No, we are not talking about those things in the sky. You are probably aware that the cloud is a secure way to store your data, files and documents all in one place rather than storing it locally, on hard drives or within servers. More specifically to field service, it’s a way you can access your service management system anytime, anywhere and know your customer data is secure.
If you are considering making a move to the cloud, then here’s our top 5 reasons that justify the change from on-premise software to cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS):
#1 Flexibility
Access from anywhere, anytime and in most cases, on any device. The advantage of a cloud solution is that you can access the system from anywhere, whether that’s out on the field or in your spare room working from home, as long as you have a connection to the internet. Some applications, such as Solarvista LIVE, allow your engineers to continue working, even when they are offline – so if your engineers suddenly hit a poor connection whilst working in a remote location, they can continue updating their workflow on the job and this information will feed back as soon as they have a connection again. As well as this, your mobile workforce can use any device- they just have to simply download the app from the store and away they go! (Find out the Advantages and disadvantages of Bring Your Own Device)
#2 Lower Total Cost of Operation
No need for expensive infrastructure, overheads and hardware. Pricing for SaaS is usually per user/per month, where you pay for the hosting and support services and there’s no need for all the additional costs incurred as this is simply hosted within a cloud platform provider such as Microsoft Azure (We’ve become a Microsoft Silver Cloud Competency Partner!).
#3 Seamless Upgrades and Maintenance
Upgrades to your existing solution are seamless through the cloud, so you can continue your work day without disruption. Maintenance can be carried out with ease and support is remote ensuring the best possible service at all times. Because that’s exactly what you get, a full service alongside your software solution. So, if you are relying heavily on your field service software, it’s always good to know you have the support and service available to you by using SaaS.
#4 Integrations
As many software solution providers have now moved to the cloud, there’s a momentous opportunity to work together and collaborate. Applications can integrate seamlessly with each other to provide the best possible operational platform required for a business to run their service desk from. Bringing many benefits to the table such as providing clarity on business operations, increased productivity and more importantly, a reduction in costs which will become evident almost immediately. See the immediate results The AA achieved when using a Field Service Management Solution.
#5 Security
Cloud platform providers perform the highest security measures that far exceed most businesses affordability and are therefore in most cases keeping your data stored in the cloud is safer than keeping it stored on servers within your offices. Cloud platform providers are even trusted by governments and federations to keep data secure- so if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for everybody else, right?
So, referring back to GDPR, any business who stores personally identifiable data must take the correct steps in ensuring compliancy or they risk hefty fines. Keeping all your data in one place within the cloud, by a service provider helps to ensure your compliance.
There are many more benefits to using cloud software in comparison to on-premise (trust us, we know all about this as Solarvista LIVE was derived from an earlier "on-premise" version of the Field Service Management Software.) For now though, it is probably worth reviewing your current IT solutions and performing analysis to further determine the best option for your business.
About Solarvista
Solarvista is the UK’s leading independent provider of cloud-based field service software and mobile apps. We develop all the products required to enable you to get the right person to the right customer at the right time. Our products are in use by some of the UK’s best known brands as well as many lesser known but high quality businesses. All our products are available as cloud based software-as-a-service with simple monthly fees.
Solarvista LIVE is software that helps people who run field service-oriented businesses. It enables our customers to deliver exceptional service levels whilst increasing efficiency and driving revenue growth. It is the only complete solution that manages customer assets, service levels, contracts/agreements, job scheduling, job task control, parts, billing, and quotations. Solarvista LIVE is cloud-based so no hardware is required. It's accessible via every device type, is available in three editions to suit any business size and via simple all-inclusive per user pricing.
