AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

Sathivel Adrin Anusanth has joined Asolvi's global workplace to play a key role in implementations of the cloud-based Tesseract product, Asolvi's longest-standing service management solution.

Sathivel will be working with the consultancy team to ensure smooth, successful delivery of Tesseract to customers. Comprehensive yet easy to use, Tesseract has been a market favourite since 1985 and continues to optimise the service chains of thousands of organisations in the field service industry all over Europe.

Sathivel brings 15 years' experience in delivering IT solutions to the B2B market in Europe, Asia and Africa, and has a good understanding of the cultural values and variations and diverse customer needs in those markets.

He has successfully managed many large banking and finance projects on time and on a budget, exceeding customer expectations along the way. His expertise at both technical and commercial levels enables him to help customers in a multitude of industries identify the right solution for their business needs.

Asolvi's new technical consultant, Stuart Page, will help bring the benefits of its well-established Tesseract service management product to field service organisations Europe-wide.

Tesseract is Asolvi's longest-running application and known for its extensive functionality and user-friendly interfaces. Stuart is expected to be involved in all technical aspects of a Tesseract implementation, from solution scoping to installation and rollout. His remit includes project work and upgrades to the latest version of the Tesseract system for existing customers.

Stuart brings 18 years of experience in deployment of business solutions, primarily ERP, helpdesk and quoting systems, working closely with clients' technical staff as well as management representatives and end users.

"That fact that Asolvi is a business consultancy as well as a software provider is what drew me to it," says Stuart. "It's not just concerned with selling software. It cares about making sure its customers succeed and are profitable in their respective industries. I was also drawn by its significant European and international presence and ongoing expansion plans. Asolvi is determined to play a key role in shaping the future of field service for businesses of all sizes, particularly those finding it difficult to compete. I'm excited to be a part of that."

Stuart and Sathivel are the latest in a string of hires as Asolvi moves to position itself as the leading provider of service management software for small and medium-sized enterprises across Europe.

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Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News talks to Scott Berg, CEO at ServiceMax about why IoT has so far failed to hit the heights it really is capable of and what we more should be expecting from connected assets in the near future...

When I sit down with Berg, he has just given a highly well-received presentation at Field Service USA, perhaps the biggest event in the global field service calendar. He managed to hit the two big topics that dominated conversation over the four days of the conference, namely preventative maintenance and IoT.

However, whilst many of his peers have spent the time still talking about why these are essential topics for field service companies today, Berg is already looking towards tomorrow.

“There is a big move towards predictive service, which a lot of us have talked about wanting to do. I think IoT has arrived on the scene and that might be what finally enables it. One of the things I’ve seen as we’ve come deeper into GE and seen what some of the other assets are around us from a technology standpoint is that the asset performance management concept is really unique,” he opens.

“As a field service guy I didn’t even know that this stuff was out there- I didn’t know that it was possible. That, of course, makes sense as it was used in process manufacturing, chemicals, oil and gas so it just wouldn’t occur to bring that over to field service, but this linking of the predictive analytics fed by IoT allows us to create a closed-loop process.”

“Frankly, now that I know these APM guys better within the GE company, it was one of the first epiphanies we had last year where we said you send that work to me, I’ll send you this back, arm the technician with the predictives that say ‘here’s why your here today.’”

“Another theme is also that this whole IoT thing is making me scratch my head a little bit and I’ve been talking to more and more people lately about this.,” Berg admits.

For me as a technology salesperson by trade it really gets good when someone can see real obvious value articulated, experience it and it becomes a bit of a no-brainer, I don’t think IoT has reached tha“$2.9Trillion dollars is going to get spent on IoT by 2020. Now this is not to say that many companies including a number of our customers haven’t experienced value, but it it’s still not quite fulfilling the full potential that it had - so what is the problem? For me as a technology salesperson by trade it really gets good when someone can see real obvious value articulated, experience it and it becomes a bit of a no-brainer, I don’t think IoT has reached that.”

It is a question I have raised myself in these pages. So what does Berg think is holding everyone back from seeing the true potential of IoT?

“I think it’s a combination of things,” he replies, considering the question. “Firstly, people are still drowning in data - and I do think that is still a problem. We see it even in GE businesses, there is so much more data by our own creation that it just gets harder and harder, and so now you’ve got things like Edge computing as opposed to sensors feeding data to Clouds, which is way to slow and far away, so that’s one thing that is changing rapidly.”

“And yes, there are people who have got the benefit but so far I see it as just a one and done benefit. We’ve had good examples of our customers, where they’ve identified a failure pattern, in one case a company were able to identify that they were fixing something too early, they could’ve gotten two more weeks out of it, so that leads to a modification of a service protocol or procedure, but it is still a one-off benefit.”

“It’s big don’t get me wrong. But it doesn’t do anything for you next year and it didn’t uncover the next problem. In fact, it may be even pushing a problem further downstream and so then another one surfaces.”

“That’s what is so exciting about the whole conversation around AI and Machine Learning - in that it offers continuous learning. The ability to model risk and put that into a plan - maybe that is the final way to bring IoT to its full potential in terms of service management and to create a pretty cool closed-loop process really.”

“I don’t mean to push IoT to a back seat, don’t get me wrong, there are so many side benefits that are game changing but it is a bit like you’ve planted something and then your like when is it going to come out of the ground, when am I going to see a flower and then to continue that analogy when that fruit first comes out, you don’t want to pick it and then that’s if you want it to be a constant crop."

It is interesting to hear Berg’s view that there is so much more to come how we implement IoT in a field service context. Particularly given ServiceMax’s role as an earlier pioneer within the space. When he speaks on the topic he invokes a clear belief in the scientific method - i.e. that each hypothesis is subject to continuous testing and re-evaluation.

“We were early partners and integrators with things like PTC and the ThingWorx products, launched connected field service and we’ve had some customers who have seen some real benefit - but why didn’t it sustain, why didn’t it evolve, why didn’t it grow - why wasn’t it everywhere?” He asks.

“I think it is because people were just a bit stalled looking for that extra piece of the puzzle,’ he continues answering his own questions.

One of the reasons we didn’t call Connected Field Service our IoT API is because the notion of connecting field service was not only getting the device to give up its data but also in the mobile device then arming the technician with why are you here“In fact, one of the reasons we didn’t call Connected Field Service our IoT API is because the notion of connecting field service was not only getting the device to give up its data but also in the mobile device then arming the technician with why are you here.”

“What was the reading that led to this? But let’s take that further, let’s get an understanding of what the is device doing right now so they know what it was doing yesterday when they were summoned, but also me what it's doing now, how has that changed.”

“I think that’s that notion of equipment centricity. The cool thing about GE is that it is the world’s largest field service company and it is also at it’s core a completely asset-centric group of engineers, the machine is everything they worship the machines - there are pictures of machines all over our office.”

When I last spoke to Berg, ServiceMax had only recently become part of the GE family, but even then he spoke of an early affinity between the companies and of a kindred spirit at each companies core. Fast forward some 18 months and it is clear that the relationship is proving to be even more symbiotic with benefits flowing both ways.

“I was in a meeting recently where one of the innovations another team was pushing in APM was maximising the performance and predicting the health of a set of assets. By that I mean not just one isolated machine but for example think of a wind-farm, maybe there are a thousand of assets within that fleet. We were trying to establish how we can comprehend the collective health of those assets and how they work together.”

This is just another example of how Berg, ServiceMax and now the wider team within GE are not satisfied with pushing the envelope today but are dedicated to understanding how they can continue to stay at the vanguard of innovation for many, many years to come.

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The water sector is coming under immense pressure to improve the quality of its service after Ofwat announced it will intervene in water companies whose business plans for PR19 don’t match the “high bar” it expects for customer service...

With an increased demand for water, an ageing infrastructure and rising costs, some large water providers are exploring the use of cloud-based technologies, as a way to make considerable cost savings and manage the network more effectively.

Yorkshire Water is one such water company that has been investing heavily in advanced technology to improve the services it provides.

Since adopting the WorkMobiles’ mobile data capture app, the company has used it to become more agile and efficient compared to its previous method of data capture.

Previously, field engineers were relying on paper-based forms and handheld cameras to capture information on jobs and projects and were then having to drive at least five miles back to head office to load their job data into the company portal. Yorkshire Water recognised that it needed a digital solution that would help to collect and manage essential project information more effectively and also reduce administration costs based on the price of fuel and non-productive wage costs.

After trialling the cloud-based application with a team of 400 workers, the water provider has deployed the WorkMobile solution to over 1,800 of its employees.After trialling the cloud-based application with a team of 400 workers, the water provider has deployed the WorkMobile solution to over 1,800 of its employees. They are also continuously looking for new ways to further increase usage of the app.

WorkMobiles’ flexible form designer allows users to create mobile forms relevant to the specific job in hand, including site inspections, health and safety forms and timesheets for all workers on site. Using a digital form to capture the information for these important documents reduces the risk of data being lost or incorrectly collected.

Job details can now be sent to employees in the field and project data can also be captured in real-time, with all information integrated into internal project management systems. Work can now be completed quickly and recorded more accurately, making for a more efficient network management process.

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “There is an increasing pressure to become more efficient and innovative in order to remain competitive and deliver an even better customer service. However, with new, emerging technologies, water companies are now gaining the ability to streamline their working practices and meet the needs of their customers more effectively.

“Our main challenge was that our previous data capture process was simply not cost-effective and meant that our teams were spending extra hours travelling back to base to record their job details. We needed a solution that could provide greater efficiency and connectivity, so staff working out in the field could record and share information in a timely manner.

“With our aim to roll out the WorkMobile application across various departments in the business, we have calculated that this will result in huge cost savings for us and our customers. The money we save as a result of this switch will help to relieve some of the pressure on our resources and will also help us to provide a better quality of service to our customers.”

With pressure mounting from Ofwat to provide a better quality service through the use of innovation, water companies are looking for ways to become more agile and efficient so they can work more effectivelyColin Yates, Chief Support Officer at WorkMobile, said: “With pressure mounting from Ofwat to provide a better quality service through the use of innovation, water companies are looking for ways to become more agile and efficient so they can work more effectively. The sector is facing a number of challenges, particularly due to ageing networks that can’t cope with the rising demand for water and the inherent leakage synonymous with older pipes. In order to keep these networks operational, now is the perfect time for water companies to get smarter and embrace new technologies so they can deal with issues quickly and successfully.

“It’s great to see that solutions such as ours are helping the water industry to combat its current issues. Yorkshire Water, for example, now has a tool that can help meet the needs of its workforce, so that work can be quickly recorded by employees and information then sent back to the office. The business has now seen greater efficiency amongst its workforce, along with huge cost savings. Every water company across the sector should be looking to embrace technology to achieve similar results in order to create a more sustainable future.”

For more information, please visit: www.workmobileforms.com/

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Samir Gulati, Chief Marketing Officer, ServicePower explains why savvy service organisations understand that building an excellent customer experience must begin from the first interaction, but must continue through every service touch point onwards - and how IoT data can be a key tool in achieving that...

Customers purchase products and don’t interact with the OEM or retailer again until something fails. Thus, your next contact with the consumer is one in which your product has become their problem. You are behind the eight ball right out of the gate. 

While the industry has focused on metrics important for operational improvements, such as first-time fix rates, productivity, efficiency of field technicians and fuel utilization, all of which are critical to any business, we now must recognize that customer experience must be the driving force behind our strategies, the top priority for our operators, for sales and marketing and for our service teams.   

Considering the customer experience from the very beginning is the surest way to drive downstream revenue.  

Start at the Beginning 

Customer experience must be considered from the point a product is manufactured or sold, not simply from the perspective of field service downstream. 

Customer experience must be considered from the point a product is manufactured or sold, not simply from the perspective of field service downstream. Ensure that your product includes features which makes your customers’ experience with your product easy and helpful, that it meets expectations. Don’t stop there though. Make sure the product exceeds expectations. With the ease at which IoT sensors can be embedded in products and used to provide proactive new accessories and services, makes tapping into this technology a no-brainer.

IoT isn’t reserved for heavy industry. Consumers, both residential and commercial, are using IoT in their lives every. Use it to your advantage, and theirs. 

Take the Next Step 

Your responsibility to your customer doesn’t stop at the point you ship or sell a product or service. Once the product is in hand, make sure you’ve made it easy to connect with your organization in real time.

If a customer has questions about usage or features and functions, needs accessories or complementary products, or in the event, there is an issue with a product, omnichannel connectivity gives them the ability to connect with you in ways that are convenient for them.

Use web portals and mobile apps, use Smart Speakers. Image how much better a repair experience could be if Siri could schedule an appointment for your customer.  

Go Beyond Service Delivery 

Enabling field teams with technology with the information, part and tools required to fix a problem in the field is the minimum expectation of field service organizations now.

If you’re not there, and recent data suggests that almost 50% of field service teams are not, get there fast. Look to configurable, cross-platform mobile applications that you can deploy quickly, on any device, with the process and forms needed- by your employed or contracted field technicians- to get onsite and problem solve in real time.

But don’t stop there.

Tap into the data you’ve collected from manufacturing, the point of sale, IoT and service history to offer your customers more.Tap into the data you’ve collected from manufacturing, the point of sale, IoT and service history to offer your customers more. The data at your fingertips makes it possible for you to offer new services using that data, directly from your field technicians.

Make the customer happy with a single visit fix. Make them happier with maintenance contract offers that keep their products up and running longer. Delight your customers with proactive service and seamless communication with every member of the product lifecycle ecosystem.

Use the data and the technology available to both your organization and your customer, to seamlessly drive positive, profitable post-sale interactions with every customer.  

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With a new CEO taking the helm Swedish FSM and ERP providers, IFS enter a new era of their ongoing development. Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief was on hand at the IFS World Conference in Atlanta to see the developments first hand and caught up with FSN associate columnist Mark Brewer, Global Director of Field Service, to get the inside scoop...

The IFS World Conference is an event that never really fails to deliver at least one key highlight of interest. Memories of CTO, Dan Matthews bouncing around madly to Bruce Springsteen on the stage last time out in Gothenburg- he was demonstrating how IoT sensors work just in case you were wondering, is one such example of the unique way the Swedish company approach things.

Similarly, Ulf Stern, one of the companies original founders keeping customers, prospects and the press alike entertained playing some (pretty darned good) rock and roll with his band in a ‘Fish Cathedral’ later that evening is just another example of how the same core ethos remains in the company today as it did when they first started out some 35 years ago. Despite significant growth and development across the years, there all often overlooked secret-sauce that can allow a company to flourish, the uniqueness within their DNA - has always remained the same.

Who IFS are today is very much a different company to who they were then, just 18 months ago.Yet, who IFS are today is very much a different company to who they were then, just 18 months ago.

Firstly, there is the acquisition by - investment firm EQT. Which was in fact announced just days before the Gothenburg World Conference.

At the time the discussion had been highly positive - especially from a field service point of view as the message from EQT was clear - we are giving you the funds to go and do what you do better and faster - with field service being one of the top three areas IFS would be targeting for significant growth.

Given their stature in the market at the time as an already established major player within the field service industry, this was certainly an exciting announcement for those close to our sector.

Indeed, there have already been some significant acquisitions that Field Service News readers, especially those from the UK will be aware of which have followed after the acquisition.

The first of these was to bring IFS UK and Eire reseller Field Service Management in-house, which was a sensible and largely expected move.

The second, which saw mplsystems become part of the IFS family, however, was far more strategic.

mplsystems core strength lies is there omnichannel contact centre technology, essentially plugging a major gap in the IFS solutionAlthough, an FSM solution provider themselves, mplsystems core strength lies is there omnichannel contact centre technology, essentially plugging a major gap in the IFS solution and giving them a genuinely robust end to end service solution.

This is not to mention the US acquisition of WorkWave, an FSM solution that is dedicated to the SMB market - which instantly gave IFS access to a huge market, which many of the larger FSM solution providers struggle to penetrate.

So in fairness the record of EQT in terms of delivering on their promise has been mightily impressive and IFS have continued to grow in stature within the FSM sector as one of the true key players - an achievement all the more impressive given the attention our sector has had within the last few years with the lieks of GE, SAP, Microsoft and Salesforce all investing significantly in building a global presence.

My anticipation was therefore high when I spotted that the launch of FSM6 was to be given a major spotlight, being presented on the main stage as a key announcement on day 1.

Mark Brewer, Gloabl Director, Field Service, alongside Steve Jeff-Watts, Senior Advisor, IFS were the men tasked with giving that presentation.

“If you go back to the origins of IFS, we are an ERP company, but that can be something of an ambiguous term,” opened Brewer when I caught up with him.

We built a product that managed service, maintenance and projects. This means the intrinsic DNA of the business is actually service not manufacturing“ERP for most people is a product built for managing a manufacturing business. IFS did not ever take that approach. We built a product that managed service, maintennance and projects. This means the intrinsic DNA of the business is actually service not manufacturing.”

“Fast forward to today with the IFS FSM platform you’ve got a best in class service offering, there is an almost equivalent best-in-class service functionality in an ERP in Apps 10.”

“This means you can already have an existing ERP such as SAP or somethign similar which you are unable to swap out, we can layer that with best-in-class field service. However, if you also need solutions for your manufacturing, supply chain, financials etc then we can also give you all of this whilst encapsulating a best-in-class service solution within it.”

Customer experience is a huge part of the equation in service organisations now and we are moving into the experience economy “It is a unique position, where we can not only offer the stand alone FSM solution but the wider ESM (Enterprise Service Management) solution as well.”

“I also thought it was very telling that the announcement of our acquisition and mplsystems and our integration of their technology into IFS FSM was front and centre on the main stage during the opening key note sessions.”

“We call our solution IFS FSM but the truth is now that it is a full end-to-end lifecycle management solution. It is far more than just field service, it includes depot repair operations, reverse logistics, customer specific billing, deep contract and warranty capability.”

“Given that it goes all the way to the end, we were missing a piece at the front,  and mplsystems omni channel solution completes the picture. Customer experience is a huge part of the equation in service organisations now and we are moving into the experience economy so that customer journey needs to be consistent across the whole lifecycle.”

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We look at how power generation manufacturer Dale Power Solutions have improved their service delivery operations by using Eagle Field Service by Exel Computer Systems...

Company Profile:

Dale Power Solutions, based in Scarborough, employ around 300 people and have been manufacturing and providing maintenance services for generators and UPS systems since 1935.

The Challenge:

Dale Power Solutions had planned for increased efficiency throughout the business as a whole, but specifically targeted the service division for increased revenue growth.

The Solution:

A single ERP solution for manufacturing and service, with the flexibility to tune the solution to changing needs

The Benefits:

Increased efficiency through greater automation, as well as improved reporting, has supported a 40% increase in revenue

The Detail:

Is bespoke or off-the-shelf better?

Thanks to Exel's EFACS E/8, the best of both worlds is available. Following a business process review, Dale Power Solutions has found EFACS has improved its management reporting, enabled business process automation and supported strong business growth.

Founded in 1935, Dale Power Solutions is a leading provider of secure power solutions for situations requiring uninterrupted power. The company manufactures generators and UPS systems as well as providing maintenance services. Based in Scarborough, Dale Power Solutions employs around 300 people.

The company used to rely on multiple applications for its manufacturing and field service divisions. The software had limited functionality, so EFACS E/8 was selected and implemented in early 2014 as a single solution to cover both areas of the business, with 100 back office users and 75 remote engineer users.

While the manufacturing side of the system worked well, the initial deployment of the field service element had been to a basic level, without a great deal of tailoringWhen IT and Communications Manager Az Yasin joined the company in late 2014, he recognised that the system hadn't yet achieved its full potential.

"EFACS E/8 had been deployed with all the modules," says Az. "It was an off-the-shelf package along with one or two customisations."

While the manufacturing side of the system worked well, the initial deployment of the field service element had been to a basic level, without a great deal of tailoring. The company’s plan for 2015 was to rely on the flexibility of the solution in order to increase service operations from 30% to 50% of its turnover

"The key problem for us was that we were trying to grow our services. There were processes that needed to be fixed through EFACS E/8."

Although the original implementation had delivered improvements, with some business processes changed to fit. Not everything had been automated, including service engineer scheduling, and some spreadsheets remained in use. The reason? Insufficient business process mapping to identify the data required.

Gap Analysis:

A project team was formed in 2015 to improve the use of EFACS E/8 for increased business efficiency.

"We decided to do a gap analysis of the whole organisation," says Az. "We identified the key issues and listed about 100."

This list was divided into areas that could be fixed in-house and those that depended upon Exel's consultancy services. The idea was to streamline data and process flow.

"The key was giving end users improvements to meet their needs."

An improvement programme began with an Exel consultant spending 10 days on-site. As refresher training for the project team, the consultant also demonstrated the field service capability and then advised on the changes. These covered everything from quotation and contract management, through to service delivery and documentation.

"Exel know their product very well. They were able to guide us through."

Supported by temporary contractors and Exel's consultancy services, the project team set to work. New reports were written in-house making use of new custom fields for business data.

There were improvements for service, engineering projects, manufacturing amendments and the supply chain. The strength of the Customisation Toolkit provided a useful way to enhance standard functionality.

One task was a set of electronic forms for service engineers to record details, such as defects found. Used on mobile phones, this enabled data to be captured, processed and uploaded into EFACS E/8. Other highlights included new buttons to 'push' service data into other areas, such as new quotations.

Exel also delivered some of the required changes in a new software release.

"Exel performed well in making the changes. We managed to quickly achieve about 75% of what we set out to do."

New Efficiencies:

The company has seen a £10 million growth in turnover in three years to £35 million. Greater automation, backed by improved business reporting, has supported that 40% increase. For example, higher efficiencies in purchasing have benefitted manufacturing and service operations, including vehicle stock replenishment.

"EFACS E/8 has enabled us to grow quite rapidly," says Az. "The service division is using the system more thoroughly than ever."

Service engineers have new Samsung mobile phones. These run the field service application and support completion of the electronic forms. Service engineers have new Samsung mobile phones. These run the field service application and support completion of the electronic forms. Mobile usage is now better and quicker than before.

The inherent integration within EFACS E/8 allows the separate business divisions to feel joined up. There is now commonality between the business divisions, as it offers easy access to, and use of, shared information.

"We are looking to be clever with the Customisation Toolkit on some key processes in order to improve them further," says Az. "EFACS E/8 is very customisable and I think that is one of its biggest strengths for Dale Power."

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Field Service News, Editor-in-Chief Editor, Kris Oldland's latest white paper, sponsored by eBECS, explores why field service organisations should be ensuring their field service technicians are collecting data from assets whilst on service calls even if they aren't ready to implement an IoT based approach to service delivery yet as by doing so they can reap some of the benefits and more importantly build the processes for a future world in which connectivity and data will be at the heart of customer service operations...

Want to know more? The bad news is the full white paper is only available exclusively for fieldservicenews.com subscribers.

The good news is that if you are a field service practitioner then you may well qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner.

The even better news is we will send you a copy of this white paper when you apply as a welcome!

Click here to apply for your complimentary industry subscription to fieldservicenews.com and access the white paper now!

Note: Please do take the time to our T&Cs (available in plain English at fieldservicenews.com/subscribe) and note that this content is sponsored by eBECS

In today’s field service sector companies are facing an increasingly complex set of challenges and the collation and analysis of data paradoxically seem to often be found at both ends of the spectrum.

Data can be at the heart of many problems for a field service organisation as they struggle to find useful insight amongst ever-increasing banks of data locked away in differing business silos. Yet the rewards for breaking down those silos and also being able to identify where the insight is within your data can lead to better service levels than have ever been possible previously.

The vast amount of data that we have access to today can potentially give us a much more intimate understanding of our customer base than ever before, giving us the ability to understand and even predict their needs, far more accurately than we have ever been able to manage previously.

The vast amount of data that we have access to today can potentially give us a much more intimate understanding of our customer base than ever beforeHowever, the flip side of this benefit is that companies are now finding themselves drowning in data - which becomes meaningless without insight, a challenge which can be magnified further if data is locked away behind walls within an organisation.

It can be a daunting challenge to not only establish processes that allow the collection of data but also to ensure that when collected, data can move seamlessly across an organisation to fulfil its maximum potential. Yet in today’s business climate where service has become a core differentiator, there has perhaps never been a more urgent need to ensure you are harnessing every tool available to you in the most efficient manner in order to stay just one step ahead of the competition - and data certainly holds many of the keys to service excellence when it’s collected, processed and analysed correctly.

An interesting symptom of operating in a world of technological advancements, is that when we talk about data collection within a field service context the topic immediately turns to IoT - but in doing so are we overlooking one of the most important resource in a service organisation already at our disposal - the field service engineers themselves?

The importance of data collection in an increasingly connected world

The question of whether the Internet of Things will play a part in field service has been and gone. The answer was a resounding ‘yes it will.’

Research from Field Service News showed that 86% of companies were actively either developing plans to implement IoT or had already done so. Indeed, in terms of IoT and field service, the question for the overwhelming majority of companies has moved from why to how.

However, the impact of IoT in field service is set to be so revolutionary that it cannot just be viewed as a new technology to be rolled out, it is a decision which must be grounded with a firm understanding of your business strategies, your future goals and a rock solid foundation of both processes and technologies that can allow an organisation to fully reap the benefits of an IoT based service strategy.

But the revolution isn’t really an IoT revolution, it is a data revolution.

The number of connected devices globally is set to reach over 30BN by 2020 (data source: Berg Insight)

Asset performance data and even component performance data can open the doors towards moving towards both a more preventative maintenance focused approach as well as empowering your service engineers to be able to find a first-time-fix on a more regular basis.

Asset performance data and even component performance data can open the doors towards moving towards both a more preventative maintenance focused approach as well as empowering your service engineersYet, for many service organisations, the sheer volume of data that a fleet of connected assets will produce will cause a series of problems and pain points in and of itself.

With companies facing unprecedented levels of data coming into their service operation not only from IoT connected assets but also various digital customer touch points whether that be via contact agents, self-service portals or even sentiment analysis of relevant social media, finding meaning and value within such a deep data lakes can be a daunting task.

In addition to this, there is the further question of retrofitting assets that a discussion on IoT necessarily brings with it.

For organisations with a large install base there are a number of considerations that must be given thought including:

• Which assets are worth retrofitting with IoT connected sensors?
• Is it worth waiting for some assets in the field to reach their natural obsolescence and then replace them with newer connected models?
• Should you prioritise retrofitting assets for those clients that are the most profitable or will having multiple levels of service contract be a hindrance to service delivery?
• What data is it important to track from retro-fitted assets? What is essential and what is merely nice to have?
• What processes will you need to develop or adjust in order to facilitate this data within the workflow of your service delivery teams?

Want to know more? The bad news is the full white paper is only available exclusively for fieldservicenews.com subscribers.

The good news is that if you are a field service practitioner then you may well qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner.

The even better news is we will send you a copy of this white paper when you apply as a welcome!

Click here to apply for your complimentary industry subscription to fieldservicenews.com and access the white paper now!

Note: Please do take the time to our T&Cs (available in plain English at fieldservicenews.com/subscribe) and note that this content is sponsored by eBECS

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Janam Technologies LLC, a leading provider of rugged mobile computers that scan barcodes and communicate wirelessly, announced today that it has been named 2018 Manufacturer of the Year by Varlink.

This marks the second consecutive year (and third time overall) that Janam has won this prestigious award.

Varlink’s Manufacturer of the Year award honors partner excellence and Varlink’s thriving relationship with a mobile computing manufacturer. The award recognizes a supplier that demonstrates year-over-year business growth and the ability to always deliver innovative products and superior service and support.

Earning the Manufacturer of the Year award is a testament to the strength of Janam’s relationship with Varlink and the added value the company brings to the mobile computing market. As a top performing business partner, Janam plays a critical role in Varlink’s ability to deliver best-in-class solutions to its customers.

Varlink presented long-term partner Janam with the Manufacturer of the Year award during its recent Meet the Manufacturer event. This exciting annual event brings together leading hardware manufacturers with IT resellers, solution providers and system integrators to explore the best ways to address enterprise customers’ business challenges.

Partnerships prosper when both companies are committed to excellence. Our strong relationship with Varlink is a driving force behind the significant business growth we have both achieved over the past yearAs a leading Value Added Distributor of mobile computing hardware, Varlink is committed to helping manufacturers like Janam expand their reseller base and grow their business in the U.K.

Robert Hurt, General Manager, EMEA, Janam Technologies comments “Partnerships prosper when both companies are committed to excellence. Our strong relationship with Varlink is a driving force behind the significant business growth we have both achieved over the past year. Janam is honoured to be recognized two years in a row by Varlink for our unwavering focus on innovation and for delivering highly-competitive offerings.”

Meanwhile, Mike Pullon, CEO, Varlink added “Varlink recognizes that the service that we give to our customers is heavily reliant on the relationships that we have with our vendors. Our Manufacturer of the Year award goes to a vendor that has excelled in developing our relationship. We were delighted to present an award to Janam in recognition of their commitment to building an outstanding partnership and for bringing Varlink into significant opportunities that they have cultivated.”

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Jan Van Veen of moremomentum concludes his series of articles on the 4 Winning Habits of successful service organisations focusing on the fourth and final winning habit: Discovery...

Following our introductory article about the 4 Winning Habits in the previous publication of ‘Field Service News’, I will now elaborate on the fourth winning habit: Discovery.

Common mistake: Being blind-folded

Humankind by nature tends to be fairly blind-folded, by its strong focus on opportunities and threats in the short term and directly related to its current situation. Companies often enforce this behaviour by:

• Low adoption of the first three winning habits (Direction, Dialogue, Decision-making).
• Not allowing time and resources in discovery and innovation, focusing on the exploitation of the current business model.
• Detailed and top-down control of exact discovery topics and assignments.
• Leaving all discovery activities for dedicated and specialized teams close to the board.

The consequences are critical for the sustainable performance and business innovations we need to thrive in a disruptive world. We tend to:

• Overlook longer-term opportunities and issues and misinterpret the potential impact of these.
• Overlook the real issue behind symptoms and fight the symptoms instead.
• Limit our options for solving problems or pursuing new opportunities and get stuck.
• Encounter resistance when developing and implementing new solutions.

In the past we have seen many businesses missing the boat - and we still do.

Just imagine what would happen if:

• Nokia and Blackberry did recognise that maybe, business-users at some point could expect touch screens, apps, multi-media and full connectivity.
• Polaroid did consider that digital cameras would become affordable for consumers.
• Airliners did understand that low-cost airlines could become attractive to business travellers as well.

The solution: All employees discover the future with an open mind

Leading companies drive their ongoing success with a strong habit of continuously discovering new opportunities and challenges.

Their discovery habits outperform the lagging companies, by:

1. Bringing the outside in
2. Using many sources
3. Involving involve all employees and many external stakeholders.

1. Bringing the outside in:

Every company has an eye open to the outside. They investigate trends with customers, competitors and technology. However, many miss opportunities and trends as they tend to be too focussed on:

• Topics with an immediate impact on current performance, less on future performance.
• Current needs of their best clients and less on future needs or on other market segments.
• Actions of competitors, less on what they potentially could do in the future.
• Trends with clear signs and high probability, less on trends with less clarity or probability.
• What they know for sure, less what they do not know. After all, staff are being paid for what they know”, not for what they do not know.

Leading manufacturers bring the outside in through the following practices.

Explore beyond business as usual:

The key is to be looking for (potential) trends and changes which do not directly relate to the current business model and operations. These insights will help prepare the business well in advance and to be the first to benefit from the change.

Leading companies also address the following in their discovery habits:

Market:

• Current and future needs of market segments which they do not serve, particularly if they appear not to be so profitable at the moment.
• (Latent) needs of their current clients, beyond the needs which they fulfil with their current products and services.
• Current and potential future needs of the clients of their clients.

Competition:

• Changing visions and strategies of competitors, other actors in the value chain and potential new entrants into the industry.
• Trends in adjacent industries and industries like data, algorithm-driven industries.

New technology:

• Emerging technologies with a low rate of adoption and application, like big-data, augmented reality artificial intelligence and how these will impact their (future) clients.
• Obstacles which currently prevent rapid adoption of the new technology and how these obstacles could be solved in the future.
• Economics, social demographics, politics, natural resources, workforce etcetera.

Explore weak signals:

Many lagging companies make themselves vulnerable to disruption by disregarding the weak signals. They tend to assess emerging technologies on their current possibilities and threats. They often see many reasons the impact will not be that high, for example, because of poor performance, high cost and narrow practical applications.

Many lagging companies make themselves vulnerable to disruption by disregarding the weak signals.We tend to disregard the scenarios that these obstacles may disappear in the coming years and how the adoption of the emerging technology could accelerate rapidly.

Many disruptive changes take one or more decades of exponential development and growth. In the first phases, the change and its impact seems to be insignificant. However, at some point, it quite quickly becomes significant and in a few years becomes main-stream. For many, this change comes out of the blue and is totally unexpected.

Leading companies explicitly focus on the weak signals. They are the first to see changes accelerating and obstacles for adoption of new solutions being eliminated. At the right time, they assess if they are ready for the change and are the first to act on the new opportunities and challenges.

Thinking in scenarios:

It is a challenge to tell in advance which trends and changes will really become real and have an impact on our business and which trends will only be hype or just stall. I think it is key that we accept the fact that we do not know. The

challenge is not making sure you do know, but that we are prepared to sense and respond in time.

Leading companies continuously develop and maintain scenarios for potential trends, changes and alternative solutions to respond. They understand which signals to be on the lookout for.

2. Many sources 

Leading companies see their innovation and changes being fed from many different sources for in-depth and broad discovery.

Internal and external sources

People with different backgrounds and opinions add value to getting new insights and arriving at better decisions. The most successful companies actually include many internal resources, which traditionally the lagging companies tend to disregard, like:

• Employees from other cultures, with different values, views and experiences.
• Employees who have a lot of experience from other industries.
• Employees from specific departments like R&D, service, finance, compliance and employees at lower ranks.

Leading companies also activate a broader network of external sources, including those they hardly meet during daily business. They actively seek to exchange insights with:

• Peers from completely different industries.
• Clients of clients of clients.
• Peers from other companies serving the same value chain.
• Experts and academics from different domains.
• Other stakeholders of client-organisations, who are not talking about the products and services.

Experiments

Leading companies not only talk and think about potential challenges, opportunities and solutions. That would lead to paralysis by analysis. They also learn by doing by:

• Innovate and develop step-by-step, starting with a first minimal viable solution and running rapid cycles of learning, adjusting and taking the solution to the next level. These are the Lean Startup and Agile approaches.
• Doing experiments, where we learn from what could happen in certain circumstances with certain solutions. These provide new insights which can be included in further decision-making on the direction and timing of a solution.

Experiences and failures

Leading companies learn from the things they did which did not work. They rapidly adjust and find new ways. They emphasize that it’s all about the learning, not about the failure. Their employees are more open to trying new solutions and practices, discovering and pursuing new opportunities, also when the results are not yet certain.

More and more companies cultivate the belief that failure is an option.

More and more companies cultivate the belief that failure is an option.For example, they organise failure-celebration-sessions, where colleagues present a failure, what they learned from it and how they would adjust their approach.

Another approach is not to use the word “failure”, but “discovery” or similar.

Like Edison said: “I did not fail, I just discovered 10,000 things that do not work.” This seems to work better than only reframing “failure”, even more so in cultures where losing face is a major factor.

3. The power of everyone in some discovery-mode

The most dynamic businesses empower all employees to do research, explore and define new ideas to improve and innovate, not a small specialised team dedicated for this job.

Everyone Contributes

Everyone in the organisation owns part of innovation and change, whether it is about implementation or identifying new ways to improve. They all have and search for the necessary insights. They all read, talk with peers from other companies and clients, do experiments, visit conferences, do external training and conduct their discovery projects.

This engages them to own the ideas and the execution.

Exchange and share

However, they do not discover everything themselves. They also exchange insights, experiences, opportunities and challenges they have discovered, hence learning from their colleagues and having their colleagues learn from them. This happens through collaboration tools, meetings within and amongst project teams and other in company events.

Bottom-up and Top-down

Everyone, within boundaries, takes their own initiatives to explore certain topics. Some discovery assignments come from higher management levels. This way they are committed to the effort it takes and to the outcome the generate and their colleagues generate.

Benefits

These open and forward-looking discovery habits make an organisation much more adaptive to any new opportunities, challenges and solutions.

They shape a huge army of open-minded, engaged and change-oriented employees. This is mission-critical for any company that wants to thrive in a rapidly changing and complex world.

The Essence

It’s not about having smart analysts and experts creating smart intelligence.

It’s about having passionate and engaged employees learning and discovering and making great ideas work.

Want to know more? access our eBook: How to Thrive in a Disruptive World - an eBook of 42 pages about disruption, the 4 winning habits for momentum in continuous and rapid change and 3 case studies (including Mars Drinks and Volvo Penta) Field Service News subscriber can access the eBook @ http://fs-ne.ws/AcQf30jhl0S

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