Chris Mean, COO at Columbus UK, says a fully integrated field service programme drives customer satisfaction. Here, he outlines what you need to know and what you need to do to to stay on top of your service delivery.
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Aug 14, 2019 • Features • Management • service strategies • Columbus UK • Customer Satisfaction and Expectations
Chris Mean, COO at Columbus UK, says a fully integrated field service programme drives customer satisfaction. Here, he outlines what you need to know and what you need to do to to stay on top of your service delivery.
Gartner research suggests that by 2020 70% of organisations will cite customer satisfaction derived from integrating field service as a primary business benefit. But how, and even more importantly, where can field service be integrated into a company’s operations in order to reap these customer rewards? This article outlines the key elements that enable companies to increase their service revenue while keeping associated costs at a minimum, and explains how field service can be seamlessly put in place to add value to business operations.
The path to field service success starts with understanding the key aspects that contribute to both boosting service revenue and controlling service costs. These elements need to be implemented well and are an essential first step for any organisation considering how to integrate field service into existing business operations and systems.
Provide relevant warranty information
If a business has a largely manual warranty claim process, this is likely to result in ‘warranty leakage’ – where a warranty service is unintentionally provided beyond the remit of a business’ warranty program. This is typically due to limited visibility of accurate warranty data – from the perspective of management in terms of where warranty costs are likely to occur, and from a field service engineer’s point of view regarding what is covered by warranty. The implementation of technology and business insights in the form of auto-entitlement warranty checks are important, as employees benefit immediately from relevant warranty information whenever required.
Offer service flexibility
Considering how a business typically segments existing customer markets, the service offered to each segment and how customers consume products is key to identifying new target markets. It is essential to remember that a customer’s business expectations are built on their personal experiences as a consumer, particularly in today’s connected, always-on world. Flexible service offerings will ultimately enable businesses to enter new market segments.
Capitalise on sale opportunities
Perhaps the most obvious way to increase service revenue is to take advantage of positive interactions with customers. Each time a customer service agent or field service engineer has a strong conversation with a customer represents a potential opportunity to up-sell – but agents and engineers must have the necessary tools to identify these opportunities. Whether it’s selling additional products during a service visit or selling an extension or improved warranty package, it is essential that employees know what products are available and recommended, have stock readily available if it is a physical item and can process transactions at point of sale.
Fully integrate mobile devices
The quicker each field service engineer can close and approve a customer work-order, the more a business can speed up cash flow. Engineers must therefore be equipped with mobile devices that enable immediate customer approval and closure or work-orders, but more significantly these devices must be fully integrated into the existing accounts receivable system to automatically generate customer invoices. With better integration of commerce platforms this allows for payments to be taken instantly.
Better manage inventory
Having business insights into overall part consumption, by job or product, can reduce inventory levels. The key for businesses to effectively manage their inventory is to ensure that they have the right parts on hand or have visibility of nearby stock on another van to improve ‘first time fix’ rates. This also helps determine which parts are fast moving or failing and allows a business to centrally stock the right levels.
Optimise service schedules
Optimising scheduling and on-the-fly routing are another necessity for a business that employs a high number of field service engineers and as a result handles shorter service calls. When routes are optimised this has great benefits in terms of headcount and fuel costs. Implementing on-the-fly scheduling engines allows businesses to react to real-world situations such as cancellations, urgent appointments, delays and traffic to ensure a high level of efficiency and customer satisfaction is maintained.
Where exactly in a value stream can field service help?
For businesses to achieve the true customer benefits that come with connected field service they need to know exactly where it can be integrated to add value to business operations. There are four main areas where its influence is most effective:
1. Repair
If a machine is broken, a service technician makes a field visit to resolve the issue. The repair may be covered by warranty or incur charges because of the time and parts consumed, but this is where field service is advantageous and cost-effective – problems are fixed at the first time of asking, in real-time. A business that can provide a service that is timely, when the customer requires it, is key to gain a competitive advantage.
2. Maintenance
Moving beyond customer expectations of timely maintenance and repairs, businesses can now shift towards offering maintenance on a predictive basis. Using smart IoT devices, machines can automatically inform both the business and customer that a malfunction is likely to occur and that maintenance is required. This is an especially valuable aspect of field service because breakdowns and operational downtime are reduced.
3. Installation and commissioning
This applies to products that need to be installed by a service technician. Once a product has been installed, the technician will run several tests to ensure the machine or device is fully operational –the commissioning process. For businesses operating in the B2C world, flexibility at this stage is especially important because customer expectations have changed – they expect to be able to purchase a product and schedule its installation at a convenient time for them in one, unified transaction.
4. Business consultation
A field service visit can also include a critical analysis of a business and its customer demands – it isn’t always a hands-on appointment with a machine or device. It is important that a business is connected in a feedback loop with its customers to better understand their requirements and further enhance future business operations – particularly because customer satisfaction is now considered the most important aspect of field service ahead of price and quality.
Flawless field service: A strategic enabler for customer satisfaction
To achieve an end-to-end, unified customer experience, an effective field service solution spanning repair, maintenance and installation and commissioning should be implemented.
During all stages of the field service customer journey, businesses need to make sure their field service engineers are empowered and able to identify and execute sales opportunities, as well as having the ability to capture customer feedback.
This is how businesses can consistently benefit from the revenue potential that comes with integrated field service, while ensuring customers are satisfied because they are getting the experience they have come to expect.
Gartner research suggests that by 2020 70% of organisations will cite customer satisfaction derived from integrating field service as a primary business benefit. But how, and even more importantly, where can field service be integrated into a company’s operations in order to reap these customer rewards? This article outlines the key elements that enable companies to increase their service revenue while keeping associated costs at a minimum, and explains how field service can be seamlessly put in place to add value to business operations.
The path to field service success starts with understanding the key aspects that contribute to both boosting service revenue and controlling service costs. These elements need to be implemented well and are an essential first step for any organisation considering how to integrate field service into existing business operations and systems.
Provide relevant warranty information
If a business has a largely manual warranty claim process, this is likely to result in ‘warranty leakage’ – where a warranty service is unintentionally provided beyond the remit of a business’ warranty program. This is typically due to limited visibility of accurate warranty data – from the perspective of management in terms of where warranty costs are likely to occur, and from a field service engineer’s point of view regarding what is covered by warranty. The implementation of technology and business insights in the form of auto-entitlement warranty checks are important, as employees benefit immediately from relevant warranty information whenever required.
Offer service flexibility
Considering how a business typically segments existing customer markets, the service offered to each segment and how customers consume products is key to identifying new target markets. It is essential to remember that a customer’s business expectations are built on their personal experiences as a consumer, particularly in today’s connected, always-on world. Flexible service offerings will ultimately enable businesses to enter new market segments.
Capitalise on sale opportunities
Perhaps the most obvious way to increase service revenue is to take advantage of positive interactions with customers. Each time a customer service agent or field service engineer has a strong conversation with a customer represents a potential opportunity to up-sell – but agents and engineers must have the necessary tools to identify these opportunities. Whether it’s selling additional products during a service visit or selling an extension or improved warranty package, it is essential that employees know what products are available and recommended, have stock readily available if it is a physical item and can process transactions at point of sale.
Fully integrate mobile devices
The quicker each field service engineer can close and approve a customer work-order, the more a business can speed up cash flow. Engineers must therefore be equipped with mobile devices that enable immediate customer approval and closure or work-orders, but more significantly these devices must be fully integrated into the existing accounts receivable system to automatically generate customer invoices. With better integration of commerce platforms this allows for payments to be taken instantly.
Better manage inventory
Having business insights into overall part consumption, by job or product, can reduce inventory levels. The key for businesses to effectively manage their inventory is to ensure that they have the right parts on hand or have visibility of nearby stock on another van to improve ‘first time fix’ rates. This also helps determine which parts are fast moving or failing and allows a business to centrally stock the right levels.
Optimise service schedules
Optimising scheduling and on-the-fly routing are another necessity for a business that employs a high number of field service engineers and as a result handles shorter service calls. When routes are optimised this has great benefits in terms of headcount and fuel costs. Implementing on-the-fly scheduling engines allows businesses to react to real-world situations such as cancellations, urgent appointments, delays and traffic to ensure a high level of efficiency and customer satisfaction is maintained.
Where exactly in a value stream can field service help?
For businesses to achieve the true customer benefits that come with connected field service they need to know exactly where it can be integrated to add value to business operations. There are four main areas where its influence is most effective:
1. Repair
If a machine is broken, a service technician makes a field visit to resolve the issue. The repair may be covered by warranty or incur charges because of the time and parts consumed, but this is where field service is advantageous and cost-effective – problems are fixed at the first time of asking, in real-time. A business that can provide a service that is timely, when the customer requires it, is key to gain a competitive advantage.
2. Maintenance
Moving beyond customer expectations of timely maintenance and repairs, businesses can now shift towards offering maintenance on a predictive basis. Using smart IoT devices, machines can automatically inform both the business and customer that a malfunction is likely to occur and that maintenance is required. This is an especially valuable aspect of field service because breakdowns and operational downtime are reduced.
3. Installation and commissioning
This applies to products that need to be installed by a service technician. Once a product has been installed, the technician will run several tests to ensure the machine or device is fully operational –the commissioning process. For businesses operating in the B2C world, flexibility at this stage is especially important because customer expectations have changed – they expect to be able to purchase a product and schedule its installation at a convenient time for them in one, unified transaction.
4. Business consultation
A field service visit can also include a critical analysis of a business and its customer demands – it isn’t always a hands-on appointment with a machine or device. It is important that a business is connected in a feedback loop with its customers to better understand their requirements and further enhance future business operations – particularly because customer satisfaction is now considered the most important aspect of field service ahead of price and quality.
Flawless field service: A strategic enabler for customer satisfaction
To achieve an end-to-end, unified customer experience, an effective field service solution spanning repair, maintenance and installation and commissioning should be implemented.
During all stages of the field service customer journey, businesses need to make sure their field service engineers are empowered and able to identify and execute sales opportunities, as well as having the ability to capture customer feedback.
This is how businesses can consistently benefit from the revenue potential that comes with integrated field service, while ensuring customers are satisfied because they are getting the experience they have come to expect.
Chris Mean is COO at Columbus UK.
Sep 24, 2018 • Features • Augmented Reality • Future of FIeld Service • field service • field service management • Hololens • IoT • Service Management • Columbus UK • Microsoft HoloLens
Research indicates IoT deployments are set to skyrocket over the next four years, growing 140% to exceed 50 billion connected devices by 2020...
Research indicates IoT deployments are set to skyrocket over the next four years, growing 140% to exceed 50 billion connected devices by 2020...
As the cost and complexity of deploying connected devices continue to fall, IoT projects are no longer a far-fetched dream but a deliverable reality, already transforming a huge range of industries from Field Service to Manufacturing. Martin Clothier, Technical Director at Columbus UK, explains how businesses of all sizes can quickly seize advantage of IoT to deliver operational efficiency, provide actionable insights and improve business processes.
The Internet of Things has comfortably moved beyond the ‘hype’ stage of recent years, with IoT devices and projects now cheap enough to be viable for almost any business. Smaller IoT projects are capable of reaching full operational status in as little as a week. Deployments currently range in ambition from a dozen sensors to capture warehouse temperature, to monitoring the output and performance of remote oil fields across Africa.
There are more and more industries now taking advantage of IoT – and their success lies in identifying the right use case and ensuring they successfully harness device data to produce actionable insights.
Use Case One: Turning inefficiency into opportunity
The manufacturing industry is set to gain from IoT deployments that focus on using connected devices to provide a detailed, real-time picture of existing business operations and identify bottlenecks inefficiency. With repetitive processes running around the clock, any minor improvements to efficiency in the production cycle can generate major savings for a manufacturer.
"Identifying anomalies at an early stage can allow employees to take immediate corrective action to avoid excessive wastage, unnecessary asset strain or increased production cycle times..."
IoT sensors connected to machinery generate continuous streams of performance data, which can be analysed on platforms such as the Azure IoT Suite to identify leaks and bottlenecks hindering production. Identifying anomalies at an early stage can allow employees to take immediate corrective action to avoid excessive wastage, unnecessary asset strain or increased production cycle times.
This potential is not limited to minor efficiency improvements but can provide key metrics that drive business success. If we take, for example, the food and beverage sector – product quality is a top priority. Installing connected cameras above a production line enables manufacturers to introduce machine vision – monitoring and analysing the packaging, labelling and quality of products to ensure compliance and consistency.
Use Case Two: Space optimisation and the race against time
IoT monitoring is not restricted to simply monitoring and reporting physical asset conditions but can provide valuable insights into the two basic resources manufacturers have to juggle – space and time. At Columbus, we’ve worked to develop SpaceMAX that helps optimise usage of both workspace and time. With physical space at a premium for businesses – particularly in urban areas – optimised space usage can be invaluable in securing a competitive advantage.
Deploying connected beacons throughout a location such as a warehouse will capture the locations of assets, employees and vehicles from a forklift to a tow tractor. Harnessing the Microsoft Azure
platform, this location data can then be analysed to produce heat maps and identify hotspots, bottlenecks and other areas of inefficiency. By eliminating these we can optimise operations, product flow and the use of employee time.
Use Case Three: Tackling skills shortages by providing a helping hand to junior technicians
The threat of a skilled workforce shortage is well documented, with the UK cited as being particularly at risk. As the number of skilled engineers and field service technicians shrinks, the burden to complete detailed installation, repair and maintenance tasks falls increasingly on the shoulders of less experienced staff. Technology holds the answer to ensuring speed and quality is not compromised during remote site visits.
"The augmented reality aspect of the HoloLens can be harnessed to deliver contextual information such as service history and manuals explaining the maintenance process step-by-step..."
Here’s where developments such as the Microsoft ‘mixed reality’ HoloLens headset take centre stage. Using this headset senior workers can provide remote support and supervision for challenging maintenance tasks, tapping into a collaboration platform such as Microsoft Teams to discuss the task at hand. The augmented reality aspect of the HoloLens can be harnessed to deliver contextual information such as service history and manuals explaining the maintenance process step-by-step.
Remote assistance is just the first step for potential HoloLens applications. More advanced applications involve streaming real-time IoT data directly to the headset, such as telemetry of a production asset, assisted picking or put away, or projected life expectancy of individual components.
Bringing it all together – the icing on the transformation cake
By introducing connected devices to monitor environmental conditions, asset status and performance levels, we are generating significant volumes of data around the clock. But how can we translate data generated by machinery on the shop floor into actionable insights?
In order to make use of IoT data, businesses need to be able to collect, format and clean IoT data for analysis. Rules can then be set for actions to be taken if data falls outside of acceptable thresholds, such as staff being notified if a sensor detects a sharp rise in temperature. This is where cloud solutions come into play.
Cloud-based platforms such as the Azure IoT Hub introduce advanced machine learning tools to further identify complex patterns, and data visualisation for supervisors to closely monitor operational performance in real-time. By unlocking these previously unseen insights, IoT is enabling business leaders to make data-driven decisions to improve efficiency for the first time.
IoT can be also a significant asset to businesses by introducing increased automation of repetitive workflows – requiring just minor oversight from supervisors. Take field service as an example. Asset performance data from IoT sensors fed into the Azure platform can be analysed to detect anomalies, indicating a particular component is expected to fail shortly. Through a platform such as Dynamics 365 for Field Service, an automated work order can be created, scheduling an engineer to be dispatched with the correct component to complete maintenance before the failure ever occurs. This brings the added benefit of ensuring business processes are never brought to an unexpected halt through asset failure – an action which could cost thousands in lost revenue.
Staying ahead of today’s wave of digital disruption
The steady rise in successful enterprise IoT projects is testament to how IoT is today delivering on the promise of connecting people, processes and systems to enhance business operations and efficiency.
[quote float="left"]Businesses that have not yet developed an IoT strategy to enhance their operations are in danger of surrendering any competitive advantages developed through previous innovation.[/quote] Businesses that have not yet developed an IoT strategy to enhance their operations are in danger of surrendering any competitive advantages developed through previous innovation. But they must also be wary of avoiding the temptation of rolling out connected devices piecemeal, and instead opt for a comprehensive, measured IoT strategy that will consistently add value and deliver the in-depth business intelligence to make smarter decisions.
The real opportunities of IoT are often hidden in full view! Many businesses find it difficult to identify the areas from which they will gain maximum benefit and ROI. Partnering with an experienced company such as Columbus can provide a ‘third eye’, helping companies develop an IoT strategy, deploy suitable hardware and software with sufficient scalability, and support the project from planning stage through to go-live – and beyond.
Columbus is hosting an IoT Quick Start Workshop at the Microsoft HoloLounge in London, 2 October, to help organisations develop their own IoT proof of concept, break down existing use cases and identify operations where IoT can add value and provide actionable insights. Business leaders can secure their spot at the workshop by registering here.
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