Field Service News & Technology Roundup is our blog series, where we feature the latest interesting field service and technology insights impacting field service organizations.
2020 entered with a bang in terms of field service news and technology. This year is already shaping up to be quite interesting. Our VP of Technology wrote a blog detailing 2020 predictions across field service and asset management that I highly recommend reading.
In our first Field Service News and Technology Roundup of 2020, topics span the evolution of construction, insights from Gartner, and GIS.
Top trends: 5 Ways Construction Will Evolve in 2020
Source: Construction Dive
Author: Joe Beeton, Editor at Construction Dive
Like practically every other industry field service businesses operate in, construction services is undergoing a digital transformation of its own. Namely, automation is moving beyond the controversy to adoption. No, automation will not steal your job. The goal of automation is to help increase the efficiency and effectiveness across field operations.
In Construction Dive’s 5 Ways Construction Will Evolve in 2020, Joe Beeton presents a fact-filled breakdown of the trends they expect to see over the course of the year. Automation is the headliner here (at least we think so here at Field Squared, of course), which is very interesting for a number of reasons.
Unrelated to what your business does or not, this is a great article to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening. Read it here.
What Does GIS and the Octopus Have in Common?
Source: Energy Central
Author: Bill Meehan, Director, Utility Solutions at Esri
The title of this particular article from Bill Meehan caught our attention. While you’ll have to read the story to find out what GIS and octopi actually have in common, it’s an intriguing article that covers a real life example of a particularly bad habit common in the utility space.
Meehan includes a few key industry statistics as well as an exercise utilities companies tend to go through for pattern recognition.
In general, this is an interesting piece and one you may want to check out. Get the full story here.
The Evolution of The FSM Market – Is Your Organization Keeping Pace?
Source: Field Technologies Online
Author: Bill Pollock, Strategies for Growth
Over the many editions of this series, we have included articles by Bill Pollock. A service industry expert, Bill consistently provides fact-based articles. His latest insights on the evolution of the FSM is no exception. In fact, I think he goes a step further, by including results from Strategies for Growth 2019 Field Service Management (FSM) Benchmark Tracking Survey.
I found the following statistic particularly intriguing:
“…one out of six companies (17 percent) are running their services operations through a series of manual processes (i.e., typically piggy-backing onto a CRM or sales management application, augmented by the use of Excel spreadsheets and Post-It Notes, etc.).”
Pollock mentions that has decreased from the previous year, but it’s pretty incredible.
Read the full article for all the insights.
Smart Cities: A New Look at the Autonomous-Vehicle Infrastructure
Source: IoT For All
Author: Guest Writer (unnamed)
If you’re like me, you can make associations across seemingly disparate concepts, topics and, generally, things. On that note, the article, “Smart Cities: A New Look at the Autonomous Vehicle Infrastructure,” on the surface may seem like it has nothing to do with field service or asset management, but it does. How? In a word, automation.
As a leading field service automation software provider, Field Squared broke down barriers much like the autonomous vehicle industry is currently navigating (no pun intended).
Taking a different view on the challenge ahead, the author discusses how cities of the future can be developed or adapted to better interact with autonomous systems. Read the full article to explore this bleeding edge technology.
How To Increase Your Field Efficiency In 2020
Source: Field Technologies Online
Author: Mark Percy, VP of Technology at Field Squared
2020 is the year you will make a change, I just know it. Whether you plan to take the first step in your digital transformation journey or you just finished, learning the best ways to increase efficiency in the field should be a goal.
In Field Technologies Online, our VP of Technology, Mark Percy, 3 things to consider as you make your plans for 2020. I won’t give the entire article away here (it really is worth reading), I will say number two—providing the right tools and technology—may have the greatest impact on field efficiency. It seems so obvious; however, technology is still an afterthought for most field service businesses.
If you read no other article from this months’ issue, this is the one to read in-full.
Be a Digital Transformation Pioneer
Source: Gartner – Smarter with Gartner
Author: Lisa Bigelow, Contributor
One of the best sources of technology insights, Gartner continually provides compelling research. Their latest article by Lisa Bigelow, “Be a Digital Transformation Pioneer,” hits all the right notes.
You may be asking, what even makes a disruptor? According to Bigelow,
“…in order to disrupt, these CEOs need to surround themselves with people who adopt a pioneer mindset. With leaders united in the belief that digital transformation is inevitable, there is a unique opportunity for the CIO to influence the executive committee in exciting new ways.”
Bigelow also outlines three methods to try. I found the second method to be most telling: challenging fundamental “truths.” I liken this to stopping group think, in a way. If you’re not open to challenging your assumptions—individual or company-wide—you can’t effectively evaluate all the possibilities.
This is another must-read article and you can read it right here.
3 Predictions for Field Service, Asset Maintenance and Mobile Workforce Management in 2020
Source: Field Squared Blog
Author: Mark Percy, VP of Technology at Field Squared
To kick off the new year, we take the time to write up our predictions for the year ahead. 2020 was no different, with our 3 Predictions for Field Service, Asset Maintenance and Mobile Workforce Management in 2020.
If you read our 2019 predictions, you’ll notice a stark difference between our predictions for 2020. This year, we think artificial intelligence (AI) applied to scheduling field work will be the highlight. Along with our two other 2020 predictions, this is a great post to get up to speed on where the field service operations market is headed. Check out the blog here.
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Image Source: Unsplash by Keith Misner