Steve Mason from FieldAware outlines the importance of technology evolution in your service offering.

As a company’s overall field service maturity evolves, one way to move operational maturity to the next level is to invest in technology. Organizations setting out to implement a field service management solution either for the first time or upgrading an existing solution do so to achieve strategic, operational gains. 

While many operational benefits are achieved from different aspects of a field service management project, arguably automated scheduling and optimization deliver group productivity that significantly moves the operational performance needle.  

The gains that drive companies to implement these solutions include:

• Dramatically improving service quality to the end customer by ensuring the right resource(s) arrive at the right location(s) at the right time with the right parts and equipment.
• Increased operational productivity resulting in completing more jobs per day by the same number of field resources.
• Increased first-time fix rates and reduced repeat visits.
• Lowering greenhouse gases emissions and travel costs by reducing the average miles driven per job.
• Improved staff morale by providing a modern and productive working environment. 

While delivering these results is transformative to the way an organization supports its customers and competes in the market, many companies fail to achieve full potential.  We’ll outline an Evolutionary deployment approach that, when combined with an innovative technology solution, addresses common change management barriers and breaks a decades-old mould.

Field Service is Always Evolving

There are two main approaches to implementing scheduling and optimization - Big Bang or Evolutionary. 

Big Bang focuses on designing and building an entirely new service offline and then introducing it in a short-focused transformation program.  It historically worked well in enterprise-wide programs where all the gains are achieved once the project is live and the new operating model is not prone to change.

Evolutionary is an “agile” methodology enabling the introduction of smaller incremental improvements that form a series of steps towards achieving defined business goals. The company achieves incremental ROI with each step and progressively aligns the organization to the evolving new business model.

Traditional scheduling and optimization systems operate by immediately publishing their results live into the field service management solution.   It takes time to configure and model the solution in a safe environment before introducing it and works best in a Big Bang project.  New innovative capabilities provide a fully functional “what-if” environment where planners can work safely, make tweaks, and then publish schedules when they are satisfied with the results.  This new capability allows the Evolutionary approach to be successfully introduced.

Both models require leaders to design how the business will operate at the end of the program.  FieldAware finds the Evolutionary model provides for faster implementation and better adoption by following this approach:

Phase 1 

Implement a baseline solution with just the core system parameters configured The objective is to establish a minimum viable production solution to go live as quickly as possible.   Planners, dispatchers, and field resources use the system to manually schedule and deliver service using defined data plus tacit local knowledge.  While the business may be working very similarly to how it did before the project, the operational transparency achieved through the visibility of resources, jobs, and customers on a scheduling Gantt chart, real-time visual maps, and system reports brings a lift to productivity and quality of service.

Phase 2 

Document and capture tacit or tribal knowledge from the planning team and transform the information into system parameters.  This knowledge transfer enables the implementation of semi-automated scheduling, where planners make decisions with system guidance to take into account the rules and constraints that were defined.  Productivity and service quality improves through more compliant decision making.  The data is further refined based on feedback from the teams. 

Phase 3

Semi-automated scheduling and optimization, introduce business scheduling objectives such as minimizing travel time or balancing work across the team into the system configurations.  Planners and dispatchers can use a safe “what-if” planning environment to interact with the optimizer’s calculated results and refine the schedule iteratively.  They dispatch jobs only when the best results are achieved.  During this period, planners refine the optimization engine for various regions and business requirements, improving optimization performance, and improving result quality.

Phase 4

Achieving fully automated scheduling and optimization.  The planning team has transferred all tacit and tribal knowledge into the optimization settings and parameters.  There is complete adoption because they have engaged throughout the change program. The repetitive tasks of planning and scheduling are automated, freeing up resources to address the higher value work that differentiates the business and drives it forward.

The evolutionary journey approach, when combined with advanced systems that contain “what-if” planning capabilities, break down the change management barriers.  Planners and the field resources are part of the change program and contribute to its success.  Each phase, has wins for every stakeholder, and centrally the company benefits include:

1. Increased customer satisfaction
2. Increased bottom line through group productivity improvements
3. Improved working environment for service delivery teams
4. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Further Reading:

• Read further articles and news from Steve and his colleagues at FieldAware here
• Find out more about the solutions offered by FieldAware here
• Follow Steve Mason on Twitter @stevegmason

Annual survey requires input from industry.



Research analyst firm, Strategies For Growth℠, has launched its 2020 Field Service Management (FSM) Tracking Survey and is looking for input from the service sector.

Last year, SFG℠ conducted the sixth iteration of its annual Field Service Management Tracking Survey, as well as its first Servitization and Remote Expertise Benchmark Surveys. The results of these three surveys have helped the research and consulting firm to expand the scope – but shorten the length – of its 2020 Field Service Management Benchmark Tracking Survey.

Targeted Survey

This year’s survey is a targeted, multiple choice questionnaire that should still takeless than 15 minutes to complete, the firm says with all responses will remaining strictly confidential, and will only be tabulated and reported in aggregate. However, if respondents provide their name, title, company and e-mail address, Strategies For Growth℠  will be happy to forward them a copy of the topline survey results in a complementary executive-level Analysts Take report to be published a couple of weeks following the completion of the data collection and analysis.

The results of the survey will be published as an executive report in Field Service News later on in the year.

To take part in the survey click here. 

Growth continues for market leading provider of video telematics.

Lytx^® announces results from 2019 that reflect the company's continued success and industry leadership. According to analyst firm Frost & Sullivan, Lytx has 60% share of the total video safety market - more than triple the share of its nearest competitor.

Brandon Nixon, Lytx chairman and CEO, said: "2019 was a phenomenal year for Lytx by any measure. It has been over 20 years since we created the first technology in the video telematics space. As we enter this new decade, our future is brighter than ever."

"Anyone can capture video from a vehicle," Nixon continued. "But we have billions of miles of data and experience across thousands of fleets that enable us to make an effective behaviour-change tool for fleets of all sizes. We decipher millions of hours of driving data a day and use it to deliver meaningful insights to clients that make a difference for their business. That's why more and more fleets are turning to Lytx. We understand the challenges they face day-in and day-out and innovate to exceed their expectations."

Innovation Fuels Client Success

Driving Lytx's growth and continued success is the company's relentless focus on customer-centred innovation, particularly in the fields of machine vision and artificial intelligence (MV+AI). Clients credit the company's advanced technology, commercial grade hardware, configurable and flexible solutions, all-in-one telematics offerings, exceptional customer service, and superior return on investment as the key differentiators that lead them to deploy with Lytx.

Today, more than 4,000 organizations, with fleets of all sizes and across all sectors, are experiencing the benefits of Lytx first-hand. In 2019, nearly 25% of new customers were fleets who switched to Lytx after using another video or telematics solution. The company also increased its base of protected drivers by 300,000.

A One-Stop Video Telematics Leader for Versatile and Converged Solutions

Lytx's product portfolio, which the company introduced in February 2019, is now established as the most robust, configurable, broadly adopted, all-in-one video telematics fleet safety and productivity solution on the market.

The Lytx Video Platform and DriveCam® Event Recorder are unmatched in capturing capability, built-in computing power and clarity of view. Lytx monitors billions of miles of driving data annually – processing video through both MV+AI-powered algorithms and validated by professional reviewers. This approach mitigates unnecessary information for clients and increases accuracy while exposing more risk and delivering specific incidents and insights directly to fleet managers' dashboards. Lytx clients receive the information they need to succeed and improve — no more, no less.

Mugundhan Deenadayalan, senior research analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said: "Lytx's diverse range of industry-first solutions, advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence systems, industry best practices, customisable product portfolio and unparalleled customer service have taken the company to a new level of excellence in the industry.

"Its practice of putting the customer first, developing superior science and technology, and leveraging the power of data and analytics to innovate and craft solutions is proven to improve driver behaviour, safety, and operational efficiency, thereby saving lives."

Looking Forward to 2020

In January, Lytx announced it had received the largest-ever investment in video telematics from global private equity firm Permira. This investment values Lytx in excess of $2.5 billion.

Lytx's ability to turn vast amounts of data into roadway insights through MV+AI only furthers its market leadership and competitive advantage in the $30 trillion global transportation economy. With over 120 billion miles of roadway data and the fastest-growing database of commercial driving data powering its advanced artificial intelligence algorithms, Lytx is uniquely positioned to continue leading the industry in 2020.

"The precision of our technology is unmatched in the industry. With the scale of our data, we can train our cameras to see and recognize anything of value to our clients," Nixon said. "The power and capability of our MV+AI technology only scratches the surface of its future potential. It presents a massive opportunity for our clients as we continue to fine-tune our offerings moving into this next decade. The number of ways we can help improve fleet operations are boundless." 

Partnership with industry-leading provider of mobile connection management solutions will improve mobile device performance, productivity and security.

JLT Mobile Computers, a leading supplier of reliable computers for demanding environments, today announced a technology alliance with NetMotion, a provider of dynamic Wi-Fi and cellular connection management solutions designed to improve the productivity of today’s mobile workforce. The partnership will make NetMotion available to JLT’s range of rugged mobile devices.

As a trailblazer in the field of rugged computers for over 25 years, JLT offers a broad range of high-performance vehicle-mount terminals, tablets, and handheld computers as well as comprehensive support, maintenance, and solution services. JLT rugged computers are used in industries such as warehousing, manufacturing, transportation, ports, agriculture, mining and other demanding environments.

NetMotion is a privately held, Seattle based software company specializing in managing mobile performance by helping connected devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets operate more smoothly, seamlessly and productively even in poor network environments. NetMotion tools include network monitoring, diagnostics and analytics to improve mobile device performance, troubleshooting and security; policy management to prioritize mission-critical applications; and data encryption, compression and split tunneling functionality to facilitate reliable and seamless connectivity.

“Our customers demand reliable, flawless connectivity, even in the most challenging environments. JLT’s partnership with NetMotion will make available industry-leading connectivity management tools that enable seamless, secure, and optimized wireless data service to all devices, no matter where they are,” said Eric Miller, CEO at JLT Mobile Computers USA. “With NetMotion, JLT devices avoid network slowdowns, bandwidth costs go down, and IT has the tools it needs to keep track of everything.”

JLT’s partnership with NetMotion not only helps JLT customers take full advantage of their JLT hardware, but by enhancing device connectivity and operation, remote device management, updates, diagnostics and content delivery all also become faster and simpler. The NetMotion client-server system tools transparently monitor, analyze and optimize application, network, device, server and API performance, elevating connection management to the same high standards of productivity and reliability as JLT’s rugged computing hardware.

JLT customers will be able to select from NetMotion products such as NetMotion Mobile IQ for monitoring and trend tracking, NetMotion Diagnostics for finding and fixing connectivity issues, and NetMotion Mobility for mobile-optimized VPN connections. These allow organizations to tailor-build powerful, customized systems that meet their business objectives as well as the needs of their IT operations and field workers.   

Health and safety is becoming more prominent in service. Engineers who work remotely are more susceptible to risk and firms are now recognizing the hazards they face daily. Following a Field Service News Think Tank held in London November 2019, attendees discussed global implementation of safety standards and dealing with sub-contractors.

Service is a global business. Companies employ engineers who work around the world. The challenge comes in ensuring this work is carried out safely regardless of their location.  

 Statistically, it seems standards do differ globally. According to Global Estimates of Occupational Accidents and Work-Related Illnesses, a 2017 study which included input from the International Labour Organisation, the World Health Organisation and the European Union, workplace deaths are highest in Asia, accounting for two thirds of the annual 2.78 million total, with Africa and Europe contributing less than 12 per cent. According to the report China and India have the highest workplace fatalities which can be partly attributed, researchers say, to the size of the respective countries  

One way to ensure safety consistency is through technology, for example, an electronic ‘safety passport’, a form of digital accreditation for engineers that would show if the correct training and correct equipment was being held. If not, then the worker would not be given clearance to carry out the task. Brent Holmes, Field Service Portfolio Director, Ericsson explained: “We’ve targeted driving as probably the biggest risk area, but equally obviously climbing, confined spaces, AC power and the list is endless.  But we need to be making sure that we have a tool to be able to manage our staff and our subcontractors. So one project that we’ve started to look at and where we’ve started to pick up some very good best practice around is in beginning to award passports to individuals so they can work for us,” Holmes continued.  

"If a contractor was doing something, you’d give them a yellow card or a red card.  Red card, or a cumulative of yellow cards, we’d off site them.  You’re not here again, and that’s it.” 

This was a concept that echoed with a number of the Think Tank members around the room. As Holmes further clarified Ericsson’s approach in this area adding that introduction of Safety Passports allowed for correct accreditation and that it identified a clear set of best practices to ensure that all the relevant safety training, as well as all of the right equipment is in place at all times.   

“You might think these are trivial,” Holmes added “but believe me it’s critical” .However, more manual deterrents such as a consequence management system to stop third-part contractors veering away from on-site standards is equally effective. Here a yellow/red card system can be deployed, where being shown the latter, or an accumulation of the former, can result in that firm’s contract being terminated.  

As Mark Wilding, Director of Global Aftermarket Operations, Hexagon Marketing Intelligence explained: “Imagine one of our main contract suppliers doesn’t go through the right checks and balances with those individuals that he or she authorises to carry out an activity on their behalf.  If we find this out, we will issue a yellow card, if they get two yellow cards then we will stop doing business with them. That’s what we had in the power sector. 

It was more if a contractor was doing something, you’d give them a yellow card or a red card.  Red card, or a cumulative of yellow cards, we’d off site them.  You’re not here again, and that’s it.” 

Both these solutions work yet implementing them in countries where safety is not engrained can be difficult. Here a safety management programme underpinned by strong and robust safety culture can be just as effective.   

Machines in the Netherlands are most likely to encounter cybercrimes; Ireland is least likely

The severity of cyber-breaches has become more and more intense in recent years. As a result, security experts at Specops Software sought to find out which (Western) European countries are the most cyber-insecure for citizens.

To find out, Specops Software calculated which country is most likely to encounter cyber-crimes by analysingthe percentage of cloud provider attacks on Azure and the monthly percentage of machines that encountered cryptocurrency mining, malware and ransomware.

The results show the Netherlands is the most vulnerable European country to cyber-crime, with the highest rate of cybercrime. This could be due to the large number of cloud provider incoming attacks (16.28%) to Microsoft Azure in their country.

Next is Bulgaria, who have experienced 17.55% incoming attacks/encounters. In third place is Belarus (10.83%), followed by Ukraine (10.35%) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (7.06%).

The United Kingdom rank 17^th, due to a high number of cloud related attacks, in comparison to other European countries. 

Ireland are ranked as the least vulnerable country in Europe, where they had the lowest cybercrime encounter rate in every category, except cloud provider attacks – where there is 0.36% recorded incoming attacks on Azure, detected by Azure’s Security Centre.

Cloud attack encounters:

The Netherlands received the highest number of cloud provider incoming attacks, with data stating that 16.28% of Azure accounts have faced breaches. They are followed closely by Bulgaria (11.68%).

Other countries among the highest cloud attack encounters include France (2.73%), United Kingdom (2.02%) and Finland (1.72%).

Cryptocurrency encounters:

On average, Belarus has the highest number of cryptocurrency mining encounters every month, with 0.42% of machines recording the issue.

Next is Ukraine (0.33%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (0.25%) and Bulgaria (0.17%).

The least vulnerable country is Ireland, where only 0.01% of machines encountered cryptocurrency mining. 

The United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Germany and Netherlands are second least likely to encounter cryptocurrency mining, as only 0.02% of machines in each country had.

Malware encounters:

Belarus has the most malware encounters in Europe, with 10.17% of machines in the country encountering them each month on average. 

In second place is Ukraine (9.57%), followed by Bosnia (6.76%), Romania (5.92%) and Bulgaria (5.66%).

The country with the least malware encounters is Ireland, where only 0.7% of machines in the country encountered malware each month on average.

Finland (1.27%), Norway (1.33%), Netherlands (1.33%) and Denmark (1.35%) are among the countries least vulnerable to malware encounters.

Ransomware encounters:

0.09% of machines in Ukraine encountered malware on average every month, making them the most insecure country to malware encounters in Europe. 

Belarus are second most vulnerable, with 0.06% of machines encountering malware, followed by Bosnia (0.05%), Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Greece and Croatia (0.04%).

Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway and Finland encountered the smallest number of ransomware threats, with only 0.01% of machines facing them each month.

It used to be that investing in a Field Service Management (FSM) system gave your business a competitive advantage over your competition. The prevalence of FSM in the marketplace now means those that don’t take advantage of the latest FSM systems may begin to face a competitive disadvantage.

The world moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and take a look around once in a while, you’ll never know if the latest packages can bring you a greater return on investment, more efficient running, greater employee engagement and happier customers.

Eagle Field Service, By Exel Computer Systems

So, what do Exel offer that would warrant a look at the Eagle Field Service FSM solution? Apart from it being fully integrated - and that integration extending into the EFACS E/8 suite of business solutions, offering you much more functionality than other providers can.

To look at the field service aspect specifically, we can look at two concepts that Exel consider will give you the edge over your competition. Firstly, that of scheduling your engineers.

Assisted Field Service Engineer Scheduling: 

Exel’s concept of Assisted Engineer Scheduling was born out of the realisation that service call handlers had to obtain and retain a lot of knowledge regarding engineer skillsets, the types of jobs likely encountered and the average time to complete them, amongst many other things.

The Assisted Scheduler relies on over 25 parameters to determine the optimum engineer/job planning schedule. It presents the call handler with the optimum option, as well as a few more alternatives ranked in order of suitability. Information is provided for each option, should the call handler wish to determine the reasons for the order – the final decision lays in the hands of the call handler.

No matter the experience of the call handler, your client’s concerns are allayed quickly, as the call handler is able to deal efficiently and professionally, from request to engineer dispatch.

"We realised that a company's service engineers are often a hugely under-utilised sales force. They often work closely with the client and can build a high level of trust, and they often have greater access to areas of the client’s site..."

Service Customer Resource Management (CRM)

Service CRM is a concept that was realised after talking to engineers to gain an understanding of their experience. Some of these engineers had been conscientious and pro-active enough to identify further business opportunities for their company.

Following this, we realised that a company's service engineers are often a hugely under-utilised sales force. They often work closely with the client and can build a high level of trust, and they often have greater access to areas of the client’s site.

They are in a position to identify potential value-add or upgrade possibilities and either feed that back to sales, or potentially arrange a quote there and then. This can all be done via the Eagle Field Service mobile application and relayed to the back office in real-time.

“There’s no need to tab between different systems, all the information that people want is in one place. Moreover, the scheduling of service engineers isn’t just easier than before, it’s also more powerful, resulting in a more efficient routing of engineer visits, and better optimisation of engineers’ time.”

“Roll it all together, and the combined effect of a reduction in paperwork, the elimination of duplication and data entry, and better engineer scheduling, has enabled a significant improvement in engineer utilisation” Nick Stokes, Safestyle. To read about Safestyle’s experience, click here.

Further Reading:

To learn more about Eagle Field Service, please view the brochure, here.

To read more about Assisted Engineer Scheduling, please view the data sheet, here.

To read more about Service CRM, please view the data sheet, here.

Or, alternatively, get in touch with the team @ Eagle Field Service here.

Investment will be used to accelerate growth, drive customer success and fuel product innovation.

Mize, a leading provider of connected customer experience platform and service lifecycle management software for manufacturers, today announced it has secured a significant equity investment from M33 Growth, a venture and growth stage investment firm. The investment will be used to accelerate growth, drive customer success and fuel product innovation at Mize.

As customer expectations grow, brands must deliver experiences that meet those demands, or risk customers taking their business elsewhere. Historically, much of the focus on customer relationship management has been on pre-sale interaction, but companies are increasingly recognizing the need to extend customer experience to post-sale, including service events. In fact, according to global market intelligence firm IDC, the ability to deliver enhanced experiences across customer interactions and service events has become a critical success factor for manufacturers. However, with data and processes spread across different systems, it’s difficult to properly track and service products. Manufacturers need a way to efficiently manage customer engagements across all channels, optimizing the service experience, driving up customer satisfaction and ultimately maximizing customer lifetime value.

Mize’s software platform is trusted by many of the top OEMs in the heavy equipment, consumer durables and automotive markets. No other software platform in the space can tie together customers’ needs across warranty, support, service and parts lifecycle management. Its Connected Customer Experience Platform brings together customer portals, knowledge resources, product registration, warranties and plans, servicing, parts and repairs post-sale in a more connected way, resulting in a seamless experience for the customer and improved operating margins and increased revenue for the company. While enterprise CRM and ERP systems claim to address these challenges, they have not been built from the ground up to directly address the unique requirements of managing the post-sale process and the complexities that come with it.

“Growing customer expectations have resulted in an increased demand for software platforms and applications that manage the entire service lifecycle,” said Mize CEO Ashok Kartham, a successful serial entrepreneur who is an industry expert on warranty and service management. “As companies transform the way they manage customer communications pre- and post-sale, Mize provides innovative technology and applications that support their strategic vision. We have joined forces with M33 Growth so we can leverage their financial and strategic resources to better meet customer needs and accelerate our growth globally.”

IDC positioned Mize as a Leader in warranty and service contract management and a Major Player in field service management and service parts management. “Mize delivers a wide variety of capabilities to support the evolution occurring within the service market, where primarily cutting costs is no longer the end goal,” said Aly Pinder, Program Director, Service Innovation & Connected Products at IDC. “Mize has a track record and a leadership team that has built a product, a set of functionalities and a platform that can deliver advanced capabilities across the varied processes.”

Managing the post-sale customer engagement process poses several challenges for manufacturers. In researching the market for solutions addressing these complexities, the M33 Growth team found that most platforms were solving only one component of the intricate workflow. Mize’s solution stood out as the only true enterprise grade platform that enabled manufacturers to manage the entire customer service lifecycle.

“Everyone has experienced the frustration that can come from engaging with a brand post purchase, whether making a return or getting a product serviced,” said Mike Anello, managing director at M33 Growth. “Typical post-sale processes have not evolved with the pace of customer expectations. Mize is solving for that pain point at scale by giving manufacturers the platform they need to manage the entire process. We see tremendous opportunity in the market problem they are addressing, the power of their platform and the experience of the leadership team. As a partner, M33 will help Mize grow its product offerings, customer success teams and market reach to strengthen the company’s leadership position.”

Sign up for HSO's latest webinar.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service is uniquely placed to assist in the digital transformation journey. As a leading Microsoft Gold Partner and Inner Circle member, HSO brings real added value to your business through unrivaled field service experience and functionality enhancements with HSO Dynamics Advanced Field Service.

Join Danny Wieder, Field Service Consultant and Stephen Manley, Business Development Manager, for a 30 minute webinar, where they will take you on a field service journey and explore real-life customer  stories.

Topics

• Field Service trends, challenges and opportunities
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service & additional functionality developed by HSO
• Take a ‘peek’ at some of the emerging technologies
• Real-life case studies and experiences
• Questions

Register now to find out how to win more business and increase profits with digital field service transformation.

The Webinar takes place on 19 March.