AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Mark Glover

Is your organisation digitally determined or are you amongst the 54% of companies who are currently digitally distraught? Sarah Nicastro, IFS, reflects on some of the common errors to avoid when approaching digitalisation...


In a recent blog titled You Need a New Digital Transformation Playbook, published by IDC, author Meredith Whalen reveals that based on a recent study of digital leaders, 46 percent are what IDC refers to as “digitally determined” while 54% are what IDC calls “digitally distraught.”

It doesn’t surprise me that such a large percentage of organisations fall into the “distraught” category – true digital transformation is a massive undertaking that can prove daunting and frustrating at times. In an effort to alleviate some of the headaches that can come along with such a major initiative, I’m going to share four common missteps I see organisations make related to digital transformation:

#1: Overlooking the Cultural Implications of Digital Transformation
If you think of digital transformation as strictly a technology initiative, you are starting off on the wrong foot. Digital transformation requires just as much cultural change as it does technology use, yet this piece of the puzzle is commonly overlooked for a variety of reasons – leaders assume employees will just “get it,” carving out time for cultural change management seems to slow down progress, or companies just aren’t sure how to tackle such a cultural shift.

I assure you, making an effort to get the cultural part of digital transformation right will pay dividends. I’ve heard countless tales of efforts gone wrong because the employee wasn’t bought in on the concept or properly trained on the tool introduced.

Key areas to focus on are to communicate clearly and regularly with all employees on the need and objectives for your transformation – implement a feedback loop with your employees and listen to what they have to say. Be selective about the technology you adopt as part of your effort – if the tool doesn’t meet the needs of your workforce or
is difficult to use, adoption will suffer. Investing in tools that do what they say they will and deliver an experience your employees actually value will build their trust in your digital transformation efforts. Finally, continually monitor adoption and “take the temperature” of your employees to course correct your efforts as needed.

"Making an effort to get the cultural part of digital transformation right will pay dividends..."

 

#2: Failing to Set a Solid Digital Transformation Foundation
It’s all too easy to become enamored by some of the ultra-cool facets of digital transformation and gloss over some of the basics. But for true digital transformation to be successful, you have to walk before you run.

You have to ensure you’ve laid a solid foundation of basics from which to build your digital repertoire. While not as sexy as AR and AI, effective and efficient communication, bulletproof scheduling and routing, and solid work order management are examples of more basic technology that simply has to be mastered before being built upon.

As you evaluate your foundation, think about the past — what do you have in place already that is working well; the present — what you want to accomplish in the near term; and the future — what you want your digital portfolio to look like five years from now. This will help you visualise the evolution of how you build on what you have to get where you want to be, or will help you to identify changes you need to make to your current systems before building upon them.

#3: Defining YOUR Desired Digital Transformation State
To achieve digital transformation success, you MUST realise that your desired end state will be unique. I’ve seen organisations get off track because they see what ABC Company is doing and make every effort to replicate their success, rather than tailoring the approach to their own business. It’s fine to look around you for inspiration but staying in your own lane is critical to your success.

Start by defining your business goals, by visualising what YOUR desired digital transformation state looks like (and of course agreeing upon this vision organisation-wide). Each businesses’ end goal is going to be individualised, as well the approach for getting there – no two companies can follow the exact same path.

Once you have your goals set and vision articulated, focus then on only the technologies that will get you there – don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked by the new, shiny thing that will ultimately bring no value to your business but looks really cool. Stay focused and measure your progress to that desired state.

#4: Racing to Reach The “End Goal” of Digital Transformation
I’m here to break it to you: you’ll never reach the end of your digital transformation efforts. The “end goal” is a myth; it doesn’t exist. The reality of digital transformation in the technology age is that it will keep going, and going, and going.
This means you have to work to perfect the art of ongoing cultural adaptation, business goal setting, and technology adoption – because you’ll be adding on to and tweaking your digital transformation efforts from now until the end of time.

Don’t let this overwhelm you – the foundation you are setting will equip your entire organisation to make future adjustments and additions far more seamlessly.

While there is no true state of completion, the race is on to make progress and remain competitive.

Sarah Nicastro is Director of Service Management Business Development at IFS.

Expanded portfolio will simplify the transition to a secure, automated and cloud-centric infrastructure with new innovations in metro, edge and core, firm says.

Juniper Networks has announced a major refresh to its metro, edge and core solutions to for service providers 5G transformation.

Comprised of IP optimized silicon enabling industry-leading 400GbE density on a new 14.4 Tb linecard, new ACX access and aggregation platforms and an expanded MX 5G router portfolio, the new solutions will help service providers achieve a holistic approach to infrastructure transformation, Juniper claims.

Commenting, Brendan Gibbs, Juniper Network's VP, Product Managament said: “Juniper Networks is giving service providers the building blocks required to create 5G-ready networks built for simplicity and agility that are capable of supporting immense traffic demands for the future. By combining the attributes of secure and automated cloud architectures, Juniper is ushering in the next era of service provider networking.” 

 

Richard Pratley left behind the beaches, scenery and weather of New Zealand to head-up SimPRO’s UK arm. Seven months into his new role, he spoke to Field Service News Deputy Editor Mark Glover about apprenticeships, health and safety and the state of the service sector in his homeland...

So isolated is New Zealand it was one of the last lands to have human settlement. As well as avoiding human interaction for so long more, it has also avoided the shockwaves spread from the global financial market. Seemingly exempt from the volatile effects of the recession, it is now seen as a ‘rock-star’ economy, immune to the peak and troughs of the downturn.

Investment in apprenticeships, particularly field service apprenticeships however has taken a hit here in the UK, globally and even New Zealand and the sector currently faces a discrepancy in new entrants joining the sector. Richard Pratley, Managing Director at SimPRO UK and a New Zealander is well placed to comment on the issue, which he did as a recent guest on the Field Service News podcast.

I asked him what challenges both countries – New Zealand and the UK – are facing in field service. He was forthcoming on the current employment imbalance. “I think the biggest one [challenge] is the skills labour shortage and how it’s impacting our industry,” he says. “Finding good people and keeping good people is getting increasingly harder.”

He suggested that New Zealand is reacting to the disparity, but it may be too late to plug the current gap. “A lack of investment in apprenticeships is a common trend across both geographies and I think we’ve underestimated how strong apprenticeships were,” he offered.

“Certainly, from a New Zealand perspective, it’s now well-recognized, and there is some heavy investment going in, but of course, it’s all a little bit too late. It’s not going to help us right now but it will help us in a few years’ time.”

“I think the biggest challenge is the skills labour shortage and how it’s impacting our industry...”

Richard headed up SimPRO’s New Zealand office for three years before relocating to these shores to take up his current position at the firm’s UK arm and he tells me there’s never been a better time to adopt an operational software platform or operational job management system.

But with a wide range of outfits to choose what should a service firm be looking for? “The thing we’re trying to do is to get more billable hours and more out of the existing workforce,” Richard says. However, I wonder if owner-based companies, used to ‘pen and paper’ procedures can find the change to a cloud-based OS rather overwhelming?

“Certainly, in New Zealand - and I’m guessing it’s the same in the UK too - there are a lot of large established service businesses that are owner operated,” he says.

“They have been run for a number of years and at some point, that individual may be looking to retire, and have some sort of exit strategy. The challenge is, that without some sort of systemisation, it’s all in somebody’s head and that’s a very difficult thing to get out.”

One area of work traditionally associated with pen and paper (and clipboard) is health and safety. Legislation and regulation require a strong paper trail, something that can be a laborious – yet important process.

Surely then, the cloud-based software in job management systems can assist in this? “We have a number of workflows and tools within apps that allow technicians to do those risk assessments on their devices, to record those results and to actually make some health and safety decisions before they go ahead and do any part of a job,” Richard says.

He pauses slightly before saying: “And I think that’s fundamentally important.” 

You can listen to the Field Service Podcast with guest Richard Pratley here.

 

Panasonic Business has opened its new customer experience centre in the UK, showcasing its range of B2B solutions virtually  and physically including a rugged technology testing centre.

Situated in Bracknell, the centre is experienced as two zones. The first is an immersive 270 degree interactive presentation space, built around eight separate virtual vertical environments, and a demonstration space that allows customers to get hands-on with the latest Panasonic technology. 

Featuring AV design and integration by Sysco Productions, concept development by AB Creative, and content and physical build by Hart Wilcox, it  features over 100 items of technology, including a range of Toughbook rugged notebooks and with a rugged resistance test station, which allows water ingress, drop and impact testing of the range. 

Simon Grantham, Managing Director of Panasonic UK said: "By quietly and reliably powering their capability our technology frees businesses to perform to their maximum. The new customer experience centre provides a platform upon which we can work with our customers to solve their daily business challenges.” 

 

 

 

 

PTC's Servigistics platform will integrate with IFS' Field Service Management, Applications and Maintenix solutions.


IFS the global enterprise company have announced a partnership with computer software and services company PTC that they say will reduce asset downtime and improve service part availability.

The partnership will see IFS' three field service platforms - IFS Applications, IFS Field Service Management and IFS Maintenix - incorporate PTC's service-parts optimisation solution Servigistics.

Commenting on the agreement, Aly Pinder, IFS' Program Director of Service Innovation and Connected Products said: " The collaboration between PTC and IFS connects two critical aspects of service – field execution and service parts management. To remain competitive and deliver enhanced service experiences, it is crucial to have the right service part available for a service technician to fix an issue promptly and during the first visit."

Leslie Paulson, Servigistics Business Unit's General Manager was equally positive. “We are excited to partner with IFS to integrate our solutions and pursue new frontiers of innovation in connected service delivery,” she said. “Having the right part in the right place at the right time has never been more important. We’re pleased to be working with IFS to enable companies to differentiate their service and maintenance operations.”

Pricing details have not been yet been revealed, but according to MRO-Network.com, IFS have said this will depend on specific customers' needs. 

Field service management software specialist, Oneserve, has hired Alistair Hayter as its new Chief Technology Officer.

Hayter has worked in senior technology and product delivery roles in the education, healthcare and finance sectors. A specialist in solution design, team development and strategic alignment and has previously been Head of Engineering for Equiniti Data,
Technical Director for Lovell Sports LTD, CTO for Imagine Education LTD and Senior Product Manager for VitalPac.

Chris Proctor, CEO at Oneserve said: “This is a key appointment and we are really excited to have Alistair join the team at Oneserve. Our business has grown dramatically over the last few years and Alistair’s skills and expertise will drive forward our exciting development plans for the future.

“Alistair has extensive industry experience which will only serve to enhance our business offering. We are delighted he has chosen to bring this knowledge to Oneserve at a crucial time in our growth and we look forward to product innovations and new launches ahead,” concluded Proctor.

 

Ericsson has been selected by Swiss telecommunications service provider Swisscom for its security manager solution.

 

The Security Manager software will offer security automation, visibility and control for Swisscom's Security Operation Center, addressing the increasing security management needs of the service provider.

The new deal includes automation of security compliance management and basic security analytics.

Philippe Vuilleumier, Head of Group Security, Swisscom, said: “Continuing our strong partnership and collaboration with Ericsson, we are deploying Ericsson Security Manager in our datacenter in Switzerland while simultaneously developing the solution further through progressive and agile collaboration. Ericsson Security Manager is improving the security baseline automation and security analytics in our Security Operations Center, strengthening our activities to protect our own critical infrastructure.”

Åsa Tamsons, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Technologies & New Businesses, Ericsson, says: “Security is a cornerstone of Swisscom’s business. Ericsson Security Manager will transform the security management of Swisscom’s mobile network and in the future support new use cases in the telecommunications industry, while addressing the ever-increasing security requirements.”

In the second of our four-part series, our industry experts Bill Pollock, Strategies for Growth, Marc Tatarsky at FieldAware, and Richard Pratley from SimPRO, tackle the area of IoT and its role in field service.

In The Big Discussion we bring together three industry experts and put four key questions for them to answer to give us a balanced view of the major trends impacting the field service sector. This week, the panel look at the impact of IoT in field service and whether it will become a necessity for firms to embrace if they are to keep ahead of the service curve.

IoT has become an increasingly key discussion amongst field service companies in recent years - do you think it will soon be essential for field service companies to embrace IoT?

BILL POLLOCK, PRESIDENT, STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH
I believe it is already essential for field service companies to embrace the IoT. That ship has already sailed – and those FSOs that run their services operations on an IoT platform are already beginning to see the return on their investment.

The enormous amount – and wealth – of data that is now being generated through the use of an IoT platform is turning many of the traditional ways of thinking upside-down. For example, it has created an environment where the “old” (i.e., last year’s) way of measuring performance is becoming almost instantly outdated. For example, last year, an FSO might have been assessing its service delivery performance on the basis of asset uptime or SLA compliance, etc. However, this year, they may need to gauge their performance via an entirely “new” set of KPIs!

Measuring your performance in providing “power by the hour” or “airplanes in the air” is quite a bit different than measuring on the basis of the number of monthly site visits, PM calls and asset uptime.


MARC TATARSKY, SVP MARKETING, FIELD AWARE
Undoubtedly, IoT has the potential to revolutionise field service in terms of moving to a predictive model of service, increasing efficiency, reducing cost while improving customer service. But any move to IoT is dependent on various operational factors. These include the prevalence of assets and existing IoT sensors, the ability to add IoT sensors to new sources to collect meaningful data and the technology maturity of the organisation and the FSM platform.

These factors can be dictated by numerous elements – company size, the industry and type of clients they serve, the complexity of the work, the value of assets and equipment they supply and service, and their leadership.

It is important for organisations to establish where they need to be in their operational and technological maturity to help the business thrive. For some companies transformative technologies, like IoT, are a key element of their planning and for others they may not figure at all.

RICHARD PRATLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR UK, SIMPRO
IoT is fast become an essential service offering that customers will ultimately demand of their service providers and it  helps meet the requirement to deliver more for less for customers particularly for those installing and maintaining high-value assets!

When connecting these ‘Things’ to the Internet, using the live operational data and machine learning to analyse performance, it opens up the possibility of variable-based services based on machine condition and utilisation, rather than prescriptive frequency based visits and reactive calls.

This proactive approach can help lower TCO and increase uptime for customers and asset owners, whilst lowering the cost of operation and providing differentiation for the Service Provider. If you want to stay relevant in a competitive evolving market, now is the time to be considering how this technology can be incorporated into your own processes and service offerings.


The third part of The Big Discussion will be published next week. You can read the first instalment here.

Renowned property maintenance provider Axis Europe is in the throes of a digital transformation. At the heart of that transformation is new scheduling and route  optimisation software from Fast Lean Smart (FLS), set to bring all-new levels of
productivity and customer engagement to Axis’ service operation in conjunction with Dynamics 365.


Established in 1986, Axis utilise 500 field operatives to provide strategic repair, maintenance and improvement services for premier UK building owners across all property sectors, including social housing, schools, commercial offices and heritage properties. Its work, partnerships and interactions are shaped by a set of core values that make it “big enough to deliver, small enough to care” as per its strapline.

A strong commitment to providing top-quality service to customers in an increasingly service driven and complex landscape is what heralded Axis’ decision to digitally transform. The company currently uses multiple service management solutions and a scheduling system dominated by manual intervention, which it sought to integrate and streamline. FLS has now become central to that process.

“We needed a user-friendly scheduling system that could really increase the productivity of our field operatives whilst reducing travel and back office admin costs,” says Russell Measor, Head of Data and Delivery at Axis. “We also needed a system that could integrate well with Microsoft Dynamics 365, which we are implementing as our new CRM platform. With that in mind, our
Dynamics implementation partner recommended two software providers — FLS was one of them.”

Axis evaluated the two providers and FLS’s real-time scheduler and route optimiser, FLS VISITOUR, came out on top for several reasons. Russell explains, “The main reason we chose FLS was the speed and high performance of VISITOUR and the fact that we can tweak its  algorithms to fit our needs. With speed profiles and real-time traffic data, VISITOUR can plan
routes in ways that are most efficient and most productive for our operatives. And real-time tracking is going to increase our engagement with customers and reduce our no-access rates. It will enable us to provide them with operatives’ exact, up-to-the-minute locations, making them less likely to pop out when an operative is round the corner.”

One of the ways that FLS approaches a sale is by proving its performance capabilities with customised scheduling tests, which many other providers don’t offer. Russell says, “We were blown away by the results of the scheduling tests. Rescheduling our appointments using VISITOUR demonstrated a significant reduction in mileage and driving hours. More importantly it showed that with VISITOUR our engineers can achieve one or more additional jobs per day.”

Although these figures were powerfully persuasive on their own, the ultimate reason Axis decided to invest in FLS VISITOUR was a much simpler, more human one. “We thought that the team at FLS were more down-to-earth than other providers,” says Russell. “They were less salesy and gave us a more tailored service. We didn’t just feel like another sale. We felt that
they actually cared about our business.”

Axis is hoping for great things once FLS VISITOUR has been implemented. Russell explains the overall benefits that his teams are looking forward to: “A business with complex planning and in-day scheduling challenges like Axis needs to react in real time and FLS will let us do this. In doing so, we will provide a faster response and better service to our customers. We’re particularly looking forward to the increased productivity, increased assurance as to our ability to meet SLAs, and lower back office costs thanks to greater levels of automation.”

More information can be found at www.fastleansmart.com.