AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

Field Service News in partnership with RealWear, and OverIT have worked together to produce a detailed 22 page Essential Guide to Remote Service. In this first in a series of excerpts from that guide we will look at the benefits of an effective remote service solution...

The benefits of introducing remote-services into a wider service portfolio and why remote-service should be viewed as far more than a temporary solution to overcoming the challenges of the pandemic.

Improving Health and Safety

One of the most critical areas of responsibility a field service company has is a duty of care to its employees, contractors and communities within which they operate. This, of course, is a mantra that has been magnified and reemphasised since the pandemic, but it is a concept that is absolutely at the core of field service management.

Since the pandemic hit, an additional factor has undoubtedly been added to this equation. Field service organisations must also consider how they can limit their engineers’ face to face interaction with others, both for their own and their customers’ protection.

Indeed, improving health and safety aspects of field service delivery and minimising risk is one of the most critical areas in which modern remote service tools such as augmented reality and head-mounted computers can bring clearly identifiable benefits.

The first of these is that by enabling the technician on-site to work hands-free, we are instantly enhancing their ability to work both more efficiently and also more safely. However, the potential for improving health and safety via such tools goes far beyond this.

For example, we can see the introduction of digital safety advisory processes being introduced; this allows the engineer in the field to connect with a health and safety expert in real-time to access advisory support when needed. Not only does this place the safety expert where they are needed as soon as they are needed, but it also allows for the service organisation to refine the safety team in terms of size, structure and effectiveness.

Another method that can improve the health and safety aspect of field-based service work introduced when using such systems is to introduce a digitally enabled risk management solution.

 

"As we factor in the pandemic’s impact, the ability to dial in expertise is crucial as it means that service and maintenance can be delivered in a limited or even zero-touch manner, reducing the human-to-human contact required in issue resolution..."

 

Cameron Stevens, a Chartered Health and Safety Professional, Safety Technologist and Solutions Engineer at RealWear, Inc. has been working with global field service teams to help them conduct remote audit, assurance and critical risk activities. Stevens suggests that “real-time risk information offered with enterprise wearable assisted reality computing has the ability to step change safety performance and can digitally enhance all elements of a health and safety management system”.

Doing this allows the field service engineer to conduct health, safety and environmental field audits and assurance activities hands-free and generate real-time reports.

Software solutions such as SPACE1 can even be powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), automating processes vital to ensuring the engineer’s safety are followed every time. This also enables work processes to be analysed to uncover rich insights that have the potential to further improve future operational safety performance. Such an approach is crucial when we reflect that all too often, the most dangerous threat in an engineer’s day to day work is complacency.

Finally, as we factor in the pandemic’s impact, the ability to dial in expertise is crucial as it means that service and maintenance can be delivered in a limited or even zero-touch manner, reducing the human-to-human contact required in issue resolution.

Perhaps most importantly though, remote video collaboration in the work environment enables supervisors and managers to regularly check in on the mental health and well being of the field service workforce as they go about their jobs in relative isolation, dealing with the fatigue and uncertainty resulting from the pandemic.

 

Increasing Geographical Expansion Opportunities

As many field service management professionals will attest, the most significant impact on the service P&L is invariably always the truck-roll. As the old adage goes, if you have to send a service engineer -once then you are breaking even.

Every time you then send an engineer back out on the same job you are losing money.

For many companies, this fact means that geographical expansion can often be too cost-prohibitive to undertake. Ultimately getting expertise on the ground in a new territory can involve significant travel and accommodation overheads.

Alternatively, training up a local field service team with the necessary skills can be even more costly. Of course, it also takes time for such a new team to develop the experience required to stand on their own two feet.

However, when we start to look at some of the advanced tools for remote service delivery used by best-in-class companies such as Honeywell, Volkswagen and Mars, we can see an excellent opportunity for field service companies to bypass much of the cost of getting this experience on the ground.

Instead of the subject matter expert being required to be on-site, they can remotely guide a less experienced local engineer.

AR allows the remote expert to guide the on-site engineer step by step with annotations, information slides or hand gestures that appear ‘on-screen’ merged directly with what the on-site engineer sees in front of him. Add a head-mounted computer into the mix, and the remote expert can guide the engineer, with a clear view of what the on-site engineer is viewing, while that engineer has both hands free to undertake the work required.

Such solutions are the single most effective means of communicating and transferring knowledge and expertise in real-time. As such, it opens the doors for geographical expansion for service organisations which wouldn’t have been possible prior to the introduction of such technological advancements.

 

Reducing the time it takes to get new engineers out into the field

Another pervasive challenge we face in the field service sector is the ever present issue of an ageing workforce. This is a challenge faced by field service companies in all corners of the globe and all industries. It is quite simply one of the most significant challenges our industry collectively faces.

As the baby boomer generation enters its final decade of being within employment age, there is a veritable tsunami of workers heading for the exit door and ultimately not enough recruits coming in the other direction to replace them. We must also factor in the time it takes to move new recruits from the classroom to the field, which further adds to the severity of this potential crisis.

Again, the sophisticated tools used within remote service delivery can have a significant impact here. Indeed, the benefits can be seen in four distinct ways.

Firstly, with more engineers retiring than are being recruited, we will need our engineers to be more productive. Technician utilisation and first-time fix rates have always been essential metrics in the field service sector. However, they will become critical in an age with a dwindling supply of engineers By using tools such as AR and Head-mounted computers, a field service organisation can take their leading subject matter experts out of the field where the amount of customers they can help is limited by their travel time, and into a role where they can deal with far more issues from one remote location.

Additionally, these subject matter experts can be focused on providing insight where it is needed most, increasing first-time-fix rates even on more complex issues.

 

"By transitioning the experienced engineer from a life on the road to one of a remote expert, based in a central location, or even working from home, the chances of keeping that engineer in the organisation for longer are greatly improved..."

 

Secondly, such subject matter experts are more likely to be found within the older and more experienced population of a field workforce. For a more experienced engineer, the attraction of constant travel and time away from home may well diminish over time.

This is, as many in the industry will acknowledge, a significant factor of employee churn.

By transitioning the experienced engineer from a life on the road to one of a remote expert, based in a central location, or even working from home, the chances of keeping that engineer in the organisation for longer are greatly improved.

Thirdly, by being able to provide younger, less experienced engineers with an adequate support network, where a subject matter expert can be readily on hand to offer guidance and support whenever, and more importantly wherever needed, service organisations can dramatically reduce the time it takes to get new engineers out of the classroom and into the field where they are actively bringing value to the organisation.

Finally, one of the critical advantages of using technology in this manner is that each call can be recorded and archived. This allows for the ongoing contribution to a knowledge base featuring a wealth of practical learning material. The potential application of such a knowledge base can then be further magnified when paired with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution.

By aligning AI to remote assistance recordings, engineers can be automatically guided to the relevant support documentation and recordings of previous calls that outline resolution quickly and effectively, freeing up the subject matter experts even further.

Additionally, AI can identify and manually tag visual elements within the recording for classification and then use these tags to find correct supporting material in the knowledge base to help improve on-site triage. It is even possible to translate the call into foreign languages to allow for the roll-out of such a dynamically growing knowledge base across multiple regions.

All of which can help lead to a far more effective support network for new engineers, allowing them to leave the classroom and get into the field a lot quicker.

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In the next article in this series we will look at three more benefits of remote service; empowering the blended workforce, embracing the tools for outcome-based services and differentiating your service against that of your competition...

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Further Reading:

This interview was undertaken as part of our development of our recently published Essential Guide to Remote Service. This guide offers insight into the important considerations field service companies need to be aware of when selecting remote service solutions suitable for their needs.

The guide looks at both the hardware and software considerations as well as containing a case study from Rail Cargo Group that looks at how they implemented such a solution which has revolutionised their industry.

This essential guide is currently available on our free-forever FSN Standard subscription tier for a limited time as well as being available to our FSN Premium subscribers and our FSN Elite members. If you are on any of these subscription/membership tiers you can access this guide by clicking the button below.

If you are not yet a subscriber, the button will take you to a dedicated registration page for FSN Standard that will give you instant access to this guide as well as access to the other Premium Resources currently available on this tier. 

 

 

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, OverIT and Realwear who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this report.  

As part of a series of interviews for an exclusive Field Service News Documentary on the Blended Workforce in the Field Service sector, Kris Oldland, Editor in Chief spoke with Samir Gulati Chief Marketing and Product Officer and Frank Gelbart, CEO of ServicePower.

In this first excerpt from the interview, Gulati outlines the various benefits of the blended workforce model.

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Want to know more?

Field Service News subscribers can access the documentary "The Blended Workforce and the New Normal"  by clicking the button below:

If you are yet to subscribe you can join 30,0000 of your field service management peers by subscribing to FSN Standard for free and get instant access to the documentary and other selected resources available on our free forever, FSN Standard subscription tier.

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If you hold either a FSN Premium or FSN Elite subscription you can find the full interview with Gulati and Gelbart in our Digital Symposium section of the website which is available at www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-symposium

 

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Data usage note: By accessing the documentary you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, ServicePower who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this report.  

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News is joined by Michael Kuebel Michele Federici and Sassi Idan of Salesforce as they analyse the findings of a wide-reaching study into the growing use of remote services in the field service sector that has arisen since the pandemic.

Here the group discuss whether the technology implementation is the easiest piece of moving to remote service delivery and look at the core barriers that need to be overcome.

You can find further analysis of this research project at our dedicated research site research.fieldservicenews.com

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Want to know more?

FSN Premium or FSN Elite subscribers can access the full video report of this debrief session by clicking the button below.

If you are currently on our free FSN Standard subscription you can upgrade your subscription for as little as £299|€349| $399 a year and gain access to this report, plus over a hundred other premium resources from across the Field Service News Digital Ecosystem and exclusive access to the Field Service News Digital Symposium with new in-depth, long-form interviews being added every week. 

FSN Elite members also gain access to the Field Service News Masterclass Program, Think Tank and Collaboration real-time sessions and FSN Elite discussion boards for just £699|€789|$949 a year. 

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This Field Service News Research project was run in partnership with Salesforce, one of a select group of official Strategic Partners for Field Service News

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News is joined by Michael Kuebel Michele Federici and Sassi Idan of Salesforce as they analyse the findings of a wide-reaching study into the growing use of remote services in the field service sector that has arisen since the pandemic.

Here the group discuss the variety of tools that are being used currently and discuss why sophistication for the service provider should lead to effortlessness for the customer.

You can find further analysis of this research project at our dedicated research site research.fieldservicenews.com

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Want to know more?

FSN Premium or FSN Elite subscribers can access the full video report of this debrief session by clicking the button below.

If you are currently on our free FSN Standard subscription you can upgrade your subscription for as little as £299|€349| $399 a year and gain access to this report, plus over a hundred other premium resources from across the Field Service News Digital Ecosystem and exclusive access to the Field Service News Digital Symposium with new in-depth, long-form interviews being added every week. 

FSN Elite members also gain access to the Field Service News Masterclass Program, Think Tank and Collaboration real-time sessions and FSN Elite discussion boards for just £699|€789|$949 a year. 

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This Field Service News Research project was run in partnership with Salesforce, one of a select group of official Strategic Partners for Field Service News

Field Service News in Partnership with ServicePower. have produced an exclusive documentary that explores the role of the blended workforce model in field service operations, the challenges in making it work, the significant benefits it can produce and whether the pandemic and the capacity crisis we face as we turn towards recovery will be a further driver for its wider adoption.

In this excerpt from that documentary, we outline what is the blended workforce.

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Want to know more?

Field Service News subscribers can access the documentary "The Blended Workforce and the New Normal"  by clicking the button below:

If you are yet to subscribe you can join 30,0000 of your field service management peers by subscribing to FSN Standard for free and get instant access to the documentary and other selected resources available on our free forever, FSN Standard subscription tier.

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If you hold either a FSN Premium or FSN Elite subscription you can find the full interviews recorded for the documentary in our Digital Symposium section of the website which is available at www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-symposium

 

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Data usage note: By accessing the documentary you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, ServicePower who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this report.  

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News is joined by Michael Kuebel Michele Federici and Sassi Idan of Salesforce as they analyse the findings of a wide-reaching study into the growing use of remote services in the field service sector that has arisen since the pandemic.

In this segment, talk turns to how the speed in which service can be delivered remotely could revolutionise the way we think about service delivery as we build a path towards the new normal for our sector.

You can find further analysis of this research project at our dedicated research site research.fieldservicenews.com

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Want to know more?

FSN Premium or FSN Elite subscribers can access the full video report of this debrief session by clicking the button below.

If you are currently on our free FSN Standard subscription you can upgrade your subscription for as little as £299|€349| $399 a year and gain access to this report, plus over a hundred other premium resources from across the Field Service News Digital Ecosystem and exclusive access to the Field Service News Digital Symposium with new in-depth, long-form interviews being added every week. 

FSN Elite members also gain access to the Field Service News Masterclass Program, Think Tank and Collaboration real-time sessions and FSN Elite discussion boards for just £699|€789|$949 a year. 

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This Field Service News Research project was run in partnership with Salesforce, one of a select group of official Strategic Partners for Field Service News

Field Service News in partnership announces a huge new in-depth project that will be exploring the role of the blended workforce in the field service sector and asks if the pandemic has driven an even greater need for the adoption of this flexible approach to workforce management...

2020 was one of the most challenging of years for all of us. We have had to deal with unprecedented challenges in both our working and personal lives as we adapted to a life of lockdowns and for too many of us personal tragedies.

Yet, at the same time, 2020 was also a year of ingenuity and innovation. We saw companies and individuals alike learn the importance of being adaptable, developing new approaches, and the importance of embracing agility into our thinking.

There has been much talk of the new normal; indeed, the world in which we exist in 2021 is vastly different from the world we left behind when the pandemic first hit in March 2020.

Yet for us in the field service sector, the new normal that is being discussed in many ways brings together several key concepts that we have talked about for a number of years.

In that way, the novel coronavirus COVID19, the most significant global disruptor since the end of the second world war in 1945, has had a democratising effect, bringing the importance of concepts, processes and technologies, that were only a year ago the domain of best-in-class field service organisations into the industry mainstream.

It would be too much of a stretch to say that the industry is now all on the same page, many companies are further down the path towards a more sophisticated approach to service delivery than their peers who are now desperately playing catch up, primarily driven by necessity other than anything else.

However, necessity is, as the old saying goes, the mother of innovation. For the vast majority of organisations in our industry, the innovation they need to embrace is, fortunately, a reasonably well-worn, and clearly sign-posted path that has been trodden by organisations that were ahead of the pack.

So, while all companies may not entirely be on the same page as yet, we are all at least reading from the same script.

One such area that is likely to become a much more common fixture within our sector as we move beyond the pandemic is the adoption of the blended workforce, which like many of the other ‘new’ approaches to service delivery set to form the new backbone of field service operations in the future, has well established benefits as well as clearly defined best-practices for adoption that have been proven for some time.

In a new exclusive Field Service News Essential Guide, we will be hearing from several experts in this area including companies who have successfully established a holistic approach to utilising the blended workforce and technology providers that have empowered them on their journey as we uncover the drivers behind adopting a blended workforce approach, the technology that can bring the many moving parts together and asking if the blended workforce-model can be applied to any industry vertical.

We will be publishing a series of excerpts from this guide as well as the accompanying documentary across the coming weeks however, if you wish to read the Essential Guide in full it is currently available on our forever-free FSN Standard subscription tier. If you are yyet to subscribe the button below will take you to a dedicated registration page which will give you instant access to this Essential Guide upon completion of registration. 

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Want to know more?

Field Service News subscribers can access the Essential Guide to the Blended Workforce instantly by clicking the button below:

If you are yet to subscribe you can join 30,0000 of your field service management peers by subscribing to FSN Standard for free and get instant access to the documentary and other selected resources available on our free forever, FSN Standard subscription tier.

 

 

 

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If you hold either a FSN Premium or FSN Elite subscription you can find the full interviews of those service leaders featured in this guide in our Digital Symposium section of the website which is available @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-symposium

 

 

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Data usage note: By accessing this Essential Guide you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, ServicePower who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this report.  

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Further Reading:

• Read more about managing the mobile workforce @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/managing-the-mobile-workforce
• Read more about the blended workforce @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=blended+workforce
• Read more about the impact of the pandemic on the field service sector @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/en-gb/covid-19
• Discover this months selection of available resources on our FSN Standard subscription tier @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/fsn-standard-resources
• Find out more about the solutions ServicePower offer @ www.servicepower.com/

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News is joined by Michael Kuebel Michele Federici and Sassi Idan of Salesforce as they analyse the findings of a wide-reaching study into the growing use of remote services in the field service sector that has arisen since the pandemic.

In this excerpt from the first of two debrief sessions based around this study, the group tackle the question of where the true value of service lies for the customer

You can find further analysis of this research project at our dedicated research site research.fieldservicenews.com

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Want to know more?

FSN Premium or FSN Elite subscribers can access the full video report of this debrief session by clicking the button below.

If you are currently on our free FSN Standard subscription you can upgrade your subscription for as little as £299|€349| $399 a year and gain access to this report, plus over a hundred other premium resources from across the Field Service News Digital Ecosystem and exclusive access to the Field Service News Digital Symposium with new in-depth, long-form interviews being added every week. 

FSN Elite members also gain access to the Field Service News Masterclass Program, Think Tank and Collaboration real-time sessions and FSN Elite discussion boards for just £699|€789|$949 a year. 

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This Field Service News Research project was run in partnership with Salesforce, one of a select group of official Strategic Partners for Field Service News

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News is joined by Michael Kuebel Michele Federici and Sassi Idan of Salesforce as they analyse the findings of a wide-reaching study into the growing use of remote services in the field service sector that has arisen since the pandemic.

Here the group discuss whether a remote-first is going to be the correct approach for every field service company approach to service delivery is the

You can find further analysis of this research project at our dedicated research site research.fieldservicenews.com

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Want to know more?

FSN Premium or FSN Elite subscribers can access the full video report of this debrief session by clicking the button below.

If you are currently on our free FSN Standard subscription you can upgrade your subscription for as little as £299|€349| $399 a year and gain access to this report, plus over a hundred other premium resources from across the Field Service News Digital Ecosystem and exclusive access to the Field Service News Digital Symposium with new in-depth, long-form interviews being added every week. 

FSN Elite members also gain access to the Field Service News Masterclass Program, Think Tank and Collaboration real-time sessions and FSN Elite discussion boards for just £699|€789|$949 a year. 

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This Field Service News Research project was run in partnership with Salesforce, one of a select group of official Strategic Partners for Field Service News