Are we ready for IoT 2.0?

A study by Field Service News Research in 2021 revealed that the field service sector, has now firmly embraced IoT. In that study, which had input from over 280 field service professionals, 76% of field service companies now had some connectivity with their install base.

It would appear the first phase of IoT adoption is getting closer to completion. Certainly, the underlying infrastructure is largely established.

Indeed, we are also seeing signs of how this technological innovation can begin to reshape the field service sector. Another study hosted by Field Service Research, this one running also in 2021, identified that 65% of over 130 field service companies were leveraging remote diagnostics and IoT to develop a remote service offering.

Yet, despite the recent acceleration of digital transformation within the field service sector, driven mainly by necessity during the pandemic, it could be argued that still, these are just the embryotic days of a new era of IoT-connected field service.

With the foundations of an IoT infrastructure in place, we can begin to truly explore the potential of IoT within the field service sector, but what does that look like and how will that impact the way we manage assets, the way we manage our field workers and perhaps most importantly of all, how we help our customers towards success.

Across the following pages of this paper, we will take a forward look to a future that could be possible as we learn to leverage IoT.

This paper is not a deep dive into the technology itself, instead, we will take a simplified example to outline what could be possible to help you facilitate the wider thinking and reflection of how such principles could be applied to your own business.

At the end of the paper, you will find a series of reflection points to allow you to further refine how you could see the adoption of IoT enhancing your service operations in terms of asset management, workforce management, and customer success.