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Understanding Mobile Field Service Management

Understanding Mobile Field Service Management

As the field service industry is shaped by new trends and technologies, it’s critical that field service organizations are attentive, agile, and adaptive to these changes. Likewise, by taking the time to understand the key drivers, advantages, and nuances of these field service trends, organizations will be empowered to understand what these new trends are, recognize when a trend is here to stay and explore the best way to adapt moving forward. For instance, when evaluating the popular mobile field service management trend, it’s important to understand that mobile field service management is much more than the act of technicians simply using mobile phones. 

Let’s dive into what mobile service management actually is, the key drivers behind its expeditious growth, and the top advantages for field service organizations looking to join the digital transformation. 

What is mobile field service management?

Mobile field service management is a remote-first approach to field service management that leverages a mobile field service app specifically designed for use by field service organizations, technicians, and ultimately, field service customers. Mobile field service management has quickly become a staple of the modern field service industry thanks to its numerous advantages. Moreover, with access to an intuitive and AI-driven field service app, technicians are able to consistently provide the best service and customer experience possible, maximizing time to ROI for field service organizations. 

What are the key drivers of mobile field service management?

Mobile field service management has rapidly grown in popularity due to four key drivers:

1. Digital transformation sweeping through the field service industry. 
2. Focus on information enablement and data-driven decision-making.
3. Field service customers’ increasing desire for self-service capabilities. 
4. Prioritization of remote-first tools due to the pandemic and skilled labor shortage. 

These key drivers have greatly impacted the field service industry and fostered an environment that encourages reliance on innovative mobile-first technologies. However, these new technologies must provide field service organizations with real-time data, empower field service customers to take control of their own schedules and service appointments, and enable field technicians to access intelligent, remote-first tools. By aligning mobile-first technology with these four key drivers, field service organizations will be in the best position to reap the numerous benefits of mobile field service management. 

Top Advantages of Mobile Field Service Management

  • Embracing Digital Transformation with a Field Service App

Overall, the top advantage of mobile field service management is the ability of field service organizations to embrace digital transformation. Simply put, digital transformation is the integration of digital technology in all aspects of a business, fundamentally transforming the way a business is able to operate and deliver value to customers. 

By providing field service companies with an integrated and intelligent mobile field service application, companies are able to automate key internal processes, operations, and workflows. Furthermore, mobile field service management breaks down internal silos by increasing company-wide visibility into previously opaque processes. Additionally, a mobile field service app transforms the way a field service organization is able to deliver value to its increasingly demanding customer base. 

  • Enabling Data-Driven Decisions with Field Service Mobile Forms

With the increasing reliance on mobile technology in the field service industry, companies are now gaining access to insights that were previously unavailable. These insights are derived from the data that is collected by various aspects of a mobile field service application, such as mobile forms. For instance, field service organizations can now leverage mobile forms to gather specific work order information, service data, and customer feedback, all on the go.  

Moreover, field service companies are now able to access mobile field service reports that utilize advanced analytics to compile company-wide data into actionable insights. Based on these reports, companies are enabled to make data-driven decisions that use historical data to enhance forecasting and planning, helping to secure success in the future. 

  • Enhancing the Customer Experience with Mobile Field Service 

Largely, modern field service customers have high expectations regarding the quality of customer experience that a field service company is able to provide. Likewise, customers expect digital communication channels, self-service scheduling capabilities, visibility into reliable timelines and service workflows, and the ability to provide timely feedback. 

However, mobile field service applications with an intuitive and intelligent customer portal easily exceed these expectations. For instance, ServicePower’s popular and award-winning customer portal enhances the customer experience by enabling customers to directly message technicians, schedule service appointments, track technician routes in real-time, and fill out customer surveys all within the application. Moreover, enhancing the customer experience with a self-service customer portal helps to increase customer retention and field service profitability. 

  • Empowering Field Technicians with Mobile Service Management

Lastly, mobile field service management is greatly beneficial for field technicians. By automating complex scheduling and prioritizing local dispatching with route optimization, technicians can rest assured that their schedules will always be reliable and their appointments will be as safe as possible. 

Moreover, an advanced field service application empowers field technicians with remote support capabilities, such as access to real-time customer information, troubleshooting, and training materials. For example, Augmented Reality (AR) can be used as an interactive visual aid for field technicians by superimposing detailed diagrams and instructions over equipment in the field. This empowers both employed and contracted technicians with novice experience to easily access information that is critical to completing a job on the first try. Furthermore, customers can also use AR to collaborate virtually with an expert technician, obviating the need for technicians to make the trek to a customer’s home for simple jobs. By empowering technicians with mobile field service management, field service companies can even help to attract and retain the best technicians

Moving Forward with Mobile Field Service Software

Mobile field service management is here to stay. Likewise, investing in mobile field service software is no longer an option, it’s obligatory for field service companies that desire success. 

Download the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Field Service Management to see why ServicePower was named a Visionary for the sixth time, or discover it for yourself with a custom demo.

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