AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

Swale Heating Ltd, the largest independent heating maintenance provider in the South East has successfully replaced the software which runs it’s business with the market leading Optimatics from Aeromark.

Swale Heating who look after more than 130,000 properties and directly employ over 280 Engineers, sought to replace it’s multiple systems with fully integrated market leading software that offered the very best in advances in technology.

Steve Parish, Chief Information Officer at Swale said “Swale has seen considerable growth over the last 5 years and we recognised in 2015 that we needed to invest in the very best software and mobile technology to prepare us for the next 10 years. Following a market search, we identified Optimatics as being the transformational product we were looking for and we built a team with Aeromark to implement the replacement system”.

The new service management software not only replaces a number of existing legacy systems in one application, but also streamlines all the processes within the business into agile workflows. As a result, Swale expects to achieve an increase in productivity for the engineers through improved scheduling and far better statutory compliance especially with associated record keeping, whilst further improving its customer service experience and “first time fix” rates.

 

“The system has some really clever technology especially related to parts sourcing. Once the Engineer has diagnosed the fault at the click of a button on their tablet the mobile app opens up an exploded diagram of the boiler, the part is identified and the app then sends the order to be automatically price and availability checked against all Wolseley UK depots . Depending on the travel time to fetch the part and the cost, the system seamlessly orders the part for immediate collection. We expect this feature alone to improve our first time fix rates considerably” said Steve.

One of the other key benefits of the system is the way that reporting is delivered. Whilst the product is delivered via Software-as-a-Service providing all the benefits of this modern technology, the architecture provides for a real time on-site database for management reporting.

 

Phil White IT Manager at Swale said “The way Aeromark deliver their reporting is really useful. The core application is Web based but we have a real time mirrored copy of the data on site which allows us unrestricted access to all the data. This means that in no time at all we were able to build our own report suite which delivers exactly what we need, which will allow us to deliver information the business demands in the future”.

 

---

 

Be social and share this story

In 2015 Field Service News and leading FSM software provider ServiceMax teamed up on a research project to assess the appetite for IoT as a tool for improving field service delivery...

Now one year on we return to the topic to see if the clear desire for IoT based field service delivery has turned to reality and if so what impact is it having on the growing trend towards servitization as a business model...

When we looked at the potential of IoT in field service last year we were confronted by what can only be called a genuine phenomenon beginning to emerge. One that could potentially change the way companies approach field service delivery entirely.

Indeed, whilst field service technology has been evolving at great pace across the last decade, much of the developments that have arrived - such as enhancements in artificial intelligence driving ever more sophisticated scheduling engines or mobility tools enhancing field service technicians workflows and eliminating unnecessary paper based administration, have been focussed on improving efficiencies and boosting productivity.

---

Click here to download the full, exclusive research report now...

---

IoT on the other hand has the potential to completely revolutionise the processes and methodologies of field service delivery, and in doing so shift the service model into a new paradigm where contracts involving tightly adhered to SLAs are replaced by guarantees of uptime.

 

In this brave new world of servitization, service is no longer the supporting player there just to add value to a product. Instead, the product is now the facilitator for companies to deliver advanced services.

And this is largely made possible by the IoT giving us the ability to monitor assets in the field and react to fluctuations outside of accepted working parameters, delivering proactive maintenance to ensure that the asset continues to deliver its set outcome.

The benefits of such an approach are a more consistent and reliable solution for the customer and a more profitable business which is closer engrained to customers for the service provider - a win-win if ever there was one.

But whilst the theory may sound great, how is this translating into reality?

This is what this year’s survey set out to understand. Building upon last year’s research project which was predominantly focussed solely on IoT this time we have widened our focus somewhat to understand not just if companies are now actively adopting IoT, but what is their motivation for doing so and just how closely is that linked to the shift to servitization or outcome based business models?

What we already know:

To begin with let’s just have a quick recap on the findings of last year’s research project.

The most obvious place to start when reviewing whether business is ready for an IoT revolution is of course to ascertain whether companies feel they have an asset base that is suited to sensor based monitoring. Here we found that just under half of companies (42%) felt that they already had an asset base that was suitable.

Given the relative infancy of IoT in field service at this point, with the general understanding of what is and isn’t possible amongst service professionals understandably relatively low, this was indeed an impressive starting point to build upon.

However, it was in the next round of questioning that we really began to see the huge appetite for IoT to appear.

We asked our respondents to rank the technologies they felt would have the biggest impact on field service within the next five years.

 

IoT was the clear winner here - with more than twice as many people stating they felt IoT would be the big technology in the short to mid term for field service, than those who cited the second most popular technology, Big Data.

This belief in IoT was further evidenced when over half (55%) of our respondents stated they thought “IoT will become a fundamental part of field service operations in the future” whilst a further 21% went further stating that “IoT is critical to any field service organisation’s strategy".

Further findings in last year’s research, which also pointed to a rapid rise to prominence of the role of IoT in Field Service, included the fact that almost three quarters of respondents (74%) felt that IoT based field service strategies were applicable to companies of all sizes and that well over two thirds of respondents (71%) felt that IoT would be common place amongst field service companies within the next three years.

Such a wealth of positive data seemed absolutely conclusive - IoT was going to be playing a big role in field service. Indeed, in our research report of last year’s findings we concluded:

“The Internet of Things is set for widespread adoption amongst field service companies and we can expect to see that adoption occur at a fairly rapid rate”

Look out for part two of this weekly series where we will find out if our previous hypotheses have been bourne out...

---

Click here to download the full, exclusive research report now...

---

Be social and share this feature

Resource Type: eBook
Published by:  coresystems
Title: An Introduction To Field Service Management

---

Click here to download eBook now

---

By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis:

Over the course of the past several years, field service management (FSM) software has evolved to keep pace with the changing technologies that have emerged in recent years, such as the cloud and mobility.

In the modern environment, it’s now necessary for field service software to integrate CRM and ERP functionality in order to ensure that all aspects of service can be managed more effectively.

This eBook takes a detailed look at the core fundamental areas of field service management and how you can improve your own processes to ensure your field service delivery is best in class.

Overview:

This eBook looks at the following topics across six chapters

Technology and Field Service

We look at the role cloud and mobility have played in transforming field service and also assess what new security concerns these two technologies may bring. We also look at emerging technologies including IoT and 3D printing and explore what role they could have in field service delivery.

High Value Field Service

For high value industries, which suffer substantial losses when downtime occurs, FSM solutions can help to mitigate the risk of downtime, as well as design, plan, implement and report on high value services which are typically complex  industrial installations.

It’s thought that on average, businesses lose between $84,000 and $108,000 in revenue for every hour that they suffer network downtime. This section focusses on the cost to the customer of poor field service delivery and what ultimately that cost could be to your business also.

What to look for in a FSM solution

When it comes to choosing the right FSM solution for your organisation, there’s a lot to consider. It’s necessary to properly understand how it will be used within the business and how it aligns with business goals. It’s also important that the solution is future-proof in order to allow for existing technologies to work for the organisation, as well as consider how these might change in the future.

In this section we explore what some of the key considerations are in terms of identifying the right type of business to meet your organisations field service delivery demands.

Managing the Field Service Workforce

One of the most important aspects of your FSM solution will be team management. In order to make full use of integrated FSM, it’s necessary that your solution have the functionality to allow you to effectively collaborate and mobilise the workforce. In this section we look at how best-in-class organisations effectively utilise their FSM solution to better manage their mobile workforce.

---

Click here to download eBook now

---

be social and share this feature

Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  Astea International Ltd
Title: Standing alone or part of a bigger picture?

---

Click here to download the white paper

---

By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis:

First-call resolution or first-time fix rates have become a critical key performance indicator (KPI) for field service organisations interested in gaining a competitive advantage.

While historically automation efforts in field service have focused on improving efficiency and productivity in an effort to reduce costs or complete more work orders each day, they have not necessarily had a direct impact on customer satisfaction.

This white paper looks at the importance of first-time fix rates when it comes to customer satisfaction and explores means in which you can improve your own first time fix rates.

Overview:

Customers don’t necessarily measure field service effectiveness in terms of efficiency. Yes, they want a technician to arrive as quickly as possible, but they also want their problem solved quickly and, preferably, in a single visit.

If a repair can’t be made because of a missing part or lack of expertise on the part of the technician, customers experience costly downtime as well as frustration.

That’s why first-time fix rates should be a top priority for companies interested in improved customer retention.

There is significant room for improvement in many organizations. According to data from The Service Council, the average first-time fix rate for service companies is just 74%, while failure to resolve an issue on the first visit was a top customer complaint according to 34% of respondents.

In an Aberdeen Group survey, first-time fix rate was cited as a critical service metric by 38% of respondents, just below service profitability (41%) and customer satisfaction (68%). (Source: “Evolution of the Field Service Business: Optimizing the Field Service Chain,” Aberdeen Group).

First-call resolution plays a critical role in improving customer service and profitability. However, improving first-call resolution rates is not a simple proposition. There are a number of different factors that play a role, including parts availability and logistics issues, technician training, vehicle management, optimised scheduling, diagnostic tools, and dynamic dispatching capabilities. Without the right systems in place and without proper process design, it can be difficult or even impossible to improve performance.

Tackling any one of these elements individually won’t solve the problem. Service organisations have to take a systemic and holistic approach that will enable them to get the right technician to the customer site, equipped with all of the necessary parts and technical know-how in a timely fashion. This is crucial to ensure successful customer interactions.

This white paper looks at:

• The high cost of return visits
• A fix for first time fix rates
• Integrated Service Management
• Preventative measures
• Continuous improvement

---

Click here to download the white paper

---

be social and share this feature

Nissan Europe and Telogis, a Verizon company, have partnered to offer next-generation connected vehicle technologies and services to Nissan commercial customers in Europe.

The new NissanConnect Fleet powered by Telogis offering will connect customers’ vehicles, people and the work that is being done, helping to make drivers safer, providing higher levels of service, while improving sustainability and operational efficiency.

The time has come for Nissan commercial customers to benefit from the visibility and operational intelligence they gain by connecting their business,” said Philippe Guerin-Boutaud, Corporate Vice President, Global LCV Business Unit, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. “From empowering workers on the road and in the field to help them be safer and more efficient, to optimising daily delivery routes, NissanConnect Fleet will have a transformational effect on the way Nissan customers do business.”

Whether you’re a fleet manager or a small business owner, our role is to help you choose a vehicle that suits your specific business needs. From a one van fleet, to multiple vehicles, our highly trained Local Fleet Specialists will work out the most practical and affordable solution for your business.

 

The introduction of the new NissanConnect Fleet service marks an important step in advancing Nissan’s connected services offering across Europe, and also forms part of the brand’s Intelligent Mobility strategy that is guiding Nissan’s product and technology development to create a safer and more sustainable future.[/quote]The introduction of the new NissanConnect Fleet service marks an important step in advancing Nissan’s connected services offering across Europe, and also forms part of the brand’s Intelligent Mobility strategy that is guiding Nissan’s product and technology development to create a safer and more sustainable future.

 

Utilising hardware that has been factory-fitted or installed by a certified Nissan dealer, NissanConnect Fleet connects the vehicle to Telogis’ Mobile Resource Management (MRM) software platform. This platform receives and analyses proprietary Nissan data from each vehicle including driver and vehicle performance history, and turns it into actionable information to help companies of all sizes make more informed business decisions.

“Customers will experience near-immediate return on investment by utilising the built-in connection in their Nissan vehicles,” said Kevin Moore, Vice President, Global OEM Automotive Sales at Telogis. “Telogis delivers mission-critical applications that enable Nissan commercial customers in Europe to connect, optimise and automate their operations, improve the lives of their drivers and provide a higher level of service to their own customers.”

Many of the world’s largest and most well-known commercial fleets connect their vehicles, assets, people, customers and the work that’s being done outside the four walls of their business through the Telogis MRM platform. Once connected, Telogis software will optimise and automate work and processes to drive safety, productivity, efficiency and sustainability in businesses of all sizes.

The NissanConnect Fleet powered by Telogis offering will be available in Europe this autumn supporting the following initial vehicles (with more to come):

 

• All crossover range Qashqai, X-Trail and Juke
• Medium-compact car Pulsar
• New Navara One Ton Pick-up
• NV200 light commercial vehicles (LCV)
• NT400 Cabstar medium-duty vehicles
• Nissan electric vehicles (EVs) - LEAF and e-NV200[/unordered_list] 

Whether it’s supporting fleet managers or a small business owners, Nissan is committed to finding solutions that will help drive forward its customers’ businesses.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Intelligent traffic signs provider, Swarco Traffic Ltd, is saying good riddance to whiteboards and complex Excel spreadsheets...

The company is implementing SC5.1, the latest iteration of Tesseract’s service management software, in a bid to revolutionise its asset and field service management and boost efficiency.

Swarco is responsible for keeping drivers informed and traffic moving, by way of smart parking guidance signs, directional signs, speed warning signs and smart motorway information boards. Swarco’s tailor-made traffic management solutions are used by city centres and motorways nationwide, including major shopping centres like Westfield in London and the Trafford Centre in Manchester.

With more than ten thousand signs across the UK, Swarco relies on a hardworking team of engineers to maintain the signs and remedy faults. At present, Swarco has dedicated staff using whiteboards and an Excel planner to manage its engineers’ schedules and ensure that sign maintenance and repairs are carried out efficiently and on time. However, the process is manual and time-consuming.

 

The other problem is that Swarco does not always have access to GPS coordinates for each sign, which leads to difficulties directing engineers to the exact location of the equipment.

“Tesseract is going to give us automation, immediacy and visibility,” says Berony Abraham, Operations Director for Swarco. “The new system will automatically allocate work according to skill set and location, direct engineers to exactly the right place using GPS, and let our customers log in and report faults. Several of our largest clients have already expressed interest in this.”

Swarco looked at a variety of different solutions before selecting Tesseract. “We went with Tesseract because it’s UK-based, really simple and easy to use, and the staff are so helpful,” says Berony. “It’s also more or less off-the-shelf. In other words, you can use it straight away without having to spend ages customising it.”

 

---

 

Be social and share this story

In his leader for this issue, Kris Oldland looks at whether we are entering a storm of new technologies that could have a truly disruptive influence on Field Service as well as welcoming a number of new columnists to our fold...

 

---

 

Click here to download a digital version of Field Service News issue 13 now

 

---

 

It’s a phrase I’ve used a few times in this editorial leader, but I think in this issue of Field Service News we are seeing ever greater evidence of a perfect storm of technologies coming together to push forward field service evolution faster and further than ever before...

The obvious starting point of this storm is the Cloud and it is the Cloud where we turn our attention for this quarter’s research. This is the third year running that we have explored the question of whether field service companies are adopting the Cloud as a platform for FSM solutions so we have the opportunity to really define some emerging trends.

Indeed there were some interesting statistics turned up in the research this time around with the key headline findings being that adoption of the Cloud is definitely picking up speed, whilst one of the big barriers to Cloud adoption, namely concerns around security, seems to be gradually abating.

You can read the full report based on the findings starting from page 29.

Another technology that I believe will certainly push the frontiers of how we approach field service operations is Augmented Reality, an assertion that leading industry analyst and regular Field Service News contributor Bill Pollock agrees with in his latest expert view column on page 22.

Of course it is almost impossible to talk about Augmented Reality without at least touching briefly on the topic of Pokemon Go! The mobile phone craze that has turned people of all ages, in all corners of the world, into hunters of small digital creatures that seem to live in Augmented Reality.

However, I am pleased to report that this was just a minor side note in our exclusive interview with Scott Montgomerie, CEO of Scope AR, a specialist Augmented Reality provider that have their eyes firmly set on field service as an industry ready to embrace AR. You can find this interview on page 36.

Then we have the Internet of Things - perhaps the poster boy of technology that is driving change in modern field service.

One company working heavily in this area, with a plethora of high street brands, is Verisae and in our exclusive interview with Jerry Dolinsky their CEO, he explains not only how IoT can improve field service operations, or why it is apparently on the wish list of OEMs and third party service providers alike, but also why it is important to have certain baseline technologies in place before you can approach an IoT implementation. This interview is on page 18.

Of course all of this technology gives us the opportunity to push the way we approach service thinking, and such shifts in thinking and innovation are at the heart of Jan Van Veen’s feature on page 22. Jan is one of a number of new columnists to have joined our ranks this issue, with Michael Blumberg, Jim Baston, and Coen Jeukins all contributing to the issue as well. Each of them brings with them a wealth of experience from the service management market.

 

It is testament to the ever-growing stature of Field Service News within the global field service community, that we are able to welcome four new contributors, form four different countries, bringing four different perspectives to join our collection of highly talented and highly informative guest columnists.

And the growth of our stature is truly as much to do with the fantastic support we have received from our readers and sponsors from day one as it is to do with the great team I’m fortunate enough to head up here, so thanks to you all!

It is our role to be a central touch point for the field service community and right now that is an incredibly exciting place to be!

 

---

 

Click here to download a digital version of Field Service News issue 13 now

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Augmented Reality has the potential to transform the way we approach field service but is the technology ready to go mainstream? Kris Oldland talks exclusively to Scott Montgomerie, CEO of Scope AR...

Any regular readers of Field Service News will know that we’ve been fans of the potential use of Augmented Reality (AR) for some time here at Field Service News towers.

However, in the past it has sometimes felt that we were something of a lone voice in championing the potential of AR to possibly change the way that a number of companies operate their field service operations, with AR seemingly get far less attention than other emerging technologies like Cloud Computing, Internet of Things or even Wearables.

Yet there is a definite sense that things are beginning to change.

At the recent Field Service Forum held in Amsterdam, I hosted a series of round-tables on the topic of AR and whereas just a year ago the conversation was very much around understanding the technology and its application within a field service deployment, now the talk has shifted to how such technology can be implemented.

 

Indeed, the busiest booth in the exhibitor zone at the conference was that of Swedish AR provider XM Reality who had a constant group of Service Directors around them as they demonstrated their approach to the tech.

Similarly at both Field Service Medical and Field Service USA earlier this year Help Lightning, whose own AR solution evolved from an emergency healthcare solution, were the darlings of both events.

And another AR provider that has seen the potential of AR in field service is Scope AR, a Californian based company that have been putting together an impressive list of clients and partners across the last five years which includes the likes of Phillips, Toyota and Boeing.

They’ve certainly built up a decent pedigree within the fledgling sector - much of which can be attributed to the bold view they hold that AR not just about enhancing existing communications channels but in fact a completely new form of user interface that can transform the way we utilise the ever growing computing power available to us on the move.

As CEO Scott Montgomerie explains “We’ve been doing augmented reality for quite a while, we started in the space about five years ago and when we started looking at use cases we realised that AR wasn’t just a new fun technology but a user interface that could allow people to interact with the real world in a way that had never been done before.”

“If you think about the way that people have been interacting with computers and all the benefits they bring such as analytics and the computations they can give us, we have been interacting with them ever since inception through a two dimensional screen  - whether it be mobile, tablet or desktop. Augmented Reality really provides you with an opportunity to interact with the real world in the way that we have evolved - with our eyes and hands. Seeing things positioned in 3D just like we are meant to.”

 

Scott and his team were able to take this thinking and hone in very quickly on the areas of industry that could benefit from AR, including of course field service.

“We realised there is a whole segment of industry that hasn’t really had the ability to take advantage of the amazing power of the computers they use,” he continues.

“And that’s really where we see Augmented Reality providing huge benefits - by bringing massive computing power in a brand new user interface and allowing guys that use their eyes and their hands out in the field to take advantage of this new technology..”

In fact, the Scope AR story essentially begins with a piece of work they did for a client working within the mining and aggregates sector.

Having been approached to put together a step-by-step training solution that harnessed the power of AR, the project evolved quickly to a proof of concept that their client liked so much they decided to showcase it at MineExpo in Las Vegas.

What was supposed to be relatively low key three demonstrations a day across three days snowballed into being one of the event’s main highlights, with Montgomerie and his colleagues eventually giving 110 presentations with crowds of up to a 100 people at each.

This was the tipping point for Montgomerie where he realised the potential of the application and just how pervasive it could be.

 

“From there on we were like wow - I think we’ve found something!” He admits

Soon Scope AR were working with the likes of Boeing and Toyota building out more step-by -step training and maintenance procedures. A period which Montgomerie explains as “just being a service company trying to work out how best to use Augmented Reality.”

The work that was undertaken at this point was what ultimately led to the development of the WorkLink platform that Scope AR have recently launched.

And whilst the primary purpose for WorkLink is as a training tool, having watched the demonstration I immediately could also see an application for health and safety compliance also.

Many field service management solutions currently offer a check-list functionality in order to ensure workers are not only meeting compliance standards but working in a safe manner. Things like switch off the mains, then remove the cover plate, then remove screw ‘a’ for example - with each step only being revealed once the current one is completed.

Through the WorkLink platform, each of these steps can be both visually demonstrated and also confirmed as completed via built-in analytics that capture checklist verifications and metadata such as how long it took to perform each step.

In short the content creation platform allows the rapid development of AR work instructions, allowing you to use converted 3D models, add animations, text, images, videos, check-lists, etc. in a branched workflow, to give intuitive, visual instructions.

Another useful benefit is that once ‘smart’ instructions are deployed into the field, the digital instructions automatically start collecting valuable data such as time per step, user and usage information, geo location, etc which can lead to greater insight to how your engineers are performing.

However, whilst this WorkLink has clear applications as either a training or compliance tool it does have limitations in-terms of being a communication platform for connecting remote engineers to more experienced colleagues.

 

Part of the problem, which is faced by many AR providers not just Scope AR, is that computer vision right now is still fairly rudimentary and in the field you ideally want a system to recognise parts automatically.

Scope AR like many similar tools relies primarily on fiducial markers and in the field these can get ripped or damage fairly easily.

So whilst Scope AR do offer their customers durable ‘beer coaster’ sized markers to help over come this issue, their alternative offering ‘Remote AR’ is a simpler use of AR technology that whilst still making use of markers,  is more focussed on the use of annotations and drawings that can be added by the both users and which once added will stay fixed to relevant device section regardless of whether or not the video angle changes.

The solution also has a low band-width option which reduces the video feed to every 5 frames which again is a simple but highly effective and practical way of dealing with one of the other biggest challenges of AR - connectivity.

 

And as with WorkLink, Remote AR was also a solution that was born out of a real life working scenario.

“We were working with a client in Brazil who were facing a major problem where they were manufacturing equipment in Brazil and distributing it in Africa and they were having a lot of communications problems - the local Africans didn’t understand Portuguese and the Brazilians didn’t understand the African dialect, so they had to send people from Brazil over to Africa to fix the equipment at enormous cost,” explains Montgomerie.

“They told us was ‘what we really want to be able to do is get on a video call with these guys and be able to draw and annotate and show what they are doing an create instructions in real time.’ So that was the idea behind Remote AR - that the technician in the field could transmit by video what he is seeing to an expert and that expert can draw annotations in Augmented Reality and as the technician moves around those annotations can stick to what he is looking at”

“It is really a fairly basic use of Augmented Reality but it’s very useful, it’s very practical and it’s usable now.” He adds.

In fact to add further weight to this assertion Montgomerie is able to cite another of their clients, with a field force of 10,000 engineers who have been able to use Remote AR to reduce the amount of time spent on support calls within a contact centre by over half.

However, despite case studies such as these coming to the fore, there still remains in many corners the perception that whilst AR is undoubtedly a technology with huge potential within field service, is still has some way to go in terms of maturity before it becomes pervasive.

 

Yet, Montgomerie believes that this is now starting to change.

“We were definitely around in the early days when AR was just starting to get accepted as a tool for the enterprise, but I think this year we have started to see an inflection point. We have now reached the point where people are aware of Augmented Reality and they want to use it, they now know it’s viable,” he comments.

Indeed, the technology has developed at a rapid pace across the last half a decade - although as further developments in hardware appear on the horizon there is a lot of potential for further refinement.

“As far as where the technology is, just within the last couple of years we’ve started to see cameras that are good enough to pick up those markers in challenging conditions and 3D cameras and Google’s Tango is really exciting for us . We are really looking forward to that getting into wider circulation”

“We really like the partnership that they did with Lenovo we expect to buy a whole load of those Lenovo phones (the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro which features depth sensing camera technology) for our customers. I actually expect that depth sensing technology to be in our all of our phones in the next few years - there is just too many cool things you can do with it to pass it up.”

“Apple acquired a company a while ago called PrimeSense, and then they acquired a software company last year called Metaio and with the two of those they are in an extremely good position to bring out a depth camera as well.”

“So I think that the hardware manufacturers are really going to solve that problem for us a. With depth tracking cameras a) we will be able to do marker tracking so much better and b) the level of interaction you can have between the two users  is much, much better.”

Indeed arguably the introduction of depth sensitive cameras as a commonplace inclusion in smartphones and tablets could just be the final breakthrough that AR needs to cement itself as a regular tool amongst field service organisations.

 

And Montgomerie thinks this will happen sooner rather than later.

“I think that we will see this in about two years,” he states.

“I believe the Lenovo phone is set  to launch in September and there are a couple of other OEMs lining up there announcements as well. Then what we typically see with phone manufacturers is when a very advanced technology comes out within the next year many other manufacturers pick it up and then within the following year it becomes lower cost and quite pervasive. So within the next couple of years I think we will see this technology being on all phones.”

So does Montgomerie see his client base as early adopters?

“Its a little bit of both,” he explains. “We’ve definitely got a lot of companies that are forward thinking - they are actively looking for the latest and greatest technologies and they want to be on the leading edge, but we’ve also got some of our companies, and actually they are some of our best customers, that are not exactly forward thinking.”

“Some of them weren’t even sure what Augmented Reality was, they just contacted us after seeing our videos, and seeing the utility of Remote AR and they saw that they could communicate much better than they were capable of doing currently.”

“In that sense they weren’t looking for the technology but they actually saw that it solved a real problem for them and they were ready to adopt it. I’m not really sure that they even fully understood what Augmented Reality is - they just know this is a product that works.”

This is perhaps the greatest selling point for both Scope AR and Augmented Reality in general. As with any technology that eventually takes root and becomes part of our day-to-day operations it is the actual benefit, and the methodology of improving business processes that companies want to buy - rather than the technology itself.

Of course it is impossible to have any conversation about Augmented Reality today without inevitably touching on Pokemon Go.

 

For those that have just returned from Mars, Pokemon Go is a mobile gaming phenomenon that uses Augmented Reality to bring one of  Nintendo’s best loved franchises into the Twenty First century. In fact it’s hard not to bump into someone that hasn’t at least heard of Pokemon Go such is the phenomenon - and it is putting AR directly into the hands of the man on the street.

But is that a good thing for AR in the enterprise? It certainly does give a clear, if somewhat simplistic understanding of what AR is to the average person.

But is there a danger that the power of AR as a genuine productivity tool within field service and wider enterprise could be dismissed as a gimmick if it is too heavily associated with a mobile game?

Given Montgomerie’s position as a leader within the sector I felt he was the perfect man to address this question.

“I think it’s good for AR in general in that it’s bringing awareness of the technology to people - at the very least I won’t have to explain what augmented reality is anymore!” He quips.

“I think its proving that AR is viable as a technology. Even though it is very simplistic use of it - I was playing with that type of use of AR five years ago - maybe longer. We do much more sophisticated applications of AR in the sense that aligning content precisely on top of equipment is much harder than putting a fuzzy animal at some unspecified location in front of you. But still I think it’s great for the industry and that can only be good for us.”

So whether it be depth sensitive camera’s, Google Tango or the ability to catch a Charmander while out doing your shopping, it seems it is just a matter of time before Augmented Reality seeps into the mainstream consciousness.

And given it’s potential to have a profoundly transformational effect on how we undertake field service operations, the likelihood is it will become a pervasive part of our industry soon enough as well.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Improving first-call/visit resolution rates can be challenging and frustrating for field service organisations, because there are so many factors and variables that prevent technicians from completing a repair on the first visit writes Astea's Debbie Geiger...

 

---

 

Find out more about this subject in Astea's latest white paper here

 

---

 

The customer may not provide enough information to the call center representative, or that information may not be accurately relayed to the dispatcher or tech; the technician may need assistance with the repair; the parts might not be available, or the tools may not be on-site; the dispatcher may not allot enough time for the repair in the schedule.

There are ways to improve first-call resolution rates, but they require a shift in strategy and an investment in work order, dispatch, and scheduling automation solutions.

We recently held a webinar in conjunction with RTM Consulting. During this webinar we presented some operational and technology strategies for improving first-time fix rates in our webinar “First Call/Visit Resolution: Getting it Fixed the First Time.”

Aberdeen Group found in a survey of service organisations that first-time fix rates were considered a top key performance indicator (KPI) by 38 percent of respondents. That’s because failing to fix an issue on the first visit can be detrimental to customer satisfaction and retention.

 

Yet, according to The Service Council (TSC), average first-time fix rates are just 74 percent; that means more than a quarter of all calls require multiple visits.

Those additional visits come at considerable cost. Aberdeen found that service calls that aren’t resolved in a single visit require an average of 1.5 additional visits to complete. Even for small organisations, that can result in thousands of dollars in additional costs per day. And that doesn’t even include the cost of lost business from those disappointed customers, who are more likely to look elsewhere for their service needs.

The problem, according to Randy Mysliviec, president and CEO of RTM Consulting, is that many service organisations take a “Whac-A-Mole” approach to solving the problem, addressing the causes of first-time fix failures in a disorganised fashion.

 

The key to addressing the problem is to take a more disciplined, holistic approach, and RTM has outlined three critical planning components for addressing first-time fix rates:

Prevention:

Improved training of call centre staff and technicians, increase use of remote diagnostics and Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and improved preventive or predictive maintenance approaches can reduce the number of equipment failures that need fixed in the first place.

Triage:

Carefully outline incident handling, support tiers, parts management, and other processes that affect the likelihood of having the right technician and the right part at the customer site.

Continuous Improvement:

Institute knowledge management, variability analysis, root cause analysis, and process improvement strategies so you measure, track, and log information that will help make your service organization a little smarter after every incident.

Clearly outline what you want your first-call resolution processes to look like, and implement the technology needed to manage and support delivery of those services. Create a gap analysis so you know how you are performing now, and how you’d like to be performing in the future.

To succeed, you must have a collaborative field service management infrastructure in place that provides a seamless flow of information from the call centre to the dispatcher and out to the technician.

 

Through collaboration and improved data visibility, your team can find better solutions for each customer problem, and do so more efficiently and likely at a lower cost.

Remote monitoring of assets helps capture service diagnostic information that can be provided to field technicians in advance. Giving call centre staff more guidance through question trees and full access to customer history data can help resolve more calls over the phone (without costly truck rolls), and provide better information to technicians when they do have to go on-site.

 

---

 

Find out more about this subject in Astea's latest white paper here

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature