¿Qué es la gestión de servicios de campo?

Field Service Management is the practice of monitoring, managing, and optimizing field related personnel and assets that are assigned to install and maintain equipment at remote locations, or to service clients in the field.

To these ends, FSM draws on data collected from the field, from workers, and digitally from technological assets (like IoT), about the conditions and locations of key people and equipment. This data is in turn used to coordinate communication to and between workers, scheduling jobs, assigning jobs, dispatching workers to sites, and managing inventory and assets. To streamline this data, organizations use Field Service Management software.

Field Service Management software benefits service-oriented businesses by making visible in one place all field jobs, personnel, assets, and technical knowledge. The combination of these data points, from asset management systems and remote devices, empower field workers and help efficiently manage resources by providing several key benefits.

• Increased Productivity — FSM software eliminates the need for dispatchers and workers to rely on manual systems that are prone to inefficiencies. Instead digital tools connect dispatchers and workers in real-time improving operational efficiency and worker productivity.
• Reduced MTTR — FSM apps ensure appropriate coordination of resources that reduce the mean-time-to-repair, like assigning the right technicians and tools to the correct job.
• Empowered Field Workers — Field service workers can access essential information and resources through the FSM software which relieves overtaxed dispatchers and managers to focus efforts where they are most needed. Likewise, workers can optimize their own schedules based on the nature of the jobs that they are assigned.
• Lower Costs — Both overhead and field services costs are reduced. Overhead costs are lowered by system wide efficiencies, such as better scheduling, easier dispatching, accurate inventory management, and better communications. Overall field services costs are saved because data insights make anticipating downtime exceptionally reliable, in turn increasing asset uptime and lowering the number of maintenance visits.

Ultimately, field service management is important for companies to stay competitive as business continues to see changing work patterns and intensifying customer demands. New entrants who are technology-first driven have greater advantages over incumbents that do not adapt.

FSM technology enables companies to reduce their operational, and administrative footprint, while providing communication and information sharing features for mobile workers and dispatchers that not only increase their efficiency but provides a platform for the company to confidently scale operations.

While FSM technology intensity brings greater efficiency and control to field service operations, the following trends highlight the importance of field service management with respect to a changing business environment.

• Work Patterns Have Changed — Work patterns are shifting from traditional office jobs, and traditional work hours. Now, many companies are going to customers in the field to fulfill job requests. This has led many workers to release their schedules from the 9-5 mold, and in many cases return time to workers as companies can now prioritize work output rather than time clocked. Not so for companies that rely on transitional FSM tools though.
• Workforce Demands More Satisfaction — Many FSM packages highlight the benefits for company performance; however, field workers also demand a better standard of workflow efficiency that provides them real-time scheduling so that workers can reclaim their time and agency. Because workers want to move to sophisticated companies that offer a better work experience through advanced technologies, companies need to consider their workforce needs as a major factor in their operational strategies.
• Data As An Asset — Advanced data analytics has turned seas of data collected by companies into actionable insight. And the trend has moved to one of convergence between modern management systems by way of integrations. By combining and coordinating data from multiple systems, for example CRM with FSM, and ERPs, systems can anticipate needs across several functional areas and plan accordingly.

Field service management is applicable in many asset-intensive industries that require coordination of field service technicians.

• Manufacturing — In industries like automotive, aerospace, equipment, industrial products, and consumer products, asset downtime means decreased productivity. To prevent this, qualified field technicians are assigned to jobs and dispatched for maintenance. FSM software establishes maintenance schedules based on historic asset performance data and predicts if and when an asset will begin to fail.
• Transportation — Technical documentation is vital for service technicians. FSM can integrate with other systems, like computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), and provide specific access to the myriad of documents to help them solve problems in the field.
• Energy and Utilities — Energy and utilities are challenged with vast field assets and need to rely on geospatial information from remote assets to coordinate crews throughout the service territory, for time-sensitive mission critical operations.
• Oil and Gas — Oil and gas companies are under extreme pressure to comply with health and safety regulations. At the same time these companies can demonstrate compliance using FSM software, they can reduce costs, and increase asset performance.
• Government and Municipalities — Government agencies operate extensive field operations and face multiple challenges with scheduling and coordinating very large work forces and extensive capital resources.

1. Field Service Management Software Systems Empower Mobile Workers, Dispatchers, and the Company — Implementing a software system that provides workers and dispatchers greater job predictability, work autonomy, communications, and information access is a best practice that elevates team and workflow efficiency. Efficiencies translate into time and cost savings, as well as greater customer satisfaction and company capabilities.
2. Listen to Field Service Workers — Instituting feedback systems from field service workers is a best practice communications channel for understanding problems that ripple throughout the entire company. Identifying and documenting service delivery bottlenecks, training gaps, and operational inefficiencies, from the people on the ground often reveals insight that can go unnoticed by management.
3. Integrate Software Packages with Field Service Management Systems — Companies that find value in the data they collect in the FSM systems should consider integrating other data into their analytical practices. Combining systems like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) with FSM data can reveal resource planning insights that help managers make more efficient decisions.
4. Listen to Client Feedback — With the degree of visibility into workers and job progress provided by FSM systems, companies should avoid forgetting about customer feedback. Possibly soliciting an outside perspective can uncover radical improvements that go unnoticed by field workers.