From Field Service, Bill Pollack discusses the potential for companies who need to manage remote service technicians to use outsourcing platforms. Bill writes:
In the past, staffing and managing a field service workforce was relatively straightforward: Field service leaders recruited, hired, trained and strategically placed their service technicians in the regions where their customer base existed. But in today’s highly demanding environment, workforce management is much less simplistic.
Back in the day, almost every major platform, device or piece of equipment had its own set of metrics by which services organizations could track performance over time to ensure that the customer’s equipment was always running as efficiently as possible — and with as little downtime as could be tolerated.
Today, however, the services market has changed dramatically, largely the result of several key factors:
- New technology (e.g. more reliable equipment that doesn’t fail as often as it did in the past)
- Volatile economics (e.g. economic peaks, valleys, crashes and busts)
- Emphasis on technical skills (e.g. training, certifications and specialized skills necessary to repair equipment that rarely fails)
The ‘Gig Economy’ Takes Hold in Field Service
As a result, many services organizations, especially at the enterprise level, are now overwhelmed by the demands typically associated with recruiting, hiring, training, managing (and paying) their field technicians. In response, some service leaders have decided to get out of the business of performing services in-house — even on their own equipment.
“…many services organizations, especially at the enterprise level, are now overwhelmed by the demands typically associated with recruiting, hiring, training, managing (and paying) their field technicians.”
In the current cost-sensitive and hyper-responsive service market, even the most sophisticated and progressive services organizations often find themselves struggling to effectively deal with the scalability aspects of managing an internal field workforce. The challenges are often far too steep for service leaders to manage effectively, which typically ends up diminishing performance, slashing customer satisfaction and, ultimately, costing the business money.
“The next few years will see a tremendous shift in how companies manage and find talent, in particular those who leverage freelance talent heavily,” says Diego Lomanto, vice president of marketing at Work Market, which provides end-to-end workforce solutions to help companies manage the freelance work stream..
Read the full story at The Gig Economy: A Solution to Field Service Hiring Woes?
