Why the cloud is the future of field services

When people think of industries being revolutionised by cloud computing they might consider banking and finance, telecommunications or online entertainment, but what about plumbing, landscaping, electrical contracting or air-conditioning repairs?

While hands-on trades may seem a world away from the desk jockeys with computers who are often portrayed using the cloud, the truth is that cloud computing is having a much bigger impact on the $15 billion worldwide field services sector than many people realise.

Around the world, field service contractors like plumbers, electricians, maintenance technicians and even security guards are using the cloud to make their businesses far more efficient and profitable.

They are using it to schedule their jobs and be scheduled, to check their service history for a particular client before a site visit, to access important information such as technical manuals and parts catalogues, to order parts, to invoice clients, to prove their bills are accurate and to schedule the next site visit; all while they are supplying crucial information back to headquarters. Instant provision of site-specific information is invaluable, as companies can then use it to improve business efficiencies, streamline accounting and tailor marketing campaigns to meet the individual needs of clients.

Most importantly, all of this activity can be carried out in the field using a lightweight, robust and low-cost smart device such as a phone or tablet.

With benefits such as these, it is obvious why more and more CEOs and company owners are switching over to cloud-based enterprise systems.

Of course, many of these benefits could be realised using a tablet or smartphone linked via the internet to an enterprise server in the more traditional way. So, why the shift to the cloud?

While the experts can’t seem to agree on exactly what the cloud is by definition, the best description I have seen is that cloud computing is a fundamental shift of the IT industry from a product-based one - where IT infrastructure and software is bought and held in-house, to a service-based industry - where most of this capability is rented from off-site providers in the same way that we purchase the services of utilities such as power and water.

This significant change isn’t based on any particular piece of technology but represents a major cultural shift by IT consumers. As with most noteworthy industry transformations, it took a while for the concept to gel with end users. Long used to a culture of physical ‘ownership’ when it came to IT, business owners and managers found the intangible nature of cloud computing at best unsettling and, at worst, an avenue that potentially left businesses open to cyber-attack.

Fast forward a few years and the uptake of cloud solutions including software as a service (SaaS) is finally gaining serious traction. And it’s no wonder - the advantages of the cloud are many and perhaps the greatest of these is vastly reduced costs. Cloud-based solutions save money for a number of reasons: they require little capital outlay for equipment and take no space on the company’s property, yet they offer access to massive data storage and computing power.

Similar to power, water or telecommunications company charges, cloud services are priced by usage. The pay-as-you-go model effectively turns computing from a risky, front-loaded capital expense to a measurable ongoing operating expense, which greatly simplifies budgeting and ties it to revenues.

It spares companies the major expense and inevitable disruption caused by company-wide software updates and the costs associated with maintaining secure servers in a corporate data room on company premises. In most cases, cloud-based software updates automatically at little or no charge to users and with minimum downtime.

Cloud computing makes it easier than ever for field services companies to easily access the benefit of a comprehensive enterprise software system. The shift away from a product-based IT business model towards the cloud guarantees that the days of handwritten invoices and scheduling by whiteboard are all but over.