Top 5 field data challenges facing electric utilities (and how mobile platforms solve them)

Electric utilities manage a wide range of field activity, including inspections, maintenance, reporting, and emergency response. These operations depend on accurate, timely data — but many teams still rely on outdated systems.

Paper forms, spreadsheets, and disconnected tools create delays, errors, and blind spots across crews and departments. These inefficiencies slow down work, increase risk, and make it harder to respond to operational demands.

This resource helps operations leaders, asset managers, and field supervisors identify what’s slowing their teams down and where to start making improvements.

Five common problems utility field service software helps solve

Most performance issues in the field trace back to the tools, workflows, and platforms supporting the work. Some common challenges include:

• Disconnected field-to-office workflows. When information is passed between systems manually or inconsistently, teams lack visibility and waste time chasing missing data.
• Inconsistent or incomplete data collection. Without standard processes, field crews record information in different ways. In some cases, data is missed entirely.
• Slow inspection and maintenance cycles. Manual scheduling, reporting, and handoffs create delays in critical field tasks. This results in longer repair times and more downtime.
• Limited visibility into asset conditions. When real-time data isn’t available, it’s difficult to assess the condition of assets or prioritize the right work at the right time.
• Difficulty scaling field operations. As utilities expand coverage areas and take on more complex projects, old systems fail to support larger teams and evolving workflows.

If your teams are experiencing any of these issues, this infographic provides a clear, straightforward look at what’s going wrong in the field. It’s a quick resource to help start internal conversations around process improvement, data quality, and long-term planning.

The right utility field service software can address many of these problems by improving speed, consistency, and communication. But before choosing a solution, it’s important to understand the full scope of the challenges.

Download the infographic to get a clearer view of the field data problems utilities face today — and the first step toward solving them.