In the fast-moving service economy, data alone isn’t enough to drive results. You can have a sea of numbers in front of you, but if you don’t know what they mean—or how to act on them—you’re missing critical opportunities for improvement.

That’s where benchmarking comes in. For field services organizations aiming to deliver exceptional results, benchmarking with TSIA goes beyond best practices—it’s a powerful field services benchmarking approach. It’s your opportunity to see exactly where you stand compared to industry leaders, uncover hidden performance gaps, and get a clear, actionable roadmap for improvement.

With over 20 years of experience, TSIA’s benchmarking process combines:

• Five specialized peer groups to ensure relevant comparisons.
• Three layers of data validation for unmatched accuracy.
• Correlation analysis that ties operational metrics directly to business outcomes.

Your results aren’t just numbers on a page—they come with tailored recommendations, prioritized action plans, and contextual insights that help you focus on what matters most. And with TSIA Intelligence, you can instantly visualize your data, spot trends, and make decisions backed by trusted, industry-validated information.

By partnering with TSIA, you’re not just measuring performance—you’re transforming it. In this blog, we will delve into key ways TSIA benchmarking can revolutionize your field services organization.

Key Takeaways

• Benchmarking reveals hidden opportunities: Gain insights into where you’re excelling and where blind spots may be holding your organization back.
• Standardized metrics give you accurate comparisons: With TSIA’s validated formulas, you can measure your performance against industry peers with confidence.
• Actionable recommendations turn data into results: Move beyond numbers to get a clear plan for improving efficiency, retention, customer satisfaction, and revenue.

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How Benchmarking Exposes Business Blind Spots

One of the most powerful benefits of TSIA benchmarking is how it forces you to re-examine long-held beliefs. It’s easy to run your organization based on what you think you know—or what’s, “always been done.” But without objective and external validation, those assumptions can create costly blind spots.

Assumption #1: Competitive pay is the key to retention

You might believe that offering higher salaries is the single most effective way to keep employees. While pay matters, the data shows a different reality:

• 41% of employees leave due to engagement and culture issues.
• 28% leave because of wellbeing and work-life balance concerns.

If you’re only addressing salary, you’re missing the bigger picture. A healthy workplace culture and genuine attention to employee well-being can be just as critical—if not more so—than a pay raise.

Assumption #2: Your onboarding program is “good enough.”

Many companies assume their new hire training is sufficient. But TSIA’s Employee Engagement Survey found that:

• 82% of respondents received less than one month of training for their current role.
• 76% said they would have benefited from more training.

That gap between what you think is adequate and what employees actually need can delay “time to value” for new hires and impact performance. Benchmarking data can reveal these gaps so you can build onboarding programs that set employees up for success from day one.

Assumption #3: Outsourcing is just a cost-cutting move

It’s common to think of outsourcing as a sign of limited internal resources or a way to save money. But more than half of TSIA members (52.2%) use third-party support for strategic reasons, including:

• Expanding geographic coverage.
• Quickly scaling to meet fluctuating workloads.
• Increasing service availability.

The truth is, outsourcing can reduce or increase costs depending on the complexity of your service. For example:

• Companies with more complex technology and longer repair times may see higher costs with third parties compared to direct labor.
• Companies that fully outsource on-site work often see shorter repair incidents and less complex resolutions.

Benchmarking uncovers these nuances so you can make informed, data-driven outsourcing decisions that truly benefit your bottom line.

Related: Gig Worker Integration in Field Services

How Standardized Metrics Give You a True Industry Comparison

Challenging assumptions is essential, but questioning your calculations can be just as critical. You might be tracking the right metrics, but are you calculating them the same way as the rest of the industry? Without a standardized formula, it’s all too easy to make misleading comparisons.

Take Technician Utilization Rate as an example. You can easily find utilization averages online, but those numbers rarely explain the formula behind them. That’s where the problems start:

• Are company holidays, PTO, training days, downtime, or sick time counted?
• Is overtime included in productive hours, or is everything based on a strict, 40-hour workweek?
• Are productive hours the same as billable hours in the calculation, or are they tracked separately?

Without clear answers, you could be comparing your performance against numbers that were calculated using entirely different methods, making your analysis unreliable.

How TSIA benchmarking changes the game

When you benchmark with TSIA, you get a standardized methodology for calculating critical KPIs like Technician Utilization Rate. That means:

• You know precisely how the metric is defined and calculated.
• You’re comparing your numbers apples-to-apples with peers in your industry.
• You can confidently set realistic targets and goals based on industry best practices.

If you’re making strategic decisions based on data, you need that level of precision. TSIA benchmarks give you the gold standard formulas and validation you need to measure performance accurately—and see exactly how you stack up against industry medians and pacesetters.

Related: TSIA Field Services Benchmarking

From Overlooked Metrics to Measurable Wins

One of the most eye-opening parts of TSIA Benchmarking is realizing just how much valuable data you’re not using. In today’s digitally connected world, your systems—CRM, FSM, ERP, and more—are constantly capturing information. That data holds powerful signals for optimization, cost savings, and revenue growth.

The problem? You can’t act on what you’re not measuring. Many organizations focus only on the metrics that are easiest to access. In doing so, they miss crucial areas that have a significant impact on employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and profitability.

Career development: A hidden retention driver

Career growth is a hot topic, but if you’re not tracking it with meaningful metrics, you’re missing a critical retention lever. Benchmarking can help you quantify the impact of career pathing programs, so you can prove their value and make a stronger case for investing in them.

Field services as a revenue engine

Your field services team has direct, trusted access to customers, making them a natural channel for identifying upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Yet, many companies don’t measure or incentivize these contributions. Without processes, tools, and rewards in place, you could be leaving significant revenue on the table.

Turning missed opportunities into measurable wins

When you benchmark with TSIA, you gain clarity on what you’ve been overlooking. Whether it’s career development metrics or field service revenue capture, TSIA helps you turn potential into performance—and create actionable strategies from areas you didn’t even realize were underutilized.

Related: How Companies Are Adapting to Hire for Field Services

From Insights to Action: The Real Value of Benchmarking

TSIA Benchmarking isn’t just about collecting data—it’s about giving you the clarity and confidence to make better decisions. When you challenge long-held assumptions, measure the right things in the right way, and uncover performance areas you didn’t even realize were missing, you set your organization up for real growth in field services performance improvement.

With TSIA’s proven methodology, you can:

• Validate your strategies against trusted industry standards.
• Identify hidden opportunities for efficiency, revenue, and customer satisfaction.
• Build a roadmap for operational excellence that’s tailored to your goals.

Don’t settle for “good enough.” When you benchmark with TSIA, you gain the tools, insights, and perspective to take your field services performance from good to great—and stay ahead in a competitive market.

Start your benchmarking journey today and see what’s possible when accurate, validated, and actionable data backs your decisions.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is benchmarking, and why does my field services organization need it?

Benchmarking is the process of measuring your performance against trusted industry standards and top-performing peers in field services. For field services organizations, it reveals where you’re excelling, where you’re falling behind, and what actions will help you close the gap. Without it, you’re making decisions in the dark.

How is TSIA’s benchmarking different from other industry reports?

Many reports give you broad averages or incomplete data. TSIA Benchmarking uses 20 years of validated, industry-specific metrics and standardized formulas to ensure your comparisons are accurate and meaningful. You also receive tailored recommendations—not just numbers—so you know exactly what to do next.

What kinds of improvements can I expect from benchmarking?

The results vary by organization, but common improvements include increased operational efficiency, stronger employee engagement, better customer satisfaction, and additional revenue opportunities. The most significant value comes from identifying blind spots you didn’t know existed and turning them into measurable wins.