AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Field Service News

Getronics, the global ICT services group, has maintained market-leading customer satisfaction ratings in the last twelve months, according to the Whitelane 2018 UK IT Outsourcing Study.

A selection of Getronics’ UK outsourcing customers were surveyed, yielding a general satisfaction rating of 79% (10% higher than the industry average of 69%) and, as a result, a top three ranking out of 31 service providers.  This demonstrates the consistency of the group’s performance, having maintained a top-four position in this survey for the last four consecutive years, with no dissatisfied customers.

In Whitelane’s study, Getronics was evaluated on two of four types of outsourcing contracts:

• ‘end-user services and collaboration solutions’, ranking 1st overall and
• ‘data centre, managed infrastructure and hosting’, ranking 4th overall

Chairman and Group CEO of Getronics, Nana Baffour, said: “Our performance over the past four years shows that we have earned our reputation as a people-centric business, by focusing on adaptability, resilience and proactivity to deliver an exceptional user experience.  This continued success is not just in the UK, but across Europe and is reflected in other Whitelane research success, for example, in Belgium. We are doing all the right things to maintain our reputation, and we work hard to keep doing those things to delight all our customers, year in, year out.”

The survey indicates a small decline in the rate of growth of IT outsourcing in the UK: 27% of UK organizations expect to outsource more in the next two years (down from 35% in 2017).

The survey suggests that the top five objectives for organisations that are outsourcing their IT services are, in order of importance:

• cost reduction (68%)
• access to resources (57%)
• improvements to service quality (48%)
• innovation (44%)
• enable focus on core business (42%)

The independent study was conducted by Whitelane in cooperation with PA Consulting.  More than 240 CIOs, CFOs or their direct reports from the top IT spending organisations in the United Kingdom were surveyed, evaluating over 760 unique IT outsourcing relationships.  This resulted in the evaluation and ranking of 31 service providers.

Be social and share

Asolvi is establishing itself as the supplier of choice for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the service management space across Europe. One of the ways it is doing this is by helping companies like Punt NL Groep in the Netherlands keep pace in a crowded market.

Punt NL Groep is an IT services, office equipment and document management solutions provider based in Drachten. It is modestly-sized and charged with managing and maintaining between 1,000 and 1,200 machines in the field (MIF).

There is intense pressure on companies of this scale to stay relevant in the document management space, which grows increasingly competitive and is dominated by constant technological change.There is intense pressure on companies of this scale to stay relevant in the document management space, which grows increasingly competitive and is dominated by constant technological change. That is why for the past three years Punt NL Groep has been using Asolvi's leading-edge software product, Evatic, an IoT-powered platform specially designed for the office print and document management industries.

Evatic combines automated data collection and processing with scheduling and task planning functionality, business intelligence tools and mobile technology to make the service operations of SMEs more profitable. Marco Visser, founder and CEO of Punt NL Groep, explains how Evatic is saving his company inordinate amounts of time so that it can focus on more important things.

"It saves us 20 hours a month of calculating and creating invoices and manually sending them out to customers after checking and re-checking," he says. "Now every step — from collecting the data from the machines to creating the invoices according to contract conditions to sending them out to customers — is all handled by Evatic automatically. Instead of 20 hours it takes us 30 minutes. It means our staff are able to be a lot more productive."

Be social and share

Two decades ago high tech companies blazed a new trail that saw them move away from the traditional transactional relationships they had with their customers as they embraced service as a route to sustainable and predictable revenue.

Other industries including the copier, medical and discrete manufacturing sectors have since followed suit and the evolutionary path to becoming a service led business is now clear explains Hilbrand Rustema, Managing Director, Noventum Service Management...

Twenty years ago, high tech companies such as IBM and HP were product driven organisations that sold hardware with a product warranty service.

Their products such as PC’s and servers were often mission-critical and too complex for customers to repair themselves. Once the warranty expired, customers had to pay for spare parts and on-site field service, also known as “Time and Materials”. These high-tech companies discovered that the service business was an interesting high margins and high growth business.

They adopted a new strategy to start focusing more on the Service Business. They created a new core service business with its own profit & loss statements, with dedicated senior managers at board level.They adopted a new strategy to start focusing more on the Service Business. They created a new core service business with its own profit & loss statements, with dedicated senior managers at board level.

Their customers then discovered that rather than buying services when you have a problem, it was cheaper and less disruptive to purchase preventive maintenance services.

Eventually the high-tech companies found out that to have predictable and profitable revenue it was necessary to create services that would guarantee a certain availability of the product This was the start of a category of services called “Availability Services” and the start of “Service Level Agreements” as a business model that closely resembles that of the insurance industry when it defines a price for the service based on the risks and value as perceived by customers.

Following the high-tech industry, other industries followed a similar evolution, for example:

 

• The copier industry with companies such as Xerox and Canon, now evolved into document management solutions;
• The Medical equipment companies such as Philips Healthcare,  Siemens Healthcare and GE Healthcare that can now offer entire “Managed Hospital Services”
• Discrete manufacturing where machine manufacturers are now moving from reactive to preventive and predictive services using the Internet of Things technologies to accelerate the transformation towards more advanced services.

Since then these high-tech companies have converted themselves into full-service businesses that no longer sell only products and “Product Related Services”.

They have moved up higher in the value chain by offering “Customer Business Related Services” which we can bundle under the name Pro-Active Services.

The model below illustrates the typical evolution of a service business:

We see roughly three types of Customer Business Related Services:

 

1. Process Optimisation Services are the first typical types of services whereby process expertise is used, for example, in process advisory, process compliance services or benchmarking services. Most often, the service provider agrees upon a certain business outcome or deliverables such as an advisory report, a process compliance report or a business improvement result such as an agreed productivity improvement.
2. Business Optimisation Services address improvements in the business model of customers such as “Pay per Use” models where the technology provider also provides the financing of the technology, thereby offering the financial commitment to become an OPEX (Operational Expense) rather than a CAPEX (Capital Expenses) leaving the financing burden to the supplier who is often better able to manage the risks.
3. Business Transformation Services help customers to implement strategic changes. The expertise of the service provider includes the ability to manage change together with their customer. The ability of organisations to adapt fast enough to changing market conditions has become one of the most important drivers of success. Service providers may take over entire processes or functions and manage this with (Managed Service) or for (Business Process Outsourcing) their customer.

 

We see roughly four types of Product Related Services:

 

1. Warranty and Time & Materials Services: Service organisations typically start off offering warranty services to their products. After the warranty period, customers start to request additional services. When a service organisation responds to this request, they most likely offer time & material services.
2. Preventive maintenance: Preventive maintenance services aim to reduce the cost of time & material services. They can do so by planning ahead based on the product lifecycle and reducing the cost of delivery of services as they can be provided without urgencies.
3. Availability Services: The next step is when customers only look at when a product is available for use and consider the cost of unplanned downtime. The service provider guarantees a certain level of equipment uptime or response time. The customer will balance the perceived risk of downtime with the price they are willing to pay. The service contract or service level agreement (SLA) usually renews automatically every year and therefore generates predictable revenues for the service provider, and represents a predictable cost for the customer.

 

Once organisations start to look beyond the level of the product, they find out that they have a lot of knowledge to help their customers improve their processes and even their complete business.

 

Be social and share

A new entrant into the Field Service Management Sector which offers both desktop and mobile software has been developed specifically for the SME contractor segment.

The solution which includes both desktop and mobile software, called Orthinc, works by connecting a company’s office administrators with their field engineers so that jobs can be more easily managed day-to-day. especially praised for its ease of use.

After sending job details to assigned engineers, it effortlessly collects and stores important data from the field such as materials ordered, stock used and time spent on-site. This information is then displayed on one simple page and can be used for fast, accurate invoicing.

Simon Jackson, the earliest adopter of the software, said that the system was an invaluable asset to his electrical business.

Simon Jackson, the earliest adopter of the software, said that the system was an invaluable asset to his electrical business. Since being approached by the Orthinc team one year ago to trial the so ware, I think it’s been moulded into the perfect tool for small and medium-sized contracting companies. We use it every day to send our engineers out jobs and receive information back from them. As well as improving our daily workflow, it has directly saved us time and money. For example, when seven invoices for parts went missing last month, Orthinc highlighted that we hadn’t charged our client for them which saved us around £350. We would never go back to our old system, it’s changed the way we work.

The Orthinc team began developing the software over 18 months ago with the goal of helping reduce contractors’ dependence on inefficient job management systems, such as complicated software, excel spreadsheets and order code books. Now, the team hope to go beyond that by providing the easiest, most accessible solution to job management.

Orthinc lead designer, Kieran McIntyre said: Time and money are the most important resources to contractors and poor processes can waste lots of both. Although so ware has attempted to provide a solution to this, none before Orthinc has really hit the nail on the head. For job management so ware to truly benefit contractors, it has to be genuinely easy to use – otherwise, you are just giving them another hurdle to jump. Simplicity has been our main focus here at Orthinc. We’ve worked hard to make a system that can be picked up by anyone and used straight away, so that its benefits are instantly felt.

The Orthinc software is available on both desktop and mobile devices and is accessible anytime and anywhere with an internet connection.

The team offer contractors a handy, no-contract 14 day free trial so that they can see if the software is right for them.

Be social and share

Consumer & IndustryLab released its latest Insight Report today - the Zero touch customer experience – exploring the future of customer interactions with mobile service providers.

Today, smartphone users interact with operators across multiple touch points: from discovering offerings and signing up to services, to requesting support for ending a contract.

The report highlights consumers’ current frustrations at their interactions with their mobile service provider, taking on average 2.2 attempts and 4.1 days to successfully complete an interaction. This high customer effort impacts negatively on satisfaction levels.

Digitally leading brands offer the minimal effort interaction consumers prefer. Smartphone users now expect the same hassle-free, one-click digital experience from operators. The report highlights that mobile service providers can leapfrog to a zero-touch customer experience future by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics:

• Enabled by AI, telecom service providers could use data from earlier interactions and consumer behaviour to predict what consumers need before they even contact them for support. More than half (56 percent) of smartphone users expect operators to anticipate their needs even before they realize what they are.
• While we have grown accustomed to typing, clicking and swiping on our devices, new zero-touch methods are emerging based on voice, gestures, and augmented or virtual reality.One in ten households in the US already has a voice-enabled home assistant device such as Amazon Alexa. As voice assistants become more prominent in consumers’ everyday lives, they will expect integration of support interactions over those platforms too.

Digitally leading brands offer the minimal effort interaction consumers prefer.Pernilla Jonsson, Head of Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab, says: “Consumers believe telecom service providers treat touchpoints like isolated interactions."

"Siloed focus means they miss the bigger picture. Interestingly, telecom service providers could leapfrog one-click and move from multiple-click to zero-touch by deploying future technologies in their customer offerings. The zero-touch customer experience report shows that zero-touch experiences are now an expectation of their customers.”

Read The zero-touch customer experience’ Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab Insight Report here.

Be social and share

Research released this week by Verizon Connect has revealed that a quarter of UK commercial drivers are breaching driver guidelines around rest and fatigue.

By UK law, a commercial driver must take a rest break of at least 45 minutes after a maximum of four hours and 30 minutes of driving time.[1] Yet, a quarter of fleet managers admitted that their drivers on average take breaks after five hours or more, breaching the driver guidelines.

The study confirms the challenge fleet managers face to ensure their drivers remain safe and compliant. When asked about the top issues that worry them, 24 percent cited compliance, 23 percent said unsafe driving practices and 13 percent of fleet managers said drivers not taking rest.

Two-thirds of fleet managers (66 percent) have systems in place to help ensure their drivers take required breaksTwo-thirds of fleet managers (66 percent) have systems in place to help ensure their drivers take required breaks. However, 16 percent of them leave it at each driver’s discretion to take appropriate rest, 15 percent ask their drivers about their breaks and 3 percent do not know.

Many fleet managers (46 percent) use a tachograph to automatically record vehicle speed and distance and to keep track of their drivers’ rest periods. While this is the most time-effective approach for fleet managers, it still has its challenges. According to the study, fleet managers said they spend more than three hours a week correcting and following up on drivers’ tachograph mistakes – which adds up to nearly 21 working days, or more than a month, each year. When asked how they would prefer to spend this time instead, looking for ways to reduce costs was the most popular response with 39 percent.

Fleet managers must also keep tachograph data on record for no fewer than 12 months.

Over a third (31 percent) admit non-compliance by failing to download driver data every 28 days and storing the data for less time than they are supposed to (29 percent).

“Fleet managers are frequently under pressure to increase margins, impress their customers and outshine their competitors. However, safety is still priority number one. Our research shows how hard fleet managers have to work to maintain safety and compliance while juggling so many demands,” comments Derek Bryan, Vice President, EMEA, Verizon Connect.

“Simple systems can be put in place to cut down time spent on admin while ensuring compliance and driver safety. By integrating tachograph data with their fleet management system, organisations of any size can improve driver safety, compliance, and productivity. In doing so, managers reclaim time to focus on growing and improving the business.”

Be social and share

Varlink, the York-based mobile computing and data capture specialist distributor, is pleased to announce Janam’s newest rugged mobile computers, the XT100 and the XM75, and are now available on its website.

Check out our Hands On review of the XT100 here

These devices give end users the choice between touchscreen only and touchscreen and keypad functionality, providing more flexibility for organisations that require a purpose-built device for its mobile workforce.

Offering more features and functionality, than any other device in its class, the Android-based XT100 device exceeds its competition. Delivering the latest enterprise-grade technologies in an enticing package, the XT100 has an extremely attractive price point. Packed with the power and performance of an industrial rugged mobile computer, the pocket-sized device has a 4.3” display and sleek smartphone-like design, making it stand out against visually bulky mobile devices.

Withstanding multiple 1.2-meter drops to concrete and obtaining a sealed IP65 rating for protection against water, dust and extreme temperatures, the XT100 is built to survive in demanding environments. The rugged mobile device provides reliable performance in every industry including, field service, warehouse, distribution, hospitality, retail and delivery.

Weighing only 298g, the Android-powered XM75 is one of the lightest yet most rugged devices in its class, as well as being packed with advanced features to accelerate workflows in every industry.The newest addition to Janam’s XM series, the XM75, gives mobile workers both touchscreen and keypad functionality in the same device. The 4.3” display device optimises productivity for organisations that require a flexible industrial mobile computer for capturing and processing business-critical data.

Weighing only 298g, the Android-powered XM75 is one of the lightest yet most rugged devices in its class, as well as being packed with advanced features to accelerate workflows in every industry.

Pocketable and powerful, the XM75 meets all the requirements of the most demanding environments, including field service, warehouse, and transport and logistics. With an IP67 sealing as well as the ability to withstand multiple 1.5-meter drops, the truly rugged mobile computer is built to survive extreme temperatures, shocks and exposure to elements.

Both Janam’s new releases have a standard 2-year warranty at no extra cost, providing customers with both peace of mind and a high level of service that is essential when purchasing business devices. There is also optional comprehensive service plans available for customers that want to further extend their mobile computing investment.

Varlink is a truly trusted partner to their customers because they build relationships, not just opportunities. The company believes in going the extra mile to support customers’ needs, offering more than they could ever expect, from Marketing services to Flexible Finance Facilities.

They also offer expert advice, support and even keep clients updated on the latest developments in the market. Offering all of the Janam device range, as well as the additional service plans and accessories, Varlink is the perfect solution for resellers when sourcing Janam.

For more information on Janam’s XT100 or XM75, visit our Janam product introduction page http://www.varlink.co.uk/fsn-janam-the-right-choice/

For pricing information, please contact the Varlink sales team on 01904 717180 or visit our website www.varlink.co.uk

View the full Janam range https://store.varlink.co.uk/janamrange

Be social and share

IBS Bürosysteme reports that in 2017 it saved thousands of hours and nearly quarter of a million euros thanks to Asolvi's leading-edge software platform, Evatic.

IBS Bürosysteme is an IT and document management services provider based in Münster, Germany. It started out as a small sole proprietorship founded with very little capital by Karl Isfort in 1966.

It wasn't long before Isfort's entrepreneurial spirit and zest for success transformed the business into a leading player in office services, and one site spanning 170 m² became six sites spanning 15,000 m². In 1996, the IBS Logistics Centre became the largest office retailer in Münsterland.

Evatic has been contributing to the company's success for the last nine years, but last year its cost savings hit the stratosphere.

IBS Bürosysteme uses Evatic's sophisticated scheduling functionality, automated service ticket creation and the specially designed Evatic Mobile Service app for field engineers.

CEO Olaf Isfort explains, "These features combined save IBS Bürosysteme 30 minutes of manual and paper-driven activities on each and every service project. Since IBS Bürosysteme’s 12 field engineers undertake about 40 jobs each day, time saved per day is in the region of 20 hours. Last year this saved us an enormous €216,000."

Isfort is keen to stress that the benefits of Evatic for IBS Bürosysteme go beyond cost savings.IBS Bürosysteme also uses Evatic Consumable and Meter Management (ECMM), a machine-to-machine solution that boosts profitability, cuts out wasted toner and streamlines processing. ECMM is seamlessly integrated with IBS Bürosysteme's fleet management system and directly processes data from all the printers and copiers in the fleet, generating invoices and consumable replacements automatically.

"Evatic cuts out 45 hours a month of manual billing and toner replacement tasks," says Isfort. "Last year this generated a saving of €24,300 for IBS Bürosysteme."

But Isfort is keen to stress that the benefits of Evatic for IBS Bürosysteme go beyond cost savings. "We're able to keep a much closer eye on our profitability, performance and customer satisfaction than we could before Evatic's implementation," he says.

"Evatic's user-friendly dashboards let us monitor contracts, machines and customers, service and toner management, and whether we are meeting SLA requirements and reducing repeat service visits."

Be social and share

We explore how leading British glazing firm SafeStyle have improved their engineer utilisation significantly having implemented Eagle Field Service...

Client Profile

Safestyle is a leading UK manufacturer, installer and servicer of windows and doors. Safestyle produce over 6,000 windows and doors each week.

Reason for Change

A myriad of systems resulted in poor visibility of service engineers, limited management reporting as well as duplication of data and general inefficiency.

The Benefits

Improvements are manifold, engineer utilisation has increased, the user experience has improved, processes are more efficient and the powerful reporting functionality allows root cause analysis to identify problems that can then be fixed in the product design stage.

With 13 installation and 36 sales branches around the UK, and a 600-employee factory manufacturing over 6,000 doors and windows each week, Bradford-headquartered Safestyle is one of the country’s leading businesses in the replacement door and window market. But by late 2013, the company recognised that it needed to update its aftersales customer service capabilities, which had become spread over three distinct systems, giving rise to inefficiencies and data duplication.

Challenge

The core system was a decade-old customer care system, directly fed from Safestyle’s ERP system, which handled maintenance work associated with the ten-year guarantee that Safestyle offers its customers. In addition, any aftersales maintenance necessitated by customer complaints was handled by a second system.

This did not benefit from a data feed from the ERP system, and so required manual data entry.

Finally, a specialist scheduling system handled service engineer scheduling and routing, creating the service engineers’ daily work programmes and vehicle routings. While each system worked acceptably well when viewed in isolation, a very different picture emerged when they were viewed as a whole. Service engineer visibility required enhancements to go to the next level, management reporting was limited, and opportunities for better scheduling were being missed.

As a business, we’re passionate about customer service, and so retiring these various systems and replacing them with something that was both newer and better would be an obvious step forwardIn addition, adds Nick Stokes, Safestyle’s IT Change Manager, the whole process was overly reliant on paper, using printed work schedules against which service engineers would report progress by telephone, requiring headquarters staff to manually update the relevant system.

Clearly, schedules provided on tablet computers, and directly updated by the service engineers themselves, would be far more efficient, as well as providing real-time progress visibility.

Finally, adds Nick, the core legacy system was becoming both difficult and expensive to maintain. “As a business, we’re passionate about customer service, and so retiring these various systems and replacing them with something that was both newer and better would be an obvious step forward,” he recalls.

The only question: replacing them with what, exactly?

Why Exel?

Consequently, in early 2014, Safestyle began surveying the marketplace for field service management systems, and subsequently invited a number of suppliers to submit quotations for supplying a replacement system.

The clear winner: Exel Computer Systems’ Eagle Field Service solution.

“From a functional and ease-of-use perspective, it offered all the functionality that we were looking for,” recalls Nick, “in addition, although this hadn’t been a formal requirement, we could see that we might, in future, want to be able to use elements of Exel’s EFACS E/8 ERP system. So for a variety of reasons, going with Exel and Eagle Field Service made good sense.”

This is due to the fact that Eagle Field Service is an element of the EFACS E/8 ERP solution, utilising the functionality and modules required, such as Document Management and Workflow. Should a client require the manufacturing functionality, licences are bought, the modules implemented and the staff trained.

Implementation

Implementation began in early 2015, with a goal of commencing a phased rollout by the third quarter of the year. Implementation was straightforward, recalls Nick, noting that as Eagle Field Service’s intuitive interface and ease-of-use is driven by a rules-based engine, time had to be devoted to creating the required rules.

In addition, he points out, the move away from paper schedules to tablet computers called for careful testing, the provision of user training and thorough User Acceptance Testing. “Customer service is important to us,” he stresses, “it was better to be right than rushed.” But with testing and training complete, rollout began as planned, and was completed within a few weeks.

Business Benefits

The move to Eagle Field Service, relates Nick, has delivered a number of very distinct benefits. The user experience - both for headquarters staff, and service engineers - is far more intuitive, and enables people to work more efficiently.

Be social and share