Editor’s note: Sumair Duta (chief customer officer at The Service Council) and Susan Tonkin (product marketing manager at ServiceMax from GE Digital) recently co-hosted a webinar about three big technology trends that will shake up field service this year. The following post by Dutta elaborates on those trends. It originally appeared on The Service Council and is republished here with permission. 

At CES in Las Vegas, we saw a lot of new gadgets and tools on display. It seems like this year the focus will be on the pending 5G rollout, artificial intelligence (voice recognition, autonomous vehicles), and wearable devices (glasses, fitness trackers). It’s always good to track what’s happening in the overall consumer electronics space as it’s typically a precursor for what’s likely to happen in the enterprise.

A lot of our time is spent analyzing field service trends. For the most part, we expect organizations to continue on their paths towards becoming more intelligent with service performance data in order to:

  • Improve the predictability of their businesses
  • Enhance the efficiency of field service delivery
  • Uncover revenue opportunities during customer contact

Here are three additional areas that I am keeping my eye on during 2018.

Mobile as a Data Point

When we think of mobility, we always think of the information available on a device. But we don’t think of the data that can be captured at the point-of-service and how this data can be incredibly impactful in building a predictive service organization.

Video in Learning and Development

Most organizations are looking to reduce the time it takes their new hires to be productive. Taking away some classroom based learning and putting that online is one step that a large number of companies are undertaking. The popularity of video as a learning medium (think DIY with YouTube) also offers a new channel for dispersing knowledge and information to field service technicians.

Layers of Dispatch Avoidance

Organizations want to minimize the occurrence of avoidable dispatches. Improving first-time fix is one way to address this problem, but there are other opportunities for organizations to properly diagnose incoming service requests for appropriate dispatch-less service scenarios. These scenarios could involve self-service or assisted technical support.

Are you seeing different trends? Let us know by taking The Service Council’s “2018 Field Service Trends” survey.

Click here to view the full webinar recording. 

 

ABOUT Sumair Dutta

sumair duttaSumair Dutta is the VP of product marketing at ServiceMax. In this role, he helps shape ServiceMax messaging and positioning to support customers and prospects. Previously, Sumair worked closely with leaders of service businesses to define and shape their service vision while working hand in hand with implementation teams to execute on established service plans. Sumair is a thought leader in the field service and service management spaces and has conducted numerous research projects in the areas of field service, customer support and business strategy. He brings more than 15 years of experience in studying, analyzing and guiding field service organizations, first at the Aberdeen Group and most recently as the chief customer officer at The Service Council.

VIEW ALL POSTS BY Sumair Dutta
468

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *