Episode Overview
The future of field work is in your pocket. That is, if you have the ServiceTitan Field Mobile App on your smartphone.
In this episode, David Erickson, who leads all things mobile at ServiceTitan, breaks down the evolution of the Field Mobile App, why we went all-in on native mobile, and how Atlas AI is shaping what’s next. He also shares how his team rebuilt the technician experience and offers practical tips for driving adoption in the field.
The shift to native mobile and why ServiceTitan rebuilt the app
Based on ServiceTitan user feedback, more field technicians use the mobile app than the desktop version, by nearly double.
“And technicians are the lifeblood of businesses,” Erickson says. “If there are no technicians doing the work, [the business] ceases to exist.”
Additional feedback noted the need for more reliability and stability in the app, as well as a technician preference for using their smartphones while on the job rather than a bulky tablet.
“The old [ServiceTitan Mobile] app is built more for a tablet type of a view,” Erickson explains. “So, we took a lot of that, and we made this decision to jump all into a native mobile app.”
What does “native mobile” mean? It means the Field Mobile App is purpose-built for use on iOS and Android.
“It’s faster, smarter, better, more secure across the board, and has a lot more familiarity with consumer apps that you might use in your day to day,” he says. “The Field Mobile App (FMA) is the evolution of the current-day technician mobile experience.”
The FMA team rebuilt the app “from the ground up,” Erickson says, with the native experience in mind as well as making improvements to technician workflows.
“So, gone is the big blue circle of death waiting to download your price book… It’s a completely automated architecture where information is syncing in real time from the back office to the field with a lot higher reliability,” he says. “It's led to a 99.99% crash-free rate, which is above industry standard.”
Erickson, a six-year employee of ServiceTitan who’s been working on the mobile app for more than three years, says his ultimate goal is to help techs do their jobs better with less screen time and more wrench time.
“Everyone else in the industry is like, ‘I want more time, more eyeballs in the app.’ My job is almost the opposite because if you're looking at the app, that means you're not turning the wrench and making money. So, how do I get you out of the app and just doing your job?”
How to start using the Field Mobile App today
To be clear, the Field Mobile App can be used on your technicians’ smartphones or tablets.
“The app is fully supported on any Android or iOS device, regardless if it’s a phone, tablet, etc.,” Erickson says, adding that your techs will use the same credentials to log in as the old app.
Any ServiceTitan user can download the Field Mobile App on Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
“Download the app, log in, and go. Your data's there,” he says.
Just know that ServiceTitan plans to continue building out mature workflows in the app through the end of the year.
Any technician in any industry can use the FMA to find a variety of ServiceTitan features, including financing, memberships, equipment tasking, service agreements, measurements, spec-based estimate templates, and more.
“Start downloading it, playing around with it, and getting familiar,” Erickson says. “My advice to everyone would be to essentially start now. Have a power user download it, sign in, and give us feedback. We have a lot of feedback channels.
“That's the beauty of this new architecture. We can change it a lot more easily and quickly, and meet some of that feedback,” he adds.
Asking a technologically savvy technician or power user to use the FMA first and give feedback will help to fuel positive change management for your entire team.
“If you can get them to adopt and give feedback and kind of be that little tiny center of excellence for the other technicians to turn to, it just makes a lot of the day-to-day go a lot smoother,” Erickson says.
With AI (artificial intelligence) taking center stage this year, ServiceTitan aims to bring AI to the trades and revolutionize the technician experience.
“Going back to that point of, ‘you should not be using my app, you should be fixing a piece of equipment’… The app should be working for you, not against you,” Erickson says. “This is the future. We have years and years of investment planned, really cool stuff on the horizon.”
Atlas AI, the technician’s new assistant in the Field Mobile App
Atlas, ServiceTitan’s comprehensive AI tool, also takes center stage in the new Field Mobile App.
“This is going to be the way we transform the trades,” Erickson says. “Right now, Atlas is baked into the Field Mobile App experience. It’s also available in the legacy app.”
Here’s what Atlas can do today:
Atlas in Mobile: techs can ask questions or get customer history
Atlas in Field Pro: techs can ask for help with equipment information, troubleshooting, or calculators
Features for Atlas still to come include giving techs the ability to:
Scan a nameplate and ask about equipment troubleshooting or manufacturer parts.
Automatically create an estimate with a few clicks.
Automatically fill out a form.
And more!
“We have a lot of plans to really supercharge technician workflows centering around Atlas,” Erickson says. “So, you’re not in the phone [app], you’re turning the wrench.”
Once you download the new Field Mobile App and give it a whirl, send your feedback to Erickson directly in the app or send an email to support@servicetitan.com.
“Please give feedback early and often. I want to hear it,” he says. “My goal is to make technicians successful, because that means businesses are successful.”
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