Whilst cloud computing as a concept can trace its origins back over 60 years to large academic and corporate entities of the 1950s, it is fair to say that the emergence of the cloud as a viable means of distributing business-critical software remains a relatively new concept and certainly a very twenty first century one.

In theory field service would seem to be an area that would benefit greatly from the cloud.

The ability to give remote access to systems for mobile workers is obviously advantageous, whilst also, the more manageable subscription-based fees that Cloud-based, Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions offer, mean that for the first time smaller and medium-sized organisations are able to access the sophisticated service management solutions, that in the age of CAPEX only installations, were the reserve of just the largest enterprises.

So has the field service industry leapt into the cloud feet first?

Or is there still some reluctance until the technology proves itself robust enough to be trusted with software as business critical as ERP, CRM and other systems that are used to manage the mobile workforce?