The Ford Motor Company established a partnership with Salesforce with plans for launching a field service tool for businesses to clarify it as something distinct from the company’s new Ford Pro commercial unit. The new field service tool, Viizr, is intended to offer business owners with software to handle everything, like digitizing work paperwork and documentation and even organizing, dispatching, and helping to manage field technicians.
While there are customer-focused tools that provide these services today, Ford mentioned a study that determined just 10 percent of small and medium businesses are happy with those services. Ford thinks the new field service tool can bridge the gap for those currently unimpressed with today's version of things.
"We realized very quickly that this market was being underserved," Jian Wei Hoh, head of the Viizr team, told the press. "That's where the focus has been. We've gone out there and tested it and have talked with a lot of small businesses and know that it's something that will really drive value."
Viizr is built on Salesforce Field Service and was developed specifically for trade businesses by Ford, America’s #1 in commercial vehicles for 36 consecutive years. Today, there are approximately 675,000 small and medium businesses in service & maintenance and construction industries within the U.S.
“Small business owners are the foundation of our communities, and every day across America plumbers, electricians and landscapers step into their Ford vehicles to build our economy,” said Marc Benioff, chair and co-CEO of Salesforce. “We're thrilled that our incredible new partnership with Ford will help energize millions of entrepreneurs in the trades with the power of Salesforce so they can deliver for their customers and take their businesses to the next level.”
Ford has gone on record stating that Viizr will cost $39 a month. The platform isn’t wed to just one vehicle or series, but it is launching as Ford prepares to unveil its E-Transit electric van in just a few months, as well as the F-150 Lightning electric pickup in the first half of 2022.
Ford stated that Viizr can reduce "back-office work" by over 40 percent for businesses with staff under 20 people total. Ford is currently looking for businesses to pilot the program for free and expects to launch it by mid-2022.
"For more than 100 years, Ford has been the backbone of commercial business," CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. "Salesforce is the global leader in CRM and together, Ford is excited to bring advanced digital tools to the trades to help drive the productivity of their business."
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