About the Author:

Kris Oldland has been working in Business to Business Publishing for almost a decade. As a journalist he has covered a diverse range of industries from Fire Juggling through to Terrorism Insurance. Prior to this he was a Quality Services Manager with a globally recognised hospitality brand. An intimate understanding of what is important when it comes to Service and a passion for emerging technology means that in Field Service he has found an industry that excites him everyday.

The Gig Economy and Field Service: Customer Perception

May 06, 2020 • Features • Gig Economy • Video • field service • field service management • field service software • localz • Blended Workforce

In this final video in our series looking at the grown-up gig economy and field service, we discuss the importance of customer perception when utilising gig workers as field service technicians...

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How to Protect the Brand Reputation of Your Field Service Operation, While Harnessing the Gig Economy

An important question remains when it comes to the gig economy. What about the perception of the gig worker in the eyes of the consumer – in an era when the service call plays a significant part of a company’s reputation and brand is it wise to hand that responsibility to someone who is not part of your corporate family?

There is a certain amount of trepidation amongst some companies around this approach for exactly this question. However, ultimately if the engineer is on an emergency break-fix call and gets the customer back up and running, realistically will they really care whether the engineer is a direct employee or a gig worker? Probably not.

Similarly, if the engineer is performing fairly routine preventative maintenance, then will it really matter if the engineer is gig worker or employed? Again in reality, the customer is unlikely to have too much of a concern. However, there is a potential negative impact to a brand if it becomes apparent that the company is sending out what could be viewed as cheaper, less qualified labour to maintain their customers assets.

There are a number of ways in which this could be overcome, however.

Employ in the Gig Economy Like You Would for your Own Team. Hire Excellence.

One suggestion could be leveraging the natural gravitas and authority that more experienced engineers are able to bring to the table.

Of course, we are not suggesting that an organisation employ based on an age criterion here (that would be unfair, illegal and limit your potential reach into the gig economy market).

However, it could be wise to set a slightly higher experience requirement level for your jobs than is actually needed. This would have the benefit ensuring that each of your gig workers is overqualified for the work they are going to undertake on your behalf.

This may approach may be a bit more expensive than the regular approach to harnessing the gig economy, but it is still cheaper than it would be to develop and retain your own workforce, and you would be likely to see high level first-time-fix rates which not is not only good for your own P&L negating any additional expense, but perhaps more importantly would allow to maintain a strong brand reputation for your service operation whilst leveraging the gig economy.

This is however, just one potential suggestion, but there is one thing which is a simple necessity required in order to make sure you are able to successfully leverage the gig economy, whilst retaining the trust and loyalty of your customers. That is to present a consistent and unified look across all your communications with your customers regardless of whether they are internal workers or gig economy.

Embrace the Technology That Empowers Your Organisation and Delight Your Customers

It is essential that from your customers’ perspective that they still have clear visibility and a route of communication that is seamless.

This is where technology such as Localz can play a major role in facilitating field service organisations to truly harness the power of the gig worker market.

In fact, moving towards an on-demand service model doesn’t have to be a huge operational or organisational change.

By using the power of location technology, such as that which the Localz solution has been designed to maximize, you can “offer” jobs to available engineers in the area with the right skill set, delivering a flexible schedule for employees and a seamless on demand experience for consumers, who are demanding more services which work around them.

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The Benefits of the Older Gig Worker in Field Service

Apr 29, 2020 • Features • Gig Economy • Video • field service • field service management • field service software • localz • Blended Workforce

In the fourth part of this series looking at the grown-up gig economy in field service we explore the win-win benefits of the older gig worker being utilised within the field service sector...

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What the More Experienced Field Service Engineer Brings to the Table...

So, let’s take a look at why the gig economy can be of benefit both for more seasoned engineers and for field service organisations themselves.

Flexibility

The frequent travel of a field service engineer can be an exciting life for a younger worker. Indeed, this variety is something that field service organisers are starting to leverage as they seek to employ from the millennial labour pool.

However, it is a work-life balance that is perhaps less attractive for the engineer who has settled and doesn’t want to spend time away from their family so often.

Equally the older engineer, who is perhaps entering into semi-retirement may not want to (or be capable of) climbing up pylons or squeezing down cubby holes everyday but whose technical skills can be leveraged in less demanding roles.

Additionally, as our society adapts to newer thinking towards work, the entrepreneurial approach is becoming increasingly common amongst older workers as they have the necessary diligence to continue to seek out the work needed to provide them with financial support, but relish the freedom of being able to set their own agenda.

Experience On Tap:

For the field service organisation, the ability to tap into a pool of experienced engineers, on demand, allows them to minimise the risk of unnecessary costs while still being able to meet any peaks in service requirements.

Whilst this is of course true of any gig-worker, regardless of age, field service companies are seeking out more seasoned engineers for a number of reasons.

Experienced with the Assets

The engineer that has been there, done it and got the t-shirt is likely to hit the first-time-fix rates.

Not only are they likely to have vast experience on multiple assets within the industry segment, but also their experience will shine when it comes to fault identification as well. This is crucial considering that no fault found is one of the over-riding biggest causes for costly second visits.

Good Under Pressure

When every second of downtime is costing your client money the front line of the service cycle can be a high-pressure environment.

In such pressure, mistakes can be made which can be costly for both you and your client. The experienced engineer is likely to be able to draw on a well of experience to help them get the job done as efficiently as possible.

Indeed, this is the reason that so many field service organizations actively seek out ex-military personnel.

Good with the Customers

Of course, if the customers problem is resolved nice and quickly then they are likely to be happy.

However, a confident and well-mannered engineer can then be the link in solidifying their relationship with your organisation and potentially paving the way for renewed or upgraded service contracts in the future.

The gig-economy engineer doesn’t need to be part of your sales process to achieve this, but they are the representative of your brand and the quality of their interaction with your customers will impact your sales teams conversations at some point in the future.

The experienced engineer is more likely to understand the wider business processes and be more comfortable engaging with customers whilst also naturally carrying a more authoritative tone.

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Debunking the Myths of the Gig-Economy

Apr 22, 2020 • Features • Gig Economy • Video • field service • field service management • field service software • localz • Blended Workforce

In the next part of our video series published in partnership with Localz that looks at gig economy in field service, we take a look at some of the core misconceptions of the gig workers and employers...

The Misconceptions of the Gig Economy in Field Service

Having outlined the growing case for the field service sector embracing the gig economy in earlier features within this series,, let us now take a moment to bust some of the myths surrounding the conversation…

Misconception #1 : The gig economy is just young kids on bikes

If you look at the various gig work platforms that are available, it quickly becomes clear that many are targeted at workers with a specific level of expertise. When we think of the gig economy we often automatically think of platforms such as Uber or Task Rabbit. But the truth is the gig economy is a broad and wide spectrum. For example at the other end of the spectrum high level, management consultants have essentially always been part of the gig economy, long before the term was ever coined. In fact over two-thirds (66%) of the gig economy are over thirty.

When we look at field service engineers, successful platforms have emerged such as FieldNation or WorkMarket that have allowed field service organisations to effortlessly tap into a contingent labour market full of qualified and experienced service engineers.

Misconception #2: The gig economy is only utilised by certain types of company

Actually, 40% of companies expect that gig workers will become an increasing part of their workforce.

Many businesses are clearly seeing the value in using freelance workers to meet their staffing needs. Companies like Swiss telco giant SwissCom for example are rapidly expanding their teams and building new service revenue streams by utilising an abundance of gig workers.

This is a trend that we have seen increasing in field service and as it offers a win-win for gig workers and field service companies alike we anticipate it will only continue.

More field service companies hiring gig workers will only serve to drive the acceptance of the gig economy further bringing more experienced engineers to the gig economy market.

Misconception #3: Gig workers are just waiting for a ‘proper job’

There is the common misconception that gig economy work is a means to an end whilst workers seek out a more traditional form of full time employment.

In fact research by Forbes shows that only 20% of freelancers would prefer full time employment Despite scare stories that position gig workers as vulnerable from exploitation and low wages, the reality is very different and that most gig workers wouldn’t choose full-time employment even if it was available to them. Nearly a half of respondents (45%) would opt to work independently and state that they would seek to acquire new clients in order to meet their financial goals.

All of this is noteworthy because as a group, freelancers do tend to work longer hours at less pay than their employed counterparts.

At the same time, they tend to state that they work on more interesting projects and enjoy the flexibility that gig work provides to them, including being able to work from home, and spending more quality time with their family.

Overall, this could reflect a shift in priorities among workers and has been aligned with the societal change of the workforce as boomers retire and millennials replace them.

However, further study of the available data would indicate that this is in fact a universal preference that transcends generational outlooks.

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Why Field Service Companies Need to Invest in their Field Service Management Systems

Apr 21, 2020 • Features • return on investment • Video • field service • field service management • Field Service Management Systems • HSO

In this exclusive Field Service News Documentary video series published in partnership with HSO, we look at three key cases that can convince your board to invest in the systems that can drive your field service operations forward and to the...

Is Your Field Service Operation Facing Competitive Disadvantage?

Apr 16, 2020 • Features • return on investment • Video • field service • field service management • Field Service Management Systems • HSO

In this exclusive Field Service News Documentary video series in partnership with HSO, we look at three key cases that can convince your board to invest in the systems that can drive your field service operations forward and to the standards...

Understanding the Blended Field Workforce

Apr 15, 2020 • Features • Gig Economy • Video • field service • field service management • field service software • localz • Blended Workforce

As part of our series run in partnership with Localz exploring how field service companies can hardness the 'grown-up gig economy' we outline the benefits of a blended field workforce that marries internal and third party.

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The Benefits of the Blended Workforce in Field Service

The notion of a blended workforce (i.e. one that ‘blends’ internal resources with 3rd-party, or gig-economy workers) is one which is increasing in popularity, as field service organisations seek the benefits of a flexible labour force that can allow them to meet customer demands whilst reducing unnecessary financial risk.

Early adopters of such an approach have found that the use the gig economy can provide an excellent solution when it comes to meeting variable demand, responding quickly and effectively to their customer service requirements and simultaneously reducing their exposure to overhead costs.

By tapping into a third-party market of service engineers who already possess the required skill-sets, and leveraging technologies such as IoT, knowledge banks and Augmented Reality (AR) to ‘dial-in’ the job-specific expertise when needed, field service companies can tap into a contingent labour pool that meets around 80% of their daily repair and maintenance tasks.

The blended workforce also provides many other benefits:

Skill diversity: Many companies benefit from widening their engineers’ skill sets to develop and establish new service offerings.
Flexibility to scale with seasonal or variable demand: organizations that face significant swings in demand across varying seasons, like those in the HVAC sector, can scale up or down quickly with contingent labour.
Business efficiency: By using contingent labour to ‘fill gaps’ in a service schedule, organizations can retain efficient service delivery and maximize core workforce utilization.
Geographical coverage: 3rd-party labour markets can offer service organizations the ability to enter into new territories without the traditional excessive overlay.
Customer satisfaction: A contingent labour force can enable service organizations to react and remedy issues in a timelier manner, particularly in peak seasons when the internal workforce is stretched thin.

There are potential problems, however.

As previously mentioned, customer expectations are higher than ever and the threshold for service excellence continues to increase.

Therefore, and underlying level of technology that allows the field service representative, whether they be internal or third party workers is crucial to ensure that the customer experience remains consistent and in line with their expectations. One of the most crucial aspects of this is the customer communication channels used - particularly on the day of service.

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PODCAST: The On Demand Field Service Workforce Model

Apr 10, 2020 • Features • Gig Economy • Podcast • workforce management • FIeld nation • field service • field service management • ITSM • Blended Workforce • Mynul Khan • ITIL • Managing the Mobile Workforce

In a recent edition of the Field Service Podcast, Field Service News, Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland was joined by Field Nation CEO, Mynul Khan as the two discussed how field service organisations are turning to the gig economy and other third-party labour pools to balance their workforce needs.

The original interview was part of an interview for a documentary that Field Service News have produced in partnership with Field Nation looking at how field service organisations can harness the power of the 'blended workforce' in this manner.

However, the full interview contained a lot of additional insight from a man that has been a pioneer in bringing the technology that underpins the blended workforce to our sector. As such, we asked Mynul if we could publish the full interview on the Field Service Podcast. The above is an excerpt from this episode.

You can find the full podcast and our entire back catalogue here

The New Requirements of Field Service Management

There have been many crucial developments within the field service sector within the last few years. One of the most important of these, from Mynul Khan is sitting is how many field service organisations are now pushing their service offerings out to a wider reach of geographic areas.

"These are different types of service offerings, which require different types of skill sets," reflected Khan.

"This translates to having a different type of workforce that can provide the type of service needed that is more on demand, that is more agile and more nimble. Companies that are under pressure from industry to expand in different geographies and with different types of services are therefore having to adopt this more on-demand workforce model.

In parallel, we are also seeing that product based companies, so the OEMs or retailers, are also pushing more services and more solutions. The reason for this is fairly obvious - there is not much margin in selling hardware. So we are seeing large OEMs, VARs, and retailers developing their own service and solutions arm."

"There is an increasing trend to go beyond the traditional layers of service-centric revenue and to move towards a more servitized, or outcome focused approach within modern service offerings..."

Indeed, this is something that we are seeing more and more of as the trend continues.

Those companies now who don't explore the routes to developing their own field service operations to deliver such offerings, which deliver not only high margin revenue but also recurring revenue, are in danger of missing the boat and getting left behind.

Of course, this is just one mega-trend within a rapidly changing landscape of field service management.

There is an increasing trend to go beyond the traditional layers of service-centric revenue and to move towards a more servitized, or outcome focused approach within modern service offerings. At the same time automation is changing the way we think about field service, just as it is changing many other industry sectors.

The role of technology within this change, is an important one that cannot be understated.

"Technology and automation is playing an absolutely pivotal role," Khan comments.

"Another mega trend that has emerged is that all hardware is becoming IoT enabled hardware. This connectivity means that we can remote monitor and remotely trouble shoot the problem that the device is having. On top of this we are also seeing the rise of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms which are being used in preventative maintenance.

"All of this is coming together to really drive the cost of service down for field service companies and enables faster repair time and ore uptime for the customer. Even for a company like Field Nation, we are deploying mMachine Learning algorithms for better matching of workers to the service ticket," Khan added.

Want to know more? Check out our full documentary on the 'Rise of the Blended Workforce.'

If you are a Field Service News subscriber the link below will take you straight to the documentary.

If not, the link will take you to our subscriptions page so you can join 30,000 of your field service management peers and subscribe now and get access this documentary and all of our other premium content!

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Expert’s Insight: Danny Wieder on Health and Safety, Technology and Field Service

Apr 09, 2020 • Features • return on investment • Video • field service • field service management • Field Service Management Systems • HSO

In this exclusive Field Service News Documentary published in partnership with HSO, we look at three key cases that can convince your board to invest in the systems that can drive your field service operations forward and to the standards expected...

Why the Field Service Sector Needs the Gig Economy

Apr 08, 2020 • Features • Gig Economy • Video • field service • field service management • field service software • localz • Blended Workforce

In the first part of our series run in partnership with Localz exploring how field service companies can hardness the 'grown-up gig economy' we outline why the field service sector needs to embrace the gig economy...

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now!

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The growing pool of field service gig workers

The pressure on field service companies is perhaps greater than it ever has been. As we, as a society embrace an everything now culture, where on-demand is the new norm, time has become perhaps the single greatest commodity of all.

Companies like Deliveroo, Uber and Amazon have changed the benchmark when it comes to what is possible - both in terms of operational efficiency and customer convenience. This has led to a surge in customer expectations.

We now demand the services we use are intuitive, convenient and affordable.

And while this was a phenomena that emerged within the Business to Consumer (B2C) world, it is one that has seeped into the Business to Business (B2B) realm as well as lines between the two continually become blurred.

The reality of course, that field service is a complex beast with many, many moving parts. It is obviously, harder to get a skilled engineer to a job than it is to get a taxi driver. There are simply less of them available, especially if you only have the limited pool of your own internal resources. Yet, the customer cares little for the reasons why you cannot meet their demands.Only that you can’t.

It is of course, an unfair expectation, some may even go as far as to call it unrealistic even, but in the world of the experience economy, where service standards and rapid responses are becoming increasingly linked with our top-line revenue streams, it is one that we as service providers have to face up to. It is one we have to adapt to. What makes this more challenging is the simultaneous increase in internal expectations of field service delivery.

"Beyond the headlines of millennials on bikes, there is an increasingly mature pool of experienced gig-economy workers who are ready and able to fill in the gaps in your existing field workforce..."

With the rise of digital transformation projects, improvements can be made across the whole service delivery cycle. Indeed, technology is undoubtedly an enabler in allowing field service organisations streamline their processes.

However, while modern field service management systems can help drive efficiencies in all manner of aspects of field service, the fact remains that field service is by its very definition an inherently people centric sector.

We have yet to be able to replace the most dexterous tool at our disposal, a pair of human hands, with industrial automation - and it is unlikely we ever will.

And so it is to the gig-economy, savvy field service companies are turning. Beyond the headlines of millennials on bikes, there is an increasingly mature pool of experienced gig-economy workers who are ready and able to fill in the gaps in your existing field workforce.

They are not a replacement for your existing team but an addition. With freelancer and internal employee working side by side in what is termed the blended workforce.

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AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

About the Author:

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now!

How to Protect the Brand Reputation of Your Field Service Operation, While Harnessing the Gig Economy

Employ in the Gig Economy Like You Would for your Own Team. Hire Excellence.

Embrace the Technology That Empowers Your Organisation and Delight Your Customers

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now!

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now!

What the More Experienced Field Service Engineer Brings to the Table...

Flexibility

Experience On Tap:

Experienced with the Assets

Good Under Pressure

Good with the Customers

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now!

The Misconceptions of the Gig Economy in Field Service

Misconception #1 : The gig economy is just young kids on bikes

Misconception #2: The gig economy is only utilised by certain types of company

Misconception #3: Gig workers are just waiting for a ‘proper job’

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now!

Want to know more? There is a full documentary that dives deeper into this whole topic, which is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers...

Want to know more? There is a full documentary that dives deeper into this whole topic, which is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers...

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now!

The Benefits of the Blended Workforce in Field Service

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now!

The New Requirements of Field Service Management

Want to know more? Check out our full documentary on the 'Rise of the Blended Workforce.'

If you are a Field Service News subscriber the link below will take you straight to the documentary.

If not, the link will take you to our subscriptions page so you can join 30,000 of your field service management peers and subscribe now and get access this documentary and all of our other premium content!

NEW! If you would prefer to access our full premium content library without having to submit data to our sponsors you can now do so with a paid subscription for just £15/month find out more @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/subscription-tiers

Want to know more? There is a full documentary that dives deeper into this whole topic, which is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers...

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now!

The growing pool of field service gig workers

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