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T he term Field Service Management, simply put, stands for the management of field operations. We explain what it means in a narrower sense and where today's challenges and opportunities lie in field service management.

FROM THE VERY BEGINNING: WHAT DOES FIELD SERVICE MEAN?

Field Service Management is derived from, you guessed it, primarily any service that takes place on site at a customer location. The employees of Field Service work 'out in the field'.

A classic example is home maintenance and repairs by service technicians in buildings or on equipment. The term field service is also often used to describe the field service division/business unit of a company.

If the focus of the field service is more on sales and merchandising, the terms field sales and field merchandising is more commonly used. The sales staff who represent, advise, and sell 'in the field' are sometimes known as a field force.

THE GOALS OF GOOD FIELD SERVICE MANAGEMENT

The main goal of field service management is satisfied customers and profitable business. Employee satisfaction must also be a key focus. Good field service management ensures high service quality and makes all field service processes as efficient and cost-saving as possible.

The goals can be further broken down into efforts such as:

• Shortest possible waiting times for customers
• Punctuality and reliability of customer service
• A high first-time-fix rate
• Prediction of maintenance requirements (predictive maintenance)
• High and fair capacity utilisation of employees
• Avoiding/lowering idle times
• Transparent field service processes

An essential role in achieving these goals is played by the optimal scheduling and distribution of all necessary resources (people, skills, vehicles, tools, parts). Therefore, scheduling and route planning in the field are important tasks of Field Service Management.

WHAT MAKES THE TASK SO DIFFICULT

Field Service Management encompasses many different measures to optimise operational processes. The triangle of customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and costs always represents a certain area of tension that must be balanced. If, for example, a company increases the workload of its employees in order to process all customer requests quickly, this can be at the expense of employee satisfaction and the potential to lose knowledge and skills.

In addition, scheduling or dispatching is an extremely demanding task. Careful advance planning of orders is required, in which the scheduler must take many restrictions into account..

Restrictions can be, for example, a specific date for order processing, service level agreements (SLA), the different skills of the employees and their travel times, route disruptions and visit dependencies.

But good advance planning is not enough. Field service management must also be able to react quickly and flexibly to changes in the daily schedule. In reality, there are absences due to illness, last-minute cancellations by customers, new ad hoc orders and delays due to traffic jams or supply chain pressures (such as spare parts).

WHICH INDUSTRIES USE FIELD SERVICE MANAGEMENT?

Field Service Management can be found in many different industries. Utilities, energy supply including gas, water and electricity, the health sector, the construction industry, but also telecommunications are industries in which field service management is used.

Field service staff are also employed in areas that may not immediately spring to mind. For example, surveyors for property and insurance, or employees in mobile facility management are also part of the field service. Here you will find an overview of the industries that use FLS products for field service management.

TODAY'S CHALLENGES IN FIELD SERVICE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE

The biggest challenge in field service management is the 'optimisation' planning of the distribution of resources. Staff and vehicles should be coordinated in the best possible way so that operations take place as efficiently as possible.

The demands and expectations of customers have vastly increased in recent years. Digitalisation is increasingly leading to an 'always-on-demand' expectation with short delivery or service times and highly flexible customer service.

At the same time, field staff are often stressed by increased order volumes, which is where errors most occur. This is a challenge that must be overcome.

Companies are also struggling with the long-standing shortage of skilled workers and rising costs. If outdated, time is wasted through adding more and more 'analogue' processes. Field service management quickly reaches its limits.