Customers and prospects often ask me how our job blocker functionality drives real value, rapidly, to their bottom line. With the average standing time on job sites being as high as 35%, visibility of the drivers of standing time, real-time unblocking, and longer-term process change add material capacity to drive more output from existing field crews. I delve into the how below.
Every job site has blockers—delays, inefficiencies, and safety concerns that prevent teams from getting work done on time. Traditionally, these blockers are buried in anecdotal reports, get lost in phone calls and WhatsApp, or only surface when projects overrun. FYLD changes that. By systematically capturing, categorising, and analysing job blocker data, customers turn hidden friction into measurable improvements. For instance, client-side challenges are the most frequent blockers, accounting for nearly 1 in 4 cases (24.8%). Following that, 15.7% of blockers are tied to materials, equipment, and tools, while traffic/logistics and site readiness both cause delays in more than 10% of cases.
Job blocker data isn’t about collecting more information—it’s about surfacing insights that allow leaders to act in real time and improve planning for the future. When field crews record blockers through FYLD, operational teams can:
Identify recurring patterns that drain productivity
Materials and tools shortages not on site account for 15.7% of delays. One division with a 400-person workforce identified 6,622 hours lost to materials and tools alone - this translates into over 2 days of time lost per worker per year. Using previously non-existent data, this customer is now tackling the root causes of why they don’t know what materials and tools crews need to take to site, to eliminate this non-productive site.
Target interventions that reduce downtime (e.g. pre-positioning materials where delays are common). Traffic and logistics blockers are especially persistent, accounting for over 10% of the job blockers across our customer base.Improve cross-team coordination by flagging blockers before they escalate into wider project delays.
Enhance safety outcomes by linking blockers with hazard reports, ensuring risks are proactively mitigated. Crews doing their own workarounds - often dangerous, resulting in injuries, and then downtime - can be eliminated. FYLD, in conjunction with OFGEM, estimates that for the UK energy utility sector alone, the size of the prize is upwards of £160m per annum.
Remotely resolve job blockers in real-time, cutting down the number of site visits required to resolve blockers effectively. FYLD case studies show that up to 50% of site visits can be eliminated with remote visibility, and spans of control can uplift by as much as 33% within 12 months. More financial resources can be deployed to the people doing the work with a more profitable leverage model.
Importantly, operational leadership can benchmark remote manager responsiveness to standing time by tracking how quickly those managers address blockers raised by fieldworkers, creating accountability and a clear performance measure. Top quartile performance targets can be brought to life meaningfully - a typical customer saw a 71% improvement in speed of resolution of job blocker issues from 2024 to 2025.
As infrastructure programmes grow more complex, every contractor must contribute to outcomes, not risk them. Reactive oversight is no longer viable. Leaders who embed active, real-time, data-informed oversight into daily operations will deliver more safely, more efficiently, and with greater certainty.
Reducing equipment delays
A major utility customer used FYLD’s blocker data to track frequent “waiting on equipment” incidents. By mapping delay hotspots, they redesigned logistics schedules, cutting equipment-related downtime by 25% in three months.
Improving permit approvals
A contractor noticed repeated blockers tied to permit delays. Data showed approvals lagging at specific councils, enabling leadership to adjust workflows and dedicate admin resource to high-friction regions. The result: a 15% faster project start rate.
Boosting safety through early warnings
A customer integrating blocker data with safety reporting found that “waiting for isolations” often coincided with crews being idle near live sites. This flagged a latent risk, leading to procedural changes that reduced unsafe exposure and improved compliance scores.
Strengthening workforce productivity
For a utilities provider, FYLD revealed that blockers weren’t just logistical but also stemmed from unclear work instructions. By tailoring training to the most common blocker themes, the business improved first-time job completion by 20%.
Driving managerial accountability
In one deployment, job blocker data revealed stark differences in how quickly remote managers responded to fieldworker issues. By benchmarking response times, the organisation introduced performance metrics that rewarded fast unblockers. This not only sped up resolution but also strengthened trust between crews and leadership.
Holding strategic partners to account on downtime
In one implementation, where supply chain and the utility collaborated on jobs, job blockers enabled effective triage, identification of training issues, and remote resolution of blockers, which would be traditionally fixed with a physical visit.
I’ve experienced customers driving long-term value creation in multiple ways, including:
Forecasting project risks before they materialise. We have multiple joint deployments (asset owners and their supply chain partners on a joint platform). Through the real time collaboration that is enabled, we see 58% of all blockers require intervention from the asset owner. This further reinforces the need for tighter collaboration enabled by data.
Benchmarking contractors and managers based on blocker frequency and resolution speed.
Driving cultural change by showing frontline teams their feedback directly influences operations.
FYLD’s customers don’t just track blockers—they use them as levers to unlock efficiency, safety, and performance. Each data point represents a chance to remove friction, accelerate delivery, and empower teams on the ground. The result: fewer delays, safer worksites, and consistently stronger project outcomes. Book a FYLD demo today.
Shelley Copsey is the Co-founder and CEO of FYLD, driving smarter, safer, data-powered field operations for major infrastructure companies. With 25+ years at the crossroads of tech and infrastructure, she has founded and scaled multiple SaaS companies and is a recognized leader in AI-driven innovation.