The field service landscape is, currently, a very interesting and evolving industry. However it is affected by volatility and is in a state of, technology driven, disruption. Indeed, as new and advanced technologies come to the fore, businesses need to constantly adapt, or risk getting left behind.  Continue Reading..

In the summer of 2013 and again in November of 2014, Field Technologies interviewed David D. Douglas, VP of service management at Scientific Games, regarding his company’s use of a service management solution from Astea along with iPhones and iPads to optimize its mobile operations. David shared with us an overview of Scientific Games’ field service initiative, and then gave some tips for post-deployment success. Since we last spoke,...  Continue Reading..

Do you have a large number of vehicles in your fleet? Is unplanned fleet vehicle downtime your biggest nightmares? If your answer is an anxious yes, then you need computerized maintenance management systems in your company. Since fleet downtime would also impact your costs and profitability severely, you must aim to minimize it. Let’s see 4 ways to do so.  Continue Reading..

A lot of water can wreak havoc on wireless communications – that’s one reason using RFID tags on chemical drums and other liquid-intensive applications has always been a challenge. So you can imagine that trying to wirelessly communicate underwater would be difficult. Manufacturers have created a number of proprietary acoustic systems to overcome that hurdle, but they are largely not interoperable.  Continue Reading..

Market maturity in field mobility applications has continued to improve in recent years and as such, these initiatives become more central to organizations’ strategy and differentiation. As a result, project steering committees are made up of a wider group of people from the organization, which unfortunately dilutes the focus on the challenges faced by remote fieldworkers. One example of this are projects where the ability to work out of...  Continue Reading..

Techies, and even the average user, that favor Apple devices almost always do so with extreme conviction. Not many Apple fans are lukewarm about why they use and love the company’s products. What exactly would cause a hardcore Apple fan to stray from the platform? Neal Ratner, manager of business innovation at Applus+ Energy and Power, is here to explain.  Continue Reading..

The pace of activity around the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the field service space continues to accelerate. We’ve written about these trends before (see our previous blog on service/IoT convergence here), as major technology providers like GE, Oracle, Salesforce, and others have announced initiatives.  Continue Reading..

I spent last week in sunny Palm Springs soaking up knowledge on the latest field service trends at Field Service USA. Joined by hundreds of field service leaders and dozens of cutting-edge technology providers, the week was spent discussing the topics most relevant to the industry today. While there will be many articles coming along based on conversations I had at the event and lessons learned from sessions I attended, I wanted to quickly recap...  Continue Reading..

Power Pro-Tech Services (PPT) specializes in the service and installation of distributed power systems. Over the past five years, the company has experienced rapid growth – more than 15 percent per year. With field techs operating in 22 states and a number of acquisitions over the past five years, PPT is no stranger to some of the pains that accompany rapid growth. While these pains fall into the category of “a great problem to...  Continue Reading..

NetMotion Software and Samsung announced a new security partnership that could help better protect enterprises using Samsung Galaxy Android devices.  Continue Reading..