AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

Having conducted exclusive research into the use of Cloud based Field Service Management Systems in 2015, Field Service News and ClickSoftware have once again teamed up and returned to the topic one year on to see just how their predictions based on last year's findings have borne out. 

In part one of this series we looked at exactly what those predictions last year were as well as some of the headline findings of this year's research. In part two of the series we explored the trends have emerged year on year plus Marina Stedman, Global Field Marketing Director, ClickSoftware offered her expert view as to what these trends mean for field service organisations. 

In the third part of the series we looked at whether security remains the biggest barrier to adoption for those reluctant to move to a Cloud based FSM solution and Paul Whitelam, VP of Product Marketing, ClickSoftware, offers his expert view on the survey as a whole also... 

Now in the concluding part of this feature we look at the benefits being felt by those who have moved to the Cloud, the remaining barriers to adoption and draw some overall conclusions

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The benefits of moving to the Cloud:

The benefits of Cloud based solutions, whether it be a FSM solution or another business tool, are by now very well documented.

Key benefits of the Cloud include: less reliance and strain on internal IT departments, more manageable costs, built in disaster recovery, scalability, and easier implementation both of the system initially and also of upgrades and updates.

But what are the key benefits that companies that have actually moved to a Cloud based FSM solution are experiencing, having made the switch away from on-premise software?

We asked our respondents to identify both the key drivers for them moving to the Cloud and the biggest benefit they have experienced since having made the switch.

Interestingly, our results showed there is some variance between the two, indicating that after making the move, companies are discovering different benefits to those that they originally expected.

Firstly, let’s look at the drivers for selecting a Cloud based FSM system.

The most commonly cited driver for moving to the Cloud was that Cloud solutions offer greater flexibility and scalability, which 86% of companies using Cloud based FSM systems cited as a reason for them opting for Cloud.

 

Other commonly cited factors in driving companies to the Cloud were ‘easy remote access’ and ‘less reliance on IT’ both of which were cited by 63% of companies.

Meanwhile, improved functionality was also widely acknowledged to be another important consideration with exactly half of respondents citing this as a benefit that drove their decision to move to the Cloud.

However, when we turn our attention to the actual benefits that companies have experienced after moving to a Cloud based FSM system - we see that improved functionality is in fact the most commonly cited benefit with over

two thirds of companies (71%) identifying this as the biggest single benefit realised.

Alongside this, improved productivity is equally common at 68% and more manageable costs were also widely cited, with over half (57%) of our respondents stating they saw this as a major benefit.

Given our assertion that the move to the Cloud is heavily tied to the replacement-cycle of FSM systems, and because improved functionality and productivity are the most commonly cited benefits, we think it reasonable to assume that many companies who have yet to update their systems are now facing a competitive disadvantage by not doing so.

This argument could also be further supported when we look at how long those using on- premise FSM systems have had their current systems. In fact, over two thirds (70%) of companies using on-premise FSM systems have had their systems for more than 3 years.

 

The results undeniably prove that older systems are more likely to be on-premise, whilst more recently implemented systems will be Cloud based.

One of the widely cited benefits of Cloud based systems is the ease of installing system updates and the introduction of new features and functionality - and this is corroborated by the research findings as directly stated by those companies that have adopted Cloud based FSM systems.

In fact, this is highlighted perfectly by the fact that of those companies  have made the move to a Cloud based FSM system 100% stated they would recommend the Cloud over an on-premise equivalent - the second time running that Cloud based systems were given such an overwhelming endorsement.

Remaining barriers to adoption:

As we touched on above, our two previous studies into the use and appetite for Cloud computing as a platform for FSM systems found security to be the ever present elephant in the room.

However, this year, for the first time ever, concerns amongst those yet to move away from on-premise software to Cloud based equivalents have been as much about connectivity issues as they have around security.

Of course, the ability to access the internet is a fundamental tenant of Cloud computing, so it is of little wonder that as concerns around security lessen to then connectivity will become the most pressing concern for those debating a move to the Cloud.

Whilst it may not be a particular issue for back end systems, one of the key benefits of Cloud computing is the ability to provide remote access to elements of such systems such as asset management, parts inventory and of course job schedules to our engineers working in the field.

 

Whilst within the UK at least, 3G data signals have now reached a projected 97% coverage, not every country has such a widespread service. This may be why connectivity issues were the most commonly cited reason why companies do not feel confident in making a move to the Cloud with over a third (35%) of companies stating this is the single biggest concern around moving their FSM system to a Cloud based platform.

Security fears then came in as the second biggest concern cited by a fifth (20%) of companies - whilst issues with legacy systems were cited by 15% of organisations.

However, despite these concerns once again we have seen a year on year increase in the number of companies still using an on-premise solution considering a move to the Cloud for their next upgrade or iteration of a FSM system.

In fact the number of companies using on-premise FSM software stating that they will consider moving to the Cloud is now approaching almost three quarters (71%).

Cloud in other parts of the business:

As we move more firmly into a world of Big Data and real-time analytics the easy-flow of both customer and asset data between differing systems is absolutely vital, as is the ability for such systems to be able to communicate with each other.

Alongside the ongoing willingness for organisations to develop APIs, the advent of Cloud computing has been the major factor in enabling such a seamless flow of data.

But what other areas within a business are predominantly becoming Cloud based and how they complement any given FSM system?

We asked both those who were using on premise and Cloud based FSM solutions if they were using the Cloud based systems in any other areas of their business.

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, those companies that were using Cloud based FSM systems showed a greater tendency to use Cloud in other areas of their business than those using on-premise FSM solutions.

However, amongst both sets of respondents, the business tool most commonly running in the Cloud was CRM with 75% of companies with a Cloud based FSM solution also using Cloud based CRM and only 20% of those companies using on-premise FSM software having their CRM system based in the Cloud.

While we don’t know the background, we can speculate that this may be largely due to the dominance of Cloud based CRM solutions driven in part by Cloud only provider Salesforce. Their success has seen other key players within the CRM sector (such as Microsoft) focus heavily on delivering a Cloud solution as well as driving a number of smaller providers to offer similar Cloud only CRM models.

Another factor for consideration is the importance of moving data between service and sales focused systems.

It has long been a major focus for a number of field service organisations to better leverage the insight of their service teams to greater effect in terms of revenue generation and the Cloud can be a key enabler to help organisations achieve this more effectively.

Conclusions: 

The results of this trends-based research certainly support the assertions made twelve months ago.

Not only have we seen a continued increase in the number of companies using Cloud based FSM systems and replacing on-premise systems with Cloud-based solutions, we have also seen the rate at which this number is growing increase significantly at the same time In addition to this, we have seen an increase in the number of companies still using on premise FSM software who are actively looking to make a move to the Cloud when they next upgrade their FSM solution.

Meanwhile, fears around the security of the Cloud are beginning to reduce, particularly as understanding of the higher levels of security embedded within enterprise focused Cloud platforms improve.

However, there remains a proportion of field service professionals who see security as the biggest barrier to adoption and platform and solutions vendors need to continue to provide information and education on this topic.

 

Of those who have made the move to the Cloud, real life benefits of improved system functionality and enhanced productivity are widely felt, as is the positive impact of the more manageable cost base of Cloud based FSM systems, usually offered on a Software as a Service basis.

While at the current time, there may still be more companies using on-premise FSM software than using Cloud based FSM systems, the shift towards the adoption of the Cloud that we identified within our previous research is indeed gaining further momentum and at a faster pace than ever before.

The research has also proven our previous assertion that the move to Cloud based FSM solutions is tied directly to the replacement cycle of FSM at large and the evidence would certainly suggest that as more companies continue to move onto next-generation FSM, the adoption of Cloud as the primary platform will become ever more prevalent.

It seems our prediction of a Cloud based future for most FSM system implementations looks set

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Kris Oldland talks exclusively to Pål M. Rødseth, CEO Evatic as they announce the acquisition of Tesseract Service Management...

Evatic AS, a leading software vendor within Service Management, have acquired Cranbox Ltd in the UK, the owner of the Tesseract service  management software product trading under the name Tesseract.

Together Evatic and Tesseract will complement each other’s product portfolio and strengthen the product offering within the service management field in the market. Tesseract has its main office in High Wycombe just outside London and an office in Reston, Virginia in the US.

“We believe that the two organisations will complement each other both when it comes to products, industries and geographies”

“We are extremely happy to add Tesseract to our product family” says Pål M. Rødseth, CEO of Evatic. “We have known Colin and his team for years and we believe that the two organisations will complement each other both when it comes  to products, industries and geographies. The Tesseract solution with a cloud based platform will make a great addition to the Evatic software suit.”

 

“I believe that Tesseract are in the best hands going forward”, says Colin Brown, founder and CEO of Tesseract.

“With more than 150 customers in a wide range of industries, there is very little overlap with Evatic both when it comes to customer industries and geographies, and I am confident that the product and the customers will continue to thrive under the Evatic ownership”.

Evatic is a leading European service management software company with the head office in Trondheim, Norway and offices in Sweden, Germany, France, Poland and Singapore.

With a global reach and more than 300 customers in 30+ countries Evatic offers a broad product suit for companies that need to make their services profitable. Evatic is a private company owned by the founders and Viking Venture.

Speaking exclusively to Field Service News on the day of the announcement Rødseth commented “We have known Colin for a good number of years and we were actually having the same discussion about four years ago - before I joined Evatic. But somehow those discussions didn’t end in a conclusion, so we picked up the ball again about six or seven months ago and had a long and fruitful discussion that ended up in Evatic acquiring Tesseract - and we are really delighted with that.”

From an outside perspective there seems to be a lot of synergy between the two companies with each being able to fill gaps in the others markets and solutions. Something that Rødseth was keen to highlight.

“There really is a complimentary side to this, we view the UK as a really interesting market,” he began.

Currently in Evatic we are focussing our business around the copier/print industry - that’s where we have our main customers and we have a system that offers a really specialist contract management tool, which is great for advanced or complicated contracts that a lot of the copy/print guys do. So we have a great system for them.”

“However, we are not as good in the generalist service management solutions, for example repair centres and stock management solutions - that is where Tesseract fits into the picture.”

In terms of how the company focus will be split, it does indeed seem that the two different products, Tesseract and Evatic will live alongside each other as complimentary but distinctly separate entities.

 

“We now see this as one company with two different products, one being the Evatic product and one being the Tesseract product.” He added.

“I think we will continue to build the Evatic solution to tailor to industries that require really, really complex contract management solutions - and the key vertical for us there is the copy/print industry.”

Rødseth explained “However, we do have some customers outside of this sector and we are already actively looking at if we can move them over to the Tesseract solution.”

“A lot of the smaller customers that we have would benefit from running a Cloud solution with Tesseract so we hope to have some customer synergies from that. However, the primary reason for the acquisition was geographical expansion into the UK and the US.”

“Where we have our customers today is mainly in the Nordics and we also have offices in Norway, Sweden, Germany, France and Singapore but for whatever reason we have never had a strong presence in the UK. We now hope to build the Evatic brand in the UK now that we have a presence there via Tesseract and similarly we hope to be able to bring Tesseract to the European regions where Evatic is already strong.”

“So hopefully quite soon our sales guys will open their jackets and there’s not only an Evatic or Tesseract logo there but there is both.”

And it seems it will be business as normal for both companies in the short to medium term as Rødseth alluded to there being no loss of the newly acquired Tesseract band.

“The Tesseract brand has been over 30 years in the market it is a very strong brand so we will continue to keep that for the Service Centre and build on that and we will keep the Evatic brand for the document management vertical” he said.

What is clear is that there is a great deal of respect between the two parties, especially from Evatic towards not only the heritage of the Tesseract brand but also towards industry veteran Brown who will be stepping down from his role as MD but will remain working with Evatic in a consultancy role.

“Of course it is not going to be easy to filling the shoes of an industry veteran like Colin, but we will do our best to keep up innovating with Tesseract as we’ve done with Evatic as well.”

“We have 20 + people here that all have experience with the product and there is deep knowledge here within the organisation - we are hopeful towards a very positive future for both Tesseract and Evatic following this change.”

 

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In his role co-ordinating Field Service Conferences on both sides of the Atlantic Jonathan Massoud , Divisional Director , WBR is quite uniquely placed to see the differences between how things are done differently on both sides of the pond. Here he gives us his view on why things , fundamentally aren’t actually too different at all....

 

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2016 has proven to be a groundbreaking year for Field Service.

Manufacturers have continued to implement features from industry 4.0 on their business activities as services like cloud computing, and the internet of things (IoT) have revolutionized how companies manage their workforce in the field. In making certain service processes easier, like troubleshooting or diagnosing a repair – service teams have gotten closer to the customer than ever before.

The success of these programs also play a huge part in managing customer satisfaction and retention which are key revenue drivers for many companies. Especially since customers often choose a product based on the level of service they receive instead of less distinguishable aspects of the products themselves.

In response to a vocal, growing consumer base, manufacturers have started to design innovative product and service solutions that address customer needs. With that said, it’s hard to address specific customer concerns as the level and degree of service has to be of a high, consistent quality across the board. European executives are focusing on many of the same initiatives as their North American counterparts – starting the create service oriented, customer facing products and services that augment revenue.

However, their challenges can be a bit different as they work with logistical and cultural issues.

In Europe, it’s already difficult to move parts, people and services across countries quickly and efficiently, it’s even harder to do so while understanding nuanced cultural differences. Even so, there is tremendous opportunity for revenue growth within companies that take the time to prioritise service.

Over the past several years, we’ve actually seen success with the positive relationship between customer satisfaction profitability. The more your customers enjoy and trust the service your provide – the more willing they are to continually buy your products in the future (and also share their positive experience with their peers).

Can smarter service drive revenue and customer satisfaction?

Going beyond 2016, proactive and predictive service will have a large impact on increasing customer satisfaction.

With benefits like an increased first time fix rate, fewer technician visits & truck rolls customers will have higher satisfaction (which results in lower general operating costs for the manufacturer). These will ultimately come to head with the introduction of an enhanced remote monitoring platform.

However, larger challenges like customer push-back and huge start-up costs serve as a red flag for manufacturers. With the general adaptation of industry 4.0 and the IoT – European government will use their high tech strategies to incentivise innovation to create smarter services, smarter factories and smarter products which lead to happier customers.

How do you monitor quality control across European boarders? To ensure a consistent level of service in Europe, many companies have started to provide tiered levels of service based on the specific needs and expectation of their customers. This gives manufacturers the ability to have flexible service on an as needed basis.

However, this presents an interesting problem for European companies as customer expectations drastically differ from country to country.

An Italian customer might be willing to wait five days for a part, while a Finnish customer would be ready to fill out a complaint form after five hours.

Ensuring that service remains consistently great in each country is an important focus point for service executives.

Who is the technician of the future?

Technicians are the public face of your brand, the person who has the most face time with customers and therefore the biggest opportunity to make a difference. A common term used for field technicians is “trusted advisor” and because of this status, they’re often a big driver in customer satisfaction.

So how can service companies make their technicians more effective? What does the ideal technician of the future look like?

Tomorrow’s technician needs to be customer-ready.

Often-times, the technical skills that make someone a superior engineer don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand with customer-facing soft skills (handling a distraught customer for example).

Lastly, tomorrow’s technician needs to be ready for next generation technology. They must be armed with tools containing the latest communication-ready advanced diagnostic capabilities, open to the idea of wearables and augmented reality, and ready to work on machines equipped with IoT technology.

What are the services that customers really value?

Managing the shift to on-demand service solutions Significant changes in customer behaviour have affected the makeup of the service industry over the past few years.

Rather than buying a particular product or piece of equipment, customers are looking for business outcomes and solutions. There’s been a significant shift towards value proposition in service: how do you create value from the things you’ve done in the past?

What do customers truly value and are they willing to pay for it? With the increased usage of on-demand solutions – customer expectations have grown to a new level.

However, for those pro-active companies that are actively seeking to meet these demands by embracing not only the latest technology to help drive their service efficiency and customer engagement levels, but are also embracing the notion of service as a fundamental business driver, there is a wealth of profitable and loyal business to be won out there in this new enterprise landscape of the early twenty first century.

The big question is are you as an organisation ready to take such a service oriented approach.

Having been part of our field service conferences both in the US and in Europe I’ve spoken with a lot of service directors from both sides of the fence - those who are running at full steam towards a more advanced services model and those who are perhaps lingering towards the back a bit more waiting to see how things pan out for those early adopters.

Whilst there is no shame in a cautious approach it is also important not to be the last company to adapt in your sector - no matter how large you are as you might find yourself facing your very own ‘Kodak moment’.

Getting ideas and insight from your peers is a great way of benchmarking what is actually happening in the industry compared to the hyperbole that can surround any given technology or business trend and I guess it’s that one on one peer interaction, that sense of community that has been a fundamental part of why our conferences continue to grow on both sides of  the Atlantic.

 

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Run by the University of Cambridge, in the Institute for Manufacturing, this two-day workshop is designed for engineers, managers and senior executives involved in any aspect of the design and delivery of services.

 

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Date: Wednesday 23 to Thursday 24 November 2016

 

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Overview

Making the shift to services is difficult and remains an aspiration for many firms. Arriving at a clear vision of the service offering is often the first stumbling block. What will be offered and how? What are the risks? How do we deliver and create – as well as capture – value?

Drawing on the latest work from the Cambridge Service Alliance, this thought-provoking and practical two-day workshop considers how to design the shift to services.

What you will learn

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to use tools to design new services and improve existing ones and support the successful integration of services into your organisation.

The workshop covers topics including:

• New thinking for service design
• Understanding the ecosystem – expanding your strategic horizons
• Defining the business model – focusing on your customers’ needs
• Planning your service strategy journey
• Innovating the value delivery system – aligning resources and partners
• Service emotion – identifying and managing the customer’s ‘emotion journey’
• The role of big data – optimising service delivery and designing better solutions

Find out more

See the Institute for Manufacturing website for more information and to book your place

Comments from previous attendees

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• "A key learning for me was how to take a structured approach to fleshing out and refining a new service or existing service"
• "The collaborative work created opportunities to learn different perspectives"
• "The tool set provided is practical and useful"
• "Great overall process of understanding how to develop new business opportunities and understanding the customer perspective"

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In his leader for this issue, Kris Oldland discusses the challenge in finding a metaphor powerful enough to reflect the potential transformation that is happening in field service organisations across the globe...

 

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Click here to download a digital copy of Field Service News issue 14 now

 

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The title came to me easily enough and it is in evidence all throughout this issue. Advanced Services is a field/movement that is advancing at rapid pace.

 

But how best to convey this in the artwork?

In my mind the shift towards Advanced Services is growing in momentum and as it begins to hit the tipping point it will become an unstoppable force, driving into every corner of business, across every part of the global economy.

Why?

Well as ServiceMax CEO Dave Yarnold comments in our exclusive interview on page 24 “Of course outcome based services makes a ton of sense to customers. It’s far more balanced, it’s what customers want.”

Ultimately, this is why Advanced Services will flourish. Because it brings balance to relationships between service providers and their customers, and in doing so brings benefits to both. I remember someone telling me once that a good negotiation is where both parties feel like they have lost something. Where both have had to make some concession to the other.

Advanced Services is perhaps the first business model I’ve come across where that actually doesn’t hold up.

So one of my first thoughts around the artwork was something like a tidal wave or tsunami. A great unstoppable force of nature that would sweep everything before it, leaving space in it’s wake for rebirth - rebuilding and replacement of the old ways with something new.

However, I felt that this imagery was to destructive, to uncontrollable, to urgent. One thing about the Advanced Services movement is it has been patient. Patiently waiting for cultures and technologies to catch up since at least the mid 60s when Rolls Royce were forced by American Airlines to come up with a new business model because the old one wasn’t working.

So now that the time is finally right for Advanced Services to take hold it will be much more of a steady march ever onwards than a flash in the pan incident.

 

Which lead me to the imagery that I settled on, although I still had considerations around whether the image of an army walking across a battlefield was right to convey something that as I mentioned previously, is a movement that brings balance to the force provider/consumer relationship?

After consideration I realised that of course an advancing army isn’t always one of invasion and oppression but alternatively can be one of liberation and freedom.

OK maybe I’m taking the metaphor too far here, but essentially the companies that have pioneered the SaaS model in the software industry such as Salesforce absolutely broke the chains of monopoly that were restricting all but the biggest players.

Whilst the likes of IBM, Microsoft and Oracle mocked the Cloud, innovative start-ups were getting a head-start, reinventing the game so both they and the customer had more control and freedom than ever before- which ultimately pushed the need for innovation across the whole industry, leading to mass disruption.

You can bet that large manufacturers and others have watched this development across the last decade and a half keenly and are looking to see how they can be sure they are on the Advanced Services train, so they don’t get left behind playing catch up, like the big players in Software had to.

Of course, that’s the other flip-side of the cover image I opted for. Ultimately it does invoke thoughts of a battle or war and in such conflicts there are always winners and losers.

I can’t help but feel that right now we are at a pivotal time in the history of enterprise.

I see us at a fork in the road where those companies who take the right path now, those that embrace technologies like IoT and business concepts like Advanced Services will truly flourish across the next decade.

And as for those companies that don’t... I have just one word of advice.

Kodak.

 

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Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst, Strategies for GrowthSM explores what Cloud CRM giant Salesforce entry into the FSM market will mean for the sector...

 

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Strategies for growth are concluding their latest benchmarking research and they need your input.

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With the introduction of Salesforce’s Field Service Lightning, the FSM market has now witnessed, in the space of only two years or so, a trifecta of large, established, ubiquitous, global companies – each historically known for their respective other business platforms and solutions – entering the FSM market in a “big way” (i.e., in terms of market posturing, press releases, promises of FSM market dominance, etc.).

The largest – and potentially, most promising of these – include:

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• Oracle, acquiring TOA Technologies in 2014;
• Microsoft acquiring FieldOne in 2015; and, now
• Salesforce announcing Field Service Lightning (FSL) for market launch in Spring/Summer 2016 (i.e., no acquisition made; platform includes ClickSoftware technology).

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However, of these “big three”, only Salesforce has elected (i.e., at least, so far) to build its FSL functionality, albeit, with help from ClickSoftware for schedule optimisation), while the remaining two have each elected to “buy” their way into the segment.

Whether it makes a difference to potential FSM solution users as to whether their vendors have acquired their way into the business, or have built a home-grown model is unknown at this point in time.

However, past research conducted by Strategies For GrowthSM (SFGSM) would indicate that it will most likely not be a major selection or evaluation factor for most potential solution acquirers. In fact, it will probably end up being a non-issue for most.

 

Other smaller – but typically faster-growing – FSM solution providers may have brought their respective solutions to market much earlier than Salesforce, although Field Service Lightning still has certain advantages that these other relatively new entries to the global FSM market are not as likely to have.

Further, the introduction of Salesforce into the global FSM through its Field Service Lightning offering now provides an added level of competition to the competitive landscape – a level that ServiceMax and its peers have not seen in recent years (i.e., save for the emergence of the acquired “newbies”, such as Oracle/TOA, IFS/Metrix and Microsoft/FieldOne, etc.).

For example, ServiceMax – which is essentially built on the Salesforce platform, itself – had virtually dominated the recent FSM user market in terms of familiarity/awareness, marketing and promotion, and user consideration and adoption in recent years.

However, the May, 2015 announcement of the company’s strategic partnership with PTC “to provide [a] comprehensive and connected Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) solution offering” (i.e., where ServiceMax provides the SLM support, powered by PTC’s ThingWorx IoT-based platform) positions it, in some minds, as just another one of the industry’s “new” and/or reengineered SLM vendors, among other like vendors.

All-in-all, the entry of Salesforce into the FSM market does not simply represent the addition of a single “new” competitor to the overall landscape – but, rather the introduction of a “new” synergistic “mix” of traditional FSM functionality (i.e., built on the platform of one of the most popular and well-respected vendors, ClickSoftware), but seamlessly integrated into the overall Customer Experience, CSM and Sales Management suites offered by the “world’s #1 CRM company”.

 

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As such, potential users have the opportunity to not only choose a “new” FSM solution provider – but a “new” type of integrated FSM vendor, with a “new” (i.e., to the FSM market) corporate culture and philosophy for providing “cradle-to-grave” pre-sales, sales, after-sales service and perpetual customer support to an ever-evolving and demanding customer base.

In any event, the introduction of Field Service Lightning reflects Salesforce’s continuing “push” to enter this expanding global market segment on at least an “at par” basis with the other major players currently comprising the “new” FSM market entrants.

However, while its entry into the market may initially seem like something “new” for Salesforce, it is not necessarily a “new” idea to the many services organisations that could realistically be thought of as potential Salesforce FSM customers – actually, many have already been using Salesforce to assist in running their respective services organisations for some time now.

For example, the results of SFGSM’s previous two Field Service Management Benchmark Surveys, conducted in 2011 and 2014/15, respectively, reveal the following about Salesforce’s historical positive image and reputation within the global FSM community – even before it had formally entered the market this year with its Field Service Lightning offering.

 

The following data is derived directly from these two SFGSM FSM Benchmark surveys:

In SFGSM’s 2011 Field Service Management Benchmark Survey, respondents were asked to answer a number of questions relating to their familiarity with each of 48 individually listed FSM solution providers. The specific question asked was: “For each of the solution vendors listed below, please indicate the ones with whom you are currently familiar in terms of their Field Service Management applications.”

For the 2011 survey, Salesforce was not included among the 48 pre-selected FSM vendors listed in the questionnaire; however, based on new information obtained during SFGSM’s one-on-one telephone interviews conducted as part of the 2014/15 survey Discovery Phase, Salesforce had been mentioned enough times to be included as the 49th FSM vendor – although, it still did not technically offer an FSM solution at that time!

Therefore, in 2011, the most cited FSM solution providers, listed in terms of their respective familiarity among the respondent base, specifically as a “Field Service Management solution provider”, were as follows:

2011 SFGSM FSM Survey Results (percent familiarity as an FSM solution provider):

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• #1 @ 39%; SAP
• #2 @ 33%; Oracle
• #3 @ 29%; ServiceMax
• #4 @ 26%; ClickSoftware
• #5 @ 24%; Astea
• #6 @ 18%; Servigistics
• #7 @ 17%; Metrix
• #8 @ 15%; Microsoft Dynamics

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The 2011 survey results reaffirmed the #1 & #2 standings of SAP and Oracle from earlier FSM surveys, and reflected the growth of ServiceMax which, for the first time, had surpassed ClickSoftware in this historical series of surveys.

Further, although Microsoft also did not yet offer an FSM solution in 2011 (i.e., the company did not enter the FSM solution market until July, 2015, via its acquisition of FieldOne), it was still listed as #8 (i.e., at 15% familiarity) by the respondents to the survey. It is noted that two other of the highest cited vendors have since been acquired by larger organizations (i.e., Metrix, by IFS in May, 2012; and Servigistics, by PTC in October, 2012.)

However, SFGSM’s 2014/15 FSM Benchmark Survey update (i.e., with the expansion of the list of potential FSM solution vendors to include Salesforce, for the first time) reveals a largely altered ranking of the most familiar FSM solution providers, as follows:

2014/15 SFGSM FSM Survey Results (percent familiarity as an FSM solution provider):

[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• #1 @ 56%; Salesforce
• #2 @ 50%; SAP
• #3 @ 35%; ClickSoftware
• #4 @ 32%; Oracle
• #5 @ 28%; ServiceMax
•  #6T @ 25%; Astea
• 6T @ 25%; Kronos
• #8 @ 21%; AT&T Advanced Mobility Solutions
• #9 @ 21%; Microsoft Dynamics[/unordered_list]

In 2014/15, while SAP actually increased its FSM market familiarity to 50% (i.e., from 39% in 2011), and Oracle dropped a mere one percentage point to 32%, Salesforce, the “new” entry to the list of vendors, was cited by 56% of survey respondents as one of the FSM vendors with which they were currently familiar – again, however, without actually offering an FSM solution at the time.

Thus, the key takeaways revealed by trending the two most recent SFGSM FSM Benchmark Surveys, are the following:

[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• In 2014/15, Salesforce had already been recognized as a potential FSM solution provider by a majority (i.e., 56%) of the field services marketplace – despite the fact that it did not actually offer an FSM solution at that time.
• Microsoft, through its CRM Dynamics platform, had also risen in familiarity as a potential FSM solution provider, growing from 15% familiarity in 2011, to 21% in 2014/15 – despite not formally entering the FSM market until July, 2015.
• The historical leaders in terms of FSM solution familiarity (i.e., SAP and Oracle) have, as a result, since been relegated to the #2 and #4 positions, respectively, trailing far behind Salesforce.

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We have seen these types of familiarity rating anomalies in the past; however, what the trend data clearly reflects is that many field services organisations have already been using (arguably, mis-using?) either the Salesforce and/or Microsoft platforms for more than just sales management and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, respectively.

And, that this is apparently not limited only to Small/Medium Businesses (SMBs), but also to small-to-medium-sized divisions of larger services enterprises, as well. In many cases, Salesforce (and/or Microsoft CRM) serve double duty within the organisation with respect to their use in managing some of the key components of FSM. In fact, in 2014/15, 7% of respondents also reported that Salesforce was their “primary FSM solution provider.”

 

What this all means is actually good news for Salesforce – and especially for the services organisations that have historically been relying on the company’s platform to support their field service operations, in that, with the introduction of Field Service Lightning, they will now be afforded with much greater FSM functionality – however, this time from a solution that is specifically designed for use in running a services organisation.

While other companies, all with fairly deep pockets, have either tried to buy their way into FSM, grow an FSM capability organically, or some combination of the two, not all have had either the resolve – or inclination – to strive to dominate the FSM market.

However, with respect to Salesforce, the combination of a corporate mentality that looks to dominate in each of the markets they serve, with a documented history of key players in the FSM community having already been using (i.e., or mis-using) their CRM platform to assist in running their respective services organizations, the prospects for Salesforce actually becoming a dominant leader in the FSM marketplace may be a somewhat safer bet.

Nonetheless, it must still be stated that, so far, Salesforce has only announced a very small portion of field service capability (i.e., key components including contract management, parts management, etc. are still missing) and, as a result, the jury will continue to be remain “out” until more of the company’s Field Service Lightning offering actually hits the market – in full – and in sync with the market’s expectations.

 

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IFS Labs unveiled a live demonstration of an innovative project using drone technology in combination with IoT designed to drive digital transformation at their recent World Conference held in Gothenberg last week... 

Designed and realised by IFS Labs, the company’s in-house think tank, the drone proof-of-concept featured live integration between the drone and IFS Applications for automatic generation of work orders when inspecting assets.

Using computer image analysis, the drone can recognize a break in a power line and automatically generate an observation that is registered in IFS Applications via the IFS IoT Business Connector. The end user can analyze and process the drone observations via the IFS Lobby interface, in which additional information such as geolocation and customer feedback is cross-referenced to help the user action appropriate maintenance and repair.

 

“At IFS Labs, we look beyond the current needs of businesses to anticipate what solutions will be required in the future,” IFS Labs director Bas de Vos said. “There is enormous potential in drone technology and by presenting this proof-of-concept, we have demonstrated that IFS is ready to help companies not only conceptualise but importantly derive value from new innovations so they can digitally transform their businesses.”

Also presented in the Innovation Area of IFS World Conference 2016 are innovative business applications leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, wearable technology, beacon technology, and 3D printing.

IFS Labs is inspired by consumer technologies and innovative solutions in a range of industries, and applies these to IFS’s enterprise solutions. IFS Labs proves concepts today that customers will ask for tomorrow to make their everyday work more productive, efficient and inspiring.

Read more about IFS Labs’ past and current projects here: www.ifsworld.com/corp/solutions/ifs-applications/ifs-labs/

 

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Having conducted exclusive research into the use of Cloud based Field Service Management Systems in 2015, Field Service News and ClickSoftware have once again teamed up and returned to the topic one year on to see just how their predictions based on last year's findings have borne out. 

In part one of this series we looked at exactly what those predictions last year were as well as some of the headline findings of this year's research. In part two of the series we explored the trends have emerged year on year plus Marina Stedman, Global Field Marketing Director, ClickSoftware offered her expert view as to what these trends mean for field service organisations. 

Now in the third part of the series we look at whether security remains the biggest barrier to adoption for those reluctant to move to a Cloud based FSM solution and Paul Whitelam, VP of Product Marketing, ClickSoftware, offers his expert view on the survey as a whole also... 

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The question of security:

So it seems that we are indeed seeing a continuation of the trends uncovered within last year’s research - in that the shift towards Cloud becoming the prevalent platform for FSM systems is continuing to gain momentum.

But how does this correlate with general perception around Cloud computing and in particular around security concerns - which were the key barrier to adoption for those who were reluctant to move to a Cloud based FSM in our previous research?

To answer this question let’s start by exploring how general perceptions about Cloud computing have changed, if at all, across the last twelve months.

In 2015 and 2016 we asked our respondents ‘Which of the following best sums up your perception of the Cloud in business?’

We gave our respondents a choice of four options:

[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• I believe it is the future of enterprise computing
• I see its benefits but still have some concerns
• I wouldn’t trust placing sensitive data in the Cloud but would use for general applications
• I think we should be keeping everything on premise, there is too much risk in the Cloud

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This year we saw the number of respondents who stated they saw “the Cloud as the future of enterprise computing” rise to over half (56%) of all respondents, an increase of 7% compared to the 2015 results.

[quote float="left"]The number of respondents who stated they saw “the Cloud as the future of enterprise computing” rise to over half (56%) of all respondents, an increase of 7% compared to the 2015 results.[/quote]We also saw a five point increase (i.e. from 35% to 40%) amongst those who stated that they could see the benefit of the Cloud but still had some concerns.

However, it is at the other end of the spectrum, where the responses offered had more negative connotations, that perhaps the greatest shift is apparent.

The number of those who stated they “wouldn’t trust putting sensitive data in the Cloud” has reduced from 13% in 2015 to just 6% in 2016 whilst the admittedly small (3%) section of respondents in 2015 who stated they felt we should be keeping “everything on-premise as there is too much risk in the Cloud” has completely disappeared within this year’s results.

It is also interesting to note that when we drill down further into the findings and look at the responses from companies based on the size of their mobile workforce that there is further evidence of a growing confidence in Cloud computing across the board.

To begin let’s take a look at those companies within the largest bracket of mobile workforce, i.e. those with 801 or more field service engineers/ technicians.

Indeed, in this bracket of companies 100% replied positively when we asked for their overall perception of the Cloud.

Over half (53%) of the field service professionals within this company size bracket stated that they saw the Cloud as the ‘future of enterprise computing’ whilst just under half (47%) stated they whilst they may have some concerns they ‘could see the benefits’ of the Cloud.

Similarly when we look at the responses to this question from those representing companies within the smallest bracket of mobile workforce (i.e. 50 field engineers or less) once again there certainly appears to be a perception of Cloud is not only improving but that this is happening across companies of all sizes.

But how does this correlate to the separation between Cloud apps that are used mainly be consumers (e.g. Google Drive or iCloud) and those designed specifically for business users?

[quote float="right"]Almost half (48%) of the service professionals that participated in our research now stated that high profile breaches in security in the consumer sector have no impact on their perception of enterprise level Cloud security[/quote]In response to the question ‘Have high profile breaches in consumer privacy influenced your opinion of the Cloud in enterprise?’ We saw a move of 7% from the previous year’s results towards responses that accepted that ‘there are far more security protocols in the business world’ and that such security breaches in the consumer world didn’t impact their thinking around enterprise level Cloud security.

In fact, almost half (48%) of the service professionals that participated in our research now stated that high profile breaches in security in the consumer sector have no impact on their perception of enterprise level Cloud security - an increase of 8% more than in 2015.

Expert View - Paul Whitelam, VP of Product Marketing, ClickSoftware

Something that comes through clearly in this research is the increasing benefit that respondents are seeing from moving Field Service Management to the cloud. When comparing respondents’ view on the main benefit of moving to the cloud in the 2014/15 survey with this year’s research, “greater flexibility and scalability” was still the number one cited benefit, growing by 6% from 79% last year to 86% today. In addition, nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents ranked both “easy remote access” and “less reliance on the IT department” in equal second in terms of benefits gained, similar values to last year.

Our experience as a software vendor in the field suggests that the priority given to “flexibility and scalability” not only reflects the ability to control operational costs but also that field service companies are prioritising customer satisfaction – and want to flexibly tune their cloud-based software solution to meet user requirements in this area. As products become more commoditised, service delivery becomes the differentiator. Companies need to improve their customer experience while keeping operational costs in check, servicing the needs of the business and the customer.

[quote float="left"]“The ability to rapid introduce new applications and services across an entire field service operation, without having to rely on the availability of the right IT infrastructure, plays a critical role in empowering field service engineers and delivering fast service differentiation...”[/quote]In many cases today, a customer’s only engagement with the supplier of their goods or services is when they need something fixing. In the retail space for example, it might be a field service visit to repair a washing machine, in the utilities industry it might be when a central heating boiler breaks down. That field service engagement may be the only opportunity to impress the customer during the lifetime of a product that might last five, 10 or 20 years.

The ability to rapid introduce new applications and services across an entire field service operation, without having to rely on the availability of the right IT infrastructure, plays a critical role in empowering field service engineers and delivering fast service differentiation. Real-time communication via smart devices between field service professionals, dispatch teams and customers increases efficiency and enhances customer service. Examples of these include using traffic monitoring systems to direct engineers to each job as quickly as possible and on-line tracking to keep the customer updated on when they will arrive.

Embracing the latest cloud and mobility technology helps companies to develop a far more collaborative, immediate and customer-focused infrastructure and to enable a culture where customer service is the priority. One where a mobile network of technicians and engineers are both enabled and encouraged to put the customer first and, as brand ambassadors, are driving customer loyalty and potentially identifying opportunities to sell more products and services to the customer while on-site.

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It has now been three years since the Service Management Expo moved from Birmingham to London as it became part of UBM’s wider Protection and Management event, but has this transformation been positive or negative for the event that was once widely believed to be Europe’s best show dedicated to the sector?

The first thing you realise when you arrive at UBM’s Protection and Management (P&M) Series, which takes up the entirety of the ExCel Conference and Exhibition Centre in London’s revitalised Dockland’s region, is that this is a collection of BIG shows.

The largest of the P&M events is IFSEC which serves the global Fire and Security industry and it alone take up the entire south side of ExCel’s mile long exhibition space. With delegates and exhibitors from across the globe it is a truly impressive event. However, there are other sizeable events at P&M too.

The Facilities Show, Safety and Health Expo and FIREX are all heavyweight shows in their own right, and in this context Service Management Expo (SME) can occasionally feel a little lost. It is probably no exaggeration that there are single stands within the IFSEC side of the event that are larger than the entirety of Service Management Expo, and whilst the colour of the carpet gives you a visual clue as to whether you are still in SME or have wandered off elsewhere, if you turn one way you’ll be surrounded by companies selling hi-vis clothing, turn another and it’s air conditioning units.

Indeed, this has been the one constant criticism of SME ever since it left the NEC and joined it’s bigger brothers in London. In fairness, the exhibition organisers have listened to this feedback and tweaked the event year on year, to try to help SME maintain it’s own identity but it is one of the perennial conundrums of the field service industry - that whilst as a horizontal industry it is essentially highly pervasive, it remains a niche sector, with a relatively small but passionate community at it’s heart.

 

And actually when we take a step away from the mega-shows that surround it, and put SME in it’s context alongside other field service orientated shows then it is in fact a huge event in terms of the numbers of people in attendance.

In fact, this year UBM announced an incredible 1,911 visitors attended Service Management Expo, which was an increase of 35% on those that attended from 2015.

There was also a truly international flavour to the attendees this year with visitors from each of the 5 major continents walking around the expo across the three days. In context such attendance figures arguably make SME the largest event dedicated to the field service industries in the world. So just what is it that is attracting these delegates to London?

Where SME excels, is in that it is primarily an expo rather than a conference, so it provides a perfect platform for field service execs to get a look at a number of different solutions and vendors, check out software demonstrations and get their hands on some rugged hardware in one place.

According to a spokesperson at UBM the delegates who attended showed particular interest in lone worker safety, IT and cyber security, CRM, system integration, IoT, and recruitment. However, from our experience talking to delegates on the Field Service News stand, for many it was also an opportunity to just have a look at what new developments and tools were available in the industry.

The one area that SME perhaps falls down on is in the Field Service Solutions Theatre, essentially a mini conference area in the middle of the Expo. With both Copperberg and WBR offering full conferences in Europe - with A list speakers talking to rooms full of senior field service executives, the conference-lite approach comes across as a little anaemic. All too often throughout the Expo, the sight of a vendor delivering a thinly veiled sales pitch to a handful of delegates could be seen in the theatre area.

 

This lack of high-end content would probably explain the relatively low percentage of senior executives amongst attendees, with UBM figures stating that 25% of those in attendance were director level. But SME’s greatest weakness is also it’s greatest strength. This isn’t an event all about top-tier conference sessions, or indeed one that senior directors will attend for networking with their peers. It is an event, where field service companies can send their field service managers or supervisors to go out and get an overview of what tools are available, quickly and conveniently.

In this regard SME remains an absolutely vital part of the field service calendar (the increase in attendance YoY is perhaps testament to this) and with no other Field Service Expo on the horizon, it will no doubt remain so.

 

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