In this new article for Field Service News, Marc Tatarsky, SVP of Marketing at FieldAware, discusses what organizations in the field service sector should expect as the world gradually reopens for business.

As we enter just past the halfway point of 2021, it feels as though the trials and tribulations of the last 24 months are finally working their way into the rearview mirror. While the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t entirely behind us, much of the world is indeed getting back to a new normal of operating, and the global economy is kicking back in. With the global vaccination rate reaching over a majority of the population in many countries (well over 50% and rising), summer vacations are starting to kick in. Airlines are adding flights, global business events are beginning to go back on the calendar, and many businesses are re-evaluating their office policies.

There is no doubt that the ramifications of COVID-19 are still being felt. Some of the effects of a paused global supply chain are still creeping up in many unanticipated areas – chip manufacturing shortages, surging lumber prices, and even a national chicken wing shortage in the US. But as the dust begins to settle and we analyze some of the lasting repercussions from our survival responses to COVID-19, several unique business model implications have risen to the top. For example, within the service management sector, one lasting transformation has been the consumerization of the end-to-end service experience.

THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE PANDEMIC WILL STILL AFFECT THE FIELD SERVICE SECTOR AS COMPANIES QUICKLY TRY TO ADAPT TO THE "NEW NORMAL"

Something interesting happened when the service industry was forced to deal with the global pandemic. A blurring of B2B and B2C customer experience (CX) expectations occurred. New biosecurity requirements forced many field service organizations to adopt new processes and technology quickly. They needed to fulfill requirements to be accountable for the timing and biosecurity of their dispatched resources. In addition, businesses and employees of all levels were exposed to the art of the possible in their personal customer experiences regarding home deliveries, food services, and other remotely delivered services. The patience for working with an organization that doesn’t take a 360-degree view of customer experience is waning.

Businesses expect the same level of service and data continuity for their business interactions as they do with their consumer interactions. Consumer industry giants like Amazon, Uber, and Netflix are leading the way. Raising the bar of expectations for what customer satisfaction and customer experience can be for all businesses resulting in elevated expectations for understanding past and future service history à la Netflix and point-to-point transparency and status monitoring à la Uber as well as a true 360-degree buyer experience à la Amazon. Businesses expect their B2B interactions to incorporate many of these consumer experiences and have increasing demands for a truly transparent customer experience.

 

"One of the most critical elements of any modern field service management system is interconnectivity and data transparency across various systems of record."

 

Field service organizations raced to adopt new processes and technologies to accommodate expanded service delivery requirements as part of their required response to COVID protocols. However, many of these efforts were rushed into production, leaving the overall customer experience somewhat flat. Now that the new normal operations are stabilizing, advanced service organizations are taking a closer look at their execution models and identifying necessary enhancements and optimizations to deliver the customer experience anticipated. They know the patience for adapting to and getting the workflows right has shortened, and B2B expectations have risen.

One of the most critical elements of any modern field service management system is interconnectivity and data transparency across various systems of record. With the rising consumerism of the service experience, customer data, history, and the workflows associated with field activities must be thoroughly interconnected and transparent. It is not sufficient to have a closed-loop field service workflow. The workflows must interact and leverage data and insights across the organization to enable a seamless 360-degree customer experience.

While this sounds intuitive, many single-vendor solutions lack the functionality or easy connectivity to accomplish this task without significant customization and professional services investment. A best-of-breed approach can often offer better ROI and additional functional advantages by providing unconflicted integration, improved specialized usability, and scale. This flexibility and robust field service-specific capabilities help meet the changing needs and requirements of the service organization – now and in the future.
Many field service segments are bracing for a surge in demand and must be agile to respond. For example, infrastructure service organizations such as renewable energy must not only contend with macro demand pressures created by a global sustainability push but, in the US, a looming federal infrastructure mandate. As both sides of the aisle start to come together to work through the pressing infrastructure challenges in the US, it appears a significant, albeit slimmed down, infrastructure bill is gaining support. This new federal legislation, combined with the global focus on sustainability and reduced carbon emissions, has set the stage for the next wave of demand in a segment that had raised customer experience expectations accelerated by COVID-19 activities. This surge in demand and hyper-focus may create a new mini “crisis” in the supporting field service management activities. Leading vendors in the segments impacted by this surge (and similar surges) will need to closely evaluate their service delivery model to ensure they can deliver on the rising expectations and capitalize on the boom in demand.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digitaltransformation
• Read more exclusive articles by Marc Tatarsky on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/marctatartsky
• Read more News and Features from FieldAware @ /www.fieldservicenews.com/fieldaware
• Learn more about FieldAware @ www.fieldaware.com
• Connect with Marc Tatarsky on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/marctatarsky/

 

Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing, FieldAware, reflects on the findings of a major research project undertaken in partnership with Field Service News and asks whether the trends that study appears to reveal will become a permanent part of the new normal as we look to a post-pandemic world...

As we come to the end of a tumultuous 2020, the speed of change in the field service sector continues to evolve at what feels like a speed of light pace. And the change is still happening - more so than many of us would prefer or could have predicted.

While there is an overarching optimism in the field service sector, the world is still grappling with getting past recovering from the pandemic and working to move into a full restoration mode.

With vaccines on the horizon, the focus is on establishing the new operating normal and paving the way for growth.

At FieldAware, we look to stay in tune with customer needs and market trends. As I reflect on our market view through 2018-19, we saw early adopters and visionaries defining the “what” of new best-in-class services and offerings such as IoT and remote assist.

As we initially encountered the global pandemic in March, we engaged in a research program with the late Bill Pollock, from Strategies for Growth, to establish a baseline of the impact the crisis would have on these services. As the pandemic’s magnitude continued to evolve, our research immediately shifted focus to measure the crisis’s repercussions and establish a Year Zero/New Normal benchmark.

The ripple effects have been more pronounced and long-lasting than anyone initially anticipated.

Yet, our research with Field Service News revealed optimism biased towards growth with three quarters (76%) of field service companies focusing  on growth rather than survival.

This optimism appears to be bolstered by accelerated investment in digitization and the enablement of the best-in-class services required to deliver essential services in the new operating environment.

 

Best-in-class service and capabilities - the New Normal - how did we get here?

As my colleague, Steve Mason, COO at FieldAware, likes to say, “Gradually…Then Suddenly”, referring to a great Hemingway quote from the classic novel, The Sun Also Rises. This sediment perfectly surmises how several critical best-in-class services have rapidly become the “New Normal.”

Sure, the pandemic has accelerated our need or faster adoption, but we have been plodding away at the core components of these best-in-class services like remote assist for years. As a workforce, we have been getting comfortable with remote interactions, building a knowledge library of best practices and likely responses, and mobile advancements have helped to shepherd these advanced technologies into our everyday lives and activities.

What the pandemic did was to mandate remote-work commonplace for EVERYONE, not just those that were early adopters/visionaries. And so, it is, suddenly, best-in-class services like remote monitoring/assist and IoT sensing are now the “New Normal.” Not just some nice-to-have if you have time to tap into it, but a staple in today’s field service environment.

Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing, FieldAware, reflects on the findings of a major research project undertaken in partnership with Field Service News and asks whether the trends that study appears to reveal will become a permanent part of the new normal as we look to a post-pandemic world...

 

Is The Hybrid-model Here To Stay?

I don’t think this is a fad at all. There is no question that physical intervention as the first line of defense for field service will be a thing of the past even once COVID passes. However, I think the emphasis on hybrid is key to its longevity and success.

Our research indicated that almost half (48%) of respondents stated that they believe their customers will still perceive a greater value in face-to-face service calls, while only 13% believed that their customers would see greater value in remote services alone and just over a third (39%) state that they believe their customers will see equal value in both (fig 1)

So, the challenge remains, if a hybrid-model is the New Normal, how do we make it accessible and affordable to organizations of all sizes?

These shifting trends led FieldAware down a path towards a new approach to thinking about and package our platform as a field service hub. The hub approach involves expanding and strengthening the depth of our solution’s “core” field service capabilities to create a system-of-record for all field service activities (robust technician enablement, advanced scheduling & optimization, workforce management, etc.).

It also requires broader exploiting our open API/architecture to expand back-office connectivity and build embedded capabilities to tap into best-of-breed technologies to easily and affordably provide access to these best-in-class solutions.

The service hub is a different approach. It enables service providers to establish new best-in-class service delivery models by building upon the digital field service infrastructure that FieldAware provides.

This is achieved by enabling best-of-breed specialist point solutions to be quickly and affordably integrated into the service hub to form an integral part of a new service delivery model workflow. Providing field service providers the ability to quickly ramp-up or expand their service delivery capabilities to meet new market demands.

As Kris Oldland wrote in our study summary, “We truly are on the cusp of a new era of field service, our industry has slowly been building the blocks of evolution across the last decade. COVID-19 has simply put us all on the same page.”

The infrastructure for connected service has been built. The thinking for advanced services has been considered. Now, as a result of necessity, the digital transformation required has been accelerated.

This powerful combination of events and solution evolution paves the way for the success of a hybrid model that delivers value and helps drive additional growth.

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Further Reading:

• Read more News and Features from FieldAware @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/fieldaware
• Visit FieldAware's website @ www.fieldaware.com
• Read more by Marc Tatarsky @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/marctatartsky
• Read more about digital transformation in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/digitaltransformation
• Read more about field service strategies @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/strategy
• Read more about technology adoption in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/technologyadoption

As the old adage goes, when the world gives you lemons make lemonade. However, knowing when is the right time to open up your lemonade stand is the key. Marc Tatarsky, FieldAware explains more...

 

The Impending Skills Shortage – What Can You Do Today?

Arguably, the strain on the technical service workforce, driven by the pace of tenured baby boomer retirements and a skills shortage pushed by an inability to attract younger, tech-savvy workers, is still one of the greatest threats facing service organizations. Field service teams of all sizes have recognized the skills gap as a threat to their stability. They know it’s both real and problematic. But most organizations haven’t had a preemptive plan in place to be actively or effectively tackling the issue.

The skills shortage debate has existed for some years now. We’ve found that many organizations are merely running in place. Throughout economic history, talented humans have been a source of innovation and advancement, with their skills being the impetus for economic growth. This reliance on talent is even more prevalent in the service industry, where the skilled technician is the most valuable asset. Ironically, although most field service leaders recognize the significant threat the talent shortage poses, many don’t have a game plan to attack the problem.

Historically, as organizations scramble to meet their talent needs, many have resorted to adjusting their education and experience requirements to fill roles. Also, they have adapted their execution model to leverage and retain seasoned resources. Is this a sustainable approach? Have we been presented with a new window of opportunity to address the challenge systemically?

 

Making Lemonade Out Of Lemons…

There is no doubt that 2020 has given us more than our fair share of lemons. However, is the operating and economic environment created by the global Covid-19 pandemic accelerating the opportunity to address one of the biggest lingering threats to service organizations?

How have the unexpected dynamics of the global pandemic altered the forces impacting the global FSM skills shortage? Is there an opportunity to embracing the changing dynamics and take the bushels of lemons provided by 2020 and make some lemonade by finally addressing the skills shortage in a manner that has a lasting effect?

Let’s take a look at some of the unexpected ramifications that have shaped the current field service industry due to reacting to and adapting to the global pandemic. Field service has adapted to the throes of 2020 by adjusting operating and organizational changes including:

 

• Faster uptake of video conferencing
• Broader acceptance of remote workers and diagnostics
• Increased focus on field service automation
• Rapid adoption of new collaboration tools
• Increased unemployment

 

Each of these factors impacts an organization's ability to address different challenges associated with the skills shortage.

 

Faster uptake of video conferencing

In today’s forced socially distant operating environment, organizations and workers of all ages have been required to adapt to video conferencing to get even the most basic of activities completed. Whether it is daily check-in/status meetings, a group brainstorming session, or even an office happy hour, video conferencing has quickly become the norm leading the way for new work processes.

 

Broader acceptance of remote workers and diagnostics

In addition to organizations changing their operating models, customers have become more flexible and accommodating too. The level of customer acceptance of remote workers and diagnostics has increased dramatically, and service organizations have an opportunity to expand the scope of these types of activities as part of their response to skills shortages, among other things.

 

Increased focus on automation

Intelligent automation is an economic game-changer for field service organizations of all sizes, especially during these strained operating times. Executives recognize such advances will bring multiple benefits. Still one, unexpected benefit may be building a field service hub infrastructure that is nimble and able to address the skills shortage through the adoption of new technology while simultaneously creating an attractive work environment for tech-savvy workers.

 

Rapid adoption of collaboration tools

As is the case with video conferencing - organizations, employees, and customers are becoming more and more exposed to and reliant on collaboration technologies. The rapid (sometimes forced) adoption of screen sharing and remote learning tools, including AR and VR technologies, provides service organizations a new toolset to deliver services and creatively address skill shortages.

 

Increased unemployment

While this may be one of the most unpleasant realities of the global pandemic, the current unemployment environment provides many service organizations with a reprieve on workforce hiring pressure. With increased access to available talent, organizations can reposition their roles to attract tech-savvy talent and adapt their execution model to leverage and retain seasoned resources.

 

Is It Time to Open Your Lemonade Stand?

While the aging workforce has been an issue of growing concern due to the pace of baby boomer retirement, the current economic environment offers a window of unexpected opportunity to accelerate and shore up plans to address the skills deficit. While the idea of capitalizing on the global pandemic might seem counterintuitive, it may just be the catalyst needed to move the needle for many service organizations.

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Further Reading:

• Read more News and Features from FieldAware @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/fieldaware
• Visit FieldAware's website @ www.fieldaware.com
• Read more by Marc Tatarsky @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/marctatartsky
• Read more about digital transformation in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/digitaltransformation
• Read more about field service strategies @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/strategy
• Read more about technology adoption in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/technologyadoption

Marc Tatarsky from FieldAware argues the case for a Field Service Hub as part of a field service strategy. 

Field service organizations of all shapes and sizes are continually challenging themselves to create new sources of competitive advantage, and a Field Service Hub might be the answer. Through our many years of experience working across numerous industries, we see a direct relationship between the effective use of technology and creating a competitive edge.

 

Using Technology in a Service Strategy

When service teams actively use technology, it leads to better-served customers. At FieldAware, we measure overall Field Service Maturity across two dimensions – technical maturity and operational maturity. We find time and time again, utilizing an open and integrated service platform is the crucial source in bridging these two critical threads together, enabling organizations to stand out and deliver world-class service.

In a previous article, I discussed the power of extending the service organization's impact through the integration of back-office systems. Fully integrated service solutions enable organizations to consolidate field-based work from multiple internal and external sources, as well as data from back-office systems into one operational platform. A world-class field service management (FSM) solution provides teams with the core features to address demand management, work planning, technician enablement, work order debriefs, operational management, and analytics & reporting. 

But what happens when service departments want to address new/emerging market trends or want access to cutting-edge technologies. Does this mean they have to rip out the old system and find a new one? Or wait until their current all-in-one solution provider develops (or acquires and integrates) a robust ancillary solution themselves? 

Enter the concept of a Field Service Hub, fueling an age-old debate of best-of-breed solution vs. all-in-one-platform. In today's modern cloud infrastructure, coupled with easy integration and intelligent business systems, arguably, the pendulum has swung back in favor of a best-of-breed approach. A Field Service Hub builds on the best-of-breed model, allowing a service organization to gain maximum flexibility and agility. It bolsters a team's ability to innovate service delivery capabilities without disrupting the integrated "core" system and workflows.

 

So, what is a Field Service Hub?

A hub is a best-of-breed approach to delivering a robust, highly configurable, open service platform. It offers the "core" capabilities that organizations need to digitize their field service operations and is architected to integrate. Think well-designed – open, integrated, and configurable. These attributes allow organizations to adopt and access new, modern technologies quickly and future proof their investment. Teams can freely and cost-effectively extend the value of their "core" platform without disrupting the base system and integrations. Service leaders can take on new market advancements such as IoT, AR, advanced communications, dynamic forms, predictive analytics, and other emerging trends to meet changing customer demands.

 

What can a hub do to create a competitive edge?

A robust hub provides access to a range of complementary best-of-breed solutions that are pre-integrated and offer a seamless end-user interaction. It enables service leaders to implement new technologies and quickly employ field service specific use cases relevant to the technology. Even better yet, it also provides open access to enable customers to integrate their chosen best-of-breed solutions should the vendor not already have one available.

Imagine having your fully integrated service workflow further transformed with an Uberized technician tracking and advanced communication tool that seamlessly leverages details about the work order, the customer, work history, technician, and other "core" system details. The new enhancement effortlessly improves transparency to the end-customer. Or, switching to a dynamic forms capability that allows you to instantaneously deploy new or revised work protocols or regulatory checklists to all field workers at the touch of a button. Or, deploying a remote diagnostic and training app that allows you to address an aging workforce or new market requirements to work remotely. Many of these capabilities are only partially (if at all) available in the most robust, expensive, and complex all-in-one enterprise solutions. Yet, a hub can affordably provide best-in-class access to these features.

 

Why is a hub so powerful?

A well-designed hub reduces an end-user organization's risk of maintaining integrations. Maintenance is the responsibility of the hub provider. Service organizations pick and choose the capabilities they need and gain significant cost savings by only paying for the service provided vs. investing in a comprehensive implementation and stand-alone solution. Furthermore, a hub can be specifically tuned and priced for the mid-market or emerging enterprises, providing access to sophisticated field service capabilities that are easy to implement and deliver rapid ROI.

A service platform, fully integrated to back-office systems, is traditionally viewed to have a minimum shelf-life of 5 to 10-years. However, as we know, now more than ever, markets are volatile. There is constant disruption from technology advancements, new market entrants, globalization, and regulatory changes. Business models must be more dynamic than ever. This required flexibility puts pressure on this investment horizon, especially if a solution is not able to adapt and keep pace with new technology or changing business needs. A Field Service Hub reduces the risk and enables service organizations to continue to gain value from their core FSM investment while swapping and adding satellite applications to facilitate change and adapt to new workflows and business models.

 

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Further Reading:

• Read more News and Features from FieldAware @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/fieldaware
• Visit FieldAware's website @ www.fieldaware.com
• Read more by Marc Tatarsky @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/marctatartsky
• Read more about digital transformation in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/digitaltransformation
• Read more about field service strategies @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/strategy
• Read more about technology adoption in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/technologyadoption

FieldAware’s Marc Tatarsky explains how you can tap into your all-star resources and advance your field service operational maturity...

As your overall field service maturity evolves, one way to move your operational maturity to the next level is to extend the impact the field service team has on the success of the entire organization. To achieve this goal, field service leaders have several critical levers they must pull to gain momentum.

The first lever is to change the organization’s view of the potential role and influence of the most valuable resource within the field service organization - the field technician. The second lever is to integrate the tools that empower these all-star players with the broader business systems necessary to make them successful in an expanded role. And finally, they must encompass these efforts with a well-developed change management program. The program should focus on tooling the field technicians with the necessary skills for success, providing them proper training, and aligning their workflows and client interactions for a smooth transition to the expanded roles, ensuring long-term success.

 

ROLE DEFINITION IN FIELD SERVICE

As one of the first faces to the customer, the field technician has the potential to support or even take on several critical roles for growing organizations. These roles could include: 

• Customer Success
• Relationship Manager
• Sales/Upselling
• Marketing/Brand Ambassador
• Proactive Support

To take advantage of the field technician’s regular and in-depth interactions with existing customers, organizations need to embrace their expanded role. Resistance to change and under-utilization typical occurs due to one of two drivers – hyper-focus or fear/trust isolation.

Hyper-focus happens when there is a perception that the technician’s time and skills are too valuable to allocate to new tasks other than pure field service deliverables. Non-core field service activities could be viewed as distractions.  Fear/Trust isolation, on the other hand, is typically driven by broader siloed organizations that don’t trust the “ill-equipped” field worker to adequately perform tasks that are not considered core to their skill set. Many times, these fears are exasperated by limited training opportunities, poor system integration and data flow, and a lack of available supporting tools that would be necessary to capitalize on the expanding role of the field worker.  

 

Field Service SYSTEM AND DATA INTEGRATION

Some of these challenges lead us to the second critical lever - integrating FSM with other key Systems of Record. To achieve this next step in operational maturity, the organization must already be at a level of technical maturity that leverages an FSM platform that easily integrates and plays nice with other non-field service systems of record. These can include:

• CRM
• ERP
• BI
• EAM
• Inventory

Having access to data and workflows that interact with some or all of these other systems is critical in determining what areas an expanded field tech role could best add value to the broader organization.  One of the typical areas of role expansion includes supporting the sales process with upsells or relationship management.

To effectively and productively improve an organization’s capacity in these areas, the field technician must have access to critical elements of the CRM data on the mobile device while in the field.

When adequately equipped, with both data (key contacts, contract details, etc.) and workflow (sales/service order, upsell options, etc.), the augmented field technician role happily engages with customers.   When employed at the appropriate times, they can improve upsell-revenue opportunities and reduce churn metrics. When done correctly, these interactions are seamless and provide value to the customer as well as the service organization.

 

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

The final lever, change management, is often the most critical step even though it is the least complex and technically challenging. In this context, change management represents the longer-term set of processes, training, and workflows that help to ensure the new activities and responsibilities you designed for your all-star players can be successfully executed and deliver the value as promised.

Program leaders must carefully evaluate the data made available to the field technician on the mobile, design an aligned scope of tasks/activities, and identify triggers that are easy for the technician to utilize and execute as well as create training. 

Training should consist of both hard-skill (technical, data workflow, etc.) and soft-skill (business process, interpersonal, etc.) techniques. It should create steps and criteria for when to use the new procedures. Finally, you will want to establish success criteria so you can track the progress the field workers are making, how easily they are adopting and executing the new responsibilities, and ultimately measure their success in terms of financial impact.

 

ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES for field service organisations

The opportunities to leverage and build on the excellent customer service your field workers already provide are endless. In many organizations, the field technician represents the one employee that has an intimate pulse on your customer’s health and overall success with your products. As your Field Service organizational and technology maturity develops, expanding the role of these critical all-stars is a natural fit for improving the overall success of the broader organization.

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Marc Tartarsky is SVP Marketing at FieldAware. Find out more about the solutions Marc and his team offer @ www.fieldaware.com 

Enjoyed this article? You can read more analysis and news from Marc and the Field Aware team by clicking here 

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FieldAware’s Marc Tatarsky explains why transparency and integration are key to successful field service delivery in today’s environment...

FieldAware’s Marc Tatarsky outlines three key areas of focus service organisations should be aware of when approaching digitalisation...

Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing of FieldAware outlines the increasing importance of business intelligence in field service management.


Without doubt the use of analytics is having an increasing impact in field service. In 2018 we saw more interest than ever from field service leaders wanting better insight into their business and they understand that analytics holds the key to this.
We are expecting a further shift in the way analytics is applied in field service so what are the main challenges that organisations face that analytics can address today?

The Evolution of Analytics
The early adopters of field service analytics were quick to realise that it was not simply data that mattered, but how the data was turned into information that was key. They focused on how data was aggregated from multiple sources to give a unique and unprecedented visibility into the end-to-end operations.

They took a basic understanding of the ‘what’ and ‘where’ and enabled the next leap of the ‘why’ with advanced analytics capabilities that truly enhanced the value of their data further still. Analytics provided business insight and allowed management to focus on taking action based on decisions made from the real-time information available. Operational issues can be more easily identified and rectified quickly and effectively. Business intelligence helps identify trends and creates context, so productivity can be improved, and efficiencies made, so field service organisations have reaped the benefits.

Learn More, Serve More, Grow More
As field service organisations mature in their use of analytics they demand more from business intelligence. There is a definite shift in the application of analytics from simply turning data into outcomes, to enabling leading companies to take a more strategic approach. Analytic driven organisations can learn more about their operational performance and the needs of their customers empowering them to address the trends that are revealed.

Going forward into 2019 we will see analytical data being used in unique ways to help field service organisations leverage the findings that are uncovered to drive innovation into their products and services. Forward-thinking companies will be able to apply these insights to help customise the service they offer to their customers more easily, deepening the customer relationship and improving levels of satisfaction.

The creation of new, unique, predictive and preventative services will help them to serve more. Ultimately this greater understanding of their customers’ needs and expectations, is what will help companies differentiate themselves from their competition and lead company growth.

This shift to a strategic use of data is becoming more and more prevalent in field service and leaders are making it a priority in their business drivers.

"As field service organisations mature in their use of analytics they demand more from business intelligence..."

An Integrated Future
As company leaders recognise that field service has the potential for becoming a more strategic driver within the wider business, the need for improved integration within the business becomes even more critical.

Service teams have, in the past, often been considered to be simply an overhead within the business model rather than adding value. However, the ability to leverage information across the organisation in real time and bring additional context to the broader business insights, empowers field service organisations to become value drivers in the business.

Analytics provides the means for field service organisations to realise their potential and companies that recognise this value, see the importance of a closely integrated and connected field service within the wider business.

Field service solutions have long had the capability to integrate into other business systems, such as CRM, ERP and accounting, to extend the power of these solutions and the combined information provided. Business leaders understand that the true integration of these technologies maximises the overall value beyond the sum of the parts. A comprehensive field service management platform integrated with a suite of solutions is where we are seeing the greatest application of analytics.

As field service becomes a greater part of a fully connected business, the empowered field workforce, armed with contextual insights, are enabled to creatively interact and work with other teams and departments. These new interactions further unlock the value for the company in terms of customer service, sales or product development to fuel competitive advantage.

The Analytics Advantage
Analytics will continue to develop and the potential in field service is vast. It is no surprise that research consistently shows that field service leaders see analytical tools as a priority for their technology investments.

Business insights elevate the field service operation, transforming it to a value-driving organisation within the wider company, that delivers real results: Increasing productivity, customer satisfaction and revenue, taking service to the next level of providing competitive advantage – a vital step in any business.

Companies should take full and rapid advantage of the critical role analytics has in field service.

Mark Tatarsky, is SVP Marketing at FieldAware and will be part of a panel at Field Service USA, discussing the latest developments in field service analytics. The event takes place from April 23 to 26 at JW Marriott Palm Desert Resort and Spa, CA and ou can register for the conference here.

For more information on how to take advantage of analytics in your field service, visit FieldAware's Insights page here.