IFS today launches IFS Cloud™, a single platform that innately connects all its products to deliver the end-to-end capabilities a company needs to orchestrate its customers, people and assets and deliver amazing Moments of Service.

Customers can choose to deploy best-of-breed or leverage the power of connecting their value chains across capabilities such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), human capital management (HCM), asset management (EAM) and field service (FSM).

With IFS Cloud, IFS offers a unique and single technology platform with one common user experience, one data model and one consistent support offering. IFS Cloud brings simplicity, choice and innovation to organizations that need to evolve to new business models, control costs, expand faster and serve their customers better. By implementing IFS Cloud, companies can easily scale and simply switch on new functionality (such as additional modules or new innovative capabilities) when the time is right for their business.

IFS CLOUD MAKES IT PRACTICAL AND AFFORDABLE FOR CUSTOMERS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE NEWEST TECHNOLOGIES

Likewise, customers can choose how and where they deploy IFS Cloud, which has been engineered for the cloud but can be deployed on-premises with a choice of residency. Unlike many offerings, IFS customers will benefit from the same solution functionality and delightful user experiences, regardless of their deployment choice, without compromise.

As a departure from competing, legacy suites and software portfolios that rely on complex and costly integrations, IFS Cloud is designed to make it easier and more cost-effective for customers to buy, deploy, run, and update their enterprise software. IFS Cloud marks the start of twice-yearly feature releases, giving customers the choice to move to the latest version as and when their business is ready.

Darren Roos, IFS CEO, commented, “The path to digital transformation is not a simple one. Most businesses are complex and have intricate value chains, which is why few organizations succeed and even fewer vendors provide the tools to truly enable it. At IFS, our single most important goal is to deliver value to our customers, and we want to provide a clear path for them to evolve to new business models, compete and win. 

Roos continued, “Customers have told me that their main goals are to drive efficiency, control costs and to develop better products and services. We know that to achieve this, cloud is a pre-requisite. Digital innovations need to be easily consumable and embedded into daily business operations, which is why I am confident that IFS will succeed where others have not. IFS Cloud is unique and delivers on customer centricity and experience as well as capabilities. I am proud to say we are again keeping our promise to deliver value so that customers can deliver on their Moment of Service.”

With digital innovations embedded, IFS Cloud’s architecture also includes new and improved application services for intelligent and autonomous business that can be natively leveraged across IFS products and across industries. This makes it practical and affordable for customers to take advantage of technologies such as machine learning (ML), augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR), artificial intelligence (AI), and internet of things (IoT), ready to use ‘out of the box’.  

IFS Cloud is being adopted by a number of pioneer customers across IFS’s focus markets of Aerospace & Defense, Construction & Infrastructure, Energy & Utilities, Manufacturing, and Service industries. One such customer is Cimcorp Group, a world-leading manufacturer of robotics and automation systems.

Commenting on the benefits of IFS Cloud, Cimcorp Technology Director Jyrki Anttonen said, “The manufacturing and manufacturing service industries are very dynamic and highly competitive, which means we are constantly looking for technologies that will allow us to work smarter and faster than our competitors. Company growth is certainly a goal, but we are a global business and therefore we need to have visibility into our operations globally so that we can target efficiencies, control costs and devise news ways to create value for our customers. IFS Cloud is a platform with next-generation technology built for our industry and this gives us the confidence we need to achieve this and flank the competition.”

IFS Chief Product Officer Christian Pedersen said, “IFS Cloud was designed and built to respond to customers’ needs when shifting to digital business models; something we never lost sight of over the last two years.” Pedersen continued, “We recognize that IFS Cloud will be pivotal in bringing success in a customer’s business and this shaped our approach in several areas: being able to make fast and informed decisions based on a single data model, being completely open with native APIs and providing one single upgrade experience so that customers can focus on what is important, which is to deliver exceptional moments of service to their customers.”

Also released today is the first instalment of IFS’s application lifecycle management capability, IFS Lifecycle Experience. IFS Lifecycle Experience features a portal that puts users in control of their application by fusing multiple touch points, to give them access to information, tooling, code, and permissions.

Learn more about IFS Cloud at www.ifs.com/corp/ifs-cloud/ifs-cloud-overview.

Hear what IFS customers have to say during the digital launch event: www.ifs.com/possibilities.

For additional information on IFS Cloud, read blogs from Antony Bourne, Christian Pedersen, Dan Matthews, Michael Ouissi, Riccardo Bocci and Raymond Jones.

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Further Reading:

• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Learn more about the launch of IFS Cloud @ ifs.com/possibilities 
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/ifs

 

Damien Penney Vice President at Lytx Europe, discusses how fleet managers can empower their most important assets by placing technician safety and empowerment at the heart of their programs.

More and more, fleet managers are empowering their technicians with the tools to make good decisions that help them stay safe on the road. This means sharing ‘big picture’ insights about behavioral trends to watch out for, but also deploying in-the-moment vehicle alerts that allow technicians to self-correct in the case of a momentary slip-up behind the wheel.

By placing technician safety and empowerment at the heart of their programs, fleet managers are focusing on their most important assets. A technician who self-corrects risky driving behaviors is in the best possible position to help keep the fleet on track during high volume or challenging times.

THE POWER OF IN-THE-MOMENT ALERTS

Fleet managers know that even the most experienced and safest drivers may be subject to a periodic slip-up. When that happens, it’s important to help those behind the wheel get back on track as quickly as possible. Unlike traditional telematics which only tells you the what, powerful technologies such as machine vision and artificial intelligence (MV+AI) are now being used in order to tell the why and provide drivers with a little extra assistance.

Machine vision essentially acts as a smart set of eyes that scan and recognize both the internal and external environment of the vehicle. This includes the ability to identify distracted driving behaviors such as mobile phone use, eating, drinking, smoking, or failure to wear a seat belt. While MV identifies the issue, AI determines how risky that issue is and whether it needs to be flagged to the technician or manager.

An experienced technician may have a perfect driving history but, on their first day back after a long break, forget to click their seatbelt as they pull away from the depot. Much like a friend sitting in the passenger seat, MV+AI will kick in, cueing an audio alert that will enable the technician to self-correct their driving in a matter of seconds.

Fleet managers can also use this approach as an opportunity to reward good behavior. For example, video footage may reveal a technician reacting quickly to a momentary lapse, minimizing potential risk and avoiding any escalation.

PUTTING THE TECHNOLOGY IN THE HANDS OF THE TECHNICIAN

As well as reacting in the moment, it’s important that technicians have the opportunity to review their overall driving style. This includes spotting any risky behaviors that may be sneaking in over time.

One of the ways this can be achieved is by giving technicians condensed video clips of their driving to review at their leisure after their shift. In the moment, a driver may not have registered that they were following the vehicle in front too closely for example. However, the sight of themselves on video exhibiting potentially risky behaviors is a direct and effective way of communicating this. A technician will become more aware of their actions, placing the risk more firmly in their consciousness as a result.

One of the biggest benefits of self-review is that it’s something that technicians can do independently. There is no need to wait for a formal coaching session to be scheduled and any question of implied blame by a supervisor is avoided. In terms of technology, technicians can simply log on to a computer or mobile device anywhere that there’s a cellular connection.

SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE

As a manager, understanding the bigger impact of these behaviors is also important. You need to be able to predict and manage future collision risk exposure to your fleet by analyzing past data.

For example, you might uncover a trend that shows technicians who work back-to-back shifts are more likely to be distracted by texting, food or drink while driving. This would be the starting point for taking a closer look at what’s going on. In this case, perhaps the technician is not taking breaks and eating while driving, and possibly texting or making phone calls while driving from job to job in order to multitask. Maybe they are facing pressure to get more site visits done in a shift and might be cutting some safety corners.

The more quality data you have, the easier it becomes to see these trends on a bigger scale – and feel confident that they are accurate. At Lytx, our database is meaningful because it consists of more than 120 billion miles of driving data from more than one million commercial drivers and technicians worldwide. This grows by more than 140,000 new driving events each day, further training and improving its algorithms.

For safer fleets, we need these insights to be shared properly. As well as providing managers with reports detailing incidents of risky driving, it’s essential that we place technicians themselves at the heart of the process. By placing some of this power into their hands, we can increase co-operation, share the responsibility, and have an approach to fleet management that is altogether more agile and responsive. Only then we really achieve lasting behavior change that sticks.

Lytx can help empower your technicians to be safer. Learn more at Lytx.com.

This post was originally published on Lytx.com by Damien Penney Vice President, Lytx Europe.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Managing The Mobile Workforce @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Learn more about Lytx  @ www.lytx.com
• Find out more about Detect and Prevent Risky Driving with Lytx @ youtu.be/F1B1jEWcLAY
• Read more about Lytx on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/lytx
• Follow Lytx on Twitter @ twitter.com/lytx

The human factor is widely recognized as an essential component to digital transformation success. In fact, over a quarter (27 percent) of companies acknowledge that despite being key, people are often overlooked when planning and executing transformative projects, according to a research study from global enterprise applications company IFS.

The study goes on to identify poor change management as one of the key reasons digital transformation projects fail. When implementing new digital transformation projects, businesses are focused on implementing the key technology and solutions but aren’t considering the importance of staff buy-in and acceptance of the project, which is intrinsically linked to its overall success.

INNOVATION IS THE KEY TO BUSINESS RESILIENCE

When asked about the reasons for failure in past projects, businesses also cited lack of employee engagement among the top four reasons. In addition, respondents named past experiences of low employee buy-in as one of the top two reasons for hesitating to launch new digital transformation projects. This can potentially have a great impact on the overall development of a business, as in times of downturn many believe innovation is the key to business resilience.

The broad focus on people-related considerations among companies goes hand in hand with a widely held concern for soft values such as vendor culture and ethics, which was revealed by a previous IFS study.

Although one third of respondents identified involving the human resources (HR) department from the beginning to ensure employee awareness as key to digital transformation success, one quarter of companies admitted that they have been guilty of not doing so in the past. Furthermore, 21 percent of companies expressed that employee engagement is more of a “tick-box” exercise, as opposed to being critical for success, revealing an obvious mismatch between recognition and actual execution.

 

 

From an HR perspective, there is ample proof that digital transformation makes good business sense. 29 percent of respondents stated that employee retention would be higher if the business could offer more exciting technology to its people, indicating that technology does have employee retention possibilities. Furthermore, 39 percent said that technology provides the ideal opportunity to retrain and upskill existing staff, thereby bridging the skills gap that is a major pain point in many industries.

“Through continuous dialog with our customers as well as first-hand experiences from our own digital transformation, we have always known that people can act as both an enabler and a barrier in transformation projects,” IFS Chief Human Resources Officer Jane Keith said. “This report drives home the point that if digital transformation is kept human centric and if change management is handled effectively and employees are aware and inspired to support the transformation, the business is much more likely to reap success. Staff involvement should not be seen as a just a tick-box exercise but as the secret sauce that will ultimately determine the outcome.”

 

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Download a complimentary copy of Digital Transformation Investment in 2020 and Beyond: The Undeniable People Factor.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Learn more about IFS @ www.ifs.com
• Download a complimentary copy of the IFS study here
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/IFS
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifsuk

Lytx^®, a leading provider of machine vision- and artificial intelligence-powered video telematics, analytics, safety, and productivity solutions for commercial, public sector, and field service fleets, today announced several new technology capabilities that build upon its ability to quickly, comprehensively, and accurately identify driving risk.

Using precise, cutting-edge technology, this new driver-powered approach to safety is a simple, but powerful way for drivers to be more proactive and accountable for their own improvement, while giving management the necessary visibility and data to effectively monitor and intervene if needed.

THE NEXT GENERATION OF DRIVER-POWERED SAFETY

Lytx is adding a number of new capabilities to its safety offerings in support of this driver-powered approach, including:

• "Inattentive" trigger, which uses proprietary machine vision and artificial intelligence (MV+AI) to detect when the driver's attention may be unfocused or the driver may be experiencing a condition such as fatigue or drowsiness without the reliance on an accelerometer event
• Real-time in-cab alerts for five different risky driving behaviors: cell phone use, eating and drinking, smoking, no seatbelt, speeding, and inattentiveness
• Behavior duration reporting, which uses MV+AI to track and quantify both the duration and percentage of drive time a driver was engaged in a risky driving behavior, providing a more holistic view of persistent risk

With these new MV+AI-powered updates, when an event is detected, the DriveCam^® Event Recorder will issue a real-time in-cab alert to help drivers recognize and address their own risky behaviors and self-correct in the moment. Depending on the behavior, the alert will include a light and/or spoken phrase. With Lytx's ability to detect more than 60 driving behaviors with greater than 95% accuracy, its in-cab alerts are some of the most precise and actionable in the industry.

Drivers will also have access to new check-in tools allowing them to review their own video and performance after-the-fact, including behavior duration. This gives a new perspective on past events and supports long-term retention on lessons learned during a drive. If desired, managers can stay informed by subscribing to push notifications and reports on pertinent information.

"Fleets today are looking for reliable technology that allows drivers to quickly improve in the moment and with little or no manager intervention," said Lytx President Doron Lurie. "A driver-powered approach to safety empowers drivers to take charge of their own safety, while freeing up precious manager time that can be redirected to other areas of the business. Backed by award-winning technology and a proven strategy that has helped hundreds of thousands of drivers safely navigate billions of miles, fleet managers can be confident in this approach and can track progress along the way to respond to any critical events or incidents and intervene as needed."

THE RISK DETECTION WITHOUT RECORDING VIDEO

Lytx is also broadening its safety solutions with Risk Identification Without Recording, an innovative new configuration for its already best-in-class DriveCam Event Recorder. Using Lytx's ultra-precise MV+AI, DriveCam is now able to detect patterns of distracted or unwanted driving behaviors inside the cab without recording video of the driver.

This new configuration is designed for fleets who opt to disable in-cab video recording, allowing them to benefit from significantly greater in-cab risk detection, while respecting driver privacy. Drivers can receive the added benefit of Lytx's expanded in-cab alerts based on risky behaviors that are detected, but not recorded, enabling in-the-moment action for greater safety overall.

"For more than 20 years, Lytx has made an unwavering commitment to developing cutting-edge technology, and we are continuously innovating to incorporate that technology for greater safety and productivity enhancements," said Lytx Chief Technology Officer Rajesh Rudraradhya. "Leveraging our unmatched scale, deep expertise and advanced AI architecture, we have evolved from using AI to provide only video snippets and counts of risky driving behaviors to offering a full view of each and every drive with precise continual behavior reporting. The advanced driver first innovations announced today will help fleets and drivers identify and eradicate risk at levels never seen before, while ensuring every fleet can take advantage of the power of Lytx MV+AI to cut through the noise and focus on what matters."

These new capabilities announced today are part of Lytx's safety solutions and are configurable to suit each fleet's unique workflows and priorities. To learn more about driver-powered safety and see in-cab alerts in action, watch this new video.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Managing The Mobile Workforce @ www.fieldservicenews.com/managing-the-mobile-workforce
• Learn more about Lytx  @ www.lytx.com
• Find out more about Detect and Prevent Risky Driving with Lytx @ youtu.be/F1B1jEWcLAY
• Read more about Lytx on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/lytx
• Follow Lytx on Twitter @ twitter.com/lytx

Atos and Google Cloud have inaugurated a joint artificial intelligence laboratory in Paris, France. 

The laboratory, which is unique in France, enables clients, businesses and public organizations to identify practical cases, for which AI could provide innovative and effective solutions, the companies say.

Through this laboratory, Atos is helping AI solutions to be adopted in Europe. In its cloud and hybrid cloud datacenters it ensures the security of both the data and the processing of it, as well as compliance with the European regulation on the protection of personal data. A real space for teaching and experimentation, the laboratory welcomes French and European clients to define concrete use cases where AI algorithms can provide high-performance solutions, via co-creation and solution prototyping workshops.

Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO of Atos, said: "In order for France to continue to play a key role in the information space, it has to invest heavily in artificial intelligence and new technologies. Beyond economic development, being able to offer technological excellence while protecting European data is a matter of sovereignty. With this joint laboratory between Atos and Google Cloud, we are enabling the adoption of artificial intelligence by our clients by offering them the best technologies and the highest level of security for their data processing, all within a clearly defined European regulatory framework. As such, Atos combines economic and technological development with sovereignty, compliance and security and helps to design a secure and valued European information space.”

Eric Haddad, France’s Managing Director of Google Cloud added: "Our technologies enable our partners and their customers get the best value out of their data securely. This laboratory is a concrete example of the close collaboration between the Atos and Google Cloud teams, as well as our commitment to help French and European businesses define new business models based on artificial intelligence”. 

In April 2018, Atos entered into a unique global partnership with Google Cloud to accelerate the creation of secure hybrid cloud solutions, data analysis and machine learning, as well as the connected work environment. The partnership includes the opening of three AI laboratories around the world - in London, Dallas and the Paris region.

Paul Whitelam, VP of Product Marketing, ClickSoftware asks if IoT sensors, Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning will help the UK water industry avoid a looming crisis...

One would be forgiven for assuming a nation surrounded by water, with a storied history of naval exploration and an advanced privatised water management sector, would be exempt from facing a water or wastewater crisis.

But many experts agree that the current population boom and climate scenario are forcing the industrial, national, and regional water and wastewater situations towards crisis in the United Kingdom.

What do these mounting challenges mean for the field service management organisations? How can they innovate to meet and overcome each challenge while satisfying end consumers? In the following paragraphs, we discuss how water and wastewater service organisations can get ahead of the looming crisis.

Population boom, climate change, water scarcity combine to create the perfect storm

Ofwat, a government water management program overseeing England and Wales, recently published a report outlining many key challenges in these region. They city population growth and climate changes were identified as the key drivers of change, while growing pressure to address water scarcity, environmental quality, and resilience of systems in the face of rising consumer expectations as the  major hurdles. Key among these, you will find:

• The UK population is forecasted to grow 20% over the next 20 years
• Rising environmental standards may drive up costs
• Technology to manage new customer expectations is lacking
• Major climate change has left specific regions at risk
• Water scarcity poses immediate threat to supply
• Customer expectations for service sector and water continue to rise

In reality, many of these challenges intersect.

This report cites that a full 60% of Thames Water’s customers are concerned about the environment. In addition, 85% of Wessex Water’s customers feel protecting rivers, lakes, and estuaries was critical.

The reality is more dire than consumers may realise. Given the uneven population distribution across the country, freshwater resources are often pulled from areas that are already under pressure, while new regions have been identified that previously threatened just years ago.

As the report cites, “Water catchments across Wales, south-west and northern England are predicted to experience significant unmet demand under many of the scenario combinations that the Environment Agency has considered.”

Can water management and field service teams get ahead of this looming crisis, or will consumers simply have to cut back on consumption altogether as the population booms?

3 ways UK service organisations can innovate to overcome crisis

Luckily, the field service industry is experiencing a renaissance in service technology that could solve current and future water problems. The Internet-of-Things, artificial intelligence, and predictive maintenance technology could each provide innovative solutions for both meeting growing demand, and minimising environmental impact.

1. Invest in and inform customers of water reduction faucets, shower heads, high efficiency washing machines and emerging technology

To be fair, this first recommendation is more about customer satisfaction, not just technology, but the fastest way to avert a water and wastewater crisis is the simplest; reduce the amount of water usage in businesses, factories, and homes.

This will require service organisations convincing customers that these new faucets, shower heads, and high efficiency machines will both save them money through reduced water usage, and save the environment. And if that doesn’t work? A healthy bit of policy should do the trick.

With the number of consumers who have expressed care for environmental issues, couldn’t a bit of a nudge from service providers push many over the edge to adopting more efficient technology?

With even a 10% increase in the number of homes, businesses, and facilities equipped with smarter end using devices, we could improve our water usage future in short order.

2. Enable IoT sensors on industrial water facilities and natural resource hubs

The Internet-of-Things promises to bring advanced real-time diagnostic capabilities to equipment, that for decades has required a human to perform a diagnostic task. By embedding internet-enabled sensors on all the equipment that cleans, processes, transports and delivers water, we could improve the efficiency of the entire water lifecycle by significant margins.

Would this require an up-front investment? Most certainly, but privatised water and wastewater organisations and service companies would certainly be keen on efficiency gains, especially if margins could move up incrementally.

Using IoT sensors for advanced real-time diagnostics could allow organisations to get predictive about water usage, resource allocation, and more. With the right application of IoT technology, equipment and processing, diagnostics could stand to become more efficient than ever.

3. Use AI and machine learning for ultimate efficiency gains

While seemingly intimidating at the outset, artificial intelligence and machine learning technology are in fact well within reach for organisations willing to embrace a healthy technical challenge. How about the payoff? Datasets that take a team of data scientists several weeks to interpret can now be crunched by AI algorithms in seconds.

Upon gaining results, future-oriented field service organisations will soon apply machine learning models that are ready-built for various service scenarios.

Think of machine learning algorithms as software with a brain. First, you develop an algorithmic model. Let’s use flooding—a common water crisis scenario—as an example. By first coding your software to understand all the steps a human would take in a flood scenario, and second enabling artificial intelligence algorithms to process information in real-time, you can effectively combine real-time flood data and your algorithm to unlock an immediate decision tree.

The software acts upon data in an instant, making airtight decisions and optimising your entire field service chain the same way your dispatch, or service executives would—given the parameters of your programmed scenario. But the main difference between AI software managing a service chain, and a human being? Software will make fewer mistakes.

As the UK continues to seek a resolution to current and future water scenarios, a healthy balance of policy, innovation, and customer support will be required.

 

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