Heading a field service company can be a challenging task. Especially when your major goal is to offer rapid, efficient, and effective repairs to your clients, but owing to COVID-19, the traditional manner of conducting business took an unexpected turn in 2020.
In a flash, firms were forced to limit — or even stop — in-person field service trips. The pandemic wreaked havoc on the field service sector, and every field service firm has likely reevaluated its business model in some manner since then. One such change that has been brought about is the implementation of automation in this sector.
Impact of automation trends on business
Sales force automation software automates the time-consuming but important processes of selling, freeing sales crew from mindless, repetitive behind-the-scenes work and allowing them to focus on what they do best: selling. Sales force automation, unlike other business solutions(that cater to certain zones), applies to all sizes of organizations. Consequently, whether you are a one-man operation operating out of your garage or an employee of a large corporation with hundreds of items, Such software assists in shortening sales cycles, thereby improving sales and thus increasing productivity.
What to expect in the new decade
With changes happening by the minute in today’s world, we can expect a lot of changes in the field of field force automation. Some of them are elucidated below:
Integration of AR and VR
Customers may have regarded remote service visits in the past as a waste of time, believing that it was quicker for a professional to come to their location. Customers are already accepting new technologies as a result of COVID-19, allowing businesses to assess new processes and procedures with the long-term objective of making them permanent.
A technician, for example, can utilize augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)-based applications and tools to get information about the item they’ve been assigned to services, such as maintenance history and diagnostics, without having to disassemble it. Instead of dispatching a second team, your firm may utilize augmented glasses to connect the initial technician with a secondary team working at a central location in cases when a technician has been deployed but runs into difficulties or requires a second opinion.
AI-run business processes
Customers benefit from digital tools, and technicians benefit from them as well. Subsets of claims are still addressed by dispatching employees to make in-person service visits, but customer-technician communication is still required from the first maintenance report through repair. Field technicians should have excellent mobile applications to connect with consumers within the Field service management software, according to providers. Only 30% of field service firms will be prepared to implement AI-based decision assistance in their field service management platforms by 2022. This capacity gives you a huge competitive edge, and as the field service team becomes more mobile, you’ll need better mobile apps to connect with customers and track their status.
Inclusive workforce
A mixed workforce is defined as a workforce that is made up of both employee technicians and independent or third-party contractors. It gives field service companies the flexibility and capacity they need to provide high-quality service. Service providers may easily scale and develop to the needed capacity or area by combining field employees, saving time and money on hiring and training. Field service businesses can send the appropriate expert to the right task at the right time thanks to the flexibility of a mixed workforce paired with intelligent management solutions, resulting in enhanced customer satisfaction and improved operational efficiency.
Network tracing
Network tracing can be quite a broad term, but it would be best simmered down to the topic of discussion here – Business networking. Every business and the people concerned with one would have a vast connection of networks. Such can be either professional connections or a cluster of conglomerates that can help run a business smoothly. A field network can be as vast in the vertical scheme of a business process. A manufacturing company can have different entities working for them across various processes. Packaging – Transit, – delivery – each of the legs can be handled by a different business entity under a contract. Such is a network of the manufacturing entity. Though the field service trackers have a minimalist tracking of such a notion, it is still combined as a single arm of the service provided. This might change in the upcoming years and can help the customers understand the level of proficiency that each of the contracted businesses brings to the parent company.
Field service for Home needs?
AI-aided home utilities have come a long way in today’s world. Right from apps running home music to intelligent cooling technologies in your home refrigerator – things look rather progressive in the home automation scene. But there are certain limitations to them at this point. What if a field force automation solution can step in ways that can change the way we shop groceries and fill up our everyday needs at home? Imagine this – What if a sales force tracker app can keep tabs on the quantity of food required for the household and can order a said amount of rice for the month on its own? We do agree there are plenty of applications in the play store or the apple store to track your edible stocks at home, but we do not have one yet that can plan and keep the inventory going. Imagine your app being able to book a can of water or a pack of vegetables based on the balance between the dwindling stock and the household requirements?
The future’s uncertain and full of surprises. As a wise turtle once said – “Tomorrow is a mystery”. The aforementioned points may be a predicament of where the field force automation ideas are heading towards, but a slight deviation can result in something bigger or better! Change is constant and the biggest investment today is the investment in the future. Are you looking to bring about transformation in your business? Connect with Happisales for a demo today!