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Bill Pollock, President and Principal Consulting Analyst with Strategies for GrowthSM takes an alternative look at ensuring your mobile workforce is well resourced throughout all seasons...

“The world of work has changed,” according to Jeffrey Leventhal, CEO and co-founder of Work Market, a leading platform and marketplace for finding and managing freelance labor. And this may be especially true for the services industry, where simply doing things the same way they’ve always been done just doesn’t cut it anymore.

However, Leventhal also warns that, “finding the right talent is one of the primary challenges in building an on-demand workforce. Especially for companies who use freelancers at scale, it’s imperative to find a reliable place where you can routinely tap into top-tier freelancers.” For the services industry, top tier typically means highly trained – and in many cases, certified – field technicians that may be confidently dispatched shortly after being recruited and vetted by the organisation. Oh, yeah – and they must also be conveniently located proximate to a wide distribution of customer sites.

How can this be done? And what are the potential pitfalls of not having a well thought out plan for action, or not employing the proper tools to support an expanding market demand? Well, … unfortunately, there are many potential stumbling blocks – unless the plan is built on a foundation structured upon an effective onsite freelancer platform.

According to Diego Lomanto, vice president of marketing for Work Market, “there are six tools, or processes, that a services organisation requires in order to effectively manage its field technician freelancers. They are find, verify, engage, manage, pay and rate.” Each of these tools may be described as follows:

Find

Identifying and finding the right freelancers for the job at hand represents the best place to start. For many businesses, it is relatively easy to screen lists of potential freelancers in easily defined industry segments, such as accountants, home healthcare aides, plumbers and electricians, etc., by relying on any one of a number of widely used list sources such as Craigslist, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), LinkedIn or Google, etc. However, in the services community, most of these list sources will often come up short.

However, an onsite freelancer platform, such as that offered by Work Market, can handle things much more efficiently by providing a tool that:

• Allows the user to build assignments quickly, based on previous work,
• Identifies candidates that best meet the required skill sets, and
• Provides a mechanism for generating and tracking community ratings for each selected candidate (i.e., to assure a consistent level of freelancer quality)

Verify

The verification of the required skill sets represents another major obstacle for most services organisations in terms of their ability to check out the candidate’s background and capabilities, as they relate specifically to field service. In other words, do they have the right stuff – stuff meaning skills, experience and certifications, among others?

The use of an effective onsite freelancer platform takes nearly all of the burden out of the verification process by allowing the user to:

• Verify the candidate’s credentials via an integrated verification process; and
• Identify limit functions which, in turn, will automatically off-board the independent contractor when compliance thresholds are reached, or if certain details change, (i.e., such as expiring insurance coverage or certifications, etc.).

Engage

The engagement process is typically where too many organisation begin the process, as it is typically far less painstaking for some to start with the recruitment of “warm bodies”, rather than mounting a concerted effort upfront to find the most qualified candidates – and be able to verify that they are, in fact, eminently qualified for the job.

This is where an onsite freelancer platform provides, perhaps, one of its greatest value propositions to its users, by allowing them to:

• Organise their field technician workforce into groups for easy assignment en masse; and
• Eliminate the need for having to deal with only one contractor at a time, or conversely, having to rely on group e-mails that make it impossible to manage responses quickly or effectively.

Manage

Managing the freelancer field force should require the greatest levels of attention and oversight by the organisation; however, many managers find themselves too overwhelmed and/or understaffed to effectively handle the situation. Nonetheless, this is often the single process that ultimately defines the direction – and the success – of the organisation in terms of its ability to send the best qualified people to each site, and track their performance and progress over time. Many services organisations utilise fully functioning mobile applications to communicate with their mobile field force in real time – but this may not be enough!

By utilising an onsite freelancer platform, users benefit from a variety of tools that allow for:

• All field communications and management tools to be resident in a single system
• The use of geo-location tools to identify the exact locations of their freelance contractors in real time, and
• The ability of workers to upload and complete all tasks directly through their mobile devices.

Pay

Paying the organisation’s mobile field force freelancers should be one of the easiest jobs to do – but any HR or accounts payable professional will likely tell you different. What should typically only involve the tracking of hours, and cutting checks to the appropriate individuals is generally anything but easy – and PayPal simply doesn’t cut it!

What can make this process as easy as it gets is the ability of the onsite freelancer platform to empower the organisation to:

• Allow for Application Programming Interface (API) integration into existing payment platforms so they can continue to manage their respective accounting processes all in one place, and on a business-as-usual basis; and
• Create a robust mechanism for reporting key financial and compliance data to HR, Accounting – and the CFO – as necessary.

Rate

However, the series of processes does not end once the freelancer is paid, and the transaction is reported. In fact, the process is never-ending – and cyclical – in that the performance of each and every freelancer is rated, tracked and ranked to identify top talent for future projects, and measure the performance of the onsite freelancer model as a whole, over time. It can also be well argued that the organisation will likely have greater confidence in the ratings provided directly by their customers (and/or, their territory managers) rather than by an outside third party, such as Angie’s List or the Better Business Bureau (BBB), etc.

Therefore, the principal benefits of an onsite freelancer platform are that it provides users with:

• An online capability for rating, and viewing ratings, on a much broader scale, and
• The ability to determine the “height of the bar” with regard to the desired, or expected, quality of the worker’s performance.

Coordinating all of these individual tools into a single set of processes may be daunting for many organisations – but not so much when they have the power of an effective onsite freelancer platform such as that offered by Work Market, at their disposal. It is difficult enough to run a services organisation (or any business, for that matter) in general – but it is far more difficult to attempt to do so without the support of the proper technology, tools and processes.

[To download a complimentary whitepaper on “Finding & Managing Onsite Freelancers” for businesses and field service organisations click here]

Customer requirements for field service and customer support will never be the same from one country to another, any more than they will be the same from one customer to another. However, one thing remains very clear – the requirements for service are becoming increasingly standardised, even on a global basis. Bill Pollock President of  Strategies For Growth^SM explains more...

The above is particularly true as more and more local services organisations are going regional, regional organisations are going national, and national organisations are going international in terms of their sales, marketing and global services capabilities.

Just a few years ago, only the largest services organisations had credible worldwide global service and support portfolios. However, today, mainly through the proliferation of Cloud-based technologies; Internet, tablet and social media tools; and the increasing use of strategic alliance partners, even the small and medium-sized services organisations are finding themselves empowered to support their customers on a global basis.

Still, the perceptions of what it might take to be a “world class” global services provider remain inconsistent even among some of the most sophisticated vendors. However, regardless of each individual organisation’s approach or perceptions, it can safely be said that services requirements are both every bit the same, and every bit different, in each corner of the globe.

Further, many services providers in the United States have discovered over the past several years that there is more than one language spoken in global service. This was a lesson learned years earlier by most European and Asian providers trying to break into the U.S. market, as well as by Canadian services organisations that have been dealing with bilingual support (i.e., Canadian English and Canadian French) for decades. However, the globalisation of service and support refers to much more than simply language differences – it must also focus on the cultural, economic and business differences that are manifested in varying forms all over the world.

 

As most individual businesses continue to grow larger, and larger businesses continue to acquire, merge and consolidate, there will be increasing pressure on global services providers to grow along with their customers’ needs for a broader and more sophisticated range of services – both in terms of breadth and scope (e.g., a full array of professional services in addition to traditional break/fix and help desk support, etc.) and geographic coverage (e.g., cross-border capabilities).

The conventional wisdom is that some of the services providers that presently offer very high levels of service and support, but only among the basic, or “core”, types of services, or only in a limited geographic area, may actually end up losing out to other, less high performing providers that offer a wider array of services over a larger geographic (i.e., global) area.

The general rule of thumb among customers is often, “why settle for varying or erratic levels of service and support over the whole of our enterprise by relying on the use of multiple vendors, when we can ensure a more standardised mode of delivery – all at satisfactory levels – provided across our entire system?”

While the former mode of service delivery may range from “excellent” to “average” depending on the type of service provided, or the location of the end user, the latter mode generally assures that, at least, there will be consistent levels of service provided enterprise-wide – i.e., with no geo-by-geo “surprises”.

In today’s services environment, the true measure of a provider’s ability to adapt to its marketplace is no longer answered strictly in terms of how well it can deliver different types of support to different types of customers, but in how well it can provide desired levels of service and support to each of its customers, regardless of their size, industry segment or geographical location.

As such, the word “global” should no longer simply conjure up images of field technicians trudging through the wilds of the Great Australian Outback, or cross-country skiing to a remote IT site through a harsh Canadian winter terrain (although this may also be the case from time to time), nor should it be interpreted solely as fostering a company mentality of trying to be “all things to all parties”.

Rather, “global” should be defined as “offering the full complement of desired services and support, either directly or through strategic services partnerships, to support the full enterprise-wide needs of the customer.”

It has taken the services industry the last century to get to the point to where it is today. However, it will be around this definition of “global service" and support that the future of the industry will likely be based. Where it will ultimately take us will, as always, be heavily dependent on how the services marketplace believes its providers are responding to its “global” needs.

Welcome to the third edition of our Field Service News podcast. This month we are joined by Strategies for Growth's President and Principal Consulting Analyst Bill Pollock. 

In this exclusive interview Bill talks extensively about his most recent research project which he undertook across the last six months of 2013 and drills down to explore those companies that are operating at a best-in-class level and what separates them from the rest of the pack.

This podcast is also accompanied by a fantastic white paper written exclusively for Field Service News by Bill and you can download both of these excellent resources for free by simply clicking the link below and filling out a brief registration form.

 

Click here to get the full podcast and accompanying white paper for free now!

 

In any number of forums, ranging from trade shows and conferences, to workshops, seminars and general consulting assignments, we are often asked the question: “What do Best Practices services organisations do differently from all others in order to attain that status?” The way we like to answer that question is with an explanation of why “less isn’t always more!”

In business – as in life itself – the best way of operating generally revolves around the concept of “less is more.” And, in most circumstances, this philosophy typically holds true. For example, less costs incurred with respect to operating a service center would certainly be a desired goal – as would less customer complaints, less customer system downtime, less technician time spent at the customer site, and so on.

However, Best Practices services organisations have learned, typically through experience, how to discern when a “less is more” approach is required, and when a “more is better” approach would be more desirable. There is a true distinction, and one that the Best Practices organisations have found they can literally “take to the bank!”

[quote]“Best Practices organisations have already learned that the best way to justify an investment is to measure how your performance has improved as a result.”

 

From research conducted over the past year, a number of factors stand out that truly differentiate Best Practices organisations from the general population. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Best Practices organisations do not necessarily face a different set of challenges than all others – they just deal with them more effectively. They don’t necessarily embark on a differing set of strategic actions than all others – they just apply more emphasis on some than they do on others. And they don’t necessarily utilise differing technologies and applications than all others – they just use them more pervasively and effectively.

Of course, it is not really just that simple. There is no doubt that Best Practices organisations generally have more resources available at their disposal than most others, and that they know how to use them better. But the story is actually much more complex than what may initially meet the eye. Let me explain …

First, most Best Practices organisations have already dealt with – and mostly successfully – the need to cut costs over the past several years. In addition, they have also taken steps to drive increased service revenues in the most recent timeframe. This is not to say that they have cut ALL costs, or that ALL potential revenue streams have been successfully cultivated; but, rather, that these issues are now fairly well under control among the leading organisations (i.e., as opposed to all others, many of which are still addressing these two issues as their number one and number two challenges). The advantage that Best Practices organisations have, as a result, is that they can focus more on other key strategic and tactical actions that will assure they stay ahead of the pack for some time to come.

Some examples of the primary means by which Best Practices organisations have dealt with cutting costs may include areas such as (1) restructuring the services organisation; (2) streamlining primary services processes, policies and procedures; (3) automating historically manual tasks and activities; and the like.

Examples of some of the more common means by which they may have driven increased service revenues include (1) implementation of a formal warranty and contract management solution; (2) deployment of mobile tools in support of the field force (e.g., to capture signatures and submit invoices at the customer site, etc.); (3) move toward the increased use of real-time data collection and exchange; etc.

Perhaps the greatest differentiator between Best Practices and all other services organisations is the following: Best Practices organisations typically know when they need to do “less”; and when they need to do “more.” However, the one key area where they are truly doing the “most” to maintain their status of Best Practices, is with respect to performance measurement.

In fact, Best Practices organisations are 20% more likely to utilise a formal set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure their service operations and delivery performance than all others. In addition, they are also using up to a dozen – or more – targeted KPIs to routinely measure critical performance areas, and report the results – often in real time – to all relevant stakeholders (i.e., those on a “need to know” basis).

This is clearly an area where “more” is better than “less,” and one where Best Practices organisations have already learned that the best way to justify an investment is to measure how your performance has improved as a result.

For a more detailed analysis of what differentiates Best Practices organisations from all others, we invite you to download our White Paper entitled, “Best Practices Organisations Plan to Invest More – and Measure More – in 2014”, available through Field Services News here

There are very few people in the global field service management industry with the breadth of experience and depth of understanding of Bill Pollock.

With a career in the service industries spanning over twenty five years Bill has been commenting, advising and leading the industry as one of the most respected and highly thought of analysts working in field service.

He has worked as senior analyst for two of the worlds leading consultancies (Gartner and Aberdeen) as well as being Chief Research Officer and founder of The Service Council and is currently President and Principal Consulting Analyst with Strategies for Growth. He has also previously served as Chapter president for the Association for Service Management International, is a regular keynote speaker at leading services related events and has published more than 200 articles in numerous trade titles including Field Technologies, Reverse Logistics, and Healthcare Technology Management.

Suffice to say that Bill is in a fairly unique position to assess the current trends in the field service management industry and how these are evolving over time.

It is therefore with great pleasure that Field Service News is able to present exclusive UK access to Strategies for Growth’s 2013 Field Service Management Benchmarking report to readers of Field Service News written by Pollock himself.

This exceptional report is based on the findings of an exhaustive survey, which comprised of over 1,000 respondents and is perhaps the most comprehensive benchmarking exercise available, giving the truest indication of the mood and needs of the industry on a global scale.

With a range of respondents from right across the breadth of the service world, this research provides a true barometer of how service is moving on a multi-industry wide scale.

The sample of respondents also has true international representation with sizeable numbers from the North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific regions and with an almost even number of responses from small, medium and large companies the findings presented in this report present a clear picture of how service companies of all sizes are operating across the globe.

The headline findings of the research identify that the following three key factors are impacting on companies need to drive forward service efficiency:

• 52% Customer demand for improved asset availability
• 47% Need to improve workforce utilisation and productivity
• 43% Need to improve service process efficiencies[/unordered_list]

and the current strategic actions being required to address these issues are cited as:[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• 52% Develop / improve metrics, or KPIs, used to measure field service performance
•  44% Invest in mobile tools to provide field technicians with real-time access to required data and information in the field
• 35% Integrate new technologies into existing field service operations (i.e., iPads, Tablets or other devices, etc.)

The report then moves on to explore each of these areas in depth across 14 pages, providing insightful analysis on each, as well as exploring other related areas that may be impacting your organisation’s own drive to improve your field service management and attain service excellence.

To download this exclusive report for free simply click this link to open the report in a new tab in your browser.