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As companies capture more data through mobile devices, remote sensors and telematics, the opportunity to increase the efficiency of field service operations has never been better argues coresystems CEO Phillip Emmenegger... 

This year, at tennis’ US Open, we got a glimpse of just how pervasive the idea has become of big data’s transformative power.

Thanks to cameras and remote sensors trained on the every move of the tennis players, we learned from the estimated 41 million data points collected how important it is for tennis players to return the ball to their opponent in the least amount of moves. Or, as the new “must-know” tennis stat that tracks the average distance a player travels on the court for each point is called, “Feet (meter) per point”.

It’s obvious that it’s better to expend less energy chasing down a ball, but now there’s tangible proof. The two men’s players to make the finals, Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori, both despite their different styles of play, racked up the least amount of distance per point. Cilic averaged 42 feet per point; Nishikori, 52. In contrast, Roger Federer came in at 57 feet per point, and Andy Murray at 70 feet.

But what does the data crunching at the US Open have to do with field service? Just as in tennis, so in field service: those with the most efficient delivery win. Moreover, just as collecting the seemingly mundane data of the average distance a player ran per point is now being used by tennis coaches to re-examine their player’s games, so a company can now collect the most specific data to be transformed into meaningful analytics to eventually give companies an edge.

Indeed, according to the Aberdeen Group, companies have a strong belief that the proper use of big data will give them a competitive advantage. In the consultancy’s report, “Big Data Perspectives: Users vs. IT,” 43% of IT personnel believe that faster, more complex analytics will give them an edge over other companies.

 

Moreover, providing superior customer service has been show to impact a company’s bottom line. According to business consultancy the Aberdeen Group in its recent study, “Secrets to Optimize Field Service for Better Customer Experience,” those companies that hit a 90% + customer satisfaction were also able to achieve an annual 6.1% growth in service revenue, a 3.7% growth in overall revenue, and even more importantly, an 89% current level of customer retention.

But how can field service companies harness big data? And, what exactly is “big data”? Big data – as opposed to just data – usually refers to the entire process of capturing, storing, managing and analyzing massive amounts of various types of data, according to the Aberdeen Group. Typically, the amounts are in the terabytes or petabytes, stored in multiple formats, from both internal and external sources, and with strict demands for speed and complexity of analysis.

Here are three ways your company can get started:

Collect and Capture Data: Within field service, there are a number of ways big data can be used. The first place to start is to assess the data that your organisation already collects. Using a field service software solution will allow you to collect data quicker and more easily. A field engineer using a tablet-based solution could seamlessly collect the time the technician was dispatched, the time to fix the job, whether or not the job was fixed the first time, if a technician had to return, what reason they had to go back, and what part was needed. What other data does your company collect? Is there fleet management of telematics data available? Would placing remote sensors at certain locations to collect data make sense?

Analysing Data: Once you have captured the data, it’s time to make sense of it. You could compare it to historical data and analyse it for patterns. For example, real-time data from service engineers can show how long a job took on average, giving managers guidance on the right amount of time to assign future similar jobs. In turn, this would impact the accuracy of arrival times, and reduce the amount of jobs that have to be rescheduled, improving customer service.

 

The next place to look is across departments in your company. Could shared data from different departments lead to more efficiencies or opportunities? For example, could data shared between the field service department and the sales department end in more sales opportunities? Managers could also see if one particular area has a higher need for service technicians, and hire accordingly.

Predictive Analysis: More exciting examples could happen when companies get more sophisticated with remote sensors and machine-to-machine communications. The term “predictive analytics” is usually spoken of in marketing as the ability to track the behaviour of prospective buyers to help sellers understand the right time to engage them. But now we’re beginning to hear the term “predictive maintenance”, referring to the ability to foresee when a part or piece of equipment is near the end of its life span. With remote sensors, it would be possible to begin gathering data on whether a particular part is more prone to breaking down by monitoring a machine’s changes over time; or within a certain use case, and what its average life span is. The data could help predict the best time to schedule a pre-emptive service call.

It’s no secret that customer demand for better service has increased and that its success now contributes or takes away from a company’s bottom line. Ironically, as technology helps organizations deliver better customer service, the expectation for even better service just keeps rising. It’s up to companies to use every single tool they have, including the most minute details, to turn them into their own competitive advantage.

If the Internet of Things (IoT) lives up to its billing it has the potential to change the way the field service industry operates entirely. In this exclusive articele for Field Service News, Philipp Emmenegger, CEO of coresystems AG looks at what companies can do today to prep for the Internet of Things to come...

When it comes to “hot” buzzwords in tech, the “Internet of Things,” (and its acronym – IoT) may just be the hottest. A steady stream of headlines tout the latest in “smart” gadgets, internet-connected devices that keep us informed on the devices’ workings, our interaction with them, or our behaviour as we use them. We now have smart fire alarms, smart thermostats, smart fitness monitors and even smart bicycle locks. Appliance companies have been especially interested in the possibilities of Internet of Things, and for years now, we’ve been tantalised with the idea that our refrigerators will one day not only know when we are running low of groceries, but know which ones, and even place an order for more. When search giant Google bought smart home devices company Nest in January this year, it only cemented the notion that IoT is the future.

IoT: An Evolution, not A Revolution

But as fun as it is to imagine what might happen when IoT is in full force, it’s becoming abundantly clear that many challenges must be surmounted to get to this point. Tech research and consulting firm Gartner has identified no less than seven potential challenges that the big data generated from IoT devices and systems.

Security and consumer privacy are the two that tend to dominate headlines. As Gartner so rightly points out in their recent report on IoT, the challenge of security is in sheer “multitudes” of devices expected to eventually run in an automated fashion across a vast number of IT systems. Moreover, the amount of data that IoT systems will collect on consumers – and more importantly, on consumer behaviour – is another major area of concern. While the sort of information that IoT devices and gadgets will generate is key to helping companies develop better services, one security slip-up can be very damaging to market confidence.

IoT security issues will have a knock-on effect throughout a company’s IT systems. As the number of Internet-connected devices rises, and security complexity increases, availability requirements will also be impacted, putting real-time processes at risk. How do companies store the vast amounts of consumer data and enterprise data that IoT is expected to generate? How will it impact storage infrastructure and what will inevitably be an increased demand for more storage capacity? How will this impact server technologies and how will this effect data centre networks?

With these complex challenges ahead, it’s no wonder coresystems board member Elgar Fleisch, well-known IoT expert and Zurich ETH tech professor, says, “IoT is an evolution, not a revolution.”

The Pre-Cursor of the Internet of Things to Come

But what Fleisch also likes to say is, “It’s only a revolution when you miss it.”

So how can companies prepare for IoT before it’s truly operable? Smart devices are the precursor to completely automated gadgets. These still require human intervention to set them in motion and often to maintain them, but they are the first steps toward IoT.

We know, for instance, that IoT has the ability to transform customer service and field service. Imagine the day when IoT is fully operational. Your washing machine breaks down, or a sensor detects that a part is close to its breaking point, or isn’t functioning. Your washing machine sends the information to the manufacturer, who then sends an alert to the consumer and on the consumer’s approval immediately dispatches an engineer to fix the problem. What’s currently missing is the automated ability for machines to talk to customer service systems without any intervention on the owner’s part.

What can be done today? Using the humble QR code affixed to the product – for example, on your washing machine – a customer can request service and manage the repair process. At coresystems, our product coresuite companion lets consumers scan a product’s QR code, which then opens up (or downloads if this is the first attempt) the company’s branded mobile app to request service.

Of course, it means the consumer must manually scan the code and tap in their request. It does, however, give them a level of control and transparency that improves their customer service experience. For companies, it’s not only a way to let customers start self-managing the service process, buts it’s also a good warm up for how they will manage these requests within their IT systems. After all if they can’t manage them when consumers are manually requesting service, how will they manage the much faster process of multiple machines sending automated requests?

m-way, the Swiss e-mobility specialists, best known for their electric bicycles, have been trialling coresuite companion for its bicycles. As m-way marketing head Mario Klaus tells us, the combination of QR code and branded app will help them improve long-term customer retention and is a way they can start to examine a more automated process of service.

We believe that IoT will one day be a reality, but we recognize the complex challenges that lie ahead. Smart devices or smart connections to products can help companies prepare for the inevitable revolution.