Field Service Falters: AI Adoption Outpaces Workforce Preparedness

Field service organizations are racing to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to boost customer satisfaction and revenue, but they're struggling to prepare their workforces for this rapid change. According to a new report from Salesforce, nearly all field service organizations (95%) have deployed some form of AI, with 85% planning to increase their investments over the next one to two years.

AI is being used to improve customer communication and employee productivity in the field, with 54% using AI-driven tools for customer communication and 51% using it to assist employees. The results are promising: 43% of organizations report higher mobile worker productivity, 40% report improved customer satisfaction, and 34% report fewer safety incidents.

However, a workforce crisis is emerging as organizations struggle to train their employees on new AI tools. Two-thirds of field service leaders say mobile worker turnover has increased over the past two years, with insufficient training or support on new technology being the top driver. This finding reveals a fundamental tension: Organizations are deploying AI faster than they're preparing their people to use it.