Based on my research, field service is any work done at a customer’s location instead of at a business. Field service personnel can work for a company or themselves. Most people consider a technician as a specific role to install, fix, or maintain equipment or systems. However, field service is gradually changing to incorporate more people who don’t work at a desk. In fact, 8 out of 10 workers worldwide don’t have a desk anymore, and field service has grown into new fields like education, healthcare, hospitality, and more.
Field services are often accompanied by numerous applications, giving a sign of relief to many industries in easing out their diverse operations. Field service management (FSM) software applications are used for fleet, agent, and inventory tracking, providing quicker billing, etc. In fact, 48% of all organizations use FSM software to manage their field service operations, and 96% of organizations that utilize fleet tracking software find it helpful. [ 1 ]
Field Service Management
Today, field service companies are making changes to how they do business. It seems like they want every interaction with a customer to be meaningful and to treat time like its currency. I believe that innovative businesses ensure their consumers are at the center of everything they do. Field service companies that provide excellent customer experiences (CX) stand out, gain a more significant market, and make more money. To illustrate, I listed several industries that need FSM software and paired them with possible use cases:
- Oil & Gas Enterprises: With FSM software, oil and gas firms can keep an eye on their assets in faraway regions, track how well they’re doing, keep track of where their service professionals are, and make sure they’re safe.
- IT & Communication Services: IT service companies require specialists in network management, software creation, etc., to respond to consumers quickly. They also must keep an eye on their payment data and the progress of the techs – this can be easily achieved through FSM.
- Medical Device Enterprises: Hospitals and clinics use offsite software to manage the supply and installation of medical equipment (anything from an MRI to an X-ray), keep track of repairs and set up regular inspections and maintenance.
- Facilities Management Industry: Firms that manage office buildings or apartment complexes use FSM software to keep track of repair order tickets, organize their workflow, and hand over correct bills to customers.
- Industrial Equipment Enterprises: As an equipment maintenance business, it’s easy to manage assets, satisfy client needs quickly, offer good service, and, in the end, increase your return on investment (ROI) with software like FSM.
- Construction Industry: FSM is used in the construction industry for several reasons, such as receiving real-time updates from the field, reduced paperwork, on-time scheduling, improved scalability, and many more.
- Fire & Life Safety: FSM software makes it easy to schedule the right technician, and track all emergency, corrective, inspection work, etc.
FSM Digital Transformation
From what I’ve noticed, several factors are driving digital transformation in the FSM industry, such as finding ways to make internal processes more efficient by predicting exact demand, moving towards predictive maintenance, empowering employees, and redefining business models to meet customers’ growing needs. There’s also field service data management, which uses data to solve field service challenges efficiently to create a better customer experience.
I believe that it’s essential to use data to identify your customers’ personas and educate staff about your services. To succeed, companies need to be proactive about field service problems and find ways to improve. They can use analytics to anticipate future demands and connect gadgets that use mobile applications to schedule dynamically, plan routes, and share data.
What’s Oracle Field Service?
Based on my experience, Oracle Field Service (OFS) is an excellent solution for providing effective customer communications, collecting real-time data from the field, anticipating future occurrences, and saving organizational expenses. This platform removes customer ambiguity, surpasses customer expectations, and assures task completion on schedule. OFS saves companies time and money by making it easy for them to manage its inventory. It quickly breaks up long-lasting tasks into smaller chunks that can be done on different days.
Also, I think that field service operations will go more smoothly if management and personnel see what’s happening. If they know everything about their assets, business, and supply chain, they can make unambiguous judgments and better respond to developments they can’t predict. Listed below are some of the top Oracle Field Service features:
- Skill-based routing
- Routing with live maps and directions
- Personalized experience
- Mobile accessibility
- Video calls and peer chat
- Virtual help desk
- Monitor performance and progress
- Third-party field workers
Oracle Field Service Benefits
As mentioned, OFS helps organizations enhance their service and operational efficiency using time-based, predictive, and self-learning technology. This powerful platform decreases the cost per customer interaction and the time it takes to solve a problem without lowering the quality of those interactions. I listed additional OFS benefits below:
- Customer Data Management: OFS provides a customer data hub that improves data quality by cleaning dirty data with CDM. It intelligently matches and removes duplicates.
- Improves Forecasting: OFSC determines how productive you could be during the day. It uses historical data to predict future demand and trends. Identifies skill gaps and areas with the least coverage. Makes flexible bookings based on different criteria. Gets accurate estimates of how long field events will take to finish. Manages quotas by minutes, percentage, or available capacity.
- Improves Fleet Tracking & Routing: Users route resources for emergency tasks automatically. Sequential resource routing strategies are easy to set up. The routing engine is based on time and predictions to meet the needs of your business. All operations can be managed from a single panel or interface. The field force can be seen in real-time from a single point. Data from the field can be seen in a Gantt chart, a map view, or a list view. It has a drag-and-drop interface that’s easy to use and provides recommendations.
- Improves Team Mobility: OFSC uses a browser-based mobile app (iOS & Android) that supports “Bring Your Device” (BYOD) to save money. This app enables easy and smooth form creation and editing. In turn, it makes people more productive by allowing them to view work orders, driving directions, inventory status, staff availability, and collaboration tools.
- Increases Team Collaboration: OFSC enables instant communication and knowledge sharing with co-workers. It streamlines communication between employees for better engagement. Fix problems instantly on the field with video collaboration. Share files and documents for ongoing jobs. Context-driven chat allows quick communication. Send/receive traffic information or meeting reminders to/from the field. Use Oracle Digital Assistant or a chatbot for brief interactions with the field.
- Knowledge Management: This technology helps companies lower the cost of customer service and assistance. It gives customers a great experience and makes agents more efficient and productive by using Al to assign work to the best available resource.
- Monitors Real-Time Location: This feature makes it easy to keep track of the real-time location of field resources. “Where’s My Technician” sends automated notifications to customers. ”Scheduled Appointments” sends automatic reminders to employees. Arrival times are updated automatically based on current traffic conditions. Customers can be reached instantly by SMS, email, phone, or the web. A survey sent to customers after a job is done lets you know if they were happy with the work. It keeps your team safe. The technician’s location is shown on the integrated map.
SoftClouds OFS Implementations
I currently work at SoftClouds, which is a well-established IT consulting and services company that specializes in providing OFS implementation services to businesses. We offer various OFS implementation services, starting with business process analysis. This involves working with companies to analyze their existing field service operations, identify areas for improvement, and create a plan for implementing OFS.
Once the analysis is complete, the OFS configuration and customization process begins. This involves configuring OFS to meet the specific needs of each business, including creating custom workflows and integrations with other systems. Data migration is another critical component of OFS implementation, and we have extensive experience migrating data from existing systems to OFS. This ensures a smooth transition to the new system and minimizes the impact on day-to-day operations.
User training is also essential to OFS implementation, and SoftClouds provides comprehensive training to ensure that employees can use OFS effectively and efficiently. This training is designed to help businesses get the most out of OFS and maximize their ROI. SoftClouds’ OFS implementation services are designed to help companies to streamline their field service operations, increase efficiency, and improve customer satisfaction. By working closely with clients to understand their specific needs,
SoftClouds OFS Use Cases
Several field service solutions have been implemented for diverse industries and verticals. We have thought leadership in the service industry. Our team comprises service and knowledge experts with experience integrating several systems, such as ERP, CRM/CX, Legal, payments, etc.
Client 1 Example:
This client is a smart water cooler manufacturer for flavored and effervescent drinks. Their product doesn’t need disposable bottles or cans with Internet-enabled IoT gadgets for water coolers. However, the client had trouble keeping track of its field technicians’ real-time work and whereabouts. It was challenging to manage several service requests, monitor the real-time location of technician trucks, etc.
Our team integrated OFSC, NetSuite, Zendesk, and internal custom systems to fix this situation. We improved communication with message broadcasts and internal field tech systems. There’s better reporting with a daily extract from OFSC to reporting tools, automated service requests, and dispatched field tech for work orders.
We implemented inventory and truck services tracking. The client now uses Oracle NetSuite ERP and Zendesk CRM systems to hold data about customers, devices, and customer care. Automated work order assignments are now based on technician skills, locations, forecasted scheduling, and resource needs, which has reduced field tech travel time and repeated trips to job locations, etc.
Client 2 Example:
This client is a developer and marketer of medical devices and software solutions. The company started in 1980 and now has over 30,000 workers and customers in more than 100 countries. However, it’s difficult for the company to track the real-time status of its transportation services, warehouse inventories, and service requests.
The company needed to automate service requests and send field technicians to work orders to fix this situation. After using our services, it can successfully track inventory and truck services, send message broadcasts, and improve internal field technician collaboration. As a result, this reduced field tech travel time and revisited the job location. The client has more flexibility in job reassignment and field scheduling, a better inventory management process, etc.
Future of Field Services
In the field service market, clients ask for faster response times and more thorough service calls. To do well in the unknown future, you need to appreciate the power of data and make smart investments in automation and other assets that generate value. Thanks to these predictions for 2023, the future of field service may be unrestricted to where you can drive or fly.
If you make smart investments, you can have a much broader sales territory, faster responses, and consumers who are more devoted to you. Cutting-edge innovations like the Internet of Things (IoT) can make it easier to determine where problems come from and reduce time. Other futuristic examples include augmented reality, 3D printing, virtual reality, digital twins, remote and contactless service, brain-computer interfaces, and more.