In an article exclusively for Field Service News, Laurent Othacéhé, CEO at Cognito iQ says service engineers workloads are increasing and stress levels rising. He shares insight from some of the firm's customers, including Baxi and Serco, to see how they're adapting to the new covid-19 environment.

 

Here in Covid-19 world, we are rightly hearing a lot about the key workers who are keeping the country running: the doctors, nurses and carers, the supermarket staff and the postmen and women.

Field Service Engineers working Through Lockdown

But we don’t hear so much about another group of essential workers – the field service technicians and engineers - who are also putting themselves at risk to do their jobs whilst the rest of us are on lockdown.

Field service workers are key workers too

At Cognito iQ, we work with customers in a wide variety of industries, such as HVAC, healthcare, and facilities management (FM); what they all have in common is that they have field-based technicians who are currently facing unprecedented challenges.

Field-based workers don’t have the option that many of us do, to work from home, spend more time with our families and stay safe indoors. These unsung heroes have had to keep going whilst their jobs are changing around them, to develop new working practices and to continue going into homes and workplaces, whilst attempting to maintain social distancing.

Many of the services they provide are classed as essential – repairing boilers or healthcare equipment for example - and we’ve heard countless stories from our customers of how they are transitioning to support their field-based employees so they can look after customers in need.

New procedures add stress

One of the key issues is in equipping field-based technicians with personal protective equipment (PPE), so they can go into people’s homes or workplaces. As well as sourcing the equipment and distributing it, technicians must be trained in how to use it safely and effectively. Masks and protective clothing can be uncomfortable and restrictive, particularly for workers in hot or humid environments.

This is stressful for technicians, and it also makes it harder for them to complete tasks in normal timescales. They also need additional time in between tasks to remove PPE, wash and eat safely. On top of this, they have to develop new working practices. For example, an engineer can no longer just put his toolbox down on your kitchen worktop – the box must be sanitised, and not moved again until the job is completed. Technicians also need to maintain social distancing to protect themselves and their customers. This applies not only in customer premises, but also anywhere that technicians gather, such as central locations for picking up tools, parts or deliveries.

"It has been impossible for managers to predict how much work they would have during the lockdown period..."

Danny Rayner, Service Operations Manager at Baxi said: “During Covid-19 we are working with our engineers to develop new procedures that ensure we can keep them and our customers safe. This includes the provision of PPE alongside increased housekeeping measures, such as counting tools in and out and sanitising them between tasks. In addition to the practical measures we have put in place, the mental wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. Mobile tech has meant that our field-based staff can access help and guidance, and daily vlogs from our CEO David Pinder have kept them informed of company and industry updates.”

Workloads are high

It has been impossible for managers to predict how much work they would have during the lockdown period. Many field service businesses have seen huge drops in demand and have had to furlough their employees. Others are struggling to meet the demand they do have with a workforce that is reduced through sickness and self-isolation. Often companies are managing both situations at once. Serco is pleased to report some unexpected demand. Serco designed, built and implemented the London Cycle Hire scheme for Transport for London.

The company now uses field-based maintenance staff to keep the fleet of bikes up and running. David Schofield, Head of Technology & Analytics at Serco, said: “At the beginning of the lockdown period we experienced a steep drop in cycle hire, which we expected. However, we have been surprised and pleased to discover that there is still a considerable demand for our bikes, albeit at a lower level than before. A free code for NHS staff and other key workers has been created and utilised over 20 thousand times as a safe way to get to work and get exercise at the same time. Travelling by bike is particularly appealing when the tubes are crowded and the roads are quieter, so keeping the fleet maintained is a priority.”

Quieter roads are a bright spot for field-based technicians, reducing travel times and making journeys more pleasant. However, with many workforces being cut, some technicians are having to cover a wider area, which can negate this advantage, and add to the stress for the individual, who has to do more driving and end their shift further from home.

The field service industry was already facing a shortage of skilled engineers, so finding extra staff to cover customer appointments is tough. There is also the issue of bringing new staff on board, and equipping them with mobile devices, uniforms, PPE and parts, as well as training them in company processes and in health and safety procedures, all whilst socially distancing.

What can service companies do to help their heroes?

T Brown, provide services to the social housing sector. The company has put a number of measures in place to help employees, and to protect residents, some of whom are vulnerable. Emily Gardiner, HR & Communications Director at T Brown explained more. “Where many organisations have slowed down and furloughed employees, our front-line engineers remain steadfast and committed to ensuring that, even during these challenging times, we can continue to deliver critical services,” she said. “In doing so, their safety, and that of their families, is paramount. From the outset PPE has been the primary agenda item for the Board, and we have communicated to our staff members and clients that if an activity cannot be undertaken safely, due to a lack of suitable PPE, or social distancing implemented, then it should not take place. Scripts to assess if a resident is shielding now form part of the Customer Service Centre process when booking appointments, and further checks are carried out until the point where the engineer arrives.

"People who work in field service industries have always been key workers, they always will be, and we salute them..."

“We have prioritised our work requirements to ensure that we are able to assist the most vulnerable residents and to attend emergencies in order to minimise the disruption of services during this lockdown period. We are also taking steps above and beyond to serve our communities and aid the NHS by building interim field hospitals and, where possible, providing free boiler repairs to NHS Workers, who live within our contract areas, so that they have one less thing to deal with at this time.”

At Cognito iQ, we recommend that field service companies consider these measures to protect their employees, whilst continuing to deliver great service to customers.

• Build in extra time - new procedures are making planning and scheduling difficult – existing standards for task duration, and expectations about productivity don’t apply and technicians need some slack built in to help them work without pressure.
• Keep in touch – communicating with field-based employees is always important but now it is essential, not only in ensuring that technicians know about new procedures and safety measures but also in helping them feel connected and motivated.
• Take advantage of technology – keeping in touch via Zoom calls or using the messaging capabilities on mobile workflow apps can help to build morale.
• Be aware of stress and mental health issues – your staff who are working may feel under a lot of additional pressure, especially if they are also home schooling or looking after vulnerable family members. Check in regularly and make it clear that their health and wellbeing is a priority.
• Put new call centre procedures in place too – your call centre staff can help by contacting customers in advance to find out about their needs for distancing, or if access to premises is restricted – a particular problem in FM. They can also reassure customers about safety procedures.
• Analyse your field service data – look for what has changed, what the new normal looks like and where problems are occurring. This will help you stay on top of a continually changing situation and make your field-based employees’ jobs easier.
• Boost morale by supporting others – in a crisis people, people typically want to help, so to know that your company is contributing to the wider community - Baxi and T Brown offering free boiler repairs to NHS staff and Serco offering free cycle hire - can be motivational.

The situation we find ourselves in is extraordinary. People all over the world have changed radically, in a short space of time and it remains to be seen which behaviours and attitudes will stick, when this is all over, and which will be quickly forgotten. At Cognito iQ, we’d like to think that the respect and admiration for the NHS and other key workers will continue; people who work in field service industries have always been key workers, they always will be, and we salute them.

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Further Reading: 

• Read the latest news about Covid-19 and service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/covid
• To find out more about Cognito IQ click here.

Digital Transformation is currently one of the key trends amongst field service organisations in all industry verticals, but it is a revolution that has been building for a long, long time writes Laurent Othacéhé, CEO, Cognito iQ. 

Field service is undergoing what is in my opinion the biggest change the industry has seen in the last 25 years.

All of our customers, across a range of industries, want to talk to us about Digital Transformation, and how they can use digital technology to fundamentally transform the way they interact with their customers, and not just about the operational ‘nuts and bolts’ of delivering a service to them.

Some customers are only at the beginning, taking small steps towards transformation by, for example, moving away from traditional software ownership models towards cloud-based products and services, such as MS Office 365. Others are further along, with strategies that embrace technologies such as IoT, big data and AI.

But regardless of their progress, at the heart of all of these conversations is the recognition that Digital Transformation will bring them closer to the goal of providing exceptional field service.

The Art Of Field Service Ops
I often think that the role of a Field Service Manager is a complex mix of art and science, with a bit of magic thrown in for good luck.

Decision making needs to adjust constantly to changes in conditions – a sudden unseasonable cold snap, for example, or a contract with a new customer. Just as service delivery metrics point to success, something changes, and there is a whole new dynamic.

Without knowing what combination of factors triggered the change, it’s hard to know how best to respond.
Get the reaction to an emerging threat wrong – too great or too small a response – and the complex balance of the operational ‘ecosystem’ can be thrown out.

Recovering that balance and restoring the conditions required for ‘flawless’ field service can prove costly and time consuming.

Data doesn’t drive decisions
Most organisations capture a range of sources and types of data - workload planning, resource availability, schedule efficiency, service outcomes, customer satisfaction levels, asset profitability – and many are integrating new types, such as that offered by IoT.

However, this data is rarely delivered in the right form to support decision making, meaning that managers spend too much time aligning and manipulating data from disparate sources. Even then, many are frustrated to find that the root cause of issues is still unclear and the likely outcome of any decision is still uncertain.

AI, machine learning and predictive analytics
This is where the latest technologies, such as AI, machine learning and predictive analytics come in.

Valuable insights into the performance of an operation often lie at the intersections of these various datasets; these technologies can enable decision support applications to identify underlying patterns of performance in the Field Service operation, including long and short term trends, that were simply too complex for traditional applications to uncover. This is increasingly true as much larger data sets such as IoT have come online in recent years.

"Field service is undergoing what is in my opinion the biggest change the industry has seen in the last 25 years..."

This deep understanding of performance, combined with the power to highlight exceptions in real-time, enables the operations team to see the correct course of action to address each challenge as it arises. And beyond simple advice, these technologies make it possible for applications to automate ‘learned’ responses to common patterns of exceptions that occur.

The next generation of decision support
This next generation of applications will be used strategically to analyse, for example, which factors within a field service operation make engineers productive, and which inhibit productivity. Some of these factors will be within the control of the engineer, in which case performance can be addressed with initiatives such as better training or incentives.

Others will relate to company processes, in which case the applications will suggest tactical improvements, the impact of which can also be measured. Others still will be external factors which can’t be changed, but can be allowed for in planning and scheduling.

Such applications will be programmed with a knowledge base, but will be learning all the time, as the outcome of each decision is fed back into the performance data, effectively automating the process of continuous incremental improvement. This will take some of the challenge of blending art and science out of the hands of the Field Service Manager, leaving them free to concentrate on other activities.

Not just software suppliers
It is clear that this massive change in the industry requires those of us who supply and partner with field service companies to change too. We can’t just be technology suppliers.

We have to embrace our customers’ goals and work with them to add value; to weave their transformation strategies into the fabric of our products and services and to bring to the table our own blend of art, science and, yes, a little magic too.

Laurent Othacéhé is CEO at Cognito iQ.

Laurent Othacehe, CEO, Cognito iQ looks at why employee engagement is a critical pillar for achieving field service excellence and offers some crucial advice for field service companies seeking to how best to ensure they are getting the most out of their most important asset - their field service staff...

Field service is not just about IT and processes, nor is it just about parts and engineering. It is about people, this is why employee engagement is one of three fundamental aspects, alongside improving productivity and meeting customer expectations, that can lead to what we view at Cognito iQ as flawless field service.

If you want to know more about this topic there is a white paper available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Not a subscriber? If you are a field service professional you can apply for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription.

Click here to apply for your subscription and we'll send you a copy of the white paper Flawless Field Service: Employee Engagement as thanks for your application

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What is employee engagement?

So what do we mean by employee engagement?

If you Google it, you’ll get any number of definitions, but we like this one from not-for-profit organisation Engage for Success.

“Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give their best each day, commit to their organisation’s goals and values and contribute to the organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being. Employee engagement is based on trust, integrity, two-way commitment and communication between an organisation and its members”.

It’s also important to say what employee engagement isn’t. It isn’t manipulative. It’s not a cynical attempt to wring productivity from employees with spurious benefits. It isn’t an annual employee engagement survey – although it can be measured - and it should only be measured if doing so leads to positive change.

This means that employee engagement must be win-win for employees and their employers. It can’t be imposed from above. It’s about creating a cultural shift in the way organisations behave.

Key drivers of employee engagement include the following:

• A culture of trust, fairness and respect for employees and management
• A culture of teamwork and co-operation
• Clarity on goals, constructive feedback and support to succeed
• Quality training and clear job progression
• Work-life balance and work that makes the most of people’s skills
• Empowerment, autonomy and a sense that people’s ideas are valued

Why employee engagement matters

In the UK, only around a third of employees are ‘engaged’. Engaged employees tend to be happy in their jobs, enthusiastic about their work, committed and driven.

This matters, not only for the wellbeing of the remaining two thirds of UK workers, but also because study after study has linked employee engagement to improved productivity, customer satisfaction, growth and profitability, as well as a whole raft of other business metrics, including employee retention; innovation; safety incidents; product quality and defects; shrinkage and theft; and sickness and absenteeism. And whilst engaged employees can bring business benefits, the reverse is also true.

A US study found that there are 51% of US workers who are not engaged, and a further 16% who can be defined as ‘actively disengaged’; whilst workers who are ‘not engaged’ tend to be indifferent – they are just showing up for their pay-check - those that are actively disengaged can be resentful and disruptive, taking up managers’ time, seeking out ways to ‘cheat the system’ and even sabotaging the work done by others.

Employee engagement in field service

1. The nature of the work:

Remote workers can feel isolated, which reduces engagement. It is important to ensure that they feel connected to the main office, and also feel part of a team, whether that is at a local or regional level, or by job specialisation.

Field service has traditionally been low-tech which has meant a lot of tedious paperwork – necessary but not as satisfying as helping customers and solving service issuesAs back-office management don’t always have good visibility of how work is actually done in the field, they might not understand how to empower and enable workers to do their jobs and may have created processes that are unhelpful or counter-productive.

In addition, field service has traditionally been low-tech which has meant a lot of tedious paperwork – necessary but not as satisfying as helping customers and solving service issues – so it is important to automate some of these admin tasks, as well as give workers electronic access to the information they need to do their jobs, such as product manuals and parts databases.

2. The nature of the workforce:

There is an ageing workforce, with the average age of the field service worker being 40 years old – and many of the older baby-boomer generation engineers are starting to retire.

To fill the skills gap in field service will mean both keeping older engineers on for the long haul by retraining and re-skilling them, as well as attracting and training new younger engineers. Engagement is essential here as it is costly to train up new workers only to have them job-hop to a competitor for a slightly better rate pay or better benefits.

3. The nature of the industry:

As products become commoditised, companies are relying on the quality of their service to differentiate from competitors. Field service workers are the face of the brand and often the only company representative that customers interact with. Engaged employees are more likely to give great customer service than disengaged employees.

The most forward-thinking companies are wise to the potential of field service workersThe most forward-thinking companies are wise to the potential of field service workers. They are considering ways to upsell other products and services during their visits and are turning field operations departments into profit centres. Technology is also changing the skills needed on the job. Connected devices are reducing some of the tasks that field workers need to do, such as routine maintenance checks, but they are creating new data, which means that workers will need analytical skills.

Technologies such as virtual or augmented reality are also changing the ways that workers carry out their tasks. Workers may see these new skill requirements as a threat – however, companies that are good at engaging their employees see these developments as opportunities to offer training, career progression and the satisfaction that comes from being part of an up-to-date and modern company.

If you want to know more about this topic there is a white paper available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Not a subscriber? If you are a field service professional you can apply for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription.

Click here to apply for your subscription and we'll send you a copy of the white paper Flawless Field Service: Employee Engagement as thanks for your application

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LaurentOthacéhé, CEO of CognitoiQ explores the importance of going beyond meeting customer expectations and ensuring you are delighting your customers...

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Not a subscriber but you are a field Service Professional? Click here to apply for a complimentary industry subscription to Field Service News and get this white paper sent directly to your inbox now as a thank you for your application

For some years now, the prevailing wisdom has been that in order to stand out from their competitors, businesses of all types must focus on their customers’ experiences.

Gartner says that in 2017 “89% of marketers expect customer experience to be their primary differentiator”.

The costs of bad service are well documented:

• Bad customer service costs UK companies over £37Bn each year
• More than a quarter of UK customers took their business elsewhere or spent less with a company due to bad service in 2016
• A customer is four time more likely to switch to a competitor due to problems with services, compared with pricing and product issues.

As are the benefits of good service:

• 86% of people will pay more for a better customer experience
• Better customer experiences can lift revenue by up to 15% and reduce the cost of service by up to 20%

This wisdom has taken hold in the field service industry too: our industry has traditionally been more focused on keeping costs down, but research now shows that field service companies are putting the customer first.

Field service managers say that ‘customer satisfaction’ is their most important KPI... But customer experience is more than just customer satisfaction.Field service managers say that ‘customer satisfaction’ is their most important KPI, ahead of technician productivity and utilisation, and first-time-fix rate. But customer experience is more than just customer satisfaction.

Managing customer experience means paying attention to every interaction, the customer has with your company, whether that is through using your products and services or via your website, call centre, billing or social media.

In this context, it becomes clear that a visit from a field service engineer is loaded with opportunities to delight – or disappoint – your customer.

Think about your own experiences as a customer

You are never going to be delighted with a company that fails to deliver: the product doesn’t work; the parcel doesn’t arrive; the engineer is late and can’t fix your problem.

The basics have to be right. And if they aren’t right, the company has to go out of its way to resolve your issue or deal with your complaint. So far so good, but what takes customer experience from good to great is those occasional ‘moments of magic’: the unexpected extras, or the human touches that you remember, and tell people about.

For example, when an airline gets everyone seated, their hold luggage stowed, and the plane takes off on time, then that is a Brilliant Basic: customers get the experience they expect.

The good news is that for every service organisation becoming a best-in-class service provider is an achievable goal.When the flight is delayed on the tarmac, but the airline gives everyone free food and drinks and lets them switch their phones back on to call ahead, then that is a Remarkable Resolution: the airline deals well with a failure of the basic service.

But when the flight attendant overhears a passenger worrying about getting her connection and making her sister’s wedding and contacts the destination airport to get the connecting flight held back, that is a Moment of Magic.

Of course, it is only the best-in-class companies that generally positioned to identify these needs and deliver those Moment's of Magic, however, the good news is that for every service organisation becoming a best-in-class service provider is an achievable goal.

The first step has to be adopting a customer-centric culture across your organisation and then empowering and enabling your team to deliver the new culture you have embedded through the application of technology such as mobile and data analytics.

Want to know more? There is a white paper on this topic that provides further insight available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers.

Not a subscriber but you are a field Service Professional? Click here to apply for a complimentary industry subscription to Field Service News and get this white paper sent directly to your inbox now as a thank you for your application

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Improving productivity is the cornerstone of establishing a framework for delivering field service excellence. Laurent Othacéhé, CEO, Cognito iQ outlines why and how you should approach improving your field service productivity...

 

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Want to know more? A white paper on this topic is available to Field Service News subscribers - if you are a Field Service Professional you may qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription - apply now and we will send you a copy of this white paper whilst we process your application! 

 

Click here to apply for a complimentary industry subscription to Field Service News and get the white paper "Your Guide to Flawless Field Service - Perfecting Productivity" sent directly to your inbox now

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Expectations of field service have never been higher

Customers are used to the speed of delivery and quality of service that they get from consumer companies such as Amazon; this has raised the bar for all service companies. Customers want a service appointment quickly, they want smaller appointment windows and they expect your field worker to have the right information as well as the skills, knowledge and parts to resolve their issue first time.

Against this backdrop is the growing need for the service department to both reduce costs and contribute to revenues. Uncertain economic conditions have led many companies to strive to be more efficient and field service departments are facing significant pressure to cut costs and “do more with less.”

How do field service organisations provide a better service to their customers, with fewer resources? Our customers tell us they are focused on efficiency and productivity gains, and this is borne out by the market:

• 56% of field service professionals say that their customers are demanding faster response times
• 47% of field service professionals say they need to improve service process efficiencies
• 49% of field service professionals say that the primary objective for their field mobility investment in the coming year will be maximising productivity [/unordered_list]

So how do you improve productivity?

To answer that question, you have to know what productivity means to your business. All businesses will have a different definition and an individual approach. For example, would you be happy to drive up the number of visits per day your field workers attend if that meant fewer first time fixes, or reduced customer satisfaction scores?

The old adage is that you can’t manage what you can’t measure but, these days, companies know that it is a bit more complicated than that – measurement for its own sake or using the wrong metrics to set targets can be counter-productive. It is vital to know how to measure success: which metrics are useful and which aren’t, which can be accurately determined and which can’t, how metrics interact and how setting goals and targets will affect how employees go about their jobs.

The market backs this up too:

 

In 2016, Field Service News reported that improving the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used to measure performance was the top strategic action for the year ahead for 64% of field service organisations in the UK and Europe.

Field Technologies Online reported that 75% of field service organisations do not effectively measure their KPIs and 27% of those do not use KPIs at all.

Our customers tell us that the biggest challenges in improving productivity come not only from a need to define and measure it, but also from knowing how to influence workers to behave in the most productive way. This is a challenge that plays out at an operational level and an employee level.

At the operational level, field service leaders need accurate, timely data about field operations and the analytic capabilities to look for bottlenecks and opportunities to improve. At the employee level, leaders need to know how each field worker is performing, how to solve performance problems and how to motivate, train and support each worker effectively.

Simply, through continual improvement

This is not a new idea. Continual improvement is a well-established practice that seeks to increase customer value, reduce waste and optimise resources via incremental change, feedback and analysis. These techniques originated in manufacturing; on a production line, it is relatively simple to measure variables such as number of defects, as you can easily see how the work is being done and you can observe the impact when you make changes to the process. But as continual improvement methodologies have developed, they have been profitably applied in many other industries, so why not field service operations?

There are challenges: field service workers aren’t widgets that can be counted and checked. They work remotely, often independently, and may only come back to base on rare occasions.

If you can’t actually see what they are doing, you need detailed, timely, accurate data from which you can build up a picture of how they behave. With the right data, it is possible to adopt a proactive, systematic approach, breaking down the processes within the operation.

 

Adopting a continual improvement approach means that first you plan and do: Planning data has historically been focused on task, time and location: telling workers what to do, where to go and when. But if you want to improve the plan for tomorrow, you will need to study how efficiently the plan worked today and act to make changes.

For example, were job durations as you expected? If tasks took longer than planned you may have unhappy customers and a big overtime bill. If they took less time, are you paying workers who have gone home early? Detailed data on durations enables you to act, adjusting task durations to feed back into the plan for tomorrow. It is the combination of many small changes, and the continual feedback loop of measurement, analysis and change that will gradually and incrementally improve productivity.

 

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Want to know more? A white paper on this topic is available to Field Service News subscribers - if you are a Field Service Professional you may qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription - apply now and we will send you a copy of this white paper whilst we process your application! 

 

Click here to apply for a complimentary industry subscription to Field Service News and get the white paper "Your Guide to Flawless Field Service - Perfecting Productivity" sent directly to your inbox now

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