The demand for management solutions is increasing at a rapid rate in the area of field service. The buzz of automation has reached even the small and mid-sized companies. The whole industry has lately become all about connecting operations via the internet to enable automation.
In field service, companies need to deploy employees outside the company premises. Every day, employees are supposed to travel to different client locations for business purposes. So, all such companies require field service automation solutions to create a system of tracking operation status remotely.
With management automation software, a field service company can monitor the step by step progress of activities and tasks conducted by employees at multiple field sites.
There is huge applicability of reputed field service automation software. Small and mid-sized companies in many industries can utilize such a solution. Some of the functional areas are:
Telecommunications
The telecommunication industry involves a variety of field associated tasks. Businesses require an efficient way to monitor their employees during the process of phone lines or cable installations.
Healthcare
The healthcare industry also involves healthcare provisions that are provided remotely or in-home. So, the healthcare staff visits patients’ locations to deploy the required services. Hence, a healthcare facility needs a management solution to track the status of remote provisions.
Oil & Gas
The utility business of oil and gas requires field visits of engineers who take care of the inspections and perform repair work wherever required. These field services are necessary to find and resolve the issue of gas leakages.
Mining
Mining is another industry, in which, various tasks take place in remote locations. The jobs of repair, maintenance, and others require businesses to send workers in the field.
Similarly, there are other industries where businesses need a way to track and manage staff that works outside the company perimeters. The process of managing field services is challenging because companies need to track and update their employees in remote locations on-the-go. Even today, there are many businesses relying on the traditional use of paper in this process. But, the world has evolved with exceptional technologies. Studies show that about 10 percent of all emergency jobs of field service will involve Artificial Intelligence by the beginning of 2020.
Let’s find out how!
How field service automation is growing?
Several predictions are suspecting a huge growth of $3.52 billion in the market of field service management, and that too, by the end of this year. This is due to a massive shift of companies towards technologies that enable automation in the management process of field service employees. Even mid-sized and small business models are replacing traditional ways with efficient and faster methods of field service tracking and management.
All these processes have achieved automation nowadays due to some highly advanced software solutions:
- Management of work orders
- Vehicle or worker location tracking
- Inventory and spares
- Dashboards and reports
- Job scheduling
- Invoicing and payment system
- Inventory and spares management
- Customer portals
Companies that are involved in the process of creating management solutions for the field service industry have a mission of providing zero-touch automation. The industry is following the objective of creating a completely automated back office without having to include any manual intervention.
When you want a software solution to fulfill your company goals, multiple technical requirements should be addressed. Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning are two essential technologies needed at the center of a field service solution development. It is possible to achieve complete automation; however, many companies don’t desire that. The human presence is always required to tackle unplanned conditions and emergency scenarios.
As technology grows, the industry is moving beyond basic data collection to include more capabilities in modern-day field service management automation. So, the management process is becoming better and better every day.
Benefits of field service automation
An automation solution can take care of a variety of aspects associated with field service. Advanced technologies can bring all these benefits for businesses that employ a solution for field service automation:
Workforce management
With the capability of mobile tracking, companies can conduct workforce management with a push of a button. All field service employees stay connected remotely, which helps to assign jobs, check the work status and solve problems. This increases the efficiency and accountability associated with job delay and unpredicted problems.
Cost reduction
Every job of field service involves the process of dynamic scheduling and route optimization. So, companies get a chance to save time and a lot of fuel by utilizing an automated system. The significant reduction in cost attracts businesses to acquire and use a system that managed all field service requirements.
Success assurance
An automated system allows your workforce to leverage information and knowledge repository remotely. So, they become capable of completing their jobs faster with better results. A mobile solution comes with diagnostic tools and manuals to help workers ensure the success of every job they get assigned.
Improved accounting
The chances of redundant entry of data go down, while the data coherence and integrity increases in the presence of a reliable software solution.
Customer satisfaction
By improving the management of resources and jobs, the managers of a field service can match and perform beyond customer expectations. This helps to satisfy customer demands, which builds stronger relationships with customers who become loyal to the company.
When a company decides to incorporate automation in the management of field service, these factors ensure a successful journey:
Data quality
Automation is not possible without the presence of high-quality. The right collection, management, and utilization capabilities decide the success rate of automation. The data has to be well-managed and cleaned.
Facility integration: All data need to be available on one platform, which is why companies should concentrate on integrating facilities to maximize the use of machine learning.
Workforce resistance management
Shifting to new service management models can create confusion and resistance among employees. So, business leaders should prepare a way to share their profitable vision related to automation.
With that, all small and mid-sized field service companies can prepare for the adoption of automated solutions.