Field Service management is all about keeping track of a company’s resources and assets that are geographically away from the company premises. This could include tracking and coordinating employees working out in the field, management of customer portals, tracking of company cars, employee/customer information and so on. The software components could differ depending on the dealings of each company.
The primary motivation for any company to have an FSM software is to integrate on-site activities with fieldwork effectively. This is for accounting, billing and other office duties. A company dealing with contractors many of whom are always in the field will find FSM software to be instrumental if they are to remain on the competitive edge with competitors.
The beauty of FSM software is that while one company’s FSM software could have most of the main features that such software is expected to have, it could be lacking at least one other feature that a related company could be possessing. According to Gartner, the rate at which FSM apps have penetrated the market is approximately 25%, and the revenue generated from the same is cited to grow at an annual compounded rate of 12.7% as from the year of his research-2012.
Some of the industries that have adopted FSM technology include companies with highly disseminated operations like mining, transportation, and refineries. This is because these industries deal mostly with fieldwork activities that demand monitoring to optimize productivity. Other sectors where FSM technology is prevalent include but not limited to the following:
- Cable and telecommunication industries.
- Healthcare industries
- Landscaping companies
- Property management
- Construction Industries
- HVAC
Mobility of FSM Software
The ability to remotely communicate with workers in the field using this software’s mobile computing features has seen companies up their productivity, improve customer service and loyalty as well as streamlining the entire workflow. With mobile computing enabled software, a company can automatically locate a vehicle in the field, schedule and track drivers’ hours of service and so on.
What mobility can achieve when integrated into the FSM software:
- Provide the company with mobile work status analysis
- Minimize administration costs for field service management on paper companies and data entry
- Optimize productivity
- Reduce gaps in the billing cycles
- Maintain an online audit record that complies with regulations
Benefits of Field Service Management Software
- Enhancing automation
As mentioned earlier, an up-to-date field management software streamlines the workflow in a company and does this in an automated fashion by carefully running in sync all the field activities and office work. The software’s ability to plan and schedule to-do tasks minimizes operation costs as well as reducing time wastage.
- Improved Real-time Responsiveness
One of the main advantages of the FSM software is the ability to respond earnestly to emerging issues happening in the field. Field-work experience is full of surprises, ranging from changing weather conditions, workers falling ill, which require replacing the worker with another and such as odd occurrences. If there is no real-time communication with your staff, there is a likelihood of work ineffectiveness in case such incidents arise. FSM software offers this real-time kind of communication, allowing the company to plan, schedule, and respond to any surprises that could occur in the field.
- Proper Coordination
Having FSM software means that the work relation between office staff and field staff is well planned for and there are no gaps in the field service cycle. This is because the software will coordinate how the equipment will work, design work orders, schedule reminders for upcoming projects among others.
- Enhanced oversight monitoring
The software’s GPS capabilities improve oversight monitoring of the work happening in the field. It is possible to know if all the workers expected to be in the area are physically present. FSM Software has a structure and system consistency that makes it possible to facilitate regulatory compliance.
There are inexhaustible advantages that are tagged along with the use of FSM software as far as office-field work is concerned. Today the software has adopted mobile compatibility to support Android, Windows, and Apple iOS enabled devices. With this successful feature, it is possible to take photos and videos of activities happening on site, track GPS coordinates, and perform the real-time mapping, which works like a GPS tracking device. Field service management software is the foundation of the future’s Artificial Intelligence.
