Can The Public Sector Keep Up With The Field Service Transformation?

By Boris Glushkov, Canalix

Field service technology has been evolving for years. But just like many digital transformation fields, it accelerated after covid-19. The acceleration caused public sector organizations to focus their investments on technology. On the other hand, which led to the adoption of new digital transformation approaches.

The modular digital transformation approach is an excellent example of the recent changes in the digital adoption models in the field of the public sector. It is particularly valid for field service management. Even though the public sector is usually slower in rethinking its processes (compared to the private sector), the pandemic changed that.

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The Factors That Shape The Public Sector's Modular Digital Transformation Approach

Multiple forces are shaping the field service management market. The market offerings focused on the public sector are strongly impacted by the demand for low-risk and fast result solutions, the ability to harness Big Data, and the complexity of the fieldwork.

How are these impacts strengthening modularity?

• The public sector wants solutions with minimized risk and potentially quick wins. Identifying an area of the field service operations that can be transformed fast and deliver visible outcome results is at the foundation of the modular approach. Adopting digital transformation solutions in a sequenced way also has more attractive pricing for the public sector. The early wins often serve as evidence of the endeavor's potential success and its following steps. That makes the long-term transformation strategy more sustainable and predictable.
• The public sector is a Big Data operator. With new technologies, public services endure transformation. That makes organizations strongly oriented toward cloud-based platforms as a reliable means to create efficient data processing and use insights to design improved field service models - for example, designing optimal field schedules with less travel time between jobs.
• Field service work is very complex. For example, the performance of critical inspections on-site requires highly qualified individuals who need particular certification depending on the job. At the same time, there is a demand for new skills, which leads to the ever-present problem with scheduling the right inspector for the right field inspections in a world of constant certification criteria changes. Embracing digital solutions not by replacing entire systems but by simply adopting external modules helps organizations face field work's ever-evolving complexity. That's why it's a preferred digital transformation path to the public sector.

Why Should The Public Sector Adopt Field Service Technology - Modular Or Not

 Public sector organizations such as regulatory agencies are constantly under pressure to cut operational costs and improve efficiency. That is where technology can help; more particularly field service technology such as inspection management software, resource scheduling software, etc. Let's look at Jobtimizer's case study of how they helped a U.K. regulator leverage efficiency by adopting a resource scheduling software as a module integrated into their existing system.

The problem: A U.K. regulator must find a solution to make the most of its inspectors in a balanced and cost-efficient way without hurting the workforce's productivity. However, they didn't want to rip and replace their existing system. They required a solution to enable them to achieve with a slight change significant impact on services. They started working with Jobtimizer and followed their modular digital transformation philosophy.

 The challenge: Making a small change with a significant impact is not an easy goal in regulatory site inspections. After a close analysis of the regulator's issues - overbooked schedules, frequent rework, frequent overtime, etc. it became clear that improving isolated areas of operations like the resource scheduling could have a considerable positive impact on the performance.

The Solution: Typically, public sector organizations that adopt field resource management solutions like Jobtimizer can benefit from more than just optimizing resource scheduling. The only thing that's required for that is a good digital transformation strategy. Starting with a single module that can deliver quick wins makes a solid foundation for following a long-term optimization plan. And this is what overall makes the modular approach a winning tactic. Jobtimizer's clients are mainly public sector organizations, and depending on the level of transformation each of them has adopted, their benefits from field service tech are up to:

• Up to 75% of field service submissions that can be processed automatically and up to 60% reduction in process time
• Up to 50% reduction in field service report writing time
• Up to 40% reduction in the total traveled distance between field service jobs
• Planning of field technicians, inspectors, etc. Reduced from days to seconds
• No wasted time by wrongly skilled technicians send on-site

The degree of optimization varies because Jobtimizer enables organizations to configure their solutions according to their specific goals.

What Part Of The Public Sector Uses Field Service Technology?

Field service technology is used in the regulatory sector to transform inspection management operations. They are widely used on the central level and local level as well. Catching up with the evolving field service technology requires public sector organizations to acknowledge that there is a better way of managing their staff's work time. Approaching such transformations in a sequenced way is a good tactic that ultimately brings cost savings, efficiency improvements, and improved public services.

About The Author

Boris Glushkov is a digital transformation expert in Canalix - Advanced Inspection Management Platform. His expertise is to help public sector regulators to adopt transformational efficiency improvements. With configurable data and rules-driven casework automation and AI-optimized task orchestration, Canalix is transforming field inspection in line with the best-known practices.