The Benefits of Predictive Analytics in Field Service Management

Industries managing high-value assets like heavy equipment and machinery, such as in the manufacturing and energy sector, are more likely to be already using AI for predictive maintenance and other advanced analytics. Organizations that want to improve their competitiveness and efficiency are also more likely to use AI technology.

Predictive analytics technology is increasingly used in field service management, and it’s expected to become more common. An organization that manages mobile workforces, combining AI-powered analytics with other technologies, such as FSM solutions and Internet of Things (IoT) technology, benefits in several ways. This technology can help predict and prevent problems before they lead to accidents and downtime while significantly increasing performance levels.

What is Predictive Analytics?

Predictive analytics is a subset of data analytics that can predict future events and outcomes using statistical techniques, machine learning algorithms, and historical data. It can involve analyzing data from various sources, such as transactional systems, machine-level sensors, and mobile devices, to identify patterns and trends and make highly accurate predictions. This process of analysis can provide insights that can be used to support decision-making, improve processes, and identify new opportunities.

Predictive analytics can optimize business processes and improve performance in various industries, including field service management, finance, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing. Predictive analytics applications include forecasting demand for products and services, detecting potential fuel theft, and identifying disruptions to daily operations before they occur.

The Benefits of Predictive Analytics in Field Service Management

AI technology and machine learning algorithms are used in various industries to support the analysis of large volumes of data to identify relevant trends and failure patterns leading to exception management or specific identification of issues. Many organizations are likely more familiar with predictive analytics to help determine when equipment is likely to fail, allowing technicians to plan maintenance ahead of time or diagnose and repair equipment.

However, several predictive analytics applications can specifically address field service management challenges. Below, we've covered the key ways managers can use predictive analytics to make data-driven decisions and improve field service operations.

Identifying Patterns and Trends in Service Data

By providing insights into patterns and trends in service data, such as customer demand, resource utilization, and equipment performance, predictive analytics improve service operations' efficiency and effectiveness. This insight enables organizations to make data-driven decisions and plan and schedule field service activities more effectively.

For example, predictive analytics permit organizations to find more efficient ways to use resources such as fuel and detect and eliminate fuel theft. Companies that lack the human resources or time to sift through large amounts of data and manage a comprehensive fuel efficiency improvement program stand to benefit from using AI-powered analytics.

Tourmo's AI-powered platform helps you closely monitor your fleet's performance and fuel efficiency. Tourmo can automatically reconcile fuel transactions, identify signs of fuel theft, and train drivers to use less fuel.

Optimizing Resource Allocation

Predictive analytics can improve service forecasts' accuracy and help enterprise organizations optimize resource allocation and workday capacity planning. These organizations reduce operational costs and improve customer satisfaction by analyzing historical data with AI-powered tools and using those insights to guide their business decisions.

For example, predictive analytics allows an organization to predict the likelihood of service and inventory needs for specific regions by analyzing historical data from previous service requests. Analytics can also be used to improve field service worker scheduling, routing, and rerouting, helping to ensure that service technicians are deployed to areas where they are most needed.

AI-powered technology gives field service management teams a better understanding of their operations and the ability to make more informed decisions. It leads to better performance, improved resource utilization, and customer satisfaction, granting a competitive advantage in the market.

Improving Safety and Compliance

Organizations that integrate artificial intelligence (AI) technology with existing FSM solutions gain several opportunities. AI can monitor mobile workers in real-time, increase visibility and insight into their mobile workforce, and assist in identifying patterns and trends that indicate the likelihood of a potential safety or compliance risk.

For example, predictive analytics identifies areas where compliance is most likely to be challenging, such as where there have historically been a high number of safety incidents or compliance violations. Organizations can improve safety and compliance by proactively identifying problem areas and implementing appropriate solutions, such as more employee training.

Predictive analytics is highly effective at helping organizations address risk, reducing incidents and violations, and ultimately creating a safer, more compliant work environment. Tourmo’s AI-powered solutions make it easy to automatically prepare regulatory reporting about your fleet’s carbon footprint as stricter CO2 regulations continue to increase on both the state and federal levels, with the following:

• GHG protocol-compliant reporting
• On-demand and scheduled reporting

Opportunities for Scalable, Continuous Training

Providing ongoing training for expanding mobile workforces can be a significant challenge for many organizations. AI-powered technologies assess mobile workers' skill levels and create training programs that best meet their needs. This technology can also track progress and provide ongoing feedback to mobile workers, ensuring they are constantly challenged to improve their skills and perform well on the job.

Tourmo's AI-powered solutions, for example, enable supervisors to maintain complete visibility while our technology provides automated driver feedback. Drivers are encouraged to participate in gamification and improve their driving skills without needing management intervention.

Our system enables drivers to identify and address risky driving behaviors quickly, helping to transform potentially intimidating corrective actions into practical and positive challenges that motivate drivers to perform at their best. 

Tourmo AI’s Operations Insight Solution

Tourmo's AI-powered technology can enable your company to overcome complex field service management challenges, lower costs, and unlock higher satisfaction and productivity levels. Our patented technology analyzes data from your existing FSM solutions to identify trends and patterns, providing valuable insights into your current operations and enabling field service managers to make more informed real-time decisions.

Further, Tourmo AI streamlines and optimizes processes in managing multiple disparate solutions, resulting in rapid efficiency gains and reduced overall workload for field service managers. 

Our Operations Insight solution will capture and leverage all of the data generated by your operations to deliver the right information to the right people, make better decisions and take action sooner. Features include the following:

• Exception Management: With our AI technology, we can take disjointed datasets and harmonize them, discovering correlations within your data. These systematically generated correlations and cross-system exceptions are presented to you to provide valuable insights about your operations and identify new opportunities for improving your business.
• Predictive Insights: The correlations uncovered within your operations’ data allow us to identify valuable insights that can predict and improve outcomes.
• Population-based Insights: Our AI platform employs “population-based learning,” which breaks down the data from your operations into groups of data points that share a common context. By considering this context during analysis, we generate unbiased insights.
• Accurate Insights: Our system retains your data's full history and granularity to train our AI for more accurate predictions. All insights are available for data visualization and further analysis through our included clear and intuitive tools.
• Workflow Management: Tourmo's AI-powered business process management tools provide automation, task management, insights, transparency, and accountability across your organization. These features allow you to extract value from your data. They seamlessly integrate it into your workflows, elevating efficiency and effectiveness across your company, ultimately resulting in financial improvement.

Experience the Benefits of Predictive Analytics With Tourmo AI

Any company that provides field service and supports mobile workers outside of traditional office space benefits from predictive analytics. AI technology helps organizations improve the features and functionalities of their existing FSM solutions and the efficiency and overall quality of their service operations.

If you’re looking to improve your company's process structure, cut costs, and optimize your mobile workforce operations, Tourmo can help. Get more out of your existing technology solutions while improving your ability to monitor, verify, and manage workforce operations. Overall, Tourmo’s AI-powered technology significantly increases efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction.