The Evolution of Field Service Technician

The evolution of the augmented reality field service is nothing if not a testament to the evolution of technology, as we know it. At one time, the field service technician was little more than a service provider — someone who provided a service to a customer then went on his merry way. Today, however, the field service technician is someone who has become a trusted advisor on all things a business needs from a provider. Let’s take a look at this evolution, and how it’s paralleled to the evolution of field service technology as a whole.

Field Service Technicians: Then and Now

• There’s a major reason why the role of the field service technician has changed so much over the years, apart from the growing technological changes: companies are switching their focus to customer service, and are counting on their field service technicians, in a way, to deliver the full experience.

• According to a report by Aberdeen, 63% of the organizations that they polled are relying on the field to deliver their value. What this, then, means is that the field service technicians can’t just be knowledgeable in their field of expertise. Rather, they also need to be receptive to the customers’ needs and wants and be in tune to that when they are both fixing and up-selling products.

• Let’s take a cable television as an example. When the technician is called out to the field to repair a faltering service, that technician should listen to the customer’s complaints — and compliments — about the service he or she ordered, and use that feedback to provide an informed upsell of services. Field service support software makes it possible now.

• So, if the cable television field service technician finds out that the customer has an affection for movies and home improvement shows, he or she can suggest that the customer upgrade his or her service to include premium movie networks and home improvement network packages. In this way, then, field service technicians are becoming all-inclusive in their products and services offerings. In other words, it’s no longer just about going into a customer’s home, doing the job, and going home — it’s about being a full-fledged representative of the company.

Technology Empowers Field Service Technicians

• Before the existence of field service management (FSM) software, the technician’s tasks were manually tracked by other employees. Even granting the best of circumstances, this meant that their work could have been — and, often was — misrepresented or otherwise mistaken, undervalued, and even under-reported. Even as computer databases started to enter into the business, they were still subjected to human error.

• But all of that changed when FSM software came along, thus providing both increased productivity and accountability for field service employees and management.

• The same report from Aberdeen reported that FSM software and field technician software do a lot more than just empower the employees of an organization — it actually entices younger field service workers to come and work for the company. What’s more, statistically speaking, if a company does not deploy some form of FSM software, they run the risk of not enticing younger workers to their organization. And, if a company fails to entice younger workers to their organization — especially as the older ones retire out of the company — they run the risk of failing altogether.

• Technicians that have access to FSM software report that they can access data in real-time, which allows them to have access to all types of customer information in addition to providing them with safety and information that will make their job easier.

• Alstom is one such company that saw an increase in employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and productivity when it began deploying FSM software. Alstom, which was recently bought by corporate giant GE, is one of the biggest and best manufacturing companies in the world thanks to their smart use for FSM software and augmented reality field service software.

Data Mobility is Essential in the Field

• As today’s augmented reality field service continues to become more mobile, FSM software has to become just as mobile as well.

• Ian Heidt, CEO of HouseCall Pro — which was one of the first to integrate their FSM software with mobile technology — says that mobile technology is now essential for growing companies, even as the technology continues to evolve. “To arm technicians with tools to complete the business process on the spot, such as mobile apps that offer digital automation, eliminates administrative work and maximizes operational efficiency. Further, mobile apps offer organizational connectivity, through built-in communication platforms that can increase the effectiveness of operations,” he said.

• It, therefore, stands to reason that mobile technology will continue to transform field service technicians, and vice versa.

Blitzz’s FSM Technology is Mobile and Evolved!

One of the things that we, as a company, take pride in is our ability to evolve with the times and adapt our FSM technology to accommodate the needs of today’s empowered field service technician through visual support. Our video-powered remote assistance platform is customer-centric, data-driven, and offers exceptional support.

How Live Remote Assistance is Transforming Support & Service Teams?

Live remote assistance technology delivers many benefits for support and service teams. Visual video and chat platforms allow employees to use a customer-centric workflow that’s designed for efficiency and solving problems during the first service request.

Empower Field Service Technicians

Field service technicians may discover problems that weren’t identified before they went to the client site through a field service management software. If they aren’t familiar with that situation, they can connect with relevant experts back at the home office. You avoid wasting the client and technician’s time when you don’t need to send a specialist to the site.

They see exactly what the client does if poor communication fails to reveal the real source of trouble. The technicians have the opportunity to prepare themselves for the scope of the project and the field service managers know what to expect when they head out there.

Minimize Travel

Unnecessary truck rolls cost your organization a lot of resources. Not all service requests require someone on-site. Live remote assistance and a field service management software allow field service managers and engineers to determine the scope of the issue and whether existing field resources can resolve it.

Even if technicians need to head in, you learn more about what the client needs help with. This information prepares the field service team in advance so they bring the tools they need to improve their first-time fix it rates and the time to resolve. The client’s satisfaction goes up as a result of these efforts. Over time, your NPS shows positive trends due to a better experience.

Record Answers

Your technicians don’t need to start from scratch for each service request. A video and chat platform for field service that supports recording gives the team access to a visual knowledge base. They can quickly access this content through a self-service portal rather than calling the home office or pulling a field service engineer away from what they’re doing.

These recordings from the real-time video streaming software also form the basis of your field service team’s training resources. New employees get to see job duties in different contexts. They can compare the way that they accomplish tasks at various categories of job sites, helped by the video references.

Personalized Assistance

Field service teams may run into unconventional situations that require out-of-the-box solutions that they’re not familiar with. They can get the exact assistance that they need with the help of live remote support from the remote access software through augmented reality glasses. For example, they may end up talking to the original field service engineer that designed the system so they know exactly how it’s supposed to work.

Automatically Route to the Right Technician

Standard customer support technicians may not have the expertise required to help a client that has an unusual use case or a complex issue. Live remote assistance tools route these service requests to the field service engineer & field service technician who are familiar with the case or specialize in that area.

Real-Time Speed

A centralized communication platform for live remote assistance speeds up the field service and support process. No one has to wait for calls or search for client chat records. Everything is available in one place and field service techs can reach the home office in real-time.

Live remote assistance opens up the door to field service technician empowerment. The field service teams can do more without requiring additional resources, due to the efficient use of personnel on-site and at the home office.

​ Field Service Engineer vs. Field Service Technician – What’s the Difference?

Field service engineers and field service technicians both head out to job sites to address issues that the clients encounter. However, they have many differences in their responsibilities, the skills required, their backgrounds and how much they get paid.

Job Duties

When a field service technician arrives at the site, they have a set of predetermined, specialized tasks to accomplish. They have extensive training in this area and work on their own or with a team by using remote it support. A technician reports to a manager that assigns them their job duties. They document everything that they do and ensure that tools go back to their proper positions at the end of the day.

A field service engineer, on the other hand, has a more strategic role at the job site. They may oversee the work of technicians, schedule in personnel as needed, design systems with available resources, optimize operations at the job site, handle emergencies, train technicians and create a maintenance schedule. They’re also responsible for generating reports for the clients and managing on-site communication. They also use augmented reality field service.

Background

Field service engineers have more extensive educational requirements than technicians do. Many employers look for four-year degrees or more with their engineers, while technicians can get started with an associates degree.

Additional certifications and training may be required for certain types of work. For example, mechanical engineers can learn more about how to design and maintain specialized machines. Technicians can become engineers over time through hands-on experience and continuing education courses and workshops. Companies may offer the training in-house or give employees opportunities to learn at schools and seminars. They also receive training on live remote assistance.

Salary

The salary of field engineers and technicians vary significantly based on the industry that they operate in. Computer hardware engineers, for example, earn an average of $115,080 per year, while mechanical engineers only bring in $84,190. Technicians of all types earn less than engineers, with a median of $62,190 salary.

Field service engineer salaries reflect the greater responsibilities that the role has. They are often in a leadership position and critical for resolving issues reactively and proactively to ensure smooth operations. The field service technicians at the client site report to the engineer to get their schedule and to report concerns.

Skill Sets

Field service technicians get hired based on the hands-on experience that they have in a particular area. A candidate may be skilled with an equipment category or software, with the knowledge of how to fix a problem in a timely manner through video chat benefits.

Field service engineers share those technical skills, but they also need to recognize the big picture view. They assess the situation to determine the ideal solution to make everything work better. Sometimes this involves putting the right technician on the job or redesigning equipment so it better suits the client’s needs.

Field service engineers need good management skills to guide technicians during repairs and maintenance. When they schedule people for the job, they have to consider who has the availability and the know-how to handle the task. They also need to know the equipment like augmented reality glasses and software well enough to create an effective maintenance schedule to limit future issues.

Engineers and technicians form a valuable part of your augmented reality field service team. When you understand the differences between the roles, you can make better use out of them.