customer, the next implementation for your consideration is utilizing the available digital resources. Among these are trends like IoT and automation within field service, AI, big data, and analytics.
Internet of Things
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit its peak, IoT currently has about 20 million connected devices in use globally. The number can expectedly soar in the coming New Year due to its improved delivery, faster, exceedingly secure, enhanced services for customers, increased engagement, compliance assurance, and strengthened security. Instead of the fear of being replaced by robots and technology, your staff can use IoT to achieve enhanced visibility over all the field assets. Clearly, IoT in field service is sure to be a boon for field service management.
Artificial Intelligence
Market research conducted by Forrester predicts that global investments in AI-based technologies will grow by a staggering 300 % annually. What this means for FSM is that all the paperwork orders, manual scheduling tools, and file cabinets with service contract records will now get smartly managed by software-based intelligence.
Timely incorporation of AI will enable automation of the work order lifecycle, scheduling, monitoring the status of on-field technicians, and communicating with the customer with real-time planning. You can expect a more seamless workflow for your field service management, more exceptional accuracy, in addition to a dignified and satisfactory customer experience.
Data Protection and Privacy are Non-negotiable
As is rightly said, the good always comes with its fair share of bad, which is true for technology. With the ease of managing things online arrive the threats to cybersecurity and data leaks. Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has grown up to 63%, posing a severe threat to data protection and privacy.
Being an essential service in 2020, it becomes your responsibility to assure your customers that their data and information will remain the same with your FSM company. Make it a mission to prioritize cybersecurity for your customers to be able to trust your services.
With the advancement in technology, processes have to change to keep up with the latest trends to take advantage of innovation’s positive effects. With a keen eye to invest in systems that provide more prominent support to the technicians, you can rely on evolution to shed a positive effect on each facet of your business.
Our guest contributor
Akhil Rajan is a Customer Success Specialist at Zuper, an intelligent workforce management platform for service-oriented businesses. Working with customers daily, he has a deep understanding of their needs and pain points, so he can contribute to the marketing strategies for Zuper with the content he writes.
He writes on topics like how to increase workforce utilization, how to reduce the service turnaround time and increase workforce efficiency, customer adoption, cost reduction strategies, etc. – to name a few. He is often found buried in books or playing chess in his free time.