These days AI is a big deal, no doubt about that. And the field service business is just one of the many industries where AI has a great potential. The areas mentioned below offer excellent examples of how ChatGPT and other generative AI technologies can enhance operations. This could be a great help to resolve some of the most difficult problems facing the field service area.
Making information more accessible
Chat is possibly the most effective AI adaption. And it can have a significant impact on the way technicians obtain information while on the job site. Let’s say a technician is tinkering with a complicated piece of machinery and has a specific query about it. Usually, they would have to open the product handbook and look through it for a while before finding the solution. With AI, it could be as simple as typing the question into the AI chatbox and obtaining the solution in a few seconds.
When compared to other interactive systems like Siri or Alexa, generative AI like ChatGPT is unique since it offers a highly engaging experience. It remembers the context of what it has previously learned and gives you the impression that you are speaking with an expert. In this sense, field service business workers will find the chat experience immensely beneficial.
Helping with paperwork
AI is exceptionally skilled at creating content and ingesting unstructured data. The potential for field service business is enormous. Because of AI’s language comprehension, technicians can jot down some notes, and the AI will use them to create a report. As a result, field engineers can automate the tedious task of summarizing what they’ve just done.
Any useful tool that saves service professionals time is one they’ll use. What’s more, AI’s content generation skill may someday be used for material created for customers. Or even for educational purposes – that is, training new field technicians.
Assisting as customer support
Customer self-service has the power to alter how the field service business approaches their service operations and strategy. Equipment can reduce truck rolls, overhead expenses, and its carbon footprint. Especially when repairs or maintenance can be done remotely with the assistance of support engineers.
Instead of arranging for an onsite visit, the customer can resolve the problem by themselves by following a self-service procedure. And this is where the ability of AI to create content and prioritize service requests comes in. In this sense, AI might be the missing component that successfully leads the client through the process.
Preserving business knowledge
We are losing the knowledge and experience of a large portion of the field service crew as they approach retirement. AI has the potential to change things in this way. It can help any field service business in gathering, organizing, and making accessible all this valuable information.
With its assistance, the unstructured knowledge and expertise of seasoned personnel will be perfectly organized. What’s more, it’ll be presented in a way that the upcoming generation of workers will find appealing. Instead of reading paper manuals, a technician can use a query to access pertinent information.
Recruiting future technicians
The recruitment and retention of workers is a significant issue for any field service business. There is a growing gap in the workforce as more people approach retirement and are not being replaced by new workers. The kind of work that is currently being done in field service is not very appealing to younger generations.
The possible competitors are tech-native, used to dealing with modern technologies. So AI could be a way to make field service business more attractive to them. It’s a way of giving to new generations the resources they’re used to.
So, the question is, are you ready to leverage AI to deliver better results and draw in the younger crowd? Adopting a software solution like Synchroteam may be the first step! Download the free demo and see for yourself.
Image by Tara Winstead
