Four Top Field Service Challenges for 2022

There’s no denying 2020 and 2021 have both been challenging years. The COVID-19 crisis caught us all off-guard and has continued to disrupt our lives significantly, even as many countries attempt to return to some semblance of normality.

As we move out of 2021 and begin to prepare for another new year, it seems a suitable time to take stock of what has gone before and brace ourselves for some of the challenges we’re likely to come up against in 2022. Field service is an agile and constantly evolving industry but without assessing where bumps in the road may occur, even the most flexible business can be caught off guard.

With that in mind, let’s look at four top challenges field service is going to come up against in 2022 – arranged into a nice internet friendly list, of course.

#1 COVID-19

Yes, I know we’re all sick of hearing about it and dealing with the chaos it has wrought on our lives, but the fact is that this virulent plague is going to continue to be a problem for the foreseeable future. Despite a promising vaccine uptake and efforts to return to normal, we are still seeing infection spikes and lockdown implementation all over the world.

For field service, this means people are going to be searching for providers who can carry out maintenance in a safe and responsible manner. It also means field service brands which have adopted remote monitoring and service are likely to see an uptick in business, while those still stubbornly adhering to traditional methods are likely to be found wanting.

COVID-19 is here to stay, and we had better get used to operating with this particularly frustrating monkey on our backs.

#2 The Skills Crisis

Field service is at a crossroads when it comes to the engineers and technicians working in the space. Veteran employees are reaching retirement age and are looking forward to taking some well-earned time off and enjoying their twilight years reaping the benefits of a life of work.

However, the industry is having serious problems attracting fresh young talent into the fold and is facing a rapidly approaching situation where it simply will not have enough engineers to handle its workload. Not only does the industry need to bring in this new younger workforce, but it also needs to make sure the older engineers are still around (in the industry, not this mortal coil) to transfer their skills and train their incumbent peers.

Making field service more attractive to young people needs to be a top priority for field service brands.

#3 Predictive Maintenance

The concept of predictive maintenance has been around for a while now and the most innovative field service brands have already incorporated it into their offering – and their customers and their bottom line are seeing the benefits.

Connected sensors embedded in machines and components are able to report back to centralized monitoring platforms and can alert field service providers when issues are starting to arise. This means problems can be addressed in their nascent stages and repaired before they result in disruptive and costly shutdowns. These connected machines can also often be patched remotely, meaning, if a software issue is causing the problem, it can be fixed without an engineer ever need to set foot on the premises.

Those brands which are yet to incorporate predictive maintenance into their portfolio of services are likely to find themselves lagging behind their more digitally transformed contemporaries in 2022.

#4 Cyber Security

Following on from our previous point, while the proliferation of connected devices in the field service business empowers us to serve customers in more convenient and effective ways than ever before, it also brings new challenges along for the ride.

Chief among these is the need for increased levels of cyber security. Connected devices such as those being used for predictive maintenance are notorious for having poor security protocols and can provide a convenient back door through which criminals can access an otherwise secure network.

I’ll never get tired of recounting the story of how a successful cyber-attack was carried out on a casino when the criminals were able to hack a connected thermostat installed in a fish tank.

Final Thoughts

Field service is certainly going to have its plate full in 2022. With new technology to manage, a skills crisis to address, and the ongoing challenges of COVID-19, brands operating in this space are going to need to get their thinking caps on a search for innovative methods of overcoming these disruptive forces.

These challenges and more are set to be part of the conversation at Field Service Palm Springs 2022, taking place in April at the JW Marriott Desert Springs.

Download the agenda for more information and insights.