New advancements in technology always amaze me. Promises of faster delivery from days to minutes, instant access to information and people, and the ability to get more done with far less effort — become reality and effectively change how work gets done.

As technology continues to evolve, so does the field service delivery landscape.  Smarter and faster tools like mobile solutions, for example, help to drive better processes and collaboration that enhance your customer’s experience, and ultimately, your bottom line.

Current street buzz is on 3D technology. Is 3D technology the new wave that will hit the field service landscape? Quite possibly, according to Smart Van that highlights how 3D printers and scanners could very well be the next big thing.

Do you agree? Which of the latest technology innovations do you think will impact you and how you deliver field service today?

Guest Blog: Scott Epple, OnForce Product Manager

As many of you may know, we released our first Android beta app in February to a small group of OnForce Pros, and have been steadily iterating on the product and growing our beta group in the months since. Today, we’re pleased to announce the release of version one of the OnForce mobile app for Android smartphones to the Google Play store. If you’re in a hurry, you can grab the app here. If you have a minute to stick around though, I’d like to share a few of the learnings we’ve picked up along the way.

Android’s a jungle

We always knew our OnForce Pro community was a diverse crowd, now we know their choice in smartphones is just as varied. During the beta, the OnForce app was installed on 144 distinct devices running on 23 distinct flavors of the Android OS, not one of which holds more than 8% usage share among Pros. When people talk about fragmentation, this is what they mean. Developing for such a wide array of devices makes for an interesting challenge, but one that we know will be worth it as we expect the app to reach about two-thirds of our Pro base that use Android devices.

User feedback is invaluable

In the past four months, we’ve grown our beta group from a small handful to more than 500 Pros. One thing OnForce Pros have never been shy about is sharing their opinion – and we couldn’t be happier about that. It sounds obvious, but it bears repeating:  user feedback is critical to the process of building great products and services, and great companies. Our beta Pros have given us feedback in spades and our whole team was able to see it and read it in real time. Feedback sparked many conversations and debates internally, it helped us discover issues faster, and it gave us data to prioritize what we work on. And it’s not just a beta thing:  we’ll keep that line of communication open for all users of the mobile app. So, send us a thought, a question, a suggestion:  it all helps us improve.

Powerful tools lead to powerful results

We’ve written before about the impact of mobile technology on field services. The results continue to confirm our belief that Pros in the field are able to be more responsive, more efficient, and more reliable when equipped with the proper tools. We see evidence of this in our data and in comments from our beta Pros. Today’s announcement means that these capabilities will now be available to thousands more OnForce Pros. In fact, we expect that around 85% of our community will now carry the OnForce app on their Android or iOS device.  Our plan is to continue to arm this community with the features and information necessary to deliver great service efficiently.

Last, but certainly not least, the entire OnForce team would like to say a sincere thank you to all of the Pros who participated in the Android beta for your honest, thoughtful, and constructive feedback. We’re proud to have worked with you to get this app shipped, and we’re excited as ever for what’s to come!

Guest Blog: Scott Epple, OnForce Product Manager

We’re living in pretty exciting times.  Most of us carry around small computers with us everywhere we go.  The same computing power that used to take up the size of a large room, now fits handily in our pockets.  Smartphones are connecting us to the people and places we care about, helping us be productive anywhere, and making our lives easier in ways we never imagined.

Advances in technology are also changing the game in field services, and OnForce is playing center field.  We believe the smartphone is the new must-have tool for field service pros, and we’re leveraging mobile platforms to advance what’s possible for technicians on the go.

We launched our iPhone app at the end of 2011 and quickly followed with a beta release of our Android app in February.  Our technicians are now equipped with powerful, responsive mobile apps running on their iOS and Android devices.  It’s enabling them to work better and smarter than ever before.

As a service buyer, the benefits of this innovation for you are huge.  You need pros who are responsive, timely, efficient, and productive.  OnForce’s mobile apps are helping field service technicians make impressive gains across all of these attributes.

We’ve seen amazing adoption so far, with over a quarter of a million actions being completed through our apps.  Here are just a few ways OnForce Pros are taking advantage of our mobile apps to improve their level of service:

* Faster response:  Pros are reacting to new opportunities 68% faster through OnForce mobile apps compared to other methods.

* Improved efficiency: Pros report saving an average of 12 minutes per work order on administrative tasks.

* Greater reliability: OnForce mobile users have seen 200% greater year-to-date improvement in their on-time arrival performance compared to their competition.

Service buyers have long come to OnForce for our trusted network of field service pros.  This network just got a lot more powerful.  And we don’t plan to slow down: our Android app will be available publicly in the Google Play store Spring-Summer 2012.  We’re going to continue to push the bounds of innovation in field services and we’re glad you’ve chosen to join us for the ride!

Guest blog post by Dan Shedd, President of Taylor Box Company

The only way that companies get to stick around in a competitive industry like ours is to evolve quickly with emerging customer needs and to never settle for second best. We’ve been in business for 126 years and counting and a key to our success is staying ahead of the curve and delivering quality customized boxes that make our customers’ products stand out.

Technology is a core component that supports all facets of our business. Our challenge is that we manage a mixed environment of PCs and Macs. Our PCs (8-10 of them) manage our ERP system and our design studio uses MacPro Laptops (3) and a MacPro tower. We’re growing (up more than 20% last year) which means that we’re bringing in more designers – and more Apple workstations to field new customer demand.

Back in December of 2011, I visited our local Apple Store retail location to talk to them about our company; the best way we could  keep our current Mac systems on the cutting edge and what new hardware we should bring in house as our team expands. Based on the input I received from an in-store Apple associate, this is what we did:

• Purchased a new Mac Pro tower, with enough horsepower (Dual 2.66 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon) and features to arm our design team with leading edge technology and capabilities that would keep us ahead of the curve and last us for years.
• Purchased a new Mac Pro laptop, also with abundant processing power and features.
• Found an Apple Certified technician through OnForce Services, who would help us set up, configure and integrate our new Apple technology into our environment and ensure that all our Apple systems (and software) were up-to-date and properly configured for top performance.

We managed our last Apple upgrade internally and it was a mistake – it took staff away from client work; the process took forever and the install wasn’t optimal. The process was incredibly complicated and challenging – especially considering our mixed PC-Apple network environment, legacy peripherals and software apps. This time we couldn’t afford to make the same mistake and risk a delayed update process and possible system outages. It was crucial to reduce the implementation time window as much as possible. The answer was to bring in an Apple expert to handle it for us. I was happy (and relieved) that the Apple store staff could now put me directly in touch with a technician through OnForce Services – at the same time they were writing up my order. The technician from OnForce Services was extremely knowledgeable and delivered tremendous value. He arrived on time, with the necessary tools and was able to manage our upgrade and implementation quickly and effectively.

We’re always looking ahead in our business, and I absolutely plan to tap Apple Retail and OnForce Services for our next upgrade. (In fact, I’ve already recommended the service to several colleagues and highly recommend OnForce to you). Simply put: get the right technology for the job (Apple); get a quick, optimal installation (OnForce Services) and get back to work for your clients (us – Taylor Box).