Managed print services (MPS) emerged to help deal with the commoditisation of the supplies business and injected new blood into a struggling industry. Years later, MPS itself has become a commodity and, once again, office print providers are looking...
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Jun 19, 2019 • Features • Management • Software & Apps • managed print services • News Software and Apps
Managed print services (MPS) emerged to help deal with the commoditisation of the supplies business and injected new blood into a struggling industry. Years later, MPS itself has become a commodity and, once again, office print providers are looking for new ways of doing things.
This article, from service management software firm Asolvi, looks at the rise of seat-based billing and how it could facilitate a new wave of innovation that will help providers transcend beyond print.
The Commoditisation Issue
In the early 2000s, traditional print resellers began competing on price alone and the need for differentiation became essential, leading to the birth of MPS. MPS was about bundling supplies and services into one recurring price and moving from a transactional, product-oriented arrangement to a contractual, services-oriented one. Instead of customers managing their print environment — placing supply orders after they’ve run out of toner and making service calls when printers go down — dealers started managing it for them.
These new MPS contracts were a win-win. They secured ongoing revenue for dealers while helping customers reduce their printing costs. MPS gave the office print industry a powerful boost.
These new MPS contracts were a win-win. They secured ongoing revenue for dealers while helping customers reduce their printing costs. MPS gave the office print industry a powerful boost.
Yet here we are again with a commoditised product. Only now it’s MPS itself, the one distinguishing feature between most MPS offerings being the price. Still, if there’s anything that office print providers are used to, it’s rapid change. So now they’re looking for a new way to sell. A new way to package their goods and services to create value for the customer and differentiate themselves from the competition.
In this industry, there’s always a new way. One of them is seat-based billing (SBB), an alternative to the traditional way of billing for managed print, which is cost per page (CPP). A number of our clients in this space have expressed an interest in moving from CPP to SBB. As a result, we are already looking at ways of developing our MPS field service management software to accommodate SBB contracts.
But what exactly is SBB? And how does it differ from CPP?
Cost Per Page (CPP) Versus Seat-Based Billing (SBB)
The most popular billing method for MPS has always been cost per page (CPP), also known as cost per click (CPC) or cost per image (CPI). This is where the cost of things like consumables, maintenance, parts, support and toner management are bundled into the cost per page.
The popularity and wide adoption of the CPP model is one of the reasons it can be difficult to set your solutions apart from the competition. An even bigger problem is that it puts you and your customer at odds. You want your customer to print more. Your customer wants to print less. Indeed the whole premise of an MPS solution is to reduce unnecessary printing. And since page volumes are shrinking, basing your organisation’s revenue on a linear association with those volumes is unsustainable.
The popularity and wide adoption of the CPP model is one of the reasons it can be difficult to set your solutions apart from the competition. An even bigger problem is that it puts you and your customer at odds. You want your customer to print more. Your customer wants to print less. Indeed the whole premise of an MPS solution is to reduce unnecessary printing. And since page volumes are shrinking, basing your organisation’s revenue on a linear association with those volumes is unsustainable.
However, seat-based billing (SBB) is now emerging as a more sustainable alternative. Also known as per-user billing or cost per seat, SBB is based on staff numbers rather than pages printed. It is a flat fee billed per end user per month that covers support for all print-enabled devices each person uses.
This could include locally connected printers, desktop printers, multifunction devices (MFDs), fax machines and scanners as well as all consumables, maintenance, parts and software. It plays into the all-you-can-eat mentality that so many customers want and is already popular in other industries, e.g. TV and music subscription services like Netflix and Spotify.
SBB involves a shift in perspective, focusing on users and their needs and behaviours rather than the number of pages printed. This offers an escape from the commoditised world of CPP pricing as well as access to new and more profitable revenue streams. It also ensures perfect alignment between you and your customer. Your customer will spend less but you will make more. This makes for a stronger partnership between you.
How Can You Make More Money With SBB?
Like CPP, SBB involves building a seat price that bundles various services into one fee. But unlike a traditional CPP quote, you have more scope to “layer” additional services onto the seat price. With CPP, there’s only so much you can charge for by the page. Imagine, for instance, trying to charge for VoIP or bottled water by the page. However, it’s perfectly feasible to add these kinds of services onto a user-based price.
For example, you could look to add the following to each seat:
For example, you could look to add the following to each seat:
- Hardware (printers, copiers, MFDs, desktop computers, servers etc.)
- Document management software
- Workflow software
- Print governance software
- Managed IT services
- Coffee and water services
- Digital signage and displays
- Telecommunications including IP telephony and VoIP
Currently you might be offering some of these things by way of one-off sales. However, by bundling them into the seat price, they become part of your recurring revenue stream. And the margins on software are higher, so even as your customers save money, you can mitigate the difference.
The Challenges Of Maintaining A Profitable Seat Price
It’s important to note that with SBB comes the risk that users will abuse the system and print too much or, for instance, print everything in colour. Even though SBB feels like all-you-can-print, it cannot literally be so. That’s because toner is still the most expensive part of any MPS contract. Moreover, the whole point of MPS is to control an organisation’s print output.
So, to make SBB profitable, you first need to build a seat price that is based on a deep understanding of an organisation’s historical print behaviour. You can do this by way of a thorough user- and device-based assessment that gets rid of any assumptions and unknowns. You then need to put as many controls in place as possible to ensure that users don’t overprint.
The first of these controls is having the right language in your contracts, stipulating volume, colour and coverage ratio limits. The second is including print governance software with each seat. This enables your customers to assign user permissions, set restrictions on printing, and keep track of volume and colour usage.
The third is having a strong field service management (FSM) system that gives you full and detailed visibility and monitoring of all service costs. That FSM system needs to integrate with your customer’s machines and let you easily track toner consumption and contract/machine profitability. Your FSM system should make it immediately obvious when your customer is printing more than they should. Easy access to this data enables you to bill correctly, adjust your contract price and/or terms where necessary, and advise your customer on modifying their print behaviour.
With the right controls and software in place, print management can improve with SBB because it puts a name to behaviour. And while managing print volumes is necessary for both CPP and SBB programs, it’s easier to pinpoint misuse with SBB.
For MPS providers that haven’t yet branched into new areas, SBB makes it easier to do so. Billing in CPP doesn’t really allow you to look much past the page. With SBB you can say to a customer, “For an extra £5 per seat per month, we can take care of your desktop computers as well.” There is no additional contract, just an addendum to the existing one. Nor are there any difficult ROI discussions or a large capital budget approval process as it happens immediately and everything is under subscription.
Going forwards, the ability to continually layer the seat with new offerings is likely to be the biggest advantage of the SBB model. It means that SBB could become a powerful way for office print providers to grow.
Jun 19, 2019 • News • News Software and Apps • Software and Apps
XOS UK, a leading Xerox reseller and managed print services (MPS) provider, has described upgrading to Asolvi's Vantage Online as "painless" and "necessary for the company’s growth".
XOS UK, a leading Xerox reseller and managed print services (MPS) provider, has described upgrading to Asolvi's Vantage Online as "painless" and "necessary for the company’s growth".
XOS UK previously used the server-based solution Service Accent, the precursor to Asolvi’s cloud-based Vantage Online solution. With market pressures mounting, they found that Service Accent wasn’t efficient or versatile enough to accommodate their future success. They needed faster processes, superior reports, a clearer way of seeing information and the ability to work remotely anywhere and anytime. When Vantage Online was launched to replace Service Accent and be the growth platform they were looking for, the decision to migrate was a simple one.
“The transition was painless,” says Bob Cudmore, operations director for XOS UK. “No major issues arose regarding data migration. Naturally, this was a project that needed careful management on the part of both XOS and the Vantage team, but with excellent communication and clear project goals and timelines the migration was delivered on time, on spec and on budget. Downtime was also kept to virtually zero.”
Cutting out clicks
Vantage Online does everything Service Accent did, but better. Interfaces are more intuitive and about 50% fewer clicks and screens are required to complete key processes such as work control, stock management, contract administration and meter billing.
Sales order processing (SOP) and purchase order processing (POP) are quicker and easier thanks to increased levels of automation. For example, if XOS sell 10 of the same order, they no longer have to build each order manually 10 times in the system. They simply duplicate the order instead. Now a multi-machine deal takes the same amount of time to process whether it’s for two or two hundred machines. Additionally, Service Accent used a more laborious “find, add” process for attaching accessories such as trays and staple sorters to an order. Vantage Online, on the other hand, produces an automated list of compatible accessories for each machine.
Meter billing is also a more streamlined process in Vantage Online, involving fewer clicks. For example, XOS can now select different invoice types and consolidate them into one, a feature that was missing in Service Accent.
From paper-based reports to live analytics
Before upgrading to Vantage Online, XOS used Crystal Reports, which was integrated with Service Accent and displayed information on screens designed to be printed. It wasn’t particularly flexible or quick and none of the data was live. Now XOS are benefiting from a totally re-imagined reporting system, with dynamic dashboards displaying key data such as volume trends, KPIs, margins, costs and profitability in real time.
Having this data at their fingertips means that users are no longer required to compile as many reports. And when a report does need to be compiled to send to a stakeholder, the information is easily exported as a CSV file to Excel or other programs for further analysis. In effect, it is lightning-quick for XOS to get the information they need, when they need it, in the form they need it in.
XOS' favourite feature: The integration with their data collection agent
Before Vantage Online, XOS weren’t experiencing the full benefit of Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity. This is because the integration between Service Accent and their fleet management system, XSM, was more limited in scope. In particular, meter readings were only inputted automatically into Service Accent if they came from certain in-scope devices. For the rest of their fleet, XOS were required to manually enter the data from XSM into Service Accent.
“Perhaps our favourite single feature [of Vantage Online] is the integration with XSM, where meter readings are seamlessly transferred into Vantage Online from all our connected devices,” says Bob Cudmore. “This massively speeds up our billing process.”
Easier remote access
The fact that Vantage Online is a more proactive system with fewer screens, more automation and a better user interface is only half the reason XOS decided to upgrade.
The other half is that it’s cloud-based. Service Accent was a server-based Windows-only application which needed to be physically installed on a computer to be accessed. While remote working solutions were available, they needed to be configured and maintained by an office-based IT team with a solid understanding of server infrastructure. XOS simply didn’t have the resources necessary to do that.
As a cloud-based solution, Vantage Online eliminates IT support burdens by shifting the responsibility for maintaining the software to Asolvi. Remote working is much easier to facilitate because there is no server-based infrastructure that needs configuring or maintaining. A remote worker is good to go as soon as they have login details.
XOS UK previously used the server-based solution Service Accent, the precursor to Asolvi’s cloud-based Vantage Online solution. With market pressures mounting, they found that Service Accent wasn’t efficient or versatile enough to accommodate their future success. They needed faster processes, superior reports, a clearer way of seeing information and the ability to work remotely anywhere and anytime. When Vantage Online was launched to replace Service Accent and be the growth platform they were looking for, the decision to migrate was a simple one.
“The transition was painless,” says Bob Cudmore, operations director for XOS UK. “No major issues arose regarding data migration. Naturally, this was a project that needed careful management on the part of both XOS and the Vantage team, but with excellent communication and clear project goals and timelines the migration was delivered on time, on spec and on budget. Downtime was also kept to virtually zero.”
Cutting out clicks
Vantage Online does everything Service Accent did, but better. Interfaces are more intuitive and about 50% fewer clicks and screens are required to complete key processes such as work control, stock management, contract administration and meter billing.
Sales order processing (SOP) and purchase order processing (POP) are quicker and easier thanks to increased levels of automation. For example, if XOS sell 10 of the same order, they no longer have to build each order manually 10 times in the system. They simply duplicate the order instead. Now a multi-machine deal takes the same amount of time to process whether it’s for two or two hundred machines. Additionally, Service Accent used a more laborious “find, add” process for attaching accessories such as trays and staple sorters to an order. Vantage Online, on the other hand, produces an automated list of compatible accessories for each machine.
Meter billing is also a more streamlined process in Vantage Online, involving fewer clicks. For example, XOS can now select different invoice types and consolidate them into one, a feature that was missing in Service Accent.
From paper-based reports to live analytics
Before upgrading to Vantage Online, XOS used Crystal Reports, which was integrated with Service Accent and displayed information on screens designed to be printed. It wasn’t particularly flexible or quick and none of the data was live. Now XOS are benefiting from a totally re-imagined reporting system, with dynamic dashboards displaying key data such as volume trends, KPIs, margins, costs and profitability in real time.
Having this data at their fingertips means that users are no longer required to compile as many reports. And when a report does need to be compiled to send to a stakeholder, the information is easily exported as a CSV file to Excel or other programs for further analysis. In effect, it is lightning-quick for XOS to get the information they need, when they need it, in the form they need it in.
XOS' favourite feature: The integration with their data collection agent
Before Vantage Online, XOS weren’t experiencing the full benefit of Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity. This is because the integration between Service Accent and their fleet management system, XSM, was more limited in scope. In particular, meter readings were only inputted automatically into Service Accent if they came from certain in-scope devices. For the rest of their fleet, XOS were required to manually enter the data from XSM into Service Accent.
“Perhaps our favourite single feature [of Vantage Online] is the integration with XSM, where meter readings are seamlessly transferred into Vantage Online from all our connected devices,” says Bob Cudmore. “This massively speeds up our billing process.”
Easier remote access
The fact that Vantage Online is a more proactive system with fewer screens, more automation and a better user interface is only half the reason XOS decided to upgrade.
The other half is that it’s cloud-based. Service Accent was a server-based Windows-only application which needed to be physically installed on a computer to be accessed. While remote working solutions were available, they needed to be configured and maintained by an office-based IT team with a solid understanding of server infrastructure. XOS simply didn’t have the resources necessary to do that.
As a cloud-based solution, Vantage Online eliminates IT support burdens by shifting the responsibility for maintaining the software to Asolvi. Remote working is much easier to facilitate because there is no server-based infrastructure that needs configuring or maintaining. A remote worker is good to go as soon as they have login details.
Easier remote access has given XOS the flexibility to offer first-line assistance to customers when machine faults occur. A XOS technician can access the information they need to diagnose and remedy a fault wherever they may be and, if necessary, escalate it to Xerox. Using Vantage Online to manage reactive maintenance requests also allows XOS to branch out and service other brands.
Scope to do more
By increasing the speed and efficiency of their processes, Vantage Online has given XOS the scope to do far more for their customers than they could using Service Accent. This has made them more attractive as a dealer, inciting significant growth of their customer and machine base. They have also expanded internally, taking on more technicians to deal with the extra demand and deliver the enhanced level of service they now offer.
Scope to do more
By increasing the speed and efficiency of their processes, Vantage Online has given XOS the scope to do far more for their customers than they could using Service Accent. This has made them more attractive as a dealer, inciting significant growth of their customer and machine base. They have also expanded internally, taking on more technicians to deal with the extra demand and deliver the enhanced level of service they now offer.
Want to know more about Asolvi? Click here to access their page in the field service directory for more information , articles and resources.
Jun 19, 2019 • News • future of field service • IoT • Narrow band
Global shipments of NarrowBand (NB)-IoT devices reached 53 million units in 2018 a new study has revealed.
Global shipments of NarrowBand (NB)-IoT devices reached 53 million units in 2018 a new study has revealed.
According to a new research report from IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, global shipments of NB-IoT devices reached 53 million units in 2018.
Annual shipments are expected to almost triple in 2019 reaching 142 million units. Commercial deployments are essentially confined to China, where the semiconductor companies HiSilicon and MediaTek account for a large part of the NB-IoT modem volume.
“NB-IoT device shipments will ramp up quickly on the European and North American market in the next 18 months”, says Fredrik Stalbrand, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “While early deployments have so far been focused on traditional verticals such as smart metering, we expect to see NB-IoT being integrated into a broader set of products in 2019–2020, including home appliances, door locks and smoke detectors”. Combining low power consumption and the inherent security of cellular connectivity, the NB-IoT standard provides multiple benefits to the connected home and building segment.
The transition from 2G to 4G is a global trend, accelerated by NB-IoT. The major North American carriers were late adopters of the technology but are now adding or trialling NB-IoT in their networks as a complement to LTE-M. T-Mobile was the first to launch an NB-IoT service in 2018 and was followed by Verizon and AT&T in the first half of 2019.
In Europe, the leading mobile operators are making good progress towards ubiquitous NB-IoT coverage. Vodafone has been among the leaders in the development of NB-IoT and will roll out commercial services across all its networks until 2020. At the end of 2018, the operator had live NB-IoT services in eleven countries, including Germany, Italy, UK, Spain and the Netherlands. Deutsche Telekom launched in Germany and the Netherlands in mid-2017 and offered coverage in five additional countries at the end of 2018. Telefónica has launched its first NB-IoT networks in Spain and Germany.
Other mobile operators offering NB-IoT in the region include Orange in Belgium, TIM in Italy, MTS in Russia, Telia and Telenor in the Nordics, along with a number of national mobile operators. Australia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey and the UAE are other examples of countries where network services are available.
According to a new research report from IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, global shipments of NB-IoT devices reached 53 million units in 2018.
Annual shipments are expected to almost triple in 2019 reaching 142 million units. Commercial deployments are essentially confined to China, where the semiconductor companies HiSilicon and MediaTek account for a large part of the NB-IoT modem volume.
“NB-IoT device shipments will ramp up quickly on the European and North American market in the next 18 months”, says Fredrik Stalbrand, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “While early deployments have so far been focused on traditional verticals such as smart metering, we expect to see NB-IoT being integrated into a broader set of products in 2019–2020, including home appliances, door locks and smoke detectors”. Combining low power consumption and the inherent security of cellular connectivity, the NB-IoT standard provides multiple benefits to the connected home and building segment.
The transition from 2G to 4G is a global trend, accelerated by NB-IoT. The major North American carriers were late adopters of the technology but are now adding or trialling NB-IoT in their networks as a complement to LTE-M. T-Mobile was the first to launch an NB-IoT service in 2018 and was followed by Verizon and AT&T in the first half of 2019.
In Europe, the leading mobile operators are making good progress towards ubiquitous NB-IoT coverage. Vodafone has been among the leaders in the development of NB-IoT and will roll out commercial services across all its networks until 2020. At the end of 2018, the operator had live NB-IoT services in eleven countries, including Germany, Italy, UK, Spain and the Netherlands. Deutsche Telekom launched in Germany and the Netherlands in mid-2017 and offered coverage in five additional countries at the end of 2018. Telefónica has launched its first NB-IoT networks in Spain and Germany.
Other mobile operators offering NB-IoT in the region include Orange in Belgium, TIM in Italy, MTS in Russia, Telia and Telenor in the Nordics, along with a number of national mobile operators. Australia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey and the UAE are other examples of countries where network services are available.
Jun 18, 2019 • News • News Software and Apps • fast lean smart • Route Planning • Software and Apps • Managing the Mobile Workforce
FAST LEAN SMART (FLS) is living up to its name in more ways than one. In Summer 2018 it enacted a faster-than-usual deployment of its scheduling and route optimisation software for the boiler installations division of HomeServe (formerly Help-Link)...
FAST LEAN SMART (FLS) is living up to its name in more ways than one. In Summer 2018 it enacted a faster-than-usual deployment of its scheduling and route optimisation software for the boiler installations division of HomeServe (formerly Help-Link) so it could be ready for autumn and winter, the company’s busiest time of year. Now it’s improving operational efficiency to such an extent that HomeServe is getting to its customers 25% faster than before.
HomeServe is the UK’s second largest boiler installer and the operations have two distinct components. First, a sales surveyor will conduct a video, telephone or in-home survey to assess what kind of boiler a customer needs, recommend one, and produce a quote. Secondly, field engineers will attend a customer’s property to install a boiler once a quote is accepted.
This presents a complex mix of sales surveyors who attend many jobs in one day and engineers with one job that could require one day or several days for installations. So, when searching for new scheduling and route optimisation software, HomeServe needed a tool that could do both.
More than white-space-filling
Sparking the search for a new scheduling solution was HomeServe’s desire to work smarter, not harder. In particular it sought to bring greater efficiency to the way it scheduled its workforce and remove some of the pressure from its back-office staff.
Richard Wilson, IT Director for HomeServe boiler installations, explains, “Previously we had always relied on the personal knowledge of our planning team to know which sales surveyors and engineers would be best suited for a job in terms of geography, availability and skill set. We wanted software that could make smarter, faster decisions than our planners were equipped to.” It was on speaking with other field service and scheduling solution providers that HomeServe first heard of FLS.
Richard says: “A lot of the scheduling tools we looked at were just about filling white space. In other words, finding gaps in people’s diaries to fit in appointments. We wanted a more dynamic tool, one that could continuously optimise, looking at every appointment and every field worker collectively and scheduling everything in the most optimal way. The providers we talked to said, ‘We can’t really do that, but we know a solution that can: the one offered by FAST LEAN SMART.”
A tool that thinks on its feet
Richard and his project team investigated FLS and discovered that its real-time scheduler and route optimiser, FLS VISITOUR, was the solution it was looking for. An intelligent tool that evaluates a company’s entire resource pool and effectively ‘thinks on its feet’, VISITOUR makes smarter, quicker and more efficient decisions than humans and other scheduling technologies.
It works in conjunction with FLS’s platform-independent mobility solution, FLS MOBILE, to ensure that field-based staff get to where they need to be and have the information they need when they get there. Together they cut the administrative burden considerably and automate a process. The company proceeded with the proof-of-concept pilot project that FLS offers all new customers.
This demonstrates the value of VISITOUR in terms of functionality and versatility, in particular its ability to integrate with existing back-end systems.
Richard explains: “Integration was a key requirement for us. We needed to know that VISITOUR could integrate with our service management software. This is why FLS’s pilot projects are so helpful. They’re not just demos where you have to guess and imagine how it’s going to work in the context of your business. With an FLS pilot, they wire it all in and prove it to you. We saw immediately that FLS lends itself to integration. We were also able to see first-hand how feature-rich and multi-faceted VISITOUR really is.”
Richard goes on to refer to a feature that has proved particularly useful for HomeServe: the ability to link jobs. When HomeServe installs a boiler, it needs to schedule a field engineer to do the installation and an electrician to do the wiring. FLS will link the two jobs, even if they take place on different days. This means that if the installation appointment needs to be changed, FLS will move the electrician appointment simultaneously. “Most software will do about 80% of what you need or really want it to do,” says Richard. “The ability to link jobs is a great example of the fact that VISITOUR will do a lot more.”
Faster-than-usual implementation
Winter is the busiest and most challenging time of year for HomeServe boiler installations. The company needed to go from concept to pilot to live very quickly, so that everything could be in place before the temperature dropped and the calls for new boilers started flooding in. Implementation happened in a much shorter timescale than normal. Thanks to strong teamwork between FLS and HomeServe’s in-house developers and back office teams, VISITOUR was live, integrated and scheduling hundreds of multi-disciplined field resources within just weeks.
“We’re so pleased by how well everyone worked to get VISITOUR in place for autumn,” Richard says. “It was a big team effort and FLS really helped us get it in the air. Our back-office staff deserve a lot of credit, too; they worked very hard and very quickly.”
He points out one reason why FLS is generally a quicker-to-implement program than many other scheduling software packages: “FLS is very good on configuration without the need for customisation. We didn’t have the appetite, time or the resources to develop our own boutique functionality. We needed a solution that was already fully functional, which we could tweak to fit our requirements without writing code. That solution was VISITOUR.”
A growth facilitator
HomeServe went live with VISITOUR in September 2018. Since then the company has been scheduling its people more optimally and cost-effectively and planning better, smarter routes to each appointment. This has enabled HomeServe to get to customers quicker. “FLS saves us time in the office, gives us total visibility of who is doing what, and has enabled us to get to our appointments 25% quicker than we were,” Richard says. “It’s really highlighted how efficient your scheduling can be when intelligent software does it for you. We see FLS as a growth facilitator. The efficiency gains are such that we’re now in a position to scale up.”
HomeServe plans to adopt more FLS functionality to better serve its customers, including form-capture on FLS MOBILE and automated email/text functions. “We’re a customer-centric company,” he explains. “That’s ultimately why we’ve done this. We wanted an easy, smart and efficient way of reshuffling appointments so that the customer gets a survey or installation appointment at a time that’s convenient for them. Now that we’ve enabled this, the automated emails and texts will be to keep customers in the loop at all times. We’re all about improving the customer experience and we’re grateful to FLS for helping us do that.”
HomeServe is the UK’s second largest boiler installer and the operations have two distinct components. First, a sales surveyor will conduct a video, telephone or in-home survey to assess what kind of boiler a customer needs, recommend one, and produce a quote. Secondly, field engineers will attend a customer’s property to install a boiler once a quote is accepted.
This presents a complex mix of sales surveyors who attend many jobs in one day and engineers with one job that could require one day or several days for installations. So, when searching for new scheduling and route optimisation software, HomeServe needed a tool that could do both.
More than white-space-filling
Sparking the search for a new scheduling solution was HomeServe’s desire to work smarter, not harder. In particular it sought to bring greater efficiency to the way it scheduled its workforce and remove some of the pressure from its back-office staff.
Richard Wilson, IT Director for HomeServe boiler installations, explains, “Previously we had always relied on the personal knowledge of our planning team to know which sales surveyors and engineers would be best suited for a job in terms of geography, availability and skill set. We wanted software that could make smarter, faster decisions than our planners were equipped to.” It was on speaking with other field service and scheduling solution providers that HomeServe first heard of FLS.
Richard says: “A lot of the scheduling tools we looked at were just about filling white space. In other words, finding gaps in people’s diaries to fit in appointments. We wanted a more dynamic tool, one that could continuously optimise, looking at every appointment and every field worker collectively and scheduling everything in the most optimal way. The providers we talked to said, ‘We can’t really do that, but we know a solution that can: the one offered by FAST LEAN SMART.”
A tool that thinks on its feet
Richard and his project team investigated FLS and discovered that its real-time scheduler and route optimiser, FLS VISITOUR, was the solution it was looking for. An intelligent tool that evaluates a company’s entire resource pool and effectively ‘thinks on its feet’, VISITOUR makes smarter, quicker and more efficient decisions than humans and other scheduling technologies.
It works in conjunction with FLS’s platform-independent mobility solution, FLS MOBILE, to ensure that field-based staff get to where they need to be and have the information they need when they get there. Together they cut the administrative burden considerably and automate a process. The company proceeded with the proof-of-concept pilot project that FLS offers all new customers.
This demonstrates the value of VISITOUR in terms of functionality and versatility, in particular its ability to integrate with existing back-end systems.
Richard explains: “Integration was a key requirement for us. We needed to know that VISITOUR could integrate with our service management software. This is why FLS’s pilot projects are so helpful. They’re not just demos where you have to guess and imagine how it’s going to work in the context of your business. With an FLS pilot, they wire it all in and prove it to you. We saw immediately that FLS lends itself to integration. We were also able to see first-hand how feature-rich and multi-faceted VISITOUR really is.”
Richard goes on to refer to a feature that has proved particularly useful for HomeServe: the ability to link jobs. When HomeServe installs a boiler, it needs to schedule a field engineer to do the installation and an electrician to do the wiring. FLS will link the two jobs, even if they take place on different days. This means that if the installation appointment needs to be changed, FLS will move the electrician appointment simultaneously. “Most software will do about 80% of what you need or really want it to do,” says Richard. “The ability to link jobs is a great example of the fact that VISITOUR will do a lot more.”
Faster-than-usual implementation
Winter is the busiest and most challenging time of year for HomeServe boiler installations. The company needed to go from concept to pilot to live very quickly, so that everything could be in place before the temperature dropped and the calls for new boilers started flooding in. Implementation happened in a much shorter timescale than normal. Thanks to strong teamwork between FLS and HomeServe’s in-house developers and back office teams, VISITOUR was live, integrated and scheduling hundreds of multi-disciplined field resources within just weeks.
“We’re so pleased by how well everyone worked to get VISITOUR in place for autumn,” Richard says. “It was a big team effort and FLS really helped us get it in the air. Our back-office staff deserve a lot of credit, too; they worked very hard and very quickly.”
He points out one reason why FLS is generally a quicker-to-implement program than many other scheduling software packages: “FLS is very good on configuration without the need for customisation. We didn’t have the appetite, time or the resources to develop our own boutique functionality. We needed a solution that was already fully functional, which we could tweak to fit our requirements without writing code. That solution was VISITOUR.”
A growth facilitator
HomeServe went live with VISITOUR in September 2018. Since then the company has been scheduling its people more optimally and cost-effectively and planning better, smarter routes to each appointment. This has enabled HomeServe to get to customers quicker. “FLS saves us time in the office, gives us total visibility of who is doing what, and has enabled us to get to our appointments 25% quicker than we were,” Richard says. “It’s really highlighted how efficient your scheduling can be when intelligent software does it for you. We see FLS as a growth facilitator. The efficiency gains are such that we’re now in a position to scale up.”
HomeServe plans to adopt more FLS functionality to better serve its customers, including form-capture on FLS MOBILE and automated email/text functions. “We’re a customer-centric company,” he explains. “That’s ultimately why we’ve done this. We wanted an easy, smart and efficient way of reshuffling appointments so that the customer gets a survey or installation appointment at a time that’s convenient for them. Now that we’ve enabled this, the automated emails and texts will be to keep customers in the loop at all times. We’re all about improving the customer experience and we’re grateful to FLS for helping us do that.”
Jun 18, 2019 • News • connectivity • future of field service • Mining
The total active installed base of connected mining solutions reached almost 0.6 million units in the equipment, people and environment segments in 2018...
The total active installed base of connected mining solutions reached almost 0.6 million units in the equipment, people and environment segments in 2018...
The equipment segment accounts for the largest share of the total, representing connected units deployed on machines and vehicles used in mining operations, according to new research from Berg Insight. This includes solutions ranging from OEM telematics systems on mining equipment to advanced connected solutions supplied by mining technology specialists.
The people segment includes various solutions deployed to support the safety and productivity of mining personnel, while the environment segment consists of sensor technology implemented for environmental monitoring of the mine itself. Growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15.5 percent, the total installed base of connected mining solutions in all these segments is forecasted to reach close to 1.2 million units in 2023.
The top players active in the connected mining space include strikingly different types of companies, ranging from specialised independent technology suppliers of varying sizes up to the leading mining equipment manufacturers.
“Many of the key players today serve both surface and underground mining customers”, said Rickard Andersson, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight. The surface segment is dominated by Modular Mining Systems (owned by Komatsu), Hexagon Mining, Wenco International Mining Systems (owned by Hitachi Construction Machinery) and Caterpillar through its Cat MineStar suite. “Modular, Hexagon and Caterpillar all serve underground customers in addition to a primary presence in the surface segment, while Wenco is fully focused on surface mining”, continued Mr. Andersson. He adds that VIST Group is also active in the surface segment and serves some underground operations as well.
Examples of key technology providers focused specifically on underground applications are Newtrax Technologies (recently acquired by Sandvik) and Mobilaris (partially owned by Epiroc). The underground segment is in general less mature and more fragmented. “Mine Site Technologies, MICROMINE and rapidBizApps are additional players in the underground segment that all also serve surface customers to varying extents”, concluded Mr. Andersson.
The equipment segment accounts for the largest share of the total, representing connected units deployed on machines and vehicles used in mining operations, according to new research from Berg Insight. This includes solutions ranging from OEM telematics systems on mining equipment to advanced connected solutions supplied by mining technology specialists.
The people segment includes various solutions deployed to support the safety and productivity of mining personnel, while the environment segment consists of sensor technology implemented for environmental monitoring of the mine itself. Growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15.5 percent, the total installed base of connected mining solutions in all these segments is forecasted to reach close to 1.2 million units in 2023.
The top players active in the connected mining space include strikingly different types of companies, ranging from specialised independent technology suppliers of varying sizes up to the leading mining equipment manufacturers.
“Many of the key players today serve both surface and underground mining customers”, said Rickard Andersson, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight. The surface segment is dominated by Modular Mining Systems (owned by Komatsu), Hexagon Mining, Wenco International Mining Systems (owned by Hitachi Construction Machinery) and Caterpillar through its Cat MineStar suite. “Modular, Hexagon and Caterpillar all serve underground customers in addition to a primary presence in the surface segment, while Wenco is fully focused on surface mining”, continued Mr. Andersson. He adds that VIST Group is also active in the surface segment and serves some underground operations as well.
Examples of key technology providers focused specifically on underground applications are Newtrax Technologies (recently acquired by Sandvik) and Mobilaris (partially owned by Epiroc). The underground segment is in general less mature and more fragmented. “Mine Site Technologies, MICROMINE and rapidBizApps are additional players in the underground segment that all also serve surface customers to varying extents”, concluded Mr. Andersson.
Jun 17, 2019 • Software & Apps • News • Managing the Mobile Workforce
Totalmobile has been as the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) provider of Fieldwork Management Solutions to help and support the 2021 Census of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Totalmobile has been as the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) provider of Fieldwork Management Solutions to help and support the 2021 Census of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
After a robust assessment, selection and trial process, ONS has concluded that the Totalmobile solution - which will consist of a combination of mobile working and scheduling capabilities to mobile census field-workers - will join a team of suppliers in helping to deliver its most technologically and digitally advanced census to date.
This will be achieved by deploying Belfast-based Totalmobile’s optimised visit scheduling technologies, enabling staff to follow up with members of the public to ensure they have the support they need to complete the 2021 Census. The award of the ONS contract follows a long, detailed and highly successful trial of the Totalmobile solution undertaken in ONS’ Social Survey Division, where some 750 permanent staff have already adopted Totalmobile’s mobile working and scheduling solutions.
The decision to roll out a comparable technology offering to census field workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland is not only testament to Totalmobile’s ability to deliver innovative solutions that provide transformational benefits, but also the ability to do so at significant scale.
The contract award is the largest in Totalmobile’s history and comes on the back of a very successful Q1 2019 for the Company which saw software revenues and mobile deployments grow at record numbers; as well as the new acquisitions’ integration plans starting to be delivered.
Jim Darragh, CEO of Totalmobile comments: “What a great start we have had to 2019 and this announcement only goes to cement our position as the first-choice provider in the UK FSM market. We have been working hard with the ONS since early 2018, tasked with delivering a market-leading software solution for ONS’ Social Survey Division. We are delighted that this partnership will now be extended into such a vital programme like the 2021 Census, and demonstrates clearly the effectiveness, usability and scalability of our technology. We are all looking forward to working closely with the ONS on what is without doubt one of the largest mobile working projects the UK has seen.”
After a robust assessment, selection and trial process, ONS has concluded that the Totalmobile solution - which will consist of a combination of mobile working and scheduling capabilities to mobile census field-workers - will join a team of suppliers in helping to deliver its most technologically and digitally advanced census to date.
This will be achieved by deploying Belfast-based Totalmobile’s optimised visit scheduling technologies, enabling staff to follow up with members of the public to ensure they have the support they need to complete the 2021 Census. The award of the ONS contract follows a long, detailed and highly successful trial of the Totalmobile solution undertaken in ONS’ Social Survey Division, where some 750 permanent staff have already adopted Totalmobile’s mobile working and scheduling solutions.
The decision to roll out a comparable technology offering to census field workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland is not only testament to Totalmobile’s ability to deliver innovative solutions that provide transformational benefits, but also the ability to do so at significant scale.
The contract award is the largest in Totalmobile’s history and comes on the back of a very successful Q1 2019 for the Company which saw software revenues and mobile deployments grow at record numbers; as well as the new acquisitions’ integration plans starting to be delivered.
Jim Darragh, CEO of Totalmobile comments: “What a great start we have had to 2019 and this announcement only goes to cement our position as the first-choice provider in the UK FSM market. We have been working hard with the ONS since early 2018, tasked with delivering a market-leading software solution for ONS’ Social Survey Division. We are delighted that this partnership will now be extended into such a vital programme like the 2021 Census, and demonstrates clearly the effectiveness, usability and scalability of our technology. We are all looking forward to working closely with the ONS on what is without doubt one of the largest mobile working projects the UK has seen.”
Jun 14, 2019 • News • 5G • future of field service • Ericsson
Ericsson has been selected by SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank) as a 5G vendor for the deployment of a multi-band 5G network in Japan following a series of successful joint proof-of-concept activities that began in 2015.
Ericsson has been selected by SoftBank Corp. (SoftBank) as a 5G vendor for the deployment of a multi-band 5G network in Japan following a series of successful joint proof-of-concept activities that began in 2015.
Under the agreement, Ericsson will provide SoftBank with radio access network equipment, including products from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio. This will enable SoftBank to launch 5G services on their newly granted 3.9-4.0 GHz and 29.1-29.5 GHz bands for 5G New Radio (NR).
Ericsson will reinforce SoftBank’s existing LTE network while optimizing its 5G network. Ericsson Radio System products for this purpose will be deployed in several regions. With Ericsson Radio System, SoftBank can boost its spectrum assets.
Chris Houghton, Senior Vice President, Head of Market Area North East Asia, Ericsson, says: “SoftBank and Ericsson have been partners since the 2G era and we are thrilled to support them on this latest part of their technology journey. With the help of our advanced product portfolio, SoftBank can unlock the potential of 5G for Japanese society and we look forward to building on our long-standing partnership.”
Ericsson and SoftBank initiated joint proof-of-concept activities in 2015 and have successfully expanded their collaboration to include 5G testing of multi-bands, including 28 GHz and 4.5GHz. Both companies will continue to jointly explore 5G use cases, reinforce SoftBank’s existing LTE network while optimizing its 5G network and commit to realize 5G commercial services within this fiscal year
Under the agreement, Ericsson will provide SoftBank with radio access network equipment, including products from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio. This will enable SoftBank to launch 5G services on their newly granted 3.9-4.0 GHz and 29.1-29.5 GHz bands for 5G New Radio (NR).
Ericsson will reinforce SoftBank’s existing LTE network while optimizing its 5G network. Ericsson Radio System products for this purpose will be deployed in several regions. With Ericsson Radio System, SoftBank can boost its spectrum assets.
Chris Houghton, Senior Vice President, Head of Market Area North East Asia, Ericsson, says: “SoftBank and Ericsson have been partners since the 2G era and we are thrilled to support them on this latest part of their technology journey. With the help of our advanced product portfolio, SoftBank can unlock the potential of 5G for Japanese society and we look forward to building on our long-standing partnership.”
Ericsson and SoftBank initiated joint proof-of-concept activities in 2015 and have successfully expanded their collaboration to include 5G testing of multi-bands, including 28 GHz and 4.5GHz. Both companies will continue to jointly explore 5G use cases, reinforce SoftBank’s existing LTE network while optimizing its 5G network and commit to realize 5G commercial services within this fiscal year
Jun 13, 2019 • Fleet Technology • News • fleet • telematics
Speedy Asset Services, the provider of tools, plant and specialist equipment, is adopting video telematics technology as standard on all new vehicles as part of the company’s commitment to road safety and fleet risk reduction.
Speedy Asset Services, the provider of tools, plant and specialist equipment, is adopting video telematics technology as standard on all new vehicles as part of the company’s commitment to road safety and fleet risk reduction.
The company has installed VisionTrack’s VT2000 connected forward-facing camera on a further 50 recently acquired vans, which will provide Speedy Asset Services with added visibility of any collisions, near misses and harsh driving events.
“We have taken the decision to make video telematics part of our fleet replacement programme, with all new vehicles to be fitted with VisionTrack’s industry-leading road safety technology,” explains Gareth Jones, Road Risk Manager at Speedy Asset Services ltd. “The connected vehicle cameras will help target further improvements as part of our award-winning fleet safety strategy that has already reduced road collisions by 37 per cent, while also enabling us to avoid unnecessary insurance costs.”
The latest roll-out follows the successful adoption of a connected multi-camera DVR system on a fleet of HGVs. The solution has provided all around visibility of the vehicle and shares all captured information with VisionTrack’s cloud-based IoT platform. This has enabled Speedy Asset Services to view HD video evidence of road incidents within second of them occurring, as well as gain a better understanding of driver behaviour to identify areas of risk.
Speedy Asset Services had previously used a competitor SD-card vehicle camera solution within its fleet operation, but the devices required video to be manually downloaded before it could be viewed. It often took up to three weeks to receive footage from drivers, while the solution was also prone regular equipment failure. In contrast, the video telematics system provides real-time alerts in the event of a collision and access to footage, so Speedy Asset Services can immediately check on the welfare of the driver and prove liability in less than 30 minutes.
“As one of the first fleets in the UK to achieve DVSA earned recognition we have demonstrated our commitment to keeping our people, customers and members of public safe by meeting all driver and vehicle standards. As part of this, we understood the need for an advanced and scalable video telematics system that safeguards drivers, prevents road collisions and mitigates fleet risk. We are working closely with VisionTrack – a technology leader that is driving innovation in connected technology and smart transportation – to take advantage of their unrivalled ambition, expertise, service and support,” concludes Jones.
Simon Marsh, Managing Director of VisionTrack commented: “We combine the most advanced and reliable technology with first-class service and support to provide solutions that deliver true value. With a growing number of fleet and transport operations seeking innovative ways of protecting vehicles, drivers and brand reputation, we are now partner of choice for connected vehicle cameras and video telematics.”
The company has installed VisionTrack’s VT2000 connected forward-facing camera on a further 50 recently acquired vans, which will provide Speedy Asset Services with added visibility of any collisions, near misses and harsh driving events.
“We have taken the decision to make video telematics part of our fleet replacement programme, with all new vehicles to be fitted with VisionTrack’s industry-leading road safety technology,” explains Gareth Jones, Road Risk Manager at Speedy Asset Services ltd. “The connected vehicle cameras will help target further improvements as part of our award-winning fleet safety strategy that has already reduced road collisions by 37 per cent, while also enabling us to avoid unnecessary insurance costs.”
The latest roll-out follows the successful adoption of a connected multi-camera DVR system on a fleet of HGVs. The solution has provided all around visibility of the vehicle and shares all captured information with VisionTrack’s cloud-based IoT platform. This has enabled Speedy Asset Services to view HD video evidence of road incidents within second of them occurring, as well as gain a better understanding of driver behaviour to identify areas of risk.
Speedy Asset Services had previously used a competitor SD-card vehicle camera solution within its fleet operation, but the devices required video to be manually downloaded before it could be viewed. It often took up to three weeks to receive footage from drivers, while the solution was also prone regular equipment failure. In contrast, the video telematics system provides real-time alerts in the event of a collision and access to footage, so Speedy Asset Services can immediately check on the welfare of the driver and prove liability in less than 30 minutes.
“As one of the first fleets in the UK to achieve DVSA earned recognition we have demonstrated our commitment to keeping our people, customers and members of public safe by meeting all driver and vehicle standards. As part of this, we understood the need for an advanced and scalable video telematics system that safeguards drivers, prevents road collisions and mitigates fleet risk. We are working closely with VisionTrack – a technology leader that is driving innovation in connected technology and smart transportation – to take advantage of their unrivalled ambition, expertise, service and support,” concludes Jones.
Simon Marsh, Managing Director of VisionTrack commented: “We combine the most advanced and reliable technology with first-class service and support to provide solutions that deliver true value. With a growing number of fleet and transport operations seeking innovative ways of protecting vehicles, drivers and brand reputation, we are now partner of choice for connected vehicle cameras and video telematics.”
Jun 12, 2019 • News • future of field service • servicemax
EXCLUSIVE: Firm's cloud-based platform now managing 200,000,000 assets.
EXCLUSIVE: Firm's cloud-based platform now managing 200,000,000 assets.
ServiceMax has announced a new company milestone as 200 million assets are now under management on the company’s service execution management platform.
While ERP and CRM systems are key to managing financial and sales data, a technician’s understanding of equipment in need of maintenance and repair is critical for successful service execution. Accurate equipment data is also essential in order to correctly dispatch the best technician for a given job, with the proper tools and needed parts. Unlike other field or asset service management solutions, ServiceMax’s purpose-built platform is designed to manage accurate data about complex equipment as-maintained, providing a reliable system of record for serviced equipment data. Technicians using the ServiceMax platform can depend on always having a reliable, historic record of service jobs, parts replaced and tools used for all previous jobs on a given machine or equipment part.
“Field Services are at the core of our strategy and mastering our installed base data is a key enabler to execute,” said Daniel Philippe, Vice President of Global Field Service Operations at Schneider Electric. “Our customers expect us to provide the best services and support. By leveraging ServiceMax as a system of record for the installed base, we can better understand our business, the market dynamics, where the installed base is, and deliver excellent, consistent service across the globe.”
“The more sophisticated the equipment, the more service planners, dispatchers, and technicians depend on accurate data for each piece of serviced equipment,” said Amit Jain, Senior Vice President of Product at ServiceMax. “With ServiceMax, service organizations have the ability to capture and update accurate equipment as maintained data. This asset visibility is not available in other enterprise applications and is critical to digital service transformation.”
“Getting to a state of consistent master data is a struggle for most organizations,” said Kevin Prouty, Group Vice President for IDC Energy and Manufacturing Insights. “Organizations need a solution that can scale from a few dozen devices to hundreds of thousands of assets. Effectively implementing a system of record puts assets under management to greater use and improves the company’s bottom line.”
Having a system of record of your equipment data as maintained in the field is key for organizations wanting to move from break-fix, to proactive and eventually predictive service. Since implementing ServiceMax as the system of record for accurate installed base data, ServiceMax customers have, on average, reduced mean time to repair by 13%, increased first time fix rates by 15%, and improved equipment uptime by 12%.
Field Service News is published by 1927 Media Ltd, an independent publisher whose sole focus is on the field service sector. As such our entire resources are focused on helping drive the field service sector forwards and aiming to best serve our industry through honest, incisive and innovative media coverage of the global field service sector.
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