Field Mobility 2016: Learn How Your Peers Are Leveraging Today's Technologies

By Field Technologies magazine

Welcome to Field Mobility 2016! This is a report we’ve done once a year for the past few years to present data from our audience members on the technologies they’re currently using, what they’re looking to invest in next, and their interests in terms of the current trends and topics related to field mobility. It’s always interesting to me to see how our audience is leveraging the technologies we cover, and the feedback I receive lets me know that it’s also very valuable to you to understand how your peers are transforming their businesses with technology.

While this report takes a look at our audience’s use of field technologies, it’s important to understand WHY companies are making the investments they describe here. There has been a huge shift in the service industry in recent years that has had a ripple effect on technology investments. That major shift is in the perception of the service function. A couple of years ago, service was perceived as a cost center and was treated as such in that it often operated in a silo; service organizations often had trouble getting buy-in on technology initiatives or investments, and so on. Now I’m not saying some service organizations don’t still face those challenges, but by and large, the service function is now viewed as a profit center. Companies have come to understand that service is the road to differentiation and profitability. As such, a lot has changed for service organizations — including buy-in on the importance of technology use and investments. With that major shift in thinking, let’s take a look at some of the drivers for companies investing in the technologies covered in this report.