AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Kris Oldland

Capita plc has recently announced that it has acquired Sigma Seven Limited for an undisclosed sum.

Sigma Seven Ltd offers a specialist geospatial solution that allows users anywhere to access company files, organise their work, plan tasks and record data directly on to high-quality digital maps.

This helps organisations get the most from their data, map and enterprise systems, enabling field and office staff to work together more efficiently. Sigma Seven’s clients include UK utility companies such as Scottish Power, UK Power Networks, Wales & West Utilities and Southern Water.

Since its acquisition of AMT-SYBEX in May 2014, Capita has strengthened its presence in the utilities and transport sectors providing mobile technology and Big Data software solutions. AMT-SYBEX has also been a partner of Sigma Seven and the combined product offering will represent an enhanced and highly complementary solution set that will now be available to clients.

 

Capita chief executive, Andy Parker, said: “The acquisition of Sigma Seven will provide further scale and depth to the range of solutions that Capita can offer utilities, construction & engineering, environment and government sectors. On integration, significant synergy benefits such as complementary products, an overlap in client base and prospective clients, will more strongly position Capita in the market when providing new and improved, tailored solutions.”

Sigma Seven has 33 employees based in Edinburgh.

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in their own way,” reads the famous opening line of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. The same could be said of companies — so we’ve found as we’ve helped more field service firms shift from paper-based processes to automated ones asserts Phillipp Emmengger of Core Systems

Field service companies usually come to us seeking a more streamlined way of doing things. They typically are working under the burden of a heavily paper-based process with unique, time-consuming ways of doing things. One customer, for example, required technicians to re-enter their data back into their systems after their day was done, while another passed the paperwork to teams of data-entry clerks to enter the often illegible information. Neither was ideal.

Our potential clients typically focus on the efficiencies and the cost savings that can be achieved. How can we dispatch technicians faster? How can we ensure they have the necessary information they need, and to get data back to the office? How can we increase first-time fix rates? And, how can we invoice faster? But once the software is in place, and customers start enjoying the benefits of a more efficient process, they begin to notice something else: that not only are their customers happy, they’re happy. The work environment and the work culture has shifted to one that is positive and efficient.

 

As Lisa Erling, Chief Financial Officer at the California-based Vegetable Growers Supply, a packaging supply firm, said of the new work culture that emerged after their move to automated services, “It’s a whole new business.”

As with happy families, happy field service companies appear to have certain traits in common.

Here are the top 6 ways we’ve found on how automation can create a happier work culture:

Technicians Are in Control of Their Day:

Field service software on mobile devices allow technicians to see and manage everything in their day. They can easily record and track their working hours, see the day’s schedules and if any changes occur to their schedule. With a mobile solution, the lines of communication between technicians and the back office are constantly open, meaning technicians are better supported, and don’t have to return to the office when problems occur.

Free Technicians from the Burden of Paperwork:

Forgotten forms, lost paperwork, re-entering data back at the office and even interpreting their own illegible handwriting used to add to the administrative burden of a technician’s day. With an automated, mobile solution, where everything is in one place and is filled out and captured in the course of the day, the hours technicians literally spent on the admin of their jobs is reduced. “Our employees are very satisfied,” says Johann Schild Jr, Managing Director of Herstellung & Handels, the German supplier of hydraulic systems and accessories, “They are able to save time, which they use much more effectively. They benefit from having all the data they need in their hands and they have less paperwork to fill out, which for a technician is always an advantage.”

Empowered Technicians Have the Information They Need to Perform at Their Best:

Mobile solutions give technicians everything thing they need to do the job right: service manuals, customer and service histories and inventory levels and the ability to order spare parts are all at their fingertips. As first-time fix rates rise, technicians feel empowered by their ability to quickly do their job right. Daniel Reichert, a service technician at Cald’Oro, the Austrian makers of high end coffee machines, says: “I am much faster in creating service orders or in finding spare parts. I can see at a glance what my colleague did during his last visit, what work he carried out on the machine and what the problem was. Everything is just much faster. You can see right away what part was changed during the last service or which item got damaged when. It allows me to narrow down the errors in no time.”

Improved Relations Between Technicians and Customers:

Technicians armed with the knowledge of who their customers are and their service histories can put customers immediately at ease and demonstrate quickly to them their understanding of their equipment and issues. But they can also make the repair process more transparent. Simple photo capture of broken equipment, for instance, can show customers (especially with inaccessible parts) where the problem has occurred and how severe it is.

Better Communications and Team Work Between Technicians and Back Office:

No one likes to have to constantly check in with their office or have their office checking up on them. With mobile devices, automatic status updates can be easily sent when a job is marked done, when snags are occurring, or when drive times are taking longer than expected. Open communications between all team members can also let techs tap each other for knowledge, and let techs quickly locate a supervisor if they need one or call in extra help.

Work Faster; Save Time:

If there’s one thing that makes technicians happy, it’s the ability to work faster and save time. No one wants to be bogged down trying to diagnose a problem, when a simple service history might speed up the process. No one wants to have re-enter information when easy data capture could let them do this as they work.

With technicians on the front lines and in the position of representing and advocating for your brand and company, their happiness has a direct impact on customer happiness.

 

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We’ve all seen the statistics on how Millennials are set to dominate the workforce by 2020. Individual companies and entire industries are starting to cater to their requirements - from collaborative business centres and “social lobbies” for networking/relaxation, to rooms equipped with the latest technology.  Businesses are embracing this new generation, and harnessing the power of their sheer numbers.

It’s been said that this generation is needy, entitled, narcissistic, and often tough to manage, but they can also bring a new element to business, representing a driving force and competitive weapon that can be used to differentiate your organisation, strengthen the connection between you and your customer, and further the revenue and bottom line growth for your company.

Their attributes are actually a good fit for a career in the field service industry. Our entire civilisation now depends on field service technicians to maintain the very machines that keep our world running. Given the profitability potential that field service now has to drive meaningful revenue in a fledging economy where product shelf life is being extended rather than replaced, a career in field service gives Millennials the potential to both make money and make a difference.

The infographic below published by ServiceMax outlines how to the service industry can appeal to Millennials as a career path, and the changes in motivational drivers.

 

 

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Echo Managed Services, the specialist provider of outsourced end-to-end customer contact services, has strengthened its collections division with the acquisition of Sheffield-based Grosvenor Services Group. Grosvenor is one of the UK’s leading debt collection agencies, specialising in field-based collections within the utilities sector.

Combining Grosvenor’s field based skills with Echo’s comprehensive multi-site contact centre resource and office based collections expertise will further strengthen Echo’s end-to-end customer contact proposition, with the company offering comprehensive customer journey support, from initial sign-up through to ongoing debt recovery where necessary. The acquisition of Grosvenor Services Group follows Echo’s 2011 purchase of London based Inter-Credit International – one of the UK’s longest established debt recovery agencies with over 40 years’ experience and speciality in office based collections.

“Acquiring Grosvenor Services Group is a great strategic move for Echo as we have complementary skills and expertise, particularly in key sectors such as utilities and the public sector that are central to Echo’s expansion plans,” commented Steve Wrench, Operations Director at Echo. “Echo already bills and collects many millions of pounds for utility and public sector clients each year, and the addition of Grosvenor’s proven debt recovery and debtor tracing solutions – backed by its strong field-based collections resource – will further strengthen our operation.”

 

Echo’s Managing Director, Nigel Baker added: “We have an on-going commitment to provide our clients with a best practice approach to collections - one that not only delivers better results for our clients but also ensures full compliance with key industry regulatory and governance requirements. With the specialist skills and expertise that the Grosvenor team brings, we look forward to further strengthening Echo’s collections capability.”

Echo’s leading edge collections strategy is based on a powerful data-driven approach that focuses on helping organisations to choose the right solution for the right customer at the right time. Echo is focused on ensuring that it consistently delivers on collections targets for its clients, while always treating their customers fairly with empathy and understanding. Following the acquisition, Grosvenor’s Sheffield-based operation becomes Echo’s seventh site.

 

Commenting on the acquisition, Lloyd Birkhead, MD of Grosvenor Services Group Ltd said: “at Grosvenor we’ve built a reputation over the last 17 years for providing our customers, particularly those in the utilities sector, with a high quality debt recovery service. I’m therefore delighted that in Echo Managed Services we move forward with a complementary business partner that will build on our success by integrating Grosvenor and our services into its end-to-end customer contact proposition.”

Assistance for the acquisition was provided by FDYL LLP and Ironmonger Curtis LLP.

 

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Espresso Service Ltd, an independent company founded in 1987 that specialises in servicing coffee machines, is set to implement Tesseract’s service management software in order to better serve its customers.


Espresso Service, who manage a network of engineers all over the UK, pride themselves on a wide skill set. Their engineers are ‘coffee experts’ and do planned and reactive maintenance on all brands of traditional and semi-automatic coffee machines. At present they rely on an internally installed, less specialised piece of software to manage their engineers. In order to move forward, they decided to look for a centrally hosted and more specialised system that would be a better fit for their needs.

Espresso Service identified a number of advantages to implementing Tesseract’s software, in particular the fact that Tesseract offers a constantly evolving platform for a monthly fee. They also saw the appeal of Tesseract’s software being entirely web-based. “It will allow anyone to do their jobs anywhere,” says Daniel Sewell, Chief Operating Officer for Espresso Service.

Espresso Service have plans to incorporate Tesseract’s entire suite of services in due course. Sewell says, “Our aspiration is to use every single function that is available, largely because we believe Tesseract to be the key to fundamentally changing our business for the better. We believe Tesseract will drive efficiency, spotlight any inefficiency, and ultimately help us to ‘work smarter’ and be the best that we can be.”

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Service management organisations could miss out on vital business intelligence, lucrative new revenue streams or fail to meet rising customer demands unless they embrace machine-to-machine (M2M) technology. These are the findings of a new white paper commissioned by service management software provider, Advanced Field Service (Advanced).

The worldwide M2M technology market is forecast to grow to £30 billion by 2018* and is set to revolutionise the service management industry. However some businesses remain cautious about adoption due to limited time and resources, cost pressures and cultural resistance.

A recent survey[quote float="left"]“There is some confusion as to how M2M interplays with other technologies such as The Internet of Things, cloud, big data and mobile. While there is no clarity about what M2M is, and the benefits it offers, adoption rates will be slower than anticipated.

conducted by Advanced highlights that only 43% of businesses are currently using M2M. Just over a quarter (26%) of respondents revealed they are considering M2M but in contrast 31% said they had no plans to do so.

 

Greg Ford, Managing Director of Advanced Field Service, says, “There is some confusion as to how M2M interplays with other technologies such as The Internet of Things, cloud, big data and mobile. While there is no clarity about what M2M is, and the benefits it offers, adoption rates will be slower than anticipated.

“Many service organisations will need to wait for manufacturers to introduce the capabilities of M2M before they can take full advantage of it. For those who serve multiple manufacturer products, this can make planning and gaining access to data more difficult.”

M2M is effectively a subset of the Internet of Things and wirelessly connects machines, devices and equipment to collect and transmit data such as location, movement, temperature and environment. Typical solutions enable the remote tracking of a business’s field-based assets, ‘smart metering’ to monitor and control energy and utilities and telematics systems to enhance service delivery performance through automated processes.

Ford comments, “M2M technology provides valuable insight into the performance of equipment, vehicles and field engineers. With this crucial business intelligence, organisations can shift from reactive to predictive service, ensuring issues can be identified and resolved more quickly to meet rising customer expectations.

“M2M can also transform efficiency levels and increase profit margins. With rising costs and fierce competition continuing to impact the service industries, organisations who choose to overlook this technology may suffer a detrimental impact to their bottom line.”

Advanced Field Service’s integrated service management solutions enhance business intelligence for companies which provide installation, service or maintenance via a field or site-based workforce. Its Siclops system enables organisations to improve productivity, reduce administration costs and streamline scheduling processes.

This infographic produced by the team at Euclides Technologies takes a look at the general working day of a field service technician. Great visual overview with some interesting facts thrown in for good measure.

Geotab, an industry leading telematics engineering company, recentley announced that it has released its IOX-CAN extender, a plug-and-play solution that allows partners to send data from their device over a private CAN network in the vehicle supporting integrations on all vehicle types.

A number of companies are already leveraging the IOX-CAN extender to send data from their devices to the MyGeotab system. Geotab’s integration with Mobileye, a technology company that develops vision-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) providing warnings for collision prevention and mitigation, has been upgraded with the IOX-CAN [quote float="left"]“Our solutions are designed to make the roads safer for everyone as the issue of distracted driving continues to be a problem"

extender allowing full support for all vehicle types, including OBDII vehicles. Geotab’s new add-on solution allows Mobileye devices to plug into Geotab’s GO6 and GO7 devices, thereby allowing Mobileye data to be sent to the MyGeotab software platform, where it can be viewed and analysed by dispatchers and fleet managers.

 

Elad Serfaty, VP and General Manager Mobileye Aftermarket, said, “Our solutions are designed to make the roads safer for everyone as the issue of distracted driving continues to be a problem. Working with Geotab allows us to not only provide feedback to the driver, and with managers who can effect change where needed, but we can do this across all vehicle types.”

“Expanding our integration capabilities and continuing our work with Mobileye is a natural evolution as more and more companies realise the benefits of fleet management,” said Neil Cawse, CEO, Geotab. “Providing collision warnings to drivers just before a crash is the first step to creating a safer driving environment for everyone.”

 

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Jonathan Best, vice president of Europe and Africa, Kony Inc outlines the key steps he believes are required for successful mobilisation of a your field team... 

Mobility has proven that it’s not just a passing fad. Mobility offers many opportunities for enterprises to optimise business processes, empower employee productivity, enable real-time collaboration, improve customer experiences, and drive increased revenues.

Initially, most companies were just trying to get one or two apps out in the public app store. Many started with some type of branded consumer app, what are called business-to-consumer (B2C) applications. Businesses used these apps to allow customers to experience and engage with their brand. Often times, these apps were built and launched by the company’s marketing organisation.

Now, with the “consumerisation of IT”, businesses are not only providing mobile experiences for their customers, but also using mobility as a way to empower and enable their employees to be more productive and efficient through business-to-employee (B2E) mobile apps. Particularly those that are out in the field.

Whilst the benefits of mobility are compelling, businesses are faced with the complexity that also comes with mobile not just for IT but also for the line of business that is requesting the field services app. The sheer scale of defining, designing, deploying, and managing mobile projects can seem daunting.

To ensure that your mobile application initiative is successful, enterprises need a clear mobile strategy. Here are five essential requirements to ensure your mobile strategy is on the right track:

1. Streamline Business ProcessesStreamlining operations is the first initiative that enterprises need to address when mobilising the field force. Businesses should be planning to extend the standard back-office process to the field in an automated way, and to ultimately achieve greater operational efficiency.

   The creation of a mobile version of an existing process is a common mistake. Successful mobility is not as simple as delivering an existing system on a smaller screen. It requires thinking in a different way about what is mobilised and how. The key component of operational efficiency is enabling the field to have access to real-time information that will make their job easier and more predictable. If it doesn’t do this in an effective way, you will not see an increase in employee adoption of the app, which means your mobile initiative is doomed to failure.

2. Real-time access to real-time informationField service teams cite cost reduction as a mobile driver, which is a matter of making it easier for the field employee or technician to access to the right information at the right time. By reducing system complexity, the business can combat inefficiency and help the employee get their jobs done faster.

   Many businesses look to mobile technology to increase employee productivity. For field service teams, this means defining current roadblocks and areas for improvement. Raising the productivity of the field force could mean focusing on key performance indexes (KPIs) such as first time fix rates, time on site, and speed to issue resolution. This translates to doing the right job right the first time, by ensuring the right person is assigned and the right information is available and consumable in the way the field worker prefers.

3. SecuritySecurity is an essential piece to any mobile strategy. IT must secure not only the device and application, but also the data itself. Considerations include how the data is integrated from the back office, transformed into meaningful data for the mobile application, sent securely over the network, stored on the mobile device, and managed to the integrity of the business. With these layers come different security methods, including authentication and authorisation of the systems and data to the encryption of the channels and of the data itself. Mobile extends outside the four walls of IT, and must be approached in a holistic way that ensures it can do so safely and without compromise.
4. Understanding users, devices and peripheralsIt’s critical to understand your users. Mobile workers operate differently in the field than back-office workers. Mobile processes are unique, which requires an outside-in mind-set and approach. You must identify the task, understand the process flow, and connect it to the data and systems that store it. This enables you to create a first-class user experience based on the way the field works. It also gives you the flexibility to avoid back office system integration prior to mobilising your field force if necessary.

   Understanding the devices and peripherals that your mobile application must support, and the speed of updates and operating systems upgrades is another challenge. The cost and velocity required to deploy and manage your app for all of those devices comes with development, security, scalability and adoption issues.

5. Consider Two Approaches to MobilityCompanies can take two options to implement mobility. One option is to implement core business mobile apps that contain a significant set of business processes and functionality, like a field service, CRM or asset management application. The other is to leverage micro apps to target and introduce specific business capabilities and returns by delivering better visibility and collaboration between the personas around core business mobile apps.

   The field service team may choose to use a micro app to manage service level agreement (SLA) contracts, introducing a specific application that could track the association of a work order to the SLA. The app could do more than just create a report, instead making it actionable and tying it directly to top-line revenue. These value-adds are key to the app’s success. By doing so, you would improve the operational efficiency of your field service team, and be more proactive with your customers.

   Mobilising your business processes can seem simple. It’s critical to understand your business requirements and align them with a strategy that addresses your specific challenges to ensure that you have the best approach. By carefully considering your strategy and technology, focusing on user experiences and processes, and collaborating between the line of business and IT, you will overcome the roadblocks and build a foundation for mobile success in the field

 

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