AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

Driven by substantial year-over-year growth in 2012 and a large and rapidly growing multi-billion dollar market, Telogis was listed among Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 for the sixth consecutive year.

The company, which has its UK operations based in Bracknell, once again topped the list in the location-based technology industry. Telogis provides a comprehensive SaaS-based location intelligence platform for companies that require commercial navigation, real-time work order management, dynamic routing, telematics and mobile integration services for their mobile workforces.

“The 2013 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 companies are exemplary cases of those spurring growth in a tough market through innovation,” said Eric Openshaw, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications leader. “This year’s list is a who’s who of companies behind the most exciting and innovative products and services in the technology space. We congratulate the Fast 500 companies and look forward to what they do next.”

“As the world’s mobile workforces grow exponentially over the coming years, demand for sophisticated location-based technology and services such as those offered by Telogis will become increasingly mission critical to businesses with workers outside the four walls,” said David Cozzens, CEO, Telogis. “Our ranking on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 for six consecutive years represents our continued commitment to innovation and delivering crucial data and insights that drive our customers’ bottom lines.”

Telogis recently secured a $93 million institutional financing round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). Telogis intends to use the investment to further capitalise on the market and continue to focus on providing technologies and solutions that enable enterprises and organisations to optimise the management of their mobile assets including better data collection and analysis. In the UK this will translate into investment in the current product line to target new markets, and a significant increase in staff numbers and office space to provide local support for its growing customer base.

“The fastest growing companies in the U.S. are drivers of constant innovation and operate with the agility to stay ahead of a quickly evolving marketplace, and software, biotech/pharma and internet companies continue to be at the forefront,” added James Atwell, national managing partner of the Emerging Growth Company practice, Deloitte Services LP. “Companies that are excelling in these sectors have a startup mentality that allows them to be nimble and adapt quickly, which is why they consistently lead the list of fast-growing companies each year.”

New service uses the telematics provider’s contactless CANbus connectivity to stream accurate data live from the vehicle or crane unit.

Masternaut, one of Europe’s largest telematics providers, is now offering remote monitoring for commercial cranes and heavy lifting equipment operators. Fully integrated with Masternaut’s core fleet product, the service enables fleet and construction plant managers to access real time utilisation and productivity data to improve asset management performance.

The solution combines asset management functionality for crane and construction equipment operators and fleet management intelligence for vehicles. Assets are installed with Masternaut’s patented MuxyGPS hardware, featuring contactless CANbus connectivity, to provide unparalleled accuracy.

The data – which is both streamed in real time and aggregated into tailored customer reports – consists of asset details including temperature, water and oil levels, pressure values and weight carried. Through live alerts, equipment operators have the ability to monitor the condition of the crane remotely, facilitating predictive maintenance scheduling and the proactive deployment of engineers help address malfunctions faster.

The use of telematics-based geofencing also creates a virtual security field around the asset and site, and, over time, can be used in collaboration with insurers to create bespoke policies and reduce premiums.

In addition to live insight on static assets, the technology is able to transmit driver performance intelligence for mobile and crawler cranes, including RPM, speed, braking and acceleration, assisting in the monitoring of driver safety and ensuring that the workforce is fully compliant with health and safety regulations.

European Managing Director of Masternaut, Steve Towe, comments: “Our commercial crane and heavy lifting equipment offering is far more technical than standard fleet installations. However, combining our experience in fleet management with cutting-edge technology means that we’re able to offer telematics deployment on manufacturers including the Leibherr and Terex ranges, as well as equipment with Mercedes and Iveco ECUs.  Having finalised the proof of concept with these OEMs we are now able to extend the range of equipment covered, rapidly bringing to market this new service for crane rental companies, owner-operators and construction businesses.”

 

Cavalier Carpets, one of the UK’s premier carpet manufacturers, has increased the number of appointments its insurance team ‘Renew’ makes by 25% using Masternaut’s Three X telematics solution.

With a large team of mobile inspectors responsible for verifying claims for damaged flooring and furniture items, Renew brought on Masternaut’s telematics solutions to support logistics and improve efficiency, as well as to generate an audit record of all information recorded on jobs.

Masternaut’s Three X solution addresses the Renew team’s scheduling needs in one. It is fully integrated with the company’s UNIX platform software and is used by both the mobile workforce and staff based at Cavalier Carpets’ Service Centre in the North West.

Chris Sutton, Services Director, Renew says: “With an average 25% increase in the number of appointments taking place each day, Renew is able to process insurance claims more quickly, to the obvious advantage of our clients.

“From an HR perspective, the solution helps us manage the performance of our inspectors and identify where pressure points are for strategic resource planning.”

Masternaut’s chairman and CEO, Martin Hiscox, adds: “Our team of expert consultants configured the solution to provide Renew with real-time prompts; ensuring employees gather the correct level of information when on site, creating a full audit trail should customer queries later arise.”

Purchases were made per license user and Masternaut offered a support team which worked with Renew’s IT team to make sure the integration ran smoothly.

Masternaut’s Three X solution also provides managers at the Renew Service Centre with instant access to inspector reports as soon as they have left a site visit. This allows rapid response in the event of a customer query.

Toronto-based tyre repair service JF Tire Service  eliminate paper processing, centralise scheduling and speed up invoicing with Motion Computing and KMP Designs

Motion Computing, recently announced that JF Tire Service, a leading tyre repair service provider in the Greater Toronto Area , is saving money and improving customer satisfaction with a mobile work order processing solution from Motion and KMP Designs.  Motion’s F5t Rugged Tablets run KMP Designs Work Order Automation Software to centralise scheduling and dispatching, reduce documentation and tracking time for field technicians, and speed invoicing.

“From our initial discussions with KMP Designs, it was clear tablet PCs were the obvious solution to run the work order automation software,” said Jan Francis, President, JF Tire Service.  “I was cautious about adopting an entirely new method of doing business, but once we had the opportunity to trial the the Motion rugged tablets and see firsthand how rugged and easy to use they were, we were sold.  The ergonomic design and integrated features of Motion F5t far surpassed any other tablets we trialed.”

Before the mobile solution was in place, JF Tire Service utilised an extensive paper-based work order system.  As the company grew, so did the amount of paper.  JF Tire Service determined it was losing $20,000-30,000 per year in revenue due to lost paperwork.  In addition, invoicing took 4-6 weeks from the time of service, technicians didn’t have any access to unit histories and a lot of field time was spent manually documenting work.

Now with Motion rugged tablets easily running KMP Designs software and two-way data synchronisation, a formalised information flow is in place. Work orders captured in the field are automatically synchronised to the central SQL Server database along with the customer’s electronic signature.  The ability to capture data electronically and synchronise throughout the day has reduced invoicing times from 6 weeks to less than a day from the time of service.  Productivity has improved due to streamlined dispatching and the costs associated with manual data entry, transcription errors, and chasing paper, have been eliminated.

“The Motion and KMP system has created a significant competitive advantage for JF Tire within the tire service industry,” said Francis. “The results have been realised across operations, billing and especially customer service.  Clients now have access to a secure website to track work order histories, job status and billing details.”

 

There are very few people in the global field service management industry with the breadth of experience and depth of understanding of Bill Pollock.

With a career in the service industries spanning over twenty five years Bill has been commenting, advising and leading the industry as one of the most respected and highly thought of analysts working in field service.

He has worked as senior analyst for two of the worlds leading consultancies (Gartner and Aberdeen) as well as being Chief Research Officer and founder of The Service Council and is currently President and Principal Consulting Analyst with Strategies for Growth. He has also previously served as Chapter president for the Association for Service Management International, is a regular keynote speaker at leading services related events and has published more than 200 articles in numerous trade titles including Field Technologies, Reverse Logistics, and Healthcare Technology Management.

Suffice to say that Bill is in a fairly unique position to assess the current trends in the field service management industry and how these are evolving over time.

It is therefore with great pleasure that Field Service News is able to present exclusive UK access to Strategies for Growth’s 2013 Field Service Management Benchmarking report to readers of Field Service News written by Pollock himself.

This exceptional report is based on the findings of an exhaustive survey, which comprised of over 1,000 respondents and is perhaps the most comprehensive benchmarking exercise available, giving the truest indication of the mood and needs of the industry on a global scale.

With a range of respondents from right across the breadth of the service world, this research provides a true barometer of how service is moving on a multi-industry wide scale.

The sample of respondents also has true international representation with sizeable numbers from the North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific regions and with an almost even number of responses from small, medium and large companies the findings presented in this report present a clear picture of how service companies of all sizes are operating across the globe.

The headline findings of the research identify that the following three key factors are impacting on companies need to drive forward service efficiency:

• 52% Customer demand for improved asset availability
• 47% Need to improve workforce utilisation and productivity
• 43% Need to improve service process efficiencies[/unordered_list]

and the current strategic actions being required to address these issues are cited as:[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• 52% Develop / improve metrics, or KPIs, used to measure field service performance
•  44% Invest in mobile tools to provide field technicians with real-time access to required data and information in the field
• 35% Integrate new technologies into existing field service operations (i.e., iPads, Tablets or other devices, etc.)

The report then moves on to explore each of these areas in depth across 14 pages, providing insightful analysis on each, as well as exploring other related areas that may be impacting your organisation’s own drive to improve your field service management and attain service excellence.

To download this exclusive report for free simply click this link to open the report in a new tab in your browser.

By implementing an advanced scheduling system and mobility technology from ClickSoftware, Carglass improves customer service and speed of on-location repairs and replacements

Servicing eight hundred thousand customers every year, Carglass, the leading vehicle glass repair and replacement company in Germany, relies on its branch and mobile technicians to provide top-notch service to its customers. Carglass has selected ClickSoftware’s mobile service optimisation suite to automate the scheduling of appointments and the resource management of technicians, enabling the company to quickly service customers on-location, resulting in faster, more efficient customer care.

After observing the fast and successful deployment of ClickSoftware’s solution at Belron in the UK, Carglass decided to roll out the scheduling system in Germany.

“We are always focused on improving our customers’ experience. By optimising our scheduling system with ClickSoftware, we will be able to better assign our technicians to remote job requests quickly and efficiently, saving our customers’ time, gas, money and frustration. Rather than our customers having to drive to one of our Service Centers, we are now able to send a mobile technician to their specific location,” said Ronald Hoff, Project Manager Operations at Carglass GmbH. “The ClickSoftware solution streamlines this process and the benefits will be realised from the business side down to the customers’ experience. Most importantly, we will be able to roll it out to technicians quickly to reap the benefits.”

In the old model, schedulers used manual charts to assign mobile technicians their job assignments each day. ClickSoftware’s established service chain optimisation algorithms will now allow Carglass to streamline business processes across its mobile technicians. If Carglass receives a request for an on-location repair, the scheduler can assign that job instantly to the mobile technician best suited for job requirements. If a second on-location repair request comes in, the scheduler can prompt that same mobile technician to next complete this new job or assign it to another mobile technician who may be closer to the location or have a more appropriate skillset. Concurrently, branch technicians at the Service Centers continue to service customers who need their cars fixed.

“The improved customer service that Carglass will now be able to provide by automating and optimising the scheduling system is significant and an important factor in keeping a competitive edge,” said Dr. Moshe BenBassat, Founder and CEO of ClickSoftware. “By matching individual mobile technician’s skills and location, Carglass will be able to increase the speed and number of mobile requests. We look forward to continuing to build our relationship with Carglass and Belron.”

 

KPN and Masternaut have recently announced an agreement to jointly develop and market telematics-enabled fleet management and telematics enabled insurance products for businesses looking to provide a step-change in customer service, employee safety and operational efficiency.

The agreement provides KPN’s M2M (Machine-to-Machine) teams access to Masternaut's leading telematics products and services helping the company accelerate its goal of providing M2M services beyond connectivity to KPN customers.

According to the terms of the agreement, the two companies will market joint products designed to target the fleet market with proven products including driver behaviour management, vehicle telematics to improve efficiency. The agreement also delivers enhanced vehicle expenses management modules, live vehicle tracking as well as products and services that reduce corporate and consumer risk in the insurance market.

The products will be distributed under the KPN brand, powered by the technology provided by European leader Masternaut. Masternaut will provide software services, applications, platforms and technical support, while KPN will contribute with its commercial network, including pre- and post-sales support, consultancy and customer care. Everything deployed over the best in class global networks of KPN.

Jimmy Wind, M2M Director of KPN:

"With this agreement, KPN are demonstrating our response to customers’ needs in the growing M2M market. We can leverage our experience and knowledge of our customers and provide them with telematics-based products and services that solve many of their problems and have the ability to transform their businesses”.

Martin Hiscox, Chief Executive Officer of Masternaut:

"We are delighted that this partnership with KPN allows us both to deliver the most comprehensive service to KPN’s core business market. The combination of KPN’s brand and values with our technology delivers a clear and valuable proposition for both large enterprise and mid-sized companies”.

According to industry analysts Berg Insight, approximately 2.5 million commercial vehicles have telematics deployed. They forecast that the installed base of fleet management systems will reach 5.7 million in Europe by 2016 – with the market in the Netherlands, Belgium currently only 18% penetrated. The agreement provides KPN and Masternaut a twin-market strategy targeting both businesses that have not started on the telematics journey whilst targeting 1st-generation users with new and innovative products delivered in a consultative environment.

 

Overview:

The use of powerful mobile data capture devices and software can make a huge difference to delivery companies and their customers, particularly if the devices offer facilities such as image and signature capture. These can be used to streamline proof of delivery operations.  Leading parcels carrier, XDP,has installed a large number of Motorola devices sourced by Spirit Data Capture Limited, as well as specialist software developed by Spirit. These have already brought benefits of increased accuracy, time and cost savings, and higher customer satisfaction levels.

History:

XDP was formed in 1995 and is the largest privately owned parcels carrier in the UK. It has a network of franchises throughout the UK and Southern Ireland, comprising 80 depots. The company’s IT department provides 24x7 support to all depots and customers, which includes the provision of ‘out of hours’ telephone / remote support.

Over the past three years, XDP has developed and implemented a web-based system (XSYS) for its customers, depots and Head Office. This system now covers all aspects of the company’s day-to-day business operations, providing real-time, centralised information to all levels.

Implementing a solution to improve efficiency:

Some time ago, the IT department conducted a search for suitable hardware to streamline its operations. It contacted independent specialist Spirit Data Capture Limited, which sources, installs and supports both hardware and software for mobile enterprise solutions.

In the early stages, Spirit recommended the MC70 rugged PDA from Symbol. After Symbol was acquired by Motorola,XDP also bought over 200 MC55 rugged PDAs from Spirit. To add to these, XDP is now deploying the Motorola MC65 rugged PDA.

The M65 is the most rugged Enterprise Digital Assistant currently available. It enables mobile workers to have instant access to applications and information from the office. It also enables them to capture and process almost any kind of data whilst in the field, including photos and signatures. It is therefore ideal for delivery companies that need proof of delivery.

Spirit also offered XDP a software solution that complemented the hardware and integrated with the company’s own system. This was particularly useful, as XDP had experienced a number of problems with its existing software, which connected the mobile devices with its back-end system.

Chris Bailey, XDP’s IT Manager, explains: “The changes we’ve made have been largely driven by the commercial benefits involved. We had the confidence to make them because of our relationship with Spirit. The devices that Spirit has recommended have an overall better quality than those of other competitors, and they fit well into the hand. “A major factor in their purchase was the Comprehensive Service Contract provided by Motorola. We use this regularly as it ensures that we can keep all of our devices operable regardless of any damage they sustain in an often tough environment. I’m sure that the overall cost of this optional service would have been far exceeded by any repair bills over the years.”

Device usage:

The devices are used for barcode scanning within the depots to confirm the receipt of freight early in the morning and then later in the day when the drivers collect from local customers. The Motorola units are also used to capture an image for proof of delivery, which is made available to all parties through XSYS. Chris continues: “In the early stages of implementation, the devices were used solely inside a depot, with drivers capturing the proof of delivery information as they returned each afternoon.

Over time, we’ve acquired more devices and issued them to the drivers, who now perform the same operation during their deliveries.

“The Motorola units enable them to provide near-time information online, including the signed proof of delivery. This includes an image of a paper signature, rather than asking a customer to ‘sign on the screen’ - so it is a more accurate record of the signature.”

He adds: “Customers can now get near-time tracking information, particularly the proof of delivery images, which used to take up to 48hrs from delivery. The drivers have also received some benefits, because when they return to the depot they don’t have to enter all of their proofs of delivery onto a computer - they now capture them as they progress through their route during the day.

“Depots which input freight to the network now get far greater visibility of consignments and the administration need is reduced, as customers can see the same information. The depots can highlight areas to follow up and can concentrate their efforts on consignments that need attention.”

Chris concludes: “The Motorola devices have always proved reliable and the service we’ve received from Spirit has always been very professional. We experienced one issue which the operating system, but Spirit helped us with this and liaised with Motorola to identify a solution. Although we’re not making use of all of the other services that Spirit provides, it’s great to know that they are available if we need them. We look forward to any additional benefits that they are able to bring to our business in the future.”

The field service engineer fulfils a unique role in an organisation – directly interacting with customers more than most people within the company. However, the need to reduce overheads is a driver impacting organisations. Reducing the cost of service technicians, by recruiting less trained individuals for example, can enable the business to provide service at a lower price.

Over the last few years this approach has been adopted by many after sales support organisations, but as a result questions have been raised over the quality of service provision. For example, a recent study reveals that just 42 per cent of service organisations have consistent SLA processes in place^[1]. One concern being raised against the quality of service provision is the lack of business intelligence being in the field. A recent report found that just 33 per cent of organisations have a business intelligence initiative which has been in place for more than two years^[2].

One track mind in the field

Martin Rulton, technical operations director at Centrex Services explains the disparity shown when it comes to intelligence being demonstrated in the field, “When a system goes wrong, often the fix will go as it should. Problems arise however when the issue is non standard, such as an unpredictable error that an engineer is unfamiliar with.

“When faced with these types of problems some field service engineers refuse to present a fix. Sometimes they just don’t have the skills to provide a solution, so shirk the responsibility.”

Some commentators suggest that a throw-away culture, so prevalent in the years leading up to the economic crash, meant that skills to repair electronic items were not in high demand, and so began to diminish.

Martin comments, “One of the major causes of current SLA failure is a result of an environment that did not call for highly skilled engineers and technicians.

“Many industries have de-skilled their workforces as a result and this is hampering the service efficiency of organisations and their ability to provide a differentiated experience, which is crucial to meeting increasing customer expectations from SLAs.”

Action is the measure of intelligence

Recent research suggests that one of the biggest complaints against service companies is the length of time it can take to fix issues from a field service standpoint^[3].

Martin explains, “The length of time repairs can take is a serious industry problem. It can be related to an engineer’s lack of technical know how, or unscrupulous after-sales support companies looking to milk issues for additional revenue, when they could be fixed much more quickly.

“This is the crux of the service failure mentality that blights the industry; for too long businesses have been content to under-perform within an SLA, because they’re maximising the bottom line through this failure. However it’s a short-sighted approach.

“If an organisation cannot deliver upon its service expectations it impacts upon the end customer. For example, if all the tills in one supermarket are out of order, most customers will take their weekly shop elsewhere, and may never return.

“If a problem isn’t fixed quickly by the field service engineers the company can potentially suffer long-term consequences, including lost revenue, custom and reputational damage. In the worst case scenario, it may even put an organisation out of business.

“On the other side of the coin, if a repair firm takes too long to find a fix, and I’ve seen cases where organisations take up to five trips just to get the right part, they may gain a reputation for poor service.

“Multiple repeat visits for a problem that could be fixed first time is unacceptable, and I believe this will lead to more companies taking their business elsewhere, potentially placing repair organisations in a similarly perilous situation.

“The industry needs a wake up call before it’s too late; firms must act to change the perception of service SLAs, or risk commercial underperformance and the real threat of losing customers.”

Intelligence is a solution that didn’t exist before

Successful companies arm their field service professionals with the technology to demonstrate effective intelligence in the field, and are able to perform tasks more quickly, serving customers more proficiently as a result^[4].

Martin believes the need for field-based business intelligence is greater than ever. He comments, “To change the current service mentality within the industry organisations must put more power into field service engineers’ hands. Out of the box thinking is critical for simplifying the complexities of after sales product services. This is key to laying the foundation for long-term business success.”

Paul Barr, a senior engineer at Centrex Services, provides some examples of how intelligence in the field is being applied, “A fast food retailer had problems with its point of sale system. Staff would lean on the screens, causing them to snap off. Rather than simply fix this issue each time at cost to our customer, we produced our own metal bracket, which added support to the screen. Now they no longer break and the retailer has benefited from some major cost savings.

“In another example, a major retailer had some serious problems with the performance of its tills. We recommended a system-wide fix that improved memory. This solution made a huge difference to the business; with its systems operating at full capacity it was able to reduce valuable seconds from each transaction, enabling it to make more sales.

“We also worked with a supermarket chain which had ten damaged point of sale screens because staff were using the wrong wipes to clean them. Rather than fix each unit individually, which would have been costly to the business, we sourced and manufactured our own, which could be inserted into the system at a fraction of the price. In this case, intelligence by field engineers meant that the supermarket was able to save thousands of pounds.”

Thinking ahead to get ahead

Business intelligence appears to be an essential ingredient for the industry if its wishes to continue meeting customer expectations. Martin concludes, “The old rules are changing, customers demands on quality, efficient service, and value are increasing; they will not put up with poor service or quick-fix answers that don’t hold up over time.

“We must move our focus away from short-term gains and analyse where strategic value can be added. This is essential to building long-term relationships with customers.

“Our partners require tailor-made solutions; if one organisation cannot fulfil customer requirements, it is very likely that they’ll turn to one that will. There is an urgent need for a highly skilled workforce with the ability to provide out of the box approaches to problems.

“Organisations must allow their engineers to adopt a business intelligence approach; it can have a profound impact on service level delivery, which is crucial for the long-term prosperity of our industry.”