Accelerating Field Service Productivity

In a highly competitive marketplace with growing customer expectations, providing a positive field service experience can be a crucial differentiating factor for business success. Respondents to a recent study conducted by the Technology & Services Industry Association list three strategic imperatives for field service organizations: accelerating connectivity, aligning the organization, and moving beyond break/fix. Yet respondents also say labor costs are their greatest challenge. So, how can they improve service without increasing headcount?

While many companies have adopted mobile field service apps to overcome some of these challenges and improve service, these apps often fall short. Multiple point solutions can mean switching between apps—or even devices—during a service call. Sometimes, service technicians still need to resort to paper-based processes, such as capturing customer signatures. Or the mobile app may not connect to the company’s systems of record, which can lead to out-of-date information or require additional steps, such as manually checking parts inventory.

What companies need is a solution that lets them quickly develop and deploy intuitive mobile apps that connect seamlessly with their IT backbone. The solution also needs to be flexible enough to keep up with the frequent changes organizations experience and, most importantly, one that helps service technicians tackle each call with speed, efficiency, and quality. The results can transform a field service organization:

Three (really big) challenges to overcome

1. Technical challenges: There are some clear technical challenges in delivering a great mobile field service application. The app must be able to exchange data with your field service management and ERP applications as well as with your other systems of record. At the same time, it must be capable of working in locations without a steady network connection and synching data with your enterprise systems when back online. The time it takes to provide the app should be as short as possible, and future changes, such as new features and capabilities, should be straightforward to implement. Apps need to be easy to distribute and use, but also secure.
2. Organizational challenges: While everyone wants to do the best job they can to propel the organization forward in its digital transformation, they each have their own goals, KPIs, and priorities to meet, some of which might be in direct conflict with one another. In addition, siloed functions typically limit collaboration between the IT and field service management teams, resulting in apps that weren’t quite what was expected—or needed.
3. Financial challenges: Underlying all of these challenges, of course, is money. Any mobile app solution needs to produce positive financial results in the form of increased profitability, meaning lower operating costs and/or increased revenue opportunities. What’s more, every department has their own budgets to adhere to, and companies must allocate their limited resources according to strategic priorities.

The right platform will address these challenges and fulfill the needs of your field service and IT teams alike to make your organization’s field service department successful now and in the future.

Breaking down barriers, fostering collaboration, and minimizing costs

Now that we understand the different challenges most companies face, we can formulate a clearer picture of how to reach a solution. First and foremost, any solution you decide to go with to deploy mobile field service applications must address the challenges previously listed and also fulfill the needs of both your field service and IT teams. In other words, it’s not just about what you build but also how you build it. Here’s a more detailed look at the requirements each team is looking for:

For the field service team:

The field service team’s overarching goal is to maximize customer service by making it easier for its technicians to do their jobs quickly and do them right the first time. Your technicians need robust mobile apps that are intuitive, with an easy-to-use interface and a single pane of glass into all the information they need to do their jobs well, including customer account details, driving directions, parts availability, step-by-step technical instructions, and access to assistance via preferred messaging platforms. It should eliminate app- and device-switching in the field by consolidating disparate tools into one app on one device of choice. And by providing a great employee experience, field service managers can more easily recruit, onboard, and retain the talent they need.

For the IT team:

The IT team needs speed, flexibility, and security. As requests for digital projects pour in from every corner of the organization, they face a growing application backlog, while development talent is both costly and scarce. They need a way to configure and/or build and deploy robust, secure mobile applications quickly and cost-effectively without sacrificing quality or best practices. The solution should also make it easy to connect these mobile apps with existing field service management and ERP applications, as well as other corporate systems of record and exchange data in real time. In addition, it should facilitate the creation of custom applications that developers can quickly and efficiently update as business needs change.

Finally, to create the best solutions in the shortest amount of time, the field service and IT teams need a solution that lets them collaborate freely across the application development lifecycle. By collaborating efficiently and effectively, the overall cost in bringing to market a well-designed, custom mobile field application that meets the needs of all stakeholders is minimized.

The solution: A modern application development platform

A modern application development platform can deliver all the functionality that field service teams require while giving IT teams the speed, flexibility, and security they need to customize and continually maintain a portfolio of applications that are robust and up-to-date.

Accelerate Field Service Productivity with OutSystems

Field service agents are quite literally the face of your company, so you want to give them the most effective tools possible to enhance every customer’s experience. A modern application development platform can help your IT and field service teams collaborate on and create great mobile field service applications that truly differentiate your business from your competitors. You’ll be able to leverage field services as a revenue generator rather than treat it solely as a cost center.

For companies that want to accelerate their field service teams’ productivity, OutSystems offers a modern platform for quickly developing and deploying best-in-class mobile field service applications that save you time and increase service quality. Unlike other approaches, OutSystems enables companies to quickly deploy and easily maintain mobile applications that are customized for the unique needs of their changing business, while also mitigating risk. A variety of application templates and code accelerators let you easily add the features you want, like work order management, remote communication and collaboration, and integrated data and information management.

Do you want to learn more? Contact with Indigo - your trusted OutSystems integrator - today!

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