What is Field Service Maturity and How Can You Achieve It?

by | Jun 19, 2020 | FieldFX

Field service maturity is all about organizations graduating from basic and manual field tasks to automated field service management processes. These processes take place within a centralized digital platform. Being able to transition from performing field services via paper tickets, to delivering resolutions that are optimized via technology and big data, is the key to achieving field service maturity. This maturity, once achieved, supercharges a company’s ability to resolve customer concerns – not just on the first visit, but also with any issues beyond what is cited in the work order.

A field service organization has achieved full field service maturity once it successfully utilizes field service management technology to significantly enhance operational efficiency in all levels and processes, resulting in a decrease in operational costs, accelerated turnaround time, and more satisfied, happier customers.

A “mature” field service enterprise or any company that relies on field service management boasts some or all of the following:

  • Instant access to reliable, updated data;
  • Maximized allocation of resources;
  • Highly transparent and faster billing;
  • Effortless and clear communication, both internal and external;
  • Real-time data gathering and reporting;
  • Accelerated, data-driven decision-making;
  • Improved audit trail and accountability.

However, many organizations have yet to ascend to high levels of field service maturity.

Companies Need to Scale Up Their Field Service Maturity

According to several reports, more than half of companies across the world still perform the majority of their field service manually, with paper tickets and similar methods. Only 48% of organizations leverage field service management software to help them centralize and manage all their enterprise assets, personnel, data, transactions, schedules, and customers. (On top of that, 77% of field service enterprises still use on-premise service solutions instead of migrating to the cloud.)

As technology continuously improves, clients elevate their expectations and become less forgiving of miscommunication, missed appointments, and operational mishaps. Thus, it becomes crucial for field service management organizations to embrace new technologies that enable them to track and coordinate their field resources and personnel, establish and maintain a strong line of communication to their assets, and grant them access to real-time information whenever their field personnel needs it.

If your field technicians have these advantages, they can receive work orders, collaborate with other agents, schedule deliveries, make quick adjustments to their tasks, communicate with decision-makers, submit detailed reports, and access relevant information, all in real-time while in the field. They become well-equipped to deliver service that adds great value not only to the organization, but to their customers as well. 

Achieving these levels of digital sophistication can act as a powerful differentiator when enterprises are looking to stand out from their competitors. To get there, enterprise organizations have to climb up the field service maturity ladder and attain a level where field service management becomes seamless and effortless.

The question: How exactly do enterprises move toward achieving full field service maturity?

The 5 Stages of Field Service Maturity

Stage 1: In its most basic form, the field service team is perceived as a purely reactive entity. They receive the work order and perform their tasks based on the instructions given to them and the information they are supplied with. There is little visibility into the workflow, and operation is extremely siloed. 

Stage 2: The second stage of field service maturity is marked by part-automation and near real-time management. Teams are less reactive as visibility enhances. This means field service KPIs are available, enabling teams to establish procedures and processes. However, teams fail to totally align their KPIs, rules, and processes to the overall business strategy. Operational silos still exist.

Stage 3: Integrations of various techniques, such as field service management software and cloud tools, help teams to achieve real-time visibility into their operations and across all their elements. Collaboration and communication between teams and departments is greatly improved. The level of accountability also rises. This paves the way for bigger operational growth for the organization. At the same time, it enables companies to deliver and realize service promises and SLAs.

Stage 4: Field service teams at this stage are able to leverage and optimize technology in a way that converts field service to more business opportunities. By utilizing trend analysis and true business intelligence, field service teams identify room for continual operational improvement, contributing greatly to the growth of their business while further improving the customers experience.

Stage 5: The pinnacle of field service maturity is achieved when field teams and organizations are able to integrate and utilize emerging technologies of IoT, AR, AI, and Machine Learning as they become the norm. These technologies enable organizations to achieve and enjoy enterprise-wide connections and constantly apply data analysis to enhance performance, improve efficiencies of all processes, and continuously innovate their services and products to meet customer requirements – while remaining compliant with policies and regulations, and aligned to their overall strategy.

FieldFX from LiquidFramweworks can help organizations in their journey to reach the summit of Field Service Maturity, via its extensive selection of field service modules- which can operate without an Internet connection. Each module can operate as a stand-alone platform designed to address unique field service management needs, or integrate with one another to form a comprehensive suite. FieldFX can be customized to provide your enterprise with a top-level field service management solution to handle all facets of field service operations, including enterprise asset management, scheduling and dispatching, e-ticketing, CPQ, invoicing, field service forms, data analytics, and time cards.

Contact LiquidFrameworks for more information on FieldFX or schedule a demo to see how it can give your field service management a boost. Click here or on the image to read the top 5 stages of field service maturity.