Opsivity
Operational Know-How at the Fingertips of Field Technicians

In field service management, the ability to correctly resolve an issue on the very first site visit can be the crucial difference between a great customer experience or losing that customer forever. Successful first-time fixes require in-depth operational knowledge, which often is locked up in heaps of files and folders in company offices or is restricted to their in-house subject matter experts, inaccessible to field technicians. The lack of skilled technicians and veteran subject matter experts in the market—spurred by the current ‘Great Resignation’ and ongoing ‘Great Retirement’— also has created a huge gap in operational knowledge.

This is where Opsivity makes a world of difference in enabling organizations to empower field technicians by making operational knowledge available at their fingertips right when they need it. The company’s SaaS field operations support application securely stores operational know-how within its centralized Knowledge Base and is designed to quickly assist and empower field technicians to resolve technical difficulties confidently and in real-time. “Our focus as a company is to make operational knowledge easily accessible to field technicians and to facilitate their ability to contribute to this knowledge so that organizations can build, share, and scale operational Know-How across their teams,” says David Fosberg, chief customer officer at Opsivity.

Facilitating “Know-How, Right Now”

Opsivity’s focus on connecting field technicians to a centralized source of operational knowledge and subject matter experts is reflected in its name, which is a combination of ‘operations’ and ‘connectivity.’ The company’s mantra “know-how, right now” is a further reflection of its drive to support field technicians and help them achieve higher first-time fix rates.

The Opsivity application enables field technicians to acquire operational know-how from its searchable data store known as KnowledgeBase™. Whenever an issue with any on-field equipment is discovered during service visits, the technicians can simply type in a query or click and upload the affected equipment’s photographs on the application to search for a possible fix. Opsivity’s built-in AI technology then analyses the queries or the photographs and fetches the related documentation, service manuals, checklists, procedures, or workflows associated with the concerned equipment in mere seconds. The AI technology also provides smart recommendations on possible issue fixes by leveraging relevant resolutions achieved in the past, without requiring technicians to sift through numerous folders and file hierarchies. This leads to faster problem resolution and helps resume regular functioning, maintain continuity in operations, and ensure optimal equipment performance and up-time.

Opsivity also allows field technicians to communicate and collaborate with subject matter experts within their organization through live chats and video calls.

Using augmented reality, the technicians can explain, annotate, and highlight the issue at hand to the experts with real-time photos and live video of the equipment. The experts, in turn, can draw on the screen to emphasize key points to the technicians and provide valuable insights to fast-track problem resolution.

Importantly, Opsivity stores all these interactions and the operational insights gleaned, in its constantly updated and secure KnowledgeBase, making this know-how available when technicians encounter similar equipment problems in the future. In a nutshell, Opsivity is devoted to democratizing and simplifying access to collective operational knowledge while utilizing each interaction as a training opportunity for continuous learning.

Field Service Management Made Easy

With an emphasis on simplicity and ease of use, Opsivity offers immensely flexible integration capabilities with its robust APIs. The APIs enable integrations with not just third-party software applications used by organizations to manage and schedule field staff but also with their self-built system tools and applications pertaining to field services. Opsivity integrates with well-known field service platform providers such as simPRO and ServiceMax.

Opsivity also allows the creation of on-the-spot checklists and procedures for field technicians in accordance with pre-defined workflows and rules set by their organization. This maintains continuity in fieldwork and contributes to faster and efficient technical issues resolution. Additionally, Opsivity provides an organization’s senior operational leaders visibility into on-field equipment status and technician issues. This helps them identify equipment repair and replacement needs as well as discover training opportunities for technicians.

As a unique form of integration, Opsivity also allows senior leaders to integrate and propagate best on-field practices, procedures, and safety tips. The application comes with a special “push” feature that enables them to convey day-to-day or week-per-week focus areas, tips, protocols, or themes to field technicians to enhance their performance and productivity.

Our focus as a company is to make operational knowledge easily accessible to field technicians and to facilitate their ability to contribute to this knowledge so that organizations can build, share, and scale operational Know-How across their teams

The ease of use and simplicity of Opsivity’s solution is also reflected in its onboarding process. The company’s representatives guide the client’s admin staff in registering their users and help instruct them on uploading and accessing digitized operational content within the application.

The best part is—the entire onboarding process is extremely fast, taking mere hours to a few days.

With its highly adaptable field service support application, Opsivity serves the routine maintenance and monitoring of mission-critical equipment needs of a clientele spread across verticals like transportation, manufacturing, utilities, oil & gas, or any organization who depend upon deployed field technician staff to keep their operations running. A primary example of how customers are using Opsivity is Universal Communications Group (UCG)—a leading supplier of broadband design, cabling, and construction services—who approached Opsivity to improve their first-time resolution metrics. Since onboarding Opsivity’s application two years back, UCG has recorded a double-digit increase in first-time fixes for its 900-plus team of field technicians, with resolution metrics reaching 97 percent.

In yet another instance, a Fortune 200 company—a leader in freight transportation—reached out to Opsivity to remedy the anticipated loss of operational knowledge due to their technicians and senior journeymen being on the verge of retirement, coupled with a market scarcity of skilled technicians. What attracted them to Opsivity was its ability to ensure retention of expert operational know-how and make it easily accessible to their field technicians through portable electronic devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops, and wearables.

Powering Operations and Connectivity for Tomorrow

The team at Opsivity is composed of members who have been obsessed with field productivity throughout their careers. “Our senior leaders are focused on cutting-edge technology, both on the software and the hardware sides, ensuring field technicians and remote and mobile workers are more productive,” informs Fosberg. With the team comprising hardware specialists from companies like Samsung and Dell and software experts from several branches of the U.S. military as well as platform powerhouses, Opsivity is deeply focused on ensuring the high-level reliability and scalability

Alongside the team, Opsivity’s ecosystem partners such as simPRO and hardware partners RealWear and Vuzix (both makers of industrial wearable devices) further enable field technicians to perform hands-free inspections and repairs, collaborate with experts remotely, and view real-time data from the connected equipment. The company is also in the process of acquiring more partners to further enhance its offerings.

In the coming months, Opsivity looks forward to bridging the persistent connectivity gap plaguing organizations who look to support field technicians deployed in remote areas with low-to-no network signals. To ensure uninterrupted on-field communication, Opsivity will be demonstrating an integrated connectivity solution this year—currently being developed with its parent company, Harvest Technology Group. The first-of-its-kind capability will allow organizations to keep their field technicians, no matter the connectivity challenges, to remain connected with application and subject matter experts. In other words, Opsivity will stay true to its name by constantly striving to enhance operational performance and productivity for field technicians with always-on connectivity.