One of the areas where business process management (BPM) software is being most aggressively applied to transform a business process is field service. Huge armies of field service technicians are being armed with mobile applications and devices that often transform how an entire business operates. A new survey of 300 IT decision makers that work […]
One of the areas where business process management (BPM) software is being most aggressively applied to transform a business process is field service. Huge armies of field service technicians are being armed with mobile applications and devices that often transform how an entire business operates.
A new survey of 300 IT decision makers that work at organizations supporting field workforces conducted by the market research firm Vanson Bourne on behalf of Red Hat identifies the top three drivers of these investments to be field worker productivity (46 percent), streamlining or optimizing field operations and processes (40 percent), and improving customer service (37 percent). On average, the respondents report their organizations will be increasing investments in these areas by 25 percent through 2018.
The survey also finds many of these organizations are making related investments in artificial intelligence (AI). Just under a quarter (24 percent) say they have already made AI investments, and another 30 percent plan to do so in 2018.
When it comes to BPM specifically, the number of respondents that will have made investments in BPM grows to 81 percent in 2018, up from 61 percent.
Leonie McGloin, program marketing manager for mobile at Red Hat, says it’s apparent that employing mobile applications to get closer to customers is driving many of these projects. In fact, in many cases, it’s hard to distinguish between where investments in mobile computing leave off and where BPM begins, especially when mobile applications are accessing backend cloud services.
“A lot of organizations are trying to accelerate these projects by moving them to the cloud,” says McGloin.
The degree to which organizations will opt to deploy BPM and associated technologies in the cloud or on-premise varies as much as the number that prefer to buy applications versus build them. The one thing that is clear is that just about every mobile field service application is just the tip of the digital transformation spear. The challenge facing IT organizations now is understanding precisely what impact that spear will have across the entire IT environment once it lands.
Michael Vizard is a seasoned IT journalist, with nearly 30 years of experience writing and editing about enterprise IT issues. He is a contributor to publications including Programmableweb, IT Business Edge, CIOinsight and UBM Tech. He formerly was editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise, where he launched the company’s custom content division, and has also served as editor in chief for CRN and InfoWorld. He also has held editorial positions at PC Week, Computerworld and Digital Review.
The go-to resource for IT professionals from all corners of the tech world looking for cutting edge technology solutions that solve their unique business challenges. We aim to help these professionals grow their knowledge base and authority in their field with the top news and trends in the technology space.
Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.
