Do Latest Industry Figures Provide Insights into a Positive Growth Mindset Amongst Service-Centric Companies?

Jul 28, 2021 • Features • Digital Transformation • Workforce Managemnet • Field Workforce • EMEA

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News is joined by Mark Belenky, CEO of Software Outsourcing Solutions and a specialist in workforce management solutions to work through some of the key findings of an exclusive Field Service News...

Findings Announced from Industry Study into Customer-Centricity and Technology in Field Service

Jul 26, 2021 • News • Digital Transformation • customer centricity • Customer Satisfaction

Field Service News Research is pleased to announce the findings of their recent study run in partnership with HSO that looks at the latest trends around customer-centricity and the increasing use of technology to drive improved customer satisfaction...

In recent years we have seen a marked shift in the emphasis on the metrics which define success within field service operations.

Traditionally, the critical metrics within field service organisations have centred around operational success. KPIs such as Mean-time-to-Repair (MTTR), Technician Utilisation and First-Time-Fix (FTF) have always been at the top of any benchmarking study relating to this area.

However, increasingly across the last few years of undertaking such benchmarking studies, we have seen Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) metrics become widely cited as critical KPIs amongst field service organisations.

For example, in a previous study hosted by FSN Research, we noted that 51% of field service companies now saw an equal weighting in importance between operationally-focused KPIs and CSAT-focused KPIs. Furthermore, 13% of field service companies went further and stated that they felt CSAT focused KPIs were of greater importance for measuring their business success.

Taking this in mind, FSN Research in partnership with HSO has undertaken a detailed study to understand precisely what CSAT metrics are being tracked.

At the same time, we must also acknowledge that the digital transformation journey our sector has been on for several years was significantly accelerated due to the pandemic across 2020 and into this year.

There has been much discussion of what the new normal will look like for the field service sector.

However, the indicators apparent within numerous studies from FSN Research and beyond suggest many of the key trends that were emerging will be at the heart of our thinking as we move into the brave new world of the post-pandemic field service operations.

Three of the key pillars of this future of field service are servitization, digital transformation and customer-centricity. Therefore, the second objective of this study is to better define the interplay between these three crucial areas.

Next, the study was designed to focus on how the digital transformation our industry is moving through can empower the shift to an industry more focused on customer success and, finally, to assess whether that transformation will lead us naturally towards becoming an industry that places servitization at its heart.

In the study we spoke to a sample of over 280 field service leaders from a variety of different industry verticals including manufacturing, utilities, telecommunications, power generation, healthcare, med-tech, security and many others.

The study was conducted during April and May 2021 and data was collected online via personal invitations to participate. The data presented in this report is quantitative. We are currently undertaking interviews with a selection of respondents for our final report within this study which will then be based on further qualitative data yielded in those interviews.

Field Service News subscribers can access this latest Field Service News Research Benchmarking Report now that outlines all of the key findings of this study.

Subscribers across all our subscription tiers can currently access this paper instantly by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can join our free-forever subscription tier FSN Standard by hitting the button to access a dedicated registration page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soon as you are registered.

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content HSO, who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of our privacy policy available here which is in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

IFS’ Growth Trajectory Continues with Software Revenue Growth at 20% for H1, Driven by Impressive Rise in Cloud Adoption

Jul 26, 2021 • News • Cloud services • Digital Transformation • field service management • IFS • GLOBAL

IFS, the global cloud enterprise applications company, today announced its financial results for the first half of 2021. After a strong Q1, H1 is evidence that the company is successfully executing its growth strategy and pursuing its transformation...

With more companies recognising the benefits of deploying in the Cloud and turning to IFS to digitally transform and deliver their moments of service, all software revenue line items grew double digit driven by a steep acceleration in cloud revenue (+79% YoY) and recurring revenue (+27% YoY).

Continued improvement in the quality of the revenue mix with software at 74% of revenue AND H1 Cloud revenue up 79% YoY

H1 also saw some key milestones for IFS, including:

The acquisition of Axios Systems extends IFS’s service management proposition into ITSM and ITOM to create the most compelling Enterprise Service Management proposition on the market. Combined with IFS’s leadership in Field Service Management, this secures IFS’s ambition to cement itself as the market leader in broader the Service Cloud space.
The launch of IFS Cloud, IFS Cloud is built using the latest technology including the industry’s most modern UX, digital-twins for enhanced performance, low code/no code development, containerization and a composable architecture which are all critical to creating business agility and realizing value.
The global launch of IFS’s new branding together with the Moment of Service sets out IFS’s clear strategy to align its value proposition to Servitization to enable organisations to deliver their Moment of Service.

IFS CEO, Darren Roos, commented: “IFS is a technology led company with the single goal to make the latest technology advancements available to our customers in a way that creates value fast, has a low total cost of ownership, and is easy to consume and use. H1 is evidence that our strategy to focus on this and to build agility into our product operations so customers can respond to the market fast is working.” Roos continued: “Customers can see the difference in what IFS is doing, and that ensuring their success is why we do what we do. They also see that very few other vendors offer flexibility in deployment, depth in product and powerful technology while shaping their business around customers experience.” Roos concluded: “Delivering our Moment of Service to our customers is a very real mission for IFS, and the sharp rise in cloud adoption is testimony to that.”

IFS Chief Financial Officer, Constance Minc, commented: “I believe our H1 performance is evidence of a strong and successful strategy. We are delivering double digit software revenue growth at 20% and our share of software revenue and recurring revenue continue to increase improving future performance predictability.” Minc added: “The upward trend in our performance is not only present in the last 6 months but over the long term as demonstrated by the double-digit growth in LTM software revenue for the past 3.5 years.”

Other financial highlights include:

H1 software revenue was SEK 2.6bn, an increase of 20% Year on Year
H1 recurring revenue was SEK 2bn, an increase of 27% Year on Year and representing more than 80% of software revenue
H1 cloud revenue increased 79% Year on Year representing more than 39% of software revenue
Proportion of license revenues from net new customers is 54% of total

* Note: all figures based in Swedish Krona and reported in constant currency.

Learnings From Beyond the Field Service Sector

Jul 26, 2021 • Features • Digital Transformation • Workforce Managemnet • Field Workforce • EMEA

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News is joined by Mark Belenky, CEO Software Outsourcing Solutions and a specialist in workforce management solutions to work through some of the key findings of an exclusive Field Service News Research...

The Key Metrics Used to Track and Measure Success in Workforce Management

Jul 22, 2021 • Features • Digital Transformation • Workforce Managemnet • Field Workforce • EMEA

Standard BI Tools Aren’t Foolproof

Jul 22, 2021 • Features • Digital Transformation • Service Leadership • Aquant • customer experience

In this second excerpt from a recent white paper published by Aquant, we discuss which methods are best for creating customer risk scorecards and managing workforce performance issues.

This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content Aquant who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

A host of analytical and business intelligence (BI) resources exist solely for keeping tabs on metrics.

But standard BI tools still have limitations.

For one, they don’t usually understand a large chunk of your free text service data, including details sourced directly from customer comments, call center agent notes, field technician debriefs, and machine log files. Standard BI tools make it challenging to access, analyze, or interpret unstructured data without a team of data scientists on standby.

Classic BI dashboards only display what’s currently happening within an organization based on past data, which is usually incomplete. The big picture remains obscured once again, making it difficult to use those insights to reach company goals and spot patterns that reveal likely future events. This can lead to the prioritization of unnecessary KPIs, or even worse, analysis paralysis.

Business leaders need total transparency and understanding of their current service landscape to succeed. And these can only be accomplished using tools that give you quick access to easy-to- read analyses that go beyond past trends, offering an idea of what is likely to happen in the future and providing prescriptive recommendations.

Leaders should be leveraging data-centric insights to create the most desired outcomes for their customers — ones that support growth and provide teams with the visibility and know-how to resolve any issues that arise.

Evaluating Performance With Standard KPIs Alone Creates Blind Spots

Most service organizations track KPIs, but too many narrowly focus on single measurements such as first time fix. Knowing the FTF rate is an important performance indicator, but when measured in a vacuum, it offers an incomplete or inaccurate snapshot of the health of your service organization.

Without zooming out for a 360-degree view, decisions that boost one KPI might lead to systemic and costly service issues. For example, how is team performance impacting customer satisfaction, or how are high first time fix rates driving up service costs?

It is beneficial to have a comprehensive understanding of service KPIs, including:

First time fix (FTF)
Mean time to resolution (MTTR)
Mean time between failure (MTBF)

By looking at these metrics in depth, you’ll gain deeper insight into every aspect of the service lifecycle, and see clear connections between performance and service outcomes.

This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content Aquant who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

Largest Telecommunications Group in the Americas Selects OverIT's SPACE1 SaaS Solution to Support Advanced AI-Based Remote Assistance for Over 2,000 Call Center Agents

Jul 22, 2021 • News • Artificial intelligence • Augmented Reality • Digital Transformation • OverIT • Telecommunications • GLOBAL

The largest telecommunication company in the Americas has selected OverIT's SPACE1 to help transform the customer experience for their broadband and television services for their users in the Americas.

SPACE1's unique ability to combine augmented reality-powered remote assistance with guided digital instructions delivered improved interactions between agents and customers, resulting in the telco group choosing SPACE1 during testing to replace their existing remote assistance platform.

This Telco giant was looking for a solution that could support the following:

Real-time customer engagement from SMS or WhatsApp for session control and collaboration
Digital work instructions for agents
Intelligent indexing and re-purposing of interactions for training and knowledge management

Agents being able to interact easier with end-customers by having preliminary virtual calls to triage results in reduced field technician visits to customer homes by 50% and improved first-time fix rates by 70%. Using Artificial Intelligence, agents from 7 different call centers are equipped with more efficient tools in real-time. They can interact, capture, and record their experiences with the end-customer, which are then processed by and shared within the entire organization.

One of the Telco group's essential requirements was the ability for SPACE1 to integrate seamlessly into their current tools. SPACE1's proven track record with integration has presented them with the right choice for their business compared to other AR providers.

"The selection of OverIT's SaaS offering by the largest Telecommunications group in the Americas marks a new milestone for OverIT's SPACE1 supporting B2C business models. OverIT's industrial-grade AI-based remote collaboration and knowledge management platform is unparalleled in the industry and the only capable of offering complex virtual collaboration scenarios. This contract definitely strengthens the explosive growth of the subsidiary in North America", said Alejandro Nestares, SVP and GM OverIT Americas.

Backed by US capital with development headquarters in Italy and main US offices in Boston and Miami, OverIT is a multinational company with more than 20 years of international and cross-industry experience in Field Service Management. The firm is recognized by premier global advisory and consulting organizations as a leading vendor in FSM and AR industries. 

IFS acquires Customerville

Jul 21, 2021 • News • Digital Transformation • field service management • IFS • GLOBAL • customerville

IFS, the global cloud enterprise applications company, announces that it has acquired Customerville.

Design-Driven Feedback™ technology provider, Customerville, is an award-winning feedback platform that elevates feedback and listening across the entire customer journey, blending technology, design, and behavioral science to emulate how people naturally share and respond to feedback.

The acquisition creates a uniquely strong proposition for IFS. IFS enables customers to orchestrate their customers, people and assets to deliver outstanding moments of service. In order to ensure these moments of service are indeed outstanding and critically, meeting customer expectations feedback is essential. By embedding the ability to gather the voice of the customer at the moment of service, IFS will enable companies to perfect these moments of service.

Customerville to be integrated into the IFS Cloud proposition helping IFS customers increase engagement, improve revenue and profitability, and drive product, service, and outcome innovation.

IFS has a long-established relationship with Customerville with the tool deeply entrenched in its own VoC program. The customer sentiment analysis and the really unique view of the intelligence Customerville brings to IFS has played a significant part in how IFS has developed its services, how it developed IFS Cloud, and is continuing to shape its customer Life Cycle Experience program and culture.

The acquisition further cements IFS’s commitment to deliver the capabilities organizations need as they shift their business models away from selling products alone. As companies increasingly focus on design and innovation for service, they are asking for capabilities that helps them understand their customers and their needs better and maintain a dialogue over time. With the acquisition of Customerville, IFS is responding directly to this need.

Darren Roos, IFS CEO, commented: “Customerville is highly differentiated in its field because it is Design-Driven, unlike competitors that offer surveys in static and flat formats, Customerville transforms customer surveys into rich, interactive experiences elevating customer response rates by between 400% and 600%. Successful VoC programs are proven to increase revenue, reduce costs and create a customer centric culture”. Roos continued “Providing this capability to every IFS customer as part of IFS Cloud means empowering them to not only deliver products or services based on customer insights but to do so at the early design stage which creates significant business value.”

Max Israel, CEO of Customerville, commented: “Our goal at Customerville is to show companies they can own the narrative and go beyond emailing dry reports; this is a fundamental shift for companies looking to deepen their understanding of the customer journey and make smarter decisions. With IFS we saw a meeting of minds in the desire to create a mechanism that would enable businesses to embed surveys into their own customers’ journeys.” Israel added “IFS is committed to enabling customers to deliver amazing Moments of Service and we love the team’s passion for creating great experiences. Customerville fits right into that mindset and is a natural extension of IFS’s proposition and we look really forward to our joint successes”.

Customerville surveys are beautifully designed, thoughtfully structured and aligned to the customer journey to create an engaging experience and provide insights decision makers can act upon. The value is not limited to customer engagement and can extend to create better engagement internally with stakeholders, people, managers, employees as well as throughout the ecosystem with partners, suppliers, and others that impact success.

With its main operations based out of Seattle, WA and in Valencia Spain, Customerville offers an advanced survey tool which transforms data into an interactive Design-Driven Feedback™ platform. The offering is designed to generate significantly higher engagement and response rates from customers and address the declining feedback rates resulting from the quarter of a trillion surveys sent out globally every year. Customerville has a comprehensive solution that integrates feedback collection, analysis, distribution, and action into a single, interconnected platform, to help understand and improve CX.

ServiceMax to be Listed on Nasdaq after Business Combination with PathFinder and Acquisition of LiquidFramework

Jul 20, 2021 • News • Digital Transformation • servicemax • Leadership and Strategy

ServiceMax, the leader in asset-centric field service management software, announced it has entered into a business combination agreement with Pathfinder Acquisition Corporation, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. Upon closing of the transaction, ServiceMax will become a publicly traded company, and is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the symbol "SMAX". Neil Barua, who has served as CEO of the Company since 2019, will continue to lead the business post-transaction.

THE TRANSACTION VALUES SERVICEMAX AT A PRO FORMA ENTERPRISE VALUE OF APPROXIMATELY $1.4 BILLION

ServiceMax’s asset-centric field service management software, which has been positioned as a leader in the last five published Gartner Magic Quadrants for Field Service Management[1], helps companies that sell, service and maintain mission critical equipment to keep the world running. From its inception in 2007, ServiceMax has been modernizing field service by bringing cloud-based applications to service operations, and by putting mobile applications in the hands of field technicians. The Company’s solutions improve customers’ ability to manage the complexities of service, support faster growth, and run more profitable, outcome-centric businesses.

“ServiceMax enables life as we know it to happen, uninterrupted, by empowering some of the world’s biggest and most well-known suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers to provide consistent and reliable service to their customers,” said Neil Barua, ServiceMax CEO. “We’ve seen Original Equipment Manufacturers and operators increase their focus on digital transformation and we believe that ServiceMax is well positioned to support those needs by leveraging our 10+ years of focus on complex service management for mission critical equipment, and by innovating and delivering on a differentiated product strategy and roadmap. We believe this transaction with Pathfinder will allow us to accelerate growth and capture more opportunities within this growing $9 billion market.

“It is a privilege to partner with ServiceMax, the only cloud-native, mobile-first, field service management SaaS provider,” stated David Chung, CEO, Pathfinder Acquisition Corporation. “We believe that ServiceMax’s large and underpenetrated addressable market, accelerating growth, and best-in-class leadership team uniquely position ServiceMax to further redefine the field service management sector and provide its expanding user base with innovative, customer-oriented solutions.

In addition, ServiceMax has also announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire LiquidFrameworks, a leading mobile field operations management solutions company that is cloud-based, energy sector-focused and built on Salesforce’s platform. Along with deepening ServiceMax’s position in the oil and gas, industrial and environmental sectors, the agreement will also bring critical technologies and go-to-market channels to ServiceMax to expand the Company’s product portfolio and customer offerings.

As the market continues to pressure the oil and gas industry to become more capital efficient, oilfield service providers must transform their legacy field operations management processes to digital systems. Whether working long rotations on an offshore platform with limited connectivity or turnarounds in a refinery, Field Technicians in this industry are responsible for delivering service to the customer along with operating new digital systems aimed at maintaining assets, improving productivity, and growing revenue. The acquisition will better position ServiceMax to meet the demand for digital service execution in this industry while expanding ServiceMax’s product portfolio and go-to-market channels.

THE ACQUISITION OF LIQUIDFRAMEWORKS ENABLES SERVICEMAX TO EXPLAND ITS FIELD SERVICE MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS TO MEET THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF THE ENERGY SECTOR

“ServiceMax is committed to doing all we can to help companies keep critical assets - and the world - running. Strengthening our customer offerings in the energy sector is core to that commitment,” said Neil Barua, CEO, ServiceMax. “Combining ServiceMax’s modern field service platform with LiquidFrameworks’ industry expertise better equips us to provide oil and gas companies with the tools they need to ensure consistent, reliable service, and maximize asset performance.”

“ServiceMax’s history of innovation has been transforming field service organizations for over a decade,” said Travis Parigi, Founder and CEO, LiquidFrameworks. “The combination of LiquidFrameworks field-first, energy-specific offering, with ServiceMax’s asset-centric field service suite will be unparalleled in the market. We are committed to helping companies realize the promise of digital transformation.

”“We are proud of LiquidFrameworks’ growth and development over the course of our investment partnership, as the company delivered a differentiated, mission-critical SaaS offering that helped customers in the oil, gas, and industrial services industry react quickly and efficiently navigate the digital transformation journey,” said Hollie Haynes, Managing Partner at Luminate. “We are thrilled to see the company continue to support its customers through this combination with ServiceMax, further extending its competitive differentiation across the field service management landscape,” noted Mark Pierce, an Operating Partner at Luminate who has served as Chairman of LiquidFrameworks since the Luminate investment.

ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘digital-transformation’ CATEGORY

Do Latest Industry Figures Provide Insights into a Positive Growth Mindset Amongst Service-Centric Companies?

Want to know more?

Further Reading:

Findings Announced from Industry Study into Customer-Centricity and Technology in Field Service

Field Service News subscribers can access this latest Field Service News Research Benchmarking Report now that outlines all of the key findings of this study.

Subscribers across all our subscription tiers can currently access this paper instantly by hitting the button below.

IFS’ Growth Trajectory Continues with Software Revenue Growth at 20% for H1, Driven by Impressive Rise in Cloud Adoption

Continued improvement in the quality of the revenue mix with software at 74% of revenue AND H1 Cloud revenue up 79% YoY

Further Reading:

Learnings From Beyond the Field Service Sector

Want to know more?

Further Reading:

The Key Metrics Used to Track and Measure Success in Workforce Management

Want to know more?

Further Reading:

Standard BI Tools Aren’t Foolproof

This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

Largest Telecommunications Group in the Americas Selects OverIT's SPACE1 SaaS Solution to Support Advanced AI-Based Remote Assistance for Over 2,000 Call Center Agents

Further Reading:

IFS acquires Customerville

Customerville to be integrated into the IFS Cloud proposition helping IFS customers increase engagement, improve revenue and profitability, and drive product, service, and outcome innovation.

Further Reading:

ServiceMax to be Listed on Nasdaq after Business Combination with PathFinder and Acquisition of LiquidFramework

THE TRANSACTION VALUES SERVICEMAX AT A PRO FORMA ENTERPRISE VALUE OF APPROXIMATELY $1.4 BILLION

THE ACQUISITION OF LIQUIDFRAMEWORKS ENABLES SERVICEMAX TO EXPLAND ITS FIELD SERVICE MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS TO MEET THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF THE ENERGY SECTOR

Further Reading:

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