For field service teams to be successful and meet the ever-growing expectations of customers, they need to achieve a level of efficiency that will allow them to deliver high-quality work within specific time frames.

If they fail to do so, they will inevitably lose out to eager competitors who are constantly striving to pull ahead of them in the marketplace. 

With technology developing at a breakneck speed, it’s paramount that field service teams stay ahead of these advancements to ensure they are one step ahead of the competition. Keeping on top of the latest developments is no longer a choice but a requirement with the risk of losing customers to your competitors critical to the sustainability of your business.

One way teams can stay current is through Field Service Automation (FSA). 

In this comprehensive Field Service Automation guide, we'll delve into the intricacies of field service automation, explore its benefits, and highlight some of the top software solutions that are available on the market today.

Field Service Automation (FSA) is a technology-driven approach that aims to enhance and automate the processes involved in managing a company's field service operations. These operations typically involve the scheduling and dispatching of field service techs to customer locations for installations, repairs, or maintenance.  

FSA leverages a combination of field service management software, mobile devices, and connectivity to optimize scheduling, route optimization, improve communication, and streamline data collection. By automating routine tasks and workflows, FSA empowers field service teams to deliver faster, more efficient, and higher-quality works.

Choosing the Best Field Service Management Software can be complicated, so we've gathered the Top 48 FSM Tools for you in this Comprehensive Guide!

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Field service automation software can bring a wide range of benefits to your business. Let's check out some of the top ones!

Field service automation will streamline operations for your field service team, driving efficiency levels to previously unseen heights. By automating tasks such as route optimization, scheduling, and data entry, FSA can allow both field management and field service techs to focus more on how they are performing instead of worrying about time-consuming processes that really provide no monetary benefit. 

With routine tasks automated, field teams will be able to handle a larger amount of jobs and at a more efficient rate than before, with this increased efficiency leading to improvements across your company.  

37% of field service teams cite outdated technologies as a major hindrace to their work. With the latest FSA software at your disposal, you can greatly enhance efficiency for your field service team.

A more efficient field service team will also do wonders for improving your customer satisfaction rates which will also do wonders for your reputation, allowing you to drive revenue growth and expand your operations. 

With FSA tools that can tackle common issues like route optimization and scheduling, field service techs will spend less time on menial tasks, freeing them up to focus on the more challenging elements of their work.

Other tasks that previously required a lot of thought and planning such as classifying and prioritizing your top accounts can also be handled in seconds. This will ensure teams instantly know exactly which leads they should be focusing their efforts on which will inevitably increase their levels of output. This is something which will be sure to delight management when numbers are collected at the end of the month. 

Freed up to focus on what really matters, techs will be able to start producing work that truly matters, instead of whittling away hours consumed by paperwork or punching in meaningless data.

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Field Service automation can do wonders for a company's bottom line. With important functionalities like inventory management and work order management streamlined, teams can reduce costs across the board. 

Automating your inventory management will help reduce stock outs or overstocking, lowering the typical costs involved in maintaining a healthy stock balance.

Work order management automation can reduce errors made by field service techs, eliminating the need for techs to revisit previously completed works to fix their mistakes. 

Automation can also allow field service managers to implement data-driven decisions into their processes, creating a higher level of efficiency that will be appreciated come the end of year when the numbers are being calculated.

Customers are increasingly seeking out faster response times from their field service techs, and with the latest automation technologies, techs can now reach their most urgent callouts in record time. 

With dynamic scheduling and dispatching, customers will now get the right field service tech to their door, eliminating the previous occurrence of the wrong tech showing up to the wrong location.  Route optimization can also play a massive role in improving techs response times. 

Drivers will be given an optimized route to work from, with the leading route optimization tools able to connect to your favorite navigation apps such as Google Maps or Waze, providing them with turn-by-turn directions as they zoom about their territory.

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Choosing the right field service automation software can be the key ingredient to successfully managing your service team. Let's check out some of the best options that are available today.

Badger Maps

Pricing: Business - $58/user/month, Enterprise - $95/user/month

Capterra Rating: 4.6/5

Badger Maps is a route-planning app that allows field service technicians to automatically plan, route, and maximize their time in the field, cutting down driving time by 20%.

For field service teams that need to optimize their performance through route optimization and better decision making, Badger Maps is an effective solution that works great on any mobile device. 

With capabilities such as route optimization, map visualization, and automated data gathering from the field, Badger Maps helps field service technicians save time on their daily planning, maintain better relationships with customers, and stay organized.

Badger Maps colorize and filtering tools allows field service teams to effortlessly plan their days and organize their territories. 

With a quick look at the map, you can visualize your top accounts, mass update information, see who’s generating revenue, and much more. 

Plus, filters are fully customizable, letting you visualize accounts based on priority, type, next step, or any other field you find useful.

Field Techs save an average of 8 hours a week from better planning, becoming more focused and organized, and driving more efficient routes. 

For field service managers, advance reporting capabilities can allow them to gain insights into the performance and activities of their technicians in the field.

Matthew Brooks, Business Development Manager at Cargill, reported a major time reduction in both onboarding and route planning.

Badger Maps enables field service teams to transform the CRM that they are using today into a mobile CRM by enabling a two-way, real-time native integration with the most popular CRMs and other platforms such as HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, Zoho, Insightly, NetSuite, and many more.

Field service teams using Badger Maps increase their CRM usage by 50%.

Badger Maps connects to your favorite navigation apps such as Google Maps or Waze, providing you with turn-by-turn directions and live-traffic updates as you zoom about your territory. This allows you to keep all of your data in sync and up-to-date across all devices while on the go and access and update information in real-time.

Badger Maps helps field service teams optimize the time they spend on and off the road. 

Sign up for a free trial today and discover how you can start automating your field service operations!

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Motive

Pricing: Contact for pricing information 

Capterra Rating: 4.5/5

Motive is a FSA tool used by more than 120,000 teams working in industries that include construction, trucking, oil and gas, and agriculture. Formerly called Keep Truckin’, Motive can help field service teams manage their fleets with their efficient GPS fleet tracking, equipment tracking, and dispatching software.

Their live GPS vehicle tracking capabilities can follow the location of your vehicles in real-time, with location updates as fast as every two seconds. This can save technicians a lot of time making time-consuming check-ins with management in order to provide them with updates.

Their first of its kind AI Omnicam that can be placed on the side or the rear of your vehicle can aid drivers in eliminating blind spots and prevent accidents. The AI can detect bad driving behaviors, keeping techs safe as they go about their work.

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Skedulo

Pricing: Contact for pricing information 

Capterra Rating: 4.4/5

Skedulo’s field service management software can help teams easily schedule, dispatch, optimize, and automate their important FSA processes. The majority of teams working with Skedulo are in the healthcare industry, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used by field service teams in different industries. Those working in real estate and telecoms benefit from this software, however, one interesting use case is those working for nonprofits. 

Nonprofits also need to maintain customer relationships and with a tool like Skedulo, they can do just that, equipping them with the tools they need to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time helping those who need it most.

Scheduling used to be a painstakingly slow process when done manually, however, with Skedulo's new optimization engine, field service teams can generate optimal schedules instantly.

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Fracttal

Pricing: Community - $0/2 users/mo, Starter - $229/5 users/mo, Pro - $539/10 users/mo, Enterprise - customized

Capterra Rating: 4.6/5

Fracttal, is a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) that is one of the best inventory and asset management tools on the market today. 

Field service teams using Fracctal can delegate work to technicians, interact with customers, and oversee the maintenance of their inventory and assets, whether they be on-site or in the field. This tool also has many of the features field service teams need to optimize their work processes such as scheduling, work order management, and a reports feature which will allow you to analyze important KPIs to see what’s working and what’s not.

As field service teams continually move into a more computerized world, Fracttal is the driving force behind Maintenance 5.0, a system that strives to create a safer and more efficient maintenance environment where humans, robots, and software can work together in a more harmonious way. 

Also with companies looking to become more eco-friendly and sustainable with the growing threat of climate change, Maintenance 5.0 can help field service teams focus on repairing and recycling rather than replacing inventory and assets.

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Field service automation can deliver a wide range of benefits to busy field service teams, ranging from enhanced efficiency to reduced operational costs.   

As companies are continually looking to gain a competitive edge, implementing FSA in your company is a no-brainer if you are looking to scale your operations.

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