Technology Trends and Opportunities for Field Service Businesses

The rising development of various technologies holds major opportunities for field service businesses all across the globe.

Since the adoption of new solutions will increase, in this blog post, we’ll be talking about the opportunities for field service businesses that come with the rising trends.

Mobile Apps

The adoption of mobile apps will have a major impact on the field service industry, creating new opportunities for businesses.

Management apps will boost the efficiency of technicians.

When apps report and schedule repairs, they disclose the model of the broken device and tell how demanding the repair is.

This will allow technicians to be more efficient with their repairs and better prepare for each specific intervention. They will also spend less time between interventions and manage more repairs.

Installing apps on the technicians’ mobile devices is a great way to reduce response time.

With an app management solution, customers can report problems faster and outside normal business hours.

The app can then schedule repairs and manage technicians’ daily runs. This will contribute to a faster, more responsive field service.

Apps are becoming a budget-friendly solution for boosting field service businesses.

As the app industry grows, the price of developing apps will become more competitive and affordable.

Since apps are being developed at a rapid pace, soon they won’t be a luxury for large businesses but a common business tool.

Research by Gartner has found that in 2020, 75% of Field Service businesses will rely on their own custom app solutions to perform their day-to-day tasks, improve their efficiency and save time.

Mobile apps have great potential for boosting field service companies. Getting a mobile app for your business will soon be as reasonable as is getting a new website.

Predictive Machine Maintenance Thanks to AI and IoT

New breakthroughs in IoT and AI will allow for predictive machine maintenance as one of the best practices for field service companies.

Predictive maintenance methods make it easier for companies to plan for maintenance.

When field services use AI solutions and IoT data that devices generate, they can predict when the devices will break down and schedule maintenance ahead of time. This way, they will eliminate unexpected failures that are costly and time-consuming for your company.

Predictive maintenance creates amazing new opportunities for customer satisfaction.

If your business can provide seamless field service, your customer satisfaction will go off the charts. Using predictive analytics, you can inform them ahead of when you’ll be replacing their device.

You will reduce the number of frustrating situations where their devices fail in a critical moment. This will reflect positively on your business.

AI and IoT-backed maintenance reduce the prices of overall maintenance.

IoT and AI solutions excel at using historical data to make assessments, so they can predict repair costs and intervention types.

You’ll know exactly whether you can repair the devices remotely or if you’ll have to send a technician for an intervention. You can predict and reduce the full costs of maintenance tasks.

According to the US Department of Energy, predictive maintenance is extremely cost effective, as it achieves 8-12% cost savings in preventive maintenance and up to 40% in reactive maintenance costs.

Using breakthroughs in IoT and AI tech, field service companies can foster predictive machine maintenance to the benefit of their business.

Cloud Solutions

Many businesses are already relying on cloud solutions to boost their performance. This trend will continue to grow in the field service industry and have an amazing impact on their efficiency.

Cloud solutions allow for tool tracking software. Tracking software is incredibly beneficial because it enables easy locating of gear and improves the efficiency of technicians.

When tracked, gear can’t be misplaced or lost and is easy to recover if stolen. This helps keep your business from needless spending on gear that’s already bought.

Knowing how to pick the right tracking software will be critically important for field service businesses in the future.

Companies can use cloud-based software to simulate the behavior of their customers’ devices and to become more effective at fixing them. This gives an opportunity for technicians to try out alternative methods of maintenance in a controlled environment.

Businesses can also use breakdown simulations for technician training. The major benefit of this approach is a boost in maintenance and intervention readiness.

The cloud is amazing for achieving effective real-time management of operations. Being able to manage field services on the go with team management apps that are constantly online will improve how your technicians achieve their tasks.

Based on the data they receive, they have locations, repairs, and tasks planned in advance. This approach fosters increased team management and support.

A survey by the Service Council has revealed that over 70% of field technicians feel the products today are more complex and require more support to service the products.

An augmented workforce can ease the pressure on field technicians and allow them to better spend their time.

Using cloud solutions in daily operations has become a common practice for businesses all across the board. They have a profound impact on performance.

AR Will Drive Processes and Operations

The adoption of Augmented Reality solutions is a rising trend that will greatly improve the processes of field-service businesses.

AR allows technicians to fix machines and devices without having to take them apart.

With AR software, technicians can access the devices’ repair history and diagnostics to repair them quickly.

When technicians use AR software and complementing hardware, it offers them instant step-by-step instructions and troubleshooting. This makes for a smooth and efficient repair process.

AR tech benefits field service companies by reducing the need for on-site interventions as well.

Hardware such as smart glasses allows technicians to visually see the device problems the customer is experiencing and provide remote service in real-time. This way, the customer can get instant help, and your team doesn’t have to shift between locations.

For example, Boeing uses AR solutions for highly complicated service work.

Their technicians use smart glasses when performing long sequences of actions, which allows them to follow instructions and watch the device at the same time. They report a 30% reduction in time spent doing a job.

AR technology will continue to make a major impact on the processes of field service businesses.

Conclusion

In this blog post, we’ve discussed some of the biggest technological trends and opportunities for the field service industry.

As more solutions are developed, we can expect more adoption of this technology and an increase in productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

Keep an eye out for the emerging trends, and employ a new solution to supercharge your business.