AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

Traffic congestion is costing UK businesses approximately £767 million a year in lost productivity, according to research conducted by TomTom.

The TomTom Traffic Index has found traffic across the UK’s 25 most congested cities and towns increases the time each vehicle spends on the road by an average of 127 hours a year – more than 16 working days.¹ This could equate to a cost of £767,937,250² in time spent sitting in traffic for the 902,500 light commercial vehicles operated in these cities and towns.³

And the situation seems to be getting worse. An average journey in 2015 took 29%⁴ longer than it would in free-flowing conditions, up from a 25% delay in 2010.

“Traffic congestion may be seen as a fact of life for every driver but, cumulatively, it is taking a heavy toll on the UK economy and this should not be accepted as an inevitability,” said Beverley Wise, Director UK & Ireland for TomTom Telematics.

“Making the most of billable time is key to profitability for any business, so organisations that rely heavily on a mobile workforce must look for ways to maximise the time employees spend actually doing jobs by minimising time spent on the road.

“Through smarter planning, routing and scheduling, companies can help their drivers to better avoid traffic, which could not only have an impact on productivity but also customer service. Previous research conducted by TomTom Telematics among UK van drivers found 90 per cent admit to arriving late for customer appointments – with 93 per cent citing traffic as the reason.”

 

The biggest financial hit was felt in London, where £237 million is lost to traffic each year, followed by Manchester (£157,729,390) and Birmingham (£81,364,800).

Wise added: “Telematics solutions can help businesses mitigate the effect of traffic congestion and minimise time spent on the road. Firstly, drivers can be navigated along the fastest routes based on anticipated congestion spots and traffic information. But the data provided by telematics, including GPS location, ETAs and job status, can also be used to inform smarter planning where daily schedules are optimised to help ensure the most appropriate driver is sent to each job at the most appropriate time.”

 

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Sterilizer specialist ESTS is about to usher in a new era of fast, paperless servicing, courtesy of Tesseract’s field service software.

ESTS is the brains behind Logiclave, a leading brand of sterilization devices, including autoclaves, steam sterilizers and washer disinfectors. ESTS designs and manufactures the devices for hospitals, universities, pharmaceutical companies and the biotechnology sector, and makes sure all are properly and regularly maintained under service contracts.

At present, ESTS uses a basic software system to manage its service activities. However, it’s simply a diary and a database, lacking any intuitive call control or dispatch functions, asset management tools or mobile working solutions. The company also uses a separate software system for stock control.

“Our processes are quite labour-intensive,” says David Hawtin, Director at ESTS. “Our engineers have to handwrite service sheets and post or hand-deliver them to the office. Then our admin team has to process them and submit paper invoices to our accounts department. Engineers are dispatched by email or telephone. And with parts, engineers call our storeman and he orders them in. Tesseract is going to transform all of this.”

 

Tesseract’s service management software will provide ESTS with automatic dispatch, stock control, automated invoicing, asset management and, most importantly, a mobile field service solution for the engineers. This will eliminate numerous manual processes and the need for copious paperwork.

ESTS remembered Tesseract after seeing a demonstration of the software at a trade show a few years ago. Hawtin explains, “We saw a demonstration of two systems, but decided to go with Tesseract for two reasons. Tesseract offered a cloud-based version, and the system worked on both android and iOS devices. The other system lacked these features.”

ESTS will soon be implementing the cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) version of Tesseract’s Service Centre 5.1 (SC5.1). Hawtin says, “The fact that Tesseract offers a SaaS version of SC5.1 made it more accessible to us. It means we don’t need to upgrade our server to implement it, and it’s less of a burden on us because Tesseract maintains it in-house.”

 

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Next up in our series of reviews of the best devices suitable for field service engineers is Getac’s latest semi-rugged notebook the S410...

What the manufacturers say:

Raising the bar on the semi-rugged notebook class, the new S410 is more rugged, slimmer and lighter than ever before.

The all-new S410 boasts the latest computing innovations, including a significant CPU performance boost, enhanced graphics , and multiple options for greater flexibility. The S410 puts greater power and adaptability into the hands of mobile professionals across a range of industries.

First impressions:

Taking the S410 out of the box the notebook was light, compact looking and with a high build quality.

On boot up the device was quick to launch and I was very soon logged into the local wifi network and impressed with the speed of the connection and the responsiveness and control of the S410.

One thing that immediately struck me was the intelligent design of the built in carry handle which flexes out of the casing in a comfortable manner yet never got in the way when I was actually using the laptop. Although a relatively minor point, it is the close attention to small details such as this that I find are often key markers towards a well thought out device.

Personally, I’ve always found semi-rugged devices an odd corner of the market in terms of form factor and as more and more fully rugged devices become sleeker and consumer devices become more rugged (such as the latest consumer smartphones being IP68) one does wonder if their will be a place in the not so distant future for the semi-rugged market. However, if that is the case and the S410 is indeed part of a dying breed then on initial examination it seems to be a shining example of what semi-rugged is all about.

 

This device will never pass for a consumer notebook, nor does it want to, it’s a device built for business, that means business. Despite shaving off some 15mm in depth off of its predecessor (the S400) the S410 still has a sturdy compactness that has a reassuring, reliable feel to it.

This is a notebook that after an hour or so of getting a feel for it definitely seems suited for a life on the road, if not perhaps the great outdoors - but how do the specs stack up?

Processing power & memory:

In its highest configuration the S410 can certainly pack a punch when it comes to processing power, Top end specs come with an Intel® Core™ i7 vPro™ Technology, Intel® Core™ i7-6600U vPro™ Processor 2.6GHz, Max 3.4GHz, with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and a 4MB Intel® Smart Cache.

The S410 also can boast up-to 16GB of Ram which would make it a lightning fast device within it’s category.

In short this should be more than enough processing power to really enable most field work to be easily accomplished quickly and efficiently, even with seriously heavy CPU intensive applications such as CAD based applications used in engineering etc.

In terms of storage space the S410 can also be specced up to 1TB so there should be plenty of file space available for even the most heavy duty file capture in the field.

Operating system:

The S410 is a windows machine and operates either on Windows 7 Pro or Windows 10 Pro - although given that the S410 can be configured with a capacitive multi-input touch-screen the better option would likely be 10 Professional which features some useful working functionality such as split screens to help improve workflows.

The Ins & Outs:

As you would expect with a notebook or laptop the S410 come awash with a variety of differing inputs and outputs.

These include:

[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• Headphone out/mic-in Combo x 1
• DC in Jack x 1
• USB 3.0 (9-pin) x 3
• USB 2.0 (4-pin) x 1
• LAN (RJ45) x 1
• HDMI x 1

[/unordered_list]

There are also options for a whole host of additional ports within the configuration specs as well.

Connectivity:

In terms of connectivity the S410’s wifi is powered by an Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260, 802.11ac which works across both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies -during testing it was on the 5Ghz band and was reaching speeds of 50Mbps although the technology is actually capable of receiving 867Mbps if you can ever find a connection fast enough!

 

The device also comes equipped with Bluetooth 4.2 which again is a solid, secure and fast connection for Bluetooth connections.

Ruggedity:

Being semi-rugged this is of course an area where the S410 is underwhelming compared to many of the devices that we get our HandsOn.

The S410 is tested to withstand 3ft drops to MIL STD 810G standards so it can survive more than the odd knock but it’s IP rating of 51 means that it’s not a device for the outdoors. Only partially protected from dust ingress and whilst it’s officially splash proof you wouldn’t want to risk spilling your morning coffee over it.

One thing in the S410s favour here though is that the device is vibration resistant so would be fine being dashboard mounted for long periods of time.

Battery Life:

Where the S410 does shine is in the battery life department.

The primary battery itself (a Li-Ion battery with 11.1V, 4200mAh) should be able to offer up to 11 hours a day. However, with an optional hot-swappable battery, essentially the device is capable of continuing running perpetually.

Conclusion:

First things first - I like this notebook. I really like it. It is fast, reasonably robust yet reasonably lightweight. Hell I even like the carry handle! And most importantly I can see how this device could easily be used by field based technicians.

However, the facts are that this is not a device for anyone who spends more than a fraction of their day working in an outdoor environment.

 

For those field technicians that work in predominantly outdoor roles, where there is a danger of a device getting wet or dusty then sadly the S410 isn’t for you. However, given the processing power the S410 pack it could handle most applications and for companies whose field technicians work with high technology such as MedTec or IT infrastructure who want a reliable, powerful notebook that can take the odd knock here and there... Perfect.

 

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Tom DeVroy, senior product evangelist, Enterprise Service Management at IFS outlines three technology driven developments poised to disrupt field service...

Effective field service is about proactively managing your workforce and inventory in order to meet the constantly sliding scale of customer expectations. As a result, field service organisations are constantly looking to improve on the key metrics to better serve customers: first-time fix rate (FTF), mean time to service (MTTS) and mean time to repair (MTTR).

Three new technology driven developments are establishing themselves in the market, with the potential to dramatically impact these field service metrics to benefit both the customer and service provider:

• Advanced mobility: augmented reality, instant messaging platforms and native apps
• Predictive analytics enabling prescriptive maintenance
• Optimised scheduling and demand forecasting in an IoT world

First: Beyond mobility: augmented reality, instant messaging and native apps

A mobile workforce needs a mobile-driven field service strategy. In a recent study on mobility, performance and engagement, 60% of employees said mobile technology makes them more productive in the workplace. But field service organisations are now moving beyond simple mobility, looking for more intelligence and flexibility from their mobile computing platform in order to take full advantage of next generation devices.

Native apps are a key part of this - allowing engineers to receive instant updates, access repair information or collaborate with product experts without leaving the job site. Instant messaging platforms such as Slack and WeChat are also allowing field service engineers to keep connected, with more information and collaboration supported on their mobile device. Engineers are able to contact other colleagues for assistance in real-time – reducing the need to return to base for assistance.

Seeing is believing

 

 

ABI Research shows augmented reality is on the rise, and Gartner predicts businesses will purchase 53 million tablets by 2016. There are instant benefits for field service engineers. Mobile solutions now allow engineers to receive real-time feedback and expertise while on the job, enabling repairs to be completed more quickly and efficiently. An IFS partner, XMReality, is already working on pioneering augmented reality projects like this.

 

With this remote guidance, a support technician is able to watch and guide the engineer through every step of the repair without having to leave base. Using smartglasses, engineers are able to see a real-time and interactive demonstration of the repair job right in front of their eyes. These skills can be leveraged anywhere, any time with the capability of modern mobile technology – drastically improving FTF.

Second: Beyond business analytics: predict and prescribe maintenance:

The rise of IoT sensors and integrated technology on equipment is also enabling more efficient field service. Instead of scheduling maintenance when a fault is recorded, predictive analytics and the remote monitoring of equipment through IoT means faults can be detected before they become a problem.

Combined with business intelligence to make sense of the big data being captured through IoT, predictive analytics can be used to find actionable data to inform business decisions. Enabling service organisations to be proactive in regard to equipment performance means moving away from calendar-based scheduling, and towards predictive maintenance.

IFS has a predictive maintenance capability embedded in its field service applications, allowing better allocation of an engineer's time. With sensors deployed on the factory floor, service organisations can monitor vibration analysis of bearings and predict when machine parts will start to degrade, then schedule maintenance proactively.

Field service solutions should be able to find and collect patterns of data from past actions and use this information to create generic rules to highlight how processes and services can be improved in the future - delivering new insight into operational efficiency.

Mobile devices are now able to run intelligent diagnostics and capture potential problems. Based on the diagnostic output, the mobile device is able to recommend a maintenance plan and the various tasks needed to be performed, before the engineer gets on site. This technology is going one step further than just predicting when faults will occur, and will prescribe which action needs to be taken in order to fully maintain that asset.

Prescriptive maintenance will take into account budget, time and other constraints and provide an optimal order of actions and the work orders to fully maintain that equipment – all in a matter of seconds.

Third: Staying ahead of schedule

First-time fix rates are an important KPI for field service organisations, but recent Blumberg research shows that the industry average for first-time fixes was under 80%, meaning 20% of jobs require additional follow-ups. Inefficient scheduling results in a lower first time fix rate and longer time to final resolution, as unqualified engineers can be sent and the necessary equipment may be unavailable.

Although not a new technology, schedule optimisation is a foundation on which new technologies can thrive. By combining scheduling with data from IoT devices, the next generation of schedule optimisation tools go much further and help to forecast field service demand, SLAs and potential resource needs – all in real-time.

IoT-enabled sensors can trigger actions when an event changes, and automatically re-schedule jobs around this. This combination allows field service organisations to improve FTF, MTTS and MTTR by consistently scheduling the right engineer for the right job, at the right time.

When one hand washes the other

Take one recent example. A custodial services company - that uses IFS to optimise their field scheduling - is responsible for maintaining and replenishing washroom supplies for a large number of hospitals, restaurants, and other commercial facilities. The company has a sizeable contingent of mobile workers who provide delivery and replenishment services.

Much of the work is done on a planned basis, so delivery schedules are organised in advance to streamline operations. In addition, the optimisation software analyses all SLA obligations, geographic considerations and other relevant parameters to design service routes that minimise travel times and costs, and produce the highest possible productivity levels.

 

Since optimising its field scheduling software, the company has saved nearly $3 million in fuel costs alone – thanks to the optimal routes and planning the software generates and its integration with field workers' mobile devices.

Don't get left behind

These new technologies are going to bring serious benefits to field service organisations because they are so tightly integrated with delivering improved customer service and improved bottom lines.

In what is a dynamic and changing market - with tech-savvy customers demanding higher and higher levels of service - it is vital for organisations to be able to implement these cutting edge technologies.

The new breed of enterprise solutions takes away the risk

Traditional field service management solutions are simply too cumbersome and inflexible to enable field service organisations to reap the benefits. To quickly benefit from these latest advances, organisations need the backing of a new generation of flexible, agile enterprise solutions.

Traditional enterprise solutions can take months or years to simply implement, let alone adapt to an entirely new technology. The new breed of modular enterprise solutions are designed to remove the time and pain of modifying existing processes, and instead maximise the opportunities of new technology. These agile systems negate the need to fully customise legacy systems - a costly and timely process - and are enabling organisations to quickly adopt new technology, without the risk of losing out on a competitive edge.

These disruptive technologies and the digital transformation they require offer benefits that resonate throughout the whole service organisation - from the top-down. Strategic planners have real-time visibility to plan tasks and schedule the workforce in an industry with many unknown elements, from customer unpredictability to traffic, and even the weather.

 

This, in turn, directly empowers technicians, providing them with the right tools and information at their fingertips to better perform their job. But ultimately the most important stakeholder reaps the benefits - the customer receives the best possible level of service.

 

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Nick Frank and Dag Gronevik of Si2 Partners joined Kris Oldland for our latest podcast where the talk was all about KPIs, in this excerpt we look at whether KPIs should be under constant review...

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Want to know more? Check out our Podcast with Nick and Dag on this topic here

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KO: Why are KPIs so important to driving a business forwards?

DG: First of al I think KPIs have one fundamental role and that is to drive behaviour. One of the risks with KPIs, as many people have realised is that they are interpreted and perceived as a controlling measure. But if you look at it from a driving the business perspective it really is all about driving behaviour.

To be able to link that behaviour you are looking at with strategy, budget,what the competition is doing, what customers are expecting... It’s quite a tricky cookie to crack but if you do it right, it is very powerful. One of the things people tend to forget is that we say Key Performance Indicators, there is the word Key in there, so people mix Key Performance Indicators, with performance indicators and it becomes a bit of a soup of KPIs. We should be really targeted on the ‘key’ word.

KO: It is a bit of a hackneyed phrase now but ‘what you can’t measure you can’t manage’ comes to mind. Is it really that simple, that we need to be measuring these things so we can improve?

NF: Actually that’s an old Peter Drucker phrase, but also I think it is quite often mis-quoted. Because he was also of the opinion that yes, you need the measures to gauge and give feedback on performance but actually there are things, part of performance that you can’t measure when your dealing with a person. In fact one of the key roles of a manager is to be able to provide this feedback to their people that can’t be measured or quantified.

[quote float="left"]The really big challenge that we are dealing with here is people and how people react. I think a lot of managers forget this because many managers equate measures with control.[/quote]The really big challenge that we are dealing with here is people and how people react. I think a lot of managers forget this because many managers equate measures with control. They want to control their business, they want to control their people, they want to prove to their bosses that they really know what they are doing.

So they measure everything and they tend to look at what has happened rather than predict what is going to happen and I think this is a mistake that many people make, they have too many and they are always looking backwards.

KO: It’s that rear view mirror approach - i.e. you can’t drive a car forwards competently, if your constantly checking the rear view mirror. 

You’ve both mentioned influencing behaviour and influencing people, but KPIs are essentially all about cold, hard numbers, and that is a very rational and logical way of looking at what is not always a logical and rational issue, because people are different and not so easily quantified.

Is that the big challenge in terms of getting the right KPIs - in that we can’t just base our decisions on percentages all of the time?

DG: I think you have certain measure that are unavoidable, especially financial ones, that are measuring trends which are very important to keep there year-on-year, but you might also have KPIs that you might only keep for one year.

For example, a short term project or program or a local project that you want to monitor and give more visibility to. I think that is also an area where you can keep KPIs. But I think it is important to keep that perspective of the long term measure that you can actually see trends, because if you can manage that well, then you also have control of your business.

KO: So are KPIs something that should be under constant review?

DG: I think that you will alays have a core set of KPIs as I mentioned but other than that yes I think so. You have an agenda that you review every year, you have an operational plan and as a support to that operational plan you need good measures to track progress.

Also they [KPIs] allow you to communicate to the organisation, if you are behind - what could be the reasons? Then you have activities supporting all these measures and KPIs so you can actually address the issues quite quickly and effectively.

KO: What is interesting here is the fluidity you describe, that whilst of course you have your solid KPIs at the heart of the business, in addition to that there is this layer of shifting metrics that are adaptable to where the business is at any given time. For me that is something that can be often overlooked, it’s almost like KPIs are carved into stone tablets some times.

On a similar subject let’s talk about the different KPIs that you would set for the team compared to those you would set for management...

NF: I think as a manager you want to be in control of the business, you want to problem solve and you need a level of detail and that’s part of your job - to be able to drill down from high level metrics to the operational metrics in order to do that and in order to answer the questions from your own management.

That’s very different from what you need to do with your people and what you need to do to drive your people. I’ve found if your talking to field service engineers their eyes just glaze over if you start talking in too much detail.

They are just really interested in what they can impact.

[quote float="right"]Managers are one set of stakeholders, but the people who work in your team, who work at the coal face, they have another set of needs and it’s important to recognise that they are different and to actually find the measures that motivate them and they can do something about[/quote] Therefore, it’s actually very important to separate out the two. It comes back to what Dag was saying at the beginning, there is a reason we do this it.

It’s to drive the business forward and be more effective in terms of our processes but also mainly our people.

Managers are one set of stakeholders, but the people who work in your team, who work at the coal face, they have another set of needs and it’s important to recognise that they are different and to actually find the measures that motivate them and they can do something about - so that if they take an action they can actually see that they are impacting how the business is working.

You really should think of them as two different sets of stakeholders therefore you should separate out the different sets of KPIs.

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Want to know more? Check out our Podcast with Nick and Dag on this topic here

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FieldAware, the leader in made-for-mobile, cloud-based field service automation solutions today announced it has been positioned on the November 2016 Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management by Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and advisory company.

The Field Service Management (FSM) Magic Quadrant recognizes companies based on criteria which includes their ability to execute and the completeness of their vision.

“We are delighted to be recognized in Gartner’s FSM Magic Quadrant for the first time,” said Steve Mason, CRO of FieldAware. “We believe we have focused on bringing a new, dynamic edge to field service, so to be recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant is fantastic.

 

“Our goal is to simplify field service management. We want businesses to get the most value out of our solution, quickly, without having to worry about lengthy implementation and adoption. Our mobility and integration capabilities have been instrumental in our momentum and we believe that Gartner’s recognition is further proof of our approach.”

To find out more on how FieldAware is simplifying field service with innovative field service solutions – join one of our 30-minute webinars by clicking here

To access the 2016 FSM Magic Quadrant click here

 

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Thames Water staff using the V110 have praised the device for important features such as how lightweight it is, its highly sensitive touchscreen and digitised stylus, as well as its superior processing power - especially noticeable when using the GPS functionality to bring up large, detailed Map/GIS software, critical to productivity in the field. Here we look at the case study of why the water utilities giant selected the device...

Challenge

Thames Water is under constant pressure from regulators and customers to reduce bills while having to maintain some truly challenging infrastructure, especially in the City of London.

To keep the taps running for nearly 30% of the UK’s population, Thames Water makes heavy demands on its technology, requiring reliability in tough conditions, the best connection available, high processing speed, large memory for files stored offline and the capability to run the latest operating systems. The hardware needs to be easy to use, durable and perform seamlessly, allowing operatives uninterrupted service.

 

With a 2,000-strong field force as well as contractors, Thames Water employees find themselves in extremely challenging conditions; often working below the ground, in difficult weather conditions, frequently with dark, or even very bright lighting, and even at non-typical angles, in which they need to access and input data onto their devices.

Technology naturally needs replacing as devices reach the end of life, and when this time came for computing devices at Thames Water, the challenge was to find a new solution that would meet these stringent requirements and provide a robust, intuitive platform for a variety of staff.

Solutions

Thames Water prioritised its requirements for a water resistant, drop-proof rugged device that would be able to stand the test of time. It carried out exhaustive trials with three competitive devices involving 200 Thames Water engineers. The competitive devices were tested in the field against important criteria such as: battery life (over six hours), GPS signal, 3G+ and 4G capabilities, speed, durability and scored each from one to 10.

Other hardware features, such as 10 to 12 inch screen, physical keyboard and sensitive touch screen were also important assessment criteria. It was important that the device would be compatible and work well with ClickMobile, a solution Thames Water uses to better manage and optimise its workforce.

Getac performed exceptionally in the field, with around 90% of users rating it by far the standout device across the board.

Service focussed consultant Jan Van Veen begins a new series focussing on the importance of managing momentum amongst service organisations...

 

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Tip! For a free report detailing insights in how your organisation compares to others in managing momentum take part in Jan's survey - further information and links to participate are included at the end of this feature! 

 

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The common predict-command-control type of management practices create resistance to change. Most new management and leadership techniques try to overcome this resistance.

Summary

Most companies struggle to adapt to new requirements and opportunities. They see:

• Ongoing performance issues, without adequate and sustainable interventions
• Failing execution of strategies and change programmes
• Too little innovation beyond incremental improvements
• No preparations for (potentially) disruptive change

They fall behind their competition and risk dropping out as we have seen with Tandem, Wang, Nokia, Motorola, Kodak, Polaroid and many others.

The main reason is that these organisations do not adequately adapt to new requirements and opportunities. At the same time, companies which do manage to adapt continuously thrive from the changes and will be the winners of the next decade.

The problem

People by nature are quite strong in adapting and driving change, if there are good reasons to do so and not too many obstacles. That is why human kind is one of the most successful species on our planet, fostering rapid changes in our world.

However, the willingness and ability to drive change is quite easily blocked. Let’s have a look into a little psychology. Roughly we can distinguish three different parts of our brains:

• The reptilian brain, which drives an automated survival mode when triggered by threat. The result is to fight or flight.
• The limbic brain, which subconsciously adjusts behaviour based on experience, values and emotions.
• The neocortex where we consciously think about many things, including problems, creative solutions, strategies and actions to take. We need this part of the brain to identify challenges and issues, find adequate and sustainable solutions, implement them even if the outcome is not sure yet and collaborate with others.

The issue is that the reptilian brain is twofold:

• When triggered, it is extremely dominant and blocks the rest of the brain. In survival mode, there is no reasoning or creativity.
• It is extremely easy to trigger the reptilian brain. Not only by life-threatening issues, but also by anticipating social or emotional discomfort. This is why our mothers taught us to count to ten and inhale before reacting in a way we might regret later.

Common management practices too often trigger the reptilian brain to become dominant. A few examples:

• Performance management systems focus on forcing performance of people instead of on learning and developing (organisational) capabilities to perform:
  • Not meeting objectives is considered as a (personal) failure.
  • Peers and managers tend to react with disapproval after setbacks
  • There is no dialogue on how to achieve stretched targets
• Many change initiatives emphasize problems and failures, rather than the great things we can achieve and feel proud about. Threat becomes dominant instead of the rewards of making changes.
• Often, there is too much emphasis on the big gap, without a clear picture of the doable next steps to close the gap.
• The lack of planned contingency and margin in plans to achieve stretched objectives can causing panic when setbacks occur.
• Inconsistent decisions and messages, increasing uncertainty and unpredictability.

It is quite easy to recognize the reptilian brains at work. Typical signs are for example:

• Externalising issues in performance or progress
• Blaming others
• Window dressing, lack of transparency of challenges and issues
• Sceptism and negativism

Momentum for Sustainable Success – In brief

Wouldn’t it be great if we could simply prevent resistance against change? Everyone would be passionate and eager to jointly perform, to make things happen, to adapt to changing requirements and new opportunities, to learn and to develop. Continuous and timely adaptation and change would be part of our DNA. This is Momentum for Sustainable Success.

This is exactly what the successful organisations have in place. They apply new perspectives and practices which drive momentum to continuously adapt and drive change – that is to drive sustainable success. This momentum is their foundation for an adaptable, learning and growing organisation which has the capabilities to continuously perform, execute and prepare for future success.

Our ongoing research “Momentum for Sustainable Success” defines these perspectives and practices and provides practical tools which help organisations and leaders to build and maintain momentum.

Momentum Perspectives

Everyone in the organisation truly believes that:

• People by nature will perform and drive change
• Building capabilities to work smarter will drive performance
• Future success is beyond current business as usual

 

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These perspectives serve as guiding principles every day for all decisions, actions, attitudes and messages. Other articles elaborate on the different elements and provide examples.  Below, I describe these briefly:

Momentum Practices

Modern "sense & respond" type of management practices are applied at all levels and entities of the organisation. This includes:

• Having a clear and compelling picture of the aspirations, the required changes needed and the steps to get there.
• Having a continuous dialogue in which results and progress are reviewed and priorities, strategies and actions are adjusted.
• Outside-In learning and preparing for the future, especially beyond business as usual.

Practical take-aways

Every business leader can start increasing momentum for sustainable success today.

• Make sure you have a clear and shared vision of the future state which is compelling for all stakeholders.
• Establish a practical road-map consisting of doable next-steps.
• Change the dialogue and dynamics around targets and objectives. Move it from “monitoring and reviewing” to “strategizing and learning together”.

On top of this, I would recommend you to:

• Assess the momentum in your organisation through our web-based survey. Until the end of 2016 this is free of charge, as the survey is also part of our research programme.
• Check out upcoming articles, which will be elaborating on the Momentum-Framework and practical approaches and tools.

 

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Our research: Momentum for Sustainable Success

Our research further defines a pragmatic and complete Momentum-Framework consisting of management practices, perspectives and practical tools. These will help you step increase and maintain momentum for sustainable success, strengthen your competitive position and leave others wondering how you did it.

You are invited to join by conducting a web-based survey. It takes approximately 15 minutes. Your input will remain confidential and will be reported in an aggregated form only.

In return you will receive in early 2017:

• Insights in how other companies manage their momentum for sustainable success.
• Insights in how your organisation compares to others in managing momentum.
• Insights into the new Momentum Framework for sustainable success.

Please start the survey here.
Read about the research here.

 

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The public sector needs to take a long overdue look at the benefits of field service technology is delivering in the private sector writes Laraine Geddes, Marketing Manager, Kirona...

Kirona When thinking about field service, typically private sector examples spring to mind, such as electricians, plumbers, or other types of contractors performing work in our home or place of business.

We typically don’t think of field workers being associated with government, yet this is a vital component of public service.

Organisations, whether public or private, are leveraging field service technology to improve their customer experience by making the journey less about how they interact with customers and more about the relevancy and context of why customers need to communicate with them.

The objectives of field service work in the private sector are the same as the objectives of public sector field service. Ever present is the need to reduce wastage while at the same time improve real-time visibility and communication between the field based employees and their headquarters, and field based employees and their customers.

It’s imperative for field service technology to allow real-time communication; otherwise important decisions could be made based on older, non-relevant information. At the same time, customers need to be kept informed throughout the lifecycle of a field service interaction.

Kirona have enabled public sector organisations such as North Lanarkshire Council save in excess of £1.5m since implementing Kirona’s field service automation solutions across its Housing Property Services and Home Support Services. Together with the impressive cost savings the council has improved the service for patients receiving care at home vie the Home Support Team, as well as their social housing tenants.

Another example of field service technology enabling impressive savings is South Gloucestershire Council. The council serves a community with a population of approximately 270,000 in the South West of England.

As with many public sector organisations in recent years, the local authority has faced the significant challenge of maintaining service levels whilst undergoing spending cuts.

Seeking to make cost efficiencies the council implemented Kirona’s Job Manager mobile worker solution to 90 of its Street Care team. Job Manager enables the council to reduce paperwork, reduce drive time and phone calls, and automate job allocation and increase real-time job visibility.

The council has reduced Street Care costs by £500k per year and response time now averages 3 days compared to 7 day prior to implementing Kirona’s software.

 

Now, compare these outcomes to those of Carpetright, the leading flooring retailer.

Carpetright introduced dynamic scheduling and field service automation to its team of 320 Home Estimators.

Service improved with customers being able to book convenient appointment slots, estimators travel time reduced to reach customer appointments and estimated sales increased by 34%.

These examples show how field service software solutions in both the private and the public sector are being used to increase productivity, reduce costs, and significantly improve customer satisfaction.

However according to techUK adoption of field service technology for public services is being held back due to lack of skills despite civil servants agreeing technology is critical.

“Technology has a key role in helping the government deliver more for less and it’s great to see such widespread acknowledgement of the benefits technology has to offer,” said Julian David, CEO of techUK.

With the creation of the Crown Commercial Service G-Cloud Digital Marketplace, adoption of field service technology is set to increase.

The G Cloud framework simplifies procurement for public sector organisations, with organisations such as Kirona being selected as approved suppliers, thus speeding up the procurement process for many organisations within the public sector.

Field service technology can enable public sector organisations meet the challenge of delivering services with reduced budgets, and keep apace with today’s customer-centric approach to business, which sectors such as retail have traditionally championed. All hail the customer is king!

For more information on G-Cloud or the technology employed by North Lanarkshire Council, South Gloucestershire Council and Carpetright, take a look at Kirona.com

 

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