research report: field service, mobility & the cloud An exclusive Field Service News research report exploring if, how and why field service companies are using the Cloud and mobile in 2015 FIELD SERVICE NEWS An exclusive Field Service News research report sponsored by:
FIELD SERVICE, MOBILITY AND THE CLOUD Cloud computing has been a key topic in field service circles for some time now. In fact it seems every time we read about a company implementing a new service management system it is mentioned that they opted for a Cloud based solution. Indeed the benefits of the Cloud are well documented. Less reliance on IT, built in disaster recovery, regular and free updates, lower overheads, and so on and so forth. And the Cloud is no longer a particularly new technology. It s not emerging anymore, it s emerged. In fact it is now almost twenty years ago that Salesforce, a company born in the Cloud when it was just not more than a whisp of cirrus in the stratosphere, first began evangelising Cloud computing as the way of the future. Fast forward to today and Salesforce is the leading player in the CRM sector and despite not having a direct presence within the field service sector, is arguably one of the key driving forces for the adoption of the Cloud in our industry. How often do we hear companies stating that integration with Salesforce was a big factor for them when deciding to opt for whichever of the numerous modern service management suites are available? Certainly those service management software providers that were savvy enough to develop field service apps for the Salesforce App exchange such as ClickSoftware s ClickWorkforce and Expert solutions have gained something of a competitive edge in recent years by doing so. Yet despite these seemingly all conquering headlines, the reality highlighted by various research appears to be very different at least for the adoption of the Cloud as a platform for field service management solutions. Indeed our own 2014 research project showed that only 23% of companies were running their field service management software in the Cloud. So why this discrepancy? Is it a case that we in the trade media are over egging the pudding and putting to much hyperbole around the use of Cloud in field service? Or is it a case that Cloud looks like a more attractive prospect from a distance, but when companies begin to explore their options when upgrading to a new solution, in reality staying on premise is the easier and safer option? Fig.1 Cloud vs. On Premise total There is of course the argument that it will take time to see a full migration across to the Cloud. This is of course valid and many companies will eke out every last drop of functionality they can from their existing legacy systems rather than face the turmoil of moving a business critical operational tool from one system to another. But if this is the case surely we should start seeing a growing momentum towards the Cloud year on year? With this in mind, Field Service News in partnership with ClickSoftware has decided to revisit this area of research some 18 months on. When writing the report for last year s research I concluded that the Cloud is set to become an established platform for field service technology, and even ultimately become the most commonplace method of distributing field service software. Is it time I reassessed that statement, or is the momentum of the Cloud slowly gathering pace? ABOUT THE RESEARCH: The research was conducted online across July and August this year. The respondents were a mix of Operations, IT and Business Leaders working within organisations that have a field service operation. Company sizes range from SMB s with under 10 field workers to enterprise level companies with over 800 field workers. In total 150 respondents answered the survey with respondents coming from a number of different verticals including Manufacturing, Engineering, IT solutions, construction, fire and security, healthcare and more. As with our 2014 survey, after the question Is your current field service solution on premise or in the Cloud?, the survey split into two in order to give us insight from those currently using the Cloud and those that are still on premise. This enables us to better ascertain the benefits being seen by those using the Cloud alongside the reservations of those who are not. MID SIZED MOVEMENT Fig.2 Cloud vs. On Premise by company size The headline statistic to come out of the research is that indeed there has been a slight shift towards more companies using the Cloud than before. In fact there has been a swing of 3% in favour of those using the cloud with 26% of companies now having their field service management solution in the Cloud versus 74% who are using on-premise. Page 2
These insights lead us to ask the question why both mid-sized and larger companies are warming more to the Cloud than their smaller counterparts? One possible answer could be found in the make-up of the decision-making units of those smaller companies. Of those companies with less than 50 engineers that are not using the Cloud, only 15% of companies had input from their IT director or equivalent whilst of those largest companies with over 801 engineers that have adopted the Cloud 66% involved their IT Director or equivalent in the selection of a field service solution. Fig.3 Companies with between 51 and 500 engineers using Cloud FSM systems Whilst a small movement, given the timeframe (it has only been 18 months since our previous survey) this increase could indeed help support the argument that the Cloud is slowly becoming more prevalent and that the move to Cloud is very much tied to companies moving from their legacy systems to more modern next-gen equivalents. However, a logical continuation of that thinking is that we would find those companies with larger field worker numbers more likely to remain on premise than those smaller companies for the simple reason that they are more likely to have invested in the expensive infrastructure to run an on premise solution and would therefore potentially be more tied to their existing system - making a switch to a new solution harder work. Yet when we drill down into the data and separate the companies out into four groups those with less than 50 engineers, those with between 51 and 300 engineers, those with between 301 and 800 engineers and those with more than 801 engineers we find that in fact this doesn t hold true. Actually whilst the trends amongst the largest companies (801 + engineers) are slightly more in favour of the Cloud (28% Cloud based) than those of the respondents as a whole, amongst the smallest companies (under 50 engineers) we see fewer companies (17%) using Cloud based field service management solutions than the average (26%). This is particularly interesting as the widely held viewpoint is that smaller companies are viewed as being the obvious beneficiaries of the rise of Cloud computing due to the more affordable Software as a Service subscription model that most Cloud vendors offer alongside less reliance on internal IT departments. Could it be that amongst smaller companies it is a case that without the input of a technology specialist, some of the headline fears around the usage of Cloud persist? Whereas amongst those larger companies who have a more developed IT department adding their insight, perhaps there is more understanding of both the true benefits and dangers of the Cloud? One question within the survey that could certainly give us further insight into this assertion was Which of the following sums up your perception of the Cloud in business which had the following four options: I believe it is the future of enterprise computing I see its benefits but still have some concerns I wouldn t trust placing sensitive data in the Cloud but would use for general applications I think we should keep everything on premise, there is too much risk in the Cloud. Within the group of companies with over 801 engineers, 71% felt that Cloud was the future of enterprise computing with a further 29% stating that they saw benefits of the Cloud whilst having some concerns. Interestingly not a single respondent from this group stated either that they wouldn t trust placing sensitive data in the Cloud but would use for general applications or we should be keeping everything on premise, there is too much risk in the Cloud. When we compare this to the responses of those companies with less than 50 engineers we see confidence in the Cloud significantly reduce with only 40% stating they believe the Cloud is the future of enterprise computing whilst 17% stated they wouldn t trust placing sensitive data in the Cloud but would use it for general applications with 5% going as far as stating they think we should be keeping everything on premise, there is too much risk in the Cloud. In our 2014 study we also looked at a slightly wider demographic of mid sized companies focussing on those companies with between 51 and 500 field service engineers and when we look at the same demographic in this year s results we see the greatest evidence to date of a move towards Cloud based field service management systems. In fact within this wider group, 37% of companies have adopted a Cloud based field service management system, a significant rise of 21% on the 2014 findings. Fig.4: Companies where senior IT were involved in selecting FSM system Page 3
most common Cloud solution being used in other areas of business was CRM. In fact 53% of companies who operate a Cloud based field service solution also have a Cloud based CRM. This was twice as much as the second most common business solution Marketing, which was Cloud based for 24% of these companies. What is particularly interesting is that although beyond the peaks of CRM and Marketing no other areas of business (other options included ERP, Accounting, Payroll, Asset Management & HR) were placed in the Cloud by more than 17% of companies using a Cloud based field service management system. Fig.5 Reasons for adopting the Cloud HEADS IN THE CLOUD So what are the key findings from those companies who have made the move to the Cloud? Well firstly if our previous hypothesis is indeed correct and one of the key factors in why companies are not moving to the Cloud is that they have yet to move into an upgrade cycle from their existing system, then this should be evident in how recently those who are using a Cloud based field service management solution made the switch. In fact over three quarters of companies that have moved their field service operations to the Cloud have done so within the last three years. Which again would support this hypothesis. What really adds further strength to the assertion that the Cloud is now gaining momentum however, is the fact more companies have moved to the Cloud within the last six months (29%) than have been using a Cloud system for over three years (24%). This would seem to be strong evidence that the Cloud is becoming more readily and swiftly adopted today than it has been previously. So what are the key reasons for companies making this move? As mentioned in the introduction the benefits of Cloud computing are numerous however two reasons were particularly popular amongst our respondents. These were the fact that Cloud is scalable and flexible which 76% of companies highlighted as important to them, whilst 71% of companies cited easy remote access as a significant reason for their selection of the Cloud for their field service solution.. Yet despite this reluctance to put other business solutions in the Cloud currently, 53% of respondents felt that their companies would still ultimately move all of their software solutions to the Cloud and in fact 6% of companies already have. If we look at the benefits of those using the Cloud for their field service management solution, again there were two clear leading benefits identified. These were Cost and Productivity, which were both identified by 47% of the respondents as the biggest single benefit they had seen since moving to the Cloud. And perhaps the single most revealing finding of the set of questions put to those companies using a Cloud based field service management solution, was that when we asked Would you recommend a Cloud field service solution over an on premise solution? the respondents answered unanimously (100%) that they would. However, of those who don t think such a wholesale move to the Cloud is a good thing, security remained the clear overriding concern alongside a reluctance to be fully dependent on the Internet... REMAINING ON PREMISE So let s look in more detail at why some companies are remaining with an on premise field service management system? To begin let s return to our hypothesis that whilst on premise solutions are currently more in favour, the Cloud is growing in popularity and will continue to do so as companies slowly move from their current systems to more modern next-gen equivalents. Whilst these two reasons were comfortably the most popular, other commonly cited reasons were less reliance on IT (59%), more functionality (53%) and disaster recovery (41%). Of course in the introduction we discussed one other reason that companies may move their field service operations into the Cloud, i.e. many are seeking to integrate smoothly with Salesforce (or of course other Cloud based CRM systems ). With this in mind it is it is interesting to see that of those companies that were using the Cloud for their field service operations overwhelmingly the Fig.6 Are companies with an on premise solution considering Cloud? Page 4
However, in this year s findings just 3% of respondents cited that as a reason they would not consider the Cloud. However, as referenced in the introduction almost all field service management software providers are now offering a Cloud based version of their existing software so perhaps this comes as little surprise. The research also shows that for those companies that aren t currently using a Cloud based field service management solution the reluctance to move to the Cloud isn t restricted to the field service division. Fig.7 Fears around adopting a Cloud based FSM system Again a strong indicator in support of this would be how long those companies who are still using on premise solutions have been with their existing system. In fact when we look at the responses to this question we do indeed see a mirror of the same question put to those using a Cloud solution, with just 11% of companies having implemented their current system within the last year whilst 62% are using a system that is at least three years old. Further to this we asked those using an on premise solution whether they were likely to consider a Cloud platform for the next iteration of their field service management solution. In fact over half (52%) of those companies using an on-premise solution for their field service management system have no Cloud based systems at all. Security is the biggest reason that some field service companies do not feel confident in turning to the Cloud with 38% of companies stating this is their greatest concern... Again the response re-affirmed a growing acceptance towards the Cloud with 69% of respondents indicating that they would in fact consider the the Cloud next time round. So whilst it appears that the Cloud is indeed gaining momentum as a platform for field service management software, the biggest barrier to adoption for many remains concerns around security. Also if we compare this to our 2014 survey, where we asked the same question to those who weren t using a Cloud based field service solution, we see that this figure has in fact increased by 15%. This adds further weight to the argument that acceptance of the Cloud for field service management is growing. Of course well documented, high profile consumer breaches such as that of Apple s icloud add fuel to the flames and 58% of respondents admitted that incidents such as these influence their opinion of Cloud being used in the enterprise. But whilst there may be evidence of the Cloud becoming more trusted for those who remain unconvinced it is the same issues that represent their biggest fears. As per our 2014 survey, our research shows that once again Security is the biggest reason that some field service companies do not feel confident in turning to the Cloud with 38% of companies stating this is their greatest concern. Yet in spite of this our research shows that as the Cloud matures perceptions are definitely changing. Two thirds (66%) of our respondents admitted that they have become more open to the idea of Cloud being used in business in recent years whilst just 8% state that they have always felt the Cloud is too risky and that opinion hasn t changed. Connectivity issues are also a significant concern cited by 24% as being their number one fear. However some worries around the Cloud do seem to be abating. Worries around integration with legacy systems have fallen from being cited by 37% of respondents in 2014 to just 15% in this year s survey. Another commonly cited reason for not moving to the Cloud last year was a desire to stay with an existing supplier. Fig.8 General opinions of Cloud Computing... Page 5
CLOUD AND MOBILITY Of course when it comes to field service whilst the Cloud is in many ways an enabler, another modern technology development has had an even bigger impact namely the emergence of modern mobile computing systems be it laptop, tablet or smartphone. So how important is it for mobile apps for field service to be on the Cloud? We asked our respondents Do you think it is important that the mobility applications used by your field engineers are Cloud based? Again the move towards the Cloud was apparent with 56% stating that it is preferred for their mobile apps to be Cloud based, with 40% stating that it doesn t really matter and just 4% stating that they don t want their mobile apps on the Cloud. When we consider that 43% of companies were now on at least their second iteration of a field service app and that 47% of companies state that they will update their mobile apps at least once every three years (14% state they will update every 18 months) this would seem to add further incentive for field service companies to eventually move at least part of their field service solution to the Cloud. With this in mind it could certainly be argued that there is further incentive for the continuing shift from on premise to the Cloud, as in this age of Big Data where integration is key, it is important to have a smooth flow of data from office to the field and back - which would be easier to achieve if both sides of the solution are feeding into one database simultaneously. Fig.10 Should mobile workforce apps be Cloud based? (24%) who always thought the Cloud was a good thing, and we can see that nearly 90% of organisations feel open or positive about Cloud-based Field Service Management solutions. In addition, over half (56%) cite Cloud as their preferred option. As suggested earlier it is perhaps expected for the largest companies to be, as a group, slower in moving from one system to another due to the larger size of such a project. 43% of companies were now on at least their second iteration of a field service app and that 47% of companies CONCLUSIONS? state that they will update their mobile It seems that the Cloud is definitely gaining momentum. apps at least once every three years Nearly two thirds (63%) of field service organisations are more open to the idea of the cloud today than in 2014. Add this to the almost one quarter However it is amongst the smaller companies that there is perhaps the biggest surprise of this research. It is here we see greater reluctance for the Cloud which appears to sit in direct contrast to the fact that for many smaller companies the Cloud could offer a much more manageable cost via a SaaS model alongside other benefits such as less reliance on IT, and built in disaster recovery again something that would presumably be appealing to smaller companies. Yet despite the fact that smaller companies are not taking to the Cloud as much as would have perhaps have been expected, the research also reveals that whilst the biggest concern around moving to the Cloud remains security (closely followed by connectivity issues) other concerns such as integration with legacy systems and a lack of Cloud offerings do seem to be lessening. And with the admission by 63% of respondents that they have become more open to the idea of the Cloud being used in business, plus the increase in both mid-size and enterprise sized companies that are now using a Cloud based field Fig.9. Opinions of the Cloud being used within a business Page 6
service management solution, there remain strong indications that the Cloud will continue to grow in stature as a platform for field service management solutions in the next few years as more companies move from their existing legacy systems to newer solutions. Whilst the headline statistics of Cloud vs. On-Premise may be taking time to reflect the trend, the Cloud is definitley gaining momentum and this is sure to continue as more and more companies upgrade their field service management systems. ABOUT FIELD SERVICE NEWS... With a wide range a guest commentators comprised of key industry figures, exclusive quarterly research, and a library of free educational resources that is added to on a monthly basis, Field Service News was created to help Service Directors and Managers make informed choices in running their service operations. This White Paper was written by Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News. fieldservicenews.com ABOUT CLICKSOFTWARE... ClickSoftware develops software that is used by service companies to schedule and dispatch field service employees. Our software contains advanced decision-making algorithms that help managers optimize their business practices, helping them complete more calls per day, week, month, and year. Our solutions address the fundamental questions of job fulfillment for any service organization: Who does What, With what, When, Where and for Whom. By automating this process, our customers are able to manage their service business more efficiently, saving costs and making customers happier. We are the biggest, most versatile company in this field, delivering a complete end-to-end mobile workforce solution to the service industry that is comprised of over 20 years of experience and more than 500 person-years in research and development. Contact ClickSoftware: EMEA The Priory, Stomp Road, Burnham, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 1628 607000 AMERICAS 35 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, Massachusetts 01803, USA Tel: +1 (888) 438-3308 APAC Level 12, 277 William Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia Tel: +61(0)3 9946 6400 Email: info@clicksoftware.com www.clicksoftware.com ltd Field Service News is published by: 1927 Media Page 7