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IDC’s Aly Pinder explores one of the most crucial conundrums facing field service organisations today - how to ensure knowledge transfer is seamless across the organisation...

At some point we will finally reach the moment when all the seasoned field service engineers retire. I know, we have been foretelling this for years and in my case more than a decade. Despite this seemingly ever-present anxiety around replacing a retiring field workforce, many manufacturers and service organizations still list knowledge loss as a top challenge yet to be successfully addressed.

IDC Manufacturing Insights’ 2019 Product and Service Innovation Survey highlighted one of the top drivers for manufacturer’s service lifecycle management efforts is a need to capture and make accessible service knowledge and best practices. Building a culture of shared intelligence and accessibility of service knowledge, nearly half of organizations (42.7%) sampled in this study plan to leverage mobile devices for the purpose of increased collaboration amongst technicians.

These investments and prioritization demonstrate how much risk is inherent with having an entire workforce which often goes out on its own for an extended period of time, rarely coming back into a centralized location, and is one of the closest resources interacting directly with customers. The scary part is the value technicians to the customer experience is becoming more not less critical for manufacturers and service organizations.

In advance of losing field workers, I recommend you consider a few things:

• Identify your workforce that is planning to retire in the near future. Do you survey your technicians, at least annually, to ask them when they plan to retire? Assuming your technicians will retire at the retirement age of your respective country is quite risky. Reaching out to your technicians to identify when they plan to retire allows the organization to identify the level and urgency of the risk, plan for the loss, and even proactively strategize to either retain or hire more aggressively in advance of the loss.
• Get creative with technician retention. Organizations should establish a program that enables technicians to be able to work as a centralized expert. This is where gamification and incentives can be used to create a bench of technicians that are willing to stay with the company, accelerate the rate of capturing best practices, and recognize the value of the decades of experience which is held in the brains of the technician. Organizations would be wise to establish a role which based on identify qualifications or attainment of a certain expertise level can extend the viability of a seasoned technician staying on the team.
• Show your newer workforce a career path which is rewarding and valued. Many organizations struggle with creating tangible and exciting career paths for the workforce. Career paths are difficult to detail as there  are so many variables, both for the employee and the organization. This is an even bigger challenge with a largely remote workforce at many service organizations. However, the ability to communicate a future for the field technician is a critical step in addressing the workforce skills gap which should go hand in hand with trying to retain more seasoned technicians. This practice will help create a culture that values the service technician experience and show the workforce where they will fit in the broader strategy of the organization.

Talking about the retiring field force mustn’t be the end of the story that we tell each other, organizations must act now. Technology is one of the ways to capture and make accessible service knowledge, but manufacturers and service organizations need to identify their respective risk and build a strategy around addressing the loss of critical service knowledge.

Collaboration and shared purpose will enable organizations to get in front of this pending wave of retiring workers.

IDC’s Aly Pinder tackles one of the core challenges of modern field service as the Internet of Things potentially brings new vulnerabilities to the perennial cyber security channels...

According to research from IDC 30% of manufacturers will soon provide personalized dashboards for customers by 2023 which could lead to a new era of customer satisfaction: customer collaboration. Aly Pinder explores the potential of this evolution. 

What role does the customer play in their own service experience? If we were to think back a few years or decades the answer would be minimal. Historically, the service organization or manufacturer held the keys to a customer’s happiness and satisfaction.

Show up, preferably on time, with the answer to resolve the issue was the main goal. If the issue were resolved the customer was happy and vice versa. But as most of the world is now accustomed to on-demand experiences and collaborative interactions with peers, manufacturers, and technology platforms this model is changing. IDC predicts that resulting from demand for hyper-customized customer experiences, 30% of manufacturers will provide personalized dashboards for customers to schedule service, learn about products, and collaborate by 2023. Customers now can create their own experiences and in turn their level of satisfaction with their expected outcomes.

This isn’t to say that the manufacturer is completely absolved of responsibility to have knowledgeable technicians, reliable products, and efficient processes to support a quality service experience, but a good service experience is evolving and has become inclusive of customers, partners, and other stakeholders. Customers can and will continue to play a bigger role in the experiences they create for themselves and the impact they will have on quality service. From their level of engagement to the access they allow manufacturers to use the data that is created customers will only become more relevant for the future of service excellence. Below are a few ways I see customers impacting the service experience in 2019 and beyond.

Customers are invested in your success but have options
Engaging customers in their own experiences with service is not only a way to balance risk and the cost of service, but ensuring customers have a reason to stay with you. Competition for service has never been higher, no longer is the manufacturer the sole provider of service for a customer. Third parties are nothing new, but they have become more viable in their ability to deliver quality, timely service on a variety of products and equipment types. Therefore, manufacturers must innovate the ways in which they build bonds with customers going beyond the suggestion that “you bought it from us, so you must sign a service contract”.

"Customers can and will continue to play a bigger role in the experiences they create for themselves..."

A personalized dashboard which integrates with suggested new services or products, creates a community of user-driven content, and boosts the customer’s performance in KPI that matter to them is one way to create longer lasting customer partnerships.

Expectations change and manufacturers need to evolve at faster pace
Not much is more frustrating than providing feedback in a survey and seemingly having that information go into a blackhole not used by the those who administered the survey. Customers are very willing to give manufacturers feedback as we have seen an influx of customer advisory forums, social interactions, and other channels of insight. But too often this is used as a marketing tool and not as a path to tailor future products, service, and experiences because of this intelligence.

As customers provide manufacturers with insight into what they value and how they want to be interacted with, it is imperative that this information leads to improvements as this is the customer taking the time to involve themselves in their own service experience.

Connected products must enable intelligence and customized experiences
The number of connected products and devices will only continue to grow, but unfortunately, we still lag well behind the promise of this future. Data from connected products too often is just stored in the cloud used by just a few when the ability for this insight to trigger new and valuable experiences is plentiful.

Customers through their usage and behaviour data have provided manufacturers and service organizations with a treasure trove of insights that must be leveraged to enhance on-going experiences.

Customers shouldn’t just be an open wallet or an email address. As much as customers of the future are a wealth of data points they also have a growing willingness to be a part of the experiences that are delivered to them. Not engaging them in a true partnership of shared experiences, shared benefits, and shared goals is a missed opportunity that won’t be sustainable in our shared futures.

Aly Pinder is Program Director at IDC.

Aly Pinder looks at three ways in which manufacturers must consider leveraging augmented service tools...

The way we work, learn, and communicate have all taken a drastic turn from just a couple decades ago. When was the last time you saw a teenager or even a current college student read a physical newspaper, write a note in a notebook or on piece of paper, or look up a definition in a dictionary (not an online one)?

I imagine like me, you probably can’t remember the last time. This transformation has wide ranging implications, the least of which is the collapse of the encyclopedia industry. But this is not another article on why millennials need to be coddled, or how Gen Z is bad for the economy.

I don’t think any generation, ones before or after me, are the problem. But the way in which their behaviours impact the world around us must be addressed and used to help us all evolve.

 

"Manufacturers must take a few steps to turn knowledge into a shared resource  and not just a repository of work instructions..."

 

This is where manufacturers and service leaders come in. For manufacturers, the implications of a changing economy and digital world are even more real as it is becoming more apparent that to fill a growing gap in labor the tools, training, incentives, and motivations of work will need to be transformed as well. Not only do manufacturers need to do more for the customer, it increasingly is coming from more junior workers who need to get up to speed fast.

This convergence is where I believe augmented service tools can play a big role in democratizing knowledge across a varied set of employees and levels of tenure. But to get there, manufacturers must take a few steps to turn knowledge into a shared resource  and not just a repository of work instructions. 

With this in mind there are three things I believe manufacturers should consider.

 

Peer-to-Peer vs. Top Down.

Are you more likely to listen to your boss or your colleague?

The answer may be a bit different depending on whether you work in an office or out in the field. Many manufacturers I’ve spoken with talk about the level of engagement they find when they empower their field teams to work together to share best practices, whether in a newsletter, during beginning of day meetings, or via a video. Insights are more powerful when they come from a peer that is going through the same challenges you are.

Therefore, I believe user-generated content from field service technicians will help speed the adoption of video training tools and knowledge sharing.

But it is up to the manufacturer and service leadership to provide the tools, security, and platform for this technology to work and be accessible to the right people.

 

Amplify Investments in Innovation and Collaboration.

It is probably not prudent to predict industrial manufacturers or an oil & gas company to rival Google or Apple as the next great innovative companies of this generation.

However, there is a lot of innovation happening today within manufacturers that doesn’t often get reported to the outside public. If manufacturers want to draw the talent of the future they must not only have the tools the next wave of workers want to use, but they must also highlight in recruiting and marketing materials the innovative technologies that are used daily to get work done. This may help differentiate from the throng of manufacturers that are trying to procure talent. And why not promote innovation to those you want to bring in as employees in the same ways you woo customers.

 

AR / VR should play a role in the field.

I am not as bullish as my peers regarding the future pervasiveness of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) tools in field service. I do, however, think there are several use cases and environments where this technology makes sense.

 

"What it most important though, is that manufacturers evaluate their infrastructure, environment, and workforce capability to maximise the value of this technology..."

 

What it most important though, is that manufacturers evaluate their infrastructure, environment, and workforce capability to maximise the value of this technology. AR and VR tools do have the ability to help bridge the gap between an ageing workforce that may need to move to a back-office role and a less tenured technician who needs real-time assistance while on a job.

The talent pool or lack thereof is forcing manufacturers to re-think how they recruit, where they recruit, and what tools they need to navigate this environment.

As much as we have all discussed this topic for years and almost a decade now, manufacturers must take this moment to understand the worker of the future. It is imperative that manufactures provide the tools to augment their work environment to bring them in and keep them on the team.

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Aly Pinder is Program Director for IDC

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Aly Pinder outlines how the growing trend for connected products is set to revolutionise the way we approach service...

What is the value of a connected product or asset? Some might argue, connected products allow a manufacturer to capture a wealth of product data which can be used to make better products in the future.

Others might state, connected products open a window into customer usage data which can help manufacturers and sales teams target customers more effectively driving increased revenues.

These are two important use cases and show some of the promise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected products.

But I think there is an even more impactful area of value from the ability to connect to products – field service.

Now you may be thinking, of course, it’s all of field service, as you peruse the articles of Field Service News. But even if I am preaching to the choir, the impact that connected products can have on the ability for manufacturers to transform the way they deliver field service and customer support is not necessarily a given.

However, as more products and assets are connected I believe there is a real opportunity to see great leaps in field service and the transformation of the way manufacturers interact with the end customer.

Three opportunities, in particular, jump out as big wins for the future of field service as a result of data captured from connected products and equipment:

 

Finally, predict and not react

The journey from reactive field service to proactive and predictive persists for many manufacturers. I don’t think this is necessarily a battle which will ever reach a state of 100% predictive service, and nor should it.

But I do think there is a great opportunity to take the volumes of data being captured in real-time to make smarter decisions in field service which can lead to a different balance of reactive, proactive, and predictive support.

Also, data gleaned from connected products can help make reactive service calls more valuable and efficient as a technician should have the answers to the issue without having to guess or lean on gut-feel.

 

Service without a truck roll.

As noted in recent IDC research, by 2020, 50% of global OEMs with connected service offerings will have incorporated augmented service execution and/or remote management thus improving service margins by up to 30%.

The ability to resolve issues remotely or to utilize a centralized expert to help a customer solve a problem can be transformative for field service. This type of model could help service leaders allocate their seasoned technicians to the most complex problems as opposed to just an issue within their geographic footprint.

Connected products enable a manufacturer to know what is wrong in advance of a response and ensure the right response is the one scheduled for a scarce set of resources.

 

Focus on the value of the human interaction.

When we think about the negatives associated with the rise of the machines (i.e., Terminator), we often miss something.

This should be an opportunity not a threat.

Connected products which ‘talk’ to each other provides an opening for field technicians to focus on the humans while they are on site as opposed to spending time looking for information, turning wrenches, or filling out paperwork.

Obviously, this will mean manufacturers and service leaders will need to train their technicians on a new set of skills and activities. But as the workforce and economies evolve, the skill of interaction will be in more demand and provide more value in the customer relationship.

And manufacturers which leverage connected product data to have their field teams focus on the customer will succeed.

The promise and value gained from connected products is more than just additional data points.

As manufacturers look to transform their organizations and teams, connected products should be the catalyst for a journey of new ways of delivering value to customers and not the end result of a technology investment.

Field service should be the aspect of the business which sees the biggest gains from connected products and equipment.

The possibilities are endless, and I look forward to seeing where manufacturers take this technology as it extends beyond IT and engineering to the field.

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Aly Pinder is Program Director - Service Innovation & Connected Products, IDC Manufacturing Insights

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Who are the most influential people in the global field service sector that you need to pay attention to in 2017?

The Field Service News #FSN20 is our list of the individuals we believe will be key influencers in our industry across the next twelve months. Those included in the list have been selected by our own panel of industry insiders, who were given the simple criteria of identifying people who will have a significant impact on field service thinking.

However, more than just an annual list of 20 individuals the #FSN20 has grown since it’s launch to become a true celebration of excellence and innovation within our industry.

There are some familiar names and some new faces on this years list and as always we don’t expect everyone to agree with our selection – at it’s heart the #FSN20 was conceived as a tool to get everyone in our industry thinking about who it is that they have come across in the global field service sector that has made them think, who has made them question the accepted paradigms, who has inspired them to do just one little thing more in their own day to day role.

The #FSN20 is not just about the list our panel has put together. It is about fostering discussion that celebrates the unsung heroes of the field service sector. So look out for the online version of this list as well to take part in the debate.

But for now, ladies and gentleman and without further a do, in no particular order, we are pleased to introduce the #FSN20 of 2017…

 

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Click here to see page one of the 2017 #FSN20

 

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Nick Frank, Founder and Managing Partner Si2 Partners

Having worked as an international consultant for over 6 years, Nick founded Si2 Partners last year bringing a new approach to consultancy by offering services on demand.

Nick’s focus is on service strategy development, servitization business models, ecosystems, innovation management, service operations and service business development. He works with companies in a diverse range of industries including engineering, high volume manufacturing, equipment manufacturers and technology. A regular columnist in the trade press and a excellent speaker often to be found at industry conferences, Nick also plays a pivotal role in organising the conference sessions for the UK not-for-profit group The Service Community.

 

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Michael Blumberg, President of Blumberg Advisory Group, Inc

Michael Blumberg is the President of Blumberg Advisory Group and is a recognised expert in Field Service and Reverse Logistics in High-Technology industry.

Michael’s thought leadership, service system planning and strategy formulation are cited as having helped many organisations increase profits and he is a prolific author publishing a number of well received projects including white papers and educational video projects.

 

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Aly Pinder, Director of Member Research & Communities, The Service Council

In previous editions we had a rule that we would only include one person per organisation within the #FSN20. However, ever since Aly moved from the Aberdeen Group to The Service Council, we knew we would have to repeal the rule, as both Aly and Sumair are industry heavy weights in terms of analysis of our industry.

In his new role he will be looking to further enhance the already well established research projects undertaken by The Service Community and his addition to their team makes The Service Council one of the most important groups in the entire global field service sector.

 

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Tom Heiser, CEO, ClickSoftware

It may perhaps be unfair to comment that when Heiser took the reigns of the field service management software stalwarts ClickSoftware the company was perhaps at it’s weakest point in some years, indeed they remain a leading provider of field service management solutions at the forefront of the industry.

Yet, based on the sheer level of dominance that they once held and in light of the ever increasing quality of the competition in the field service management space, Heiser had little time to find his feet in the world of field service if he was to ensure the ClickSoftware brand remained as synonymous with delivering service excellence as it had to date - particularly in the natural uncertainty that an acquisition by a private equity firm can potentially cause. 

However, having seemingly spent little more than a few hours in his own office for the first six months as he flew around the world meeting analysts, influencers and customers alike Heiser certainly appears to have not only established a firm grasp of the industry at large but also where the future for field service management technology lies and under his guidance the outlook for the iconic ClickSoftware brand appears to be on a very positive footing once more...

 

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Marne Martin, CEO, ServicePower

With their next generation platform Nexus now firmly established within the market place ServicePower have re established themselves as a key company within the FSM solutions sector under the vision of Martin.

However, it is her focus on R&D that really continues to drive Service Power to the forefront of their sector. With a number of patents including a one focussed on quantum annealing that will see them developing cutting edge technology for the foreseeable future. Martin is also a very highly respected speaker on the international field service circuit

 

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Jim Baston, President of BBA Consulting Group Inc

Baston of BBA Consulting is the proponent of Proactive Service, and is a master when it comes to understanding the delicate relationship between service and sales and how companies can maximize that relationship to enhance profits. Author, Speaker and Consultant Baston is an intelligent and experienced leader within his field whilst being a true gentleman and pleasure to talk to, to boot.

 

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Kevin Jones Managing Director Computer Product Solutions, Panasonic Europe

Panasonic remain the undisputed leaders in the rugged space with the ToughPad and Toughbook brands synonymous with rugged computing. The Panasonic ToughBook20 is the worlds first fully rugged detachable and could just be the most perfect device for field service to date being both a tablet and a laptop.

Jones has spent a decade with Panasonic and has total responsibility for the entire ToughBook / ToughPad Products and Solutions in Europe, including Sales, Marketing, Engineering and Operations whilst also sitting concurrently on the board of Panasonic Manufacturing.

 

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Dave Yarnold, CEO, ServiceMax

Within less than a decade Yarnold has taken ServiceMax from start-up to being purchased by GE late last year for close to a Billion Dollars.

However, the meteoric rise of ServiceMax wasn’t solely about the technology. Yarnold has a true passion for the service and that passion has filtered down and shone through at all levels of the organisation, which was perhaps the secret source that put them at the top of the sector - having been recognised as the leading FSM solution provider in the most recent magic quadrant report.

Now as part of GE Digital, Yarnold has even bigger visions of how ServiceMax can play a role in building an operating system for the entire industrial sector of which service will be a key component.

Big ambitions?

Yes. But Yarnold is a man that could possibly just do it.

 

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Click here to see page three of the 2017 #FSN20

 

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No man is an island, so don’t leave your field service technicians isolated if you want to ensure you keep delivering field service excellence writes Aly Pinder...

The nature of the field service team is an oxymoron. Field service workers often work independently in remote areas with minimal contact with the “home” office or other technicians during their day.

Often times, the only contact the technician has with others is with dispatch to schedule the next call.

Technicians often are no more of a team than your salesforce. Both are independent workers who must deliver on a combined effort. This type of structure will begin to show its cracks field service as we all prepare for the aging and retiring field workforce.

 As technicians leave the business, their individual knowledge, expertise, and customer relationships will fade away.

Can your organisation afford to lose this wealth of knowledge capital?

So what can you do about this? A three-legged stool approach is needed.

First off, you need to do everything you can to keep your good and great technicians on your team for as long as possible. So whether you incentivise them to  stick around longer in the field or provide them the flexibility to become remote support experts – keeping your expert technicians as long as you can should be your #1 goal.

[quote float="left"]Mentorship programs will continue to play a bigger role in service as we all prepare for the wave of millennials coming into the workforce over the coming years...[/quote] Secondly, you need to ensure you capture all of that great knowledge from your experts prior to their impending departure. Invest in the tools and technologies necessary to capture, store, and disseminate best practices from the field team to others in real-time.

And finally, you need to build a bridge between your expert workers and the next wave of technicians.

As seen in Aberdeen Group’s recent Field Service 2016: Strengthen the Team, Bond with Your Customers report (June 2016), the Best-in-Class were able to achieve these three goals by implementing a few best practices listed below:

[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• Measure your field technician’s engagement frequently. Knowing what drives your technicians is integral to ensuring you can keep them around for the long haul. The wrong incentives lead to the wrong behaviours or worse yet a premature exit from the team.

  Engagement was historically something for HR teams to measure office workers or for the marketing team to gather from customers. But more and more Best-in-Class service organisations are beginning to monitor and measure their field service team’s engagement AND acting on what they gather. If you don’t know there is a problem, you won’t be able to address it.

• Establish mentors and coaches to pass along knowledge. Top performing service organisations identify top field technicians and ensure they can help mold the next crop of workers. Under performing organisations don’t even know who their top technicians are and thus don’t know they should both keep those employees and give them ways to help the entire team learn how to excel at service.

  Mentorship programs will continue to play a bigger role in service as we all prepare for the wave of millennials coming into the workforce over the coming years (NOTE – the millennial wave has already begun).[/unordered_list]

Create a culture of continuous improvement

And as old dogs leave the business, it is even more integral that a culture of continuous improvement pervade to ensure your field team delivers more and more value to customers during every interaction.

The field team does not have to be built on individuals who work alone.

Connecting the team to knowledge, best practices, and continued learning is integral in 2016. Don’t leave your field workers on an island by themselves, a team is needed to excel at delivering service value to customers.

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Aberdeen’s Aly Pinder asks are we smarter than we were in the past, or do we just have better access to data?

When was the last time you asked someone for directions, or used a phone book, or waited for the day’s forecast on the morning news?

Well, that last one is probably something you still do out of habit, but the others are things which have left our consciousness as we can just “Google it” from our smart phones. The emergence of technology and the IoT has flooded the service leader with more data than ever before. Machines talk to machines, technicians collaborate with each other via mobile devices while in the field, and customers interact with the service team in real-time owning their experience.

But with all this access to information and data comes a few challenges. How much is too much data? How can we turn this data into actionable insights? Who needs to know what and when?

These are all questions that the Best-in-Class service leader is tackling right now. As seen in Aberdeen Group’s recent State of Service Management in 2016: Empower the Data-Driven CSO (March 2016) research, one of the top goals for service leadership was improving the quality and relevance of data for the service team. This is a top 3 goal, only trailing the need to improve customer retention and drive service profitability.

Happy customers, profits, and then data quality in that order shows how the impact of data is rising on the agenda of the senior service leader today. But how do we get to a place where data is useful?

Is the answer to our data problem more technology?

Top performers recognise that ensuring the service team has actionable data is a journey and not something that can be solved with one-off investments. It takes a strategy, leadership, and resolve. Connecting the field team to insights helped these organisations resolve issues faster, deliver more value to the customer conversation, and make the field team better at their jobs!

 

All these are great, and the Best-in-Class have some lessons for the rest of us:

Empower the service team with the data they need to make decisions, more isn’t always better.

Top performers ensure the field team has customized data views which provide only the pertinent information for technician for the specific task they are working on. Having the data necessary to solve complex issues at the time of service is integral to ensuring resolution can occur on a first visit, technicians are efficient, and the customer can be back up and running with minimal downtime.

Give the field team the mobile tools to have access to insights.

The field workforce is rapidly changing. We have been fearing the aging workforce for some time now, and it is finally here. But the Best-in-Class ensure that as technicians leave the business, their knowledge does not. They are able to capture best practices and expertise, and store these insights in an accessible location which can be tapped into via mobility in the field.

Leverage machine, customer, and technician data to identify the future of service excellence.

The IoT means different things to different people and industries. But the value isn’t just in the fact that we more devices are connected. The value of the IoT is in connecting the service chain to resolution, value creation, and collaboration. Smart machines and products open up a whole new world of possibilities as savvy organisations can take this data and better understand how to optimise assets performance, build better machines, deliver more targeted services to customers, and ensure technicians know the answer to the problem before they even get on site in front of the machine.

The proliferation of data in this era of the empowered customer can be a challenge for many organisations. Too much data leads to delayed action or inaction altogether. Top performing organisations have invested in technology and their internal processes to ensure they can turn all of the valuable data being captured every minute into actionable insights which drive value.

Top performers were able to take improved data capabilities and turn that into outperformance in key metrics such as customer retention, SLA compliance, and worker productivity.

Don’t be left behind looking at a phone book or reading a map. Tap into real-time data to make the decisions which will lead you into the future of service excellence.

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Whilst technology drives innovation within our industry, we must not forget the basic fundamentals of field service, namely putting the customer at the heart of everything we do writes Aberdeen Group’s Aly Pinder...

How should service define success?

Is it good enough to meet SLAs? Should service leaders primarily focus on cutting costs by reducing truck rolls? Do they need to prioritise field productivity; turn as many wrenches in a given day as possible?

These are all noble endeavours, but in 2016 the customer must come first. Internal efficiencies and meeting basic levels of service will keep the lights on, but it won’t grow the business. “Good enough” service is no longer good enough. This evolution demands that service leaders change the metrics they use to define success. As seen in Aberdeen Group’s State of Service research, the top metric which determines success is actually customer satisfaction.

 

The emergence of customer facing metrics such as customer satisfaction, customer retention, and first-time fix rates, has highlighted the fact that the customer is king

 

The emergence of customer facing metrics such as customer satisfaction, customer retention, and first-time fix rates, has highlighted the fact that the customer is king. Service, more so now than in the past, has to deal with empowered customers and competition. No longer can the field team solely be reactive or leave a customer site without resolving the issue. Customers are more knowledgeable and can amplify a bad service experience to a global network of peers.

Top performers understand that happy customers renew service contracts, buy more offerings, and refer new business. For this reason, service organisations have to juggle efficiency goals with customer focused metrics to hit at both at the same time. And with so much technology and analytics at the fingertips of the service executive, it is imperative that they don’t get paralysed looking at too much.

The Best-in-Class focus on the right metrics which drive differentiation and value to the end customer. The rest is great for a spreadsheet. But strategy and innovation needs to focus on the customer. Service leaders that want to excel in 2016 cannot afford to focus on KPI from a bygone era of service. Your customers want you to be successful because that means you can help them grow. But they don’t care if your bottom line is as trim as possible or that your technicians are taking the most optimised route. The customer wants the right technician with the right tools to solve their problem when they get on site to avoid extended (or any) downtime.

This changes the way service must view the metrics that matter both for them and for their customers. Happy customers result in a happy service business.

Don’t lose sight of what matters.

 

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