Oct. 27, 2004 -- Mobile technology can boost field service performance and profits, but poor business processes still plague many companies, says a new report from Aberdeen Group. According to the research firm, field service organizations with more than two years of mobile technology experience are currently outperforming those with less than two years or no experience by a margin of 2 to 1…
Most use consumer devices: Consumer devices and mobile phones are the most common mobile devices deployed by field service organizations. According to Aberdeen, 72% of respondents used cell phones in the field; 43% use consumer PDAs, 42% carry consumer-grade laptops, and 40% use smart phones. Among industrial-grade devices, 36% use rugged PDAs, 34% use rugged laptops, and another 34% indicated they used bar code scanners in the field…
Fulltime connectivity is not required for most: On the wireless connectivity front, Aberdeen says that periodic connectivity is all that many companies need. "In most cases, continuous connectivity tends to be overkill, and periodic updates are more than enough," Vigoroso said. "In any case, if a field force is broadly distributed over a given area, that company should ensure that they have a wide enough mobile network so data updates can be made."…
Measure to improve: Aberdeenfound that more than half of the companies classified as laggards in the study weren't measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) at all. The groups also differed in which KPIs they emphasized. The top performance measurement for best-in-class companies was technician productivity (56%), while the other companies focused on customer satisfaction…
