Change is how every one of us adapts as we pursue our goals. The digital revolution is a key factor in how the field service industry is changing and growing. Moreover, digitalization brings exciting innovations and outlooks to the way field service companies pursue work and financial goals.
Key Findings
Key findings in recent studies on mobile workforce management (MWM) software highlight that evolving plant and network operations requirements are “forcing utilities to rethink their management design and field worker mobile capabilities to better support agile, connected, cross-skilled field operations,” according to a recent industry report from Gartner. As a result, utilities need a single view of truth across asset management that provides information that drives productivity and improves the employee and customer experience.
Digitalization also impacts how field service customers work, communicate, and interact with the organizations serving them and making purchase decisions.
Consolidating field apps to mitigate issues and support data access while aligning many levels of critical business infrastructure is essential for modernizing operations, boosting customer satisfaction, and improving employee management.
Work
The immediacy that customers are used to as technology continues to advance has caused them to have higher expectations regarding how your organization serves them and keeps their data secure.
Cost-effective integration across assets can optimize your workforce by improving information security, and productivity in the field regarding completed work orders, more accurate assessments and reduced travel times. MWM products improve functionality at all work levels while achieving cost reduction, improvements in operations, and customer satisfaction.
Communication
The nature of fieldwork is complex, especially when considering communications. MWM improves efficiency with a goal of a single view of truth. Streamlined communications by digital MWM “integrate work and manage assets across engineering, energy technology, operational technology, and business (IT) domains,” according to the Gartner report.
They also facilitate real-time communications that lead to greater efficiency and outcomes. Using modern MWM tools improves company-wide communications, improving productivity among field personnel as they optimize the consumer experience, which makes for happy clients, and a better understanding of service schedules and sales down the road.
Interactions
Digitalization and optimization are crucial to protect interactions at all stages of the business cycle. Improved interaction makes for effective self-service and productivity among field personnel as they deliver high-quality customer service and promote future sales.
According to Gartner’s industry report, MWM enables “utilities to streamline work management across a resource-constrained pool of field workers, moving from siloed departments into resource pools that address a wide variety of work types.” In addition, using MWM aligns work management and asset management, providing more high-quality interactions that lessen backlogs and inconsistencies.
Purchasing Decisions
The digital revolution has brought greater purchasing opportunities to the field service industry. “The utility field workforce product market is composed of two distinct, but overlapping, submarkets,” states the Gartner report. One is vertically focused, while the other caters to water and energy utilities.
Since utility work is becoming more complex with new service initiatives, there are challenges and opportunities in how field service management (FSM) vendors work. Purchasing assets in FSM products means meeting customer-centric needs in a timely fashion, and for this and many other reasons, one or more field products may be necessary.
Conclusions
It’s clear that the digital revolution is bringing much anticipated and bold changes to MWM products and FSM providers, creating opportunities for optimization and a growing clientele base with excellent customer service.
Resources:
Keeping Score: Why Digital Transformation Matters, CA Technologies, Coleman Parkes Research.
Nicole Foust, Jim Robinson, Lloyd Jones, Market Guide for Mobile Workforce Management, Gartner, May 2022.