Field service has never been just about getting the job done. It’s about getting the right technician, with the right tools and information, to the right place without wasting time. But in the real world, that’s often far from reality.
As someone who’s spent over a decade managing frontline operations across industries, I’ve seen time leak through the cracks of outdated processes. It’s not just inefficiency; it’s a silent cost, stacking up in unbilled hours, repeat visits, and technician burnout.
In this article, I’ll break down where field teams are losing time, what it’s actually costing businesses, and how small improvements in digital workflows can reclaim thousands of productive hours annually all backed by real data.
The Invisible Drain: Where Field Time Gets Lost
You might think the biggest time-waster in field service is traffic or tool availability. It’s not.
According to the Service Council, technicians spend nearly 25% of their time on non-value-adding tasks such as searching for customer data, waiting for job approvals, or clarifying unclear work orders. That’s about 2 hours out of an 8-hour shift spent not solving customer problems.
Then there’s travel. Gartner found that poor scheduling leads to up to 15% additional travel time per technician per day. Not because the addresses are far apart, but because routes aren’t optimized or grouped logically.
When added up across teams, these inefficiencies easily cost medium-sized service companies thousands of euros every week in wasted payroll alone.
Paper Work Orders Are Still a Thing And They’re Still a Problem
It might sound surprising, but many companies still rely on pen-and-paper processes for dispatching, reporting, and invoicing.
A study by Field Technologies Online found that 52% of field service organizations still use manual methods or spreadsheets to manage their operations. These outdated systems are error-prone and slow. Lost paperwork, illegible handwriting, or inconsistent reporting can mean delays in billing or repeat visits due to incomplete service records.
The result? Frustrated technicians, delayed revenue, and unhappy customers.
This is where fsm field service management platforms come into play. Tools like Frontu help streamline scheduling, digitize work orders, and enable real-time data sharing between field and office. That means less time spent on logistics, and more time on service delivery.
Small Changes, Big Returns: What Digital Can Actually Save You
Let’s talk numbers. A McKinsey report on operations efficiency estimates that digital FSM solutions can reduce administrative time by 20% to 30%, improve first-time fix rates by up to 40%, and cut travel time through smart routing by 15% to 20%.
If you run a field team of 20 technicians working 5 days a week, even a 15% efficiency gain adds up to over 600 reclaimed work hours a month. That’s the equivalent of hiring 3 additional full-time technicians without expanding the payroll.
And it’s not just about squeezing more from your team. It’s about giving technicians a better workday. No one enjoys calling the office five times a shift just to get a job detail clarified. No one wants to fill out five-page forms in their car in the rain.
The Takeaway: Time Is Your Most Valuable Asset
Field service is unpredictable. That’s the nature of the job. But that doesn’t mean your processes have to be chaotic.
The difference between a reactive field service team and a high-performing one often comes down to how well you control time. Not just clocking hours, but removing the invisible friction that eats into them.
Whether you’re running a small HVAC operation or a large utility company, it’s worth asking: what would 15% more productive time mean to your business?
Start there and start now. Because the longer we wait to digitize, the more time we keep losing.
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