A new study from Red Hat argues that field services operations are ‘bullish’ on technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI).
The survey, carried out by Vanson Bourne which quizzed 300 organisations with significant field workforce operations, found that field workforce technology was seen as important to 94% of organisations polled. More than half (53%) of respondents said they have implemented IoT to support field service, with 24% adding AI, 20% virtual reality, and 19% augmented reality.
When it came to future plans, more than half of those polled said they were looking to incorporate AR (54%), AI (53%) and VR (52%) into their field workforce technology.
Yet making these changes is never as simple as flicking a switch. Respondents frequently cited skills as a key challenge to enabling emerging technologies. 42% of those polled said lack of skills were a challenge overall; 51% said they were looking for IoT app development skills, with 47% wanting mobile app development skills and 47% requiring AI app development skills.
“The good news here is that the tech industry continues to make progress in these areas,” Red Hat wrote in a blog post. “Independent foundations continue to focus on the need for greater standardisation and interoperability among IoT devices; integration technologies are becoming more agile, distributed and lightweight; and the industry continues to focus on its approach to data security.
“We believe this survey highlights the breadth of opportunities facing organisations as they take advantage of AI, mobile, BPM [business process management] and IoT to redefine and re-imagine their field operations, and we are excited to see how it unfolds in the future,” the company added.
This publication has covered various initiatives from organisations looking to improve their operations through emerging technologies. One of the more intriguing companies in this space is logistics firm DHL. The company said last year it had completed its global AR pilots and was expanding its ‘vision picking’ smart glasses offering around the world.
You can read the full blog post here.
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