Mobility strategies field service ty u

Three Strategies for Mobility in Field Services

In field services, mobile is the technology of both seamless field operations and real-time service for customers. From delivering the right parts, to ensuring technicians can access the right information, to cost- and time-efficient scheduling and routing, field services companies are making major investments into connected and automated technologies that turn technicians into mobile, customer-service powerhouses.

Whether a company wants to streamline invoicing, scheduling, signing off on documents, or communicating directly with customers, understanding how to appropriately invest in mobile channels is a necessity.

Using these three simple strategies, companies can maximize the return on their investments in a next generation, mobile workforce:

Connect Everything.

Connectivity means closing the ‘distance’ between the field technician and the informational, analytical, and physical resources of the core organization. And countless field services companies are finding success not only in connecting their technicians, but products and customers as well.

In fact, customer self-service portals now allow customers to not only access self-servicing options, but access technicians directly via video chat; field technicians in training can access software on-site to guide them through unfamiliar processes; and connectivity with active products using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies provides important data before the technician arrives on-site—empowering the technician to deliver a more successful service experience.

However, even with mobile access to essential company resources, it can be challenging for technicians to locate information critical to their work. Among all other customer information, company data, or marketing collateral, struggling to locate critical information may take up important service time, which can damage the customer’s experience and perception of your team’s expertise.

Automate What’s Important.

Connectivity is the starting point for a successful mobile strategy—agents with connectivity have access to more information, tools, and resources when on site—but with that accessibility, it is automation that allows them to locate that information, those tools, and those resources in a timely, cost-effective way.

Automated technologies empower both technicians and customers with instant access to all the right materials, including relevant parts inventories, work histories, and scheduling information. They curate the content from a company’s database that is relevant to a specific service engagement. With all of the right tools and resources at technicians’ fingertips, organizations can effectively maximize their opportunities for success during engagements with customers.

Connectivity and automation allow technicians—and even customers—to both connect with and locate the information they need from anywhere, with superior speed. But what about the quality of that information?

Be Smart About Data.

If connectivity is the means of information exchange, and automation serves up the right information, it is IoT technologies that can ensure the quality of that information in the first place. Today, progressive organizations use IoT to collect data from the field, perform diagnostics remotely, and provide technicians with the quality information they need to deliver superior service experiences.

Additionally, analyses of data provided by IoT allow companies to understand which systems are more likely to develop problems for customers in the future, and how to take preventive measures well beforehand. This empowers companies to provide both effective, immediate services to customers and adjust strategies at the organizational level as needed, based on findings from consistent, real-time data.

Remember, your technology is only as strong as your people.

A majority of field services companies anticipate that smart, connected tools will be in place within their own companies in the next decade. Connectivity, automation, and IoT technologies will provide these companies and technicians with all of the tools they need to create mobile, data-driven field services operations.

But utilizing those tools are human beings who need the proper training on both technologies and customer service in order to succeed. Companies must inevitably rely on the performance of their personnel as mobile technology adoption begins to equalize across the industry.

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