Artificial intelligence (AI) is having a transformative effect on the field service management (FSM) industry. A recent survey from Zuper and Field Service Insights found that 74% of organizations are planning to increase their investment in AI over the next year to take advantage of potential productivity and revenue gains as well as stay competitive in a crowded marketplace. This guide to AI field service management explains its current capabilities, the impact it’s having on the industry, common implementation challenges, and some of the most exciting new AI features offered by the Zuper FSM platform.
What is AI Field Service Management?
AI field service management is exactly what it sounds like – using artificial intelligence to streamline and enhance FSM workflows. While the possibilities in this arena are seemingly endless, current AI capabilities for field service management software can be broadly separated into three categories:
1. Assistants
AI assistants are booming in popularity across nearly every industry, and field service management is no exception. AI assistants can help technicians log field notes, add and annotate photos, and update job fields quicker and more accurately. They make it easier to document even the most complex jobs, assisting workers both in the field and in the back office.
2. Automation
AI can automate many of the tedious and repetitive tasks that bog down field service businesses. AI FSM tools can automatically create job summaries, next-step tasks, and alerts based on data collected from notes, photos, checklists, and call transcripts. They can also automatically schedule and dispatch field teams based on live traffic information, technician location, skill levels, and other key data.
3. Solve
An emerging capability of AI field service management tools involves resolving issues and requests automatically, without manual intervention. Some newer AI systems can use live job data to answer customer questions, reschedule visits, confirm updates, and close the loop on requests, even after hours. These features not only increase productivity in the back office, they also improve customer satisfaction by resolving issues faster and more efficiently.
AI’s Impact on Field Service Businesses
According to the survey, organizations that use AI field service management solutions can see significant improvements in multiple areas, including:
- 56% of respondents say AI has improved operational effectiveness.
- 68% of businesses say AI has improved customer satisfaction.
- 61% of organizations experienced improved productivity.
- 76% of companies believe AI is beneficial for field technicians.
- 83% of respondents say AI benefits operations team members.
- 77% of businesses believe AI is beneficial for customer service representatives.
While it’s clear that most businesses see positive results from AI implementations, there are still challenges to overcome before realizing these benefits.
Businesses can overcome these challenges with a robust implementation strategy that starts by involving stakeholders early and often to reduce potential resistance. A solid change management framework can help smooth employee resistance. Another tip is to invest in scalable solutions that align with existing technology to prevent integration issues and lower costs. It’s also crucial to create comprehensive data privacy policies and use secure technologies to build trust and ensure regulatory compliance.
AI Field Service Management Features from Zuper
The best way to ensure a successful AI implementation that effectively streamlines operations and improves productivity while avoiding pitfalls is by carefully selecting an AI field service management solution that addresses your biggest pain points and use cases. For example, Zuper is a trusted FSM platform with exciting new AI capabilities. It offers more than 60 integrations to ensure interoperability with many legacy technologies and data sources. This, coupled with Zuper’s affordable, transparent pricing, helps reduce implementation costs and accelerate ROI. Zuper’s secure, compliant software ameliorates data privacy concerns, while its user-friendly dashboards and interfaces reduce resistance to change and bridge AI knowledge gaps on your team.
Zuper’s new and upcoming AI features are targeted at the three categories described above, helping companies easily map AI capabilities to business use cases. These features, broken out into Assist, Automate, and Solve categorizations, include:
| Zuper’s AI Field Service Management Features | ||
| Feature | What It Does | Who It Helps |
| Expense Scanner (Assist) | Technicians simply upload a photo of their receipts, and Zuper AI captures the info and assigns it to the correct job. | Technicians |
| Voice Notes (Assist) | Technicians can input job notes, checklists, inspection forms, and photo descriptions through voice commands instead of typing. | Technicians |
| Job Walkthrough (Assist) | Technicians can create a visual summary of work completed by capturing photos and narrating them, with Zuper AI transcribing the notes and organizing the content. | Technicians, Back Office, Customers |
| Job Summary (Automate) | Zuper AI scans the full job history, notes, images, videos, statuses, and more and delivers a formatted post-job summary for the back office team. | Back Office |
| Call Summary (Automate) | Zuper AI transcribes customer phone calls, distilling and outlining the key discussion points and next steps. | Customer Service, Dispatchers, Back Office |
| Responder (Solve) | Zuper AI reads incoming calls, chats, texts, or emails and pulls live job data in real-time to confirm appointments, provide status, or reschedule visits without human interaction. | Back Office, Customer |
Reach out to learn more about Zuper’s AI field service management solution or schedule a demo to see its exciting capabilities in action.
