Understanding The Current Field Service Landscape

Field service organizations (FSOs) are going through a dramatic evolution from primarily reactive operations that are viewed as a cost center by management to much more proactive businesses that are an important — and in some cases primary — revenue center in industries where margins on sales of new products have been cut to the bone. With this evolution comes much opportunity but also a unique set of challenges for today’s service organizations to face.

Customer Expectations Are At An All-Time High

At the core of it all, customer expectations are high, and the service experience has become a critical differentiator for field service organizations. That technicians should arrive at the right location, on time, and equipped with necessary tools and parts has become table stakes both for FSOs and technology vendors that help to automate their operations. Service providers also need to add value by offering more proactive maintenance and service, customized service agreements, and a flexible and agile service chain that can respond quickly to customer requests. Customers today expect a service experience from field service organizations similar to what they receive from many consumer-facing services, such as Uber and Netflix. Today’s field service organizations are tasked with keeping up with these growing customer expectations and demands.