Why should you consider subcontracting your field service work?

May 15, 2018
Loc8 Insights Why should you consider subcontracting your field service work?

The process of outsourcing field service operations to a specialist has always been common practice, whether it’s to help meet seasonal demand or provide support service for products sold in regions further away from their home market. Furthermore, customers of field service companies are used to having quick on-demand service. For example, if certain equipment fails—the working of which affects your client’s business severely—they will expect your in-field technicians to arrive on the scene with immediate assistance.

As a result, field service organizations have begun to shift their focus to providing new ways to deliver customer satisfaction through subcontracting. A recent report by Gartner predicts that “by 2020, more than 40% of field service work will be performed by technicians who are not employees of the organization that has direct contact with the customer.” If you feel you need to be convinced of why your company should follow this growing trend, read on.

Helps Accelerate Growth

As the outsourcing model grows in popularity, customers are becoming more and more aware how there are multiple services providers to choose from. And the number of players entering the field service industry is only increasing because profit margins are extremely large and lucrative for new entrepreneurs. This means not only can field service suppliers service a larger number of customers, but customers can also choose from various field service providers, depending on their specific needs.

Scales Delivery Capabilities

In the tradie industry, there’s always a chance to steal your competition’s existing customers by scaling your own business capabilities. Scalability (both upscaling and downscaling) is an important measure of a business’s ability to maintain healthy profit margins, as it helps keep your costs down when business is slow and also take advantage of spikes in market demand. By adopting a subcontracting model, your company can dynamically vary workforce volumes and accordingly modify business processes and workflow on the fly, using real-time metrics.

Creates a Diverse Workforce

One of the biggest challenges of the field service industry has been dealing with an ageing workforce. This has created a need to attract younger and more dynamic staff, as only one-fifth of the current workforce is under 30 years of age. However, while having a high demand for field service workers is a positive, training new workers is an expensive affair, both in terms of the time and money required to train them. By outsourcing part of your field service needs, you can avoid the need (and the investment required) to train new workers.

Beat the Competition with Speed

Through subcontracting, field service companies can help their customers at a much faster pace. By employing experienced third-party contractors, you get access to an on-demand workforce that has the necessary expertise for handling a wide variety of tasks, letting you service more jobs in a day. This way, you can eliminate long wait times, leading to much happier customers, and in turn, establish your reputation as a field service company that delivers on their promises.

Now you’ve read about the advantages of outsourcing field service work. But this doesn’t mean you slack off on managing your existing workforce. Learn more about how you can optimise your asset management by reading our blog.

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