This whitepaper discusses the modernization of field service technicians through mobility solutions, highlighting the challenges faced without mobility and the significant benefits of adopting mobile applications. It emphasizes how mobility enhances productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction by enabling real-time information exchange and streamlined processes. The paper also details critical features that field service mobile applications should have and presents a real-life scenario to illustrate their effectiveness.

1. A RapidValue Solutions Whitepaper
MODERNIZING FIELD SERVICE TECHNICIANS WITH
MOBILITY SOLUTIONS

2. Contents
Executive Summary 03
04
04
05
06
08
07
11
12
02
Life without Mobility
Benefits for the Service Technicians
Benefits for the Business
The Significance of Field Service Mobility
Typical Scenario
Technology Impacting Field Service Technicians
Conclusion
About RapidValue
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©RapidValue Solutions

3. Executive Summary
We tend to juggle multiple activities during the day by placing high expectations on ourselves. To complete
all daily tasks, we constantly focus on improving our productivity. The situation is similar with service
organizations. Service organizations are constantly looking for ways to make their staff more efficient,
provide better service to their customers and improve profitability.
More recently, service organizations have begun to recognize the importance of integrating mobility solutions
into their corporate strategy. From the head of operations to sales personnel, mobility benefits everyone by
extending productivity beyond the confinement of the office. According to Gartner1
, by 2018, 70% of mobile
workers will use a tablet or a hybrid device with tablet-like characteristics. Aberdeen Group2
predicts that
63% of leading service organizations will invest in mobile tools as a key strategy to improve field service
performance.
Mobility helps service organizations resolve issues faster, enabling them to attend to service requests
immediately and fix faulty parts on time for their customers. This prompt response has a high impact across
the ecosystem of the organization - from field service technicians to service managers, business managers,
executives and customers. An effective mobility solution can improve overall productivity by 30-40%, and
profitability by 20-25% for the service organization.
This paper addresses the significance of field service mobility, drawing upon RapidValue’s experience helping
companies succeed in the rapidly evolving mobile landscape. It first examines the life of a service technician
without mobility, including the challenges technicians face on-site and problems customers face due to
delayed service. It then describes the critical features that should be part of your field service mobile
application, and factors to consider when making a decision. The paper also examines a real-life scenario
that puts the concepts described here into practice.
03
Source:
1. Gartner Report - http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2207915
2. Field Service 2013 - Workforce Management Guide by Aberdeen Group
http://proddownloads.vertmarkets.com.s3.amazonaws.com/download/4c4d2f66/4c4d2f66-8fdf-45bc-8a8c-a19500961931/original/aberdeen_groups_field_service_2013_
workforce_management_guide.pdf
©RapidValue Solutions

4. The Significance of Field Service Mobility
Life without Mobility
A typical service management company comprises various roles, including the service manager, dispatcher
and technicians. For all these roles, responsiveness is the most critical KPI. Field service companies need to
attend to customer calls and service schedules in the most optimized manner. The field service workforce is
mostly in the field and travelling to customer calls for most of the day. Field service managers need to
schedule and assign service task to various technicians, and ensure timely, efficient completion.
In order to optimize service scheduling and execution of field service jobs, as well as to improve
responsiveness, service management organizations have to overcome a few major challenges:
Lack of Real-time Information: It is imperative for a field service technician to know in real-time the
service jobs and tasks assigned to them. The technician needs to be updated on any change in tasks,
inventory stock look-up and location details of customer. A technician carrying work orders on paper will
need to make phone calls inquiring stock updates from the customer site or might have to work overtime to
close a task reported late. Likewise, field service managers and dispatchers need to ensure that the right
technician is at the right place at the right time. They need to know where the technician is and the status
of his job for quick assignment and scheduling of customer calls.
Reduced Productivity: Reporting of work by field service technicians from the customer site is done
manually using a paper-based approach. Any material, labor or expense reported on the customer service is
scribbled onto the service sheet and sometimes takes days to get invoiced. When technicians receive a new
task for a customer, they might not have the exact location or directions to the site, and may be unable to
contact the customer by phone call or email. And executing the job at the customer site can become very
difficult if the service history for the same or similar customer or problem is unknown.
Low Customer Satisfaction: Delayed response and multiple visits to resolve an issue have a negative
effect on customer retention. Manual work reporting and invoicing can lead to delays and errors, and
dissatisfied customers.
Reduced Profitability: Field service operations incur increased service cost due to repeated travel to the
same customer, multiple visits to the same location and duplication of effort resulting in increased overtime.
Manual work reporting results in delayed and erroneous invoices, resulting in losses.
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©RapidValue Solutions

5. Benefits for the Service Technicians
1. A field service mobility solution allows service technicians to complete the tasks in a more
streamlined way.
TRADITIONAL PAPER-BASED VS. SMART MOBILE-BASED APPROACH
Prioritize
customer
requests Allocate
resources
Find location &
directions using
map
Access service
history, replace
parts, capture
customer
signature
Print customer
request
Review customer
details captured
manually on paper
Complete remaining
paperwork
Upload closed order
into ERP system
Return to
workplace
View customer
request
Start
End
2. The solution converges all devices and technologies used in field service operations into one device
and the latest technology.
Service Request
Management
System
Mobile Phone GPS Device
Digital Signature
Capture
Monitoring
System
Invoice & Billing
Device
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Paper-based approach
Mobile-based approach
©RapidValue Solutions

6. Benefits for the Business
Field service technicians are mostly in the field and travelling to customer service calls. As discussed earlier,
this results in delayed information to technicians and also makes it difficult for service managers and
dispatchers to know their work progress and current status. With the advent of mobile devices, field service
technicians and the back office can now remain connected with real-time information exchange. Mobile
applications for field service management have simplified field service operations through improved data
collection and real-time reporting using devices with integrated GPS systems, cameras and barcode
scanning. Some of the significant changes that field service mobility brings to a service organization are
listed below:
Improved Productivity: With the advent of mobility, technicians and the back office are well- connected.
There is no information leakage. Technicians can report work from the customer site, take sign-off and
initiate invoicing, thus speeding up the process. Technicians get real-time updates of new service jobs, tasks
and inventory. Using GPS functionality, they can locate the coordinates and driving direction to customer
locations, improving responsiveness to the job assigned. When they need assistance, technicians can
collaborate or find a solution quickly using a knowledge base of previously reported services or similar
problems.
Increased Profitability: The organization can cut down on service costs by reducing unwanted travel to
the same location and duplication of effort due to manual processes and lack of real-time information.
Executing tasks using a mobile device improves the “first time fix” rate and avoids repeated travel and
overtime. Since work gets reported on time using mobile devices, it results in timely and accurate invoicing,
improving revenue for the company.
Enhanced Customer Experience: The ability to receive alerts for tasks created, respond to assigned
tasks promptly and resolve issues from the customer site improves the customer experience. Instant
invoicing and the ability to capture the customer’s digital signature increases their satisfaction.
Branding and Professionalism: Field service organizations that have equipped their technicians with a
mobile phone or tablet to execute work are viewed as more professional by customers and provide better
branding for the company.
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©RapidValue Solutions

7. The following diagram illustrates a real scenario of a service technician visiting a customer site while
equipped with the RapidValue field service tablet app.
1. The field service technician is on a job in the field.
2. The technician receives an alert from his manager to meet another customer in the same location.
3. The technician accesses the field service app to get customer service request details, driving
directions and warranty information.
4. The technician locates the customer site via the map feature.
5. The technician at the customer site resolves the issue and generates the invoice.
6. The customer makes the payment electronically. The technician updates the payment details and
closes the service request using the app. Customer information is automatically updated in the
database at the technician’s office.
Field Service Manager
at Service
Organization
Accesses customer
service request data is
through the tablet app
Technician resolves the
issue, generates invoice and
captures customers signature
through field service app
Service request is closed with
customer billing & payment
details automatically updated
in database
Customer Location
Service Technician on field job
Finds
custom
er location
through
M
ap
feature
Send
service
request through
alert to
technician
on
field
Typical Scenario
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©RapidValue Solutions

8. Technology Impacting Field Service Technicians
According to Gartner (Report 2013), field service applications should be able to achieve five objectives.
These objectives range from receiving requests for and scheduling field service technicians to a mobile
interface complete with GPS, and the ability to support many different field service models, from reactive to
preventive services.
Based on RapidValue’s experience, a mobile field service application should include:
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©RapidValue Solutions

9. Map Integration Field technicians generally have to visit
multiple places for service every day. A
mobile field service solution should be
able to:
Travel time and fuel costs are important
parameters which impact the cost the service
operations.
With maps integration:
DescriptionFeatures Significance
– Display task locations on a map
– Prioritize and sort tasks based on
distances
– Help the technician navigate from one
location to another via the shortest
route
– Technicians can prioritize tasks based
on distance, which helps to cut down
on fuel costs
– With navigation capabilities, the time
taken to travel is optimized
Parts
Management
An important aspect of field service
operations is spare parts management.
In most cases, the technician ends up
replacing parts. A mobile field service
solution should be able to:
Access to a parts list is critical for solving issues
in the field. With parts management enabled,
– List the parts which are relevant to the
product being serviced
– List the availability of parts in the local
or central warehouse
– Service technicians are aware of the parts
required
– Enables more accurate time estimates to fix a
particular issue
– Improves technician productivity and customer
satisfaction
Knowledge Base It is unrealistic to expect each technician
to know the solution to every problem
which a customer encounters. Any
unsolved problem generally leads to low
customer satisfaction. A mobile field
service solution should be able to:
A knowledgeable service technician makes all
the difference when it comes to customer
satisfaction. Mobile knowledge management
helps:
Invoicing &
Customer
Signature
One of the most common issues in
service management is customer
invoicing. Inaccurate customer invoicing
leads to customer dissatisfaction and
delayed revenue for the organization. A
mobile field service solution should:
Service operations are a major source of
revenue for enterprises. The ability to ensure
revenue is realized quickly and reduce customer
complaints on invoices is critical for any
enterprise. When a mobile service solution
enables invoicing with the customer signature:
– Provide the service technician with a
knowledge base where the technician
can look up on similar issues and see
how they were resolved
– Provide the service technician with a
way to interact with their back office
or experts in that particular field.
Peer-to-peer video conferencing
improves collaboration and
problem-solving
– Service technicians solve customer issues in the
field and dramatically improve first-time fix rates
– Service technicians improve their knowledge of
service operations
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©RapidValue Solutions

10. DescriptionFeatures Significance
– Allow service technicians to enter parts
and labor details from the field
– Allow technicians to capture the
customer signature to get a sign-off
for invoicing
– Parts and labor data enter the invoicing system
from the field, saving time and avoiding errors
– Since the customer has signed-off on the invoice,
customer dissatisfaction with the billing cycle is
minimized
– The enterprise reduces revenue cycle time and
improves business performance
Alerts &
Notifications
A major reason for customer
dissatisfaction is when SLAs are not met.
A mobile service solution can ensure
that technicians have all the information
they need, when they need it. At the
same time a mobile solution should be
able to:
Escalation management is key in service
operations. A manager should be able to
pre-empt escalation scenarios and prepared to
handle such scenarios.
With alerts & notifications:
– Alert the service manager when a SLA
is not met or no action has been taken
– Notify the technician when a new task
is assigned or a task priority has
changed
– SLA adherence can be improved
– Priorities are managed more effectively,
increasing customer satisfaction
Smart Task
Assignment/
Scheduling
The key to managing service operations
is to assign the right technician to the
right issue. Priorities are different for
each customer and have to be handled
on a case by case basis. A
comprehensive mobile solution can help:
Assigning the task to the right person helps
ensure high levels of service delivery. Using
smart scheduling:
– Managers view the real-time location
of all technicians
– Communicate with technicians in
real-time
– Customers receive better service within agreed
SLAs
– Location-based assignments minimize fuel costs
and maximize operational efficiency
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©RapidValue Solutions

11. Conclusion
Mobility provides service organizations with faster issue resolution, allowing you to address service requests
immediately and close service requests instantly while reducing time and cost for the organization. This high
responsiveness has a positive impact for field service technicians, service managers, business managers,
executive management and customers. Overall productivity for the service organization typically improves by
30-40%, and profitability by 20-25%.
Before adopting a field service mobility solution for your organization, consider four important factors:
usability, security, integration and scalability.
If you’d like more information on field service mobility, you can write to the authors:
– Evaluate the present field service performance and identify the features required to improve your
business
– The designed app should be simple and easy to use. A solution for iOS and/or Android is preferred,
as these are the most common devices
– Find out what integration is required such as backend ERP, Warehouse and CRM systems, and what
security layers are required such as passcode protected, etc.
– The solution should be scalable and able to support additional users as new technicians join the
organization
– Abhijit RC, Senior Consultant- Enterprise Mobility – abhijitrc@rapidvaluesolutions.com
– Naveen C, Business Development Manager – naveenc@rapidvaluesolutions.com
– Kavyanidhi N, Marketing Manager – kavyanidhin@rapidvaluesolutions.com
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©RapidValue Solutions

12. About RapidValue
A global leader in digital transformation for enterprise providing end-to-end mobility,
omni-channel, IoT and cloud solutions. Armed with a large team of experts in
consulting, UX design, application development, integration and testing, along with
experience delivering projects worldwide, in mobility and cloud, we offer a wide range
of services across industry verticals. We deliver services to the world’s top brands,
fortune 1000 companies, Multinational companies and emerging start-ups. We have
www.rapidvaluesolutions.com www.rapidvaluesolutions.com/blog
+1 877.643.1850 contactus@rapidvaluesolutions.com
February 2014
offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and India.