What Does Field Service Software Do with All That Big Data?

Blog, Field Service, Service Contract Management, Technology Trends

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Last updated Dec 23, 2019 at 1:43PM | Published on Sep 12, 2018 | Blog, Field Service, Service Contract Management, Technology Trends

Big Data is worthless unless you have the analytics to put it to good use. Every day field service technicians are in the field, driving to job sites, completing work orders, inputting data into field service mobile apps, and transmitting that information back to field service management software. There is a lot of data being collected, and it must go somewhere and be used somehow.

The solution is that it should go into Business Intelligence modules and come out as insightful analytics at the heart of your service delivery. It takes all the information from the field, contracts, projects, accounting, and inventory and turns it into useful numbers, trends, graphs, and data that can help managers make more informed business decisions.

With Big Data being such a hot buzzword in today’s field service market, it’s worth the time to investigate what you are getting from all that data being collected and how the Business Intelligence module inside your field service management software can be a game-changer.

Field Service Software Can Produce Predictive Analytics

The field service industry is starting to move towards a more predictive maintenance schedule on the heels of new technology. An example is the Internet of Things, which gives notifications of equipment failures before they happen, avoiding downtimes.

Wouldn’t it be great if Big Data could do that for your decision making? It can, in fact, as predictive analytics is a practice of analyzing data from the past to predict events of the future. With a field service management software’s Business Intelligence module, you can customize triggers to alert you when problems are arising. It’s like tracking a storm and knowing what to do based on past experiences to prepare before it gets to you.

The impact predictive analytics can have on a field service organization is huge, as it can give managers a warning that problems are arising, so they can make informed decisions to avoid them. Perhaps scheduled service is reducing due to a lack of contracts, the time of year, or you’re constantly running low on parts. Whatever the case may be, with Business Intelligence, you can set up triggers that look at your past data and analyze it to predict the future. This means you’ll know when you need to order more parts or when you will need fewer technicians.

Turn Data into Actionable Insights with Field Service Software

Big Data doesn’t just help you predict the future; it’s also very important to today’s operation. Managers can’t wait for data from the field that is two weeks old, especially if there are decisions to make today. They need the latest analytics to help them make business decisions that have actionable results.

For example, a trigger can be built to warn a service manager about technicians’ excessive travel time. It alerts the service manager, who can then make the changes to schedule practices quickly to mitigate the issue. Before using field service software, the manager never would’ve had that data and would need to manually analyze data for issues like travel time. By then, customers could already be unhappy waiting for technicians to arrive.

There are many different decisions, both big and small, that need to be made daily in field service. All require some form of action to correct them. With complex data turned into useful, timely analytics, service managers can make those decisions quickly and with full confidence.

Field Service Software Ables Better Decision Making

At the end of the day, field service managers want data that allows them to make better business decisions both today and tomorrow. With the growing competitive nature of the field service industry, the days of doing things manually are long gone, including how organizations are using Big Data. In fact, some haven’t even been using it at all, and it is entirely new to them.

Today, one of the major reasons field service organizations are using field service software is for Business Intelligence capabilities to make better and more informed business decisions. No longer do they have to wait weeks for information from the field to be turned into useful and insightful data. Since every missed opportunity in the field costs dollars on the bottom line, getting ahead is well worth it.