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ClickSoftware’s Paul Whitelam wonders if crowdsourcing could be the solution to fluctuating demands on a workforce that field service companies have been waiting for...

Service organisations have long relied on third parties to augment their core workforce to manage fluctuating demand, emergency work, and expansion to new regions.

The Service Council reported that 76% of service organisations have used a third party for service delivery and to augment their regular workforce.

By 2020, Gartner predicts 40% of service work will be delivered by contractors.

This increasing reliance on an external workforce appears to run parallel with some anxiety about talent shortages. The Service Council reported 70% of service organisations expect a talent shortage in the next 5-10 years. Many already struggle with hiring.

While contractors have supplied support to service organisations for a long time, there is growing interest in tapping into the gig economy and free agents to build an ad hoc workforce.

Rapidly scaling your field service workforce is a challenge under any circumstance, but a blended workforce can deliver many benefits. Let’s explore the pros and cons of outsourcing service work, and compare how crowdsourcing and contractors can play a role.

The Case for Outsourced Service

Variable demand persistently vexes anyone charged with scheduling a service workforce and forecasting the level of resources needed to do the expected and unexpected work.

Seasonal differences and large stand-alone projects are common reasons for temporarily increased demand, along with emergency and disaster relief work.

 

When expanding to new geographic areas, a contracted workforce enables a service organisation to quickly increase available coverage without the delay of needing to recruit, hire, and train a completely new core team. This separation from the core workforce can also provide a convenient way to pilot new technology or procedures before adopting them across the entire business.

Adding specialised skills to your roster is another massive benefit of outsourced service. A contracted workforce allows for new types of work to be done without the entire team requiring retraining.

Blended Workforce Challenges

Adding contractors to your workforce introduces challenges. Most stem from a lack of visibility into what happens once a job is assigned and accepted.

The service engineer is often the only face-to-face interaction a customer will have with a company, and serves as an ambassador capable of upholding or undermining the brand.

To blend your internal and external workforce successfully, the right processes and technology are essential. Your service organisation needs the ability to locate third-party resources, appropriately gauge their availability and skill level, track job status, and provide the support and information needed to deliver service in a manner consistent with business policies and SLAs, and customer expectations.

Some contractors will resist the adoption of new tools and processes when it forces change, but most will ultimately adopt your preferred solutions once they understand the value.

 

In a recent study from Michael Blumberg, KPIs for The Blended Workforce In the Gig Economy, his consultancy found that nearly 70% of field service organisations used a freelancer management system of some kind for staffing purposes.

Managing Contractors and Crowdsourcing in the Gig Economy

According to Intuit, the gig economy now makes up 34% of the US labor workforce. With new tools, devices, and skills, imagine how many thousands more will choose to work remotely as a part of this budding freelance economy in the coming years.

Millennials, as a subset of the working population, have already upended what had long been accepted as a standard employee-employer relationship. They are tech-savvy, adaptable, and value career advancement and mobility over longterm employment. Many are more comfortable with freelance and temporary employment and provide much of the supply to meet the demand for a more flexible workforce.

Making the most of your blended workforce will require not just better technology, but also a shift in mindset. While visibility into what’s happening is paramount to managing an internal or external workforce, service organisations will also need to consider how to best measure the performance of contracted workers and keep them engaged and enthusiastic about their work.

 

The most sophisticated service organisations have gained and maintained a competitive advantage through maximising productivity and optimising customer experience. A blended workforce should be able to extend the same level of efficiency and customer focus to its outermost layers.

Customer satisfaction and loyalty should be the ultimate goal for any business. With the right plan and solutions in place, any permanent or ad hoc worker should be able to provide the seamless experience your customers want and deserve.

 

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In the Big Discussion we take one topic, bring together three leading experts on that topic and put four key questions to them across four weeks to help us better understand its potential impact on the field service sector...

This time around we turn to a brand new topic which is the Internet of Things and our experts are Paul Whitelam, ClickSoftware, Mark Homer, ServiceMax from GE Digital and Mark Brewer, IFS...

The first question of this topic was "Just how big is the potential impact of IoT on Field Service?"  whilst the second answered was "Is IoT now making the shift from early adoption to mass adoption amongst field service companies?" and last week the questions was "What are the challenges of implementing an IoT strategy within field service operation?

And now the final question on this topic

 

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Question Four: Are field service companies who are not adopting IoT at risk of becoming non- competitive?

The urgency around IoT adoption varies from one vertical industry to the next, but the cost of service delivery and need for greater visibility are universal concerns. The old business adage “you manage what you measure” certainly applies.

If your competitors have a level of insight that enables them to increase the number of jobs per technician per day or reduce critical failures by 90% thanks to preventative measure, the business benefits are powerful and quantifiable.

Increased efficiency and productivity, and slashing the cost of missed SLA penalties, that has direct impact on customer satisfaction and profitability. IoT can deliver exactly these types of insights and business outcomes, and only service organisations that invest in IoT capabilities will reap these rewards.

 

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In a word, yes. This is much more than just a ‘nice to have’ scenario. In most industries, margins are too thin and competition is too fierce to simply guesstimate how much capacity a piece of equipment can cope with, and it seems positively archaic to run a reactive break/fix service mentality in today’s connected age.

Industrial downtime is no joke. Unplanned downtime in just about every industry has a significant impact.

The Aberdeen Group last year reported that the cost of downtime across industries went up to $260,000 per hour on average between 2014 and 2016. That’s a huge jump with a considerable hit on any business.

On top of that, most companies don’t know how best to optimise uptime availability in different conditions, such as managing volatility, meeting peak demand or managing performance in extreme conditions. If your competitors are addressing this problem and you’re not, you’re surrendering market share. Digital disruption is set to wipe out 40% of the Fortune 500 companies in the next 10 years and the Industrial Internet will play a big part in that disruption, as well as the survival and success of companies.

The question isn’t why would you, but rather why wouldn’t you?

 

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Definitely!

The potential gains in cost efficiency and improved service offerings are tremendous. IoT has the potential to disrupt entire industries. Organisations that aren’t educating themselves on the potential, road mapping an IoT strategy, or structuring their organisation to be IoT-ready may not see the risk now but they will definitely be laggards in 5-10 years.

IDC predicts that the installed base of IoT endpoints will grow to more than 30 billion by the end of the decade from just less than 13 billion units in 2015.

As a consequence, machine-generated data will comprise an increasing share of stored data: by 2020, 10 percent of the 44 zettabyte digital universe will originate from IoT devices.

In five years, there will be seven times more IoT data than there is today.

 

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Look out of the next topic in our Big Discussion series coming soon... 

 

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There has been considerable Mergers and Acquisitions activity amongst field service management solution providers across the last eighteen months. At the same time we have seen a rapid rise in the adoption of servitization based business models, which has driven a move away from traditional break-fix SLA based maintenance contracts to contracts based around guarantees of uptime and availability.

Does this provide both the opportunity and the need for the development of new breed of field based platforms - the Service ERP? Kris Oldland, FSN Editor-in-Chief, reports...

For as long as there has been Field Service Management (FSM) Solutions there has always been a conversation around how well a solution integrates with other key business systems in the B2B world it has largely been about connecting through an ERP system, in B2C the same conversation was centred around bolting on a field service solution onto a CRM.

Indeed for many years use of a dedicated FSM system could be avoided entirely either by some clever and hugely laborious recoding of the functionality of an existing tool such as SAP or Oracle for example, or alternatively some equally ingenious means of reworking existing processes and relabelling existing form fields to find a semi-workable solution.

Something a bit W Heath-Robinson that could involved going from 'a' to 'j' via 'e' all just to get to 'b', but something that kind of did the job.

 

However, with the advent of Cloud computing and the democratising impact of the emergence of the SaaS revenue model we have seen a far greater and more widespread adoption of FSM systems from companies of all sizes in all sectors.

In turn, this increased use of FSM systems has driven further product development and feature enhancements in what is a relatively small but Undoubtedly fiercely competitive sector.

Meanwhile, we have also seen service, and in particular field service rise in importance amongst the executive boards in all areas as the world begins to adapt to the twenty first century and it’s service centric, on-demand driven business models. Uber and Amazon are thrown around constantly as examples of best practice (even though the former have yet to break even apparently) in today’s data driven world, and are very much tools of their time.

Closer to home within FSM systems, indeed the gig-economy is one of a number of new twenty first century additions to the field service equation - as are challenges of an ageing workforce, dealing with a customer base more empowered and more vocal (via the joy of social media) than ever before, plus the emergence of game changing technology such as IoT and Augmented Reality.

With the investment in solutions at an all time high, we are seeing an emerging race to become the dominate platform for the increasingly lucrative and important field service sector begin to heat up with a series of FSM providers including IFS, ServicePower, ServiceMax, ClickSoftware and Telogis all being acquired - and the story in the large part is very much the same from each of them - the investment is intended to help them get to their technology (and sales and marketing) ready to take a podium finish.

This of course is driving development in terms of technology, further and faster than ever before.

Indeed, functionality within FSM systems has now become widespread and diverse that the standard terminology is shifting to a full ‘end-to-end’ platforms. Solutions that not only include field service management elements such as scheduling and job reporting but also incorporate wider spectrums such as parts and inventory management, asset management and reverse logistics Have we finally reached a point where we can see the solutions that are essentially today’s FSM systems ready to step out of the shadows of their business software cousins CRM and ERP and stand shoulder to shoulder with them as an equally valid business system?

 

With all the investment in the FSM sector are we reaching a point where FSM systems will no longer be just a humble add on for ERP but a mission critical service and business delivery platform within it’s own right. You use your ERP for product-based activities you FSM system for all service and aftermarket related activities with a CRM, and financial package sitting across the perhaps? Of course, the likes of Gartner and other such important acronym makers would argue (and they’d have a point to be fair) that such a system would be probably a bit more than FSM so we would need a new bunch of letters to put together.

My humble suggestion would be Service ERP (sERP) but this may cause confusion with those pesky marketeer types and their Search Engine Results Pages (hence why I went with a small s at the front), but quite frankly other than needing something to refer to in this article, I’ll let the real industry makers work that one out.

The important thing is the concept - which I genuinely think is the logical conclusion of all this talk around FSM platforms.

We are at a level now with integration and cloud technology, where things just talk to each other naturally, or at least they are supposed to and that is definitely the path we’re heading down.

 

With this in mind, I believe the route we are heading down will lead us to a point where companies will look at their mix of business systems and say OK my ERP is SAP (for example) and that handles my production and manufacturing side of a business.

And then my sERP/FSM system - which includes scheduling, a mobile piece (including Augmented Reality), customer management (including CSAT and other customer engagement pieces), parts management, reverse logistics, asset management (including IoT connectivity) and anything and everything else required for running the service and aftermarket side of the business - is in place to run that part of our operations.

Essentially, for a company that only offers third party service, the sERP platform could be all they need as long as it included a light CRM embedded in there as well.

From a field service management perspective there has always been a feeling that FSM has always been the bridesmaid and would never be the bride, that we would always be the slightly poorer relations feeding off the table crumbs of our close, yet infinitely more important cousins in the ERP and CRM world.

But given the rising growth in importance of service in the global business ecosystem, given the amount of Tier A companies shifting their business models, at least in part, to a servitized business model where delivery of uptime replaces traditional break-fix SLAs and sloppy service will result in direct loss of revenue – it is of little surprise that those companies offering the tools to ensure that service is delivered as efficiently and productively as possible have become a major focus for investment of late.

As mentioned above FSM is rapidly gaining in recognition as an important tool within the business software ecosystem, the question is just where will that rise to prominence end – so is the prospect of FSM ultimately being the opposite side of the coin to ERP likely?

Or is it just a short-term bubble as the world realigns itself to a more service orientated future and the major ERP players re-interpret their platforms to add more attention and focus to service related activities and how to optimise those into their own mix?

 

I recently discussed this conversation at length with Marne Martin, CEO of ServicePower, one of the key organisations within the FSM sector that have recently attracted significant Private Equity investment.

It is interesting to note that as with the private equity investment in both ClickSoftware and IFS, the intention does not appear to either asset strip the technology and look for a quick buck or prime the business for a bigger sale in the near future - which is so often the case of such investments. In fact, in all three cases it seems that the goal is to plough further resources into R&D and marketing to help each respective company flourish. In the case of ServicePower it is very much a case of a boost in resources to help meet what Martin sees as their own longer term vision a lot quicker than they could have done so organically.

Indeed, Martin’s comments on the matter are almost an exact echo of what Paul Massey Managing Director, IFS and Dave Yarnold, CEO, ServiceMax told me when I spoke to them both about the recent investments within their own businesses.

Yes, the cynic in me might see the similar sound bites as nothing more than holding up a business-as-normal-here flag to allay any customer fears and perhaps even more importantly those of prospective customers. Yet, I don’t think that is the case. At the last IFS world conference, Massey (and indeed CEO Alastair Sorbie) made a big point about Field Service being one of the top three priorities for the business in the wake of investment from EQT, given they are an ERP provider with a lot of other areas of focus within their business, this in itself was a significant endorsement of the vibrancy of the sector.

Similarly, when speaking with Yarnold about why GE Digital was the right home for ServiceMax, the conversation was very much focussed around how having access to both the technology of the Predix platform but also importantly the brand power of GE to open doors at the C-Suite level of enterprise, was a significant factor.

Close to a Billion $USD will certainly be part of the reason GE Digital were able to bring the market leader of an increasingly important technology market into their fold, but one also suspects that the opportunity for Yarnold to further expand his vision and ambition for the system he and two others launched in California just over a decade ago was another fundamental element to why GE Digital was the right destination.

Indeed he even commented at the “I didn’t just want to see us end up as part of another CRM/ERP system”.

So did Martin agree with my assertions that FSM would become equally as powerful and important as CRM and ERP in the future?

“I believe so, but with a few caveats” she replied

“If you think about what a CRM does, in it’s most basic, a lot of CRMs are structured around loading in your customer data, their buying patterns, and their contacts – so if you have sales people that churn then you have all that data still. At it’s most simplistic that is what a CRM covers at the basic level. That is pretty straight forward. And if they want all of the other functionalities of a more robust CRM provider then they can pay for it from one of the million and one CRM providers.”

“It’s the same as when you think of a typical ERP - a lot of that is built around finance and accounting packages there’s a million good finance and accounting packages out there and we’re not trying to become a finance - what we are interested in is the use cases around a mobile worker.”

“Give the mobile worker the tools to do everything they need to do in their business. So that they can access what they need to know about the customer, about the asset, where parts are, what they need to do on the  service contracts and so on.”

“The potential for a lot of this to be completed within a standalone FSM platform – that incorporates the spare parts management, warranty management, service sales CRM alongside the more traditional aspects of FSM such as scheduling and parts management etc is certainly there.”

 

Of course, one of the big shifts that we have seen in recent years is the power of data to transform the way we operationalise our business as Business Intelligence platforms powered by the Cloud, IoT and Big Data give field service organisations greater visibility into both their customers and their own operations more than ever before.

At large we are seeing a seismic shift in how field service is measured, both in terms of operational and success metrics.

“That’s very true.” Martin agreed when I put this point to her.

“The field service industry really is in a state of evolution. It’s on the verge of transforming itself into both a customer centric focus looking to bring the power of customer relationship management into the field, while also incorporating technology around machine learning, Internet of Things, and more actionable insights from data.”

“That’s also what is attracting so much acquisition activity. To get to the next level, any business with field based resources must invest in technology and business process consulting to move forward. Mobile workforce management is key to any organisation performing activities away from a plant or office.”

“We are still seeing companies at differing levels of business or use case complexity, some still moving from paper or less sophisticated platforms and others ready to move beyond their current technology to the next level technology in order to incorporate actionable insights and efficiencies from emerging technologies like wearables and IoT, the power of big data, and machine learning are also now realities. Whereas in the past they were nebulous concepts, their ability to be incorporated into mobile workforce software is reality today.”

Perhaps at the heart of the current spate of rapid development within our sector is the fact that all of these emerging technologies can be combined to solve traditional challenges. Whilst they can bring value to service operations by themselves it is when harnessed together alongside existing technologies that we are seeing true leaps forward.

“Each [technology] can be used in conjunction with products like ours to improve productivity, and reduce schedule costs, improving the overall operational metrics, and of course the power of cloud computing is what enables all this to be provided with greater flexibility and value to the customer,” adds Martin.

 

But as we mentioned earlier there is a whiff of chicken and egg in the question as to whether business models are driving a need for improved technology or vice versa. Martin also recognises this fact.

“It is key to recognise that the shift isn’t only about technology adoption, the industry is moving quickly towards a more consumer-centric model where the customer experience is the overriding measure of success,” she explains.

“KPIs like schedule adherence and mean time to schedule continue to be indicative of customer satisfaction, however, up-time, customer value, and propensity to purchase additional services are emerging as more dominant, and are increasingly where focus and resources are applied, to improve profitability.”

“Customer relationship management is about more than getting your sales people to sell to your accounts. It has to be about how you delight the customer after the purchase of the equipment or service contract so that they stay with you, and come back for more.”

“We have also seen so much investment into call centre technology, but in reality, customers don’t want to talk to a call centre if they don’t have to. So technologies which improve the experience, like self-service customer portals which offer the ability to book real time appointments, monitor status, and interact with scheduled mobile workers before and during the visit, integrated knowledge management, machine learning, and actionable insights are what drive additional or longer term revenue, driving profitability. Customer satisfaction and profitability are the new reality for field service organisations.”

So the billion dollar question for Martin and her peers in the industry is has FSM become about more than just field service now? So where does she see the industry moving now?

Indeed, where are ServicePower heading now?

“As I said, to get to the next level, any business with resources that travel beyond a given plant or office must invest in technology to move towards improved profitability and efficiency. An integrated platform is also necessary in order to not run a business in silos, but actually with the greatest intelligence related to maximising the overall performance,” she replied.

As Adam Smith said, it is about labour, capital – and now technology. Staff, parts (if applicable), and technology all need to work together for a common goal. This is also why mobile workforce technology should be on top of mind for the C-suite. CRM and ERP technology isn’t enough to have a great performing organisation if you have workers in the field”

“Mobile workforce management technology therefore isn’t only for organisations which offer field service, traditionally thought of as repair or maintenance. Any mobile worker’s productivity can be improved, the customer experience can be improved, while those traditional metrics like cost and mean time to schedule can be improved at the same time.”

“What I see often is that not only does technology have a role to play, but also equally critically, companies must be looking at business and field processes, and how to use the data within an organisation to agree actionable insights.”

“By that definition, the addressable market for mobile workforce technology expands exponentially, including any organisation with feet on the street. Consider the Salesforce ecosystem. Salesforce users range from traditional wrench turners, to home healthcare, sale forces offered by big box home retailers, pharmaceutical reps, to financial planners, government, and housing and facilities. The list of businesses which rely on people delivering ‘services’ in the field is enormous and expanding.”

 

“Mobile workforce management can be used in every one of those verticals to improve the service delivery process, improve operational metrics and delight the customer, which in turn drives additional revenue. It also when applied with the customer facing technologies as well, can bring the power of the CRM to the customer you want to retain and make another investment in your equipment or services after the point of sale. Only mobile workforce management takes your brand and your people to your current customers in a way that CRM and ERP does not.”

In conclusion she adds the final statement “The opportunity for our market is exponential.”

And I wholeheartedly concur with her on this.

We may see a few new acronyms pop up in the next few years but the future of FSM, in whatever new guise it may take, looks to be in a good place.

 

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In the Big Discussion we take one topic, bring together three leading experts on that topic and put four key questions to them across four weeks to help us better understand its potential impact on the field service sector...

This time around we turn to a brand new topic which is the Internet of Things and our experts are Paul Whitelam, ClickSoftware, Mark Homer, ServiceMax from GE Digital and Mark Brewer, IFS...

The first question of this topic was "Just how big is the potential impact of IoT on Field Service?"  whilst the second answered was "Is IoT now making the shift from early adoption to mass adoption amongst field service companies?"

So let's move onto the third question of the topic...

 

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Question Three: What are the challenges of implementing an IoT strategy within field service operation?

One of the biggest challenges of marrying IoT and field service is developing the technological infrastructure to capture, process, and respond to the data collected by IoT-enabled assets. Turning voluminous data into business intelligence will require service organisations to completely rethink their operations.

If a machine can tell you an uncomplicated part needs replacement, will you be able to dispatch a junior (and therefore less expensive) resource to provide maintenance; or simply deliver the part to the customer by drone? Will you be able to do so without human intervention? Will you be able to use IoT data to optimise scheduling preventive maintenance while reserving capacity for emergency work?

In order to fully realise the benefits of IoT, field service organisations will need to incorporate artificial intelligence driven service automation solutions that integrate with their other systems. IT support will be increasingly important, as well as expertise in data science.

 

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There are still some hurdles to overcome in the wider context, such as security, data storage, infrastructure demands, and the knock-on effects across a company’s wider IT systems. But many of the data protection issues and cyber threats have been addressed by the development of more sophisticated edge computing devices and edge to Cloud technologies, as well as putting some of intelligence and logic (AI) power and computing next to the critical asset. Very few companies have the expertise in-house required to protect industrial data, so you should engage data science cyber security specialists where it makes sense.

There’s also the question of who in a company can best lead the digital charge. Companies need a person or team that can bridge the gap between IT, service and operations so that all competing priorities are met. It’s an easier issue for larger companies to address as they have a greater breadth of talent pool and a wider range of skills.

I also think mindset can be an inhibitor or an accelerator. Most people can think big, but the potential of the Industrial Internet means you can think bigger. You’ve got to sit down and look of the art of the possible and then map a digital strategy to it. There’s lots of help available in this area, such as dedicated foundries, maturity assessments et al, but people don’t know they exist.

 

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Like many things, it depends:

If equipment is high-value and expected to have a long life, you need to retrofit them with sensors.

Those sensors may be 3rd-party.

Many facilities, even today, have limited bandwidth available to them. This can make transmitting data from many sources challenging.

For third-party service providers there’s the question of data ownership. Who owns information collected about how equipment is being used and is performing? The service provider? The OEM? The customer?

Fundamentally, the biggest challenge with adopting and implementing IoT is having the right structure and systems in place to maximise its value. It doesn’t serves an organisation to have the ability to collect data from assets if that data is not processed and actioned in real-time.

Organisations need business process intelligence, optimised field service management, and real-time visibility to truly maximise the potential of IoT.

 

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Next weeks the final question of this topic: Are field service companies who are not adopting IoT at risk of becoming non- competitive?

 

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In the Big Discussion we take one topic, bring together three leading experts on that topic and put four key questions to them across four weeks to help us better understand its potential impact on the field service sector...

This time around we turn to a brand new topic which is the Internet of Things and our experts are Paul Whitelam, ClickSoftware, Mark Homer, ServiceMax from GE Digital and Mark Brewer, IFS...

The first question of this topic was "Just how big is the potential impact of IoT on Field Service?" 

And onto this week's question...

 

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Question Two: Is IoT now making the shift from early adoption to mass adoption amongst field service companies?

Although IoT in field service is still relatively new, early adopters like manufacturers of capital equipment are approaching greater maturity. They’re leapfrogging other industries in terms of first-time fix rates and overall operational efficiency.

Other industries are beginning to recognise the potential benefits, and we’re seeing conversations around IoT shift from wide-eyed wonder to practical next steps. Utility and telecommunications providers are well positioned to benefit by making the infrastructure they maintain smarter and better connected. Consumer-facing organisations can better empower customers to participate in diagnosing and repairing problems.

The Smart Meter initiative in the UK is a perfect example where mass adoption by consumers will force manufacturers to advance. A couple years ago IoT in service was largely seen as tomorrow’s problem.

Today service providers are eager to take the next step.

 

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IoT hasn’t reached mass adoption in any market just yet, but certainly field service is seen as the ‘killer app’ for businesses. And it’s making fast progress.

Senior management are realising that service is the hidden gem within their organisations, largely due to the untapped potential of the Industrial Internet, and it’s something we’re seeing in our own global customer base.

Fuelled by the shift to outcome-based service models, shrinking product margins, and globalisation, and the Industrial Internet, industry watchers have been predicting that service revenue will eventually eclipse product revenue. Smart, connected, optimised equipment assets are accelerating that shift.

As companies begin to properly monetise service with sensors at the edge, they have the opportunity to increase service revenues and margins further, providing an effective hedge in a downturn economy.

That’s why we’re seeing greater adoption and acceleration in this space.

 

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Yes. The concept of IoT and IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) isn’t a new one.

It has been around for more than 20 years. But now, thanks to advances in technology and digital transformation, it is at the forefront of business opportunity. There are many field service sectors that have already been working with sensors and IoT technology for a few years now, such as the medical industry (like the IFS customer Sysmex).

Over the next five years we will no doubt see the number of IoT implementations rise among field service organisations as the industry becomes regulated and more best-practice cases are publicised.

 

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Next weeks question: What are the challenges of implementing an IoT strategy within field service operation?

 

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In the Big Discussion we take one topic, bring together three leading experts on that topic and put four key questions to them across four weeks to help us better understand its potential impact on the field service sector...

This time around we turn to a brand new topic which is the Internet of Things and our experts are Paul Whitelam, ClickSoftware, Mark Homer, ServiceMax from GE Digital and Mark Brewer, IFS...

And so onto the first question on the topic...

 

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Question One: Just how big is the potential impact of IoT on Field Service?

The Internet of Things is already transforming field service. Service has traditionally been a reactive practice. Something breaks, a technician is dispatched to fix it, and sometimes the repair is successful the first time. IoT enabled devices provide ongoing visibility into the status of a piece of equipment, as well as a richer view of the severity and source of any issues, and the ability to make predictions based on this information.

The service organisation no longer waits for a panicked phone call from a customer. They can proactively maintain equipment, replace components before they break, and use an understanding of asset lifecycle and usage patterns to inform future product design.

Customers increasingly expect to pay for uptime instead of equipment, and define SLAs based on their business targets. Eventually, all service organisations will have to live up the expectation of seamless  service and minimised  disruptions.

 

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The potential of IoT – and more importantly IIoT (the Industrial Internet of Things) – is immense. So much so, that it’s making service a game changer, fundamentally changing how we optimise equipment and capital assets, and predict their maintenance and service requirements.

By harvesting and applying intelligence that previously would have been impossible to obtain, companies are seeing a major step change this area - that’s why more forward thinking companies are combining IoT-enabled field service management with asset performance management.

This is emerging as the real disruptor because for the first time, customers have meaningful performance and service intelligence at their fingertips to understand potential equipment issues, and pre-empt them or act upon them quickly and efficiently with the correct tools and parts.

It’s important to remember that prescription is equally as valuable as prediction - prescription to make adjustments or refine parameters to improve productivity or throughout, or keep something running to the next planned service outage. That’s one of the things that makes the Industrial Internet so powerful – you can do load balancing, and share the flow and volume across multiple appliances or machines using condition-based monitoring to switch machines in high volume usage areas when required.

 

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IoT has huge potential to transform field service organisations. The concept and technologies allows organisations to take data collected from remote sites and equipment to:

Gain better insights into the usage of equipment.

This will help determine when to perform optimal service. Rather than send technicians to sites on a schedule, you can send them only when you need to. For example, say you service a solar park. One of the main things that can lead to damage solar modules is wind. By remotely tracking the wind speeds, you can better estimate when to perform service.

Run a leaner service organisation.

One challenge service organisations encounter is that they’re reactive in nature. They respond to equipment failing. And without real-time information of equipment, when the equipment fails is unpredictable. This requires the organisations to maintain a fair amount of slack. Both within the inventory they manage, and the people that they’re made up of. Knowing when equipment will likely need service or when it will reach its end of life allows you to better plan.

Improve the competitiveness of your service offerings.

IoT, combined with machine learning, allows you to address problems before they occur. This results in higher availability of your equipment and lower service costs. You can pass this to your customers by improving your service terms and conditions. Higher SLA targets and compliance delivered at lower cost is a win-win all around.

 

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Next weeks question: Is IoT now making the shift from early adoption to mass adoption amongst field service companies?

 

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We’re all in the service business now states ClickSoftware’s CMO, Claudine Bianchi before explaining how and why meaningful interpretation of data will be the key to defining a new level of customer trust...

Do you remember the last truly exceptional meal you ate at a restaurant?

If it stands out in your memory, it probably wasn’t solely because of the perfectly seared steak or sublime glass of wine. Your server was not just polite, but engaged in creating a special dining experience just for you.

You might not remember the taste of every bite, but you remember exactly how you felt throughout the meal. You’re still telling everyone to try that restaurant when they travel to the same city. Now, can you make your own customers this happy?

We are all in the service business now. And before you shrug off that idea as a meaningless truism, remember that every business transaction with a customer begins a potentially lifelong relationship.

 

Just as a rude server can ruin a delicious meal and keep you from ever returning to a restaurant, every product you sell, or service you provide, creates a contract of perceived customer expectations.

Even if someone else is responsible for a service visit, guess who will be named by a customer in a frustrated social media post. Hint: it’s not the nameless service contractor.

Research has shown customer experience is directly tied to profitability, a primary concern for all businesses. And now, big data can help.

Can data solve your service problem?

The standard bearers for great customer experiences are increasingly disruptive companies and applications that ostensibly don’t have a service component at all. It’s unlikely customers ever have human to human (H2H) interaction with anyone at Netflix or Amazon, but these companies have turned customer data into incredible recommendation engines that keep these customers coming back and spending more.

From being able to supply more personalisation through what you learn about customers, to understanding how product usage changes throughout its lifecycle, unexpected insights can completely transform the future of your business—if you’re willing to follow the data.

To build the right foundation for data-driven customer service, identify existing sources and inputs and look for ways they can be augmented with additional sources; invest in a data scientist or outside resources to conduct a meaningful analysis; and set appropriate KPIs and reporting practices that enable a continuous review of data, trends, and what actions your business can take.

 

It’s time to move beyond what’s breaking and needs fixing or what’s about to break. Rich customer data can tell you a more interesting story about how customers feel about your business.

Defining a new level of customer trust 

Data is the key to truly knowing your customers.

That knowledge is power, and with great power, comes great responsibility. As more businesses rely on data to provide better customer experiences, they’re also taking on the burden of capturing, storing, and managing that data responsibly.

While most technology consumers understand their data is interacting with various services whenever they use a website or application, few know just how complex and sophisticated these tools and algorithms are. It’s been called the “trust web”—where each party shares data and permissions granted by the core user in a way that yields some benefit.

Beyond earning customer trust by delivering on the promise of reliable products and consistent service, you must also make them feel confident that the voluminous data collected is well protected, mostly anonymous, and safeguarded from misuse.

Customer experience and trust can be fodder or poison for a brand. Ask your marketing team to help you make sense of consumer behaviour and better communicate the benefits of your enhanced offerings and collected data.

Service quality will save the business 

We are living in an experience economy, with customers craving more utility and meaning from their purchases. Competing on price alone should be a last resort, but brand differentiation is an increasingly critical competitive advantage.

 

By focusing on service and experience as integral to a successful product and sale, businesses can still compete for a sophisticated and demanding customer base.

The customer experience advantage might begin with the point of sale, but it can earn a lifetime of loyalty. Let customer data light the way to an intimate understanding of their relationship with your products or services, and then deliver experiences your competition won’t be able to replicate.

 

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Kris Oldland deliver's his editorial leader in issue 17 of Field Service News where our theme was the ever changing nature of field service...

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Now any regular readers of this column will know that I’m a big fan of change.

Not that I think change needs to be wholesale and sweeping. No I subscribe much more to the journey of continuous improvement method of change. I like the concept of constant refinement, of being in constant Beta.

As a result of such an outlook I do tend to focus on innovation quite closely, which is a happy coincidence that there seems to be constant innovation within the field service sector too.

So I often talk about changes in our industry. Changes in business processes such as the shift towards servitization or the concept of crowd service

Changes in technology such as the emergence of Augmented Reality and IOT as two highly credible emerging technologies that the field service industry must embrace.

Even, the changing skill-profile of the field engineer as an incoming generation replaces an ageing outgoing one.

But the change referred to in this edition of Field Service News is actually a completely different type of change and for once I found myself wondering if such seismic change within our industry is good for us.

That change is amongst the solution providers, the pioneers and innovators that helped usher in so much of the revolution we are currently experiencing.

 

In the last 18 months we have seen most of the big names in field service  management solutions being acquired. Tesseract, IFS, ServiceMax, ClickSoftware, Telogis, and most recently ServicePower have all been bought up and that’s just a few from the top of my head.

There are many, many more.

The thing is that all of these companies had a common thread that allowed them to thrive in our industry. They were all independent companies who truly understood and cared about field service.

If I recall correctly the redesign of Solarvista a few years back took 3 MILLION lines of code, more than it takes to send a shuttle up to the space station, there are far easier sectors to enter, far easier places to make money as a software provider.

But it was the passion to help drive service forwards that was at the heart of many of these companies’ success.

Colin Brown former MD and founder at Tesseract for example came from an engineer background himself, so he got the challenges that companies were facing and was able to tailor that into a series of industry first solutions (i.e. first windows based solution, first browser based solution, first SaaS solution).

Similarly, Dave Yarnold, CEO at ServiceMax has spoken at great length about the importance of service - even going as far as to described ServiceMax once as a Field Service Enablement company who happen to use technology to do so.

And while Yarnold, remains on board in ServiceMax’s new guise as part of the GE Brand one just hopes that is infectious enthusiasm for great service delivery isn’t diluted by being in a bigger pond.

Indeed, the message from almost all camps is that it is business as usual just with bigger expectations, and quicker developments. On the surface it all sounds great and I must admit that it is fantastic to see the field service sector become such hot property globally - it’s just when so many great independent companies are bought within quick succession of each other it does make me a little nervous.

All Change maybe fine, just not at once, is all I’m asking.

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Whether useful or not, hundreds of  smartwatches, glasses, health trackers, and even smart jewelry have hit the market in the past several years.

There are connected lights that dim when a users peaks into their smartwatch. Motorcycle helmets with heads-up displays alerting riders they’re driving too fast. Temperature tracking pacifiers that alert parents to sudden changes.

There’s even a washing machine that turns on when a service dog barks at it. Woof, indeed.

But in service, wearables have been slow to catch on.

Yet opportunities for leveraging these devices to improve field service management outcomes most certainly exist. While fitness trackers and consumer watches seem to be dominating current markets, research has shown that the broader point-of-sales category is experiencing double digit growth.

 

In the following paragraphs, we uncover three ways wearables could improve service for organisations willing to make the technology investment.

Route Optimisation and Safety

Route optimisation, and improved route efficiency can both bolster service profits. Naturally, keeping techs safe on the road is also a no-brainer.

Wearables provide a path to improving both.

An array of mobile and wearable technology are making route mapping, hands-free communication, and field-based driving more efficient every year.

Organisations implementing connected car technology for optimised route mapping are currently realising major cost savings. For example, the UPS ORION route mapping overhaul has projected annual reductions of 100 million miles driven and fuel savings of 10 million gallons per year for the organisation. No small feat, if scaled correctly. But route optimization is just the first step.

If empowered with smartwatches, tech safety and route efficiency could be improved through handsfree communication and route updates delivered via these devices, in real time.

How?

Many service techs currently must field calls via smartphones while on the road (if it’s legal while driving in their state). This requires them to take one hand off the wheel, furthering distraction.

Many also get driving directions from this same device.

If equipped with smartwatches capable of delivering directions and calls via voice technology, techs could focus more attention on driving.

Real-Time Calls & Logging Service Details via Voiceactivated Wearables

An obvious reality in most service roles is the need to work with your hands. If a call comes in, or job details must be logged, the tech has to stop the work they are performing in order to take a call, or jot down some notes.

Wearables could prove useful in keeping techs focused on the task at hand, while still taking calls, or logging service details via voice-activated technology. Many smartwatches and wearables come with voice-activated features baked right into their framework.

 

This means common note-taking applications, text messages, email, or phone calls can be used via voice-activation.

The tech simply speaks the service details into their notes, sends an email, or makes a call without ever moving away from the service task at hand.

Giving Techs Access to Remote Knowledge While in the Field

High first-time fix rates and speedy service resolutions are essential to customer satisfaction   and profit margins. But all too often, techs arrive to job sites with the wrong parts, a lack of knowledge about the customer service request, or face a service scenario they cannot resolve.

The bridge to better service is giving techs all the resources they need, in order to fix customer jobs on the first visit. Aberdeen reports that nearly 75% of best-in-class service organisations provide techs with access to remote experts while in the field.

Wearables could be the golden ticket to connecting field techs to remote experts.

 

How?

Wearable glasses technology allows field techs to stream live video feeds from service sites directly back to headquarters or an expert, in real-time. This means experts can guide techs through challenging scenarios, without needing to be on-site for every job. This opens up a world of possibilities for remote training, logging on-site service problems, and field worker safety.

Plus, Gartner predicts smart glasses could save the field service industry $1 billion per year. We couldn’t agree more.

For more news, trends, updates and advice, head to the ClickSoftware blog homepage https://www. clicksoftware.com/blog/

 

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