Keeping Pace With Service Technology: How Mobile And The Rise Of Big Data Are Changing Everything

Technology continues to shape the service industry, with most respondents reporting that they have made the transition to “mobile-first” strategies. Along with an increasing emphasis on mobile, major growth in the availability of data is allowing service organizations to focus on technology components like machine learning, Big Data analytics, and a predictive maintenance paradigm that envisions an end to the break/fix service model.

A growing number of service executives are recognizing the advantages of a more agile technology procurement strategy in order to take advantage of the pace of technology change. They are selecting to move away from comprehensive single platform solutions, instead choosing to use best-of-breed solutions that help manage the unique needs of their business as a supplement to their ERP platforms. However, as businesses move to embrace agility, there’s an equally potent need for knowledge management tools.

Knowledge management and change management are areas where technology directly interacts with and supports the human side of service. As experienced technicians leave the workforce, knowledge management ensures that their accrued expertise doesn’t leave the business. On the other side of the coin, change management strategies are a vital consideration as the workforce is permeated by mobile and other more advanced technology solutions. With tech adoption being the number one reported challenge related to rolling out new solutions, it’s important to consider ways that new tech can be made more user friendly by modeling it on consumer solutions that techs are likely to be familiar with in their daily lives.