Today we are announcing the next generation of Salesforce Field Service, equipping teams across industries with AI-powered tools to deliver trusted, mission-critical field service. Built on the world’s #1 CRM, Salesforce Field Service includes new appointment scheduling and optimization capabilities, AI-driven guidance for dispatchers, asset performance insights and automated customer communications, all of which help ensure jobs are completed the first time, on time, every time.

When the pandemic first hit, many industries that send employees out to complete jobs in the field had to shut down entirely. But critical machinery still needs to be repaired—medical devices require servicing, air conditioning units need to be fixed and assembly line machines still malfunction. After getting over the initial shock of COVID-19, frontline workers got back to work and have been at it ever since. After an initial dip in March, Salesforce Field Service saw usage jump more than 50% between April and July 2020, and is actually now being used 20% more than at pre-COVID levels as companies and frontline workers scramble to clear the backlog of service requests created earlier this year. 

What’s New with Salesforce Field Service

Salesforce Field Service innovations include:

•        Dynamic Priority enables dispatchers to focus on the jobs that matter most, with scheduling and optimization capabilities that automatically prioritize jobs based on the service level agreement or how critical the work is. For example, if maintenance is due or a warranty is about to expire, that job will automatically receive higher priority over others.
•        Einstein Recommendation Builder enables organizations to rapidly deploy machine learning models to enhance service, including AI-powered recommendations to ensure mobile workers always have the right parts for the job. Einstein will scan past work orders for previous similar jobs to identify which parts will be needed for the current one.
•        Asset 360 is a new set of asset management capabilities that ServiceMax is building in partnership with Salesforce. With Asset 360, companies will have complete visibility into their install base, service contracts and asset performance (e.g. machinery, medical equipment) to maximize the uptime of complex equipment and reduce operational costs. More details here.
•        Appointment Assistant uses live status updates and GPS to automatically update customers on the technician’s arrival time. This keeps customers informed, and gives them a chance to vacate the premises and/or adequately prepare before the technician arrives—increasing safety for both technician and customer while social distancing is advised.

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Our customers tell us that it is more crucial now than ever for their field technicians to have the right information and tools to maximize equipment uptime and first-time fix rates. Decades of industry expertise and innovation have gone into building our next-generation field service management product, and organizations across industries are deploying it to keep their equipment working, businesses running, technicians productive and end customers safe.

These innovations are the latest in a series of milestones for Salesforce Field Service, which include last year’s acquisition of ClickSoftware, a leader in field service management. And with the combined power of Salesforce and ClickSoftware, we are delivering a complete field service product with all of the capabilities leading service organizations require. This was proven recently, when Salesforce Field Service was named a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management.

How Organizations Across Industries and Regions are Using Salesforce Field Service

Many customers across regions and industries have been using Salesforce Field Service in unique ways to pivot their businesses and keep moving forward—see below for some examples.

AAA Carolinas, the regional AAA club serving both North and South Carolina for more than 100 years, provides its members a full range of travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. “Salesforce continues to help us meet our goal of deepening customer relationships,” said George Figueiredo, VP Automotive Services. “Incorporating Salesforce Field Service into our wider service offering will help us provide a comprehensive and consistent support experience from the moment a customer calls to when our service technicians deliver the necessary in-person service. The new capabilities will allow us to maximize our resources and ensure that our field service techs are armed with the right information and equipment to best serve our 2.2 million members.” 

Best Buy Canada is transforming how its 500-member support team helps clients with installations, repairs, and technical support. With the Geek Squad agents having access to the Salesforce Field service application on mobile, this helps provide greater visibility as clients receive real time updates of any schedule changes. “With Salesforce Field Service, we will be able to optimize the efficiency of the team and improve the accuracy of when an agent is due to visit a client,” said Chris Sallans, Vice President, Retail Operations & Geek Squad. “There are now fewer manual processes for our Geek Squad agents, enabling them to spend more time helping clients resolve their technical issues.”

Greenthumb, conducts approximately 2.5 million lawn treatment visits to customers’ homes every year across the U.K. Just months after implementing Salesforce Field Service, Greenthumb started saving money—and the environment. Smarter scheduling enabled their field crew to complete at least one extra job per worker per day, which generated more revenue. “By routing crews efficiently, we estimate it will save over £400,000 in annual fuel costs,” said Paul Edwards, Managing Director. “With no more need for paper work orders, we will cut paper requirement by three million sheets per year, which will rise as we gradually replace traditional mail with digital communications. In addition, working on a lightning-fast system has enabled our dispatchers to resolve customer inquiries an average of 45 seconds faster than before—going from seven clicks per case to just three.” 

Hologic, a medical technology company primarily focused on women’s health, is turning to Salesforce Field Service to quickly view all of its products on a given customer’s site, determine which software version it’s on, and analyze its service history. This level of visibility will allow Hologic employees to provide service more effectively as they have all the information they need right at their fingertips. “One of our main challenges was our dispatch team was operating via an offline spreadsheet which was time consuming and inaccurate,” said Matthew Faherty, IS Manager, Customer Experience Solutions. ”With Salesforce Field Service we are seeing an improved time to dispatch, ensuring the right field engineer is dispatched and our systems are available to continue improving women’s health globally.” 

St. Francis Healthcare System was able to rapidly operationalize a new meal delivery program for homebound seniors in just a few days when the COVID-19 lock down hit with the support of its partner, Pacific Point, and its Salesforce account team. Using Salesforce Field Service, St. Francis is able to coordinate local restaurant meals and efficiently dispatches drivers to deliver these meals to the homes of seniors. Now in its third month, St. Francis has delivered more than 50,000 meals to date.

During the COVID-19 crisis in France, Wartner employees wanted to extend its platform to facilitate a laundry service for those at the heart of this sanitary crisis: medical staff and nurses. Through delivery management facilitated by Salesforce Field Service and Community Cloud, Wartner delivered more than 8,000 laundry orders to 60 overloaded Parisian hospitals to serve 90,000+ staff members in just one week, saving precious time and money in a situation where each minute counts.

WBP Group, one of Australia’s largest, independent property valuation and advisory firms, needed to reshape how it operated to minimize contact between employees and customers in response to COVID-19. Service Cloud enabled the rapid launch of virtual valuations, creating a safe no-touch experience for customers and employees. Salesforce Field Service has increased the efficiency of scheduling appointments and will be used in the future to manage valuations from end to end.

Additional Information

Go here to learn more about Salesforce Field Service, and check out this demo video.

Check out the Forrester Consulting TEI study, commissioned by Salesforce in July 2020, to learn the benefits four organizations saw over three years with Salesforce Field Service, including a first-time fix rate improvement of 90%.

Availability

Dynamic Priority will be generally available in October 2020. Einstein Recommendation Builder will be in beta in October 2020. Asset 360 will be generally available in November 2020. Appointment Assistant will be in closed pilot in US in October 2020.