Field service operations began to shift in early 2020, as vendors began to incorporate AI, IoT, predictive analytics and automation into their offerings to improve customer service and field service technician efficiency.
However, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, remote work took field service operations to a new level. Organizations need more visibility into asset status for themselves, customers and partners. They can only deploy field service technicians for critical maintenance, which requires remote triage capability and better project management. Then, when starting to pursue the business personally, many of these features turned into benefits to help organizations improve productivity and asset life.
Below are the top field service management vendors to know in 2022, in no particular order.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service is a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management report. The software includes common features for field service management, such as scheduling optimization, route planning and data dashboards. It also includes IoT and augmented reality (AR) capabilities to help field service technicians diagnose and repair issues remotely.
Dynamics 365 Field Service is free to try and costs $ 95 per user, per month.
Benefits
Dynamics 365 Field Service organizations can deploy in private, public, government cloud and hybrid environments. Microsoft’s broad geographic reach means that global customers can receive product support directly from the company or through one of its partners.
The platform’s strengths include its IoT capabilities for equipment testing and AR -guided support, according to Gartner. Dynamics 365 Field Service can manage complete operations and integrate with customer portals.
Challenges
Dynamics 365 Field Service lacks logistics, forecasting and scheduling components, specifically for organizations that rely on subcontractors. IT management users, in particular, may have difficulty with the product learning curve. Its mobile app is relatively new as well, and only previous adopters have deployed it.
IFS Field Service Management
IFS Field Service Management is another leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant and focuses on scheduling, contracts and operational features. The software manages work orders, spare parts, service contracts, warranties and service projects. IFS said its platform can integrate with Salesforce, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics, among other CRM tools.
Pricing starts at $ 65 per month.
Benefits
IFS Field Service Management is excellent in the aspects of logistics, contracts, billing and warranty management. It also supports worker forecasting, or planning, that vendors have not historically noticed, Gartner said. The service can simplify how users set up new functionalities and processes using system configurations and business rules.
Challenges
This service does not always work well with other tools. Also, as the company grows rapidly, it may be difficult for users to find a partner with immediate availability to implement the tool. Tool pricing can also be complicated.
SAP Field Service Management
Organizations that already use SAP may be interested in SAP Field Service Management to keep all of its technology under one vendor. The platform offers real-time field service metrics, allows technicians to create on-site reports and use AI and machine learning (ML) for scheduling. SAP also offers this tool as a SaaS product.
Pricing starts at $ 166 per user, per month.
Benefits
In addition to its tight integration with other SAP products, this platform offers powerful functionality to manage complex equipment structures, subcontractors, and equipment and components logistics, according to Gartner. Additionally, users can find the tool quite intuitive and easy to use.
Challenges
Non -SAP customer organizations may view the integration of this platform with other SAP products as a downside. Also, product support is often slow.
Praxedo
Praxedo is a true field service management vendor, as it only offers field service management software. The product offers web and mobile apps and includes technician performance monitoring, schedule optimization and a customer portal. It also includes APIs and connectors to ERP and other systems.
Pricing starts at $ 27.50 per month.
Benefits
Praxedo is easy to set up, easy to use and reliable. It also allows organizations to customize technician reports. The platform has low implementation costs, Gartner says, because the vendor offers individual deployment experiences for different industries and separate integration strategies for different systems. .
Challenges
Praxedo has difficulty with complex component sourcing and predictive maintenance. It also doesn’t offer services like IoT and advanced analytics, so customers should look for partners for those services, which can increase overall cost.
ServiceMax Core
Organizations that need support for contracts, warranties and complex processes can migrate to ServiceMax Core. This product has recently added field change order support-which manages field changes and updates-and customer self-service. The vendor also plans to invest in chatbots and MLs to improve scheduling.
Pricing is on a monthly, per user basis, and ServiceMax provides estimates upon request.
Benefits
The strengths of ServiceMax Core lie in its partnerships and alliances, which help expand AI functionality for components, low -cost code generation and compliance requirements. The platform also offers a companion mobile app and real-time data to technicians.
Challenges
While this platform primarily struggles with integration, other challenges include scheduling optimization and the need for users to invest heavily in APIs.
Salesforce Field Service
As part of the Salesforce Service Cloud, Salesforce Field Service can appeal to organizations that already use its products. Key features include virtual support, automation to prioritize and assign technicians to jobs and operational performance insights.
Salesforce priced this platform as an add-on to the Salesforce Service Cloud. It starts at $ 50 per user, per month.
Benefits
Salesforce Field Service can be integrated with other Salesforce products, benefiting existing Salesforce customers. Other strengths include uptime and the ability to configure within Apex and build customized processes.
Challenges
The mobile app of the platform is lacking. The app is separate from the main platform, which limits users ’ability to provide data to field service technicians. Support can also be slow.
Oracle Field Service
Oracle Field Service offers scheduling, routing and forecasting capabilities. Oracle considers AI as a tool to optimize and automatically route resources. It can also enable real-time traffic and street-level routing by field service technicians.
Pricing for Oracle Field Service starts at $ 100 per user, per month for the Professional version. Oracle also offers a pricing option for contingent workers, at $ 5 per activity, as an add-on to Oracle Field Service Professional or Enterprise editions.
Benefits
Oracle Field Service offers powerful scheduling optimization capabilities and continuously improves its service updates, quarterly upgrades and configuration simplicity.
Challenges
Oracle Field Service has limited dashboards and reports, and support can be slow.
ServiceNow Field Service Management
ServiceNow Field Service Management offers a dispatcher workspace, a mobile agent app, asset and cost management and field service contractor management. The professional version includes capacity and reservation management, predictive intelligence, performance analytics and virtual agents.
Pricing is available upon request.
Benefits
ServiceNow Field Service Management offers scalability and lets users extend capabilities to other platforms. Field service technicians can also easily view workloads on their tablets.
Challenges
ServiceNow does not have prebuilt integration templates for the platform, although it does have connectors in its IntegrationHub tool. The product also doesn’t offer any particularly unique features, and there aren’t any innovations to be seen in its roadmap.