As a layman when we hear the words “field service,” we picture a guy coming to our house to fix the cable. To the outside world, field service may seem like an industry dealing with customers’ complaints, but on the inside, the industry is brimming with innovation and has a lot to offer when it comes to delivering high levels of customer satisfaction.
With every innovation happening in the industry, the concept of field service is getting far away from manual updating and near to automation.
Customers do not have to call for repair and maintenance as the machine itself sends an automatic, detailed notification. This makes repair work easy and prevents major damages.
The field service management industry is rapidly adopting the Internet of Things that sounds futuristic for the future. It will result in enhanced efficiency, lower costs, and a better customer experience.
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Despite all of the innovation and modern technology making its way into the industry, there is still some challenges field service has to face. As technology booms, customers demand more. The cost of business must not exceed the revenue generated. Also, field service managers have real-time access to data to forecast demand more accurately and equip workers with all the tools required to perform the tasks efficiently and a higher level of customer satisfaction.
To dive deep into the future of field service management, we must first understand what customers expect from the respective industry.
Customers’ Demand From Field Service
Online scheduling: Customers want a portal that they can use to quickly schedule, reschedule, or cancel an appointment according to their availability. This will also save technicians time in reaching out to a customer and finding them unavailable.
More precise scheduling: With the technological advances and the number of similar vendors available in the market, customers don’t want to wait around for a service time window. They want to know precisely when the technician will arrive.
Selected technician: If a customer previously had a great experience with a certain technician, they don’t want to change anything. They want the same field service professionals that have served them well in the past.
Job-status updates: Today, customers like the ability to “track” their technician in real-time or receive prompt updates on the status of a job to stay up-to-date on delays, arrival time, and more.
Latest Trends And Predictions
To meet customers’ expectations, here are some trends and predictions the field service management industry can pick to stay ahead of the curve.
The arrival of mobile technology
Fast response and professionalism are two must-haves while interacting with customers. One of the significant roles of field technicians (the front lines of the field service management industry) is to deliver a positive customer experience. Fieldield technicians must turn their heads to mobility solutions to support their efforts and maintain the excellence of services.
The capability to work online through a wide range of applications and devices gives the workforce the power to perform in a productive and versed manner. The technology will solve the most common issues like lack of real-time information, reduced productivity, unsatisfied customers, etc. The ability to bring up-to-date data to the field will solve day-to-day issues arising in the field service industry and improve the overall work.
Training the technicians
Access to the latest and relevant information and support is a crucial aspect of a technician’s job and has the greatest impact on promoting a successful customer interaction. But technology and knowledge alone cannot ensure a confident outcome when interacting with customers. That’s when the need for improving the interpersonal skills of technicians comes into the picture.
Training the existing employees on new technologies and hiring the new ones who are already well-versed with the things required, a field service industry can deliver a positive customer experience. With the increase in competition, field service management companies should get serious about hiring new talent to keep up with demand.
Automation taking over manual operations
Automation will transform simple tasks that are slow, dull, and error-prone into fast, reliable actions that help make better business decisions. There are different tasks in an organization that can be automated, such as invoicing, location tracking, dispatching, sharing & syncing data, order intake, and others.
With automation, a field service manager can reduce overheads, improve the accuracy of operations, get a competitive advantage, and free up field workers and backend operators to focus on more important tasks.
Bottom Line
The field service industry continues to evolve, making it necessary for everyone to keep a keen eye on how trends change in the market. The field service industry will stay for long and is expected to generate more revenue every passing year.
However, if the field service organizations want to be a part of the boom, they must stay on top of the trends and conform to the necessary changes.
