Mobility In The Field Services Industry

Utilities are getting squeezed on both the top and the bottom lines as the industry is undergoing more and more disruptions. As a result, efficiency is a key focus. Customer satisfaction is another major focus, particularly for the regulated utilities. The pressure on efficiency means that there is an increasing focus on worker productivity. The use of mobile technology and applications can deliver significant productivity improvements by enabling the workforce to do more work faster, and in real time, and to have continual access to critical information. 

In 2014, about half of all utilities were considering, researching, or piloting mobile device initiatives. Utilities are providing mobile apps for delivering generation plant safety protocols, conducting energy audits, repairing wind generators, and tracking wildlife habitats. In addition, there is considerable potential for utilities to tap an ever-greater mobile-aware customer base to, for example, upload videos from customers showing storm damage and other field events. There is also growing interest in real-time video capture for online issue resolution for greater field worker productivity. In an asset-intensive industry where time to resolution and customer satisfaction are paramount, the opportunities for real-time video are increasing. 

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