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The life of a service technician isn’t easy.
When I was a child, my dad used to work as a service technician, which meant that I wouldn’t see him for a couple of days because he had to travel to another country to fix some complex machinery. My dad dealt with a daughter who cried every time he had to leave, but needed to get that machinery up and running as fast as possible.
Twenty-five years later, COVID-19 has forced the field service industry to rethink the travel plans of technicians. Travel restrictions and safety-first guidelines are rapidly changing the way field service organizations operate.
Field service industry evolves amid COVID-19 travel restrictions
In the wake of COVID-19, service companies are looking for new ways to serve their customers, without the need to send their technicians or engineers on a long business trip.
They especially want to avoid sending a technician to just plug in a cable.
I remember being surprised when my dad returned from a four-hour plane trip and said: “Well, that was a waste of time – the only thing I had to do was to plug in the machine back to electricity.”
That would happen occasionally, he explained: “I never know what the problem of the machine is, only when I arrive on-site I can get the full scope of why the equipment is down.”
The field service industry never wanted this unnecessary travel to happen before COVID-19, but now it must be avoided at all costs in the “new normal” we face today.
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Industries like discrete manufacturing, industrial machinery and components, high tech and medical equipment, and many more operate on a global scale. Customers expect reliable, real-time service.
How can field service organizations create an on-demand global service workforce to fulfill customer expectations when travel must be kept at a minimum?
Here are three steps they can take:
- Expanded ecosystem of experts. By leveraging on-demand workers, field service organizations can expand their service teams with external partners, subcontractors, or other local service experts. Crowd service solutions extend the workforce to ensure customers get reliable service and quick resolutions.
- Equipping technicians with the right knowledge. Digital field service solutions give the external workforce access to all the tools, knowledge, and training they need to execute service with the same quality as an internal service technician would do.
- Innovating with AI and AR. With field service management software that incorporates artificial intelligence, service providers can ensure the right person is at the right place at the right time. Even if the task is very complex, there’s no need to send a service technician across the globe. Augmented reality technology makes it possible for customers to connect with an experienced service technician who can give guidance to solve the problem.
Travel restrictions due to COVID-19 are a huge challenge, but they are also an opportunity to improve the business model. By extended their workforce with external technicials, service providers not only boost customer satisfaction, but save money and to decrease CO2 emissions.
And maybe there is another child of a service technician who is happy that their dad or mom doesn’t need to go on long business trips anymore.
