AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

A recent study by US firm Software Advice, a company  offering comparisons and research for dispatch software, identified a number of insights into how the levels of service provided by home services are impacted by dispatching technology with GPS-enabled capabilities.

We spoke with Justin Guinn, the field service market researcher at Software  Advice, who conducted the study and developed an in-depth report on the topic. We discussed how, when it comes to home service providers, common customer pain points can include lengthy arrival-time windows and waiting on late technicians. We dove into how GPS-enabled software offers a solution to these pain points by providing more effective scheduling, routing and dispatching.

Field Service News: Your new study shows the impact that scheduling has on customer  satisfaction. What did you uncover?

Justin Guinn: Our study uncovered that accurate, strategic scheduling is imperative for successful field service businesses. We found that after a service provider is an hour late to an appointment, two-thirds of consumers simply won’t do business with that company again. In such a competitive market, this sort of customer attrition can kill a business.

Fortunately for service providers, proper scheduling, routing, and dispatching software directs technicians along optimised daily routes so that they most effectively get from appointment to appointment in a timely manner.

FSN: Things can always come up in the field. Is there something that service  providers can do to retain those customers if they are running late?

JG: Interestingly, we found that 73 percent of consumers are more likely to rehire a provider if they receive a notification with an updated arrival time for the technician. Clearly customers expect punctuality, but this indicates they also just want to be kept in the know. We all greatly value our time, so this makes sense. This is why many field service software offerings feature automated text messaging capabilities that do just this.

FSN: So, technology can automatically help a business keep a loyal client base?

JG: Well, to maintain loyal customer base field service businesses first and foremost need to obviously deliver quality work with great customer service. Dispatching and scheduling software isn’t going to “fix” technicians with clumsy skills and/or crummy attitudes, but, like I mentioned, it does ensure punctuality and offer an effective remedy to late technicians. The software also enables applicable service segments to schedule repeat/recurring visits while onsite with customers, ensuring retention; some systems even act as a point of sale, allowing technicians to accept payment for the current job and any newly scheduled visits.

These capabilities above are great for increasing revenue and generating customer retention, but what about growing a field service business footprint? Dispatching and scheduling software plays an important role in achieving this growth by simply enabling technicians to get more work orders completed each day. We found that 95 percent of service business saw an increase in work orders completed per technician per day. Work orders equal customers, and the more customer interactions a service business can create, the more relationships they can build and the more chances for repeat business.

FSN: Apart from customer-facing benefits or the number of work orders per day,  did you discover any other direct financial benefits of this kind of software?

JG: The other main benefit of this software comes into play by reducing overhead costs and expenses.

Our study showed that 89 percent of service companies see a decrease in fuel costs after adopting dispatching and scheduling software. It makes sense: optimised routing leads to less time spent on the road and less time spent sitting in traffic, thus less fuel being used. On top of that, our research shows that 95 percent of businesses see an increase in technician punctuality after implementing this kind of technology. This brings it back to the first point of getting mobile technicians to a job on time, thus retaining more customers.

Some of these systems can get even more granular by tracking technicians’ driving habits. For example, this capability allows the back office to see if a technician is accelerating too quickly, thus unnecessarily burning fuel. As a mobile workforce grows, so to does the impact of this feature. But no matter the workforce size, tracking and monitoring driving habits enables companies to increase safety by implementing and incentivizing driving best practices.

FSN: You had another recent report that found 54% of field service businesses  don't use any software at all to manage their business. For that majority, why do you think they're hesitant to adopt technology?

JG: A likely reason that field service software adoption rates are so low is because companies/owners/managers might be intimidated by the many software choices. So instead of springing for software, they continue going about their manual ways until it eventually just becomes too much to handle. We talk to many field service operators everyday, and this is typically the predicament they’re facing.

They’ve been operating their business with “comfortable disorganisation,” but it’s taking a toll on their professional and personal life. That’s why we try to provide a personalised shortlist of products based on the needs of their business. In a sense, we’re typically  the first step for field service operators to get their business in order and reclaim some sanity in their lives.

 

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TomTom Telematics is bringing IT professionals and app/software developers together to take the industry to the next level at its unique .connect Developer Conference 2015.

Now in its second year, the conference will take place on June 9 in Amsterdam. Attendees will be able to share ideas, experiences and best practice while discovering the latest opportunities in connected applications for business vehicles during the full-day event.

A number of inspiring technical sessions will help delegates make best use of the APIs and SDKs provided with TomTom's open telematics platform WEBFLEET, stimulating the development of more groundbreaking apps and integrations. Commercial support will also be provided, giving developers guidance on how to bring connected vehicle solutions to market that address the current and future needs of businesses in a variety of market sectors.

“Last year’s conference proved a resounding success with delegates attending from 12 countries across the globe and we are looking forward to building on the momentum this year,” said Taco van der Leij, VP Marketing, TomTom Telematics.

“We currently stand on the verge of an exciting new era for the fleet management industry, with ever increasing possibilities for the creation of new industry solutions that harness the power of connected vehicles. Together with our partners we want to create new apps and integrations that will offer innovative benefits to customers in any industry, operating any type of vehicle fleet. Whether focused on driver behaviour, safety, efficiency, productivity or customer service, these new technologies will help to revolutionise business processes through greater levels of automation and insight and ultimately bring the technology closer to the driver."

 

The .connect Developer Conference will also provide delegates with information on WEBFLEET's latest features. These include OptiDrive 360, a driver behaviour tool providing real-time, predictive advice on performance; Remaining Driving Times, which monitors driver hours for working time compliance; and the Mobile Device Management platform, allowing businesses to manage the remote distribution of software for the new customisable PRO8 driver terminal.

With more than 330 partners, TomTom Telematics already has the largest partner ecosystem in the fleet management industry. The market-leading range of apps built in and around the WEBFLEET platform cover a variety of functions -  including CRM and ERP, planning and scheduling, route optimisation, temperature control, mobile printing and lone worker safety - and are all available in the company's App Center.  Integrations are also available for usage based insurance.

 

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Developers and IT professionals interested in attending the .connect Developer Conference 2015 can register at http://business.tomtom.com/ttdc15

 

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A lot of technology can improve the way we work in field service but none can change the way we operate so fundamentally as the introduction of smart glasses. That is the opinion of Kyle Semani, CEO of Pristine IO and in this series of articles we've talked exclusively to Semani at length on why he sees smart glasses revolutionising the field service industries.

In the first part of this series we looked at the why despite Google removing their Glass Xplorer program in field service at least the future of Glass and other competitor products is very much alive and well. In part two we Semani outlined some very significant savings that can be made through the correct application of smart glasses in field service. Now in the final feature of this series we look at some of the challenges faced by smart glasses and how they can be overcome... 

As anyone who managed to get their hands on a Beta edition of Glass will testify excitement soon turned to frustration as you realised that even with moderate use the battery life just wasn’t enough to last you more than a few hours, five or six if you were lucky. Surely this is an issue that must be rectified if Smart Glasses are to have a place in field service?

Well for Samani – it’s just not that big an issue. “Our system today gets two to three times the battery life that you’d get if you were using a consumer product straight out of the box.” He begins when probed on this issue, pretty much shooting down the criticism there and then.

 

“That’s mainly down to optimisations being made at the operating system level as well as our own app doing a number of different things to help out.” He clarifies. However, he doesn’t stop there.

He continues to point out that even without such optimisation fears around battery life really aren’t that valid anyway.

“In terms of practical use” he continues “well we aggregate our customer data and the average call length is between eight and twelve minutes, very few of our calls exceed that time-line and the reality is that nobody needs to watch video for that long.

They may call back twenty minutes later but it’s pretty rare that someone needs to call for fortyfive minutes straight. It’s just not very useful and that just doesn’t happen. So battery life isn’t by and large proven to be an issue.”

He has a point, a very good one at that.

Something that many of us are guilty of is trying to align wearable devices with existing mobile computing options such as tablets, smart phones and so on.

However, the simple fact is that the use case is very different. We need to think of what the smart glasses would, and would not, be used for. If we do this then the reality is that as Samani asserts battery life really needn’t become a significant issue.

“I don’t think that smart watches and smart glasses are that comparable. Yes there both wearables but the use cases for both are really far apart.”

Even in those rare outlier cases where a field engineer does need to stream video excessively Samani has a solution. “ In the off chance that you do need to exceed multiple hours of video streaming in any given day, on our platform you can charge the device whilst you where it.” He concludes “We supply our customers with a battery pack if they need it and with that they could go for 10 hours of consecutive video streaming.” He explains

 

Actually the biggest issue Samani and his team are challenged with is how complex such a device is to use. “The biggest push-back we get is ‘will my field service techs be able to use it effectively?’

For them it’s a legitimate concern, they haven’t used smart glasses in the wild.”He states.

“What I say in that conversation is we have definitively proven, with our customers, that this works and our platform is incredibly easy to use.”

In fairness he certainly isn’t exaggerating when he says it’s easy to use.

Describing the user experience Samani explains “Literally all you need to do is put on the glasses and say ‘OK Glass request support.’”

“After that everything else becomes automated. And the person wearing the glass can focus on the job at hand whether they are turning a wrench, opening a panel, soldering wires... it doesn’t really matter what that person is doing the system becomes completley automated and is incredibly easy to use.”

So with all of the potential gains and very assured responses to potential pitfalls it seems Samani really is the right man , in the right place at the right time and Pristine’s already healthy initial growth is surely set to continue. The only question remains when will we start to see further widespread adoption of smart glasses?

“I think in 2016 it’ll become a reasonably discussed topic, people will accept this is happening people are already doing it and it’ll really start to grow from there.” Samani says.

“You look at IoT in the field service world or workforce management, these are technologies widely discussed in the field service industry and it’s pretty commonly expected that if your not already doing it, you’re going to do it in the next few years. I think in 2016 that type of conversation will happen around smart glasses.”

It is interesting that for Samani, the conversation is focussed very much on Smart Glasses not the wider conversation around wearables. In fact he (quite rightly) sees a significant gap between the application of Smart Watches and Smart Glasses. “I don’t think that smart watches and smart glasses are that comparable. Yes here both wearables but the use cases for both are really far apart. For me watches are for consumers and glasses are for enterprise.” He asserts

 

“Our belief is that glasses will be the ones that really deliver the value for enterprise. Watches can’t really impact how your tech works too much, glasses could change the way we structure our workforce entirely.”

Again with such ambitious rhetoric accuations could be aimed at Samani of over egging the custard. However, whilst he certainly has a tangible excitement to his tone as mentioned above, it is also countered by a measured authroity. He truly believes that smart glasses will change the way we work and he is systematically building his case piece by piece.

“When the data becomes more robust and proven we will publicise it and expect a lot more people to follow suit.” He concludes “There will be definetly some variability in differing industries, who adopts first and why - the more expensive the problem the more likely a company will be to adopt our solution sooner, but we are witnessing a lot of interest and we expect to see a big change in how global field service teams, and even regional ones, deliver customer service in the not so distant future”

 

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In the first part of this exclusive research project run in partnership with Advanced Field Service, we looked at the types of mobile devices being used in the field and why it seems that the days of pen and paper are becoming increasingly numbered. In the second of this four part series we look at whether there is a future for wearables in field service, are devices being used rugged or consumer and has BYOD worked and in part three we looked at how engineers react and respond to the mobility tools they are given.

Now in the final part of this series we turn our attention to what is field service professionals expect from a field service mobile application

There is also a white paper accompanying this series, with even further insights, which you can download here

Operating systems

Having taken a look at whose making the decisions lets return to the decisions being made.

Earlier in this series we looked at the choice between rugged or consumer grade products but what about the software?

Given the earlier finding that the over half of companies are using multiple digital devices it makes sense that the around a third (32%) of companies state they have mixed multiple OS’s in use amongst their field engineers.

 

Aside from these companies however the most popular OS is now Android which alongside the 16% of companies using Apple’s iOS is another clear indication of the rise in prominence of both Tablets and Smart-phones as tools being provided to field service engineers.

However, despite giving away ground to Apple and Android in the mobile market, Window’s still hold onto a relatively strong market share of the OS’s being used in field service with 23% of companies stating that this is their OS of choice.

Also similarly as with the figures around laptops maybe being distorted somewhat by the amount of companies using multiple devices, the same logic would also likely see Window’s market share increase as the majority of laptops would be on a Windows OS of some form.

Going Native

But in an age of HTML5 and Cloud based SaaS solutions how important is an OS anyway?

Well for a very large majority of companies (86%) it seems that operating systems are at the very least a consideration in the selection of a device, whilst for 41% of companies it is a very important factor.

When we reflect back to the worries identified earlier in this report around integration problems then perhaps this is understandable. Keeping HTML5 and web based applications in mind however, is it important for a field service app to be native to any given OS?

Again the majority of our respondents suggested that it is. 

In fact over two-thirds (69%) of companies felt that it was important that a field service app is native to the OS it is running on, whilst 35% felt it was very important. In contrast just 11% felt that it was not important at all.

 

Of course a native app will not only appear far more polished it can often have far richer functionality as it is designed to work in tandem with both the operating system and the device itself.

And our research shows that expectations for field service apps is now extremely high.

Access to account information, access to technical documents, visibility into parts availability, delivery of automatic status updates, recording of time sheets, photo and signature capture and data security were expected as part of a field service app by more than 60% of our respondents.

What we want in a field service app – everything!

However, when it came to the functionality that was required in a field service app the most important element by far was “Access work schedule and complete jobs on site” which almost two thirds of companies (63%) placed amongst the most important functions they require in an app.

Aside from this though almost all other functions had a similar level of responses with “access to technical documents” being the second most popular requirement with 42% of companies identifying this as important to them followed by “delivery of automatic status updates”(41%), “access to account information”(39%), “Photo/signature capture” (35%),“recording of time sheets” (35%), “visibility into parts availability” (27%), and “data security” (23%).

 

Finally lets look at why companies invest in field service solutions.

What is definitely encouraging is that the most common reason for companies upgrading their existing systems is to improve the service they are delivering to their customers.

I am a firm believer in putting the customers at the heart of all we do in field service and it appears I am not alone in this ethos.

However the good news is that often by doing so we can see other benefits. One of these is improving productivity which was the second most commonly cited reason for investing in a new field service management solution.

This was followed by the “reduction of paperwork” and “cost savings” being the third and fourth most popular reasons for a new system while “Automation of routine tasks” was the fifth most popular reason cited. Finally despite the often painted Big Brother impact of a field service solution, visibility into workers was actually the least common of the reasons given for introducing a new field service management solution.

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Want to know more? Download the exclusive research report now!

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Find out more about Advanced Field Service in the Field Service News Directory

 

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Please note that by downloading the above research report you agree to these fascinating terms and conditions

 

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In our recent series of articles we have asked if recruitment is going to be field services greatest challenge and explored why despite a negative press millennials are in fact a natural fit for field service.

The reason for this series is to introduce some of the themes ahead of our next webinar which is being held tomorrow at 4pm GMT. You can register for this webinar by clicking this link.

In the final part of this series we look at how we can attract millennials to our organisation.

“Gone are the days of where a company’s participation in regional hiring events or advertising in a paper or even a website is going to bring in a throng of great candidates.” Comments ServiceMax’s Patrice Eberline.

“This generation has different hot buttons and therefore requires different bait to entice them to your company.”

Eberline is a firm believer in having to understand the mindset of millennials and restructuring our approach towards recruitment if we are to attract the best-of-the-best to our companies.

“In order to attract this generation we need to support the notion that recruiting is a two way street. In addition to screening for skills and fits we need to  pay attention to supporting their hot buttons also” She explains.

In our forthcoming webinar Eberline will outline seven of these hot buttons which consist of:

Company Values Mission and purpose.

“At every opportunity underscore your companies higher purpose so they can pull context from social media.” She states

“The values, the mission, the benefits of a company should not be ignored in the recruiting process. Remember that these candidates have an unlimited amount of information and access to that information via the web. They will likely come to an interview with a great deal more knowledge than you might expect.”

The social media presence of your brand.

“Social is where they live we can’t ignore it.” Says Eberline “Use this as an outlet to educate candidates, to pull candidates in, to outline your values, just reach out because they will in turn be reaching out. This is the generation that makes that fan base weak or strong through social and it’s not afraid of liking or unliking so this does play a part in recruiting.”

Work life balance

“Something very important for millennials but it does not necessarily mean they are looking for an easy ride.” She insists

“On the contrary millennials are going to work very, very hard for you. That energy they bring is incredible but they are going to respect your respect for work life balance so don’t forget to include that in the conversation. “

Mentorship and training

“Mentorship and training is huge for millennials who really value face time.” Explains Eberline

“Now this may give us some unique challenges as many in field service are managing remote teams. However, if we put a TM at the end of FaceTime it becomes the app. Bring technology in to the mix to enable one to one time ads millennials value learning from others.”

Teamwork and shared goals

“Setting up situations and setting up role expectations that support their collaborative nature that shouldn’t be ignored.” Eberline comments

“Being able to encourage collaboration is something that will bring this generation to you and keep them with you longer.

Variety of experience and growth potential

“Variety is the spice of life.” She adds “They want to experience it all and they want to experience it as much as possible in their work world as much as in their private life. “

Social responsibility

“Millennials gravitate to companies with a strong social responsibility.” Eberline explains “So if your company has that outreach, if it has that as part of its company values then highlight it.”

 

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To hear more from Eberline as well as an additional feature from Nick Frank looking at monetizing IoT in field service click here to register now.  

 

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Running across the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th of June the Service Management Expo remains one of Europe’s key field service events and Field Service News is pleased to be hosting the free educational sessions in the Field Service Solutions theatre once again this year.

In this the final part of this series we look at the third day sessions of the Field Service Solutions Theatre which is being hosted again by Field Service News.

Catch up on what is happening on Day One by clicking here and Day Two by clicking here.

As per Day One and Day Two of the event we see the opening session being given by the Field Service Solutions Theatre co-sponsors IFS and Field Service Management who begin proceedings with a half an hour presentation starting at 12:15pm.

Following on from this session we then move to the first of the days two interviews as once again Kris Oldland takes on his role of interviewer with his guest in the first session being Martin Summerhayes, Head of Stategy and Business Development, Fujitsu live on stage at 1.00pm.

 

In this half an hour session entitled “Employing the next generation of field service engineers” Oldland and Summerhayes will be tackling perhaps the biggest threat that field service companies are currently facing – namely that of the ageing workforce and how companies such as Fujitsu can overcome this challenge.

Having had an exceptional career working from field service engineer himself through to managing teams of varying sizes from a handful to a continent before finally arriving in his current role with Fujitsu, Summerhayes is expertly placed to share his insight into not only the dangers we face as one generation reaches retirement age but also how we must interact with the field service engineers of tomorrow from a young age in order to capture their attention and guide them towards a role in field service.

We follow this session by inviting one of the guests from last year who was a true highlight of the event program, Tim Jones, Professional Services Manager Europe and India. At last years sessions Jones explained how he had moved his field service operations to a de-centralised system, taking time to outline the reasoning for his move, the process he and his team had undergone to make such a transition, how they reorganised there teams, and of course what the early signal are as to how the move is delivering.

It was a bold move when many other field service companies were looking towards doing the opposite and centralising their operations. However, if the amount of questions Jones faced after the interview was any form of indication last years session was certainly left the seeds of an idea in a number of those who attended.

So has it actually worked? Well we’ve invited Jones back to give us the feedback on what has been successful and what has not. What he would have done differently and ultimately if he would advise other companies to follow this path.

 

Finally to bring the sessions to a close we have one final panel discussions which brings together Field Service Solution Zone sponsors TomTom with a number of their partners as we discuss “How connectivity and data are at the core of next gen field service”. The session, which also includes representatives from AllOnMobile, Magenta and Smart Witness is designed to help us put together some of the key leanings from across the three days sessions and see how all of these various technologies can come together to improve a field service organisations daily workflow.

With many predicting that the future of field service will have connectivity at its heart, it will be interesting to see from these various technology leaders about how there various systems can integrate and connect with each other to enrich the data available.  With a focus on enabling smarter decisions the session will ask how can we make the field engineers lives both safer and more effective efficient?

With a full three days worth of excellent and thought provoking line up of sessions the opportunity for discussion over a drink at the end of each day as the theatre becomes a networking hub is sure to be welcomed and on the final day it is certain to be a vibrant opportunity to discuss the ideas and trends highlighted both in the theatre solutions and the wider Service Management Exhibition as well.

 

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To join us at the Service Management Expo click here to register

 

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Two market leaders partner to offer a comprehensive DevOps solution for building     enterprise-class mobile applications and ensuring peak performance

Kony, Inc., a leading enterprise mobility company and SOASTA, a leader in performance analytics, have recently announced a partnership that combines both companies’ capabilities to optimise the performance of enterprise mobile apps across the mobile application development lifecycle.

Through this partnership, Kony and SOASTA will work together to integrate their technologies and combine their expertise to deliver a comprehensive, integrated mobile solution across the DevOps lifecycle for customers. As a result, from prototype to production, mobile apps built on the Kony Mobility Platform can be tested, monitored, measured, analysed and optimised for peak performance with SOASTA’s TouchTest,CloudTestand mPulse solutions for an integrated Mobile DevOps solution.

According to industry analyst firm Gartner, “The need for automation in mobile application testing is high, and is being driven by agile development practices and a desire to drive quality and features based on user analytics. This pace, combined with a broad and changing device ecosystem, creates a test explosion that without automation will end up crushing all but the most trivial application efforts.” (Gartner, Market Guide for Mobile Application Testing, 3 December 2014)

The Kony Mobility Platform is an open and standards-based, integrated platform that supports the entire application software development lifecycle (SDLC), and empowers enterprises to quickly design, build, deploy and manage multi-edge app experiences. The combined Kony and SOASTA offering delivers an expanded, comprehensive new generation mobile DevOps lifecycle support, including design prototyping, rapid development, functional test automation, back-end integration, deployment, user monitoring and advanced mobile real-time analytics. No other vendor is offering this kind of comprehensive solution. This underscores SOASTA and Kony’s commitment to providing the highest level of mobile developer support, helping enterprise companies align business and IT, while also keeping the rapidly growing mobile user population productive on their systems.

DevOps is a software development method that stresses communication, collaboration, integration, automation and measurement of cooperation between software developers and other information-technology (IT) professionals. DevOps acknowledges the interdependence of software development, quality assurance and IT operations and aims to help an organisation rapidly produce software products and services and to improve operations performance.

“In the rapidly growing world of mobile, user experience and application performance are fundamental to enterprise mobile application adoption and success,” said Thomas E. Hogan, CEO, Kony, Inc. “By adding performance analytics and testing solutions to our market-leading enterprise mobility platform, we will empower developers and DevOps teams with the best platform for creating mobile applications at any scale, with the best performance and experience.”

With the integration of Kony and SOASTA, the following new capabilities will be offered to customers:

• Mobile test automation eliminates manual testing delays and accelerates time-to-market, with the SOASTA TouchTest offering
• Continuous performance testing at speed and scale through SOASTA’s patented CloudTest federates millions of cloud-based servers from every major cloud provider
• Access to hundreds of real mobile devices through the cloud for testing at every phase of mobile development, with SOASTA Mobile Device Cloud
• Real User Monitoring (RUM) validates each user experience in real time and correlate real user activity to business metrics through performance analytics, with SOASTA mPulse

“Enterprise mobile application developers will hugely benefit from the partnership between SOASTA and Kony, with the best end-to-end solution to create apps that will perform at the most optimal level,” said Tom Lounibos, CEO, SOASTA. “SOASTA customers are committed to providing the highest level of user experience. Now, Kony customers can also rely on the same market-leading performance analytics to optimise their mobile and Web platforms.

Key benefits of the new end-to-end DevOps platform:

• Continuous test integration and agile delivery enables the business to respond to market and competitive change
• Reuse code and backend APIs across apps, digital channels and form factors
• Leverage the cloud to instantly build, provision, test and scale mobile apps and infrastructure
• Keep up with the rapid pace of new devices, versions, OSs and form factors as they are released
• Use powerful analytics to drive insights, iteration and perfect the UX/UI
• Accelerate performance by analysing all the real user data in real time in a single pane for quick and accurate insights
• Create visually rich, device-exploiting apps in record time using collaborative WYSIWYM (“what you see is what you get”) design tools
• Guarantee compatibility across a constantly changing device landscape with unmatched 30-day service level agreement (SLA) on new OS updates
• Ensure a mobile app scales in line with the growth of your customers and business
• Define smart, context-aware policies to secure your enterprise apps and ensure data integrity and availability
• Reuse, Integrate and extend high-value LOB processes to mobile users with powerful backend mobile infrastructure
• Ability to automate functional test cases against a variety of devices and form factors
• Significantly reduce quality assurance cycles
• Create proactive testing plans letting enterprises know of problems before their customers do

SOASTA has been recognised by Gartner as a “Leader” in its Magic Quadrant forIntegrated  Software Quality Suites report published August 28, 2014.

For two years in a row industry analyst firm Gartner placed Kony in the “Leaders” quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Mobile Application Development Platforms, published September 2, 2014. Kony also received the highest scores in 3 out of 4 use cases in Gartner’s Critical Capabilities for Mobile Application Development Platforms report published December 24, 2014. In addition, Kony was recognised as “One of the Best Platform Solutions for the Enterprise” amongst Mobile Application Development Platform providers: Ovum Decision Matrix: Selecting a Mobile App Development Platform Solution, 2015-16.

 

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ServicePower Technologies have announced that it has signed a contract with a leading US based manufacturer and marketer of automotive appearance protection products, PermaPlate Inc., which will implement ServiceOperations to reduce administration, cut costs and improve the service levels delivered to customers.

PermaPlate, headquartered in Utah, manufactures and distributes appearance protection products which protect the interior and exterior surfaces of vehicles; it also underwrites vehicle appearance warranties. PermaPlate will use ServiceOperations to intelligently dispatch work to contractors in markets where service is required, as well as create robust claims payment authorisation processes for its experienced technician network.

PermaPlate works in a fiercely competitive sector and in order to improve services to customers it has enlisted ServicePower’s product and development teams to produce new features within the application which facilitate the discreet logic required to manage a network of 3^rd party contractors so that they can deliver more competitive SLAs. Repair claims will also be managed through ServiceOperations, providing robust validation logic to the customer to enhance its warranty management process.

Victor Diercksen, Director of Business Technology, PermaPlate Inc., commented “Our dedication to quality products and superior customer service has driven growth of 50% year over year for the past 3 years.  Our growth was severely straining our legacy service management system which was in dire need of replacement.  We took this opportunity to upscale to an enterprise quality system like ServicePower to improve our service times while reducing or eliminating manual processes.  ServicePower is the latest in a series of investments in business systems that will allow PermaPlate to maintain its leadership position in the automotive appearance protection industry.”

Marne Martin, CEO, ServicePower, stated “We are really pleased to be working with another world-class organisation, in a new vertical, that sees the benefits of our cloud based, 3rd party ServiceOperations product. Using Operations, PermaPlate Inc. will be able to manage its resources intelligently and cost effectively to meet demand.

 

“PermaPlate benefits from our early investment in a completely industry agnostic, truly multi-tenant SaaS application in ServiceOperations, which continues to differentiate ServicePower from other Field Service Management vendors. We’re able to offer true hosted, intelligent, dynamic dispatch and warranty claim management to clients who utilise 3^rd party contractors or vendor partners in their service delivery equations. Our team of field service experts provides the experience critical to our customers’ success by not only advising how best to set up the software, but by providing advice and industry best practices in  managing a connected, contracted workforce.

“With continued enhancements to ServiceOperations, part of our connected field management platform, which provides industry acknowledged scheduling optimisation, cutting edge mobile technology and asset tracking, robust business intelligence, M2M Connected Services and Smart Scheduling of mixed labor pools, ServicePower has positioned itself as not only a visionary, but as a field service management solution of choice to organisations which endeavour to operate most efficiently in today’s changing field service environment.”

 

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Our next webinar on the 20^th May at 4pm BST which will look at two of the key discussions in field service currently. Click here to register now!

Featuring exclusive sessions from both Nick Frank who will be looking at how we can harness IoT in field service and Patrice Eberline of ServiceMax who will be sharing her insight into the challenges of an ageing workforce and how we replace this talent with a Millennial generation of workers this webinar promises to be a valuable event for field service professionals looking to the future.

In the first part of this series that looks ahead to the webinar and gives us some insight into what we can expect from the sessions we explored the dangers field service companies are facing when it comes to an ageing workforce and the potential knowledge leak that we could face as our accomplished and experienced field service technicians begin to edge closer to retirement age.

Now in this the second part of the feature we take a closer look at the generation that will be replacing them and try to understand just what it is about the so-called millennials that makes them tick and why they could just be a perfect fit with the field service industries.

There are a lot of traits that define millennials, and despite the sometimes negative perception of them, Time Magazine famously running a cover defining them as the Me, Me , Me generation for example, actually many of these traits are highly positive.

As Eberline exlpains there are perhaps three key traits that truly apply to both the modern workplace and more pertinantly modern field service as we march forward from 2015 and beyond

“The first trait is that they love technology.” Eberline asserts. “In fact Millenials have grown up with technology so much that most only have a cell phone, no landline at all. They have also fully embraced social media as a truly integrated part of their lives”

Indeed there are many statistics which certainly back up this assertion.

52% of Millenials have over 500 facebook friends, whilst 91% make all of the check-ins that you see whether it be going to a concert, a restaurant or applying to a job public to there network.

 

“This is an expansive group that loves technology” Eberline continues “Beyond this, this is a group that has access to millions of pieces of digital content and they are consuming this content eagerly on both tablets and phones. Google is where they live” she adds

“What is truly important to consider” Eberline comments “is that they tend to believe that technology can be the key that brings people and society together”

If we consider the fact that in just five years, not a particularly long way away at all in fact, millenials will comprise of 50% of the workforce. So it is truly imperative that we really begin to understand their way of thinking, and we start to do so now.

Without doing so, we may really struggle when it comes to adapting what is one of the biggest generational shifts in work force personel for many, many decades.

And it is not just a matter of the technology this generation are born seemingly ready to use. The second key trait Eberline identifies is that the millennial generation have a “truly boundless energy and they genuinely want to make a visible impact on everything around them, be it their work, their community and even on society in general.”

“This is a confident group” Eberline states “They’ve been reared in a world where they’ve been given constant attention and support”

Indeed millennials are shown to place a higher priority on helping people in need than on high paying job roles.

Indeed the council of economic advisors in October last year published a report that highlighted this benevolent side to the millennials nature The report went as far as to claim that Millennials are much more likely than any previous generation to state making a contribution to society is very important to them.

 

Again as we return to their potential role within the field service industries this could be another highly important factor to consider.

The third trait that Eberline highlights is that millennials are highly collaborative and creative creatures by default.

“They truly do live in a world of We rather than a world of Me” Eberline expands “and because of that they crave a life of rich experiences based on relationships rather than leverage. They value the creativity and they value the feedback they get for bringing that creativity to the workplace.”

With these three traits it is relatively easy to build a compelling case for millennials to be a perfect profile of candidate for the field service industries.

As Eberline explains “If you think about these three traits technology, impact in society and creativity millennials are a very, very good fit for field service if they are cultivated, coached and developed appropriately.

So as fears of losing both talent and knowledge loom largely on the field service horizon it appears that whilst our young knights in shining armour may be more likely to brandish a smartphone than a spanner. And whilst they may not have all of the answers it’s not a problem – theres almost certainly an app for that.

Look out for the next part of this series where we look at how we can attract this new workforce of millennials to the field service industries.

 

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Want to know more? Join Patrcie Eberline and hear her presentation on millennials in field service PLUS Nick Frank’s session on how we can harness IoT in field service for our next webinar on the 20^th May @4pm BST. You can register for the webinar by clicking this link.

 

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Click here to find out more about ServiceMax in the Field Service News Directory

 

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