Salesforce Delivers Field Service Lightning, Redefining Field Service for the Connected Era

Salesforce is debuting an original product called Field Service Lightning, a platform for linked devices offered under its Service Cloud. Salesforce has released several field service products over the years, but this is the first that has been built with the expectation that it will be a reality in field service operations in the near future. Salesforce has expanded its product to now offer features such as customer tracking, customer service and marketing, as in the past it had left field service to third parties. Previously when calls came into customer service they were processed in the Service Cloud. While there is a link to the client record to allow sales representatives to see when the consumer is having issues, in the past there was no short method to send this information to people out in the field, and Salesforce wanted to close the gap. As you might imagine, the product works seamlessly with the flagship Salesforce customer relationship app. Bobby Amezaga, senior director of product marketing for Salesforce Service Cloud told TechCrunch explains how crucial the new feature is, “It’s about connecting phone to field, the service rep can become an extension of the sales force.” For instance, if someone sees that a customer might require more from a product update the technician will be able to advise that to the customer and forward crucial information for the sales team. The Salesforce business model relying solely on the cloud is slowly evolving to provide a complete tool kit to connect the offline with the online. The new platform is one of the brand’s entries into connected apps and the Internet of Things, or the “Internet of Customers,” as Salesforce tends to call it.