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How IoT growth is revolutionising the field service market

As the Internet of Things widens its wings and becomes increasingly sophisticated it is helping businesses and professionals in all manner of industries to redefine and reshape their communications and customer service models, writes Dr. Natasha Tamaskar, the vice president and head of cloud and mobile strategy and ecosystem at Genband.

One of the industries garnering the most benefit from these advances in technology is the field service market. The IoT is truly disrupting field service, enabling businesses to solve problems and refine their working practices through diagnostics, which provide them with greater insight into exactly how things are working.

For example, companies that ship staff out to sites to deal with ethernet problems often don’t have the correct information to resolve these issues. It’s also frequently the case that they experience truck rolls, whereby the issue was caused by the customer, didn’t require specialist work and/or could have been solved remotely without incurring travel costs.

The field service industry has traditionally been hamstrung by issues like this, with on-site technicians being sent out only to discover they can’t fix an issue or lack the necessary equipment or expertise to solve the problem. But advances in technology have begun to rectify these problems, allowing technicians to be connected to off-site experts via mobile phone and tablet technology and real-time communications tools – enabling them to be more time and cost-effective.

But as time has worn on businesses have begun to report that even this level of service is inadequate. Consider a technician who arrives on site and has a problem to fix with a screwdriver or a drill while holding a clunky iPad or mobile phone – it simply isn’t feasible or safe.

Businesses need their engineers to go hands-free, which is seeing these conversations with off-site experts being integrated into advanced connected technology, such as smart glasses, which can interact with Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) tools.

This process is also being aided by Communication Platform as a Service Providers (CPaaS) who enable the easy integration of communications APIs like WebRTC into a broad range of field service applications. Through the provision of Software Development Kits, and other pre-packed software tools, new applications can be created to rapidly create services. CPaaS providers that can also provide encryption solutions and guarantee the security and confidentiality of field services and client communications.

Now most browser environment networks can leverage WebRTC, from standard computer desktops through to washing machines and cars. This enables off-site experts to communicate in real-time with engineers via screen sharing and video communication – all of which can be embedded into field service apps. They get exactly the same experience as the field technician – who would previously have been hindered by holding a tablet in their hand to take a photo.

This ‘see what I see’ concept is revolutionising how businesses manage the vital role of field service and healthcare diagnostics, using sophisticated technology to lower costs, reduce opex, save time and avoid truck rolls. It’s also enabling even the most traditional carriers to deliver exciting technology.