Identifying and leveraging a contingent workforce for global IT deployments involves managing a lot of moving parts—the independent technicians themselves, the components and technology being delivered to and installed on-site, the project’s workflow and progress, and any problems that may arise. It’s complex enough to encourage or even necessitate outsourcing your organization’s field service management (FSM) to a trusted vendor.
The key word there is “trusted.” What makes the right vendor to handle the workload of your IT field service management? How do you effectively qualify your options? As with every budding partnership, due diligence and thorough research are crucial before forging it.
External field service partners can vary quite a bit in capability. Some specifically focus their offerings on what they know they do best. Others aim for holistic solutions that include both their field service expertise and providing the platform to utilize it best.
The biggest boon is finding a potential field service management (FSM) partner who brings a customizable platform to the table.
Mid-sized to larger enterprises—particularly ones executing multi-site and international IT deployments, or with aspirations to soon do so—should lean toward the latter: Seek out a robust, all-encompassing partner to help shoulder the regular work of field service management and also provide more intensive solutions that are suited to your organizational needs.
You should take your time when making the important choice of who will shepherd your field service management. Weigh your available options carefully and engage with them exhaustively to find your best possible FSM partner. Consider asking these questions during this pre-commitment stage to drill down to the important factors in making your decision:
1. How can you improve our talent pool of technicians?
Ask vendors how they can improve your field service reach and agility through their own experience with utilizing independent techs. Assess their familiarity with the contingent IT workforce and ask what their processes are for integrating them with your existing roster of on-site technicians and engineers.
The ease with which a potential vendor can source, vet, and acquire job site talent is very important to consider, especially when their capability to do so can allow your organization to better handle IT deployments in new, distant, or inconvenient locations.
This is the first way an FSM partner helps you achieve and even surpass your current KPIs. Their ability to find talent to support your IT projects can directly boost response and completion times, your organization’s capacity for handling large-scale deployments, and—through procuring specialists when a job requires them—first-time fix rates.
2. How do you approach each new deployment?
By asking this question, you’re looking for a clear understanding of the transparent communication that should happen between your organization and theirs before the work even begins. Define the scope of a project, and your expectations for the outcome your field service management vendor will deliver to avoid poorly-executed deployments, excessive costs, and other negative surprises. The vendor should be able to develop work streams that standardize core processes, look for opportunities to automate tasks, and deliver continuous improvement.
Make sure to prioritize vendors and technicians who understand how to utilize a statement of work arrangement in order to set clear goals and standards for how to utilize workers, whether your own or vendor-sourced contingent labor. Equally important is that prospective FSM partners have a process for integrating your standards and ideals—including job site conduct, minimum qualifications for independent techs, and who reports to whom in the overall project hierarchy—into each IT project.
3. How will you handle project management and coordination (PM/PC)?
This is a quick follow-up to the previous question, as workflow clarity is an important element related to project scope definition. Find an IT field service management partner with the expertise, people power, and—perhaps most importantly—the FSM platform to deliver managed outcomes through excellent project management and coordination.
Managing contingent workers, freelancers, and your own stable of technicians and engineers is just the tip of the iceberg regarding PM and PC. But that’s a good starting point from which to transition into the numerous other details involved with shepherding an IT deployment to completion. Look for a vendor who is aware enough to go into detail about how complex and involved PM/PC can be for each project, and beware of the ones that oversimplify what it takes.
The biggest boon is finding a potential FSM partner who brings a customizable platform to the table. A vendor confident in the platform they utilize may have already brought it up when answering how they source independent techs. Dig deeper with them about what elements of PM/PC can be automated through their FSM platform and how it can be shaped into a tool specialized for your organization’s field service needs.
4. What will this actually cost our organization?
Here’s the big one—the question that may be a bit forward but is necessary to gauge the longevity and mutual benefit of a partnership. You’re not necessarily looking for direct price quotes as an answer here (although that certainly helps), but rather a certain transparency and openness about what a long-term vendor-client relationship with their organization will involve.
Key differentiators here are those FSM vendors who offer stable, predictable costs through pro forma invoicing and the appropriation of risk. That, accentuated by a commitment to clear project scope definition and statements of work, means your organization will have a clear, detailed understanding of what each IT deployment will cost. An IT field service management partner willing to lay it all out in a breakdown of likely costs and risk assessment is likely to be one that is committed to mutual growth over the course of your partnership.
Again, take your time as an organization to seek out a committed, transparent vendor who can serve as a long-term solution and partner for your field service management needs. Look for an open, knowledgeable, and platform-driven provider who can do more than just take on the work of people, projects, or problem management. Find a long-term FSM platform partner who can improve the agility, scope, and scale of your field service operations anywhere on the globe. With their assistance, your organization can grow confidently into new markets.
