Event Preview: Field Service Forum, Amsterdam, June 2nd to 3rd

May 10, 2015 • Features • Events • Field Service Forum

Following on from the success of last years launch event Field Service News is very pleased to be the official media partner to Field Service Forum hosted at the Sheraton Amsterdam on June 2nd - 3^rd.

You can register for field service forum by clicking this link

With up to 200 service leaders from across Europe predicted to attend to meet for debate and discussion across two days of interactive education with a structured networking program included which is designed to allow delegates to benchmark their service operations.

Ahead of the event Thomas Igou, Content Director at Copperbrug commented “The launch event showed that most organisations are on the right (and similar) path, but the road to success is still full of opportunities. There is a common need to build a stronger structure behind the service business to truly change the function from a cost to a profit centre. Many organisations are seeing the big picture, but are unable to execute the critical steps towards full service transformation.”

No other employee in a manufacturing organisation has the face time nor the trust from the customer; field engineers are truly the face of their organisations towards the customers.

“One of the most agreed steps is the approach towards the field engineer.” Continued Igou “No other employee in a manufacturing organisation has the face time nor the trust from the customer; field engineers are truly the face of their organisations towards the customers. As such, they can become a powerful weapon whose soft skills need to be explored to develop the commercial competence to push new sales and generate leads.”

“There is also a lot to be done to make field operations more efficient, and not only through IT solutions. Looking at standardising the service business will go a great way to improve roll outs of strategic initiatives and of having a better visibility of resources, which will ensure they meet service level agreements.”

“There are additional areas such as managing a global workforce, implementing mobility and other technologies like wearables, creating a process to capture knowledge, or further exploring remote diagnostics to develop proactive maintenance that are also critical to the success of a field service business.”

Indeed Igou and the team at event organisers Copperburg, have been working hard to develop the conference further and have introduced a number of new features which Field Service News is excited to be part of.

New Features

In addition to the traditional formats of Copperberg conferences, Field Service Forum will provide new and developed features to ensure your conference experience is maximised and as interactive as possible so you can come away with the most relevant information.

THE FIELD SERVICE STUDIO

Hosted by Field Service News Editor Kris Oldland this session, based on an American-style talk show, the Field Service Studio will see a host invite four service thought-leaders as special guests and conduct individual seven minutes interviews before moving on to a more traditional panel debate discussion, where hot topics will be analysed from every angle. The studio will end by taking questions directly from the audience.

LIVE CASE STUDY

This session will take you straight into a manufacturer’s field service operations. The case study will start with an overview of a challenge encountered by the manufacturer; then, the session will take a look at IT solutions the manufacturer sourced to overcome the challenge and its implementation.

After this the manufacturer will give an insight into the results and ROI. Finally, the session will finish with a testimonial from the manufacturer’s customer about the new service improvements.

Field Service Forum Agenda 2015

Tuesday - June 2nd 2015

09.30 Pre-Registration
10.00 PRECONFERENCE WORKSHOPS - The pre-conference workshops are a new and exclusive feature which gives you, as a participant, the ability to kick start the conference with a focused and content-heavy session where you will be able to both learn and share experiences around best practices.
Workshop A - Mobility: In this interactive workshop, you will learn about to best integrate mobility solutions to create a mobile workforce that will enhance the value of your service offerings to your customers.
Workshop B - Knowledge Management: In this interactive workshop, you will learn about how to track knowledge of your team, how to rollout/share knowledge, and how to share known issues so you can capture the knowledge.
13.00 Service Mastery Day - Limited Seats Available - The Service Mastery Day is a sensational, “cannot miss” 3 hour seminar on how you and your organisation can master the skill of service excellence. Each event is customised to the needs of the participants and brings a leading and recognised expert in the field of service excellence to moderate and teach you how to bring your service division to the next level.
16.00 Networking Break & General Registration
16.30 How to improve your margin on Full Service & Repair Contracts: Listen to this story telling of how Volvo Construction Equipment in Denmark is growing their service margin through full service & repair contracts.
17.10 Live Case Study: Field Service of the Future, Today - This new feature will present a case study through the viewpoints of all actors within a field service operations ecosystem: The Vendor, The Manufacturer, and the End User Customer.
18.00 Evening Networking Program - The evening networking program is your opportunity to meet and network with your peers in a cozy and relaxed atmosphere, to push the discussions deeper and make contacts that last a lifetime.

Wednesday - June 3rd 2015

08.10 Morning Masterclasses:
Masterclass A Using Tools and Technology to direct, monitor, and measure performance
Masterclass B Transforming Field Service into a Profit Powerhouse
Masterclass C Global Training of field engineers
09.10 How After-sales Service increases customer loyalty: With increasing competition on products only one thing can really differentiate you from the others. Service is therefore increasing in importance and the execution has to be flawless and a good after sales service actually helps increase you customer loyalty and possible future sales.
09.40 Case Study: Automating Service Scheduling & Dispatching: This session will look into how to provide a fast, best-in-class service experience to your customers by overcoming fragmented processes and lack of visibility into field resources.
10.45 Executive Circles: Roundtable discussions are often one of the most appreciated features at our events, because they allow participants to share experiences, success and failures alike, in a more intimate setting. In stimulating work atmosphere, the participants discuss new perspectives and ideas around a specific topic and the under the guidance of an assigned moderator. After 40 minutes, the discussions end and participants move on to the next table. You will experience intensive discussions, share innovative ideas and identify practical solutions.
Track1: Global Workforce
13.15 Resource Optimisation: developing the competence of current and coming talent
13.45 Developing the soft skills of field engineers: Field engineers see your customers more often than any of the sales staff, and as such have a strong relation and are trusted by your customers. This session will inform you how to leverage on this to sell more and generate leads within your installed base.
14.15 Gamification: How can service organisations introduce gamification to sparkle cultural changes in their field operations? From adoption of new field technologies to conclusion of admin work, gamification can help motive and reward your employees for their outstanding performance.
Track2: Smart Services:
13.15 How to use the latest technology trends to improve your business: Internet of things, Big data, remote Service are all trendy topics, but how do they help us increase Customer Satisfaction, revenues and productivity. How to go from technology to a clear business strategy. Is our organisation ready for this change?
13.45 Wearables Technology: New technological advancements in supportive gears for field engineers is bringing a whole new level of service support. This session will explore wearables technology such as smart glasses and watches and how to utilise them to bring real time added value for both your field engineers and your customers.
14.15 The Industrial Internet: IoT is a recurring buzz word, of which analysts predict billions of devices will be connected to the internet in the near future. However, what is it really, and how can it benefit the manufacturing industry?
Track 3: Operational Efficiency
13.15 Standardisation of practices in a Service Business: A case study on key strategic initiatives to increase service levels at Pentair and how to roll out global service strategy across regions.
13.45 Interested in doubling your service sales and shorten the time to close the deals? How often can a salesperson really quote to customer needs without any support from back office? When it comes to selling, time is essential. Every hour it takes from the customer meeting to your delivered quote, the customer interest diminishes, and their focus changes to other projects.
14.15 Managing global service: The session will look into how to manage a service organisation: the structure from scratch to service/repair. How to use resource pooling between units and partners with different business models based on service differentiation and global set-up in order to serve customers across the globe.
15.20 The Field Service Studio: Based on an American-style talk show, the Field Service Studio will see a host invite 4 service thought-leaders as special guests and conduct individual 7 minutes interviews before moving on to a more traditional panel debate discussion, where hot topics will be analysed from every angle. The studio will end by taking questions directly from the audience. Hosted by Kris Oldland, Editor of Field Service News.