With the advent of COVID-19 and the spread of preventative measures and the impending "new reality" that swept across the globe, companies quickly began to reevaluate how to enable remote work and rethink their offices, plants and stores to address social distancing rules and other safety precautions. But, for field service workers, who cannot work from home, the "office" is the outside world, in different locations throughout each day.

These workers are engaged in tasks such as repairs, maintenance, installations, site-specific deliveries, either individually or as part of a team. On many occasions, they must enter their clients' homes, stores or offices, interacting with customers and colleagues. This, in the midst of a pandemic, poses a high risk of contagion and transmission of the virus both inside and outside our organization.

Many companies have decided to focus on a "contactless" service, implementing new processes for payment processing and receipt signing, for example. While these are important changes to be made in the short term to remain profitable, it is also important to outline a long-term strategy, based on trends that were already deepening even before COVID-19 and that will be even more relevant in this new normality. We are talking about measures to improve operating costs and efficiency , as well as to strengthen human resources. 

The first approach would be to think about what steps can be added to the current work process to protect employees. But the better approach would be to ask what steps, processes and entire tasks can be eliminated from the flow through better use of technology.

Here are three ways to approach the workflow in an agile and efficient manner.

1- Minimizing interaction in the field through remote work

Digital enablement, through smart devices and specially designed apps, provides a solution to use fewer field workers and minimize hand-offs. Apps can be designed to easily leverage the phone's camera to share video and upload images, depending on your specific needs. Such solutions promote better health and safety during a pandemic, as people would no longer need to be in close proximity to each other and exposure to others would be reduced. And it also provides an opportunity to devise new internal strategies to capitalize on the skills of employees. 

2- Reducing working hours with increased automation and supervision

The inclusion of automation systems is a natural evolution for companies in the digital era. In the world of field service software solutions, the use of artificial intelligence and big data is one of the most valuable assets in terms of profitability. It is these technologies that drive the paradigm shift that collaborates with the increase in employee productivity and drives companies to become even more efficient in their operational environment. 

3- Adjust processes specifically for the pandemic 

In a context of crisis, creating new ways of working and adjusting processes to rules of precaution and health care are not enough. The implementation of processes and task management is vital. And for this, technology is the best possible solution, making it possible to organize tasks and resources, plan times and estimate costs.

Examples of this include the inclusion of scan codes to record the equipment used by employees and perform a digital inventory in real time from a centralized system, which can then schedule future outings based on this information. 

It is not necessary to think that to apply these solutions it is a requirement to invest a lot of money in technology, since with a good implementation, these solutions can be offered simply from an app on a smart device. In this way, field service companies will be able, thanks to technology, to plan their workdays days in advance and even match tasks with those collaborators who have everything they need to complete them in a timely manner.

The essential thing to be ready for any eventuality is to plan and prepare the field service business for the future, establishing a long-term strategy that allows quick actions to be taken when necessary. In a context of limited resources and cost-cutting measures, such as the "new normal", technologies such as GoDoWorks are strategic allies to stay operational and provide the quality service that customers expect.