Field Intelligence: Marketplace users find success as recovery continues

Insights posted 5.20.20

Based on metrics from the Field Nation marketplace, our Field Intelligence reports track the health of the field service industry and emerging market trends. In today’s update, we’ll highlight a few of the bright spots from this week’s data, including marketplace volume, growth in certain work types, network effects, and quality ratings.

Overall marketplace volume holds steady

For the fifth consecutive week, we saw sustained improvement with steady work order volume across the marketplace between week 19 (the week of May 4) and week 20 (the week of May 11). The past several weeks of data continue to show significant volume increases from what we believe was the low point of the market in week 15 (the week of April 4).

We have also seen a rise in work order volume in Canada since Week 15, but the rebound hasn’t been as dramatic. We hypothesize this may be due to the country’s “go-slow approach.” 

Audio-visual, CCTV/alarm, and telecom projects on the rise

While some types of work have been slower to recover, others are actually outpacing their 2019 levels. These include audio-visual, CCTV/alarm systems, and telecom/VOIP.

Here’s a glimpse at the top 10 types of work completed using the Field Nation platform and their year-over-year growth rates.

• Point of sale (POS): -2%
• Networking: -4%
• Desktop/Laptop: 5%
• Telecom/VOIP: 44%
• Low voltage cabling: -20%
• Other: -22%
• Audio-visual: 86%
• CCTV/Alarm systems: 101%
• Printer: -50%
• General tasks: 0%

Active companies, technicians, and connections demonstrate positive network effects

To better understand what’s driving marketplace volume, let’s take a closer look at the types of activity we’ve seen over the past several weeks.

Weekly active companies increased by 8.6 percent since the market low in week 15. In other words, the number of companies posting work on the platform is steadily increasing.

Weekly active technicians increased by 3.45 percent since the market low in week 15. Therefore, the number of technicians using the platform to find work is also rising.

Most importantly, weekly active connections increased by 19 percent from week 15 to week 20 as the Field Nation marketplace continues to be a valuable resource for connecting companies and technicians.

Quality metrics reflect the resiliency of field service workers

Despite more technicians and companies joining the platform, we have not seen an increase in quality issues as measured by our provider quality assurance policy (PQAP).

New technicians are completing work without sacrificing quality. While this could partially be attributed to lower project volumes, we believe it also means that workers are bringing their A-game to the job.

Combined, our Field Intelligence metrics this week show steady improvement and a likely recovery on the horizon. We’ll continue to post updated information in the coming weeks to help you capitalize on trends and opportunities as the market rebounds.

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Field Intelligence experts

Wael Mohammed has been in the IT services industry for more than 27 years. He has held leadership roles in both startups and large enterprises, including SPS Commerce, IBM, and Target. Wael is currently the Executive Vice President of Product at Field Nation, and oversees product management, product design, and data science. He is a master in identifying product and market growth opportunities, taking new products to market, and maximizing product performance. 

Steve Salmon brings more than 30 years of leadership experience to the IT services industry. He has held senior roles in both startups and large enterprises, even co-founding a technology services company in 1992, which was later purchased. Currently, Steve is the VP of Enterprise and Channel Sales at Field Nation. Previously, he served as SVP of Global Managed Services Solutions at CompuCom, where the services revenue grew from $200M to more than $1B. Steve’s expertise and strategic prowess have landed him on numerous radio shows as a technology and business specialist.