AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Mark Glover

Copperberg's annual field service survey report suggests visual technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) could bridge the gap between experienced engineers and new sector entrants.

The survey gathered comment from over 125 Field Service Directors from global manufacturing firms, and revealed visual-based technologies including VR, AR, Visual Assistance and Video Calling could address the growing disparity between mature field service engineers and less experienced workers.

Commenting, Field Service News contributor and BBA Consulting President Jim Baston said: ‘‘As they [experienced engineers] rely more on their tools to troubleshoot and repair and less on their experience, it opens up the door for less qualified individuals who will be able to give comparable levels of technical service.’’

The survey also identified the need for an open digital eco-system between partners, suppliers and customers to encourage collaboration.

You can download the report's findings here.

In the latest Field Service Podcast, Fujitsu's Head of Delivery Management and Service, Martin Summerhayes, suggests we should be framing the service industry in a different way to encourage young people to the sector.

In this episode, fieldservicenews.com Deputy Editor Mark Glover sits down with Martin Summerhayes, and explains why we need to approach sector in a different way to become an attractive sector for young people to enter. He also recalls his first role in service in the mid-1980s and why employee wellbeing is paramount to delivering great customer service. 
Read our profile of Martin Summerhayes here.

Atos has announces an agreement with the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Hartree Centre that will see one of the UK’s leading high-performance computing research facilities take the first UK delivery of an Atos Quantum Learning Machine.

 

This Quantum Learning Machine will be one of the highest-performing ever deployed by Atos and will be used to develop new quantum-based services designed to help researchers and industry prepare for the coming quantum computing revolution. These include quantum algorithm development and the first UK repository for quantum algorithms, collaborative research projects on quantum computing applications and specialist training. 

This new collaboration builds on an established partnership between Atos and the Hartree Centre, which began with the UK’s first Bull Sequana X1000 supercomputer being hosted at the facility in 2017. The Hartree Centre, based at Daresbury Laboratory and part of the Sci-Tech Daresbury Campus in Cheshire, UK, also hosts the JADE national deep learning service. 

Commenting on the partnership announcement, Andy Grant, Vice President, HPC & Big Data, Atos UK and Ireland said: “We are delighted to deepen our existing relationship with the Hartree Centre which we believe will help UK industry future-proof itself for the arrival of quantum computing. Our Quantum Learning Machine as a service will be made available to any organisation wanting to learn about, and experiment with, quantum computing and understand the key opportunities and challenges this technology presents. Quantum is the future of computing and it is crucial that organisations are ready to harness the coming revolution.” 

Alison Kennedy, Director of the STFC Hartree Centre, said: “We’re thrilled to be enabling UK companies to explore and prepare for the future of quantum computing. This collaboration will build on our growing expertise in this exciting area of computing and result in more resilient technology solutions being developed for industry.” 

Atos produces the highest-performing Quantum Learning Machines in the market. In November 2016, Atos launched an ambitious program to anticipate the future of quantum computing and to be prepared for the opportunities as well as the risks that come with it. As a result of this initiative, Atos was the first to successfully model quantum noise. To date, the company has installed Quantum Learning Machines in countries including Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States, empowering major research programs in various sectors.

Derek Bryan, VP EMEA at Verizon Connect suggests geofencing could prevent fleet drivers being in the wrong place at the wrong time, avoiding costly penalties. 

In April 2019, London’s congestion charge will evolve, bringing in new, tighter regulations on exhaust emission standards and a revised fee for vehicle registration as part of the new Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). While the ULEZ represents an important step forward in the UK’s efforts to limit pollution, fleet managers and operations teams will need to factor the revised regulations into route planning and operations for commercial vehicles travelling into London. 

In an industry driven by operational efficiency and narrow margins, the planning for ULEZ (and its potential expansion) will become an additional item on a manager’s to-do list. Geofences are one tool fleet managers can use to help reduce penalties incurred by drivers inadvertently entering the ULEZ with a non-compliant vehicle by providing near-real-time alerts when a driver approaches a geofenced zone. It can also help reduce the extra time spent factoring the ULEZ into route planning by clearly marking the area in navigation systems.

What is Geofencing?
Geofences are virtual perimeters set up around physical locations that can be categorised and clearly labelled on in-cab navigation systems to inform drivers of any areas which they should avoid entering. Geofences are created using mapping software, which allows the user to draw the geofence over the desired area. It is made up of a collection of coordinates (latitude and longitude), or in the case of a circular geofence, one point that forms the centre. They can also be applied to areas of a range of different sizes, from the size of a warehouse yard to city areas and individual routes.

Geofences are an indispensable tool for fleet managers in need of greater control and visibility over the location of vehicles. A geofence violation report tells you which vehicles have entered or exited a geofence, allowing you to see which drivers are making unauthorized trips. This information can then be used to create new policies regarding the use of company vehicles and enforce existing policies on a regular basis. Geofences can also help fleet managers to proactively resolve geofence violations with great speed and efficiency using alerts sent in near-real time via email or text message when a vehicle exits or enters a geofence.

More intelligent and more efficient operations
Setting virtual boundaries via geofencing is specifically helpful for businesses with on-demand business structures managing fleets of vehicles within a specified area. To keep time traveling between jobs to a minimum, drivers can be easily assigned to specific zones based on area demand, traffic density, vehicle capacity and in this instance, if it is within ULEZ conditions. As a result, fleets can be compartmentalised into sub-groups of drivers or vehicles suited to a specific area.

"Geofences are an indispensable tool for managers in need of greater control over the location of vehicles..." 

Geofencing is used to curate and categorise job sites by location, reducing the need to sift through thousands of points of interest by hand. However, geofencing jobs can not only cut down on manual categorisation. A business can potential unlock real ROI when the software automatically provides rankings, vital statistics and stop-by-stop details for fleet managers. Using this key data, business leaders can optimise routes and glean insight to apply to the organization, ultimately saving money.

A smarter and more holistic fleet management system
A number of recent technological advancements are helping to enable a wide range of new business use cases in the fleet management space. In-vehicle sensor technology, greater data analytics capabilities and enhanced mobile communications enable businesses to expand fleet management beyond just vehicles and have greater visibility on drivers themselves and the assets they carry.When used in combination with a holistic solution such as Mobile Resource Management (MRM), geofences can help verify that drivers aren’t taking on trips that would require more time than they are contracted, or trips that would prevent drivers from taking important rest breaks. Reports clearly show how many hours a driver has worked during a given time period, confirm any overtime costs and improve productivity overall.

A digital solution for a modern business
A lot of managers are unaware of what’s really happening out in the field. That can mean missed opportunities, poor productivity or unnecessary costs. Geofences can help change that, with a full 360-degree view of a fleet’s daily operations. With the right technology, fleet managers can have the visibility necessary to know what’s going on in the field so you can build efficiencies and reduce costs, an imperative for fleets both large and small.

Derek Bryan is VP EMEA at Verizon Connect.

 

IX Reach, the leading provider of SDN cloud connectivity, remote peering and Ethernet services to more than 170 global locations is proud to announce its network expansion into East Africa in partnership with the Djibouti Data Center.

Djibouti Data Center (DDC) has been selected as the strategic hub for IX Reach’s African expansion owing to its excellent reputation and unique position as the first and only Tier 3 carrier neutral ecosystem in east Africa with direct access to all major international and regional cable systems connecting Africa to Europe, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets.

“We are delighted to call Djibouti Data Center a new Point of Presence (PoP) on our network”, said Simon Vye, CEO at IX Reach. “IX Reach is dedicated to increasing connectivity, collaboration and innovation as well as improving the range of services we provide to our customers.This new partnership with DDC is key in continuing our vision of making our full portfolio of solutions including cloud connectivity just one cross connect away on the IX Reach network.”

DDC tenants will be able to connect directly onto IX Reach’s global network giving access via a single port to over 50 Internet Exchanges and Direct Connect into the industry’s leading Cloud Service Providers. Given the geographical importance of Djibouti, IX Reach will also be able to address markets in other African countries improving global connectivity and reach.

"We are very excited to have IX Reach join the carrier neutral DDC ecosystem, and to be enhancing the DDC’s available network footprint for our global customer base as well as Africa’s growing and emerging markets,” said Anthony Voscarides, CEO of the Djibouti Data Center. “In addition to the DDC’s market leading access in east Africa to international and regional fiber cable systems, the new IX Reach PoP will further enhance connectivity options to a diverse network of major Internet Exchange Points, cloud service providers, and data centers across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific regions.”

The expansion into a new continent continues to highlight IX Reach’s global ambitions and increased investment into its network and services demonstrating its dedication to meeting the global challenges of increased data use driven by the growth of video streaming, content delivery, IoT, big data and AI technology.

Acquisition follows Silver Lake's recent majority stake purchase of ServiceMax from GE in December.

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Communication platform Zinc has been acquired by ServiceMax, the cloud-based field-service management firm for an undisclosed sum.

The deal follows ServiceMax's parent company, GE, selling a majority stake in the firm to private equity firm Silver Lake at the end of last year, and comes almost two years after GE's $915mn acquisition of ServiceMax in January 2017.

Aly Pinder, ServiceMax's Programme Director of Service Innovation and Connected Products, IDC said: “The ability of ServiceMax and Zinc to immediately surface tribal knowledge in-context not only aids in solving the task at hand on a work order, this integrated solution can also lead to significant improvements in customer experience, as well an enhanced ability to help acquire and engage talent for these critical customer-facing roles.”

Stacey Epstein, Zinc CEO added: “The perfect combination of Zinc’s modern, real-time communication with ServiceMax’s cutting edge and comprehensive suite will be unparalleled in the market, and I am thrilled to continue to help companies realise the promise of complete Service Execution Management.”

ServiceMax CEO Scott Berg, told diginomica that Zinc's real-time communication software will compliment their own platform, and lead to potential transaction-led benefits for customers. "Picture a world where those service engineers in a company could deploy this," he said, "and the first thing they start to do is communicate in real-time, starting to build those knowledge networks. Potentially then, phase two, they start deploying some of the more transaction-led capabilities…the handling of contracts, parts, work orders, and scheduling that they get with ServiceMax.” 

You can read Field Service News' recent interview with ServiceMax CEO Scott Berg here.

 

As a recent guest on the Field Service Podcast, Oneserve’s CEO Chris Proctor shared thoughts on innovation, servitization and the worrying discrepancy between new and retiring engineers. Field Service News Deputy Editor Mark Glover looks back on a conversation that asked uncomfortable yet insightful questions of the sector.

 

What is digital? “It’s about bringing people together in one global location; a world without boundaries; a world where ideas are born and developed; where people live, and most importantly; where people transact.”

These are the words on Chris Proctor’s Linkedin profile. If it is his mantra it’s a good one. It’s refreshing to get such a holistic view of digital. Do we label it a platform or technology? Who really knows? However it’s useful – and perhaps essential - to try and frame its creative potential and understand how it can seed ideas and drive innovation. 

I was fortunate enough to record a podcast with Proctor towards the end of 2018 and among other threads of conversation (including the definition of digital) I asked about the industry’s progression in adopting new technologies.  “I might be lambasted for saying this but I don’t think there has been much innovation,” he said, aware of the statement’s brevity. “It’s disappointing that the last real innovation in field service management was moving to the cloud and even then, I don’t think everyone is fully there yet.”

It’s a bold claim, yet one that has substance. The industry has been accused before of lagging when it comes to embracing disruptive, digital technology. In fact, writing for this magazine moreMomentun’s Jan Van Veen, suggested a knowledge gap around its definition was contributing to the malaise. “Too often, I see misconceptions about disruption and disruptive innovation and a lack of clarity on what needs to change and too slow a pace of change,” he wrote, “by consequence, manufacturers tend to make inadequate assessments and develop inadequate strategies, allowing leading competitors and new entrants into the industry to take the lead.” 

 

 

“I might be lambasted for saying this but I don’t think there has been much innovation...“

 

 

To halt this inadequacy, Proctor thinks a further disruptive approach is needed to jolt the sector from its lethargy, encased in an attitude he phrases as “okay is okay”. He uses the utility sector as to expand his point. “You only have to look back at the gas or water boards where there was very little competition with very little incentive to be a lot better and I think we’ve lived with that legacy for quite a long time. “Look at what’s happened in some of the other sectors and see how much things can be disrupted when someone comes in and says ‘We don’t believe ‘okay is okay’ and we’re going to offer a very different service proposition,’” he urged.  




To reach this level, servitization and the gig economy, he predicts, will have a fundamental impact on the way services are delivered. Most likely through a subscription-based model, complimented by disruptive innovations and delivered by freelancers who, in order to maintain their personal brand, deliver consistent service excellence. “I can see a world where most of your services are consumed on a subscription-type basis. You contact your service provider who then uses technology similar to programmatic advertising whereby contracts are tended and bid for and secured within seconds, all underpinned by blockchain. You then have the real emphasis of an individual providing a service on behalf of a company, then what you then see is that you don’t get the overheads that come with large contractors, but you do see service excellence from an individual who is trying to make a name for themselves and secure their own future,” Proctor said. 

This small-task employment model could be the remedy for the alarming disparity between new field technicians coming into the industry and those retiring, however despite the need for a swift solution Proctor feels the time frame for such a movement is ambiguous. “Whether it’s five years, whether it’s ten years, I think a move towards that model is irrefutable” he says, “I also think the timings are completely debatable.” 

I enjoyed the conversation, and I suggest you listen to the full podcast on our website. If the point of digital, as Proctor says, is to create a world where ideas are born and then developed then we need to hit reset, disrupt and collaborate. Perhaps then can innovation thrive.  
You can listen to the Field Service Podcast with OneServe's Chris Proctor here.

 

Tool theft is on the increase, with more than 50% of builders in the UK having had their tools stolen, according to research held by the Federation of Master Builders.

ABAX, GPS tracking specialists, have created six tips to prevent tool theft from happening to your business vehicle and to deter thieves.

1. Park in a secure location 
During the day, whilst working at a job, we recommend that you park your vehicle in a secure location where CCTV is around if possible. It is also common that thieves have been targeting vans/vehicles in broad daylight so you can still be at risk while working in the day.

2. Install locks to your vehicle
The break-in of vans is extremely common these days with the ‘peel and steal’ technique being one of them. It is therefore recommended that strong locks are installed around the vehicle, to prevent unwanted access to the vehicle.

3. Alarms and immobilisers
We recommend that you install extra alarms and immobilisers to the vehicle, to deter the thieves and stop the movement of the vehicle if it is to be tampered with.

4. Add stickers to your vehicle and your assets
Adding stickers to your vehicles is recommended, to emphasise the fact that no tools are left on board the vehicle overnight, to be a preventative measure to thieves. If you leave assets in the vehicle, make sure they are properly marked with stickers or in other ways.

5. Use the glove compartment
For small, but valuable assets like: keys and important documents, use the vehicle’s glove compartment to hide and conceal the valuables

6. Implement GPS Tool Trackers
Invest in small GPS tool trackers, that operate on a global network, and can be visualised on a live map, to see their whereabouts if the unfortunate event happens that they are stolen.Although it is an easy option, we would recommend that you do not leave your tools in your vehicle overnight and you take a few minutes at the end of the day to take them out of your van and into your house or secure them safely in a garage.

Employees are putting their businesses at risk of cyber-attacks by refusing to obey the rules when it comes to the apps they use in the workplace, according to a report from Maintel.

Workers have confessed to using unapproved apps in the office, including Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat to communicate with colleagues as well as friends and family. For example, four in ten employees (41%) admit to using Instagram for more than two hours each day, despite the app being banned in almost half of UK organisations.  

The majority of employees are well aware that certain apps are not approved for workplace use, but this hasn’t stopped them breaking the rules. In fact, the research found that usage is on the rise, with use of WhatsApp, Snapchat and Instagram increasing significantly over the past three years – 30%, 27% and 33% respectively. 

Staff told us that apps like WhatsApp offer ease of use (84 per cent), speed of response (44 per cent) and informality (35 per cent) in the workplace. This highlights that businesses need to implement more apps that meet their workers needs. But, while employees may be continuing to break the rules, using these unapproved apps is a danger for many businesses. The risks of using undocumented, unsecure apps should be obvious enough – especially in light of GDPR. 

Maintel CTO Rufus Grig said: “If this research tells us one thing, it’s that whilst organisations can go ahead and prohibit the use of as many tools as they like, this will never be enough to actually make this vision a reality. Businesses need to recognise that employees are still using these tools in the knowledge they are unauthorised, and make a conscious effort to understand why. Employers need to ensure the communication needs of a multi-generational workforce are catered for. To do this, it’s clear we need to invest more time into making sure that approved tools offer the best user experience possible, or in those words, offering platforms that are motivating, compelling and easy to use in the workplace”.

You can see the report here.