Field Nation, which recently introduced a new platform that handles all aspects of workforce management, makes software that connects businesses with the temporary IT labour force. MSPs needing IT techs are a part of their market, which they are looking to expand.
ORLANDO – The number of workers, including IT techs, classified as contingent labour – freelance, short-term and contractors – continues to rise. Field Nation looks to connect companies with that labour force through their software. They have a presence among managed services providers, and several integrations with key PSA systems, which they are looking to enhance. They attended the ConnectWise IT Nation Connect show here for the first time to take their message to MSPs.
Field Nation, which has been in business since 2008, makes software that connects clients with the marketplace of contract field service technicians across the U.S. and Canada. The company has around 100 employees in their head offices in Minneapolis as well as 50 in Bangladesh, which includes a Tier One support centre. In September, they made a major enhancement to their business with the launch of Field Nation ONE, a new single platform that can source, engage and manage both the on-site and on-demand workforces of a company.
The company’s business sounds like their model is based around on-prem deployments, but they also work with MSPs, and have integrations with both ConnectWise and Autotask as a result.
“A lot of MSPs are regional players, and we can help them scale out,” said Craig Anderson, sales manager at Field Nation. “If they need to go on premise, we can do that for them.”
Anderson indicated that using their services lets MSPs cut their labour costs, and that they are used both as a supplement and a replacement for their internal IT.
“Some MSPs have field service teams, and some don’t, and some of the ones who do have employee field service teams that are just overwhelmed,” he said.
Their MSP customers include many small ones, as might be expected, but they also work with larger ones as well.
“A lot of small companies use us, effectively outsourcing their support to us,” Anderson said. “However, we have a lot of enterprise customers who look to us to increase their markets. Field Nation’s services are commonly used when a larger company lands an additional project that requires additional resources.
“Size doesn’t always matter for us,” said Kristina Connor, marketing specialist at Field Nation. “We have a lot of smaller companies with 10 employees or less, and it’s an easy sell here, but all companies, large and small, have the same problems and similar issues when it comes to their labour force.”
Field Nation’s coverage map is U.S. only, but they do have a presence in Canada as well.
“Our presence is comparatively lighter in Canada, but we have been there for about five years, and we have a handful of guys in Canadian cities who can provide support,” Anderson indicated.
This was Field Nation’s first appearance at a ConnectWise event.
“We have had a bidirectional integration with ConnectWise for two years, which helps them expand their connections into the contingent labour force,” said Gokul Muralidharan, Technical Product Manager at Field Nation. “We also provide background checks on contractors, which is an important service in Canada as well as the U.S.”
They are also looking to expand the ConnectWise integration going forward.
“The current integration is at the service ticket level,” Muralidharan said. “The plan is to extend it to handling projects, clients and all levels of data.”
