FIELD SERVICE NEWS Issue #4
fieldservicenews.com
January/February 2015
Connections Sof tware | Apps | Hardware | Fleet Operations | Logistics | Technology | Management | Resources
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Editors Leader
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Connections are everything I firmly believe the above statement. Connections are everything. But what are connections? It’s such a broad term isn’t it? I mean connections of some form or another are all around us each and every second of our lives. From the tiny electric sparks connecting the neurons in our body through to the gigantic gravitational pull that connects the planets of our Solar System together all revolving around the sun. And then everything in between.
Kris Oldland. Editor
OK so perhaps a little bit melodramatic, a definitley a touch off piste but the thing is that when I was pulling this issue together all could think about were connections, and how important it is for the field service industries to make sure they get there connections working, and also keep there connections happy.
Of course perhaps the most important connection of all is the connection between your company and your customers. I’ve said it once and i’m sure i’ll say it a few more times in my lifetime - the customer is the heartbeat of every organisation. Look after you customers, ensure that connection is a good one and you can be fairly comfortable that your business is on a decent path. A sentiment echoed in two of our expert view features this month as Bill Pollock explores the difference betweeen customers’ wants and needs, whilst Paul White extoles the virtues of putting the customers back in control. Of course the other heartbeat of field service (OK for the sake of the metaphor lets just assume field service like Doctor Who has two hearts) is of course the mobile workforce. Again there are vital connections that need to be maintained across our the relationship between field worker and company. How do we connect to the worker to tell them where their next job is? How are they connected to HQ when they are out in the field with access to all that lovely rich data that can helps us further enheance our connections with our customers? Of course, as I alluded to in my grandiose opening of neurons and planets, not all connections involve people. In fact some of the most important connections that are at the forefront of our minds right now are digital connections. The Internet of Things, remote diagnostincs and machine to machine communication are all trends that have moved from interesting concepts that could shape the future of field service to groundbreaking developments that are being adopted and implemented today. The market for IoT may appear slow and appetite is not quite as advanced as it should be, something ServiceMax CIO Scott Berg agrees with and refers to in our interview in this issue, but it is there and some companies are already embracing it fully. One of those companies happens to be Elekta, who as well as being throughly set for remote diagnostics and the Internet of Things have also succesfully implemented an excellent means of sharing the knowledge stored amongst their engineers across their entire global network. Yet another example of connections being of the utmost value. This knowledge sharing program not only has the benefit of improving engineers efficiency, it is also a powerful tool for the Service Desk who are able to in turn improve the leves of service they are giving to Elekta’s customers. Whilst Elekta’s focus has been on knowledge sharing across their network, Pitney Bowes focus has been on connecting their disparate working processes across Europe. An equally daunting task and one where yet again the objective is to attain maximum connectivity between divisions, locations, and countries. Such a task is always going to be a significant challenge, but when some of your countries are operating on manual processes and others are using a whole plethora of different systems that cannot connect ot each other, it really requires a methodical approach, and a team with the vision to see the whole operation holistically. The way Pitney Bowes approached their task was a bluebrint to success and there are many key learnings that could be applied to companies of all sizes. And in these two features we find yet even more connections, and deep lying ones too... For both of these examples were presented at recent Service Community events and whilst that connects the two in one way, it also leads us to The Service Community which is a perfect example of the power of connections. After the sad loss of founder Steve Downton, The Service Community’s future was far from certain, but the mantle has been picked up by fellow members of the community (expertly marshaled by Chris Farnarth) and through the exchange of ideas from one set of connections to another the community continues and it continues to be something very special. A community run by service executives for the service industry. You’ll find no sales pitches and advertisements at a Service Community event, just excellent presentations and the opportunity to widen your network of connections amongst your peers. And the Service Community connects me neatly to the final part of this leader, where I wish to focus on this months special report, The #FSN20 - The twenty most influential people in field service. For there are a few of the prominent members of The Service Community sat amongst this elite band of 20. The response we had from you our readers on building this list was fantastic, so thanks to each and everyone of you who made nominations. Of course we had to whittle the list down and we have tried to take a fair minded approach that was reflective of the many different corners of the field service industries. The good thing is even if you don’t agree with our final twenty it means you are thinking about who should be in there. Which means we have acheived our objective - to get people thinking about all the good things going on in our industry today. We’ve also included twitter handles for each of the #fsn20 so you can follow them and further your connections yet another way! p3
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Contents
Contents:
News:
Filling homes, improving efficiency and not exploding News round up. City Link Couriers get fresh start with free access to cloud based courier software Panasonic help communications steam in to 21st Century at Norfolk Railway Service management expo joins protection & management series for second year Xplore Technologies Secures $2 Million Order from Service Provider to Utilities and Telecommunications Companies
pages 6 & 7 page 8 page 8 page 10 page 10
Features: The Future of Field Service Keeping Competitive with Quad PlayOf horses and carts - ruggedness and reliability in tablet PC selection in the utilities sector Service Automation 2.0 What is in a name? Part Two: the hallmarks of field service Identifying the differences between customers’ wants and needs We’re talkIing Servitization Inventory management in field service is hard to get right #FSN20: The twenty most influential people in field service With you every step of the way Putting the customer back in control with self-service technology Spreading the word... Tough at the top? Latest resources IOT challenges for Field Service Case Study: Artic Building Services The Changing Face of Field Service: Are You Ready? fieldservicenews.com
We’re talkING Servitization
#fsn20
page 9 page 11 page 12 & 13 page 14 page 16 pages 18 to 20 page 22 pages 23 to 30 pages 32 to 35 pages 36 pages 38 to 40 pages 42 to 45 pages 46 page 47 pages 48 & 49 page 50
Industry leaders, Scott Berg, ServiceMax
Servitization was a key topic at the recent Aftermarket Europe conference and at the centre of the discussion was a panel debate hosted by Field Service News Editor, Kris Oldland.. Here we bring you some of the highlights of that conversation...
S
organisations with quite complex or evolved business models already. Is it the case that
But what they are doing now is slowly but surely
key topic on the agenda of many manufacturing
servitization only applies to companies that have
companies and also amongst may service based organisations as well.
ervitization has been talked about for many years but all of a sudden it seems to be a
the size to make it work?
the pallets, they are designing the pallets for the application, they are working with the customer to make sure the pallets are well suited, they are
For those companies that tread the path being dubbed the fourth paradigm it will mean a complete rethinking of how they view field
companies which has been quite intersting first of all to break away from the myth that servitization is just about large companies.
Tim Baines: I’ve worked with quite a few smaller
service.
getting into the space where they are making
actually putting the pallet in the system, they’re tracking the pallets, they are taking care of stock control.
At the recent AfterMarket conference in
By this time next year we will have got around 70 companies within our region of the UK the west
Slowly and surely they are moving to a position where they are becoming the business process outsourcing partner for the customers own
Amsterdam Field Service News Editor, Kris
midlands engaged in servitization.
material handling system.
One company which helps us breakway from this idea that it is all about delivering complex
Whilst this may not be a perfectly clinical but nevertheless it is a good example of a small company that has adopted the principles of
Oldland hosted a panel debate with three speakers key to servitization; •
Proffessor Tim Baines, Aston University a leading proponent of the servitization movement.
products is a company that actually delivering pallets, regular wooden pallets and these pallets are used in the automotive industry to move
•
Brendan Viggers, Product and Sales Support
windowscreens and cars and things like this.
for IFS Aerospace & Defence division who has worked closely with a number of companies such as Emirates on moving
“By this time next year we
•
towards a servitization model. Koen D’Haeyer, Global Manager Service Development & Technical Services, Lely, who had been through the journey himself with Farm Technology company.
will have got around 70 SME companies within our region engaged in servitization”
example of servitization by some definitions,
servitization and then put them into practice. Koen Dyaeyer: I couldn’t agree more that smaller companies companies servitization can work. I have a history in smaller to medium sized companies, and we went drastically through servitization aspects even by a make and buy
What I would say is that in technology there is an Kris Oldland: The case studies we hear around servitization to date all seem to involve large
Their business model before we got involved was they would make a pallet, sell the pallets.
The twenty most influential
proposaition through to quality assurance etc so it’s applicable for sure in all industries.
extra opportunity as in complexity it is very much possible to create the value of your expertise
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02/02/2015 11:37
Servitization - 18
people in field service... Issue4.indd 23
02/02/2015 11:38
#FSN20 - page 23
Issue4.indd 43
02/02/2015 11:53
Scott Berg - Page 42
Advisory Panel
Bill Pollock, President Strategies for Growth SM, | Nick Frank, Consultant, Noventum Service Management | P r o f . A n d y N e e l y, D i r e c t o r C a m b r i d g e S e r v i c e A l l i a n c e | A l i sta i r C l i f fo rd - J o n e s , C EO L e a d e n t S o l t u i o n s T i m J o n e s , N o r t h e r n E u ro p e S e r v i c e M a n a g e r, Wa te rs
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Filling empty homes, improving efficiency and not exploding... A brief look at the latest news in field service from across the last few months... Former SAP exec joins enterprise mobility company Kony
emergency call-outs are received.
Kony Inc, a leading enterprise mobility company, recentley announced the appointment of Jonathan Best as vice president of Europe and Africa, as part of the company’s growth strategy.
bit.ly/FSN_Teesdale
Best will focus on building Kony’s operations, channels and sales presence across Europe and Africa.
Fast Lean Smart, have recently announced a new version of its industry leading scheduling solution FLS VISITOUR for Microsoft Dynamics CRM being available now for customers.
The appointment of Best is part of the company’s aggressive growth strategy to deliver the highest level of value and service to its growing base of enterprise customers in EMEA who are focused on using mobility to drive customer loyalty, employee empowerment and business process improvement. Many companies are using mobility as a catalyst for innovation for their businesses, especially with the explosive growth of mobile devices globally. Best brings with him twenty years of sales leadership experience within the technology industry. Most recently, Best was the head of innovation sales, and board director at SAP UKI, which included the mobility portfolio. Prior to SAP, Best was Vice President, Sales, Health Sciences at Oracle, as well as Managing Director at Cordys UK, now OpenText.
Real-time scheduling solution FLS VISITOUR for Microsoft Dynamics CRM announced with new capabilities
Shortly after the highly anticpated release by Microsoft to publish the new Dynamics CRM 2015, now available for both Online and On Premise. After evaluating the new capabilities within the 2015 edition, Fast Lean Smart started to invest early in supporting and extending its solution to complement and take advantage of these when available. The recently announced new FLS VISITOUR for Microsoft Dynamics CRM version 3 supports CRM 2015 and its feature enhancements made within the service module such as enhanced SLAs, hierarchy information and added CRM for tablet functionality. Fast Lean Smart customers are able to further enhance their SLA management with the features provided by PowerOpt scheduling engine – helping to optimise the daily scheduling based on multiple parameters and real-time status feedbacks from the field staff.
bit.ly/FSN_KONY
Renewable energy firm reports faster response times with Fleetmatics Teesdale Renewables, a fast-growing provider of renewable energy services to homes and businesses in the North East of England, has reported an improvement in its customer service capabilities following the introduction of Fleetmatics’ mobile workforce solution known as Fleetmatics REVEAL™. The system has been installed throughout the company’s fleet of six vehicles to ensure that the location of engineers can be pinpointed in realtime via the Live Map functionality. This has assisted with efficient scheduling of customer visits and faster response times when p6
bit.ly/FSN_FLS
Xplore Technologies’ Bobcat and RangerX Tablet PCs Achieve Full ATEX Certification Xplore Technologies Corp manufacturer of some of the world’s most powerful, longest-lasting and rugged tablets on the market, has announced that both the Windows-based Bobcat and Android-based RangerX models have achieved full ATEX certification. The certification means that both models are safe to use in explosive atmospheres in the workplace. This announcement means businesses with potentially explosive atmospheres can now deploy world-leading, fully rugged tablet PCs
running either the Windows or Android operating system. The ATEX Equipment Directive is designed to specify requirements for safe electrical and mechanical equipment and protective systems in potentially explosive atmospheres. Xplore Technologies has met all essential health and safety requirements and undergone full conformity procedures for the BobCat and RangerX models. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 122 workers were killed in workplace explosions in 2012 with a further 5,000 injured. In the UK, fire and explosions at work account for approximately 2 percent of major injuries reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). bit.ly/FSN_Xplore
Samsung’s first ruggedised B2B Tablet launches in UK Samsung Electronics UK announced late last month that the Galaxy Tab Active is now available in the UK through IT distributor Exertis. Samsung’s first tablet designed specifically for the B2B market will be available exclusively for six months with Exertis, in both the 4G and Wi-Fi versions.
News Round Up
Samsung has chosen to partner exclusively with Exertis due to the strength of offering in terms of sector alignment.
Flowrite Services LTD achieves 30% reduction in fuel and 20% more jobs per day after investing in latest mobile scheduling technology from Aeromark
Exertis will offer the Galaxy Tab Active with specific sector proposals to enhance the end user experience, across lone workers, field-based operators, the health sector and the education arena.
Flowrite Services LTD, the UK’s leading National Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Company has implemented the very latest market leading technology, Optimatics from Aeromark, to schedule, manage and communicate with its 100 HVAC and Refrigeration engineers, Nationwide.
bit.ly/FSN_SAMSUNG
Oneserve and Sovini make a start in tackling the 600,000 empty homes in Britain Research released by Halifax and the Empty Homes Agency to mark #EmptyHomesWeek reveals that over 600,000 properties remain completely empty in the UK. This is a stark and worrying fact that is alarming on both the human and business level. Every housing provider knows it is important to have as few empty homes (or voids) as possible – not only do they cost money but they can also be a problem for local communities. The research also highlighted that the public are concerned about this issue – 36% of people think empty homes are a blight on their local area and 74% believe their local authority should place a higher priority on tackling empty homes. Reducing the time it takes for repairs and maintenance teams to complete their part of the journey to re-letting a property can be one way to reduce void days. Field Service software provider Oneserve have been working closely with a number of Local Authorities, Housing Associations and Contractors all over the UK. Through using Oneserve, a cloud based service management solution, customers are reporting better visibility and management of the void process which is enabling them to reduce turnaround days. bit.ly/FSN_Sovini
Flowrite was looking for a system that would help improve the management of their customer’s assets including catering refrigeration – Walk-in chillers & freezers, cellar cooling, service cabinets, display refrigeration, ice machines and air conditioning equipment, and to optimise its service operation for planned and reactive maintenance. Aeromark offered a smarter mobile workforce technology to schedule engineers and as a result, not only has productivity in the field has improved by 20% but also as a result of better scheduling, mileage per job has reduced by 30%. bit.ly/FSN_FLOWRITE
Red Hat Announces New Teams and Collaboration Enhancement for FeedHenry 3 Mobile Application Platform Red Hat a leading provider of open source solutions, early this week announced an update to its newly acquired FeedHenry 3 mobile application platform. The update, featuring a new Teams and Collaboration enhancement, is an expansion to one of the industry’s leading mobile application platforms for enterprise development. The FeedHenry 3 mobile application platform brings something new to the market with its integrated collaboration and access control features that support distributed development teams working in unison across multiple application projects. Commenting on the release Cathal McGloin, vice president, Mobile Platforms, Red Hat stated “Enterprise mobility has matured beyond a single application, silo approach, toward a teambased, business-centric model, where multiple applications, at various stages of the application
development lifecycle, are managed by different teams. Organisations are looking to improve their agility and responsiveness on mobility projects while at the same time having distributed teams and centralised policy management. Teams and Collaboration, as an integrated feature across the FeedHenry 3 platform, addresses this need, enabling a granularity of access control across different development resources, whether in-house or third-party, that promotes agility and reuse of core components.” bit.ly/FSN_REDHAT
Lincoln Property Solutions enlists Tesseract Service Centre to manage its systems Lincoln Property Solutions Ltd, a Properties Management Service company in Basingstoke, Hampshire, has selected Tesseract Service Centre to manage its Properties Portfolio and related maintenance and cleaning schedules. Lincoln Property Solutions provides facilities management to improve efficiency and to ensure the buildings in their care provide the environment and services that will satisfy not only the business needs but also residential requirements of their workforce. The company relies on an experienced workforce of operatives who follow a set of schedules. These schedules used to be managed using spreadsheets, into which data would be entered manually, until Lincoln Property Solutions decided it needed something more efficient, more automated and more centralised. Enter Tesseract, a service management software company that has already revolutionised the systems of more than 300 businesses worldwide. Lincoln Property Solutions came across Tesseract at SME14, the service management exhibition at the Facilities Show 2014 in London. Tesseract has an exhibition stand at SME every year, and this year managed to persuade Lincoln Property Solutions that utilising the facilities of Tesseract Service Centre would be hugely advantageous. bit.ly/FSN_Lincoln p7
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News: Top Stories
City Link Couriers get fresh start with free access to cloud based courier software Courier software specialists DA Systems offer those affected by City Links collapse a lifeline...
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A Systems, the market leader in the provision of mission critical sameday courier software, announces a unique offer to support sameday couriers affected by the collapse of City Link. It is giving any courier with evidence of previous employment by City Link the opportunity to use Express completely free of charge and start trading as an independent courier business. Express is a new, cloud based software solution designed to run every aspect of a sameday courier operation, from job pricing and scheduling, to delivery route planning, with real-time parcel tracking and proof of delivery notifications to customers.
DA Systems’ offer of free access to Express for exCity Link workers is worth over £400 and available to any courier presenting evidence of former employment or self-employment with City Link and wishing to establish a micro courier business. In return, they will have the opportunity to use Express completely free, for the first two months. Using ACI Express will allow a courier to have access to a single, centralised and integrated system that has been specially designed to meet the changing needs of the time sensitive courier industry. As a cloud based solution, no upfront investment is required, the system is web-based and can be
accessed by any connected device. “The advent of courier networks and steady demand for e-commerce fulfillment means there has never been a better time to set up in businesses and take control of their future. Rather than working for a single delivery provider, it might be more prudent to spread the risk and become self-employed. With free access to Express, they have the opportunity to give it a try for two months.” says David Upton, CEO of DA Systems. Latest estimates suggest the courier market is now worth £7bn annually, which can be well served by entrepreneurial independent couriers.
Panasonic help communications steam in to 21st Century at Norfolk Railway Steam technology at Norfolk’s Bure Valley Railway has received a 21st century upgrade thanks to a Panasonic communications system...
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astern Voice & Data, a Panasonic Focus Dealer, has installed a new communication system that has helped the tourist attraction provide better customer service, increase on site efficiency and cut costs. The previous fixed position phone system restricted communication between staff on the platform and in the ticket office and Bure Valley Railway (BVR) wanted a solution that would increase mobility, so more time could be spent attending to their customers. All staff can now be reached via ruggedised mobile handsets or desk handsets allowing staff to be quickly located along the route from Aylsham to Wroxham. The phone system has also been integrated with the
Public Address, allowing the train guard to announce arrival and departure information using the handset.
BVR to dispense with telephone lines that were no longer required, ultimately giving a more costeffective solution.
Andrew Barnes, Managing Director at BVR, said, “We welcome up to 1500 passengers a day, so good internal communication is essential.
“Customer service is vital in the tourist industry and from the first conversation with BVR, we recognised that this was a driver for a new communication system.” said Russell Marriott, Managing Director of Eastern Voice & Data.
The new system has drastically improved communication between the platform and the ticket office – helping us improve the speed and accuracy at which we can evaluate customer demand and react to it.” The move to SIP has enabled
“Previously there was limited communication with staff on trackside. What we’ve managed to do is provide them with full communication for all staff on trackside which means they can provide a better service to their customers.” Marriott continued. Using IP technology has enabled the station 9 miles (15 Km) away to be connected to the main site system using a VPN extension, making communication with the signal box easier, and demonstrating how IP technology can be employed to connect telephones installed anywhere.
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Expert View: Marne Martin, ServicePower
The Future of Field Service Marne Martin, CEO of award winning software provider ServicePower takes a look at what the Field Service should look like in the not so distant future...
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oday, field service organisations face increasing competition, changing customer dynamics, reduced margins and are increasingly challenged to achieve corporate metrics. Each must look toward technology that will improve its competitive edge and increase productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Intelligent, integrated scheduling, mobile and business intelligence technologies must be deployed to: •
•
•
•
Intelligently schedule the best labour resource, whether that’s an employee in a company truck or a 3rd party contractor, to meet customer requirements Optimize employee schedules to achieve the greatest levels of productivity, efficiency and SLA compliance Fully mobilize onsite processes, ensuring the job is completed, to the customer’s satisfaction, in a single truck roll, driving down schedule costs and repeat trips Continuously analyze and fine tune the overall operation through real time, data driven decision making
All in a fully mobile way. Consumers, used to instant access to the web, expect field services to be provided now. They expect technicians to be provisioned with the necessary tools and technology to show up on time, access the parts and other resources needed.
Intelligent Scheduling Only software solutions provide field service organization with the technology required to schedule field based resources to meet not only customer commitments but do so in such a way as to reduce its overcall costs through optimisation and intelligent deployment of both employed and third party labour. Demand fluctuation caused by seasonality, for instance, creates unnecessary cost and dissatisfied customers if response time are extended. Additionally, parts, extra labor or helpers, and jobs which require compliance to strict SLAs can’t be efficiently scheduled without an intelligent scheduling application.
Optimisation Real time, or intra-day, optimisation is crucial to the achievement of the highest productivity and efficiency. Manual scheduling, which relies on human capability and emotion, entails a user building and managing a schedule. It is labour intensive and rarely considers travel and cannot be automated to adapt to change or exception management. Manual scheduling just can’t scale for future growth. Rules based scheduling automatically builds a schedule based on simple computer logic, filling an open schedule slot. However it does not continuously move previously scheduled jobs to ensure the least costly total schedule looking also at technician skills, parts availability or travel. Intelligent Scheduling, based on artificial intelligence, delivers true optimisation. In this scenario, schedules are created and continuously and automatically changed to achieve cost, margin, cycle time and customer satisfaction metrics. Priorities can also be dynamically adjusted to changing business needs or KPI goals using also real time mobile status reporting, GPS and other parts and job information. Only solutions that offer true optimised scheduling including intelligent routing provide field service organisations with the technology to achieve its goals while improving satisfaction, building brand loyalty and positive social networks.
Real time, Data Driving Decision Making Field service does not exist in a box where the environment never changes. Each operation must continuously collect data, from all parts of its service ecosystem, analyse that data, and use the data to fine tune operations. Field service is a continuously evolving entity that must adapt in order to compete and exceed customer expectations. The Future is here. Right now.
This is where intelligent software solutions are invaluable as they consider data and existing schedules to make the best scheduling decisions for the company.
industry. For instance, sensor information (M2M data) from connected devices, like security systems, building systems and vending machines, can be used to initiate repairs based on a detected failure. However, that same M2M data, as well as other information, such as manufacturing data, can be used to model and predict equipment failure, enabling the field service organiation to predict the failure of an elevator or power generator, and send a technician to maintain it, before it breaks, minimising customer down time. New technologies are enabling an evolution from the traditional break/fix repair model, to a proactive, preventative maintenance model, which reduces costs for the field service organisation through higher first time fix rates, and improves customer satisfaction and loyalty due to decreased down time. ServicePower, named Visionary in the Gartner 2014 Magic Quadrant for Field Service and recipient of the 2014 M2M Evolution IoT Excellence Award provide connected mobile field services solutions that bring together all aspects of the field service value chain, including the customer and the dispatch center, technician, claims and warranty processes, parts, the contracted workforce, assets, mobility, business intelligence, and social collaboration. Through continuous innovative, like M2M Connected Service, industry acknowledged optimisation technology and cutting edge mobility, our software accelerates business efficiency gains and customer satisfaction while reducing costs, on one underlying and consistent platform. We offer field service experts that have managed businesses and field teams understanding customer’s needs and pain points. Don’t let your field service organisation be stuck in yesterday. Implement technology to meet your cost, margin, cycle time and customer satisfaction metrics today, and future proof your operation through deployment of the latest, continuously improved field service management technologies.
New technological innovations, such as connected machines, are driving further innovation within the within the field service p9
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News: Top Stories
Service management expo joins protection & management series for second year Service Management Expo returns to London’s ExCeL this summer, taking place between 16th and 18th June...
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ervice Management Expo returns to London’s ExCeL this summer, taking place from 1618 June 2015, Europe’s only dedicated event for the field service market will be co-located with Facilities Show as part of the Protection & Management Series. Now in its 31st year, Service Management Expo is the annual industry event that brings together the latest information and the most up-to-date products and services for those working within service management, logistics, fleet management, operations and IT. Fergus Bird, Group Event Manager, Service Management Expo said: “We are really excited to be returning to London for a second year with Service Management Expo, once again we have all the market leading suppliers who will not only
showcase the latest developments and products within the sector but will offer invaluable insight through lively debates, interviews and case studies in our Field Service Educational Theatre. We have lots of networking planned across the show floor and we are really looking forward to welcoming the industry to ExCeL London in June.” Service Management Expo will host the dedicated Field Service Solutions Theatre in partnership with Field Service News. A full educational programme will run across the three days, mixing interviews with influential industry figures, best practice case studies and thought provoking panel debates. The theatre will also host daily networking sessions allowing you to mingle with peers, discuss topical issues and catch up with old friends. The popular Field Service Demo Zone hosted
by TomTom Telematics and powered by their WEBFLEET SaaS fleet management platform returns for its second year. The interactive area will showcase end-to-end connected solutions in action, including mobile hardware, such as scanners, printers and signature capture devices, in-vehicle fleet management and navigation devices, and office software along with new solutions around the driver navigation terminal. Service Management Expo is part of UBM Live’s Protection & Management Series, which annually attracts 45,000 visitors and more than 1,600 exhibitors. Service Management Expo badge holders have access to all of the shows in the series including Facilities Show, FIREX International, IFSEC International and Safety & Health Expo.
Xplore Technologies Secures $2 Million Order from Service Provider to Utilities and Telecommunications Companies Xplore technologies secures $2 million order from service provider to utilities and telecommunications companies...
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plore Technologies Corp manufacturer of the powerful, longest-lasting, ultra and fully-rugged tablets, recently announced it has secured a $2 million dollar order for its XC6 DMSR ultra-rugged Windows tablets from a company providing infrastructure services to utility and telecommunication companies. This newest order expands on a relationship with the company that began in 2008, when Xplore technology was initially deployed. “Our customer has a mobile workforce of more than 1,300 employees and having a ruggedized tablet solution to meet their needs in rugged field conditions is critical to their responsiveness and productivity,” said Philip S. Sassower,
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chairman and CEO of Xplore. “Their team has been using Xplore tablets for many years and upgrading their mobile initiatives with the latest Xplore model, the XC6 DMSR ultra-rugged tablet, was based on the decision to continue to outfit their field technicians with cost-effective sunlight readable and weatherproof technology.” The XC6 DMSR is the most rugged Windows® tablet on the market and is ideal for industrial and outdoor environments. Powered by a 4th generation Intel® Core™ i5 processor, the high-performance rugged tablet features a direct sunlight readable display, as well
as an innovative resistive, multi-touch interface to make running your toughest applications easier than ever--no matter how extreme the environment. “We have a very positive and long standing relationship with this customer, and we are very excited they have decided to expand and upgrade their mobile technology infrastructure utilizing Xplore rugged tablets,” said Mark Holleran, president and COO. “We are confident our XC6 DMSR will meet all their mobility needs with the industry’s leading processing power, ruggedization and security features they require for their expanding field workforce.”
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Expert View: Tim Faulkner, ClickSoftware
Keeping Competitive with Quad Play As the telecoms market goes through significant change customer service has become a major factor in which companies will come out on top Tim Faulkner of ClickSoftware explains...
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he telecoms market is undergoing a huge transition in the UK and across continental Europe. A number of high-profile acquisitions have been made with analysts expecting further consolidation of telecoms companies still to come. The reason behind this spate of acquisitions? The attempt to bring to the market a quad play offer for consumers. Quad play is a term that has been around for a while now. The idea is that a telecoms company can offer a fixed telephone line, broadband, TV and mobile service. For consumers, they get a one-stop shop for all their services. It means dealing with less providers, consolidated bills and makes the overall service much easier to manage. The last element of the quad play offer is perhaps the most important one. In research conducted by ClickSoftware last year, we found that over a third (34%) of consumers have either cancelled a service or stopped using a brand altogether as a result of poor customer service . A staggeringly high figure to think a third of the customers that businesses come across on a daily basis can be so quickly and so emphatically put off spending any more money with them. For quad play to be a compelling offer to consumers, it needs to improve the customer service aspect and ensure that there is consistency in service delivery across the company. Regardless of the role, every employee and contractor needs to be provided with the training, tools and information they need to perform a good job. Whether it’s discussing a service over the phone or an engineer installing a solution at a customer’s house, everyone working for the company is a brand ambassador and the end user shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the levels of service. In order to succeed, customers need to feel like they are dealing with one company rather than four different suppliers. When it comes to cost, industry commentators are undecided about whether it will lead to
cheaper bills for consumers, however they are in agreement that bringing all of these services together should lead to better customer experiences. That said, in any acquisition, merging the companies together can be a difficult task. This is further complicated when considering the multiple suppliers each company deals with and how these are integrated. For quad play to take off, companies buying others will need to work out their supplier roster quickly to minimise disruption during the transition.
“Regardless of the role, every employee and contractor needs to be provided with the training, tools and information they need to perform a good job” For the telecoms companies, each should now be in a more powerful position to deal with suppliers. Because there will now be less telecoms companies to work with, the suppliers will need to compete more fiercely than ever. The purchasing power will be in the hands of the telecoms companies but it will be up to suppliers to provide the best possible offer. What we will see as a consequence of a quad play market is the development of a marketplace bidding system. Suppliers will need to tender their services via a marketplace platform and the telecoms company will then have to take its pick of the supplier it feels provides the best service. This new way of working will also benefit the telecoms companies as they will be able to have full visibility across all field resources,
including contractors. By extending the same technology utilised by the company to its contractors, they can better ensure consistent processes and level of service are carried out across the organisation. Regardless of which service provider is performing the task, the visibility should ensure consistency and a better customer experience. Not only will this achieve greater customer satisfaction but also does so without the need for additional staff overhead, by increasing capacity only when it is needed to maintain service performance levels through demand spikes. The rest of the year will see the issue of quad play develop. We will see telecoms companies aggressively promoting the offer in order to acquire customers. It will be crucial that for quad play to really take off, the customer experience element improves right off the bat. Utilising service providers in this new marketplace model is one way of ensuring this takes place
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Service Automation 2.0 Upgrading a service management system can be a challenge so what about unifying and upgrading multiple systems across a continent?
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ervice management software has evolved and the benefits of moving to a modern next generation system are well documented. But what are the considerations that need to be factored in when changing systems? And what about companies that have evolved multiple systems across various regions? One company who recently went through this process was Global Franking Machine giant Pitney Bowes as they sought to both standardise and upgrade their systems across the whole of Europe. “We started with different service systems across Europe that had become built up across the years which that didn’t talk to each other” Andy Beer, Director of Service & Postal Market Development explained at a presentation given at a recent Service Community event. Of course this is an issue for any organisation that operates across multiple divisions, with differing centres of operations. And whilst it may not be impossible, it certainly makes it harder to identify company wide trends swiftly enough to act on them with any great effect. “We had six or seven different systems that we had built up across Europe and in fact in the Nordics we were still using a paper based model similar to when I started with Pitney Bowes in the 80’s” continued Beer before describing the Nordic system “whereby our engineers would come into the office in the morning, go to a big rolodex and pull out their cards for the day, come back and write it all up.” With such disparity it was clear for Pitney Bowes the direction they needed to take. “Our number one goal was to give us one platform across Europe so we could then report on our key performance metrics, whatever that may be and do it on an international level.” Beer explained “We looked at our existing systems and to upgrade us from the platform we were on and to add in the other companies we needed would have required and investment of a little over a million dollars, so it wasn’t a decision that we
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were going to take lightly. We weren’t going to just say ‘OK give us the upgrade, give us version 2.’ We wanted something more for that.” Quite rightly so. At that level of cost, whilst the right solution could lead to significant added insight into the operation of a company and ultimately large potential savings, get it wrong and it would be a costly mistake. As it turned out even this level of investment would have failed to deliver the requirements that Pitney Bowes had identified as key to their needs. As Beer explained further “Even with that investment we still wouldn’t have a web front end, which we were looking for, and we would still be beholden on either the suppliers of that system or our own internal IT department to help us write reports.”
“In this data driven age non-technical people are used to accessing highly customised reports with ease” “We felt we were looking in our rear view mirror an awful lot and it wasn’t just what was immediately behind us that we were looking for, it was sometimes looking months behind us before we could actually start to get reasonable reporting, so we definitely needed to change” With field service experts from all quarters exalting the importance of data, this was another area that Pitney Bowes were acutely aware that their current system wasn’t empowering them as much as it should be. “Data is important but when you have tons of it and you can’t sift through it, you can’t find an easy way to get meaning from the data, then you’re just hamstrung by it.” Beer outlined before adding further
“When I say about looking in the rear view mirror, visibility of particular production or productivity metrics were very low and very difficult to then manage either individual engineers, based on their metrics, or build that up into a team of engineers, or build that up into a country let alone build that up across a European view.” “The pain we went through to change reports, even just to tweak things slightly” Beer recalls before pausing a moment with a wry smile. “When your running the operation, you want to be able to see everything at a whim, you don’t want to have to be beholden to an IT group or a vendor to be able to give you something you think you might need.“ This is perhaps the fundamental difference between, the last generation of service management software and current systems. In this data driven age non-technical people are used to accessing highly customised reports with ease, and often depend on this ability to do their job. As Beer points out “The thing as operational people, is we think we need to see an awful lot of stuff but then may stop and look at it and think ‘Do I really need that after all?’ but we need to see it first to make that call.” Other considerations that were key for Pitney Bowes were that their new solution had to be able to integrate with Salesforce, as this was their chosen CRM and also that it had to be Cloud based. Outlining their thought process Beer added “Our existing systems were not cloud based and we absolutely knew that our prime need was to move to the cloud, we didn’t want to have the hassle of owning the system, we wanted instant upgrades where available and instant fixes where available.“ “Essentially we wanted to future proof our investment.” With the plethora of service management solutions on the market, selecting finding a
Upgrading a service management system on a continent wide scale
solution to meet their needs was always going to be possible, although dependent on a robust evaluation process. However, selecting a solution to meet these needs was one thing, implementing a solution across such a complex mix of territories was another. The approach required needed to involve all of the key stakeholders. “We knew we were beholden to IT in our previous systems, we didn’t want to be in that position now but we also knew that they couldn’t not be involved.” Beer explains “So we had two phases of the project, the first one was business and operations led. We picked a team of people from across Europe that came together and then spent five or six months getting really deep into what we had and what we thought we needed moving forward, and
putting together a plan to get to from one to the other. Once we had that we engaged with IT” “We wanted to the establish how we could integrate what we had into other systems, interfacing with the vendor and outlining what we saw as our business and operational requirements and then asked how readily available those were.
“We absolutely knew that our prime need was to move to the cloud,
going forward” Beer further expands on the practical and pragmatic approach by adding “Nirvana is to take something off the shelf in PC World, type your code in an bang the following morning you’ve got a system, real life is not quite as beautiful as that, we know that but the more you can avoid trying to tweak the edges of a vendors system and what it does to try and make it fit with your processes the better.”
the system...”
It is through taking such a measured approach of understanding not only needs and goals but also limitations, and building the flexibility to overcome any limitations through adapting processes, that Pitney Bowes have been achieve the massive challenge of unifying disparate systems across a continent.
“We took this approach knowing that the more you fiddle around the edges of what your vendor can offer you the harder it comes to manage
And if it can work across a continent then surely such an approach is worth considering for any company considering upgrading a system?
we didn’t want to have the hassle of owning
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Expert View: Ian Davies, Motion Computing
What is in a name? Part Two: the hallmarks of field service Motion Computing’s Ian Davies returns to the question of how do Enterprise Mobility and Field Service Management sit alongside each other...
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e have previously discussed the emerging differences between enterprise mobility and field service. The underlying current of that discussion was which fish would eat the other. In the cold light of day, it is clear that (from a market and technology perspective at least) field service management will live ‘within’ enterprise mobility. But this overlooks a critical point of distinction - what does a field service definition of enterprise mobility look like? What are the actual, tangible hallmarks of an FS deployment and what does this mean for selecting the right technology? Firstly, don’t even look at the technology. Look in the mirror. If you are wearing a hard hat, chances are you are field service and much of the discussion around enterprise mobility may not apply to a great extent. Of course, the same reason you are wearing such a fetching headpiece - safety - does need to be reflected in the choice of mobile technology. This may mean the right IP ratings for ruggedness, the right protection of critical information or the right certifications for specific environments such as explosive atmospheres. There are other clear hallmarks of a field service deployment, driven by the needs of the mobile worker. Whilst these can be broadly grouped into connectivity, computing power and security, it is worth bearing in mind what each of these labels mean to the different vertical markets within field service.
Connectivity Productivity in the field depends on being connected to other people and resources - be they colleagues at head office, other mobile technicians and engineers or databases thousands of miles away. When a signal connection drops for a consumer on the high street it is an annoyance. When a signal drops for an engineer on an oil rig, it can paralyse the operation of the whole drilling platform. Elsewhere, many public safety and utility businesses operate within dense metropolitan areas where network saturation can impact wireless performance - especially 4G. Not all p14
enterprise-focused mobile devices are compatible with the latest 4G wireless technology, which means signal availability and data speeds can be unpredictable. One of the arguments recently put forward has been to view the level of ruggedisation that a tablet needs not as a consequence of the environment in which it operates, but as a result of how critical the process enabled by the technology is, to the business. The same goes for connectivity - if the connection to the back office or elsewhere is paramount to enabling a given task, it must be backed up with redundancy and alternative options.
Computing power Software applications for use in the field grow ever more sophisticated, incorporating more and more data and handling increasingly complex processes. At the same time the need for power efficiency (and the subsequent impact on battery life) remains top of the list of concerns for most deployments.
“Encryption is a vital component of an increased security profile, with remote management capabilities and kill switches necessary in some cases” For example, the latest 5th Gen Intel® Core™ processors (Broadwell) including the i7 vPro™ chipset, provide the power to quickly move through computation-intensive applications, while increasing overall power efficiency. However, again applying the idea that the process, not the environment is the defining aspect of selection, it is important that such technology is paired with the ability to hot-swap the battery in the field. Despite the fact field service is - by definition away from the traditional desk environment, data processing needs remain the same. Devices must
offer the same processing capabilities on devices such as tablets as they do on a desktop or laptop.
Security From a security perspective, the net result of a more connected mobile workforce with access to increasingly sensitive information is greater vulnerability. Stories of lost laptops still make the headlines and more endpoint devices offer more openings to malicious attacks on a corporate network. Part of the answer here lies in greater training and better procedures for field service personnel. However, technology can also help multi-factor authentication capabilities through a combination of password, fingerprint scanner and smart card readers for environments such as healthcare, public safety and manufacturing - are important considerations. Likewise encryption is a vital component of an increased security profile, with remote management capabilities and kill switches necessary in some cases. Of course, these three areas are neither exhaustive, nor the exclusive preserve of field service. But they do give serious points for consideration to those procuring technology such as notebooks or tablet PCs for use out in the field. The needs of the specific industry must also be taken into account (an aspect as equally applicable to hardware as software) if the field service personnel equipped with this technology are to achieve the productivity savings that drive so many field service and enterprise mobility deployments alike. Key to these savings are the peripherals that will augment a tablet PC and enable it to fit into the workflows of field service personnel. Vehicle mounts are a great example, as well as carry cases and charging docks. These are not just additions that are “nice to have” - they form the bedrock of the tablet fitting in to the jobs being undertaken in the field and improving productivity. They are also, like hard hats, a great indication that the field service teams have the right kit to get the job done.
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Expert View: Bill Pollock, Strategies for GrowthSM
Identifying the differences between customers’ wants and needs Strategies for GrowthSM president Bill Pollock looks at why we need to listen to our customers to identify the benefits of their wants and needs in order to best serve them...
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n many cases, there may be great differences between a customer’s wants and a customer’s needs; but sometimes there may actually be only very little difference. It all depends on the specific customer. However, the way in which you manage each customer relationship will ultimately make the greatest difference with respect to your prospects for gaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Typically, the more knowledgeable customers are about the equipment they are using, the more their wants and needs are likely to be the same; however, less knowledgeable customers may not really have a clear idea of the distinction between the two. For example, a copying machine customer may want you to clean the equipment while you are onsite if they had been noticing black marks or spots on the copies coming out of the unit; when, in fact, the main reason for the black marks may have entirely been due to a worn-out roller or other part that needs to be replaced. In a case like this, what the customer really “needed” was clean copies coming out of the machine; however, what they thought they “wanted” was simply for the machine to be cleaned. If you had listened only to the customer, you might have embarked on a faulty corrective action with respect to satisfying their needs. Remember, when it comes to repairing the machine, you are the expert - not the customer! Similarly, a customer may want you to take the machine apart and put it back together again, or replace a part that is not really defective, simply as an exercise to ensure that the copier continues to run “smoothly”. However, what the customer may really need is a more effective preventive maintenance schedule for the equipment that would otherwise negate the need to actually have to take the machine apart or perform a parts swap, etc. In this case, what the customer “wanted” was for you to take the machine apart and put it back together again; however, what they really
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“needed” was a machine that would not break down in the near future as they were preparing for a major copy run. Properly scheduled preventive maintenance would have accomplished this, making any further corrective actions entirely unnecessary.
to identify the problem and appropriate course of action as soon as possible, keep the customer informed on an as-needed (or as-requested) basis, and let them know what they “need” upfront, before they feel compelled to tell you what they “want”.
The best way for you to understand the differences between customers’ wants and needs is to help them to understand the differences in the first place. It all goes back to the “Listen, Observe, Think, Speak”, or LOTS, approach.
Of course, it may not always be this easy. There will always be situations where what you feel the customer needs is not what the customer wants. This is where an ongoing educational process between you and your customers needs to take place. This does not mean to say that the two of you need to sit down, read the equipment manuals together, compare notes, and enter into “philosophical” discussions about equipment maintenance; but, rather, that a series of ongoing, brief discussions should take place every time you are on-site to repair the equipment to ensure that the customer understands why the machine failed, what they could do to lessen the chances for failures in the future, what the recommended “fix” is, and why your way of addressing the situation is better than their way. Sometimes, the solution may be as simple as upgrading to a newer unit.
“The best way for you to understand the differences between customers’ wants and needs is to help them to understand the differences in the first place” By listening to the symptoms that the customer is describing once you arrive on-site, and the problems that they tell you they have been experiencing until you got there, you will probably already be in a good position to surmise what is needed. However, upon further observation with respect to the machine, you will undoubtedly have an even clearer picture. In fact, by this time, you should probably already have a good idea of exactly what the customer “needs”. This would also be a good time to explain to the customer what the initial diagnosis is, what you plan to do about it, and the anticipated amount of time it will take for you to repair it. By providing this information early, you can avoid running into situations where the customer is telling you they “want” one thing and being forced to tell them they really “need” another. In other words, the best way to avoid a “debate” about what is “wanted” vs. what is “needed” is
Basically, what the customer really wants is a piece of equipment that is always up and running, ready to use, unlikely to fail, easy to repair, easy to manage, and easy to use. The details with respect to how each of these is accomplished should really be of no consequence to the customer – although they usually are! Your role, over time, will be to make sure that you always communicate to the customer about what is “needed” to the point where they have full faith in your knowledge and experience, and are willing to defer to your judgment. The more communications there are between you and your customers, the quicker they will get to the point where they will defer to your recommendations, and the quicker the distinction between their “wants” and their “needs” will disappear.
Delivering integrated end-to-end field service management solutions “Since implementing the solution with mplsystems, we have experienced increased operational efficiency by reducing our response times by 28% and inbound calls by 25% as well as saving 88% on-going IT costs and 60% operational costs.” Gamestec
CRM & Case Management Multi-channel contact
Automated scheduling Reporting & dashboards
Parts Management Workforce Optimisation
www.mplsystems.co.uk | 0800 0931 474 | info@mplsystems.co.uk
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We’re talkING Servitization Servitization was a key topic at the recent Aftermarket Europe conference and at the centre of the discussion was a panel debate hosted by Field Service News Editor, Kris Oldland.. Here we bring you some of the highlights of that conversation...
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ervitization has been talked about for many years but all of a sudden it seems to be a key topic on the agenda of many manufacturing companies and also amongst may service based organisations as well. For those companies that tread the path being dubbed the fourth paradigm it will mean a complete rethinking of how they view field service. At the recent AfterMarket conference in Amsterdam Field Service News Editor, Kris Oldland hosted a panel debate with three speakers key to servitization; •
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Proffessor Tim Baines, Aston University a leading proponent of the servitization movement. Brendan Viggers, Product and Sales Support for IFS Aerospace & Defence division who has worked closely with a number of companies such as Emirates on moving towards a servitization model. Koen D’Haeyer, Global Manager Service Development & Technical Services, Lely, who had been through the journey himself with Farm Technology company.
Kris Oldland: The case studies we hear around servitization to date all seem to involve large p18
organisations with quite complex or evolved business models already. Is it the case that servitization only applies to companies that have the size to make it work? Tim Baines: I’ve worked with quite a few smaller companies which has been quite intersting first of all to break away from the myth that servitization is just about large companies. By this time next year we will have got around 70 companies within our region of the UK the west midlands engaged in servitization. One company which helps us breakway from this idea that it is all about delivering complex products is a company that actually delivering pallets, regular wooden pallets and these pallets are used in the automotive industry to move windowscreens and cars and things like this.
“By this time next year we will have got around 70 SME companies within our region engaged in servitization” Their business model before we got involved was they would make a pallet, sell the pallets.
But what they are doing now is slowly but surely getting into the space where they are making the pallets, they are designing the pallets for the application, they are working with the customer to make sure the pallets are well suited, they are actually putting the pallet in the system, they’re tracking the pallets, they are taking care of stock control. Slowly and surely they are moving to a position where they are becoming the business process outsourcing partner for the customers own material handling system. Whilst this may not be a perfectly clinical example of servitization by some definitions, but nevertheless it is a good example of a small company that has adopted the principles of servitization and then put them into practice. Koen Dyaeyer: I couldn’t agree more that smaller companies companies servitization can work. I have a history in smaller to medium sized companies, and we went drastically through servitization aspects even by a make and buy proposaition through to quality assurance etc so it’s applicable for sure in all industries. What I would say is that in technology there is an extra opportunity as in complexity it is very much possible to create the value of your expertise
Servitization Panel Debate
Audience Question: Whenever we decide to do any transformation a big chunk of it is behavorial change, besides the software and the hardware how to you trigger the behavorial change, besides the software and the hardware how to you trigger the behavorial change within a company? Brendan Viggers: For us its understanding the processes, being able to model those proecesses and work as a team to fully understand what the different functions and responsiblities you have within that team. But its also being able to drive down to having a piece of data that will ultimately help you deliver that new change. Koen Dyaeyer: My experience is set directions clearly for each individual so people understand what is needed from them to achieve the goal. Also motivate people, there is a study that says people only get a message when it is repeated twenty three times. That’s often a slogan that I use, just repeat it and to be honest sometimes it may need to be repeated forty six times but energise it, make it engaging. Tim Baines: The companies that I studied when we wrote made to serve, were all companies that were pulled into the delivery of advanced service by their customers.
“In some instances companies they were pulled into this space kicking and screaming, they were product based companies and they were given no option” In some instances companies they were pulled into this space kicking and screaming, they were product based companies and they were given no option. What’s interesting to me now is this second wave of organisations where in some instances you are not being pulled into this space by your customers, rather your looking at the benefits that organisations such as Rolls Royce and Caterpillar have got from servitization and you want a piece of that action. But you have a different set of challenges. Some of the challenges remain the same but some are very different.
For example you have to educate your customers, about the opportunity, this is the theory here, an innovation theory showing us the difference between market pull and technology push. You’ve now got to educate your customers. You’ve got to get the buy in of the whole organisation to the servitization approach. Some of the processes and tools that are out there are great once you’ve started down the path but really to start to get the traction in the first instance, to really get people at board level to buy-in to the idea is one of the biggest issues.
select your targets when your developing these value propositions. This approach may not fit every type of customer immediatley. I would say twenty to thirty percent may adopt really quickly, really embrace it and are immeditely fond of the concept, another twenty to thirty percent will be lagging – it is not in their mindset and then the part in the middle is where you have to push.
Some of the processes and
How to inspire the senior management? How to get the messaging about what it is that servitization is about both internally and externally? How to frame servitization so everybody knows what you are talking about.
tools that are out there are
You need to be going to customers and stimulating a customer demand - which then pulls everything together.
start to get the traction in
There is no research out there which understands the efficeint and effective way to push a company thorugh the change,.
get people at board level to
There are some tremendous ‘out-front’ companies like Noventum, who can take you a long way down the path but from a purely academic point of view, i.e. in my world, we still have quite a lot too learn yet as to how to do that transformation.
the biggest issues.
Kris Oldland: There is a point there that you touch on briefly about not just getting the buy in from the internal teams but also from the customer. Data can play a significant part in servitization and that presents a challenge in it’s own right, as data is very precious currently. How can we overcome that and encourage our customers to let us access their data? Koen Dyaeyer: To start I’ll mention one thing, there is an aspect on this benchmarking data with your custoemrs which is of course, that you are obliged to do this anonymously that is clear. You can tell the a customer ‘look this is your data this is the rest of the market and this is the variation’ but you cannot be open to all extents. But the value is not in knowing exactly who is doing what, the value is in comparing yourself with others and knowing what to learn, and how to then improve.
great once you’ve started down the path but really to
the first instance, to really
buy-in to the idea is one of
And when you have pushed and achieved the 80% mark then you can approach the laggards. That is more or less how we approached it so we didn’t lose to much time and energy in developing it. Brendan Viggers: Certainly in the defence market the classic contracting model is performance based logistics where the OEM is providing a platform and then the through life support of the platform as well, so all the serviceing that goes with it. They will then offer a SLA or guarantee the fleet availability for 80% of that time. What we are finding is there is a need for partnership between the OEM and the customer. Because the OEM needs to know how the customer is driving that vehicle.
THE PANEL: PRofessor Tim BAines, Aston University Brendan Viggers, IFS DEFENCE AND AVIATION
On the other hand it is also true that you have to
Koen Dyaeyer, Lely
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If he is taking that tank and forcing it across a plain over the bounds of normal operational use then it’s going to cost that OEM more to service it. So can be a win-win but if you want that platform you need to be prepared to operate within acceptable bounds. Koen Dyaeyer: To add to Brendan’s point there I would add that in our case we are looking for the win-win-win because we are in between but if we focusses on the win-win-wins we can really drive forward. Tim Baines: This debate about ownership of data has been going on for over 10 years. To my mind its the use of the data that is important. I’ve seen it in Xerox’s case where they will turn around and say OK the contract price is this for an advanced services contract on print management but if you let us share that data and use that data it’ll come down to this.
“The most important group of KPIs are the service profitability KPI’s we have data on overall revenues and data on cost indicators. We cannot always be exact with the service cost indicators to the penny but we know what it is likely to be. So the service profitibality is a major KPI” Audience Question: What would you say are your most important KPIs to actually monitor and drive your service business today? Koen Dyaeyer: The most important group of KPIs are the service profitability KPI’s we have data on overall revenues and data on cost indicators. We cannot always be exact with the service cost indicators to the penny but we know what it is likely to be. So the service profitibality is a major KPI. Then there is customer satisfaction. The first question we ask in every technical assesment is what type of customer do you think this is and also is he satisfied? So we link that data to understand the p20
Servitization Panel Debate
relationship of data to customer satisfaction. Then for the operations we also have the performance KPIs of the product so mean time between failure, mean time between breakdown, some performance indicators specific to our industry so number of failed milkings for examplethat help us see if the farm management is running smoothly. So performnace, customer satisfaction and service profitability – these are the three main KPI group we use. Kris Oldland: Have these KPIs evolved as you have moved through this process of servitization? Have they evolved as you have gathered more data and therefore more detailed insight into your customers? Koen Dyaeyer: Actually we started with maybe 8 or 10 basic KPIs and what we started to get excited about was the analysis we could do with them.
customers differ so must those KPIs differ. Audience Question: I am understanding this correctly that the fourth industrial revolution is about re using our IP and industrial assets to serve customers better? Tim Baines: I think that we are looking at a very special form of organisation. What is particular about the technology innovators you see here is that if they have the internal procedures in place to capture how the product is performing in the field and then feedback to the design process so the product becomes better suited for application, then that innovation loop is what is distinctive about the manufacturing companies and is different to technology innovators.
“Indeed even the notion of Aftersales service is a product based concept
We were able to look at the years of technical experience and see how that aligned to customer experience and service profitability.
because we are thinking
We learned a lot out of that initial process and then some new KPIs grew out of it .
something selling it
Tim Baines: I may have seen something slightly different in some of the companies that I have looked at. A quote that comes to mind is by Henry Ford who said profit is a result of service. Therefore when I look at people like Alstom the number one KPI is around customer experience. That means the customer experience, which in their instance would be the amount of time a customer is waitning because a train has failed to show up, that customer experience is the number one KPI. For Alstom that’s key because it relates directly to the customers key core business process, which is about moving people. Then there are KPIs around the customer experience when somebody is onboard the train and so on. It’s the manufacturer that then translates those to mean time to failure etc. What is very interesting to me coming from a wolrd of production, where the main KPIs were cost, quality and delivery and everything was around that then moving to the service world where KPIs are centred around the business processes of the customer, and because those
of the notion of producing
transactionally and then after sales” Ultimatley it means laguage like through life support are actually a charectreristic of the old product menatlity, we’re talking about a capability being delivered. Indeed even the notion of Aftersales service is a product based concept because we are thinking of the notion of producing something selling it transactionally and then after sales is service. Another point to make is that we talk about servitization from the point of view of a manufacturing company, a company that’s got technology innovation capabilities delivering advanced services. But we also have the phenomona of companies which are service companies, technology integrators, developing their ability to technology innovate. So there are two ways that servitization can arise. Predominantly we talk about a move from manufacturers to manufacturers that deliver service but we can also talk about service providers developing their abilities to redesign products.
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Expert View: Paul Adams, Solarvista
Inventory management in field service is hard to get right. Solarvista’s Paul Adams explains wht effective inventory management is not only key to remaining competetive but also for meeting service standards...
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eading edge practitioners have long recognised that effective visible inventory management and stock control are very different from simple inventory reduction. As a result of a sophisticated inventory management system, a world class cost-effective service operation can differentiate itself from the competition, lower costs and drive up customer satisfaction. There is continued pressure for service to produce the right part in the right place at the right time and to do so at the lowest possible cost to the business. Consequently this effective inventory management has become a fundamental issue in achieving the right level of customer service and paramount to competing effectively in a fiercely competitive market. As the true value of accurate and effective inventory management becomes apparent however, many companies have realised that a totally effective logistics operation is difficult to establish without the proper mechanisms in place.
By ensuring that the business has a fully competent system that can order appropriate quantities required for specific jobs, it is therefore reducing these costs as well as the risks associated with carrying surplus stock.
Technology, technology… Operational strategies supported by effective technology solutions, processes and infrastructure will allow the service organisation to deliver cost efficiently, while improving margins and increasing the resilience of the operation to face up to any potential market difficulties.
Using a fully integrated service management solution enables a business to create an infrastructure that is designed to be able to accommodate continual refinement, and able to keep up with the shifting environment, at times even anticipating it to allow positioning ahead of the competition. The improved use of communications should be seen by the business and customers as a positive move to provide better information about customer needs and requirements to both.
“Industry averages suggest that a 20 percent reduction in
Conclusion
inventory is achievable with a computerized inventory control system.” Donald Reimer, Corporate Detroit
The traditional tools and skills are struggling in some businesses to meet the service level demands of customers; with the financial imperatives faced by all businesses, more must inevitably be done with less.
Offering optimum levels of service and providing competitively priced services will position the business to take advantage of upturns in the market.
Inventory is an expensive part of any business and not just accounting for the purchase cost but all other associated costs such as storage, handling
up with the shifting environment.
The target is to minimise the fixed cost element of the operation keeping it variable where possible minimising overheads and creating high flexibility to deliver customer satisfaction.
The right approach.
One of the most important factors when considering managing your business’s inventory is to know how to achieve equilibrium between having enough inventory and yet not having too much.
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and insurance. Reducing stock also reduces the risk of damage, obsolescence, theft and deterioration, which could potentially become expensive.
The business should be able to live up to the promises made on its behalf, and deliver costeffectively increasing customer satisfaction, retention and margins. Normally the challenge to achieving this type of operating solution is that most service companies are working within an existing infrastructure where they are continually changing “on the run” to keep
Through systems integration the business is able to support the customer requirements by understanding customer requirements and providing support across the whole operation. The ability to out-do competitors and sell cost effective solutions to customers requires differentiators, and these will come from an integrated systems solution enabling the business to have in-depth knowledge of customer requirements provided by top quality staff throughout an effective operation supported by a fully integrated technology solution. There are a number of inventory management systems, although it is worth conducting some research and being sure to choose a package that is right for your business; the benefits of such a system will far outweigh the costs.
#fsn20
The twenty most influential people in field service...
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The Great and the Good... Introducing the twenty most influential people in field service...
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cross December and January we asked our readers to nominate candidates for the inaugral #FSN20, a list of the twenty most influential people in field service. We received nominations from across the globe through social media, email and even a phone call or two directly into the newsdesk. Armed with a list of candidates, a Field Service News panel selected the final list of twenty based on the number of nominations, their impact on the industry (past , present and future) and their sphere of influence in both the physical and digital world. After much long deliberation, heartful debate (read arguing) and enormous amounts of coffee we managed to whittle our list down to a final twenty which we pleased to present to you here the inaugral edition of the #FSN20. You may not agree with our selction and if you don’t tell us, tell your friends, tell your colleagues, hell tell the world - because at the heart of it that’s what this list is all about, getting people talking about excellence in field service and raising the profile of those leading us to a better future. So here we are ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, we are pleased to bring you the 2015 edition #FSN20.
Colin Brown, Managing Director, Tesseract Every generation or so a company will pioneer a new approach and then when they start to get some traction everyone else follow’s suit. Service Management Software company Tesseract under Brown’s long standing direction happen to have been that company twice, being the first company to launch a Service Management solution firstly for Windows and secondly in the Cloud. If they head off in a new direction again I’d suggest paying attention.
Follow Colin @tesseractuk
Professor Tim Baines, Aston University Co-Author of “Made to Serve” and also Director of the Aston Centre for Servitization Research and Practice, Baines is one of the leading figureheads for the servitization movement, which could have an incredible impact on how field service operates for companies that adopt this approach. An engaging and passionate speaker, with unbridled passion for his topic, Baines is one of the most significant figures in what is potentially one of the most significant industrial concepts in the twenty-first century.
Follow Tim @ProfTimBaines p24
The 20 most influential people in field service
John Carroll, CEO, The Service Council As founder of The Service Council Carroll’s impact on the field service industries stretches far beyond their home shores of the U.S. and right across the globe. Having rapidly evolved from a good idea to a community spanning across 6 continents and representation in more than 30 countries, Carroll finds himself spearheading one of the most influential groups dedicated to field service in the world.
Follow John @tservicecouncil
Alastair Clifford-Jones, Managing Director, Leadent Solutions For perhaps too long Leadent Solutions have been one of the industry’s best secrets as Clifford-Jones has quietly built his managing consultancy with a team that, unlike some of his better known competitors, is populated with people who have worked in similar roles for their clients – so they inherently ‘get it’. Therefore, it is not surprising that they are putting together an enviable track record of working with some big names and I think soon many more are set to follow.
Follow Alastair @LeadentSolution
Sumair Dutta, CSO, The Service Council In his previous role with Aberdeen Dutta headed up the organisation’s Customer Experience and Service Management Group and was a significant key figure in the launch of Aberdeen’s Chief Service Officer Summit Series. Now in his role as Chief Customer Officer for The Service Council Dutta is one of the most widely seen commentators on the industry. He also has field service’s best avatar.
Follow Sumair @suma1r p25
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Professor Elgar Fleisch University of St. Gallen With an extensive academic background that covers mechanical engineering, business economics and artificial intelligence, Fleisch has both an extensive understanding of how technology can influence business and an international reputation to match that understanding. He has focused his research on the joining of the physical and digital worlds since the very birth of the Internet of Things and is, thus, highly regarded in the sphere. It is likely no coincidence that his presence on the executive board of CoreSystems coincides with the rapid rise of the Swiss field service management software provider, whose field service offering was the first product of its type to start taking advantage of IoT.
Follow Elgar @coresystems
Dave Hart, VP of Global Customer Transformation, ServiceMax Another of those on our list who has worked their way upwards from field service engineer; in fact, Hart has taken most of the steps on the ladder. From Service Engineer to VP of Service, from managing small regional teams through to managing thousands of engineers across Europe, he’s been there and done it. With this background there is an unbridled wealth of experience that Hart is able to share. Therefore it was a great move by ServiceMax in employing him to help share that experience and deep understanding of field service with their expanding customer base.
Follow Dave @DaveHartProfit
Martin Hotass, General Manager, Siemens Professional Education One of the biggest risks field service faces is an ageing workforce and Siemens is one company at the forefront of tackling this problem head on. Hotass is not only leading the charge, engaging with students and colleagues alike, but in speaking to him, he is truly passionate about bringing the best young talent not only to Siemens but also to the industry in general. If field service is going to overcome the significant issue of replacing the current workforce succesfully we need more with Hotass’ dedication to the task
Follow Martin @SiemensUKNews p26
The 20 most influential people in field service
Professor Howard Lightfoot , Cranfield University Co-author on ”Made to Serve” and another significant figure in the servitization movement. However, Lightfoot’s inclusion within the list is more based on his current work at Cranfield University where he is playing an instrumental role in educating the next generation of engineers via the use of some truly groundbreaking technology. With the field service industries facing a very real crisis of an ageing workforce, the work Lightfoot is currently performing could have a profound impact on the ability of field service companies to survive this crisis with minimal impact
Follow Howard @howardPSS
Mynul Khan, Founder, Field Nation The shift away from traditional work contracts to outsourcing to local contractors has an obvious appeal for field service organisations and Field Nation, a product of Khan’s own vision, is a perfect tool for facilitating this in the twenty-first century. Dubbed an ‘ebay for field workers’ Field Nation connects workers with contractors across the U.S. Whether such a solution could work in the multi-language, cross-border regulation framework of Europe is yet to be seen, but the rapid adoption of Field Nation suggests that there is certainly a market in the home shores at least.
Follow Mynul @fieldnation
William McNeil, Principal Analyst, Gartner Gartner, alongside Aberdeen, remains one of the most influential organizations in the field service industry. Their Field Service Magic Quadrant report, which outlines which organisations are leading the way in terms of innovation in field service technology, is hotly anticipated and widely quoted each year. McNeill, who co-authored the most recent report alongside Gartner colleagues Michael Moaz and Jason Wong, has extensive experience analyzing the latest developments across predictive support, remote service monitoring, service parts planning and optimization, and warranty management and is a regular commentator on the field service industries whose work is widely respected.
Follow William @wmcneill p27
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Peter Molyneux, UK President, Getac Rugged manufacturer ,Getac, has not only managed to develop one of the rugged spaces most consumer feeling tablets last year grasping the consumerisation nettle with both hands, but unlike some of their competitors, they have continued to invest in rugged laptops acknowledging the niche they serve – i.e., in some corners of field service where heavy data input is required, a tablet screen just doesn’t cut it. In Molyneux, they have a man who not only fully understands his product set, but also his customer base, and is about as well versed in all things rugged as anyone on the planet.
Follow Peter @GetacUK
Professor Andy Neely, Director, Cambridge Alliance Another of the key figures within the growing movement of ‘servitization’ which could have a massive impact on the operation of field service. Having held appointments at Cranfield University, London Business School and Cambridge University, Neely is widely recognized for his work on the servitization of manufacturing, as well as his work on performance measurement and management. His organisation continues to work with leading companies such as IBM and BAE on research into ways to provide, implement and employ complex new service systems.
Follow Andy @ AndyNeely
Sarah Nicastro, Editor-in-chief, Field Technologies Online Whilst here at FSN Towers we think we’ve done a pretty good job of reporting on the tends and technologies of the Field Service industries over the last year. We’re humble enough to admit that we’re the young upstarts and we are very much walking a path led by our U.S. cousins at Field Technologies Online. Having been at the helm for half a decade, a large slice of the credit goes to Nicastro for the respected position the magazine holds today both in their native America and beyond. service systems.
Follow Sarah @ FTOnline p28
The 20 most influential people in field service
Laurent Othacehe, Director, Cognito Othacehe is internationally regarded as a guru when it comes to scheduling and optimization, a reputation fully deserved after founding 360 Scheduling. The company, whose scheduling engine was built upon research with Nottingham University to establish effective scheduling for the emergency services, was later acquired by Service Management heavyweight IFS. Unlike many who would have perhaps taken the easy life after building such a success with 360, Othacehe’s passion for the industry was evident when he returned to the market with Cognito – and his acceptance of the role there was seen by many in the industry as a significant endorsement as well as a statement of ambition for the UK-based company.
Follow Laurent @CognitoLtd.
Aly Pinder, Senior Research Analyst, Aberdeen One of the most prolific authors in the industry and also one of the nicest guys in Field Service to boot. Pinder had more nominations for this list than any other candidate, which speaks volumes. Having written or co-authored over 50 research reports, and benchmarked more than 4,000 service executives across 5 years with Aberdeen, he writes and speaks with authority and understanding and is widely respected across the market.
Follow Aly @Pinderjr
Bill Pollock, President and Principal Consulting Analyst, Strategies For Growth Pollock is one of the industry’s most respected authors and commentators with a long and distinguished career focused on field service. Having worked for Gartner, Aberdeen and been a founding partner of The Service Council, his analysis is highly sought after and he has authored some of the most detailed research available in the industry. His white papers, blogs and posts are widely read across the globe.
Follow Bill @SFGOnService p29
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The 20 most influential people in field service
Hilbrand Rustema, Managing Director, Noventum Service Management Co-author of seminal service book, “Service Economics” and managing director of one of Europe’s most prominent Service Management consultancies, Noventum Service Management, Rustema has been at the heart of evolving service thinking across the continent for many years and remains at the forefront of the sector today.
Follow Hilbrand @ByNoventum
Steve Street, IT Security & Infrastructure Architect, IBM Steve Street, IT Security/Infrastructure Architect, IBM – In a long industrious career with computing giants IBM Steve has been an excellent servant to service science. He has worked with many of the key leaders and thinkers in this area including Professors Irene Ng, Scott Sampson and fellow Cambridge University Alumni Andy Neely on a wide range of initiatives to unite academia, government and industry in the development and promotion of service science as a discipline. He remains a key figure in the evolution of the area and his work is shaping the way leading organisations are seeking to deliver services.
Follow Steve @SteveDStreet
Martin Summerhayes, Head of Strategy and Business Development, Fujitsu One of a few on the list that started their a career as a service engineer, Summerhayes’ career has been quite remarkable. He was the man who devised HP’s service strategy which became a billion dollar proposition, he has advised London’s Metropolitan police force working with local and national government, paramilitary and commercial companies, before taking on his current role as Head of Strategy for Fujitsu. And he still finds time to take a proactive role in promoting service excellence in the UK nonprofit group, The Service Community.
Follow Martin @martinsummerhay
Special Mention - Steve Downton, Downton Consulting Whilst Downton sadly passed away in 2013 his long-standing legacy remains both in the approach he developed to service as outlined in the book, ”Service Economics”, which he co-authored with Hilbrand Rustema and Jan Van Veen, as well as in the non-profit organisation he created, ”The Service Community”, which continues to operate as a significant organisation dedicated to sharing best practices amongst service companies operating the UK. Steve’s impact on the field service industries will be long felt.
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With you every step of the way Technology now plays such a large role in the continuing development of field service standards that it is able to aid you in every step of the service call cycle.
E
nd to end field service was one of the biggest buzz phrases heard across the past year. At trade shows, in the industry press and not least from a considerable number of field service technology providers themselves we kept hearing that ‘end-to-end’ was a core consideration that field service organisations should be factoring on when exploring how they can modernise their current service management systems. Whilst the service journey may differ from organisation to organisation, as in reality, no two companies are identical, yet there are key points within the service cycle that will likely exist within most organisations. In this article we will take a brief look at some of these points and explore potential technology solutions that could help both your company achieve higher first time fix rates.
Incoming – taking the service request
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your call centre performs under par for any given reason it can reflect incredibly poorly on your brand as a whole. Of course, in many cases especially in a business to business environment, Service Level Agreement’s can include quicker call response times etc, but the fact remains that phoning a call centre can potentially be both time consuming and frustrating for your clients. In today’s technologically rich environment a call centre should be one option you offer your customers not the only option.
How else could we accept a service call? The same research also identified email as the next most common means of service companies accepting service request with 63% of companies offering email as a means of accepting a service request.
In most instances the first part of the service call lifecycle starts with the initial call for a service request itself. However, in today’s age of apps and internet is that first communication necessarily over the telephone?
On the plus side, like the phone it is something that we all know and are familiar with.
According to research undertaken by Field Service News last year the phone remains the dominant means of communication between service companies and their clients with over 80% of companies operating a call centre.
Email isn’t necessarily a system that conveys urgency particularly well and it can also be potentially hard to get a clear grasp of the exact issue your customer is facing – they may not know the correct terminology for example.
Whilst having a dedicated phone line for service calls is a tried and trusted method of allowing a service call and it certainly has it’s place within field service organisations (particularly if staffed by knowledgeable agents with a clear understanding of both your products and systems as well as a great customer centric nature) if
Going through a series of preliminary questions during a phone conversation may take just a few minutes and can greatly help in identifying the issue, resulting in better diagnosis and higher likelihood of a first time fix.
However, there are also a number of potential pitfalls that could cause problems with email.
Over email this could easily become a laborious,
long-winded process across any number of emails possibly spanning days rather than minutes. Alternatively you could dispatch your engineer blind, meaning that in many circumstances they are unable to achieve little more than a full diagnosis of the issue on that first visit.
Why hasn’t web taken firmer foothold? Given the potential limitations of both phone and email it is surprising that so few companies have explored alternatives such as self-help portals, web-chat and mobile apps, yet only 29% of companies had the functionality of booking appointments online, and only 5% had this functionality via an app. There is one key issue perhaps holding companies back is that by giving your customers the power to schedule appointments you are once again losing the opportunity to understand your client’s issue - again leading to a higher proportion of service visits being ‘diagnosis’ rather than fix. One option which could potentially bridge the gap between the richness of information accessible on a phone call and the convenience of a logging onto the web is Web chat UK Blue Chip British Telecoms are one company that have heavily explored the potential of webchat portals. Nicola Millard, Customer Experience Futurologist at BT Global Services commented: “We found that web chat is considered to be an equivalent and often superior method of working compared to calls…. our research identifies a double bonus: both advisors and customers like using it and it leads to cost savings for contact centre operators. For these reasons, we expect
Technology across end to end service management
web chat to continue to grow as a channel.” With smart phones now pretty much ubiquitous across most developed nations it is also worth considering your customers journey in reaching you also. Studies have indicated that 50% of smart phone users prefer to use apps for contact than phone and many of the web tools mentioned (plus the option to move to a phone call if desired) can all be integrated into an app seamlessly. Whilst each of the above may have their plusses and minuses what is important is to remember that logging a service request is the first step in an incredibly important process in terms of how your customers perceive your levels of service. Get it right and you can likely expect this customer to remain loyal, get it wrong and it is your competition that will benefit. Therefore it is important to ensure you are providing your customer with the options that he prefers (some may prefer the phone, others online for example) but that also allows you to collect the right information to ensure you can correctly diagnose as many issues as possible
to feed into the service request which will ultimately help keep your field service engineers productivity at a maximum.
Right engineer, right placee, right time Whether it be via call centre agent notes or customer provided information on a self-help portal, the one key focus of all of the should be to collect enough information to allow the effective dispatch of a field service engineer (or engineers depending on the task) with the correct qualifications to the job whilst simultaneously ordering any required parts so the engineer has everything at his disposal required to resolve the issue on the first call out. Therefore it is absolutely critical that you can move this information from A to B as seamlessly and painlessly as possible. Your organisation may well operate an ERP system that was designed to achieve this and this will sit at the heart of your businesses systems including the service elements. However, just as we were in the early nineties when the term ERP was first coined and in 2000
when Gartner declared ERP is dead – Long Live ERP II we are transitioning from one generation of technology to the next and one of the major balancing acts we must undertake is ensuring compatibility with legacy systems as we upgrade certain programmes or modules. Employing dedicated system integrators to tailor software to fit within your existing framework can be an expensive process. Indeed research by Field Service News showed that well over a third (38%) of companies faced issues with integrating software with their legacy systems. The good news however is that more and more software providers are focussing on integration solutions as they roll out their next gen solutions. Take for example Solarvista NET a key component in the software providers latest suite of solutions and is a technology that’s designed to enable connection both to Solarvista 8 but also other systems in a manner that’s flexible, reliable, secure. And as integration issues are minimised it will become that much easier to configure a system that is tailored to your individual
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organisational needs. However for most service organisations there are generally three fundamental functions that need to be considered. These are the ability to schedule your workforce to get the right engineer to the right appointments, the ability to manage your assets and order parts as required and the ability to manage and view your contracts.
Scheduling: The most important aspect of your field service operation is of course your field engineers. They are almost certainly one of your biggest costs as well so managing them effectively is vital if you are going to operate a service division as a profit centre rather than a cost drain on the wider business. Sending an under qualified engineer or an engineer without the tools required to complete the repair not only causes a delay in resolving your customer’s issue but also represents a days labour cost simply thrown away. Also for any business it is important to have as many staff as possible in customer facing roles where they can potentially contribute to revenue streams. Regardless of how skilled your dispatchers are their role remains a lower tiered operational one where they can never directly impact revenue.
Certainly there can be considerable differences in terms of costs and smaller organisations simply may never reap the rewards of the more costly option. Many specialist service management software providers will offer both an optimised and an assisted solution and recommend you the option that is best for your company.
Whichever level of optimisation you select however, your scheduling system should be able to collate data from both your workforce’s skill sets and your customers requirements and either make recommendations or optimise a day’s schedule accordingly.
“Sending an under qualified engineer or an engineer without the tools required to complete the repair not only causes a delay in resolving
This is where the inclusion of a modern scheduling engine is absolutely critical. Research by Field Service News identified that almost half (49%) of companies still using manual processes to dispatch their field engineers were able to manage just 5 field engineers per dispatcher.
also represents a days labour
Basically the introduction of scheduling engines resulted in an improvement in dispatch productivity of at least 300%. There are a number of different types of scheduling available and the type that is right for your organisation is dependent on a number of factors, for large organisations with many hundreds if not thousands of engineers then an optimised solution maybe preferred. For those companies with smaller mobile
management solution. From a business perspective tying up funds in unnecessary inventory either in a depot or worse in the back of your engineers’ vans places an unnecessary burden on cash flow also.
Contract management: The third element that is essential for almost every field service organisation within a service management solution is contract management. This again has a two-fold importance.
For example Solarvista offer both solutions however at 80% more expensive they will only recommend their fully optimised solution to those companies who they believe will truly benefit from the solution.
Therefore it makes good economic sense to have fewer resources dedicated to the back office dispatch and more allocated to the field.
The same research showed that an average ratio of engineers to dispatchers in companies using any form of scheduling was 16:1.
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workforces then perhaps a simpler assisted scheduling solution may fit the bill.
your customer’s issue but
cost simply thrown away.” What is certain though is that whiteboards, post-it notes and Exel spread sheets simply won’t cut the mustard anymore.
Asset Management/Parts Ordering: Of course getting the right engineer to the right job is all well and good but it becomes a moot exercise if he doesn’t have the parts required to complete his task. The next vital element within a service management solution is being able to both track your existing assets and also to easily order parts not in your existing inventory. As well as being a key factor in helping achieve the field service nirvana of first time fix rates there is also another highly important reason such functionality is a crucial part of a service
On the one hand clear understanding of your service agreement with each customer is absolutely critical to ensure that you are not giving away valuable service offerings outside of your agreed SLAs. The flip side of this of course the same insight also provides clear upsell opportunities.
Tools to do the job – hardware Of course once we have the right engineer with the right parts at the job the next set of tools we should explore is those that can empower our field service engineers when they are on the job. I recently had a field engineer come and do some work in my home, after he completed the job I watched with interest as completed a whole bunch of paper forms which I was required to sign as witness to his work. Seeing the pile of paper the engineer had in his brief case there in front of me it really hit home to me that moving to a digital means of working is no longer a nice to have but a must. Not only is there the very simple business case that moving to a digital first medium will almost certainly pay for itself when you factor in the saved man hours in needless administration (not to mention sheer paper costs!) but also the perception. Despite the engineer being polite, friendly and doing a great job, I still felt I was dealing with an organisation that weren’t as professional as they should be. In the consumer realm this has some impact on the level of brand trust. In a business to business environment – this could be the difference between choosing your company or your competitors. So if the decision to go mobile and finally turn away from paper is a given – the question becomes no longer why but how – and this is where there are almost as many variables as answers. Build a case of requirements based on your field
Technology across end to end service management
engineers’ workflow
perhaps a barcode scanner is required?
be seamless.
Lets take a look again at the field engineer who visited my own home today as an example.
Also consider periphery devices, does your customer require a printed receipt for work carried out? In which case a wireless printer in the back of the engineers van could be essential.
As with all of the discussions so far again understanding your field engineers workflow is at the core of successfully selecting a mobile app that enhances your field service engineers productivity.
One of the first things that was evident was that he required a device that was big enough to accommodate the documentation of his work, much of which was form based. Therefore a smartphone or mini tablet device would have been cumbersome and the form factor that would have been preferable would have been either a more standard sized 10” tablet device or a laptop.
Maybe the engineer has to input large amounts of data manually so a keyboard is essential – in which case a laptop or perhaps a convertible is the way to go.
However, a few of the more common requirements for field engineers including:
The important part here is to take a step back and assess the needs of your field service engineers and then select your devices accordingly.
• • • • •
Despite their being a number of fields in each form the engineer completed, the actual level of data input was fairly minimal with short answers to most fields. Therefore the need for a keyboard is not huge so the portability of a tablet over a laptop comes more to the fore.
The technology certainly exists to meet most demands however; it is also easy to end up selecting a device on reputation and either missing functionality you need or paying for functionality that your engineers may never use.
As his job was to measure up the windows we were to have replaced simple drawings were required within the forms that outlined the shape and style of each window. Therefore a pen input should be included for the device for ease of use.
Having selected the device to empower your field engineers the next step is to select the right mobile software to make the most of that hardware.
Across one window there was potential for damage to our property during installation if not handled in the correct manner and scaffolding would need to be erected. Photographic evidence of this would have been valuable not only for his companies due process but also in explaining where exactly the issue was. Therefore a camera should also be part of the device. The engineer was working mostly indoors in a non-hazardous environment so ruggedisation needn’t be a major consideration beyond perhaps a secure case for accidental drops etc. Similarly as the engineer was visiting mostly commercial homes additional connectivity such as RFID and NFC don’t generally come into play either. And there we have it by taking into consideration our field engineers requirements we are able to identify a mobile tool that is right for his workflow. In this instance a consumer unit such as Samsung Note 10.1 or perhaps the Microsoft Surface with a semi-rugged cover would be sufficient. In more manufacturing based environment a specifically designed rugged device maybe required. If you’re field engineer is servicing connected devices then RFID or NFC can become hugely important. Or
Tools to do the job - Software
“The truth is it can be all too easy to end up making costly mistakes in such an environment” Whilst there has been great strides forward with cross platform HTML5 applications a strong argument lies within a ‘native’ app approach where the application is specifically designed to work alongside your device’s operating system (OS). Not only do native apps tend to be on the whole more aesthetically in line with the devices OS and therefore more intuitive for a user familiar with the OS but they are also able to take more advantage of the device’s capability – for example Near Field Communication. There are of course numerous field service apps on the market, and as with office-based systems the option to either sit within one platform or select a third party app is open to you. However, as with back office systems integration to your core ERP system is absolutely vital. The whole point of moving your field workers onto a mobile device is to streamline processes and therefore communication between your office system and your team in the field must also
Health and safety regulations Knowledge Bases Access to parts ordering and contracts Order approval Communicating back to HQ
However, as with selecting the right hardware the key to successfully selecting the right mobile application for your workforce lies within understanding your engineers’ workflow.
Understand your engineers workflow. At the beginning of this article we introduced the concept of end-to-end field service as being in it’s infancy. The truth is it is still emerging and ill defined as yet. In this article we have tried to take you as a field service professional whether it be on the side of IT, business leadership or operations, through a very quick overview of the end to end journey to outline how at each stage technology can play a part in streamlining your field service operations. However, the topic is too vast and so to are the surrounding options and the truth is it can be all too easy to end up making costly mistakes in such an environment. Therefore it is key to develop a road map that plots your path in developing an end to end service management solution and the only place to start that road map is by stepping outside of your existing framework and understanding two key concepts. Firstly what do your customers require from you in terms of service, and secondly what is your field engineers daily workflow? Once you have an understanding of both of these questions then you are in position to build up your solution to enhance and improve these two areas. It may seem like the longer path in the early stages, however, ultimately such an approach will take you where you need to be far more effectively. p35
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Expert View: Paul White, mplsystems
Putting the customer back in control with self-service technology mplsystems CEO Paul White takes a look at why putting the customer in control with self-service technology can be a win for all parties...
A
s self-service technology experiences rapid growth in industries such as retail and financial services, research reveals that the field service industry have been somewhat slower to adopt. Given that the role of the consumer has largely changed over recent years due to the consumerisation of technology, customers are now expecting to be able to have more visibility and control when it comes to interacting with a business. Within the field service industry there is a growing focus on improving communication between the service desk and field engineer teams. However, businesses are slowly realising that technology can also be used to improve communications with clients, offering a low effort experience that not only increases visibility and loyalty but generates cost savings. Research carried out by mplsystems and Field Service News reveals that the number of organisations implementing self-service technology for their customers is slowly growing, with 40% of organisations offering some element of self-service technology to their customers. However, it is clear that although there is a trend for self-service arising in the industry, many online portals and self-service technologies are still very limited in functionality with only 6.7% of respondents providing their clients with total self-service functionality. “It is clear that customer self-service technology is starting to make an impact in the field service industry, however the functionality of these
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solutions are still quite restricted and often do not provide the customer with the control they require.” Comments Paul White, CEO, mplsystems. “Businesses need to make sure, when implementing self-service technology that they are integrated with other key business systems. This will provide the customer with all the tools they need to be able to action, amend and view their service requests, profile and billing.” Therefore the key to successfully implementing customer self-service portals it to ensure they integrate with existing systems such as ERP, scheduling and engineers mobile technology. Without this integration, customers are unable to access the information they need and often continue to use the service desk to perform updates, changes and requests. The portal needs to be able to provide the customer with the same level of service as the over the telephone, otherwise, as recent research by Software Advice concludes, introducing an online portal can do more damage than benefit if implemented incorrectly. It is suggested that, despite the current popularity of online self-service portals, mobile app technology will rapidly become one of the most popular self-service solutions in the industry. Research suggests that over 50% of smartphone users chose apps over phoning a contact centre and this will continue to rise as the influence of generation Y and the proliferation and innovation of mobile devices continues. However, only 5% of organisations currently offer their customers mobile apps as a communication channel into the service desk. Nicola Millard, Head of Customer Insight and Futures at BT Technology, comments “It is predicted that by 2020 web chat and messaging via mobile devices will account for 40% of customer interaction with the service centre, whilst channels such as phone and email drop to 38% and
4%. Businesses need to prepare themselves for this channel transition by equipping themselves with the right technology.” It is clear that the value of mobile app technology can be significantly increased when messaging capability is included. As traditional browser based web chat extends to messaging on mobile devices, it becomes possible to bring field engineers, the service desk and customers together in a virtual world, despite location or device. When clients are speaking to a service desk agent and need further assistance, the agent can quickly open up a 3-way chat session with the appropriate expert or field service engineer from any location. Often client issues can be resolved in this way without the field service professional actually needing to visit the client site, proving cost effective and efficient for both the business and the customer. After an award winning construction & property maintenance company implemented an integrated customer online portal, they experienced 100% business growth by being able to take on more business without having to increase resource and by providing differentiation when tendering for new business contracts. The online portal now manages 75% of the businesses reactive job requests, significantly reducing the workload on the service desk whilst providing instant access for customers to report problems. It is clear that the field service industry can gain many benefits from introducing self-service technology and with research suggesting that customers will continue to demand more control and visibility, implementing this solution is becoming essential to remain competitive. To find out more about customer self-service in the industry download mplsystems white paper: “Meeting customer demand: Evaluation of the top 3 customer self-service technologies for field service.”
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Spreading the word... Knowledge is power, so isn’t it about time you established a way of sharing the knowledge held amongst your engineers across your whole network? Establishing a knowledge base is a strategy that can yield numerous benefits for a field service organisation and once the initial pain of setting it up is accomplished it can become selfperpetuating. One company that have adopted this approach is medical device manufacturers Elekta. The devices Elekta manufacture deliver radio therapy treatment for cancer care and are one of the leaders in the niche field of image guided radiotherapy. Devices such as a linear accelerator that delivers extremely accurate radiation used in sterotactic treatment for tumours are a core part of their product line. These devices capable of delivering are very high precision, sub millimetre accuracy radiation. As you can imagine these are highly complicated devices with many modalities and while they have many computer systems and software applications controlling the treatment planning systems and oncology information system, there are obviously a lot of electronics mechanics and pneumatics within the device as well as a vacuum system and of course a way of generating radioactivity in a very controlled way. So Elekta’s field engineers tend to be extremely smart folks. Many of them are actually physicists, or bio-science graduates with PHDs and it takes a long time to train an engineer, from a relatively high level of knowledge in the first place, through to becoming competent engineers who can p38
resolve all of the problems that might occur on such a sophisticated type of devices. This of course means that training engineers can be a long and challenging process. This challenge is becoming a particular challenge in the developing markets of Asia Pacific and Latin America, where unfortunately due to the prevalence of Cancer there is an on-going struggle to keep up with developing enough engineers in order to be able to support the growth of product sales. Especially in rapidly growing markets like China and Brazil.
“There was a real clear message from the field that the engineers wanted the opportunity to share information” Of course for a company in such a situation the efficient training support of the engineers, becomes extremely important. “An important challenge for Elekta has been around the tackling the questions ‘how do we share knowledge around the whole service organisation?’” revealed Elekta Senior Vice
President of Service, Martin Gilday during a recent presentation at a meeting hosted by UK non-profit group the Service Community. It was clear that this issue had to be addressed and having recently implemented a new service management application, Gilday and the team at Elekta took the opportunity to establish an automated knowledge management solution. “Prior to deploying that system we did have a number of ways of sharing knowledge which the engineers basically developed themselves but it wasn’t truly shared. It may have been shared amongst smaller groups of engineers but it certainly wasn’t a solution that worked on a global basis.” Gilday admitted. With the complex nature of some of the problems Elekta’s engineers face there is of course a huge amount of value in being able to share some of that analytical and corrective maintenance activity across the organisation. Fortunately for them, this was acknowledge amongst their engineers also and they were a big part in Elekta’s drive to share knowledge across the group on a more efficient and systematic level. As Gilday explained “There was a real clear message from the field that the engineers wanted the opportunity to share information with their peers and to learn from other parts of the organisation, helping each other develop.”
Spreading the word: harnessing your field engineers knowledge
This pull from the field engineers was a real plus for putting an effective means of sharing knowledge across what was not only a global workforce but also one with differing knowledge requirements. Elekta’s service organisation’s maturity growth is closely aligned to that of the healthcare sector as a whole. The most mature area of the world being the United States, where devices tend to be top end machines, with maturity essentially declining somewhat as you go east. In countries such as China, Malaysia, and India while they have a big need, the devices most commonly installed tend to at the lower end of the spectrum in terms of sophistication. This is partly because healthcare clients in these areas are often developing the skills for their own clinical teams. So the aim for Elekta was to share the knowledge they could extract from those who were really experienced in seeing the more sophisticated problems and then be able to share that with other parts of the world. “When we started looking at it there were many, many sources, which were all manual sources of knowledge across a different systems and not really achieving what we wanted.” Gilday explained “So the objective was really to enable all of the Elekta service engineers to be able to access
service knowledge for any particular product, at any time.” No mean task, and one that was further compounded by the nature of the market they operate in. Unlike many industries where there is a pull from the customer side for global consistency, i.e. international customers expect the same customer experience in the UK as they get in the US as they get in the Nordics. In healthcare this typically doesn’t happen.
“We were really trying to take the knowledge available and put it into a standard format, a relatively simple format that could be used in all countries” Healthcare solutions are usually country based and a direct result of this was that Elekta had three independent business units. So there first action needed to pull these together to form a global perspective.
“The first thing was to establish an overall project leader who was going to pull together a common way of doing things.” Gilday outlined This involved establishing standard knowledge processes and also importantly the format of the knowledge articles themselves, essentially a one-page document that could be viewed electronically which really described what the problem was, and any advice that the knowledge provided. With this structure in place things could begin to move forward. However, getting this right from the outset was a key ingredient in mitigating future issues according to Gilday. “The format itself was pretty simple” he said “What is the problem the knowledge articles are addressing, what is the solution or advise that is being given and what product is the article about. Pretty simple stuff you might think, but it is so important to get that right in order to share it with as many people as possible. “ “Bearing in mind we are dealing with engineers from all over the globe, we were really trying to take the knowledge available and put it into a standard format, a relatively simple format that could be used in all countries. Knowledge is only any good if people really see the benefit and want to pull that out and can use it easily. “ He added. In terms of logistics, Elekta took a broad
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approach initially with a couple of duplicated platforms to ensure that everyone had access to the knowledge. The main plan was to integrate the knowledge base within the deployment of their new CRM system, which would provide automated access to relevant articles dynamically, based on customer, service desk or field engineer requirements. However, they also placed the articles from the knowlegbase onto a searchable database as a secondary system whilst the CRM was being rolled out, leaving no stone unturned and meaning full global access to the program was achieved from the start. The content itself was then tailored dependent on its use, with the knowledge base comprising of a mix of mediums including text, images and videos with links to e-learning snippets also embedded within many knowledge article. Expanding on this further Gilday explainded “If the article was talking about a particular part of the machine, and one of the procedures was something that often caused a difficulty for the engineer, we would just embed a link into an e-learning module that was only a few minutes long that would demonstrate to the engineer how to do a particular procedure.” “For our engineers in China or Japan or many of the other evolving countries these were really valuable because it didn’t require any translation or any language issues, they could simply look at what was done.” Of course the global scope of this project was one of it’s key drivers in the first place and whilst gaining adoption of the program on a global basis sounds like a huge task, in reality, for Elekta at least it actually wasn’t that big a hurdle.
“Product intelligence from the field says if we can eliminate this particular problem this will have an x percent benefit.” “The adoption around the world wasn’t particularly difficult because there was a pull from the field service engineers in the first place.” Gilday states.
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Spreading the word: harnessing your field engineers knowledge
“There really is quite a bit of internal competition in that the engineer that has provided the most knowledge articles or the engineer that has provided the article that is used by the most engineers round the rest of the world holds an awful lot of kudos.” Indeed Elekta play on this mentality by publishing internal league tables with 1,000 users generating on average 60 new knowledge features a month the approach is certainly working at present. It was simply a case of getting the ball rolling. To do so they made good use of the knowledge that they had locked up in siloes across the organisation and harvested close to 4,000 articles which were put into the knowledge base initially. “We did a lot of training and awareness around the whole program to say that this is everybody’s collective responsibility once it started its actually fairly self perpetuating, you just need to clean up every now and then, to focus on the areas that get a lot of attention, take out the articles that are never used.” Confirmed Gilday “Everybody has responsibility for it and the constant peer review means you can improve the quality of the content as you go.” The other advantage Elekta were able to utilise by aligning the knowledge base to their new CRM system was that they could now connect this into their service desk function. Previously Elekta had been a very product driven company, which had largely grown as a result of continuous product innovation. In such an environment often service is a secondary consideration and so it was for Elekta in the past. However, by Gilday’s own admission that is rapidly changing. So the beneficial effect of setting up a service desk environment with dynamic access to a knowledge base is even more widely felt. By clever design the system is also continuously refining itself making it ever more efficient. “We implemented a scoring system so as the engineers close the service call they are encouraged to identify whether a knowledge article helped them and to link it to the particular problem” Gilday illustrated “So the system essentially self learns. This further qualifies that list of knowledge articles to be able to present it in a very dynamic form at the help desk.” So with Elekta having established what seems a very slick and effective means of sharing
knowledge across their global network the ultimate question is has it had any impact on the levels of service they are delivering? The implementation of Elekta’s knowledge base program has coincided with them also upskilling their service desk staff and driving forward with remote support connectivity.
“Everybody has responsibility for it and the constant peer review means you can improve the quality of the content as you go.” Across these three initiatives Elekta have seen more than a 20% visit avoidance, which will result in quite a dramatic effect on their efficiency on service to the customer. Looking specifically at the Knowledge Base they are getting over 2000 knowledge articles views each day, nearly half of the articles are used with service cases attached. There are also over five and a half thousand knowledge articles published now. And whilst they started with a large amount of features, they are undertaking more and more clean ups, removing any articles not being used regularly or related to old products. Additionally there is a lot of potential value in the product base for those customers who maintain their own equipment. Generally Elekta will offer a second level support to customers in those situations, and the value of the knowledge base could potentially be leverage further amongst these clients, either as a value added proposition or even on a transactional basis. Finally there is the benefit that bringing the knowledge to the fore can have on future product refinement, which is a real benefit for the team working in R&D. As Gilday outlined “A lot of this knowledge goes straight back into product updates. This product intelligence from the field says if we can eliminate this particular problem this will have an x percent benefit.” So whilst the intial project may have seemed daunting, it appears that knowledge really is power, and by bringing it to the fore, we can truly harness it a number of different ways to push our organisation forwards to ever greater heights.
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Industry leaders, Scott Berg, ServiceMax
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Tough at the top? Scott Berg, ServiceMax’s CIO certainly seems to be enjoying life and after yet another year of growth then why not writes Kris Oldland...
I
t was a cold early morning in Paris towards the tail end of last year when I met with Scott Berg. For me having flown in late the night before the famous Parisian coffee brought the welcome caffeine boost required to focus my sleep deprived brain.
there are companies like Service2 which is a husband and wife owned company that have gone from having five technicians to 10 since they employed ServiceMax - so it’s a kinda cool thrill a minute kind of energy in the market right now” he adds.
However, when Berg entered the room, looking fresh in a crisp suit and bounding with a relaxed and jovial energy, it was clear that for him no such shot of espresso was required. Despite what had been a pretty hectic schedule he was clearly the type of guy that gets up raring to go every morning. And why shouldn’t he be, as CIO of ServiceMax he was clearly in a good place.
This has always been on of the fascinating things about field service, there are so many parallel challenges across disparate industries and this is something Berg elaborates on further as we talk.
It seems that almost every other company I speak to at the minute has recently moved to their field service management platform. If that sounds like an exaggeration here’s some interesting statistics to consider. They have just finished their sixth year with a 100% year on year growth and added 125 customers to their roster within the last twelve months. They operate in a highly competitive market and as far a I am aware at least, nobody is making that kind of progress and taking that kind of volume. As Berg himself acknowledges “We’ve won more business in the last year than some of our competitors have done in the last 15.” And these customers come in all shapes and sizes, from all verticals across every corner of the globe. “The really fun thing for us is to see the variety of companies that we are working with.” Berg begins in an enthusiastic manner “We recently ran a Chief Service Officers summit, the first event that we had ever tried like that and there were 6 Global Heads of Service with the likes of CocaCola and Becton Dickinson and so on there. So on one hand we were working with these massive companies and then on the other hand p42
“All day it was the same story and it didn’t matter whether you were curing cancer or showing the latest movie at the cinema, it was basically the same sets of conversations we were having with people” “That was completely the case yesterday, there was the Head of Professional Services for the Sony group, the man in charge of service for everything except their consumer brands. So movie theatre camera systems and BBC News and all of the big news network type of things “ he explains “and he had the same talent acquisition issues as everybody else, he had the same political challenges internally of getting a seat at the boardroom table to enable him to pursue some initiatives, even though he was the only growing part of the business.” “All day it was the same story and it didn’t matter whether you were curing cancer or showing the latest movie at the cinema, it was basically the same sets of conversations we were having with
people.” And it is easy to imagine Berg being able to hold such conversations with these Global Heads of Service or equally with an owner of a small SME such as Service2 who are just taking the first steps in growing their business. He comes across as an approachable and enthusiastic but there is also an earnestness about him as well. However, it’s easy enough to talk about all the good things ServiceMax have achieved but what about the things that they haven’t. Is there anywhere that Berg felt remained a work in progress for what is lets not forget still a relatively young organisation in it’s market segment. “I think we’ve done a phenomenal job when it comes to capitalising on the mobility space” he begins, “We’ve developed our Android platform and we’ve revamped our iOS solution which has been positive. It’s been somewhat of a surprise in how ready and willing the market is to take on these high-end portable devices. “ “One of the things that still perplexes me though is how slow the uptake on Internet of Things, and machine to machine communication. “ he continues. “It’s funny, I use solar panels on my house and from my phone I can tell you if they’re working and then through my Nest thermostat I can turn the heating up and down from my phone also. Yet here are these massive, powerful, hi-tech intellectual property companies and they can’t figure out how to get an Ethernet connector jack plug into their devices?” he adds with a laugh. The thing is he has a point. Widespread adoption of IoT in field service is behind where it should be based on the technology available. And to be fair to ServiceMax for those clients that are set to take advantage of M2M connectivity they are pretty much ready to go . “We are very eager to jump on this [IoT]” he
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comments “We do have some customers like Elekta who have a full offering which we call IntelMax for machine to machine connectivity and Johnson Controls made huge investments in the area, but it still strikes me how hard its been for industry. I have a little hundred dollar consumer device on the wall of my home that can do it and yet industry can’t?”
“All this predictive stuff and data science is all great but somebodies got to get it into the hands of a technician in order to benefit from it” So is the ServiceMax product all set to go for Internet of Things?” I ask “Is it just a case of waiting for the market to catch up?” “I think it is” Berg replies ‘”There are certainly relationships we are trying to build. We’re in discussions with people like Cisco and others to try and bridge that last mile of connectivity and we’ve explored some of the Apple iBeacon technology; sensing people, locations and the physicality with the device.” However, it is the other significant technology trend, Big Data that made the headlines coming out of the ServiceMax CIO summit a few months earlier. As our conversation turns to this Berg begins nodding agreement. “We think we are in quite a unique position to make Data actionable.” he says. A pretty bold claim. He begins to expand further “These Data lakes and all the other terminology around Big Data, all this predictive stuff and data science is all great but somebodies got to get it into the hands of a technician in order to benefit from it. To maybe direct their next step or predict their next move. There will always be people involved in the chain, so we think its really our unique place to play as we make Big Data actionable.” “We have a configurable process, we have the mobile device, so if there is going to be any directing or leading or sharing and tapping into knowledge its probably going to be done on a disconnected mobile device under ground at the top of a scaffolding or something like. So our interest in it is trying to connect data science and Big Data into that actionable footprint that you can put in front of the technician.” p44
This focus on the end user leads us to another current topic of conversation in software circles – is customisation the root of all ills or an acceptable process to refine off the shelf solutions. “I think the whole nature of customisation has changed” answers Berg as I put the question to him “As you know we are on the Salesforce.com platform, and I don’t think that customisation is necessarily a bad word because its so controlled and its such a configurable and extendable experience anyway.” “We certainly do stress configuration to the extent that this year we’ve really tried to repackage our implementation and delivery offerings. For small businesses we have something called Express, which is an out of the box ‘trust me this is what you need’ solution. If you work with us in three weeks you’ll be live and it’ll look just like the demonstration.” He says “So we’ve tried to get certainly more prescriptive about it but I do think that peoples notions of customisation are ERP. So obliterated unrecognisable sets of code that drop you off at the road map and that quite frankly it’s a large part of our success I think. Because there is so much of that in Siebel today, one of our big customers has three versions of Siebel all of them deprecated so their off support and they’re faced with this problem its unrecognisable, its unupgradeable they may as well just go buy another solution.” “I think that the Salesforce platform has really changed everything. The way that we have to operate in that platform as an independent software company on someone else’s cloud means everything has to go through vulnerability, security and compatibility automated checking. So anything your customer would do on top of that, or anything we would do for a customer, basically inherits that stability. I think that’s just a radically different technological model than traditional ERP” Of course Salesforce.com ended up proving a lot of their far bigger competitors wrong and now it seems that there is a rush to catch them up. It’ll be interesting to see if in the future all companies will follow their route. As Berg himself outlines “ I think you’ll see a lot of the vendors out their trying to follow Salesforce’s lead and trying to follow some of Salesforce’s approach and try to become that ‘platform as a service’ provider. You see them all launching market places and trying to attract people.
Microsoft have been making a lot of noise around this and trying to launch the Dynamics platform. “ “But as somebody who jumped into the Salesforce.com bandwagon early on and as someone who every year we periodically reassess our situation I can say that nobody has really built the breadth and depth of a business application platform that those guys have.” It is obvious to all that the connection between Salesforce.com and ServiceMax is particularly close. But is it too close? How reliant is the continuing success of ServiceMax on the Saleforce platform I ask. “Having been involved with several start-ups in the past I think that they [Salesforce] were extremely critical for us especially in the early days.” Responds Berg. “If you think of what it would have taken for us to launch a data centre and secure it, to build all the platform capabilities and redundancy, also that some of our first 12 customers were in the Middle East and Europe and there we were with two founders selling everything themselves out of northern California… how could that be right?” he pauses leaving the question hang for just a second before continuing. “All because of the global reach and the global acceptance level of the Salesforce.com platform. So yes it was very important early on.” He concludes. However as Berg explains the relationship has changed overtime as ServiceMax themselves have grown to stand on more of an equal footing. “Overtime I think that the value of the relationship has shifted a bit.” Berg concedes “Salesforce has become much more of a platform, and we don’t tend to get as many outright business referrals from them as before.”
“I can say that nobody has really built the breadth and depth of a business application platform that those guys have. “And it is certainly a big credibility statement to pass our EU safe harbour framework certifications and things because we’re in it butwe’ve expanded so much in our own intellectual property investments around the mobile devices,
Industry leaders, Scott Berg, ServiceMax
The accolades just keep on coming... iPad, and frameworks for our configurable workflow that I think when you stack up all the functionality in our product today, its heavily tipped to us now.” He admits. However, whilst not afraid to identify the strong position ServiceMax have established, of which he is clearly proud. He also goes to great pains not to diminish the respect and thanks he has for Salesforce. “I can’t say enough about what an enabler it was.” He adds quickly “ For a company like us, and I’ve been there six years, we should be nowhere by now. We should have just blown the first three years just trying to get this thing running and begging to get those first twelve customers.” He says only half joking. “Here we are getting a hundred and something customers a year. And 40 a quarter so I think it has been a really unique experience because of that.”
“There is definitely a cool factor. Even looking at the various mobile devices its been kind of eye opening for us to identify what are each customer going to use these devices for?” Of course whilst things have panned out rather nicely for Berg and the ServiceMax team, with such a close alliance there was always the danger that unless if they didn’t evolve their own IP as swiftly as they have that their rapid rise to prominence could have been stunted, with the company being dismissed as simply an add on for Salesforce. Was this part of their thinking when they took such an aggressive development path, was it always a case of needing to establish their own clear identity within a specific timeframe? “I don’t know that we thought about it deliberately that way but I think its sort of ended up that way in hindsight.” Explains Berg “I think honestly what we were responding to was the demand of the market. Our focus, our mission has really been about that field service engineer, that end user, the guy in the van or on the end of that ladder so that drove us to do some things that Salesforce wouldn’t do like offline data
Whilst of course the biggest accolade a company can have is the backing of clients, and ServiceMax seem to have that in spades at the moment, it’s always nice the industry take notice too. Fortunately for Berg and the team the accolades keep coming in lately too. Gartner have named them as a leader in their most recent Magic Quadrant report, Noventum have acknowledged them as the first service automation solution to be distinguished a Service Capability and Performance (SCP) Standards, Compliant Automation Solution and Berg’s coleague Dave Hart has been named in the inaugral #fsn20 a list of the twenty most influential people in field service. synchronisation, and the kind of configurable process that you could run across a variety of devices and schedule optimisation.
“It’s been an educational process for us more than anything. How do these gadgets interplay with each other, in a course of a day?”
Mathematical optimisation is not really a feature of the Salesforce website so I think its really user driven demand”
This of course has been one of the big challenges for the widespread adoption of wearables. Whilst the hyperbole that has surrounded such devices, particularly Glass has focussed on the devices as a replacement mobility tool, this is not how Berg sees it.
He pauses a moment before continuing “But then you can look back on it and say wow we built all that stuff because we really needed to. It just so happens that is fairly independent intellectual property value specific to our market.” This focus on the engineer brings us onto another topical and somewhat controversial topic, namely wearable computing. “We’ve been working for several months now on a Google Glass prototype, and showed it around a couple of our smaller user groups.” Berg begins when I ask him if the advent of Saleforce Wear has spurred ServiceMax into developing solutions for wearable devices. “A lot of customers of ours are in safety conscious environments. Where there are lots of checklists, where the engineers are working in real handsfree, high risk environments. We’ve been looking at Google Glass as a compliment to mobile phone apps, where you can get into a hands free series of procedures, or check off certain standards, action the completion of certain tasks that is required for maintenance in regulated environments and things like that.” He adds. But is there an interest amongst their client base for wearables at all? “We’ve had a few projects around this and we’ve run it by a few customers.” Berg starts. “There is definitely a cool factor. Even looking at the various mobile devices its been kind of eye opening for us to identify what are each customer going to use these devices for? Let’s take Google Glass as an example, battery life is not outstanding, and many of the visual cues still involve tapping your temple to get it to do some things. So whilst the promise of a hands free, see what I see, remote eyes and ears kind of thing is out there, you’ve still got to think of the practical reality of how is somebody going to use this on a job site.”
“I think it’s definitely a complimentary device, that’s the way that we see it. I don’t know if its going to be right for everybody any more than I could tell you everyone should use an android phone or everyone should use a tablet.” For ServiceMax it seems that the emergence of wearables just means further ongoing developments for yet more platforms, which is just par for the course. “I think one of the things we’ve embraced smartly is we’re not going to be able to dictate to every customer how they want to operate, so we’ve got a windows laptop version that works disconnected.” Berg explains “This is a big deal in medical regulatory environments because they plug in peripherals and download diagnostics and reprogram cancer surgery equipment and things like that.” “However, Coca-Cola said ‘look I want to take calls and log my work pretty simple work process – iPhone only.” He continues. “I’ve got other customers that are deploying a number of devices. They’ve got laptops, they’ve got online web-presence and then they’ve deployed our iPad solutions as well. So I think they [wearables] are just another compliment and we need to be ready to make our experience happen across all of those because we won’t be able to dictate to people ‘oh yeah we’re the Google Glass guys and you have to do it this.” For the time being I don’t think Berg and the team at ServiceMax need to worry about that. Infact I don’t think they need to be worried about being pigeon holed as anything other than ‘Oh yeah ServiceMax, they’re the guys that everyone seems to be talking about’. p45
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Latest resources
Are you up to date with the latest trends in field service? A selection of the latest resrouces to help you stay ahead of the trends in Field Service. You can find these and more at fieldservicenews.com/category/resources ...
White Paper: End to End field service Written by Field Service News Editor, Kris Oldland this white paper explores the technologies available and what considerations to make when selecting the tools for your own organisation at each point within the service lifecycle. Topics include; taking the service call, preventative vs. predictive maintenance, employee management and scheduling, stock management and parts offering, contract management, field based hardware, field based software and transparent communications
eBook: The Service Management Handbook 2014 One of the most detailed and comprehensive resources to be published for the field service industry this year. This excellent eBook covers an exhaustive range of topics to help you get to grips with managing your mobile workforce, improving productivity, increasing efficiency and improving your bottom line.
White Paper: Large Field Service companies & competitive advantage This white paper looks at some of the challenges that companies can face as their mobile workforce grows to significant size. Concisely written this white paper raises some interesting questions and provides some good advice both for companies with a large mobile workforce as well as those who foresee their organisation and thus their mobile workforce expanding in due course.
Video: Industry interviews: Emma Newman, Leadent Solutions Workforce optimisation specialists Leadent Solutions have recently launched a new health-check service for companies operating a mobile workforce to ensure they are getting the most out of their existing systems and processes. To find out more about what this service entails Field Service News Editor Kris Oldland spoke exclusively with Emma Newman, Managing Consultant at Leadent Solutions
Podcast: Cloud, Mobile and Service Management A look at how the Cloud, Mobile and Enterprise Systems can be brought together in a modern Service Management system and the various aspects of each of these elements. An excellent overview for the those working in service management that are trying to get their head around some of the core technologies that are driving service management forward.
Podcast: Research Findings – Field Service Technologies in 2014 We are joined by Paul White, CEO of mplsystems as we revisit some exclusive research undertaken by Field Service News in partnership with mplsystems earlier this year.The research set out to unlock exactly what technology is being used within the field service industries in 2014 and in this exclusive interview Paul and Field Service News Editor Kris Oldland discuss some of the most pertinent and surprising results and explore and extrapolate the meaning of these findings
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Expert View, Tom Bowe, IFS
IOT challenges for Field Service IFS’ Tom Bowe looks at the key challenges (and how to overcome them...)
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he internet of things (IoT) is fast becoming a field service priority as the revelation that IoT can drastically increase customer satisfaction while reducing costs comes to fruition. IoT has the potential to eliminate unplanned downtime, more accurately meet SLAs, inform product development, and improve business decisions and forecasts when it comes to field service processes. Adopting IoT technology can change the dynamic of how your service organisation is run and provide vision into future possibilities and opportunities. None of this is disputed; clearly the benefits of IoT are huge. But field service organisations still face a myriad of challenges, particularly when it comes to meeting growing customer expectations with new market technology that disrupts internal processes, transfer of knowledge, and more. How can field service organisations take the challenges of adopting IoT head-on, and achieve an infallible competitive edge? Here are some suggestions.
Challenge: Lack of a Shared Infrastructure and Common Standards IoT is actually a complex combination of hardware and software that constitutes a platform for developers and organisations, and the vertical nature of this platform contributes to the fragmentation of its infrastructure (Rachel Kalmar, Forbes 2014). With limited open source platforms, IoT devices are currently installed in their own platforms and ecosystems, which can run up costs and make IoT projects more technically complicated. Additionally the industry has yet to be standardised, including communication protocols and methods. This makes integrations challenging and can hinder scalability as well.
Solution: Implement technology that has developed IoT functionality but preferably has not tied itself to a specific platform or IoT vendor. Solutions with open APIs will allow easy integration with sensors, etc. and will allow you to grow as the industry changes and develops.
Challenge: Data Control and Data Sharing Large scale adoption of IOT technology is
hindered by issues with data control. Decisions around who can access data, especially private data, must be made. This can be a slippery slope which has yet to be addressed effectively. With remote sensors and monitoring, there is a need for heightened sensitivity to data control. This goes for data sharing as well. Since there are currently little to no compliance frameworks to address IoT’s unique issues, partner vetting needs to be even more critical and details about use of transmitted data will need to be clearly laid out.
Solution: Don’t wait for standards to be fully defined and approved. Develop your own “standard-inspired” approach by working with your technology vendors on a flexible, OS agnostic pattern and protocol that meets your most important (rev 1) requirements.
“Field service organisations still face a myriad of challenges, particularly when it comes to meeting growing customer expectations” Make sure that data auditing is part of your software functionality, and align your IoT with existing company security and privacy demands. Consider using the AllJoyn framework which is a developing open-source device agnostic IoT standard with the strongest community and downloadable SDK’s. And keep a watchful eye on the top IoT standard competitors including OIC, IIC, Thread (Google) and IEEE (P2413) for ideas, patterns and best practices.
Challenge: Security The more devices that IoT connects, the greater the risk of malware and breaches. Devices and sensors are also at risk of being physically comprised. The latest debate of cloud security also applies here.
Solution: Work with software vendors that have addressed IoT and cloud security. Prepare your IT department to keep up with safety and security measures and explore your platform options before implementing.
Challenge: Implementation and Training Another challenge that field service organisations potentially face in adopting IoT is in the implementation of sensors or other IoT technology. Will this be a responsibility of your field technicians, or a third party? Either way, reeducation and new training will likely be needed. This may lead to more upfront costs and internal adoption challenges.
Solution: Use forecasting and planning software to predict the change in service demand before, during, and after the roll-out of an IoT initiative. Explore what-if scenarios to see if your current field force can manage an IoT implementation effectively. According to GE’s Global Innovation Barometer report, 67% of organisations agree that agility and speed in adapting and implementing emerging technologies into their organisation is essential to innovation (Ray Wang, 2014). Being an early adopter of IoT, especially in field service, opens a world of opportunity in regards to new value creation, business models, and revenue streams. It will allow your organisation to create new value for customers, bringing the concept of delighting them to a whole other level. Face newcomer challenges head on, work with vendors that take an open and scalable approach to new technology, and work to make your field service technology nimble. By doing this, and avoiding a rip and replace mindset, your organisation will be able to reap the intrinsic value of this new technology. Tom Bowe is the Industry Director for Enterprise Service Management at IFS. Tom has an extensive background in service management. Most recently he headed up the Research and Development of the IFS Field Service Management solution as VP of R&D. Prior to joining IFS, he worked at Oracle/Siebel, and additionally has over ten years of service experience from GE Healthcare. Tom holds a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering degree from Marquette University and an MBA from Northwestern Kellogg School of Management.
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fieldservicenews.com
Reaping the rewards of a long term partnership... Artic Building Services and Tesseract have been working together for over eight years now, here we look at how that relationship has evolved over time...
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ore than eight years ago, Artic Building Services decided to incorporate Tesseract’s service management software into their core services and company operations. It’s a partnership that’s gone from strength to strength ever since.
their engineers manually.
Founded in 1998, Artic Building Services specialise in providing engineering solutions for building services within the public and private sectors.
“We were seeking new clients, and certain companies wanted to know why we were better. They wanted to see it. Tesseract gave us the edge we needed to rise above our competitors.”
They provide heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical, plumbing and security systems, major refurbishment works and even gardening services. Their broad base of customers ranges from large, multiple site hospitals and universities with residential engineers to small, single sites serviced by mobile teams. Artic utilise the expertise of a vast workforce, including more than 50 field engineers, engineering managers, help desk operatives, accountants and secretaries. While they pride themselves in their diverse human skill set, what makes the whole operation run smoothly and efficiently is their computerised service management system – courtesy of Tesseract Service Centre.
Looking back – the old system! Artic are responsible for looking after a full range of mechanical and electrical assets in the buildings of more than two hundred clients nationally. They deal with problems and breakdowns in air conditioning units, boilers, chillers and electrical, water and sanitation systems, and perform regular maintenance. Eight years ago, before Tesseract came on board, Artic arranged and organised the attendance of p48
“We wanted to be more efficient and develop with the ISO 9001 standards,” says Donna Peacock, Operations Manager of Artic Building Services.
The Tesseract integration – the early days! Clients would notify Artic of problems by phoning or emailing their office. Artic would then look at paper maps and telephone their engineers, deploying them on the basis of who was closest and their skill level.
“We were seeking new clients, and certain companies wanted to know why we were better. They wanted to see it.” Artic would log on to Tesseract’s browser-based web portal and record the call out. Numbers and timings generated by Tesseract Service Centre would allow Artic to track and monitor the status of the job. But manual operations and copious paperwork were still big features of the way Artic managed their functions. For example, the engineers would be required to fill out a Field Service Report Pad, which the client would have to sign. They had to record the site name, the time they got there, the time they left, the problem, whether the problem was resolved, any parts needed
and their mileage. Another form would also be completed if further works were needed. “At that stage, Tesseract helped us track what was going on with a job and created purchase orders,” says Donna Peacock. “We required more from the database. We needed to completely streamline our processes for the benefit of both our clients and our engineers. Tesseract have accommodated that need. Over the years they have moulded their services to fit our requirements.”
Next Steps – Remote Engineer Access! A revolutionary overhaul of Artic’s field processes came with the introduction of Tesseract’s Remote Engineer Access. Artic phased out the use of Field Service Report Pads and rolled out Personal Assistants (PDAs) to their engineers instead. PDAs allow the engineers to log in remotely, view calls for dispatch, enter their service reports, raise parts requests and close completed jobs, amongst other functions. Engineers can also access Artic’s task list namely the serialised products they are required to maintain. This is where Artic encountered their first hurdle with the initial PDA models that were supplied. “Our engineers do have problems with signal whilst working on their allocated jobs,” says Peacock. “This means they had trouble getting online to record the data they needed to on the old devices. We needed them to be able to work offline.” So Tesseract developed a system that allowed Artic’s engineers to work offline, and a new, more
Case Study: Arctic Building Services
advanced line of devices was rolled out. Now their engineers can work in completely signal-less areas and still log all their information, which is then recorded onto the system as soon as signal is restored.
management software now allows Artic to use satellite navigation to deploy their engineers. It means they are able to identify any traffic issues and warn their engineers accordingly, which was impossible when they relied on paper maps.
“Some of our engineers loved the PDAs,” says Peacock.
Artic also use Tesseract’s Customer Asset Management tools and Parts Centre to monitor and maintain their client’s assets and generate purchase orders for parts.
“Some took a bit longer to adjust. But now 98% of our engineers use the devices, and they’ve been really successful. Engineers can now have a job completed, invoiced and closed down in the same day, when before, using the paper system, it used to take a week. Sometimes a week and a half. The PDAs have made life at Artic so much easier and more efficient, which in turn means we’re able to better serve our clients.” In addition, the ability to attach core Artic health, safety and industry compliance paperwork to a given job has reduced bureaucracy within the helpdesk. The process has given clients compliant, fluid and real-time data capture for their sites. Other Benefits!Instead of clients having to telephone Artic’s offices, Tesseract have installed Remote Client Access. Now clients can log onto the Tesseract system and enter the fault – be it a broken tap, a malfunctioning air conditioning unit or a toilet that won’t flush. They are able to track their own calls and monitor whether Artic are meeting their time limits by way of a ‘traffic light’ system. This saves time for Artic’s clients and Artic themselves. Further integration of Tesseract’s service
They use Tesseract’s Quote Centre to log quotes for potential new clients, enter client data and convert accepted quotes into new contracts, which are also managed through Tesseract.
“Our engineers do have problems with signal whilst working on their allocated jobs.... We needed them to be able to work offline This means they had trouble getting online to record the data they needed to on the old devices”
sales prospects.
Ongoing Development! As Artic are a service company, their driving force – and the key to their success – is to keep improving the way they operate. Currently they are looking into several features they would like to incorporate into their operations. These include automated email reports to clients when jobs are complete, and to managers so they know which jobs are outstanding. They are also looking to make some tweaks to their task or asset list, and introduce a system for tracking and monitoring their fleet of vehicles. “At present we are maintaining our vehicles by looking at a spreadsheet,” says Peacock. “We’d like to streamline this. We’d like to make sure all our vehicles are serviced, safe and up to spec through a live system instead. It’s one of the many things we’re looking into to make our processes even better than they are.”
A System That Works! Over the past eight years, Artic have come to rely quite heavily on Tesseract, and their processes, output and customer service have continued to develop and improve as a result.
Finally, Artic have developed a number of different reports within Tesseract.
“The Tesseract system is not the only computerised service management system we have in place” says Peacock. “But it is the hub of all our systems.”
These help them with auditing and reporting to the Board on key commercial orders such as invoicing, sales, quoted further works, budgets, outstanding calls, profit and loss, outstanding calls and new
Tesseract’s service management software has now been a part of Artic for so long that Tesseract refer their new clients to Artic so they can see the entire system at work. p49
The changing face of field service
fieldservicenews.com
The Changing Face of Field Service: Are You Ready? Field Service is evolving in front of our eyes. Aly Pinder, Senior Research Analyst at Aberdeen looks at what we need to do now to embrace the future...
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any things aren’t as they were for your father or grandfather. Technology moves at such a rapid pace that even I have lost track as to what is the latest and greatest social media platform that has revolutionised the internet, or at least the lives of teenagers. Even though it is easy to dismiss either end of the technology spectrum – should our business jump at the latest trend or will we save money and heartache by staying the course that was paved by our legacy systems back in the early 2000s? Both strategies have their faults and may lead to hard times, but I propose there is a middle ground that is necessary for field service. As much as we would all like to bury our heads in the sand and not accept that the world around us is changing, field service has evolved. Customers expect better service every day, management has seen the light in regard to the value (i.e., profitability) that field service can drive, and our service teams are getting older and are deciding to move on. So why hasn’t field service adapted? Why are we so reluctant to change as the winds around us continue to sway. Partially it’s because changing a global network which has become accustomed to doing things a certain way is difficult. Also, no one wants to be wrong, this is our livelihood. But we can no longer sit back and let the rest of the technology world pass the field service industry by as we move in 2015 and beyond. Not only have customers changed, but almost as importantly the field service technician within your businesses is changing and service leaders must begin to react to keep and hire the next wave of field service heroes. This isn’t easy, but below are three trends which will play a big role in the success of organisations as they move into the future of field service:
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Use the tools that make your techs more productive. As more and more millennials enter the field service workforce, organisations must begin to adapt to their preferences and strengths. In Aberdeen’s recent research report, Emerging Workforce in the Field: Tech-Savvy to Technician (December 2014), the average age of the field worker was 32 years old with approximately onefifth of the workforce under 30. This isn’t quite a wave of millennials just yet, however a top challenge for many organisations is the aging workforce and retirement. Why wait to adapt to the changing needs of your workforce? Despite the (negative) buzz, millennials aren’t that different from previous generations. But they have grown up in an age which they have always had access to the internet and a connected device. They expect to have this capability at work too. Organisations that provide these workers with the latest technology, much of which is moving towards a more consumer look and feel, will have a better chance of hiring the best of the next crop of technicians.
Create the right incentives to drive the right behaviours in field service delivery. As customer expectations as to what great service is continues to change, the field service team also needs to evolve. No longer is it good enough to just show up within a four or two hour window, resolution is the name of the game for many customers. Furthermore, the way organisations are differentiating in this 21st century economy is through service, and the quality of service being provided. With this shift scheduling technologies must ensure that the right technician with the right skills and the right service attitude shows up to work with the right customer. This may seem like marketing or consumer jargon, but even in B2B environments customers have begun to expect a heightened experience and more value-add services. This is both a threat, but also an opportunity for the savvy service organisations that adapt to this changing environment and ensures that technicians aren’t only showing up to turn a wrench, but are equipped to solve customer needs.
BYOD is not dead in field service. The wave of excitement for BYOD (bring your own device) has waned a bit since the thoughts of this strategy revolutionizing IT. Concerns around security, device proliferation and management, and a decrease in productivity led some organisations to turn away from BYOD. However, as seen in Aberdeen’s BYOD: A Flood of Devices in the Field report (December 2014), nearly two-thirds of top performing companies currently leverage some level of BYOD within their field service operation. These top performers found that this strategy had no negative impact on key metrics such as SLA compliance and service margin, while slightly improving employee satisfaction. And as we all know, happy employees make happy customers.
The field service environment is not stagnant. However, too often organisations work under the mindset that customers will not leave, profitability will continue to grow, and technicians will always do the right thing. The challenge many organisations are facing as we enter 2015 is that the status quo will not be acceptable, and the field service organisation will need to evolve in order to excel. The opportunity is still great, but the leaders will do well by adapting to the needs of their customers and technicians.
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Service Centre 5.1 is available SaaS, is browser independent and will run on any device learn more at www.tesseract.co.uk Service Centre 5.1 is a true end to end web product. Developed using Microsoft .Net technology Service Centre 5.1 is a browser based HTML product supporting a range of databases and having a ‘zero footprint client’.
ClickSoftware provides visibility of your service operations enabling you to master the moment of customer engagement every time. We understand that your customers come first. Our mobile workforce management solutions enable you to deliver a superior customer experience by: ■ Providing clear visibility of your field workers and contractors ■ Improving field efficiency and productivity ■ Reducing operating costs From small businesses to large enterprises, 700,000 field resources around the world are managed by ClickSoftware each day.
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