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Espresso Service Ltd, an independent company founded in 1987 that specialises in servicing coffee machines, is set to implement Tesseract’s service management software in order to better serve its customers.


Espresso Service, who manage a network of engineers all over the UK, pride themselves on a wide skill set. Their engineers are ‘coffee experts’ and do planned and reactive maintenance on all brands of traditional and semi-automatic coffee machines. At present they rely on an internally installed, less specialised piece of software to manage their engineers. In order to move forward, they decided to look for a centrally hosted and more specialised system that would be a better fit for their needs.

Espresso Service identified a number of advantages to implementing Tesseract’s software, in particular the fact that Tesseract offers a constantly evolving platform for a monthly fee. They also saw the appeal of Tesseract’s software being entirely web-based. “It will allow anyone to do their jobs anywhere,” says Daniel Sewell, Chief Operating Officer for Espresso Service.

Espresso Service have plans to incorporate Tesseract’s entire suite of services in due course. Sewell says, “Our aspiration is to use every single function that is available, largely because we believe Tesseract to be the key to fundamentally changing our business for the better. We believe Tesseract will drive efficiency, spotlight any inefficiency, and ultimately help us to ‘work smarter’ and be the best that we can be.”

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For nearly 40 years, Servequip have been in the business of supplying and maintaining foodservice equipment, with customers ranging from Prezzo and Frankie & Benny’s to celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay. Two years ago, they decided to improve their systems by incorporating Tesseract’s service management software.

Servequip have their fingers firmly on the pulse of the foodservice equipment industry. While they don’t actually manufacture the equipment, their parent company Jestic exclusively imports selected brands from Europe and the US and sells it to catering establishments within the UK. For example, Jestic exclusively sells Henny Penny cooking equipment to KFC. Servequip are then responsible for maintaining the equipment during the warranty period, although high customer satisfaction means they are often called upon to continue maintaining it post-expiry of the warranty.

The maintenance work undertaken by Servequip involves a team of over 30 engineers working all over the UK. Given that most of the equipment maintained by Servequip is premium, energy-saving and highly technical, these engineers have to be proficiently trained and factory approved. They can be called upon to deal with a variety of cooking equipment issues.

 

Servequip’s impressive first-time fix rate, currently at 88%, demonstrates how it important it is for them to be backed by an efficient service management system.

The old program

Pre-Tesseract, Servequip relied on an older, less user-friendly service management program. Stock management and service calls were controlled by separate systems, and stock management involved a degree of manual intervention. It was also difficult to see internally what all of the engineers were doing.

They had to look at each engineer individually, which took time and effort. As Servequip are determined to provide a first-rate service, fast response times and first-time fixes, they decided they wanted some consolidation and a greater degree of visibility and efficiency.

“The other problem was that the old program had started to creak and groan and occasionally fall over completely,” says Neill Pearson, Service Director of Servequip. “We wanted to future-proof ourselves by investing in a fresh, new and more adaptable system.”

Tesseract comes aboard

Servequip were aware that other similar companies were already using Tesseract, such as Manitowoc Foodservice, which also supplies and maintains kitchen equipment. In addition, Tesseract’s software was in operation at Jestic, a foodservice equipment company which bought Servequip in 2011.

Jestic is responsible for the distribution side of the business, while Servequip concentrate on the repair and maintenance of the equipment.

With that in mind, Servequip cast their eyes over 10 to 15 service management systems, although they only gave serious consideration to three, including Tesseract. Of those three, Tesseract came out on top.

 

“We looked at Tesseract in operation at other companies,” says Pearson. “It just seemed to do everything, from servicing and scheduling to parts ordering, stock control and invoicing, and it seemed to handle parts and stock a lot better than other systems we looked at. It was also much more user-friendly than our old system, and the fact that it really worked for a number of similar companies to ours led us to make the decision to go with them."

Servequip’s old program was internally installed on their own servers, and while Tesseract does offer centrally hosted, cloud-based software, known as SaaS, Servequip elected to implement the internal version of Tesseract’s service management system.

“We already had a good IT infrastructure, so we wanted Tesseract to integrate with that,” says Pearson. “The other advantage of an internal system is that you don’t have to rely on an internet connection, so if the internet goes down for any reason, we can carry on working.”

One of the numerous benefits of SaaS service software is that it is updated by the host or provider rather than the customer, and on a much more frequent basis than internal service management programs. “This isn’t a problem for us,” Pearson explains.

“Even though we don’t get automatic updates through the cloud, Tesseract is very good at regularly accessing and updating our system. So from our perspective there’s not much difference.”

How have things changed for Servequip?

Tesseract has been in place at Servequip for nearly two years now. Servequip make use of Tesseract’s Core Control Centre, Parts Centre, invoicing and customer asset tools, as well as its reporting service.

Furthermore, Servequip had a working financial system already in place when Tesseract came aboard. Thanks to Tesseract’s  inherent malleability, this was successfully integrated with the rest of the system. The majority of Servequip’s processes are now managed by one integrated system rather than several.

“Tesseract has improved our business by giving us much greater visibility,” says Pearson. “It has sharpened our business. While no business can claim to be perfect, Tesseract helps us to see our mistakes as soon as they are made. This puts us in a much better position than other companies.”

 

Tesseract has also helped improve efficiency and save time. Pearson explains, “Stock is much easier to order now, because the system guides us as to what to order and when. Parts go out a lot quicker to our engineers and the whole process is more reliable because we have cut out human intervention and therefore the risk of mistakes.”

What this means is that Tesseract is helping to have a direct impact on Servequip’s first-time fix rate, which continues to steadily increase and be something that Servequip take great pride in.

What does the future hold for Servequip?

Being a service business, Servequip are always looking for new ways to improve their efficiency and productivity. Currently  they are using Tesseract Service Centre Version 5 and they are looking to upgrade to Version 5.1 at some point in the near future.

They are particularly interested in  getting more usage out of Tesseract’s reporting tools, as they would like to be able to report directly to their customers.

“Our first priorities are to review the reporting side of things, incorporate some new features and upgrade to the latest version,”  says Pearson. “After that, we intend to look at what else Tesseract has to offer.”

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Across December and January we asked our readers to nominate candidates for the inaugural #FSN20, a list of the twenty most influential people in field service. We received nominations from across the globe through social media, email and even a phone call or two directly into the news-desk.

Armed with a list of candidates, a Field Service News panel selected the final list of twenty based on the number of nominations, their impact on the industry (past, present and future) and their sphere of influence in both the physical and digital world.

After much long deliberation, heartful debate (read arguing) and enormous amounts of coffee we managed to whittle our list down to a final twenty which we pleased to present to you here the inaugural edition of the #FSN20. You may not agree with our selection and if you don’t tell us, tell your friends, tell your colleagues, hell tell the world - because at the heart of it that’s what this list is all about, getting people talking about excellence in field service and raising the profile of those leading us to a better future.

We will be announcing who made the list in alphabetical order in four sections across the next four days. So without further ado we are pleased to bring you the first five of the #FSN20

Colin Brown, Managing Director, Tesseract

Every generation or so a company will pioneer a new approach and then when they start to get some traction everyone else follow’s suit. Service Management Software company Tesseract under Brown’s long standing direction happen to have been that company twice, being the first company to launch a Service Management solution firstly for Windows and secondly in the Cloud.

If they head off in a new direction again I’d suggest paying attention.

Follow Colin @tesseractuk

 

 

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Professer Tim Baines, Aston University

Co-Author of “Made to Serve” and also Director of the Aston Centre for Servitization Research and Practice, Baines is one of the leading figureheads for the servitization movement, which could have an incredible impact on how field service operates for companies that adopt this approach.

An engaging and passionate speaker, with unbridled passion for his topic, Baines is one of the most significant figures in what is potentially one of the most significant industrial concepts in the twenty-first century.

Follow Tim @ProfTimBaines

 

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John Carroll, CEO, The Service Council

As founder of The Service Council Carroll’s impact on the field service industries stretches far beyond their home shores of the U.S. and right across the globe.

Having rapidly evolved from a good idea to a community spanning across 6 continents and representation in more than 30 countries, Carroll finds himself spearheading one of the most influential groups dedicated to field service in the world.

Follow John @tservicecouncil

 

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Alastair Clifford-Jones, Managing Director, Leadent Solutions

For perhaps too long Leadent Solutions have been one of the industry’s best secrets as Clifford-Jones has quietly built his managing consultancy with a team that, unlike some of his better known competitors, is populated with people who have worked in similar roles for their clients –so they inherently ‘get it’.

Therefore, it is not surprising that they are putting together an enviable track record of working with some big names and I think soon many more are set to follow.

Follow Alastair @LeadentSolution

 

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Sumair Dutta, CCO, The Service Council

In his previous role with Aberdeen Dutta headed up the organisation’s Customer Experience and Service Management Group and was a significant key figure in the launch of Aberdeen’s Chief Service Officer Summit Series.

Now in his role as Chief Customer Officer for The Service Council Dutta is one of the most widely seen commentators on the industry.

He also has field service’s best avatar.

Follow Sumair @suma1r

 

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See the rest of the list here:Part Two, Part Three,  Part Four. 

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More than eight years ago, Artic Building Services decided to incorporate Tesseract’s service management software into their core services and company operations. It’s a partnership that’s gone from strength to strength ever since.

Founded in 1998, Artic Building Services specialise in providing engineering solutions for building services within the public and private sectors. They provide heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical, plumbing and security systems, major refurbishment works and even gardening services. Their broad base of customers ranges from large, multiple site hospitals and universities with residential engineers to small, single sites serviced by mobile teams.

Artic utilise the expertise of a vast workforce, including more than 50 field engineers, engineering managers, help desk operatives, accountants and secretaries. While they pride themselves in their diverse human skill set, what makes the whole operation run smoothly and efficiently is their computerised service management system – courtesy of Tesseract Service Centre.

Looking back - the old system!

Artic are responsible for looking after a full range of mechanical and electrical assets in the buildings of more than two hundred clients nationally. They deal with problems and breakdowns in air conditioning units, boilers, chillers and electrical, water and sanitation systems, and perform regular maintenance.

Eight years ago, before Tesseract came on board, Artic arranged and organised the attendance of their engineers manually.

“We wanted to be more efficient and develop with the ISO 9001 standards,” says Donna Peacock, Operations Manager of Artic Building Services. “We were seeking new clients, and certain companies wanted to know why we were better. They wanted to see it. Tesseract gave us the edge we needed to rise above our competitors.”

The Tesseract integration – the early days!

Clients would notify Artic of problems by phoning or emailing their office. Artic would then look at paper maps and telephone their engineers, deploying them on the basis of who was closest and their skill level.

Artic would log on to Tesseract’s browser-based web portal and record the call out. Numbers and timings generated by Tesseract Service Centre would allow Artic to track and monitor the status of the job. But manual operations and copious paperwork were still big features of the way Artic managed their functions.

For example, the engineers would be required to fill out a Field Service Report Pad, which the client would have to sign. They had to record the site name, the time they got there, the time they left, the problem, whether the problem was resolved, any parts needed and their mileage. Another form would also be completed if further works were needed.

 

“At that stage, Tesseract helped us track what was going on with a job and created purchase orders,” says Donna Peacock. “We required more from the database. We needed to completely streamline our processes for the benefit of both our clients and our engineers. Tesseract have accommodated that need. Over the years they have moulded their services to fit our requirements.”

Next Steps - Remote Engineer Access!

A revolutionary overhaul of Artic’s field processes came with the introduction of Tesseract’s Remote Engineer Access. Artic phased out the use of Field Service Report Pads and rolled out Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to their engineers instead. PDAs allow the engineers to log in remotely, view calls for dispatch, enter their service reports, raise parts requests and close completed jobs, amongst other functions. Engineers can also access Artic’s task list, namely the serialised products they are required to maintain.

This is where Artic encountered their first hurdle with the initial PDA models that were supplied.

“Our engineers do have problems with signal whilst working on their allocated jobs,” says Peacock. “This means they had trouble getting online to record the data they needed to on the old devices. We needed them to be able to work offline.”

 

So Tesseract developed a system that allowed Artic’s engineers to work offline, and a new, more advanced line of devices was rolled out. Now their engineers can work in completely signal-less areas and still log all their information, which is then recorded onto the system as soon as signal is restored.

“Some of our engineers loved the PDAs,” says Peacock. “Some took a bit longer to adjust. But now 98% of our engineers use the devices, and they’ve been really successful. Engineers can now have a job completed, invoiced and closed down in the same day, when before, using the paper system, it used to take a week. Sometimes a week and a half. The PDAs have made life at Artic so much easier and more efficient, which in turn means we’re able to better serve our clients.”

In addition, the ability to attach core Artic health, safety and industry compliance paperwork to a given job has reduced bureaucracy within the helpdesk. The process has given clients compliant, fluid and real-time data capture for their sites.

Other Benefits!

Instead of clients having to telephone Artic’s offices, Tesseract have installed Remote Client Access. Now clients can log onto the Tesseract system and enter the fault – be it a broken tap, a malfunctioning air conditioning unit or a toilet that won’t flush. They are able to track their own calls and monitor whether Artic are meeting their time limits by way of a ‘traffic light’ system. This saves time for Artic’s clients and Artic themselves.

 

Further integration of Tesseract’s service management software now allows Artic to use satellite navigation to deploy their engineers. It means they are able to identify any traffic issues and warn their engineers accordingly, which was impossible when they relied on paper maps.

Artic also use Tesseract’s Customer Asset Management tools and Parts Centre to monitor and maintain their client’s assets and generate purchase orders for parts. They use Tesseract’s Quote Centre to log quotes for potential new clients, enter client data and convert accepted quotes into new contracts, which are also managed through Tesseract.

Finally, Artic have developed a number of different reports within Tesseract. These help them with auditing and reporting to the Board on key commercial orders such as invoicing, sales, quoted further works, budgets, outstanding calls, profit and loss, outstanding calls and new sales prospects.

Ongoing Development!

As Artic are a service company, their driving force – and the key to their success – is to keep improving the way they operate. Currently they are looking into several features they would like to incorporate into their operations. These include automated email reports to clients when jobs are complete, and to managers so they know which jobs are outstanding.

They are also looking to make some tweaks to their task or asset list, and introduce a system for tracking and monitoring their fleet of vehicles.

“At present we are maintaining our vehicles by looking at a spreadsheet,” says Peacock. “We’d like to streamline this. We’d like to make sure all our vehicles are serviced, safe and up to spec through a live system instead. It’s one of the many things we’re looking into to make our processes even better than they are.”

A System That Works!

Over the past eight years, Artic have come to rely quite heavily on Tesseract, and their processes, output and customer service have continued to develop and improve as a result.

“The Tesseract system is not the only computerised service management system we have in place,” says Peacock. “But it is the hub of all our systems. We call it the ‘Alpha’.”

Tesseract’s service management software has now been a part of Artic for so long that Tesseract refer their new clients to Artic so they can see the entire system at work. Peacock says, “We will happily give them a demonstration. Show them why Tesseract are such an invaluable aid to any service company’s operations.”

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Lincoln Property Solutions Ltd, a Properties Management Service company in Basingstoke, Hampshire, has selected Tesseract Service Centre to manage its Properties Portfolio and related maintenance and cleaning schedules.

Lincoln Property Solutions provides facilities management to improve efficiency and to ensure the buildings in their care provide the environment and services that will satisfy not only the business needs but also residential requirements of their workforce. The company relies on an experienced workforce of operatives who follow a set of schedules. These schedules used to be managed using spreadsheets, into which data would be entered manually, until Lincoln Property Solutions decided it needed something more efficient, more automated and more centralised.

Enter Tesseract, a service management software company that has already revolutionised the systems of more than 300 businesses worldwide. Lincoln Property Solutions came across Tesseract at SME14, the service management exhibition at the Facilities Show 2014 in London. Tesseract has an exhibition stand at SME every year, and this year managed to persuade Lincoln Property Solutions that utilising the facilities of Tesseract Service Centre would be hugely advantageous.

“We are looking forward to Tesseract providing us with a system to enable us to work smarter,” says Des O’Neill of Lincoln Property Solutions. “We anticipate that it will be a very successful partnership.”

Talarius, the market leaders in the arcade sector, have been using Tesseract Service Centre for the last year to manage their engineers. Feedback from Talarius is that, under Tesseract, efficiency has improved, visibility is greater and their engineers now do a better job in a quicker time.

Talarius are the largest arcade operators in the UK, and have 168 Adult Gaming Centres with more than 10,000 slot machines across the country. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tatts Group, one of the largest gaming companies in Australia. Talarius provide a service to both dedicated, regular gaming customers and those who enjoy a flutter on a night out, or at a motorway service station on a long journey.

However, slot machines are susceptible to faults and, with so many machines to look after, a fault generally occurs in at least one Talarius machine on a daily basis. A dirty note or bent coin is sometimes all it takes to cause an issue. The importance for Talarius has always been to uphold a tight maintenance regime and ensure all their machines are up and running again quickly and with minimal hassle. Just one malfunctioning slot machine is a perforation through which the company’s income will fall.

The paper method

Before Tesseract were welcomed into the fold, Talarius operated a much more manual system. If a fault occurred in one of their slot machines, staff at the venue would enter the fault in a logbook. Talarius’ engineers would attend each venue daily on a circuit, check the logbook and endeavour to fix any machines that needed their attention.

In terms of monitoring company efficiency in remedying problems, Talarius was reliant on calling each venue daily for an update as to any faults resolved or reported the previous day. They would then record this on a spreadsheet. In terms of monitoring the performance of the engineers and tracking parts required for repairs, Talarius relied on weekly emails and order forms from the engineers. The order forms specified what parts had been ordered and when. The emails detailed how many faults the engineer had repaired that week, how long each repair had taken, and how long the engineer had taken to get to the venue. In other words, monitoring depended solely on the subjective views of the engineers, conveyed through handwritten notes and tick boxes on bits of paper, rather than an objective, centralised, tech-based system.

 

“We decided we needed to be more efficient,” says Paul Monkman, Service Director of Talarius. “We are a service company after all. We wanted to make the way we operate the best it could be. If we did that, we could more easily make the service we provide to our customers the best it could be, too.”

Time for a change

Realising they needed to take a giant leap into the 21st century, Talarius put out a request for tender, looking for a service company to revolutionise their systems. Five companies bid for the contract, but Talarius chose Tesseract because they were willing to customise their service management software package to fit with Talarius’ systems and specific needs.

“Tesseract were the best fit,” says Monkman. “We operate slightly differently from other service companies, and Tesseract were willing to accommodate that and offer a tailored approach to our needs.”

These operational differences mainly concern the ordering of parts. Other companies have warehouses and parts centres from which they regularly order the parts they need, and supervisors in charge of the ordering process. But Talarius engineers are allowed to order their own parts from the most cost effective supplier. Tesseract have within their parts centre module a facility for the office to centrally control purchase orders based on field requirements. However, Talarius only wanted facilities to be able to track the parts ordered directly by the engineers. Tesseract were able to accommodate this, providing a system whereby a number is generated each time a part is ordered, allowing Talarius to track and monitor it.

How have things changed?

The way Talarius deploy their engineers has changed completely. What’s now in place is a browser-based web portal to which all of the gaming centre venues have access. When a fault occurs in one of the slot machines, the venue can log the fault online. Their engineers receive notification of these faults by way of an Android-based app on their mobile phones. Furthermore, the faults are graded in terms of priority, and the more profitable venues will get attention quicker.

Monkman says, “Instead of the logbook, which didn’t get seen until the engineers had done their rounds, now the venues can report faults online within ten seconds – which goes directly to the engineers. It’s very user-friendly and practically fool-proof! Perfect for a company that has a wide variety of computer skill levels.”

The new system is capable of cutting the standard delay that was an inevitable component of the old system; each venue would have to wait for their daily visit, coming at whatever stage that venue was placed on the engineer’s circuit. It also means engineers can get to the higher-priority sites quicker than the old circuit system would have allowed.

 

Regarding parts ordering, the engineers now use the apps on their phones to generate a part request number. The engineer will call their chosen supplier directly, and Talarius will use the part request number to track the item.

“We tried to implement a system whereby parts could be ordered automatically, but it proved problematic,” says Monkman. “It could get messy if our engineers needed to discuss the part they needed, or ask the supplier a question. Our engineers are happy to continue managing parts directly at their end, and we are happy at our end because we now have the facility to track the part.”

Rather than compiling weekly emails with estimates of their own timings and performance, the system is now based on entries made by the venue and engineers and will calculate the timings exactly. The new software gives the length of time between dispatch and attendance, timings for completion of repairs, whether any faults are recurring, and whether a machine is waiting for parts.

“We now have a system that’s both real-time and better at monitoring faults and engineer performance,” says Monkman. “We have streamlined the process, made it more efficient, and we now have information we never had before. Our engineers like it because it backs up their work and saves them paperwork.”

A better service

Talarius are in a much better position than they were before entering into a partnership with Tesseract. Tesseract’s service management software has given them enormous visibility. They now know what is going on at their venues and with their engineers without the time-lag of their old system. With a part, they know who ordered it, when it was ordered and dispatched, and when the part arrived. Profiling faults and remedying them on a priority basis means that the venues are better served and machine profits have gone up.

“We can now be more reactive to problems,” says Monkman. “The accuracy and visibility of the system also means our engineers do a better job, and do it quicker. Adding it all up, it means Talarius is able to offer a better, more efficient service to its customers.”

Want to know more about Tesseract? Click here to visit there page in the Field Service News directory...

The team at service management specialist software provider Tesseract are in for a busy October as they take to the road to showcase their software on both sides of the Atlantic this October.

If you’re in the US you can find them at the MD Expo – Orlando. This event showcases the very latest products and technology in the medical equipment industry.

With a solid reputation for attracting a senior audience, the show runs from the 1st - 3rd October 2014 at Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort, Orlando, Florida.

Tesseract, who were the first company to ever develop a cloud based service management solution will be showcasing the latest iteration of their software, Service Centre 5 to the events delegates, having established themselves as a leading player in this sector by working with companies such as Toshiba Medical for many years.

Back in the UK the Tesseract team will also be attending another important event within the medical sector the Healthcare Estates Conference, Exhibition & Dinner which runs from the 7th - 8th October 2014 at Manchester Central Convention Complex.

This is a unique event that brings together the highly prestigious IHEEM Annual Conference, Awards Dinner as well as the UK’s largest trade exhibition for the sector, for which of course enterprise mobility solutions can mean not just impacts on companies bottom line, but can be the difference between life and death itself.

Finally the team will be attending the Ceda Catering Equipment Technical Conference 8th October 2014, Staverton Park Hotel, Daventry, Northants.
This year’s conference will include headline speakers and interactive workshops and will be of great interest to both the general management and the service management of both distributors and suppliers to the catering industry.

 

Colin Brown, Managing Director, Tesseract takes a look at the difference between functionality and technology and why technologies must learn to adapt and evolve if they are to continue to thrive...

In all product development, especially where technology is involved, there is always a compromise between functionality and technology. And once a product has been developed, this compromise is even more apparent; the technology moves on but the product becomes frozen in time.

This can be seen with consumer household appliances, like televisions and radios, reducing their power usage, becoming smaller, lighter and even internet enabled. Cars, which are now more fuel efficient and have built-in wifi, are another good example.

Companies are forced to upgrade their products to use the latest technology at great expense or they will be left behind and commercially restricted. Here are some prime examples:

[unordered_list style ="bullet"]

• Kodak refused to move to a new technology, digital, which enabled pictures to be moved and edited electronically. They had made all their money from traditional film and could not come up with a digital plan.
• Word Perfect, the green screen word processor who did not move to windows until it was too late, allowing Microsoft Word to become the new standard for word processing software. With Word for Windows, true character sets could be displayed, black font on white background, on a PC using the new graphical user interface (gui), something Word Perfect using Dos found impossible. The new Windows GUI was pixel based and not character based so the display possibilities were infinite.
• Microsoft has stuck to Windows and Office being client based software (which makes most of Microsoft's profit) as opposed to web/browser based (almost a Kodak moment). Although, at last, they have released an iPad version of the Office suite.[/unordered_list]

These are just a few examples of technology that is in market demand overtaking product functionality. All of these examples are from companies who invented their products, were ground breaking at their inception but became frozen in time.

It is understandably hard for companies to keep pace with technology. Key personnel, including decision makers, feel comfortable with their existing product. They may have been involved in its creation, and have no understanding or intention of moving out of their comfort zone. I think Nokia and Blackberry are notable candidates;

Nokia at one time had over 70% of the world market of mobile phones, mainly due to their "easy to use" character based operating system and Blackberry was the business choice with its secure push email technology but both were overtaken by the Apple iPhone. Why? Because of its "easy to use GUI" (ring any bells?) and push email technology became widely available.

Companies/people seem to think that their importance is the functionality. At Tesseract, when we moved from green screen dos to windows, and used a different programming language, all of my developers left over a 6 month period.

Despite the fact they went on training courses for the new language. They must have felt their value was in their knowledge of the programming language or the existing technology rather than their knowledge of service management.

 

Life at the top is short lived. Sony, after setting the world alight with the walkman, have now become a dinosaur and are downsizing, even closing down their TV business. IBM, once the giant of the IT world and the size of their 6 nearest competitors combined, are no longer so significant...and it looks like Microsoft will follow.

Aside from companies not being willing to leave their comfort zone, another reason for not embracing technology is financial. They have honed their production, manufacturing and licensing and know the market very well.

Their business is a well oiled machine that produces results that can be forecasted to their shareholders (those bad guys). Moving to new technology is an expense risk so why bother? Just glue on some new bits onto the old product to make it look good. The problem is that when technology moves on, by the time it impacts on your business then it is already too late. The only answer is to buy one of the new guys.

The last pertinent reason for not moving with technology is a fear of failure. When a company first developed their product, they were brave in a brave new world and had nothing to lose. They fought their way to the top, beat the opposition and became very successful. Doing that a second time is very scary, they have a lot to lose. They are used to being number one and by moving to a new technology, they will have to fight with new guys on the block to regain that top position. It seems unnecessary when the business appears to be doing ok for the moment.

Apple has been rather smart in re-inventing themselves, effectively moving sideways. Although their products are technology-led, their breadth is quite amazing, each product built upon the previous. They are a modern day Sony, coming up with a new portable music device, the iPod, an accompanying online shop, a user friendly phone and a modern tablet. Although now with the loss of Steve Jobs, things have slowed down.

It does appear that in most cases, new technology is customer driven but not customer demanded, customers really don’t know what they want! They can advise on product evolution(focus groups, surveys etc.) but not revolution, digital cameras & iPhones are prime examples. New technology means a leap forward, an act of faith.

So this implies that product and service companies need to have young bright people who will either try to develop products or services to compete with their company’s current portfolio or look out there for badly executed products or services that can be improved on. Both of these processes must be continued infinitem.

As the organisers of the Field Service Solutions Theatre at this year’s Service Management Expo, Field Service News was on hand to speak exclusively to a number of leading industry professionals straight as they stepped off the theatre podium. In this video series we are pleased to bring you the highlights from the Field Service Solutions Theatre.

Here we hear from Colin Brown, Managing Director of Tesseract Software, as he gives us some advice on why we should all be considering the Cloud and Software as a Service model for our field service software.