How does the Field Service influence the level of maturity of your business?
In the era of digital transformation, organisations in the Services sector which offer Field Services to their clients are at a critical moment. And it is the case that the evolution of the company (in other words, the level of maturity of the business) will depend on its strategy of transformation and adaptation to the needs of this new environment and its degree of application. The best ally to ensure full process automation and offer added value is advanced Field Service software, such as Task4Work.
What do we mean by maturing the business in Field Service companies?
In recent years and taking advantage of technological advances such as Cloud Computing, the Internet of Things (IoT) or the latest generation of mobile devices, a change is taking place in the business model of companies which offer field services.
This change is very focused on overcoming the mere provision of Field Services to turn them into one of the core activities of the company which adds value to the business, to the employees (coordinators, field technicians, etc.) and, of course, to the client.
Several levels of maturation of the Field Services companies are located in this transformation process, defined by the Aberdeen consultancy in a study carried out with more than a hundred companies in the sector:
• Immaturity: companies which can only monitor the technician’s location thanks to mobile devices. Although anecdotal, organisations which still rely mainly on paper to manage their activity could also be included here.
• Moderate maturity: companies which track the location and performance of their Field Services staff. In the opinion of the Aberdeen experts, the factor which determines the boundary between maturity and immaturity is the integration of mobile devices by technicians with higher-level systems, such as Field Services software (such as Task4Work) or business management solutions software (ERP/CRM).
• Maturity: companies focused on several areas, such as data cleaning, the division of business silos, the incorporation of mobile data into participation systems. According to the Aberdeen report, 54% of the companies surveyed are already considered mature.
Along with these levels, other experts also point out the different stages of maturation in field service organisations in their digital transformation process, starting with paper-based management until they become a 100% digital company. According to the expert Steve Wellen there are five stages of maturation:
1. Organisation which is very dependent on paper for the management of processes. This dependency prevents the development of the business: the Field Service company never gets to know the status of their processes in real time and reacts in a very limited way (let’s not even talk about proactivity). To finish, the service teams focus solely on their activity and have little business perspective.
2. Partially automated organisation. The concept of real-time management is getting closer, and the control of your Field Services processes is improved. Field service teams continue to act independently of the rest of the organisation, as they do not align with the overall strategy of the company.
3. Technologically integrated organisation. The different pieces which make up the technological infrastructure of the company begin to fit together, and the processes already flow between the different business areas in a controlled manner. The company is starting to have real-time perspective on its activity, and the collaborative aspect between its different business units is promoted. This new environment benefits the provision of Field Services, the fulfilment of the commitments acquired and of the SLAs.
4. Technologically mature organisation, which turns services into business opportunities. In this environment, Business Intelligence and trend analysis computer solutions play a very important role. And the data and figures which emerge from the activity of services are controlled and analysed with great efficiency, which allows you to offer an important added value to the final customer and competitive advantages in the provision of services.
5. Technologically mature organisation, focused on the client and in constant evolution. The company already has a complete technological infrastructure whose elements are 100% integrated with each other and in permanent update status. In this environment, the capabilities of the Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are used intensively in all company processes, especially those related to field services. The information is constantly analysed to improve performance and add value to the business through innovation applied to products and services.
Task4Work is an advanced software for Field Service Management which drives the digital transformation of companies offering field services. Its complete functionalities, its customer orientation and its ability to integrate with the rest of the company’s management solutions allow the company to pass quickly the stages of the business maturity level.
