AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Sharon Clancy

What will be the key technology trends in 2016 for customer service engagement? Customer contact technology specialist Sabio outlines its top ten trends for 2016 and suggests five initiatives that should be top of  any field service company's digital customer service agenda.

“Today’s customers are having their service expectations reshaped by advances in consumer technology, and will become increasingly frustrated when having to engage with brands that don’t perform to the same levels as their best practice competitors,” commented Sabio’s Head of Consultancy, Stuart Dorman. “Offering more intelligent service and making it easier to engage can make a huge difference - not only by helping organisations to optimise operational performance, but also in terms of freeing up customer time so that they can actually spend more of their lives doing what they actually want to do.”

Dorman's predictions for the top trends for effective customer engagement in 2016 are:[ordered_list style="decimal"]

1.  Understanding the true impact of mobile – ever-increasing smartphone penetration means that a growing proportion of service interactions will be transacted on smart devices, so it’s essential that service providers ensure their customer journeys feature clear links to live service via an effective contact centre interface.
2. Placing Embedded Service at the heart of the web browser – with over 50% of customers going online before engaging with a contact centre, it makes increasing sense to embed service options within web pages – a trend that will develop further as WebRTC progressively turns the Web into an open communication platform.
3. Video-based service becomes mainstream – initial video pilot projects are now going live as organisations, particularly in sectors such as financial service, begin to see video support as a premium differentiator that can strengthen brand relationships.
4. Messaging platforms scale to deliver social service – social networks are busy building out their messaging platforms, and will start to open them up to commercial brands who recognise that’s increasingly where their customers are likely to be. With platforms like Facebook Messenger already supporting voice, organisations need to be ready to support those customers who want to engage directly from their social messaging environment.
5. Increasingly smart use of data and analytics – Speech and text analytics have now become essential contact centre technologies in the same way that customer feedback did 5 years ago. Now organisations are looking to leverage the immense computing power of the cloud to take this one step further. By combining multiple data sources such as voice of the customer, CRM data, speech/text analytics and contact centre meta data, organisations are using big data analytics techniques to drive an even deeper understanding of their customers.
6. Much smarter Virtual Assistants – the same technologies that are powering consumer search services are now being applied to intelligent virtual assistants. Rather than clicking, tapping, scrolling and typing - customers will increasingly have conversations with your website to get what they want, helping to transform their overall experience.
   [quote float="left"]Technology isn’t the barrier – it’s your internal siloes that are causing the problems...

    

7. Enabling natural dialogues through speech recognition - Ever-improving natural language understanding will go beyond simple speech recognition to create natural dialogues that effectively mimic agent interactions. Where the next generation of speech-enabled applications will quickly evolve, however, is in their ability to translate caller intent data into a more conversational, intelligent self-service experience for customers.
8. Biometrics gathers real market momentum – thanks to fingerprint recognition on millions of smartphones worldwide, consumers are now treating biometrics as a mainstream technology - with some using the interface over 30 times a day as they ‘sign-in’ to their personal device. Voice and fingerprint biometrics help to achieve the previously incompatible goals of both enhancing security while simultaneously delivering reductions in customer effort.
9. Removing the digital siloes - it’s hardly surprising customers get frustrated, when so many organisations still operate and manage their digital and contact centre strategies separately. Closing this gap, and recognising that when people call contact centres today they have probably already been online first, will increasingly define how successful organisations are in delivering on their end-to-end digital customer service goals. Technology isn’t the barrier – it’s your internal siloes that are causing the problems!
10. Measuring and reducing customer effort - the customer effort measure is all about surfacing those issues across channels that are making life harder than necessary for customers. Once identified, these can be systematically addressed to help reduce service costs, decrease customer churn and improve overall service levels.

“It’s also critical that organisations have the right strategic direction, infrastructure and expertise in place to take full advantage of these key technology directions,” added Dorman. “At Sabio we believe there are a number of specific programmes that digital customer service teams need to concentrate on over the next 12 months if they are serious about reducing effort and building an integrated Digital Front Door for their customers.”

Dorman says that in 2016 customer service organisations need to focus on:[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• Laying the foundations for Digital Service – organisations will need to draw on a broad portfolio of technologies in order to develop the kind of integrated journeys that will make life easier for customers. This will demand the development of ‘Digital Front Doors’ that embrace the end-to-end journey across both self-service and assisted interactions.
• Embed service into every digital journey - providing customers with true embedded service support for each stage of their digital journeys, with more context-sensitive embedded online service applications that draw on web chat or click-to-call to help resolve queries and enable customers to progress to the next stage of their journey with significantly reduced effort.
• Becoming Customer Service Session Designers – until now a major barrier to true end-to-end customer journey design has been the cost and complexity of creating solutions that draw together different parts of an organisation. Now, using the latest engagement development platform technology, customer engagement teams have the opportunity to take advantage of snap-in tools to ensure rapid and more cost-effective solution development.
  Experiment by creating your own Customer Experience lab – it’s often difficult for organisations to know exactly which strategies or technologies to deploy in order to achieve their goals. It’s worthwhile establishing your own Customer Experience lab to find out how new ideas measure up when applied to a meaningful sample of live interactions.
• Recreate your Roadmaps based on Customer Experience -Reducing customer effort and building a more seamless experience requires the development of detailed UX-based roadmaps, breaking down specific elements to consider how much of the experience is actually value-creating and how much is wasted through waiting due to overly-complex or broken processes.

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On global Computer Security Day, Monday 30th November, we  offer field service SMEs 10 tips staying  safe in cyberspace from David Tindall, managing director Talk Straight, the UK business telecoms and ISP provider .

Cyber-attacks are still a clear and present danger and as the threats continue to evolve,  so it’s important that SMEs adapt their security methods to tackle these new dangers, says Tindall. Here are his top 10 tips:

1. Educate - 50% of the worst cyber security breaches last year were caused by inadvertent human error. In particular, raise awareness of phishing and baiting scams.
2. Social media safety and security is paramount – work related information should not be accessible by social media. Personal accounts are much easier to infiltrate than a secure business network.
3.  Train your staff. Currently around 63% of SMEs nationwide provide ongoing security awareness training. Due to the nature of the cyber beast, the threat is constantly evolving so keep them abreast of the latest developments
4. Invest in the defence - the tools for tackling cyber-attacks are worth their weight in gold. The average price of a single breach is continuing to soar, with damage to an SME costing anywhere between £75k and £311k. For a larger business, that cost can rise into the millions.
5. Monitor your web traffic - good practice for any SME regardless of cyber security. Quickly identifying a sudden or irregular level of activity can significantly soften the blow of a cyber-attack. There are a range of free and paid services that will help your business accurately
6. Stay updated! 59% of businesses expect to suffer more security incidents within the next year. Being aware of the changing digital landscape and its potential new threats can help keep you ahead of the game.measure traffic.
7. Plan! Should the worst case scenario happen, are you prepared? Do you, your IT staff or external telecoms provider have the proper protocols in place to react? Offsite back-ups and mirrored servers are some of the most common practises that help prevent the irreversible loss of data.
8.  Use a professional. Put your cyber security in the hands of a professional. Be it internal IT staff or a telecoms provider’s Managed Security Service, their expertise will help them quickly recognise potential dangers and keep your network secure.
9. Assess the risks. Knowing where you’re most vulnerable, or what data/network would be most attractive to a potential cyber security attacker is valuable information. You or your IT department/service are then able to prioritise security and be aware of the most likely forms and targets of attack.
10.  Report any attack. If you are unfortunate enough to suffer a damaging attack, report it. This is your best chance of recouping any losses and bringing the guilty party to justice. The UK's National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) and The Cyber Incident Response (CIR) scheme should be your first ports of call.

Talk Straight provides internet services to hundreds of UK businesses and was awarded winner of Best Business use of Cloud and finalist for internet safety and security at the 2014 Internet Service Providers Association Awards.  It is also a managed security service provider for US network security specialist Fortinet in the UK.

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Connected car technology means Christmas shopping has just got a lot easier for Swedish shoppers. Volvo Car Group has announced the world's first commercially available In-Car Delivery service.

The car maker has teamed up with PostNord, the Nordic region’s communication and logistics supplier , Lekmer.com, the leading Nordic online toy and baby goods store, and Mat.se, a Swedish online grocery retailer, to have Christmas toys, gifts, food and drinks delivered to its cars.

The  In-car Delivery service works by means of a digital key, which is used to gain one-time access to the vehicle. Owners simply order the goods online, receive a notification that the goods have been delivered and then just drive home with them. Volvo owners just choose the In-car Delivery option at the online checkout when they buy their gifts, food, drinks or other packages.

Volvo In-car Delivery is currently only available for Volvo drivers in Gothenburg who subscribe to the Volvo On Call service, but it will be introduced elsewhere in Sweden and to other countries in future. There will also be a wider range of goods available for In-car Delivery as Volvo joins forces with more companies.

“Christmas is fun – but let’s be honest, it is also a busy time for most families. This service simply makes shopping easier,” said Björn Annwall, Senior Vice President for Marketing, Sales and Service at Volvo. “Volvo In-car Delivery provides concrete proof that connected car technologies can be used to save people time and make their lives easier.”

Volvo is always keen to explore new technologies, be it in the areas of safety, autonomous driving or connectivity, but believes fundamentally in Nordic utility – meaning it will only introduce a technology if it actually saves lives, saves times, adds an element of convenience or benefits drivers.

“Volvo is not interested in technology for the sake of technology,” said Klas Bendrik, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Volvo. “If a technology does not make a customer’s life easier, better, safer or more fun, we don’t use it.”

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There is growing awareness in field service companies that fleet management can have a significant impact on the efficiency of their operations. Fuel costs is a core part of that, yet keeping track of fuel purchases can be time-consuming.  Fleet management solution provider Trimble is partnering with fuel company Shell in a solution which utilises the euroShell fuelcard to provide fleet managers with integrated data for monitoring and reducing fuel consumption.

Shell is building partnerships with field service management software providers to integrate fuel purchase data into operations management systems - last week Field Service News reported on the company's collaboration with TomTom.

Trimble's Performance Solution combines data from the Trimble on-board computer with the Performance Portal, making it possible for users to monitor and analyse drivers, vehicles and fuel consumption all through one single portal. With this innovative analysis tool, fleet managers can control at a glance the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) most relevant to them.

Performance Solution is a user-friendly system with graphical displays, flexibly adjustable parameters and an in-depth analysis functionality. In addition, the Web-based Performance Portal has been enhanced with smart algorithms. The evaluation of driving behaviour is centred on actual driving information such as speed, stationary, braking behavior.   Users can monitor the KPIs relevant to them and provide drivers with a record of their driving performance in a PDF format.

Driver coaches can zoom in on different KPIs for detailed information, while managers can consult a dashboard for a larger perspective.

"Performance Solution can easily be integrated and extended with our other fleet management solutions for a tailor-made total solution," said Michel Van Maercke, general manager, Trimble Transport & Logistics, EMEA and Pacific Asia.

"Our customers affirm that telematics is essential to good fleet management," said Robert Springer, Sales Manager Shell Commercial Fleet Netherlands. "After extensive research on the changing needs of our customers as well as evaluating solutions available in Europe, we are convinced that Trimble offers a telematics solution that meets the needs of our customers."

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Infor, the provider of cloud-based business applications for specific industry sectors, has announced Mobility for Field Service (MFS), an application that allows customers to use its M3 enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from anywhere via a mobile device.

Mobility for Field Service v15.1.0 takes work orders that have been assigned to users in Infor M3 and displays them in a clear, easily digestible format that is easily understood on a mobile device. Colour-coded status indicators show how far each assignment has been processed, and workflow settings can help the user choose the most logical way in which to proceed with the assignment. Within each assignment, an intuitive layout of key data helps the user access the relevant information quickly and easily. This allows field users to simplify operations by creating a streamlined approach for working with M3 in the field.

The mobile solution uses Infor Ion middleware for transactional integration between the user’s mobile device and M3.  A run-time license for ION is provided to customers that are not currently using the middleware system.

MFS is currently available for tablets running on Android 4.4 or later and Windows 8.1 or later, as well as personal computers running the Windows operating system. Support for the iOS operating system is currently planned during 2016.

Innovative components include: integration for Infor document management, interconnected data sourcing and reporting, and an administrative toolbox that incorporates quick configurability features.

“As the equipment-centric industries continue to evolve and modernise, the technologies that support day-to-day operations must also mature and keep pace with the user. It is with this in mind that we created Infor Mobility for Field Service, which facilities access to strategic data from wherever the user may be located,” said Brian Dunks, product director, M3 Product Management, Infor. “This solution has been thoughtfully designed in response to the needs of our customers, to ensure that all users, including field technicians, are suitably equipped with the same high-quality tools that are utilised throughout the enterprise.”

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HomeAdvisor, the US-based on-line marketplace for home services, has announced a partnership with Better Business Bureau (BBB) to provide homeowners with comprehensive and trustworthy sources of information about home service professionals.

As a result of the partnership, homeowners can now access BBB information, including accreditation status, for home service professionals included in HomeAdvisor’s pre-screened nationwide network.

HomeAdvisor allows homeowners to find trusted, local service professionals and instantly book appointments. The BBB integration, available on mobile and desktop, provides additional assurance for homeowners seeking reputable service professionals and allows consumers to click through to the BBB website to view the complete BBB Business Reviews. HomeAdvisor plans to integrate its Seal of Approval, given to service professionals who pass a rigorous background screening, on BBB’s website next year.

“Like BBB, we start with trust. With more than five million reviews submitted by homeowners and one of the industry’s most comprehensive screening processes, HomeAdvisor is a leading online marketplace to connect with home professionals,” said HomeAdvisor’s CEO, Chris Terrill. “Working with BBB further strengthens our promise to provide homeowners with trusted, qualified professionals.”

“Collaboration of this level does two things: builds the importance of marketplace trust in the eyes of businesses and gives consumers the tools they need to make informed decisions,” said Kim States, CEO of BBB Serving Denver and Boulder, and host of the conference. “We are thrilled with the additional opportunities this partnership brings to everyone involved.”

BBB assigns ratings from A+ (highest) to F (lowest) based on various aspects of the business including its complaint history with BBB, transparent business practices, and licensing and government actions known to BBB.
HomeAdvisor has connected more than 30 million homeowners to the company’s growing network of nearly 100,000 pre-screened home service professionals.

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There is room for significant improvement in the way service organisations manage and operate their fleets: that was a key message that emerged from Microlise's  inaugural Field Service and Fleet Conference held at the MIRA Proving Ground, Warwickshire earlier this month and supported by Field Service News. 

There is growing recognition among service organisations of the importance of developing the driving skills of mobile service personnel and the benefits it can deliver in terms of operational and employee safety and reduced costs.

Delegates at the Microlise event heard from the UK Government's Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency,  the Head of National Roads Policing Intelligence, logistics company  DHL and former Stig Ben Collins  alongside Microlise Director of Product Stephen Watson.  In a series of sessions, they are able to learn useful and practical information on everything from safe driving style and the use of technology to monitor driving performance, driver engagement and real world case studies of fleet management best practice.

To underline the importance of driving skills, Microlise fitted a fleet of vans, supplied by event sponsor Hertz, with telematics so that guests could be let loose on the MIRA City Circuit, which simulates the driving conditions found in an urban environment. The objective was to drive economically and safely; with drivers scored on how well they achieved this.  This practical element to the event underscored to many delegates the level of driving skills required and gave them a deeper appreciation of the challenges engineers face on a daily basis when travelling between each job.

On the subject of vehicle management, Mark Cartwright of the Freight Transport Association Van Excellence scheme shared that more than 49% of vans currently fail their MOT first time round.  Many service organisations do not have a policy of routine vehicle safety checks incorporated into their operations, he said.

It was an action-packed event where everyone gain a greater insight into this often-overlooked  element service management. FSN looks forward to hearing what topics will shape next year’s agenda.

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TomTom Telematics and Shell are to co-operate to offer businesses in Europe a complete fuel management solution using the TomTom Telematics fleet management platform WEBFLEET alongside Shell fuel management services.

As a result of this agreement, TomTom Telematics will launch a service that integrates euroShell Cards data into its WEBFLEET software-as-a-service platform, making fuel transactions and fuel management information available for users in one system.

“TomTom Telematics has a strong portfolio and high performance standards to help fleets improve fuel efficiency, which fits well with the expectations of Shell customers,” said Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director at TomTom Telematics. “Furthermore, the integration of euroShell Cards fuel data within WEBFLEET provides a more complete picture for fleet managers, enabling them to optimise and manage all aspects of fuel efficiency.”

Parminder Kohli, General Manager Business Development at Shell Commercial Fleet, added: “This deal provides customers with a complete solution combining one of the telematics industry’s richest reporting suites with Shell’s fuel card expertise and one of the largest petrol station networks in Europe.”

“Fuel is amongst the biggest cost factors when running a vehicle fleet. However, by providing businesses with driver, vehicle and fuelling data insights, areas for improvement can be more easily identified and acted on, helping these businesses to reduce their costs and carbon footprint."

TomTom Telematics has over 500,000 subscribers in 60 countries.

Magenta Technology, the developers of the Maxoptra routing and scheduling system, has launched an online application that automates job despatching for users of TomTom’s telematics and fleet management solutions. The app, called Planndit, links job details from Maxoptra directly to TomTom WEBFLEET, eliminating the need to manually type in job details. This makes job despatch and sequencing quick and easy, saving time and eliminating errors.

It means being able to despatch routes to any TomTom Pro device in less than 30 seconds per route, and that includes verifying the overall route on a map and optimising the route sequence within the process before it is sent. The app simply connects to the TomTom service and pools the devices in use so jobs can be sent to the correct operative.

The Maxoptra app automatically calculates distance and driving time for the route and each individual address. The route sequence can be optimised for the best cost by re-ordering stops with a simple drag-n-drop. Notes for the driver can be added and sent with the address to the driver's TomTom Pro with a simple click.

Maxoptra is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform designed to enable quick decision-making within ever-changing operational environments such as service management. The Planndit app is a module available as a low cost, pay-as-you-go service and includes a simple 3-step wizard to take the user through the process, eliminating the need for any training.

Stuart Brunger, Business Development Director for Maxoptra, commented: “In talking to TomTom users it was clear that, although telematics promised big benefits, there was something missing. What they needed was an integrated system; a seamless link between their job management system and TomTom. With the Planndit app, we have addressed this with a solution that transforms job despatching and customer service delivery by linking Maxoptra and TomTom WEBFLEET to create an integrated operations system.”

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