12 Best Mobile Field Service Solutions of 2022

If you are into field service you need a capable field service management software with mobile capabilities to take care of the many aspects of your business. More importantly, you need a mobile solution to be where your customers are because, simply put, mobile has taken over the world.

Mobile FSM solutions will give you features that you and your field people can carry all the time including automation, synchronized calendars, appointment/scheduling features, time and location trackers and electronic dispatching. Many solutions also feature, mobile forms and receipts, mobile tracking for field service, OCR and image scanners and inventory tracking, while the more robust ones have resource monitoring, payment processing, mobile POS, and job/work order management. As you can see, it’s a cornucopia of features and it’s easy to end up with tools that you don’t need or an app without the tools you need.

The key is to know your options, but you don’t have to go through all of them as we’ve taken care of that. We went through our extensive listing of FSM products and came up with the 12 best mobile field service solutions. With a shortlist of the best software solutions, it will be easier to compare the top choices, as we hope that you’ll find the right one for your business.

The field service industry is a global juggernaut, employing over 20 million field technicians all over the world. It is estimated that by 2022, the global field service market will be worth $4.45 billion. By that time, it is expected that mobile apps will be used by 75% of FSOs or field service organizations (with more than 50 mobile users) for technical projects. The robust adoption trend is predicted to grow well beyond the forecast period as more organizations realize how mobile technology can eliminate time-consuming manual field service operations.

There were six field service industry trends in 2019 that you should watch out for. These include backend automation, field service mobility, predictive maintenance, engaging training for field technicians, AR/VR technology, and data analytics. With mobile devices, technicians get access to real-time and offline data as well as guided instructions in order to improve first-time fix rates. They are also better able to engage customers through direct communication and contribute to the company’s bottom line by enabling mobile sales right from the field. The visual below shows some of the benefits of field service mobility:

Source: rapidvaluesolutions.com

Take note that the products we’ve listed in our 12 best mobile field service solutions come in two general types – native apps directly installed in your tablet or smartphone and mobile-responsive apps viewed via a mobile browser.

FSM solutions with native mobile apps will give you the software’s key features albeit with simplified mobile-friendly functionalities such as easier navigation (quick swipes) and intuitively laid-out menu (one-click buttons) specially designed for the small screen. Native apps are also purposely scaled down versions of the software to match the compact system capabilities of your Android or iOS device. Meanwhile, mobile-responsive FSM solutions are accessible to connected devices (mobile, laptop and desktop) regardless of OS or browser, allowing you to use the software features in full and to access your online data.

You have to determine which type of deployment is more conducive for you and your field people. Most vendors offer their FSM products both as mobile-responsive and native mobile apps, letting you have a hybrid deployment and even more flexibility if that would suit your field service operation better. Having cleared this up, let’s dig into the 12 best mobile field service solutions, highlighting their benefits and features.

12 Best Mobile Field Service Solutions

1. mHelpDesk

mHelpDesk is a cloud-based, all-around field service management solution built to supercharge slow and manual processes. It is used by more than 20,000 field service organizations around the world to streamline business processes right from generating leads, managing job orders, to processing payments. It boasts of a powerful automation engine to fast track vital business tasks and including estimates and quotes, online booking, scheduling and dispatching, multi-location inventory tracking, workflow management, and job management. It is also equipped with drag and drop calendar, GPS tracking, live mapping, custom forms, and communication tools. mHelpDesk integrates with third-party accounting and finance tools and payment gateways. It offers custom pricing, allowing to get only the features that you need.

You can sign up for mHelpDesk free trial and see for yourself how it works.

Mobile Highlights:

• Full-featured native mobile apps for iOS and Android devices
• Enables you to manage jobs and do scheduling, estimates, real-time communication, and payment processing
• Automatically detects offline access and does full syncing once a connection is restored

2. Salesforce Field Service Lightning

Salesforce Field Service Lightning from Salesforce is intended to give you a direct link to your field personnel and enable them to deliver intelligent and personalized on-site service. It allows you to automate schedules and appointments of your field people so they can respond promptly to any service calls of clients, boost response and fix rates, and improve productivity. It is equipped with tools and features for instant communication with and among field technicians as well as with customers, and real-time visibility into all aspects and stages of operation. Field Service Lightning is a component of Salesforce’s cloud service platform but can be purchased as a standalone solution for FSOs, contractors, and employees. It comes with native apps for Android and IOS devices.

Learn more of this FSM solution first-hand when you sign up for Salesforce Field Service Lightning free demo here.

Mobile Highlights:

• Designed to bring the full power of on-site job management to your mobile workforce
• Best-in-class mobile solution with Einstein AI and real-time collaboration tools
• Mobile apps are customizable to the requirements of your field personnel

3. ProntoForms

ProntoForms provides intelligent mobile forms for your field personnel. It comes with a form builder that can create mobile forms as well as tools that allow remote employees to gather data on their mobile device, access company or client information, and share results either with co-workers in the field or with supervisors in the office. It is able to automate workflows in distributing data collected in the field to stakeholders and back-office systems. With its low-code mobile data collection capabilities, it is an ideal solution not only for field service management but also for firms engaged in on-site safety management as well as fleet management. The cloud-hosted platform has dedicated iOS and Android mobile apps.

Sign up for ProntoForms free trial here if you want to take the software for a test drive.

Mobile Highlights:

• Fully integrated mobile frontend for your company’s system of record
• Complete mobile tools for dispatching, e-signature, map and time stamps, automated calculations, and image capture in the mobile form
• Carry anywhere your office data, customer information, price and parts list, service history, equipment manuals, etc

4. Jobber

Jobber is an online FSM solution targeted at small businesses in need of automating and streamlining their field operation. The software offers easy to use features such as a client self-service portal where customers can view and approve quotes, check service personnel schedule or appointment, go over work details, make payments on invoices, and even have receipts printed. Professional service companies can have their operations fully organized – from scheduling and dispatching, quoting, and invoicing. In addition, Jobbers provides CRM tools to keep track of customer details, job form builder for creating custom checklists, and nearly two dozen ready-made reports templates to give you insights into business performance. Native apps are available for Android and iOS devices.

Experience what the solution can do for your business. Simply sign up for Jobber free trial here.

Mobile Highlights:

• Designed for you and your team – from running day to day operation, and knowing daily assignment and location of field people
• Keep everyone updated with schedules – any changes will alert personnel with push notification
• Manage team permissions on mobile, allowing only concerned to people to see what you want them to see

5. QuickBooks Enterprise FSM

QuickBooks Enterprise FSM is one of the industry-focused solutions of the popular accounting platform. The software addresses the need of service firms to efficiently ink up their office managers and supervisors with their people in the field to ensure consistent customer service and productive operation. Hence, the software offers advanced but easy-to-use tools to seamlessly connect administrators with their field technicians including real-time field updates, work hours and location trackers, job scheduling, job status monitoring, and on-location invoicing, among others.

As a web-based platform, office-based managers use there laptop or desktop to connect with, communicate, and monitor field technicians who in turn use their smartphones or tablets. Although these devices can directly access the cloud software, it is advised that technicians use the iOS (version 5.1.1 or later) and Android (2.2 or later) native apps that come with the software for their built-in GPS and signature capture capability on top of the increased portability.

You can test drive the software anytime when you sign up for QuickBooks Enterprise FSM free trial here.

Mobile Highlights:

• Mobile apps are built from the ground up and designed specifically for use by service technicians in the field
• Apps can be standardized for one device across your team in the field or mixed and matched for individual requirements
• Seamlessly integrated with QuickBooks Merchant Services for quick creation of invoices, calculating tax, and processing payment

6. Wrike

Wrike software harnesses the core project management capabilities Wrike is known for to give you a solution for tracking the work of your people in the field. It lets you plan and monitor remote work and projects, and analyze and report on their progress. It allows you to efficiently manage field operations including dispatching personnel, scheduling service orders, and tracking work status through cloud technology powered mobile access. Wrike is a web-based platform and is accessible using any connected device. Enhanced mobile apps for iOS and Android devices are also available. This enables field workers to stay in touch while working remotely, streamlining both communication and collaboration between your office and site location. Any issues that arise on the field worker’s end is automatically recorded and reported to the office manager. Solutions and updates are promptly sent by the system to field personnel.

Sign up for Wrike FSM free trial here if you want to take the software for a spin

Mobile Highlights:

• Enhanced visibility – see in your inbox a stream of ongoing and recently updated work
• Access tasks even without Internet – view cached content and edit work – all changes will be sync upon reconnection
• Robust security with 2-factor authentication and data is encrypted both at rest and in transit

7. Service Fusion

Service Fusion is an FSM software built for the needs of small and mid-sized field service companies. It is meant to streamline businesses operations with features to automate workflows, create estimates and work orders, and manage dispatching and scheduling. It also has tools like GPS fleet tracking to keep you in full control of your service fleet, built-in voice and text for communicating with clients, integrated email for sending estimates and invoices to customers, and booking feature to handle online schedules. The software ensures that field personnel are always connected to their HQ and customers through real-time access to customer histories, work orders, and other important data. The cloud-based software comes with native iOS and Android apps.

Take a tour of the software and see if it meets your requirements. Simply sign up for Service Fusion free demo here.

Mobile Highlights:

• Receive and manage jobs on mobile devices to improve business efficiency
• Enable communication, invoicing, and payment processing in real time
• Publish your own custom branded mobile apps that your own customers can use to reach you

8. HouseCall Pro

HouseCall Pro is a home services software for professional service providers. The solution consists of a mobile application and a cloud-based web portal to facilitate job scheduling, communicating with customers, booking online, sending estimates or invoices, and for processing payments. The software makes it easy for you to manage the important facets of your business -before, during, and after the job. These include quickly creating and editing schedules, generating paperless invoices, accepting fast bookings online, dispatching and assigning teams, tracking field service people, updating clients, and following up with customers. Free apps are available for iPhones and iPads as well as Android devices.

Mobile Highlights:

• View the schedules of all your service personnel for the day or for the next three days
• Create custom invoices and estimates, and schedule and dispatch jobs right from your mobile device
• Customer-facing apps enable your customers to make bookings, manage their schedules, and check payment history from their phones

9. GeoOp

GeoOp is a job management software for the mobile workforce. It is able to simplify business workflows such as scheduling jobs, assigning teams, tracking costs, managing bills and invoices, and securing important data. The software is designed to be simple and easy to use with a customizable interface. It offers scheduling and job status features that allow you to create or update information in real-time so your mobile teams are instantly aware of updates and the latest information. It also provides mapping and tracking capabilities that lets you check personnel or team member location to optimize time and resources. GeoOp offers feature-rich mobile apps for Android and iOS devices.

Mobile Highlights:

• GPS, diary and job sheet rolled into one mobile platform
• Schedule local jobs, create quotes, and have it accepted through your phone
• Get signatures from clients and attach them to the job

10. IFS Field Service Management

IFS Field Service Management is a cloud-hosted, full-service lifecycle management software for FSOs. Regardless if your company provides service in the field, at a customer’s home or office, in a plant or depot environment, or on capital assets, the software is able to help you deliver optimum and prompt service. These are made possible through its features such as online booking, planning and scheduling, inventory management, tasks scheduling, dispatching, billing and invoicing, and job estimates. IFS is available for mobile devices, allowing your field people to be always updated on schedules, tasks, and updates. It can be deployed on-premise or as a cloud platform.

Mobile Highlights:

• Re-engineered browser-based UI responsive to mobile devices, laptops, and desktops
• Full on-cloud features accessible to smartphones and tablets using any kind of OS or browser
• AI-powered customer service capability that you can use on your mobile device

11. Verizon Connect

Verizon Connect brings together smart fleet management, compliance management, and field service management software in one cloud-hosted platform. The solution provides innovative tools and advanced technologies to help you monitor and manage your mobile workforce and associated assets. With the software, you can track field workers, drivers, mileage, work times, work locations, and equipment. This is intended to help you optimize time and resources as well as realize cost savings in order to enhance efficiency and improve productivity. The software gives you a fully featured work order management solution that is compatible with whatever smartphone or tablet your workforce currently use, encouraging BYOD practices.

Mobile Highlights:

• Everything you need to get the work done can be accessed through your phone
• Capture e-signatures through mobile devices for use on proof-of-service forms
• Access and view all your customer records, job reports, quotes, invoices, and work history via your mobile device

12. Service Autopilot

Service Autopilot is an online service management solution intended to help service companies boost business productivity and growth. Among its key features are lead capture management, scheduling, and productivity reporting. The software lets you manage operations throughout the service cycle – from generating leads and extending customer service to handling service requests and accepting/processing payments. It likewise offers a notification system for its integrated calendar, to-do list, and communication tools to ensure that everyone from the head office to the field personnel is up to date with schedules and assignments. Included in the software is a full-featured desktop app and a scaled-down mobile app for Android and iOS.

Mobile Highlights:

• GPS tracking of remote employees
• Monitor employee work time and send emails or text reminders
• Take, view, and send/share pictures

Can These Apps Scale To My Growth Pace?

Definitely! Cloud-based FSM platforms are scalable and have become so much affordable for SMBs and reliable for enterprise. Whether you’re a small team or a franchise network, if you’re into home repairs, gardening, landscaping, residential cleaning, food delivery, general contracting, and other such activities that require you to field employees, FSM will be most helpful for managing your everyday operation.

Most of the apps above have premium plans that scale to more advanced features to match your needs as the business grows. For example, mHelpDesk provides you with CRM, billing and reporting features that are sure to come in handy when you’re dealing with multiple and simultaneous job orders. You can, in fact, try these features at no cost when you sign up for mHelpDesk free trial.

Meantime, if you think your small business will not be scaling up soon, there are plenty of FSM software for small business for 2022 that consider your budget but don’t scrimp on core features.

By James Anthony

A senior FinancesOnline writer on SaaS and B2B topics, James Anthony passion is keeping abreast of the industry’s cutting-edge practices (other than writing personal blog posts on why Firefly needs to be renewed). He has written extensively on these two subjects, being a firm believer in SaaS to PaaS migration and how this inevitable transition would impact economies of scale. With reviews and analyses spanning a breadth of topics from software to learning models, James is one of FinancesOnline’s most creative resources on and off the office.