AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

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.

So as we continue our series looking at what you can expect at this years Service Management Expo we turn to Day Two the 17^th of June where as well as an excellent calendar of events there will also be our daily networking session where you can continue the debates fostered by our mix of presentations, interviews and panel discussions over a beer or glass of wine amongst your peers.

Once again our day begins with an opening session from our theatre co-sponsors IFS and Field Service Management who open the proceedings with a presentation at 11:30am.

Following on from this session we turn to our first live interview of the day. Kris Oldland, Editor of Field Service News will be back in the hot seat as our question master and moderator for the day as he interviews Pitney Bowes, European Director of Customer Care, Andy Beer.

The session entitled “Service management 2.0 implementing a service management system across Europe” will have a focus on how the franking and posting giant’s recent pan-european implementation of a field service manager we will be looking at the pain points Beer and his colleagues went through when going through such a significant transformation to their field service operations, what they identified as key components of the new system and what benefits they have felt since making the transition.

We return to the presentation format once more as we welcome Sergio Barata of Telogis to the podium to give his 1.45pm presentation entitled "If you can connect it you can transform it" during which Barata will give us his expert insight into the fast paced, ever evolving and increasingly exciting world of the connected vehicle.

With vehicles now becoming central hubs for all applications the connected vehicle is no longer just driving transformation, but is now driving disruption. With experts predicting that by 2020 it's predicted over 50 billion things will be connected to the internet Barata’s session promises to give us vital insight into how we can keep in step with the revolution and still meet your customer's own ever increasing needs?

 

Importantly for us field service professionals we will be able to see how we can use connected intelligence to lead and differentiate our own service businesses and still double the ROI from our fleet operations.

Barata is not only has a deep background in fleet automation, but is also an intelligent and eloquent speaker so this promises to be a fantastic session for fleet and field service managers alike.

Following on from Barata’s presentation we return once more to the interview format with Oldland this time speaking to Professor Howard Lightfoot of Cranfield University. As well as being one of the founding thinkers in the area of Advanced Services, Lightfoot is now playing a critical role in the development of the next generation of engineers with the pioneering work he is doing at Cranfield University.

In a session entitled "Training the next generation of system engineers" we'll look at how Lightfoot is uing a mix of the latest technologies including both Augmented and Virtual reality to train tomorrow’s workforce so they are ready to deal with the explosion of technological evolution we are currently facing including IoT, Big Data and 3D Printing Lightfoot is in a unique place to give his insight into what makes the so-called millennial generation tick. What motivates them, what are their weaknesses, what are the skills they have that the ageing ‘boomer generation they are replacing lack? And most importantly how suited are they to the field service industries?

 

Lightfoot also returns for the final session of the day with Oldland moving form questioner to moderator as with hold the second panel session of the event. This panel discussion which also sees the return of Barata and Beer tackles the ‘Changing face of Field Service’. 

The aim of this panel discussion will be to asses just how big the threat of an ageing workforce really is for field service companies and is there really such a big difference between the outgoing and incoming generations of field workers? What are the common traits of the next generation of workers – both the good and the bad, not only from Lightfoot’s academic point of view but also from the real world perspective of Beer as a Senior Service Director? And finally how big a role will technology play not only in attracting the best of the next generation, but also in shaping the very format of the field engineer of tomorrow.

 

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Register for Service Management Expo by clicking this link 

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: Kirona
Title: Six steps to being a leader - the field service checklist
Download: Click here to access the white paper
By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis:

Field workforce management software enables organisations with a mobile workforce to significantly improve their operational performance. The State of Service Management 2015: Connect To Your Customers report by Aberdeen's Aly Pinder found that best-in-class field service organisations achieve on average a 14.4% year-on-year improvement in workforce productivity compared to a 4.1% industry average.

This white paper looks at six key steps that field service companies must take in order to reach these heights themselves and establish their organisations as leaders amongst their competitors.

Overview:

Topics within the white paper include: 

• Optimising resource planning: Field resource planning is complex. If you have 100 workers carrying out 5 jobs a day, then that are 10,000,000,000 (1 billion) possible combinations of how those jobs could be allocated. There may also be a myriad of additional scheduling criteria such as worker skills/trade, certification required (and the validity dates), languages spoken, job time frame (appointment slot/site access), the region/ geography, the worker’s experience, parts, materials, equipment required, and the list goes on.  No human planner can possibly consider all these scenarios and determine which is financially the best option with the highest chance of customer satisfaction. It is therefore, not surprising that over two-thirds of Best-In-Class service organisations leverage software for Optimised Resource Planning.
•  Making and keeping appointments: Compliance to your work schedule is critical for two reasons, first it ensures you are working in the planned most optimum way, but second and more importantly, it means you are delivering against commitments to customers. For work types that require a customer appointment, the complexity of scheduling increases. Now an organisation needs to schedule work by considering two diaries; that of the workforce and the customer. Appointments are also disruptive to the customers, so keeping them is essential to achieving high customer satisfaction
• Connecting with the mobile workforce: Equipping field workers with mobile devices is a well-trodden path, however, whether through limitation in mobile working applications or lack of integration, we tend to find that most field service organisations are not maximising the full potential of connecting the field workforce.
• Real time tracking and dynamic scheduling: One of the biggest challenges for any organisation is how to track and monitor field-based activity and to manage the emerging day. Exceptions will always arise, whether through an overrun, no-access or emergency work, the skill is being able to take this in your stride and be able to dynamically reschedule work to take into account the unexpected while ensuring you continue to work to the most optimum schedule.
• Analysis & Continuous improvement: Standing still is not an option for field service organisations. We see continual change from our clients’ including customer demands, executive level priorities and changes in the workforce – all of which requires them to analyse and continually improve their operation. Knowledge is key. Understanding every aspect of your field service operation, gaining insight into not only what is happening, but why this is happening, and then being able to take action on this insight.
• Integration leads to automation: The more staff ‘touch points’ that are required in a service process, the greater its inefficiency. Not only do manual processes create a drain on labour and therefore an increased cost, they are error prone and they create timescale lags. Workforce management software provides an opportunity to avoid this by automating key activities in the service management chain of processes. The more 3rd party systems that are integrated into automated workflows, the greater the benefit to the organisation.

 

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Click here to access the white paper

 

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

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New study links high customer satisfaction with service providers who fix it on the first visit

Field service organisations need to become more efficient, develop better time-saving approaches and fix a problem on the first visit in order to meet customer expectations, according to a new study commissioned by Trimble Field Service Management

The study, which surveyed 2,000 adults in the UK, revealed that over half (52 per cent) considered fixing the problem on the first visit to be the leading factor in determining their satisfaction. Yet, one in four participants reported that a return visit was required. The most common reason for a return visit was that the technician lacked the appropriate tools or parts (40 per cent), while the technician lacking the appropriate skills was also revealed as a top factor (27 per cent).

"Clearly, operating a skilled and efficient mobile workforce is critical to meeting customer expectations. To achieve that, organisations need real-time access to information about the performance of workers in the field," said John Cameron, general manager of Trimble's Field Service Management Division.

 

"Technology is available that provides technicians with the visibility they need to get to the right place at the right time with the information they need to do their job correctly the first time," Cameron added. "Customer expectations are only going to increase, so having the infrastructure in place to meet and exceed these expectations is critical to keeping customers happy."

Respondents also are not happy with wait times. More than 50 per cent considered 1-3 hours an acceptable appointment window, yet few had experienced this, with 32 per cent reporting wait times between 4-9 hours. 40 per cent of consumers claimed their biggest frustration with using a service provider was long appointment slots.

The independent study was conducted by OnePoll, a worldwide market research agency. For a summary of the report, visit: http://www.pages05.net/trimblefieldservice/Consumer_Research_Results/

 

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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. Now in the second part of the series we continue our exclusive interview with Pristine IO CEO Kyle Semani as he outlines some very significant savings that can be made through the correct application of smart glasses in field service... 

Indeed when it comes to genuine cost savings the early statistics from Pristine make a very compelling case for adoption. Something Samani is clearly keen to get across in our conversation. His business is built on offering significant savings to their client base. “I think the ROI of implementing smart glasses actually delivers far more than a smart phone or tablets did when they first appeared.” He begins

“Our data is still young but looking at our primary customers these companies are going to save millions of dollars by using our technology.”

What is particularly compelling about the smart glass argument, and Pristine’s approach is that such savings are far more tangible than those discussed when we talk about other devices such as smart phones, laptops, tablets etc.

As Samani puts it “It’s not all theoretical efficiency gains, this is money going right back on the bottom line. This is cash.”

 

“Our general line in the sand we’ve drawn is if the cost of downtime is above $2,000/hour then we get really excited because we know we can deliver you an awful lot of value.” He surmises.

Perhaps we are putting the cart before the horse here though.

Of course such talk of tangible cost saving is attractive to any company, but what exactly does the Pristine product do and how can it be used to offer such significant rewards?

Samani describes the Pristine app as the only pure solution to stream live audio and video from Google Glass (or any other smart glasses) to any other device within the world in a secure capacity so it can be deployed in an enterprise setting.”

Basically the app in combination with a pair of smart glasses will provide a true “see what I see” experience which will in turn enable people to collaborate remotely, whilst the engineer (or even customer) on site are able to keep their hands completely free.

In Samani’s own words “Rather than actually sending a technician to a site now customers can put on the Glass and walk through what the problem is whilst being is remotely connected to a service centre.”

“If field service companies can centralise their workforce somewhat then their field workers can get a better quality of life and their customers are getting better customer support in every case.”

“The goal here is to save field service trips, so to save cost and also to help companies deliver a better customer experience.”

One immediate thought around such a proposition is that this could literally change the way field service operations are structured.

 

With such remote access tools becoming readily available, this could genuinely open the doors to many companies centralising their operation, bringing their most experienced engineers into a central hub, and outsourcing a large amount of work to less skilled (and therefore less expensive) local workers, or even getting the customer to take on the work themselves.

This is certainly something that Pristine are seeing within their growing customer base.

“We’re seeing our customers equip both their existing customers and their existing field engineers with the technology. The goal is to deliver a player to every single case.” Samani explains.

However, the benefits of such a move aren’t solely financial there is also the soft benefit of improving the work/life balance of existing engineers.

“If field service companies can centralise their workforce somewhat then their field workers can get a better quality of life and their customers are getting better customer support in every case.” Samani asserts

“They [the field engineers] used to fly around 50 weeks a year now they fly around 20 weeks a year - it’s a totally different lifestyle for these guys and they spend more time with their kids and their families.”

A noble, if exceptionally forward thinking sentiment of course.

However, there are certainly the seeds of not just change but revolution being sowed as smart glass manufacturers, empowered by companies such as Pristine turn their focus onto field service.

This is a good point to bring up the fact that whilst Google are the most prominent manufacturer of smart glasses they are certainly not alone.

In fact both Epson and Vuzix sit proudly on the Pristine website front page alongside Glass. Pristine already work with pretty much every manufacturer of Smart Glasses available – a market Samani believes will continue to expand.

“Just Like there are 100 different mobile phone makers there will be 100 different manufacturers of Smart-glasses.” He explains “We’re going to be rolling out lots of different hardware to our customers. Our customers are going to get cost benefits from there being more choice and competition and they are also going to be able to choose the device that is right for them and right for their needs”

Of course developing a product to sit across a number of devices has it’s own challenge and as our recent research outlined there is a preference amongst field service companies for native applications (i.e. applications that are developed specifically for the device it is to be used on rather than device agnostic apps).

 

Is this a potential issue for a developer working in a fledgling market that is, by it’s definition, going to be fragmented as a number of companies release their own products?

Well it would seem that here smart glasses have been able to take advantage of the evolutionary path of the smart phones that went before them.

In short for Samani and his team at Pristine the variety of devices doesn’t raise too many issues. Outlining their working process in greater detail Samani commented “Whilst we are not using HTML5 we are using some web technologies, however we are using primarily Android type platforms. Basically we are now starting to see the types of decisions the device manufacturers are likely to make and are able to design for that.”

“Generally we find that our platform will work out of the box with most devices but if it doesn’t it’ll take one business day of tweaking to get it right.. We’ve encountered most of the variables of change and we don’t expect there to be that many more as the market evolves” He adds It all sounds rather exciting. (Something that is also clearly detectable in Samani’s voice is not just the passion he has for his product but the general excitement that smart glasses will changethe world in the not too distant future) But let’s not forget the huge amount of excitement when Glass was first announced.

Masternaut Connect selected to help Airporter track vehicles, deliver efficiency savings and improve driver behaviour

Airporter, a leading private sector airport transfer organisation, is implementing Masternaut’s powerful fleet management solution to provide real-time vehicle tracking, increase passenger safety, and deliver fuel efficiency savings.

Fleet managers at Airporter are now using data from Masternaut Connect, including the eco-Drive and TACHOfresh modules, to inform passengers of where vehicles are at a particular time, track and improve driver behaviour, and reduce fuel costs across the fleet.

Transporting 100,000 passengers each year with its fleet of 17 Mercedes Executive mini coaches, accurate vehicle tracking is essential to Airporter’s service. Masternaut Connect will ensure that real-time vehicle information can be correctly relayed to customers and ensure they transfer from airport-to-airport on time.

Airporter prides itself on high safety and compliance standards, ensuring drivers are correctly trained to be safe and that regular vehicle safety inspections are completed. Masternaut’s ecoDrive module will allow Airporter to see that if its training is successful and where improvements may need to be made in driver behaviour, all the while reducing fuel consumption and costs.

TACHOfresh provides Airporter with tachograph management that stores, archives and protects instantly-available data, and is mobile compatible. TACHOfresh also gives the ability for the user to remotely download all tachograph and driver data, and provides next-generation digital analysis, helping Airporter remain compliant with government regulations.

Niall McKeever, owner and director at Airporter, said: “We are a very credible, safe, and reliable company that invests heavily in safety, and now we have the best telematics system to further improve our safety record in Masternaut Connect. We want to be using the best facilities in all aspects of our business and Masternaut fits in with that philosophy, with the added bonus of saving money on fuel expenditure. In that respect, the system effectively pays for itself.”

 

He continues, “We travel 1.5 million kilometres per year and carry more than 100,000 passengers, so passenger safety is something we take very seriously, and we needed a solution that can keep up with the pace. We’re the first public transport company in Northern Ireland to implement Masternaut telematics, and believe the company’s offering is the best available on the market. TACHOfresh in particular took us by surprise. For us, it ties up the whole logistics management side of Airporter, and it’s great to have one single reporting system as opposed to the time-intensive system we had previously.”

Steve Towe, chief commercial officer and UK managing director, Masternaut, commented: “It’s very rewarding to see how our solutions can help businesses simplify their processes. Airporter is already well regarded for its commitment to compliance, safe Mercedes vehicles, and for being the first transport provider in Northern Ireland to add free wifi into vehicles. It seems now, with the addition of telematics, that its reputation can only get better thanks to improved driver behaviour and environmental improvements, due to lower fuel usage. We look forward to seeing the results, and further expansion as Airporter continues to grow in the 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?

Now in the third part of this series we turn our attention to the feedback our field service engineers are providing...

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

Engineers reaction to mobile devices in general

We asked our respondents “Do you think your your field engineers have appreciated a move to using a mobile device?”

The results showed that in the main there is a strong acceptance from field engineers that using a digital device as part of their role is a benefit. In fact over a third of respondents (37%) stated that they had “absolutely taken to mobile” while the largest response to this question was “we have mostly had a positive response from our mobile workers” which was stated by just under half (44%) of respondents.

Just under a fifth of companies (17%) stated they had received a mix of positive and negative feedback from their field workers, whilst less than 1% admitted they had “some success but getting widespread adoption is tough”.

 

Delving deeper into the reasons for positive feedback from the engineers we saw that the largest reason for engineers responding to the implementation of a mobile devices was that it “makes their work-flow easier” with 57% of companies stating this to be the case. The second largest reason cited was that a mobile device “enhanced their productivity” which just under a third of companies (31%) cited whilst 13% of companies reported increased first time fix rates as a result of using digital devices.

 

One respondent summarised the dual benefits of the approach for both engineers and company alike stating: “The engineers have appreciated the move from a rugged PDA to an Android device because it offers them more advantages; web, apps, email, etc. From a business perspective we got them access to industry apps (fault code analysis, parts availability, etc.) as well as improving the acceptance of the company solution”

Involving engineers in the selection process

Given the importance of quick user adoption, we wanted to see how involved field engineers were in the selecting the devices they would be using. We asked our respondents “Did you have any input from your field engineers in selecting both the devices and apps they use in the field?”

Whilst it is an approach recommended by many hardware, software and change management experts to help improve swift user adoption rates, it is not one that is adopted by the majority of companies when selecting the tools their field service engineers will be using. In fact almost two thirds (61%) of companies admitted that they don’t involve their engineers in the decision making process.

 

This is a significant finding because of those companies that did involve their field workers in the selection process the overwhelming majority (93%) felt that doing so had aided adoption of the solution they had chosen. When we consider that the aim of implementing any new solution, whether it be hardware or software, is generally to improve the efficiency of a field service unit then the sooner the new solution reaches widespread adoption the better.

 

Indeed it would seem that whilst the majority of respondents failed to take advantage of their engineers insight during the selection process, there may actually be a growing groundswell to see this happening more frequently as almost half of those who didn’t take input from their field engineers admitted that in hindsight they think this would have likely helped speed up the adoption of the new solution. “The engineers have appreciated the move from a rugged PDA to an Android device because it offers them more advantages; web, apps, email, etc.”

The decision making unit

So engineers input aside, who is involved in the decision making unit when it comes to selecting a new field service mobility solution? Having put that question to our respondents our research would certainly back the assertion that the single decision maker seems to be somewhat of a myth, or at least a very rare scenario.

The most common role to be involved within the decision making unit (DMU) is IT Director with 64% of companies stating that their IT Director would be involved in the decision making process. This was followed by MD/CEO (58%), Field Service Director (53%) and Field Service Manager (45%). Meanwhile 20% of companies have procurement involved within the DMU also. Perhaps contradictory to these statistics is how a company will approach the early selection process.

The most common approach for this initial phase of selecting a new field service solution is when the “field service director/manager identified the need for a mobile solution and made recommendations to the board.” Which was how 35% of companies began their search for a new system. The second most common means of instigating this process is when “the board decides to implement a mobile solution and tasks the IT manager & Field Service Manager together to identify the right solution” which was what was reported by exactly a quarter of companies.

Other options that were board driven were for the board to task the “Field Service Manager/ Director to identify the solution” (13%) and the board task the “IT Director to identify the right solution” (8%) whilst amongst 17% of companies it was the ‘IT Director identified the need and advised the board”

Choosing a solution

When it comes to selecting a solution the most common approach is to view three different solutions which exactly a third of companies opted to do.

However, just under a quarter (23%) of companies will leave no stone unturned and look at five or more solutions when making their decision.

 

A similar amount (22%) will look at just two solutions whilst a tenth of companies made their decision based solely on looking at one solution. In terms of the frequency of updating a field service solution the consensus is very much that every three years is the optimal time between updates with just under half (47%) of companies stating they believe this to be the case. The second most common thought is two years (30%) whilst all other options were 10% or below.

But how does compare to the reality?

Well, whilst a similar majority (42%) refresh their solutions every three years it would also seem that many companies keep their existing assets longer than they would like.

 

In fact 41% of companies state they will wait four years or more to refresh their field service solution, whilst 27% admit they will wait five years or more between system upgrades. The research would also indicate that the largest reason for companies taking longer to refresh their solution would be simply down to cost which 50% of companies stated was the biggest challenge in updating their system.

 

Compared to this ‘finding the time’ to arrange an implementation was a minor worry for most with just 12% of companies stating that this is their primary concern. What is interesting is that 34% of companies see worries around integration being their biggest challenge. Of course the irony here being that the longer you ‘sweat’ an asset the greater the chance of the technology becoming tougher to integrate with the latest emerging tech.

 

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

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ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. have recently announced Service Networks for Contractors, a new mobile field service management solution that synchronises the scheduling, dispatch, and work completion between businesses and their contractors.

Enterprises can now optimally manage their network of contractors to adhere to service level agreements and have better visibility and control of the service delivery process. Simultaneously contractors maintain their autonomy in running their own businesses. Customers, of course, benefit from harmonious service delivery with minimal discontinuities or surprises.

Using the solution, contractors are better equipped to efficiently plan and execute the delivery of service, enabling them to book and complete more jobs overall. The streamlined operations will enable contractors to collect payment faster, thanks to the ability to provide proof of service in real-time, at the time of job completion. The new solution ultimately shortens invoicing and payment cycles to increase reimbursement rates and help drive revenues.

Consumers reap immediate benefits, including access to timely and accurate information, including contractor location, estimated arrival time and job status. By creating a fully transparent process, regardless of whether the service is performed by internal employees or third party technicians, the friction is removed, and the consumer experience improves.

 

"The field service industry continues to evolve to incorporate more automated scheduling tools, and is quickly advancing to real-time workflow mobile technologies that provide businesses with new capabilities and information to effectively help manage third-party contractors," said Aly Pinder Jr., Senior Research Analyst Aberdeen Group. "These technologies have the potential to enable both enterprise service providers and contractors to more quickly and accurately perform their jobs, while providing consistent customer experience."

"In today's service industry it is very common to see service providers of all sizes operating in a wide variety of outsourcing and contracting models. The Service Networks for Contractors is a milestone in the path to a comprehensive Service network vision where communities of contractors will interact in harmony with each other to deliver outstanding service together with business efficiencies," said Dr. Moshe BenBassat, Founder and CEO of ClickSoftware. "This new network leverages the 2014 acquisition of Xora, seamlessly extending enterprise-grade solutions to workforces of all sizes."

 

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Following on from the success of last years launch event Field Service News is very pleased to be the official media partner to Field Service Forum hosted at the Sheraton Amsterdam on June 2nd - 3^rd.

 

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You can register for field service forum by clicking this link

 

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With up to 200 service leaders from across Europe predicted to attend to meet for debate and discussion across two days of interactive education with a structured networking program included which is designed to allow delegates to benchmark their service operations.

Ahead of the event Thomas Igou, Content Director at Copperbrug commented “The launch event showed that most organisations are on the right (and similar) path, but the road to success is still full of opportunities. There is a common need to build a stronger structure behind the service business to truly change the function from a cost to a profit centre. Many organisations are seeing the big picture, but are unable to execute the critical steps towards full service transformation.”

“One of the most agreed steps is the approach towards the field engineer.” Continued Igou “No other employee in a manufacturing organisation has the face time nor the trust from the customer; field engineers are truly the face of their organisations towards the customers. As such, they can become a powerful weapon whose soft skills need to be explored to develop the commercial competence to push new sales and generate leads.”

 

“There is also a lot to be done to make field operations more efficient, and not only through IT solutions. Looking at standardising the service business will go a great way to improve roll outs of strategic initiatives and of having a better visibility of resources, which will ensure they meet service level agreements.”

“There are additional areas such as managing a global workforce, implementing mobility and other technologies like wearables, creating a process to capture knowledge, or further exploring remote diagnostics to develop proactive maintenance that are also critical to the success of a field service business.”

Indeed Igou and the team at event organisers Copperburg, have been working hard to develop the conference further and have introduced a number of new features which Field Service News is excited to be part of.

New Features

In addition to the traditional formats of Copperberg conferences, Field Service Forum will provide new and developed features to ensure your conference experience is maximised and as interactive as possible so you can come away with the most relevant information.

THE FIELD SERVICE STUDIO

Hosted by Field Service News Editor Kris Oldland this session, based on an American-style talk show, the Field Service Studio will see a host invite four service thought-leaders as special guests and conduct individual seven minutes interviews before moving on to a more traditional panel debate discussion, where hot topics will be analysed from every angle. The studio will end by taking questions directly from the audience.

LIVE CASE STUDY

This session will take you straight into a manufacturer’s field service operations. The case study will start with an overview of a challenge encountered by the manufacturer; then, the session will take a look at IT solutions the manufacturer sourced to overcome the challenge and its implementation.

After this the manufacturer will give an insight into the results and ROI. Finally, the session will finish with a testimonial from the manufacturer’s customer about the new service improvements.

Field Service Forum Agenda 2015

Tuesday - June 2nd 2015

• 09.30 Pre-Registration
• 10.00 PRECONFERENCE WORKSHOPS - The pre-conference workshops are a new and exclusive feature which gives you, as a participant, the ability to kick start the conference with a focused and content-heavy session where you will be able to both learn and share experiences around best practices.
• Workshop A - Mobility: In this interactive workshop, you will learn about to best integrate mobility solutions to create a mobile workforce that will enhance the value of your service offerings to your customers.
• Workshop B - Knowledge Management: In this interactive workshop, you will learn about how to track knowledge of your team, how to rollout/share knowledge, and how to share known issues so you can capture the knowledge.
• 13.00 Service Mastery Day - Limited Seats Available - The Service Mastery Day is a sensational, “cannot miss” 3 hour seminar on how you and your organisation can master the skill of service excellence. Each event is customised to the needs of the participants and brings a leading and recognised expert in the field of service excellence to moderate and teach you how to bring your service division to the next level.
• 16.00 Networking Break & General Registration
• 16.30 How to improve your margin on Full Service & Repair Contracts: Listen to this story telling of how Volvo Construction Equipment in Denmark is growing their service margin through full service & repair contracts.
• 17.10 Live Case Study: Field Service of the Future, Today - This new feature will present a case study through the viewpoints of all actors within a field service operations ecosystem: The Vendor, The Manufacturer, and the End User Customer.
• 18.00 Evening Networking Program - The evening networking program is your opportunity to meet and network with your peers in a cozy and relaxed atmosphere, to push the discussions deeper and make contacts that last a lifetime.

Wednesday - June 3rd 2015

• 08.10 Morning Masterclasses:
• Masterclass A Using Tools and Technology to direct, monitor, and measure performance
• Masterclass B Transforming Field Service into a Profit Powerhouse
• Masterclass C Global Training of field engineers
• 09.10 How After-sales Service increases customer loyalty: With increasing competition on products only one thing can really differentiate you from the others. Service is therefore increasing in importance and the execution has to be flawless and a good after sales service actually helps increase you customer loyalty and possible future sales.
• 09.40 Case Study: Automating Service Scheduling & Dispatching: This session will look into how to provide a fast, best-in-class service experience to your customers by overcoming fragmented processes and lack of visibility into field resources.
• 10.45 Executive Circles: Roundtable discussions are often one of the most appreciated features at our events, because they allow participants to share experiences, success and failures alike, in a more intimate setting. In stimulating work atmosphere, the participants discuss new perspectives and ideas around a specific topic and the under the guidance of an assigned moderator. After 40 minutes, the discussions end and participants move on to the next table. You will experience intensive discussions, share innovative ideas and identify practical solutions.
• Track1: Global Workforce
• 13.15 Resource Optimisation: developing the competence of current and coming talent
• 13.45 Developing the soft skills of field engineers: Field engineers see your customers more often than any of the sales staff, and as such have a strong relation and are trusted by your customers. This session will inform you how to leverage on this to sell more and generate leads within your installed base.
• 14.15 Gamification: How can service organisations introduce gamification to sparkle cultural changes in their field operations? From adoption of new field technologies to conclusion of admin work, gamification can help motive and reward your employees for their outstanding performance.
• Track2: Smart Services:
• 13.15 How to use the latest technology trends to improve your business: Internet of things, Big data, remote Service are all trendy topics, but how do they help us increase Customer Satisfaction, revenues and productivity. How to go from technology to a clear business strategy. Is our organisation ready for this change?
• 13.45 Wearables Technology: New technological advancements in supportive gears for field engineers is bringing a whole new level of service support. This session will explore wearables technology such as smart glasses and watches and how to utilise them to bring real time added value for both your field engineers and your customers.
• 14.15 The Industrial Internet: IoT is a recurring buzz word, of which analysts predict billions of devices will be connected to the internet in the near future. However, what is it really, and how can it benefit the manufacturing industry?
• Track 3: Operational Efficiency
• 13.15 Standardisation of practices in a Service Business: A case study on key strategic initiatives to increase service levels at Pentair and how to roll out global service strategy across regions.
• 13.45 Interested in doubling your service sales and shorten the time to close the deals? How often can a salesperson really quote to customer needs without any support from back office? When it comes to selling, time is essential. Every hour it takes from the customer meeting to your delivered quote, the customer interest diminishes, and their focus changes to other projects.
• 14.15 Managing global service: The session will look into how to manage a service organisation: the structure from scratch to service/repair. How to use resource pooling between units and partners with different business models based on service differentiation and global set-up in order to serve customers across the globe.
• 15.20 The Field Service Studio: Based on an American-style talk show, the Field Service Studio will see a host invite 4 service thought-leaders as special guests and conduct individual 7 minutes interviews before moving on to a more traditional panel debate discussion, where hot topics will be analysed from every angle. The studio will end by taking questions directly from the audience. Hosted by Kris Oldland, Editor of Field Service News.

 

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Register for Field Service Forum by clicking this link

 

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Kate Lovery of UK based, field service focussed Gas Engineering, Catering Equipment and HVAC specialist maintenance company Service2 outlines how they developed their business since selecting ServiceMax field service software.

In this video published by ServiceMax Lovery explains what has changed, why it has been a success for Service2's clients, how they are using the tools to help them build and analyse their field service operations, how the ServiceMax field service solution addresses the needs of their field service operations, and of course why they chose the ServiceMax field service solution.

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You can also read Field Service News Editor Kris Oldland's exclusive interview with Lovery which first appeared in Field Service News March/April 2015 issue by clicking here.

 

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