The Service Cloud team recently attended Field Service USA, a leading conference for customer service and field service professionals. From workshops, to sessions and an expo hall, it was a busy week of non-stop learning and networking. Inspired by the many sessions and conversations with fellow attendees, here are three highlights that seem to be very top of mind for Field Service professionals.

Connected Field Service is needed across ALL industries.

We often think about Field Service as a function of the manufacturing industry. A customer has a broken air conditioner and a technician comes onsite to fix the problem. We hear about these type of break-fix problems all the time. But when meeting with attendees at the conference, it was very apparent that they came from all industries, with very different and fascinating use cases. From cataloguing and shipping medical devices, to monitoring radio frequencies and sending out crews to help install new parts in remote locations, the business challenges were unique. This made for really lively discussions, and at some times — very different takes on emerging Field Service trends.

Technology has elevated ALL Field Service experiences.

In an era where customers want everything to be real time, mobile, and connected, the standard pen and paper approach is being phased out. One thing most attendees agreed on is that technology is playing a major role in upgrading all field service experiences. With technology available in the palm of their hands, technicians can access the latest up to the date information- reducing mistakes. According to a recent survey by Salesforce Research, 73% of field service teams with mobile app access say it's very beneficial to real-time communication with team members.They're using mobile apps to connect with employees back at HQ, getting one step closer to a 360 view of the customer. And, it's not just mobile technology that's changing the game; technology is also transforming tedious jobs like workforce management — instead of pouring over schedules and printing out routes, technology is simplifying and optimizing these processes.

Not all technology is created equal.

In our “State of the Connected Customer” report, 52% of consumers said that by 2020, they expected companies to provide service via virtual reality (e.g., smart glasses that walk you through installing or constructing a product/service out of the box). When we discussed the implications of AR and VR, the room of attendees had mixed reviews. Some voiced their concerns around data security while others were concerned about product durability in the field. Another group saw the value in driving new levels of collaboration along with the ability to extend subject matter experts to remote locations via technology. It's clear that this is going to be a hot topic to track throughout the year.

I'm excited to see how these trends evolve and play out during the year. If you have any trends, be sure to let us know by tweeting @ServiceCloud