The Salesforce acquisition of ClickSoftware makes sense. Salesforce was one of the first to recognize the synergies between today’s field service and field sales management software solutions and add a field service product to its portfolio. It then partnered with fellow industry leader ClickSoftware to introduce its Salesforce Field Service Lightning offering. Both companies love to innovate and they’ve shown they can partner effectively. Their shared history bodes well for both parties.
Salesforce recognizes the potential of today’s field service management (FSM) market. This sector is dynamic and growing, spurred on by demanding customers, clear financial benefits, and a field technician force that is becoming more autonomous and tech-savvy. This sector is also driven by cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning, augmented reality, mobility, and IoT integration. ClickSoftware has excelled not just at integrating new technologies but also at packaging them in branded, easy-to-implement offerings for potential users. Salesforce funding will enable even more of these transformations.
ClickSoftware has focused on building a deep understanding of the field service organization’s needs. It has consciously created a product portfolio that addresses the mobilized field service management requirements of both the enterprise and small business segments*, driving FSM functionality down to the field tech’s individual smartphone or tablet. Simply put, field service management software solutions locate, manage, automate and optimize field service workers and their tasks. The following features can be part of the solution and result in significantly improved productivity, decision-making, revenue generation and customer satisfaction:
- Employee location and geofencing
- Mapping and navigation
- Time, labor, material tracking
- Data capture, including wireless forms
- Work order and activity management
- Scheduling, dispatching, route optimization
- Invoicing and mobile payments
- Schematics and other guidance
- Reports, analytics (including predictive), dashboards
- Messaging and collaboration tools
Why is Salesforce’s purchase of ClickSoftware important? It is the logical next step in a series of strategic acquisitions and mergers that have taken place in the FSM industry over the past decade. These acquisitions inject a level of R&D funding that continues to drive significant innovation and growth. With this latest acquisition, Salesforce is taking a leadership role in not just optimizing field service offerings, but also in investigating and leveraging the synergies between field sales and field service empowerment. This purchase also positions Salesforce to better anticipate and address the evolving needs of the field service management sector, including trends such as the move toward richer predictive and proactive service capabilities, the increased attention being given to end-customer interfacing, the influx of third-party contracted labor, and the evolution of the field service worker role.
*ClickSoftware’s SMB-targeted StreetSmart® offering will remain with Francisco Partners.
More information about the Field Service Management industry can be found in “North American Mobile Field Service Management Market, Forecast to 2022” (K26A-65), November 2018, Frost & Sullivan:
https://store.frost.com/north-american-mobile-field-service-management-market-forecast-to-2022.html
Salesforce, ClickSoftware, field service management, field sales management, machine learning, augmented reality, mobility, IoT, field service organization, FSM, acquisition
