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68 Changes seem to be coming from all directions. Today's regulatory environment is continually evolving with new federal and state oversight. Local municipalities also are enacting new ordinances and property registrations to deal with a shrinking tax base and the glut of vacant properties that dot the landscape. Shifts in the market are changing the way field service companies look and function. A couple years ago, many field services companies worked from static reports. Now interactive visualization is used to create graphic illustrations of information to help companies better manage everything from compliance to workforce management. ey say necessity is the mother of invention, and nowhere is this truer than in the field services industry. e industry is in a transition era. It's being reshaped by the influence of strong economic, regulatory, and market forces; but the industry is also agile and is adapting at breakneck speed. Investments in business intelligence, technology, and quality control are spurring innovations that were never thought of a couple years ago. ese innovations are having a significant impact on the ability to manage the boots on the ground—the field services vendors who are working in our neighborhoods as the eyes and ears for mortgage servicers. APPLYING DATA TO FOSTER BUSINESS AGILITY Field services companies gather millions of data points into their systems every day from internal and external sources. Many are turning these nuggets of intelligence into actionable information that can maximize the efficiency of complex vendor networks, such as ensuring the correct number of vendors needed for each geographic region is recruited and those vendors have the necessary skill sets. Each time an order is completed, information is gathered and used for future analysis. For example, property condition reports and on-time order completion can be analyzed to determine contractor performance by geographic region. Work orders then can be allocated based on performance history to continuously improve the quality and timeliness of services provided to clients. Data analytics also is being used to help clients make informed decisions about millions of vacant, defaulted, and foreclosed properties across the country so they can proactively address property issues, cutting down on ordinance violations and neighbor complaints and eliminating blight. Safeguard Properties, one of the largest field services companies in the United States, reports 15 to 20 percent of the defaulted properties it inspects eventually become vacant or abandoned by their owners. Mortgage companies are in a classic Catch-22 when it comes to vacant properties in their mortgage portfolios that have been abandoned by their owners but have not gone through the foreclosure process. Failure to identify and secure abandoned properties in a timely manner can expose these properties to vandalism and deterioration. On the other hand, securing a defaulted property in error, believing it to be vacant, can expose a mortgage servicer to potentially significant financial and legal liability. Assuring inspections are thorough and inspectors proceed according to the most current status of the property is critical. Field services companies that are able to store and access a property's data history, such as property status, color, siding material, and architectural style, as well as the number of garages a home has, can improve the quality and accuracy of inspections. But data can be misleading or drive the wrong decisions until it is turned into information. By integrating current data with historical data, predictive analytics can be applied to help identify trends and patterns to create agility in services and network capacity to meet changing market and client needs. Today business intelligence has shifted the focus from having a simple overview of what's going on to now being able to deploy the data to discover causes, effects, and solutions. But it all starts by asking the simple question: "What do we need to know?" And then using data and technology to produce sound information to answer it. INTEGRATING DATA AND TECHNOLOGY TO OPTIMIZE EFFICIENCY AND LOWER COSTS e key combination necessary to grow and prosper in this new business landscape is the ability to integrate the millions of data points and turn them into intuitive displays of information. In fact, Gartner has forecasted an increase in information technology spending in 2014 that Changes seem to be coming from all directions. TODAY'S REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT IS CONTINUALLY EVOLVING WITH NEW FEDERAL AND STATE OVERSIGHT. Local municipalities also are enacting new ordinances and property registrations to deal with a shrinking tax base and the glut of vacant properties that dot our landscape today"

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