(Source: Pexels)

Brought to you by WBR Insights.

An organization's ability to process and analyze data quickly is now paramount to its success. This is true of any organization that relies on data to power its operations and provide services, and it's especially true in field service.

Today's field service organizations use networks of IoT-connected technologies to generate and aggregate data. That data is what they use to monitor deployed machines and tools in the field, generate reports on the status of their service agreements, and automate solutions for field service challenges in real-time.

Historically, most data processing has occurred in data centers—centralized processing hubs that collect, store, and analyze data from an entire region. But relaying data from the field to a central hub takes time. More importantly, it often causes a delay between when data is collected in the field and when it generates insights and value.

For this reason, educe computing is becoming an increasingly popular concept in the field service industry. Organizations around the world are pursuing this capability to generate more operational efficiency and to deliver better, more competitive results for their customers.

Edge Computing Adoption in Field Service

Edge computing is computing conducted near the source of the data. Instead of relaying data to a data center in another part of the world via the cloud, field service organizations can use edge computing capabilities to analyze data close to where it's collected, and where the resulting insights are needed most. As a result, organizations can overcome latency and bandwidth barriers, operate more efficiently, and reduce operating costs.

Edge computing will likely become more accessible as infrastructure is deployed to support it, including 5G networks. But many organizations can already take advantage of edge computing through their technology investments.

In a recent report by WB Insights and the Field Service conference series entitled, "Emerging Technologies in Field Service," researchers learned that a significant portion of field service organizations' technology budgets will be devoted to edge computing in the coming months and years. According to the results, 74% of organizations will be devoting 25% or more of their technology budgets to edge computing, including 38% that will devote 50% or more.

The report also found that field service organizations have already made significant investments into edge computing capabilities. For example, 55% of the organizations surveyed in the report had already adopted micro data centers. These are smaller, more strategically located data centers that provide the same essential capabilities as their larger counterparts.

Meanwhile, 50% of the organizations surveyed had already adopted multi-access edge computing or mobile edge computing. This is a network architecture that enables the placement of computational resources within a radio access network (RAC). Conceptually, a RAC resides between a device, such as a machine or a handheld computer, and a core network, thereby providing a connection between the two.

Still, field service organizations have opportunities to create more effective edge computing environments. Emerging configurations like Cloud of Things (CoT), Fog Computing (Fogging), and "Cloudlets" all hold the potential to make data processing more efficient and localized.

The Benefits of Edge Computing in Field Service

Although there are clear benefits to edge computing for field service organizations, different types of organizations are pursing the technology for different reasons. For example, device and machine manufacturers may favor edge computing capabilities because they enable them to closely monitor devices and guarantee uptime for their customers. Others might favor it because it makes communicating with customers easier, even if they are on the other side of the globe.

Indeed, 60% of the respondents to the "Emerging Technologies in Field Service" report said that enhanced uptime for deployed assets and/or machines was the most important benefit of edge computing for their field service operations. It will enable them to get real-time data analysis close to the source, allowing them to recognize problems in their deployed machines before they lead to downtime.

Similarly, 54% of the respondents hope to achieve better operational efficiency. With the right edge computing capabilities in place, these organizations believe they can overcome bottleneck challenges in their networks, so they can avoid interruptions and delays in their field service operations even when processing large quantities of data.

Other benefits of the technology are actionable data, better customer experiences, and lower operating costs. But these results are clear: Field service organizations believe edge computing could transform their customer relationships for the better and empower their outcome-based service offerings.

Don't Miss the Next Field Service Event

Edge computing has the potential to make field service operations much more efficient and agile. As technology continues to get smaller and more streamlined, there will likely come a time when data analysis can occur on-site through small handheld devices or by computational units integrated into deployed assets themselves.

As such, edge computing will be a key component of field service organizations' outcome-based service strategies for years to come.

If you're interested in learning more about how the field service industry is evolving, you don't want to miss the next event from the Field Service East conference series. Visit our home site to learn more.