What Lies Ahead?
Future is an idea that comes to everyone’s mind in almost all aspects of life. For the service industry, the forerunners and the current leaders have been constantly pointing out the shortcomings of the service providers due to various dependencies. Everyone is sure about one thing though - the field service roles are changing. There are other aspects of the field service industry that require an understanding of the field service agent’s psychology - what do they want based on the stage of the life they are at? How do you retain them to enable them to operate at an optimum level? Indeed, there are answers - multiple layers of it. Amongst all the discussion, the point that they all come down to is that equipping ourselves for the future of the field service workforce will be one of the toughest hurdles in the upcoming future. However, that does not mean there are no ways to tackle the problems. Let us dive into the five key points that will enable your business to sail through the upcoming storms and see the sunlight.
Reform
The change in the field service industry is evident. It has been changing over time and it will continue to do so. You must understand the role shift for your workers and the types of tools that are going to help you serve your customers. What does it indicate regarding your needs and wants for now and in the foreseeable future?
In today’s dynamic market, field service agents need more soft skills to thrive and establish themselves as trustworthy to strengthen customer relationships. Such a case is here to stay so the time is now for you to plan what services your company will offer.
Maybe you will have to enhance the current role of your technicians based on the industry needs or perhaps you have to create new roles as you dive deeper into the future of the service business. How do you know what you’ll need? Maybe a track record of your reformation in your and others’ business model and also forecasting what is yet to come can give you a better insight on analyzing the missing links and ultimately lead you to plan your business progression and human resource development.
Calibrate
When you understand the present scenario of your business and what requirements are there to fulfill the type of knowledge, skill sets, and competencies, you may move on to recruiting and headhunting. During this process, it is ideal to keep in mind your past strategy and your plan for the future. What kind of soft and hard skills will your service providers need to have to excel in the future of the service market? Change your job analysis accordingly. If they need to use future-oriented and dynamic field service software such as Custella, you might want to onboard and train individuals who are interested in technology and are adaptable to changes. Moreover, they must also be apt in relationship management because, at the end of the day, the field level technicians represent the firm and nothing retains customers more than a good bonding with their service providers.
Getting ready-made talent is not always a common event. Especially at a time when technology is constantly changing, so are the requirements for knowledge, skills, and competencies. To adjust to the present, you have to put in the effort to build the kind of technicians you want at your disposal and in the long run. Realign your training and development strategy to meet your business goals.
The fundamental aspect of calibration is to craft a brand persona that is attractive to your future employees. Once you create an ecosystem where people would be willing to work, you will find it easier to find a multidimensional pool of candidates. But having access to them is not going to be enough - constructing a retention strategy that will keep those talents is equally as important, if not more.
Leverage
Along with globalization came the gig economy. People are now able to do much more from any part of the world. This has a lot of advantages for both the employees and the employers. Imagine your start-up with a limited amount of talented resources who require constant vigilance in the business operation. However, there is email marketing and content writing that need to be done to keep your presence in the international arena. What do you do? You reach out to freelancers or someone outside of the organization who is willing to put in the work. Letting your in-house tasks have enough bandwidth will let them have room for training and development which will wind up improving their skill sets and experience.
In terms of field service technicians, there are various types. Perhaps the ones who handle the sensitive part of the service can be done by employees of your organization while the other tasks may be delegated to a third-party workforce who will boost your efficiency.
Automate
It is quite evident that the future of service requires automation. In a fast-paced environment such as the service industry, a way of optimization can only happen through developed technology. One question to answer is how can you prepare your field service agents to adapt to such technological shifts and better serve your customers. What can you do to keep track of valuable information for giving ease of access to future resources? In a world separated by diseases and other unavoidable hindrances, how can technology help you cater to your target customers better?
All this can be answered by using software that gives you real-time data on the progress of your employee, your inventory levels, forecasts, financial analysis, and so forth. This way, doing remote work will boost the efficiency of your business. At the same time, the ease of use will also be felt by your customers if the automation is implemented on the customer’s end to enhance the customer experience. A few examples that we can see in recent times are online pay, food delivery, and shopping. Needless to say, empowering your customers can truly make a positive impact on your business.
With every passing day, technology is reaching greater heights. It will keep on doing so and it is people such as yourself who can strategize and combine your field service team and advanced techs to promptly answer the needs of your organization.
Create
Similar to most dimensions of service reformation, the discourse that takes place to innovate the layers of services requires creativity. There is no “by the book” solution to this question and that is the beauty of it. As mentioned earlier, the service industry keeps on changing and so should your business strategy, workforce, and other resources. Perhaps one way of triggering new ideas is not by looking at what your competitors are doing but how other players outside of your industry are spearheading innovative shifts to drive their businesses forward. To truly build a fool-proof plan (or close to it) will need you to create ideas that others have not thought of. Understand your boundary spanners, build a new culture, and experiment with challenges that nurture your workforce to create value for your service organization and the people you serve.
Still have more questions? Check out more FAQs on our website here. You can also get in touch with us below from the link below; we are always happy to get back to you for any queries regarding your business.
Need a field service management application like Custella? If you’re in Malaysia, Indonesia, or the ASEAN region, drop us an email to schedule your demo: ask@custella.com.
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