Webfleet Solutions, Europe’s leading telematics provider, has enhanced its offering with new features that give fleet managers remote insights into their electric and hybrid vehicles. The EV management tools are part of the new release of WEBFLEET version 3.10 and are available for over 50,000 Webfleet Solutions customers across 60 countries.

“With the electric vehicle management tools, we are helping our customers to adapt to EV operations and maximising their cost-saving potentials,” said Beverley Wise, Sales Director UK & Ireland of Webfleet Solutions.

NEW FEATURES IN FLEET MANAGEMENT SOLUTION TO HELP MANAGE EVS

With the EV features in WEBFLEET, fleet managers can:

• Get insights into the battery levels of their electric vehicles
• See the remaining driving range
• Get information on real-time charging status
• See the remaining charging time of their EV at all times

A fleet manager can use the remaining driving distance, for example, when planning a sequence of orders or choosing a vehicle for a job. “By knowing exactly how much charge a vehicle has and how far it needs to travel, fleet managers can avoid higher charging costs during peak time or waiting in line for charging,” explained Wise.

“Adding EV features in our fleet management software is only a first step,” Wise emphasises. “In the course of this year we will – with the feedback of our strong global customer base – further develop our EV management tools. Our goal is to use our vast experience and proven expertise in telematics to help fleets get the most benefit out of the needed transformation”.

The electric vehicle tools are part of the newest WEBFLEET release and are available to all customers worldwide. In addition, the new version also offers enhanced features to help fleet managers in their day-to-day business, including a new road type usage report. The report gives insights into how a selected vehicle was used with the distance driven per road type and can help to decide for the best tyre types for respective vehicles.

Further Reading:

• Read Webfleet Solutions' latest eBook  @ www.webfleet.com/prepare-to-plug-in
• Read more about Fleet Technology @ www.fieldservicenews.com/fleet-technology
• Read more about Webfleet Solutions on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/webfleet
• Learn more aboutWebfleet Solutions @ www.webfleet.com
• Follow Webfleet Solutions on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/Webfleetnews

In a new series of extracts from an excellent white paper published by IDC and sponsored by IFS, we will explore the IDC Servitization Barometer which is designed to allow field service organisations to chart their path to new revenue streams. In part one we looked at the rapid and wide reaching change that is being faced by manufacturers in all sectors, in all regions. Now in part two we look further at IDC's Servitization Maturity Framework

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full white paper on the link below. 

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Sponsored by:

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, IFS who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content. 

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IDC strongly believes servitization will make or break digital transformation initiatives in physical value chains. As the concept is still relatively new to many organizations, it needs to be articulated and clarified.

To help organizations understand where they currently are on this journey and, more importantly, how to proceed to the next level, IDC has built the IDC Servitization Maturity Framework, identifying key dimensions and stages defining an organization’s readiness. In connection to this effort, IDC and IFS have cooperated for this first edition of the IDC Servitization Barometer, a data-based assessment of where companies around the globe find themselves in the servitization journey.

The barometer is fed by an IFS-sponsored survey carried out in July 2019, touching 420 companies active in the physical supply chain world. In this section, we will provide an overview of the tenets of the Maturity Framework, before deep diving into the results of the Barometer. For more detailed information on the survey, including demographics and background, please refer to the Methodology appendix. IDC believes an organization’s status as regards to servitization is defined by the five equally important dimensions described in Figure 3 below.

 

IDC believes the servitization journey can be summarized in four key stages, as shown in Figure 4.

The four stages can be described as follows:

1. Splintered. The organization struggles under a myriad of silos that lead to disjointed, manual processes. Legacy, fragmented ERP environments provide little or no visibility on operational performance. The business model is on pure product, with challenges to profitability.

2. Side-car. The organization has standardized the two chunks of the value chain (back-office and front-desk) but keeps them separated. The keyword in the company is efficiency and few add-on services are delivered. Field service is based on basic mobile capabilities and IoT stacks are at proof-of-concept stage. Growing the business is hard.
3. Joined-Up. Front-office and back-office flows have been integrated in both directions and leverage the power of advanced technologies such as IoT to feed the core systems with real-time data. In some cases, Edge capabilities bring coordinated autonomy to local sites. A suite of digital services is fully available, and business model enhancements such as pay-as-you-use and outcome-based contracts are being explored.
4. Borderless. Processes start and end outside the organization and operations and technology enable different elements of the value chain to connect. Co-creation, data-sharing and collaboration with customers, suppliers, partners from other sectors and in some cases even competitors are part and parcel of the business model.

 

Servitization - A Real Example

A few years ago, a global healthcare manufacturer was struggling with data silos and a balkanized departmental setup (Stage 1). It integrated all the systems and processes in the purchase-to-stock part of the chain and achieved a much leaner back end, allowing better forecasts. Early discussions on modernizing the support and customer front end were held as it reached Stage 2. This is where the company is now. Margins are improving, but the ability to grow is not.

 

The company decided to explore a new business model towards delivering its medical instruments to operating theater managers on a pay-per-use basis, enabling healthcare professionals to access new innovations without massive upfront investment. The objective of this manufacturer is to generate a competitive differentiation against low cost competitors.

 

New technologies and service ideas are needed to get to Stage 3. To achieve that, IoT connectivity at customer, field service management software allowing rich data capture and machine learning algorithms that shape both supply flow and product design based on customer data are needed. This will drive new revenue streams from after-sales service and parts, on top of pay-as-you-go capabilities.

 

Alongside this, the advantages of the business model change become visible to customers. Since losing patients on the operating table due to a lack of materials is a not acceptable, hospitals lean towards very large safety stocks, which generates high inventory costs that are absorbed by patients. By creating an intelligent data flow on instrument utilization, the manufacturer can ultimately make healthcare more accessible to patients.

 

The long-term horizon begins to appear. In Stage 4, the company will strive to create an adaptative digital workflow in which real-time data generated interlinked with suppliers of raw materials, sterilization companies, hospitals, and patients will drive higher levels of success in the operations room.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Servitization and Advanced Services @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/servitization-and-advanced-services
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
• Read exclusive FSN features from IDC's Aly Pinder @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/author/aly-pinder
• Read FSN Features and News from the IFS team @ www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=IFS
• Find out more about the solutions IFS offer to help field service companies @ www.ifs.com
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifsuk

Autotalks and Applied Information have teamed up to carry out the world’s first Dual-Mode /Dual-Active V2X deployment, in which Autotalks’ chipsets are installed in roadside units such as traffic lights in Georgia, Texas and Hawaii.

Autotalks, which specializes in V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) communication solutions, has teamed up with Applied Information, Inc., an Atlanta-based provider of intelligent transportation infrastructure solutions, to save lives on the roads of Georgia, Texas, and Hawaii. The two companies are carrying out the world’s first Dual-Mode /Dual- Active V2X deployment, in which Autotalks’ dual mode chipsets are installed in emergency vehicles and on roadside units such as traffic lights.

Applied Information has developed a Dual-Mode/Dual-Active Roadside Unit to communicate with vehicles equipped with V2X On Board Units (OBUs). The main use-cases are for emergency vehicles' traffic signal preemption, transit buses for traffic signal priority and vehicles involved in roadside work zones.

the world's first dual-mode v2x deployment for emergency vehicles

The traffic signal preemption function in Alpharetta, Georgia, the first site of the RSU deployment, transfers the normal operation of the traffic control signal to a mode of operation which gives the right of way to emergency vehicles such as ambulances and firefighting vehicles, while all other traffic is brought safely to a halt. As a result, these vehicles can arrive to their destination earlier and have better chances to save lives.

The deployment is expected to expand to include other use cases beyond emergency vehicles, such as transit bus priority, red light running alerts and “get ready for green” message to make traffic move more safely and efficiently through signalized intersections.

In Alpharetta, over 150 traffic control devices are connected and provide a unique opportunity to make real improvements in safety and mobility on streets and highways. The Georgia site is the first real life testing site of this type of deployment. Applied Information has signed similar agreements in Texas and Hawaii, where the two companies are cooperating in similar deployments.

The deployment takes place throughout a 78.5 square mile area surrounding the Infrastructure Automotive Technology Laboratory (iATL) in Alpharetta. The iATL is the world’s first private-sector facility for developing connected vehicle applications for both vehicles and traffic control devices such as traffic signals.

"Enabling the US automotive industry to immediately start large-scale V2X deployment during the period of uncertainty until a uniform technology is chosen."

“Our work with Applied Information, which results in the world’s first Dual-Mode /Dual- Active V2X deployment, is another proof that the auto industry is determined not to wait until the US regulator will decide which V2X technology to deploy. Whether C-V2X or DSRC is selected, there is a move to deploy agnostic technologies such as the one we are offering with AI, and to begin saving lives today,” said Yuval Lachman, vice president of business development at Autotalks. He added that the collaboration will expedite Autotalks’ entry into the U.S. market.

“The AI/Autotalks solution enables roadway operators to confidently deploy V2X technology today so the infrastructure is ready for the auto industry deployment, while providing ‘Day One’ benefits such as safer, faster emergency vehicle response times now,” said Bryan Mulligan, President of Applied Information.

Autotalks believes that it has an important advantage as its dual mode V2X chipset can enable the US automotive industry to immediately start large-scale V2X deployment during the period of uncertainty until a uniform technology is chosen. With the company’s dual mode chipset, carmakers can focus on bringing enhanced safety to US roads with V2X without taking into consideration which V2X technology will prevail.

Autotalks’ deployment-ready, 2nd generation V2X chipset is the world’s first available solution which supports both DSRC based on 802.11p/ITS-G5 standards and C-V2X based on 3GPP release 14 and 15 specifications with embedded V2X cyber-security functionality. The chipset allows customers to easily toggle between DSRC and C-V2X communications.

Further Reading:

• Learn more about AI's TravelSafely™ app @ www.travelsafelyapp.com
• Read more about Software & Apps  @ www.fieldservicenews.com/software-apps
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Learn more about Autotalks @ www.auto-talks.com
• Learn more about Applied Information @ www.appinfoinc.com/

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announces that Panasonic Appliances Air-Conditioning Europe, a leading provider of heating and cooling solutions, has chosen IFS Remote Assistance™, to enable installers, field technicians, engineers and customers to share real-life situational context with remote product experts so that hands-on service and repair instructions can be visually demonstrated and acted upon.

With a company-wide, strategic shift toward a servitized, subscription-based business model, the Panasonic Appliances Air-Conditioning Europe business, comprised of sales, support and technical service staff across Europe, needed a central software solution to ensure a consistently excellent service experience for its clients.

A MERGED-REALITY SOLUTION FROM IFS TO PROVIDE REMOTE PRODUCT SUPPORT

With IFS Remote Assistance, Panasonic Heating & Cooling Solutions is able to remotely diagnose issues, ensure real-time knowledge sharing, and significantly speed up repair rates, which was typically seven days. By reducing or even eliminating the need to make site visits, the company is also able to lower travel costs and environmental impact. 

“Our investment in the IFS solution is part of a larger strategy to transform our business mindset from product-centric to service-centric and to develop the maturity of our service organization,” Head of European Service at Panasonic Appliances Air-Conditioning Europe Karl Lowe said. “With IFS Remote Assistance, we are leveraging state-of-the-art technology to unleash the full potential of our highly skilled workforce, regardless of where they are based. Not only are we able to navigate constraints, we are actually able to improve repair rates and access real-time performance data to help us gauge and improve our service.”

Alain Laing, Managing Director, IFS UK and Ireland, added, “Across the globe, we are seeing visionary manufacturers invest in technology to enable a servitized business model. We are thrilled to be part of Panasonic’s transformation journey and look forward to doing our part to provide the tools they need so they can ensure the safety of its workforce and a great customer experience.”

Further Reading:

• Learn more about IFS Remote Assistance  @ www.ifs.com/remote-assistance
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Learn more about IFS @ www.ifs.com
• Read more about Panasonic @ www.panasonic.com

In a new series of extracts from an excellent white paper published by IDC and sponsored by IFS, we will explore the IDC Servitization Barometer which is designed to allow field service organisations to chart their path to new revenue streams. In part one we look at the rapid and wide reaching change that is being faced by manufacturers in all sectors, in all regions...

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full white paper on the link below. 

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Sponsored by:

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, IFS who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content. 

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Production-oriented industries anchored in physical value chains are undergoing a process of deep transformation. Business leaders must find new ways to adapt to rapidly changing customer expectations and volatile market conditions. Rethinking the approach to ideation, innovation, and new product and service development is critical to maintaining top- and bottom-line growth.

Digital transformation initiatives are being rolled out with the end goal of making enterprises “Borderless.” This means the powering of a digital network that integrates internal and external silos to deliver more value to the ecosystem, including employees, customers, suppliers, and partners.

IDC research (see figure 1 below) indicates that digital organizations in production-oriented industries are benefitting from strong growth in terms of revenue and profit. Non-digital organizations struggle.

 

As digital transformation evolves from a cluster of one-off projects to the generation of new business models, business leaders are required to deliver the associated business outcomes from digital investments. In fact, in a recent IDC survey 65% of CEOs stated that they were under considerable pressure to craft and execute a successful digital transformation strategy that enables financial growth in their organizations.

In production-oriented industries, success is dependent on the ability to bring a much stronger service value proposition to play. Servitization is therefore turning into a top agenda item in this sector, with 82% of firms actively exploring or moving to servitize their businesses. The transition towards servitization in these industries is potentially motivated by the fact that the respondents expect the average proportion of annual revenue generated from services versus products to double from 8% in 2019 to 16% in 2022.

IDC describes servitization as the process whereby organizations with physical value chains enhance their products with — and ultimately package them within — advanced services such as digital applications and payment models based on consumption or outcome. According to IDC’s research, there is a strong correlation between servitization maturity and revenue growth. All organizations in the most advanced stage of servitization have reported growth in the top line in the past year, often over 5%. On the other hand, the revenues from 88% of organizations in the earliest stage of servitization maturity have either decreased or stayed the same in the past 12 months.

 

"Servitization is a journey and its end stage is the creation of an end-to-end value chain..."

 

In most organizations, servitization is a critical element of the overall digital transformation. It involves a transformation of the core systems, leveraging emerging technologies such as IoT and machine learning, which in turn enable organizations to access real-time data from the ecosystem and transform it into actionable insights.

Servitization is a journey and its end stage is the creation of an end-to-end value chain. This can only be enabled by driving interoperability at the application level, where the ERP systems underpinning the supply chain are seamlessly connected to the applications enabling field service and contact center agents, as well as the sensors collecting data from deployed products. The outcome is a continuous flow of relevant information across front-office and back-office to increase operational performance and new revenue streams based on data-driven services. Figure 2 (below) illustrates some of the benefits that servitization could deliver to production-oriented organizations and their end customers.

 

Examples of companies heading towards servitization include:

• An Israeli-based industrial valves manufacturer embedded IoT modules in its products, allowing it to charge customers based on volumes of liquid processed. The customer can program the valves for remote manual operation or set a machine-learning algorithm to do that. This increases efficiency in the industrial operations.
• A forklift maker connected one of its products to a cloud backend with GPS tracking, offering its logistic customers remote maintenance services and a fleet management service to locate its forklifts.
• A global defense and security provider offered aircraft fleet maintenance and repair services. In order to ensure high availability of the equipment for its customers, this organization has linked the systems that underpin the maintenance and repair cycle to its enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. The outcome is the delivery of an effective fleet readiness management to customers and the generation of new revenue streams coming from more after-sales services and improved customer satisfaction.

Based on discussions with companies in the sectors impacted, IDC believes changes in business models are part and parcel of servitization. These can be played out in three ways:

• Augmentation of product-based revenue with additional service revenue going beyond traditional services (maintenance, break-fix etc.) to include data-driven digital services (e.g., Fleet management service above)
• Partial or complete switch from upfront sales towards consumption or outcome-based models (e.g., “pay-per-liquid volume processed”)
• Monetization of proprietary data through licensing to third party (e.g., a car manufacturer selling access to driving behavior data to an insurer)

While complexity and impact on overall organization changes between the three approaches, IDC believes that all these new approaches to business models signal that a servitization journey is on the way and positive effects for the top and bottom line are a consequence of those.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Servitization and Advanced Services @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/servitization-and-advanced-services
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
• Read exclusive FSN features from IDC's Aly Pinder @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/author/aly-pinder
• Read FSN Features and News from the IFS team @ www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=IFS
• Find out more about the solutions IFS offer to help field service companies @ www.ifs.com
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifsuk

ServiceMax, the leader in asset-centric field service management, today announced that Gartner has positioned the company as a Leader in the Gartner 2020 Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management among 14 other field service software providers. Gartner based its analysis on each company’s ability to execute and completeness of vision.

“We are pleased to be recognized by Gartner as a Leader in the field service management market,” said Neil Barua, CEO of ServiceMax. “ServiceMax continues to expand its field service management capabilities for asset-centric industries with its market-leading product innovation, customer success and retention, and unmatched market expertise. As a provider solely focused on field service, we’re proud to be seen as an industry thought leader as we continue to deliver product innovations that help our customers run more profitable, efficient service operations in complex, asset-intensive industries.

innovation in FIELD SERVICE management is key for organiSations

Gartner Inc. analysts, Jim Robinson and Naved Rashid write, “Equipment operators and owners have come to expect that their service providers will use the latest technologies to provide the most efficient and highest quality service. It is increasingly difficult for analog FSPs to compete with those that use multiple digital technologies in their field service operations.”

To remain an industry leader, ServiceMax continues to build on its history of innovation and thought leadership, most recently rolling out new product features and content designed to further empower field service organizations. Enhancements include improved scheduling solutions with Service Board, additional mobile capabilities such as satellite layers on maps and improved route views, and increased collaboration with interactive hotline bots and photo annotation. The company has also delivered transformative thought leadership for the field service industry including the 2020 CSO Report, featuring insights gathered from ServiceMax’s global service leader community and the newly launched Field Service Finder, a job board designed to help customers reach qualified workers for open roles.

Further Reading:

• View a complimentary copy of Digital Transformation Investment in 2020 and Beyond here
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about ServiceMax on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/servicemax
• Learn more about ServiceMax @ www.servicemax.com
• Follow ServiceMax on Twitter @ twitter.com/ServiceMax

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announces that BRITA, one of the world’s leading companies in drinking water optimization, has selected IFS’s comprehensive service management solution covering field service management, workforce scheduling & planning, and customer engagement.

BRITA is fully committed to customer service as the main point of competitive differentiation. To power its pursuit of becoming global market leader, the company needed a comprehensive service management solution that could ensure a consistent and positive customer experience globally while delivering workforce efficiency and data accuracy.

THE importance OF FIELD SERVICE management for global enterprises

Following a competitive bid process involving several enterprise software vendors, BRITA selected IFS based on the solution’s wide-ranging field service management functionality and native integration with workforce scheduling and planning capabilities. 

The central IFS solution will unify a number of manual processes with a holistic end-to-end platform that spans the entire service value chain, from service request management to automated technician dispatch and maintenance and repair completion. The solution will also help BRITA in the future to return and recycle spent water filter products. 

The IFS solution, which will be used by BRITA’s field and customer service staff in Germany, France, Switzerland, Benelux, and the UK, will be fully integrated with the company’s existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

“Customer service is a vital part of our value proposition and a key differentiator in our highly competitive market segment,” said Tanja Manegold, Senior Group Director Service Prof. Dispenser at BRITA. “Investing in a best-in-class service management suite will help us advance our leading position. IFS was able to present us with a fully integrated platform that can deliver one version of the truth, which will help us deliver on our service-level agreements and enhance our first-time fix rates.”

Marcus Pannier, IFS Managing Director, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, added, “We are honored to work alongside such a globally renowned brand such as BRITA. All around the world, leading-edge manufacturers like BRITA are looking to service and servitization strategies to boost revenues and earn more customer hearts and minds. At IFS, we have anticipated this shift and are ready to equip these early movers with robust enterprise software that is designed to enhance workforce efficiency while safeguarding a great customer experience.”

Further Reading:

• Learn more about IFS Service Management  @ https://www.ifs.com/service-management/
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Learn more about IFS @ www.ifs.com
• Read more about BRITA Group @ www.brita.com

Of decision-makers that experienced a digital transformation project failure, 25% experienced financial loss alongside a number of other damaging implications. 

While today’s macro-economic disruption has failed to dampen digital transformation plans, when diving deeper into the ramifications surrounding project success and failure, the need to get transformation ‘right’ becomes imperative, according to a global research study from IFS .

THE long-term impact Of it project failure

While 58 percent of respondents plan to increase digital transformation spending, it’s the numbers surrounding the success of previous projects that demonstrate the severity of getting it ‘wrong’. The research highlights the long-term implications of IT project failure, with 34 percent of all respondents expressing it took two to three years to recover from project failure and 92 percent stating it took more than a year. Under the weight of today’s macro-economic pressures, businesses simply don’t have that amount of time to waste.

The reality is that, when IT programs fail, executive heads roll. The impact can be hard and long-lasting with damage felt across UK respondents in areas such as reduced headcount (20 percent), loss of customers (24 percent), financial loss (25 percent) and a loss of market share (23 percent). The latter results were consistent across the six global regions with a quarter experiencing both loss of customers and financial loss.

Those in the UK that experienced failures also experienced negative impacts including complete shutdowns of critical business departments (18 percent). The fear of failure impacted subsequent projects too, 26 percent were deterred from investing in similar projects, and half (46 percent) had budgets cut in other areas. In the face of COVID-19 recovery, and with the Centre for Policy Studies ‘After the Virus’ report championing innovation as a recovery response, the repercussions of such failures could be more damaging now than ever.

"While many people might assume that respondents concerned with the current economy would pull back on technology spending, the reality is that investment is increasing..."

While reported plans to invest in digital transformation indicate businesses are being proactive in the face of disruption, data suggests that making those investments will pay off. The majority of respondents said past digital transformation projects were successful, using a number of different assessment measures. Demonstrating that the benefits outweigh the negatives, success was achieved in on-time completion (71 percent globally) and delivering expected results (53 percent across all six regions).

While many people might assume that respondents concerned with the current economy would pull back on technology spending, the reality is that investment is increasing. The survey data indicates that, during these dynamic times, plans to increase spending on digital transformation tracks closely with concerns about economic conditions disrupting the business. In fact, the survey indicates that people concerned with economic disruption were 20 percent more likely to plan increased spending on digital transformation.  

 “The study confirms that many companies are wisely using the global downturn to divert resources to technological renewal and innovation,” IFS Industries Senior Vice President Antony Bourne said. “As the majority of businesses are adapting to the anticipated economic recovery, and not permanently scrapping digital transformation initiatives, there is reason to believe that companies with a progressive mindset toward technology investment will be well equipped to rebound. While enterprise software will doubtlessly play a role in accelerating recovery, it is important to remember its vital role in helping companies here and now. Providing the necessary process transparency and analytics to ensure effective and informed decision-making is critical in these trying times. Nothing less than a considered and resolute attitude toward adopting digital transformation will help companies thrive, now and in the future.”

Further Reading:

• Download a complimentary copy of Digital Transformation Investment in 2020 and Beyond here
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/ifs

These are undoubtedly unprecedented times, which have caused important changes for field service companies and the way they manage work with their custom field service software, like Synchroteam

Now that we’re already in mid-2020, it’s time to take a look back at the past six months and analyze the top trends in field service. A necessary time to take a break, reflect on what has happened so far and foresee possible effects on the remainder of 2020.

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 IN FIELD SERVICE

Like it or not, COVID-19 is the main character in this year. The pandemic seems to be under control in some countries while some others are still facing a terrible battle against it. No matter what the current situation is in your area, the truth is that coronavirus is here to stay, at least for the time being - or until we have a reliable, safe medical treatment or vaccine.

The sanitary emergency has caused a huge impact across all industry sectors, of course and including field service. What’s more, the effects of these disruptions are expected to be deep-reach and long-term. It’s just something not even the most advanced custom field service software could have predicted.

We’ve already talked about how field service companies like yours can adapt to the new situation we’re living in 2020. In previous posts, we’ve covered important points such as keeping your technicians and customers safe, allowing working from home whenever possible, and making the most of the features included in your custom field service software to digitize all sorts of tasks.

The main takeaway of these articles, also considering the impact COVID-19 is having in the industry worldwide, is that now technology is more important than ever. While we’ve always defended the idea of a technology-based field service company, adopting the appropriate custom field service software right now can help your business communicate, operate and work through the coronavirus crisis without losing too much along the way.

IMPROVING OPERATIONS IN FIELD SERVICE

Another key element for field service companies in 2020 is optimization, especially when applied to daily tasks such as scheduling and team dispatching. Besides, these are precisely two areas in which the usage of a custom field service software can be more helpful.

When you rely on people’s memories (or just the good old pen and paper), you’re prone to mistakes. You don’t even need to be running a large company; a medium-sized team is already complicated enough to try to manage it on your own.

A proper custom field service software application can be the perfect ally in task scheduling and team dispatching. It helps you automate the whole process, thus making a better use of your time. And the more tasks you can fit in in your work hours, the more money you make - it’s as simple as that!

INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE RESULTS

It’s not just a question of using a custom field service software in your company. In general terms, technology can help you improve many aspects in your daily business. And with the coronavirus pandemic, it has become even more important.

The adoption of tech solutions in field service means also, for instance, using mobile devices to access necessary information about your customers anytime, anywhere. Or making use of GPS devices in your vans to plan the best route to the next job - saving both time and fuel. 

And what about technology in COVID-19 times? Well, think about being able to assess a customer’s HVAC installation in a video call, or sending your invoices via email in order to maintain social distance. Little changes in our daily working routines that may as well save lives!

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Field Service Software @ www.fieldservicenews.com/field-service-software
• Read more about Managing the Mobile Workforce @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/managing-the-mobile-workforce
• Find out more about Synchroteam @ www.synchroteam.com
• Follow Synchroteam on Twitter @ twitter.com/synchroteam