FieldAware announces the release of, “Benchmarking the New Normal From Year Zero”, a state-of-the-industry end-user survey report that sheds light on how COVID-19 has forced field service providers to focus on growth versus survival in the industry.
FieldAware, the leader in made-for-mobile, cloud-based field service hub solutions, today announced the release of, “Benchmarking the New Normal From Year Zero”. This state-of-the-industry end-user survey report examines insights from over 200 service organizations. The new findings shed light on how the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing field service providers to focus on growing their business instead of merely surviving.
Read More: DMS Launches New Digital Advertising Technology To Support Latest Consumer Shopping Trends
Published in partnership with Field Service News, the only business journal globally dedicated to the field service industry, the 21-page report shows that over the next 12–18 months, almost three-quarters (73 percent) of field service providers are focusing on business growth. Yet, 78 percent of respondents are under pressure to reduce service costs or improve service levels due to the pandemic’s impact on their customers.
In fact, today, due to investments field service companies have made into their business’s technology, the majority (73 percent) can access asset data remotely, and (66 percent) can now offer some form of advanced, preemptive outcome-based service offerings.
“Our industry is led by passionate and creative professionals who work in partnership with their customers to use innovation and technology to address their evolving needs,” said Steve Mason, COO of FieldAware. “It is now clear the most singular effect the pandemic has had on our industry has been to accelerate widespread creative service thinking and facilitate the rapid adoption of innovative technologies to resolve what would otherwise be insurmountable challenges.”
Read More: Zuza Releases New ECommerce And Online Ordering Platform With Contactless Payment Functionalities
“We are truly on the cusp of a new era of field service as our industry has been accelerating the development of new innovative offerings built upon cloud services, advanced analytics, and mobile applications,” he added. “What COVID-19 did was put a strong catalyst in place to focus our efforts on rapid adoption.”
The report is the first of two based on comprehensive quantitative primary research derived from over 200 field service management professionals. It examines the financial impact of the lockdown, the changing dynamics of customer relations in a post-pandemic world, the continued focus on customer excellence, the shift to outcome-based services, the emergence of hybrid remote/on-site service delivery models, the introduction of a new era of connected field service, and more.
The study did find many field service providers (57 percent) have faced challenges and experienced issues with customers being unable to pay because of restricted cash flow and continued cost reduction pressures. Nonetheless, it also revealed that field service providers continue to work in partnership (78 percent) with their customers. This finding is fundamental to the formulation of new innovative service offerings and their successful adoption by customers, which is a sign of optimism that the post-pandemic recovery period will go well.
“For months, our industry has wondered what the future will look like, and now we know — a move to preemptive outcome-based service offerings, hybrid remote/on-site services, and a renewed focus on empowering field resources to quickly resolve issues and mitigate service disruptions,” said Mason. “The good news is that field service providers can leverage best-of-breed innovation from multiple sources within the FieldAware service hub to meet market demands, placing them in a strong position for growth over the next 12-18 months of recovery.”
Read More: 8×8 Recognized As Intelisys Supplier Of The Year For Second Consecutive Year