Has there ever been a better time to be employed as a field service engineer (FSE) or technician? Having been an FSE in the past and spending most of my time now with FSEs and their management, the answer is definitely “No.”
In today's highly competitive and increasingly demanding economy, businesses of all types and sizes are being forced to search for a cost-effective means for identifying new markets and establishing programs for penetrating and cultivating them. In most cases, the business development manager has to scramble to implement the most current, state-of-the-art market development tools to support the overall effort. But sometimes the most valuable tools may already be present within the organization, and this is particularly true with respect to the services sector.
Service and sales are more interconnected than ever before, especially in an era where the customer has a wealth of information and competition is abundant. To add another strategic weapon in a company’s playbook, the entities of service and sales must merge into one point of contact: the customer service representative (CSR). The CSR, existing as a voice in a call center, or the other end of an online chat, provides multiple touch points with a loyal customer each year and also has the power to up-sell and cross-sell products and services without adding organizational costs.
Technology and process are the foundation of your service delivery model. The appropriate use of technology will allow you to build an efficient model that can scale to meet your clients’ needs. If you fail to leverage technology as the foundation of your delivery model, you will miss an opportunity to stay competitive in the market. Many service organizations fail because of their inability to leverage technology. As a result, it is important to fully understand your technology options as you build and adapt your service delivery model.
There is a phrase I hear over and over when field service personnel greet each other and sometimes when they greet customers – “I’m living the dream.” It’s a sarcastic phrase, and one I dread hearing. To me, this phrase exudes drudgery, working for a paycheck, and boredom. It’s used in a sarcastic sense, but do we know if technicians are truly excited about their work goals, or in this stagnant state? You may be thinking I’m simply making the point to spice things up a bit for motivation. I like the idea of spicing things up, but there’s a bigger issue here.
TruGreen faces a massive field service and route management challenge every day. The Memphis, TN-based company merged with Scotts LawnService in 2016, creating the largest lawn care company in North America. The company serves more than 2.3 million residential and commercial customers in the U.S. and Canada and operates 315 branches and 40 franchise locations. Its fleet of 7,000 vehicles is routed to more than 100,000 jobs every day.
Driessen Water has leveraged new field service automation software to improve efficiency and is saving thousands of miles through route optimization.
Field Technologies talks with Mike Rysavy of PCM about going above and beyond for customers with the help of an ITSM platform that enables proactive service delivery and rapid execution.
More changes have occurred in the field service management (FSM) segment in the past 12 months than in the previous 12 years. And the changes — or what I like to refer to as the “deltas” — are only going to manifest themselves faster and more pervasively in the next 12 months moving forward. This is truly the era of change for FSM, as well as for the services organizations in the industry.
Mobile app development has helped Centra Windows automate processes from the field to the factory and save hours of manual administrative work.
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