Is Now The Right Time To Replace Your Field Service Management Software?
By Michael Blumberg, president, Blumberg Advisory Group
The market for field service management (FSM) software market is large and growing. In 2017, the market for cloud- based applications was valued at $1.2 billion by Blumberg Advisory Group, and we anticipate that the market will experience a five-year compound annual growth of 22.8 percent. In other words, it will more than double by 2022.
Given the size and growth of this market, it is no wonder that dozens of software vendors are vying for share. Each vendor claims that their software will help field service organizations (FSOs) transform operations, keep up with industry trends, adhere to best practices, increase profits, and maximize customer satisfaction.
These claims are prompting many field service leaders to evaluate if now might be the right time to replace their existing FSM solution. Being rational business managers, field service leaders need logical reasons to upgrade or replace their software. Of course, there are many reasons but some are good and some are not so very good. With more than three decades of experience with this topic, let me share with you five good reasons why now might be the right time to make a change:
- Your current system is costly to operate and maintain. Lets’ face it, if you are spending too much to operate and maintain your existing system, then it is probably time to replace it. Typically, companies that operate antiquated, disjointed, and/or fragmented systems experience higher IT operating expenses than those who do not. I worked with one client whose IT operating expense were 12 percent of revenue (while best in class is 4 percent). The cost savings alone was enough to justify the purchase of a new system.
- Your existing FSM software is hindering growth. Depending on its feature functionality, your FSM software can either facilitate or limit your company’s growth. A few years ago, I helped a client expand into a new service business. Unfortunately, their existing systems did not have the required functionality to manage the transactions and workflow of this new business. As a result, my client had to postpone the launch of the new business until they could replace their system.
- You can’t get good data from your current software. This is one of the most frequently cited reasons for replacing software. If you can’t obtain good data on your installed base, equipment service histories, field service engineer skill sets, cost of service, failure rates, etc., then your company is at a disadvantage because it lacks the business intelligence to effectively plan and manage resources.
- Your current solution is impacting KPIs. Ultimately, the success of your FSO’s ability to meet financial targets and keep customers happy depends on its ability to manage service processes against KPIs. For example, first-time fix, SLA/response time compliance, MTTR (mean time to repair), etc. If your company’s performance trails significantly from industry average or best in class, then it is possible your FSM is to blame. Perhaps its time to consider replacing your current system with one that does a better job and drives performance gains?
- Your current solution lacks flexibility and scalability. It is important that your FSM software can scale up or down without a massive investment in capital or labor. In addition, it should offer flexibility in terms of how workers can share and access data as well as flexibility or openness in terms of the ability to add on third party applications.
There will always be software vendors who offer new and innovative applications to the field service market. The desire to keep up with industry trends and best practices will also drive purchasing decisions. Implementing a new solution can be costly and time consuming, even if the ROI exists. Therefore, the decision to switch should not be made lightly. You can use these five reasons to provide an objective framework for decision making.