what is Field Service :
Field service is a job performed in the field and not on company property.
Field service involves sending staff or contractors to specific locations, usually to the customer’s address, selling equipment, fixing or maintaining it.
Many technicians are called field service practitioners or field workers. They provide skilled, specialized or even proprietary services for industrial or commercial clients.
Most people have no idea about field service. They simply connect the field service Software to the TV set up and see an electrician repair a down line.
The field service landscape is evolving rapidly, with a wide range of deskless staff, including various healthcare workers, inspectors, salespeople and inspectors.
In fact, more than 80% of the workforce in the world is now unemployed. Field service has also expanded to education, healthcare, hospitality and other areas.
What is Field Service Management?
Field service management refers to the supervision and optimization of the company’s field workers, equipment, and service.
Field service management includes processes such as scheduling work orders, dispatching workers for new assignments, communicating on the job with field workers, managing product inventories, and collecting data from field workers.
Companies can optimize their field service management software to streamline operations, increase productivity, and simplify everyday life. This applies not only to field workers but also to administrative staff back at the office.
Field service management becomes even more important as the industry grows more complex.
Industries such as mobile healthcare, real-estate, and sales started to implement field service principles and tools into their mobile work.
Blended workers, which includes full-time employees as well as independent contractors, need tools that allow access and permissions to be granted based on their role.
Flexible work patterns allow customers to have flexible schedules that go beyond the 9-5. This makes scheduling (and accommodating scheduling preferences!) more difficult than ever.
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Benefits of field service management
Field service management solutions that integrate data from enterprise asset management with data from remote locations including IoT are effective in helping companies manage their resources.
Field service management has many benefits:
- Increased uptime: Identify the need for repairs early in the asset’s lifecycle to ensure that you are always on, perform well and have a reduced downtime.
- You can reduce the time it takes to fix and improve first-time repair rates by assigning the right technician to the job.
- Remote assistance and mobile capabilities to empower field service technicians. This will allow them to be safe, compliant, troubleshoot, and complete their work tasks safely.
- Field service costs can be reduced by using data and insights. This will allow you to complete your maintenance tasks in the most efficient and effective manner possible.
- Customer satisfaction is key: Find out if technicians are meeting customer needs and promptly respond to any concerns or delays.
Some Challenges in Field Service Management
Leaders of maintenance technicians face many challenges.
This includes attracting and keeping talent in a shrinking talent pool, increasing operational costs, a growing workforce, and a dearth of technology to manage complex assets.
Software that automates certain tasks is key to managing these issues. It can reduce strain on your workforce, increase knowledge transfer, and support technicians in the field.
There are many challenges that mobile service technicians have to face, including scheduling conflicts, inability to get essential data, miscommunications about job tasks, and the need to make return trips.
These challenges can be overcome by allowing more main system CMMS capabilities to be available on smartphones and tablets.
This includes the ability to access technical specifications and GIS-location information, review asset maintenance history, view work orders, process billing and access detailed technical specifications.
Lastly, many companies have used multiple solutions over the years and have multiple tools that don’t work together.
Field service management must be seamless. It is essential to have integrated and cohesive solutions that are simple to use by field teams. Also, dashboards that provide enterprise-wide visibility into a company’s resources are important.
How do you choose the best field service management solution?
Are you ready to get started? These are the questions to ask when you’re evaluating field service management solutions:
- Is the IMPLEMENTATION STRONGFORWARD
Take a look at your current technology. What integration will this solution make to your current technology stack? Is it likely to disrupt your existing workflows? To make an informed decision, find out the amount of investment required.
- HOW SIMPLE IS IT TO USE?
It is important to have an intuitive solution. Is the solution customizable? Is it able to focus on exactly what each user requires? Is each user able to see the version that is best for them?
- CAN IT MANAGE THIRD-PARTY SUPPORTS?
Learn which mobile workforce apps can be integrated with the solution by contacting third parties. To ensure your future success, spend some time upfront to determine how difficult or easy integrations will be.
4. DOES IT PROVIDE REAL-TIME DATA?
Your back office must know what is happening in the field. The solution should allow everyone within the company to access the same information in real-time.
- Is IT scalable?
A solution must be flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances. No matter if you have a small number of customers or a large base, your system must be capable of handling the changing demands. It should be simple to add new capabilities to the system and adapt to changing needs as your business grows.
- IS IT FIRST MOBILE?
Your field service personnel should have all the tools they need to succeed. Make sure your solution works with their mobile devices.