Remote Assistance Software: A Conduit For Transformation

By Marc Guthrie, COO of Help Lightning

Like so many industries, field service has seen sweeping change over the past year due to COVID-19. But unlike other industries, field service was already at a serious inflection point when the pandemic hit. The service industry faces a myriad of challenges, including skilled labor shortages, an aging workforce, evolving training methods and cost pressures within organizations, just to name a few. Add a global pandemic and social distancing to the mix and you see why questions abound about field service in the future.

Now one year into the pandemic, it’s clear field service isn’t going back to the way it was before 2020. This means the remote-first approach to service delivery is here to stay. The new normal of remote assistance software is now not only a necessity given the lingering pandemic but also a customer expectation. While the past year has been a whirlwind of change, it’s important to recognize that opportunity has also emerged for the industry and field service technicians.

Remote Assistance Software

One of the most notable trends in the service industry over the past year has been the obvious need for and rapid growth of remote assistance software. While the pandemic has necessitated remote service delivery on a scale never before seen, the technology behind remote support isn’t new. In fact, pre-COVID, organizations were increasingly exploring touchless service and investing in remote assistance software for field service, call centers and technical support. What’s more, the attentiveness of remote support and the speed of resolution already had customer appeal. The pandemic simply thrust the versatility and value of the technology into the spotlight.