In this final excerpt from a recent white paper published by Esri UK, now available at Field Service News, we look further at the importance of location intelligence and discuss how organisations can achieve optimised field operations.

Want to know more? Field Service News Subscribers can access a White Paper on this topic on the link below.

If you have yet to subscribe click the button below to join 30K of your field service management professional peers and subscribe now to access this content and our entire premium content library now!

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 Esri UK 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.

Last week, we looked at how Esri's ArcGIS platform can help companies in challenging situations, such as containing the spread of a plant disease and saving lives in humanitarian disasters. Today we look at two further case studies highlighting the importance of location intelligence and discuss how organisations can achieve optimised field operations

SUPPORTING DIVERSE AND VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES

With its diverse and varied population, Oxfordshire County Council aims to provide excellent services to all its residents while promoting equality and ensuring fairness.

The Challenge

Oxfordshire County Council’s GIS (Geographic Information Systems) team has an extremely broad brief to provide ICT support across the organisation, including Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire Rescue Service. This small team assesses requirements and requests, gathers business analysis and provides user support while building interactive dashboards and web and mobile apps for internal and external use.

The Solution

Under its Enterprise Licence Agreement, Oxfordshire County Council has been using Esri’s ArcGIS platform exclusively since 2017 as its corporate GIS infrastructure. This has enabled the GIS team to build out a greater number of requirements, more quickly and efficiently, and help transform service delivery.

In March 2019 the Safe and Well service went digital. Workforce for ArcGIS was used to coordinate and allocate daily visits before crews left their stations and questionnaires incorporating broader health messages from the public health team were built using Survey123 for ArcGIS. The electronic forms were filled in onsite at residents’ homes and when there was no signal or internet available, users could carry on working and save a copy of the form on their mobile device. When the devices were next connected, completed surveys were synced directly back to the database in the office so colleagues could see which assessments had been undertaken, and the data visible on a central management dashboard.

The Benefits

Supporting diversity

The redesigned service demonstrates Oxfordshire County Council’s responsibility as a Stonewall Diversity Champion, committed to sexual orientation and gender identify equality. In its second year of inclusion the Council now ranks at 127 (out of 503 organisations) in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, compared to its previous ranking at 220 out of 445.

Secure data collection

Users can confidently collect anonymous data, securely, enabling the Council to collect vital information which ensures that the service it provides residents is inclusive to those of all identities and orientations, as well as help the organisation climb the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index.

Saving time

The use of ArcGIS apps has significantly enhanced the efficiency of reporting in the field as well as back in the office. Firefighters making home visits report that the quality of their visits and range of services offered has improved, and they feel more confident and competent in carrying out their work. The administration process has also been streamlined as admin staff no longer have to input data collected from paper-based surveys, reducing the potential for human error.

OPTIMISING THE ROLE OF 60,000 VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers play an invaluable role in helping the National Trust to protect and care for the nation’s cultural heritage and natural landscapes. The not-for-profit organisation is now embracing crowdsourcing and is using ArcGIS in a series of ground-breaking pilot projects that will enable more people to get involved and make a valuable contribution to its conservation work.

The Challenge

The National Trust has over 60,000 volunteers who play a vital role in helping the charity to manage 250,000 hectares of land, 778 miles of coastline, 80,000 archaeological features and 28,000 buildings. The organisation wanted to optimise the role played by this enthusiastic group and find a way to engage even more people in its activities. At the same time, it wanted to show its volunteers the value of their contribution and help them to feel more involved in conservation projects

The Solution

The National Trust is now pioneering new ways to engage with volunteers using Esri’s ArcGIS platform. In a series of pilot projects, the organisation is beginning to use ArcGIS mobile solutions, including Collector for ArcGIS and Survey123 for ArcGIS, to allow volunteers to upload information from their smartphones and tablets to a central portal. Called ArcGIS Hub Premium, this portal provides secure, authenticated identity for huge numbers of volunteers, which allows them to see the data they have collected, in the context of the wider project. Volunteers can therefore appreciate what they have done and the value of their contribution to the National Trust’s conservation schemes.

In the first of the National Trust’s pilot solutions, volunteers in the Peak District are gathering data on the condition of archaeological features on National Trust land, including barrows, ruins and ancient quarries. They are then uploading and sharing this data via ArcGIS Hub Premium, helping the National Trust to build up a clearer picture of the condition of ancient sites that are rarely visited but are nonetheless important to the history of the nation.

The Benefits

Well-informed decision about conservation and maintenance

Over time, the use of the new ArcGIS volunteering apps will enable the National Trust to collect a larger quantity of high quality data, which it can use to support its decision making. In particular, the organisation anticipates that volunteers will be able to help it build up a far more comprehensive picture of the condition of assets and habitats, such as signs and ponds. It can then use this information to see where it should prioritise its conservation activities and how best to plan effective, proactive maintenance programmes.

More successful conservation projects

Although it is still early days, the National Trust already recognises that ArcGIS Hub Premium is a highly effective tool for improving collaboration with large numbers of volunteers and partners. In initiatives such as the Riverlands project near Manchester, the organisation expects ArcGIS Hub Premium to play a pivotal role in enabling large numbers of people to share data and work together. “It feels exciting,” Davies says. “Our pilots are putting crowdsourcing into practice and demonstrating how volunteering programmes can be managed more successfully in the future.”  

REALISING OPTIMISED FIELD OPERATIONS

A GIS enables the virtuous cycle of efficiency in field activities. Organisations use field operations apps to plan fieldwork based on geography and better coordinate job assignments. Field operations apps connect workers and activities in the field with the office. Real-time navigation tools reduce fuel consumption, save time, and improve customer satisfaction. Data collection apps capture accurate data in the field and feed it into the GIS to become part of the system of record. GIS monitors field activities and generates intuitive maps and dashboards. The GIS suite of focused field operations apps drives location intelligence that helps organisations make faster and better decisions.

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The full white paper "Digitally Transform Field Operations" is available on Field Service News.

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 you can access the white paper instantly upon completing the registration form!

 

 

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Further Reading:

Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
Find out more about Esri UK @ www.esriuk.com

Read more about Esri UK on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/esri
Follow Esri UK on LinkedIn @ linkedin.com/company/esri-uk
Follow Esri UK on Twitter @ twitter.com/esriuk

In this second excerpt from a recent white paper published by Esri UK, now available at Field Service News, we look at two case studies of how location intelligence helps organisation improving efficiency and refine field operations.

Want to know more? Field Service News Subscribers can access a White Paper on this topic on the link below.

If you have yet to subscribe click the button below to join 30K of your field service management professional peers and subscribe now to access this content and our entire premium content library now!

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 Esri UK 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.

Last week, we looked at how using the power of location can improve field service operations. Today we look at two case studies describing how the use of Esri's ArcGIS platform can help companies in challenging situations.

CONTAINING THE SPREAD OF A DEADLY PLANT DISEASE

Amid concerns about the possible emergence of a deadly new plant disease, Fera Science has created an ArcGIS app and dashboard to enable hoticulturalists to coordinate thousands of plant and tree inspections nationwide.

The Challenge

One of the most damaging plant bacteria ever identified is spreading in countries around the world. Called xylella fastidiosa (Xf), it has been detected in France, Spain, Italy and Portugal and, if it were to gain a foothold in the UK, it could affect dozens of plant species, including elm, plane and oak trees.

The Solution

Working with APHA, Fera Science has used Esri’s ArcGIS platform to develop a complete end-to-end solution to support plant inspections, including testing plant samples and tracing of the spread of the disease.

When a first case of Xf is detected in the UK, a geoprocessing model, developed using Esri’s ModelBuilder, will create the initial inspection zone around the plant, divided into 100 metre and 1 km grid squares. Inspectors will then use an intuitive app, created with Esri’s Collector for ArcGIS, to view interactive maps of their assigned inspection grids, on their mobile devices, and inspect up to 50 host plants in each square. They will collect a sample from each plant, put the sample into a bag with a barcode and use the Collector app to record the barcode, together with the location of the plant, plant health observations and pictures.

When laboratories test the samples, the results will be recorded against the barcodes and uploaded via a web portal to ArcGIS. Python scripts, developed by Esri UK’s Professional Services team, will combine the test results with the data collected in the field and categorise each plant as either diseased, free of disease or inconclusive test. All the data will then be visibleon an Esri Operations Dashboard, enabling APHA, DEFRA and other key stakeholders to view the locations and health of each inspected plant in near real time. Whenever a new positive result is recorded, the surrounding inspection zones will be automatically created, allowing inspectors to start collecting new samples straight away.

The Benefits

Real-time data to trace the spread of disease

If Xf is detected in the UK, APHA will be able to see near real-time data on diseased plants and their locations, all around the UK. The ArcGIS dashboard presents the data in a spatial, map-based format that is simple to understand at a glance, enabling people to trace the spread of the disease very easily. Users can see which grid squares have been inspected, monitor the progress of inspections and identify where best to allocate resources based on the latest test results.

Effective collaboration of many stakeholders

The ArcGIS solution can be used by multiple stakeholders, not just APHA. Therefore, in the case of a major outbreak of Xf, inspectors from other organisations and landowners, such as the Forestry Commission, could use the Collector app on their own mobile devices to collect standardised data and samples in a coordinated approach. Other organisations can also be given access to the same Esri dashboard enabling them to collaborate more effectively with APHA and implement joined-up strategies to detect and eventually eradicate the disease from the UK completely.

SAVING LIVES IN HUMANITARIAN DISASTERS WORLDWIDE

Working at the scene of some of the world’s most devastating humanitarian disasters, this volunteer-driven charity uses Esri’s ArcGIS to produce up-to-date maps for humanitarian aid organisations. Its new Kiosk product makes vitally important location-based intelligence available to aid workers in digital formats, helping them to respond more quickly and, ultimately, help save more lives.

The Challenge

Since its inception in 2002, MapAction has become an indispensable part of the global response to humanitarian crises. As soon as its volunteer teams, who are specially trained in disaster response, arrive in affected areas, their services are in high demand from multiple organisations. Consequently, on-the-ground teams face growing pressure to produce and distribute more maps, more quickly.

The Solution

Esri UK has supported the work of MapAction for over twelve years, and ArcGIS, Esri’s geographic information system (GIS) platform, plays a pivotal role in the delivery of MapAction’s emergency mapping service. MapAction secured funding for a new ‘selfservice’ mapping facility, and sought out the expertise of Esri UK’s professional services team to help it design and deliver this inventive project using ArcGIS.

Named the MapAction Kiosk, the new GIS solution developed operates using the principles of web mapping and runs on a lightweight laptop connected to a powerful WiFi router. Aid workers in the vicinity of MapAction’s field base can connect to the Kiosk via WiFi and print additional copies of any maps produced by MapAction’s volunteer team. In addition, they can view interactive maps, zoom into specific regions and turn on required data layers to create any customised maps that they might need to inform aid missions. Finally, responders can use the Kiosk to download MapAction’s up-to-date spatial data and incorporate it into their own GIS systems.

The Benefits

MapAction will continue to produce the paper maps that aid organisations around the world have come to rely on. However, now, this unique charity will also be able to make its invaluable location- based intelligence accessible in digital formats to many more people, more quickly, to improve the effectiveness of life-saving humanitarian missions.

Notably, the MapAction Kiosk will help the charity to distribute its maps to aid workers who might otherwise not have had access to a paper copy. It will therefore make situational data accessible to a wider audience and facilitate greater collaboration between multiple aid agencies and local groups. Pennells says: “The Kiosk helps us to give a common operational picture to all responders and agencies working on-the- ground in a disaster situation. The sooner they have this shared knowledge, the closer they can work together to reach people at risk.”

In addition, the Kiosk gives aid workers the ability to create their own customised maps for the first time. They can gain instant access to the mapping intelligence they need – in the precise format they need it – to enable them to respond quickly to emerging new scenarios.

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Look out for the next feature in this series coming next week where we look at two additional case studies and discuss how companies can achieve optimised field operations.

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 you can access the white paper instantly upon completing the registration form!

 

 

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Further Reading:

Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
Find out more about Esri UK @ www.esriuk.com

Read more about Esri UK on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/esri
Follow Esri UK on LinkedIn @ linkedin.com/company/esri-uk
Follow Esri UK on Twitter @ twitter.com/esriuk

In this new series of excerpts from a recent white paper published by Esri UK, now available at Field Service News, we discuss how to digitally transform field operations using the power of location.

Want to know more? Field Service News Subscribers can access a White Paper on this topic on the link below.

If you have yet to subscribe click the button below to join 30K of your field service management professional peers and subscribe now to access this content and our entire premium content library now!

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 Esri UK 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.

HARNESSING THE POWER OF LOCATION

Location is at the heart of field activities. It sounds like an obvious statement, but field management often either completely overlooks location or marginally takes advantage of it.

Field managers and workers are likely to make decisions faster and deliver better customer service if they can access location intelligence in the field. This e-book explains how geographic information system (GIS) technology and a suite of field mobility apps work together to improve performance in the field. Five case studies show how organisations incorporated apps into workflows and describe the returns they gained.

Organisations use GIS to capture, manage, analyse, and display all forms of geographically referenced information and use focused field apps to improve field operations. Its ability to transform data into useful information has proved to be highly valuable to field operations managers in four operational areas: coordination, navigation, data collection, and monitoring.

 

 

FIELD OPERATIONAL AREAS

Coordination for exceptional customer care

Daily operations need to quickly adjust to changing conditions including last-minute requests and unexpected resource unavailability and delays. A geographic perspective allows you to easily see the location of the worker nearest the call and quickly assign that worker to respond. This level of flexibility results in exceptional customer service and compliance with service-level agreements.

Workforce for ArcGIS helps you quickly put resources where they are most needed.

Navigation for timely service

GIS does much more than map point A to point B. For instance, users can add other layers of information, such as private road networks and asset locations, to street maps. GIS apps combine this data and calculate optimised routes that fieldworkers see on their mobile devices, even when disconnected. GIS recalculates delivery windows in real time based on traffic conditions, so drivers can give an estimated time of arrival (ETA), which keeps customers happy. GIS is the route optimisation tool of choice for organisations whose reputation and success are defined by on-time delivery.

Navigator for ArcGIS, StreetMap Premium for ArcGIS, and ArcGIS Network Analyst support routing with high-quality street data and give you tools for complex problem solving.

Data collection for accurate information

Built-in GIS capabilities in mobile apps ensure that location information is included in the data. This capability extends to other business data submitted via inspections, incident reports,

or any type of form entered into your system of record. Understanding the location where field activities happen is critical for historical analysis, QA/QC, regulatory compliance, and coordination with other users.

Focused apps allow crews to capture, update, and analye data accurately. Fieldworkers use these apps to create surveys, capture the answers, and analyse the results. Mobile apps provide fieldworkers with their organisation’s maps, allowing them to locate assets and mark up the map with additional details. Drones offer an inexpensive way to capture field imagery, and by using a desktop app, drone-captured imagery can be easily turned into professional quality imagery products that you can use for mapping and analysis. Data generated by these apps can all be synced at the office and shared within the organisation and the public.

Collector for ArcGIS, Explorer for ArcGIS, Survey123 for ArcGIS, and Drone2Map for ArcGIS boost data accuracy and optimise geospatial analysis.

Monitoring for fast analysis and response

It is difficult to manage what you cannot see. GIS provides dashboards that enable real-time monitoring of events and key performance indicators (KPIs) so that you can make decisions at a glance. GIS-based dashboards show information as maps, charts, gauges, and other understandable visualisations. Combined with real-time GIS analysis, GIS dashboards help organisations focus on specific information by revealing exceptions, trends, and patterns that are relevant for decision-making.

GIS also supports tracking of field personnel. Managers and supervisors are able to view where workers are and where they have been through a mobile app that captures their location tracks. This helps them identify workers’ last known locations, confirm the territory covered, and more effectively balance the allocation of workers to needs.

Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS helps users visualise and monitor data that is relevant to them. Tracker for ArcGIS enables monitoring of personnel to better manage what happens in the field activities.

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Look out for the next feature in this series coming next week where we discuss how location intellingence can help organisations in improve efficiency and refine their field operations.

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 you can access the white paper instantly upon completing the registration form!

 

 

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Further Reading:

Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
Find out more about Esri UK @ www.esriuk.com
Follow Esri UK on LinkedIn @ linkedin.com/company/esri-uk
Follow Esri UK on Twitter @ twitter.com/esriuk

Edwin Pahk, VP Of Product Marketing and Business Development, Aquant outlines some key findings from their Service Intelligence Benchmark Report...

The bottom quarter of the workforce costs organizations 80% more than the top quarter. That’s according to the newly released 2020 Service Intelligence Benchmark Report from Aquant. The data reveals that a knowledge gap in the workforce is a major contributor to higher-than-average service costs and service delivery hurdles.

Key Observation: The Skills Gap is Expensive

The report, which analyzed actual service records from more than 2 million work orders, found that the biggest impact on service costs and performance was directly related to the skill level of the workforce.

When the top 25% of the workforce is overloaded with tasks, called on to solve the most complex service issues, and still asked to mentor junior staff, that imbalance is reflected in high attrition, low morale, and poor service. And, the Knowledge Gap is Expensive!

• The bottom quarter of the workforce costs organizations 80% more than the top quarter

How the Service Industry Got Here

Service leaders are navigating a shifting industry. They are juggling multiple challenges that are exacerbating already-existing workforce gaps, including: 

• A retirement wave
• Difficulty recruiting experienced workers
• Changes in customer demands, requiring new skill sets among the workforce
• Pandemic-driven need to limit time spent on job sites

This shift has left service leaders struggling to upskill junior employees and erase the knowledge gap that exists between the highest performing 25% of the workforce, and everyone else.

The Opportunity: Leverage Data to Increase Workforce Knowledge for Big Service ROI

By better understanding workforce performance, and adopting tools that erase the knowledge gap between employees, service organizations will be able to quickly scale performance and reduce costs. 

Here’s why. The report found a close relationship between workforce skill level and service performance.

• Service organizations whose workforces had a smaller discrepancy between top performers (heroes) and lower performers (challengers), or in other terms, -- had a low skills gap -- show higher performance overall versus those with a high skills gap
• Small workforce improvements add up to big ROI. Here’s why:
  • Boosting the bottom 25% of the workforce up modestly to the level of your average performers will result in a nearly 17% savings in service costs
  • Additionally, helping boost your contenders up closer to your top performers will increase ROI by another 17%
• If everyone had the knowledge and skills to perform like the top 25% of the workforce, organizations would save 38% of service costs
•  

Read the full 2020 Service Intelligence Benchmark Report at Aquant.io to learn about cost-effective methods to quickly upskill the workforce, improve KPIs, and drive rapid ROI across the entire service team.

About the 2020 Service Intelligence Benchmark Report

The report measures:

• 52 organizations that include service divisions within OEMs and third-party service organizations across manufacturing, medical devices, capital equipment, HVAC, commercial appliances, and more
• More than 2 million work orders
• From 38,000 technicians
• Totalling $3 billion in service costs
• With an average of 5 years of service data per company

* All data was anonymized

Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more about Managing the Mobile Workforce @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/managing-the-mobile-workforce
• Read more news and articles featuring Aquant @ www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=aquant
• Connect with Edwin Pahk on LinkedIN @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwin-pahk-8a066515/
• Find out more about the solutions Aquant offer to help field service companies @ www.aquant.io/
• Follow Aquant on Twitter @ twitter.com/Aquant_io

Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing, FieldAware, reflects on the findings of a major research project undertaken in partnership with Field Service News and asks whether the trends that study appears to reveal will become a permanent part of the new normal as we look to a post-pandemic world...

As we come to the end of a tumultuous 2020, the speed of change in the field service sector continues to evolve at what feels like a speed of light pace. And the change is still happening - more so than many of us would prefer or could have predicted.

While there is an overarching optimism in the field service sector, the world is still grappling with getting past recovering from the pandemic and working to move into a full restoration mode.

With vaccines on the horizon, the focus is on establishing the new operating normal and paving the way for growth.

At FieldAware, we look to stay in tune with customer needs and market trends. As I reflect on our market view through 2018-19, we saw early adopters and visionaries defining the “what” of new best-in-class services and offerings such as IoT and remote assist.

As we initially encountered the global pandemic in March, we engaged in a research program with the late Bill Pollock, from Strategies for Growth, to establish a baseline of the impact the crisis would have on these services. As the pandemic’s magnitude continued to evolve, our research immediately shifted focus to measure the crisis’s repercussions and establish a Year Zero/New Normal benchmark.

The ripple effects have been more pronounced and long-lasting than anyone initially anticipated.

Yet, our research with Field Service News revealed optimism biased towards growth with three quarters (76%) of field service companies focusing  on growth rather than survival.

This optimism appears to be bolstered by accelerated investment in digitization and the enablement of the best-in-class services required to deliver essential services in the new operating environment.

Best-in-class service and capabilities - the New Normal - how did we get here?

As my colleague, Steve Mason, COO at FieldAware, likes to say, “Gradually…Then Suddenly”, referring to a great Hemingway quote from the classic novel, The Sun Also Rises. This sediment perfectly surmises how several critical best-in-class services have rapidly become the “New Normal.”

Sure, the pandemic has accelerated our need or faster adoption, but we have been plodding away at the core components of these best-in-class services like remote assist for years. As a workforce, we have been getting comfortable with remote interactions, building a knowledge library of best practices and likely responses, and mobile advancements have helped to shepherd these advanced technologies into our everyday lives and activities.

What the pandemic did was to mandate remote-work commonplace for EVERYONE, not just those that were early adopters/visionaries. And so, it is, suddenly, best-in-class services like remote monitoring/assist and IoT sensing are now the “New Normal.” Not just some nice-to-have if you have time to tap into it, but a staple in today’s field service environment.

Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing, FieldAware, reflects on the findings of a major research project undertaken in partnership with Field Service News and asks whether the trends that study appears to reveal will become a permanent part of the new normal as we look to a post-pandemic world...

Is The Hybrid-model Here To Stay?

I don’t think this is a fad at all. There is no question that physical intervention as the first line of defense for field service will be a thing of the past even once COVID passes. However, I think the emphasis on hybrid is key to its longevity and success.

Our research indicated that almost half (48%) of respondents stated that they believe their customers will still perceive a greater value in face-to-face service calls, while only 13% believed that their customers would see greater value in remote services alone and just over a third (39%) state that they believe their customers will see equal value in both (fig 1)

So, the challenge remains, if a hybrid-model is the New Normal, how do we make it accessible and affordable to organizations of all sizes?

These shifting trends led FieldAware down a path towards a new approach to thinking about and package our platform as a field service hub. The hub approach involves expanding and strengthening the depth of our solution’s “core” field service capabilities to create a system-of-record for all field service activities (robust technician enablement, advanced scheduling & optimization, workforce management, etc.).

It also requires broader exploiting our open API/architecture to expand back-office connectivity and build embedded capabilities to tap into best-of-breed technologies to easily and affordably provide access to these best-in-class solutions.

The service hub is a different approach. It enables service providers to establish new best-in-class service delivery models by building upon the digital field service infrastructure that FieldAware provides.

This is achieved by enabling best-of-breed specialist point solutions to be quickly and affordably integrated into the service hub to form an integral part of a new service delivery model workflow. Providing field service providers the ability to quickly ramp-up or expand their service delivery capabilities to meet new market demands.

As Kris Oldland wrote in our study summary, “We truly are on the cusp of a new era of field service, our industry has slowly been building the blocks of evolution across the last decade. COVID-19 has simply put us all on the same page.”

The infrastructure for connected service has been built. The thinking for advanced services has been considered. Now, as a result of necessity, the digital transformation required has been accelerated.

This powerful combination of events and solution evolution paves the way for the success of a hybrid model that delivers value and helps drive additional growth.

Further Reading:

• Read more News and Features from FieldAware @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/fieldaware
• Visit FieldAware's website @ www.fieldaware.com
• Read more by Marc Tatarsky @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/marctatartsky
• Read more about digital transformation in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/digitaltransformation
• Read more about field service strategies @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/strategy
• Read more about technology adoption in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/technologyadoption

In this article for Field Service News, Michael Blumberg, President of Blumberg Advisory Group, discusses the "new normal" expectation for field service organisations to offer a proactive, connected, and remote service...

Over the last 12 months, Field Service Organizations (FSOs) have had to rethink how they deliver service due to the restrictions of COVID-19. With the limited ability to provide onsite, face-to-face service 100% of the time, FSOs needed to implement new processes and procedures to ensure their employees' and customers' health and safety. One of the developments which emerged was the concept of a Hybrid-Service Delivery model. This model, fueled by remote monitoring and IoT technology, enables FSOs to resolve a significant amount of service issues remotely through enhanced triage and troubleshooting capabilities while improving technicians' ability to quickly resolve onsite service issues if an onsite dispatch is needed.

The ability to offer and deliver this proactive, connected, and remote service, which had once been the domain of best-practice companies, has become the "new normal" expectation for FSOs of all sizes. Covid-19 may have been the catalyst for rapid change, but the foundation for these offerings has been building for many years. At issue, several macro-environmental trends have been fueling investment in the building blocks necessary for delivering a proactive, connected service experience. These trends include the proliferation of IoT devices, Moore's Law, and Servitization.

The significance of COVID-19 was that it forced FSOs to adopt and apply the building blocks of Hybrid Service much sooner than expected as a matter of survival. Indeed, a recent study by Field Service News reveals that 67% of respondent companies surveyed have implemented these types of solutions because of COVID. However, many FSO industry participants found themselves quickly cobbling together these solutions to deal with the immediacy of the situation. This has led to gaps in capabilities within and between FSOs. The industry now faces the challenge of filling in these gaps by systemizing and scaling these capabilities and providing access to FSOs of all sizes.

FIELD SERVICE ORGANISATIONS ARE USING UtaaS SOLUTIONS TO PROVIDE CUSTOMERS WITH A PROACTIVE SERVICE

The ability to capture and monitor data from assets in the field is central to the Hybrid Service Delivery model. By collecting, monitoring, and analyzing this data, FSOs can anticipate future service events and reduce face-to-face onsite visits. It enables FSOs to take the appropriate preventive actions to resolve problems, often remotely before they occur, which extends the life of their customer's equipment. Lastly, they can generate new revenue sources through an Uptime as a Service (UtaaS) offering. Through a UtaaS offering, FSOs can meet their objectives of cost reduction, service excellence, and revenue growth. These objectives will remain central to FSO strategies in the new normal. To provide UtaaS, FSOs must have a few basic building blocks in place, including but not limited to

• the capability to read data from assets in the field
• the ability to read data in real-time
• the ability to utilize the data as part of a triage process for identifying faults and guiding the best route for issue resolution
• automation of the workflows and processes to activate service
• accessibility to organizations of all sizes
  

Achieving this outcome presents a challenge for a significant segment of the Field Service Industry. Per research from Field Service New, three quarters (76%) of respondents can read data from assets in the field, but only two-thirds can view it in real-time. The net effect is that only 51% of respondents have this combined capability. While 72% can utilize the data as part of the triage process, slightly more than one-third (36%) possess all three abilities. In other words, there is a large gap in capabilities between FSOs who have fully enabled UtaaS solutions in place and those who don't. Only a small segment of the market has all the building blocks and can deliver a complete Hybrid Service experience.

Fortunately, macro trends such as Moore's Law combined with cloud computing and advancements in telemetry have made it possible for SMB and Mid-Sized companies to implement many of the foundational components for UtaaS solutions in recent years. The technology has become more affordable, easier, and efficient to deploy. It also helps that software vendors have made a strategic decision to target these market participants.

Field Aware, a developer of Field Service Management software, and ThingTech, a supplier of IoT -based Asset Management solution, are two such vendors who have teamed up to deliver UtaaS solutions accessible to organizations of all sizes. Their combined solution provides a perspective of what to look for in a best-in-breed, UtaaS solution.

The UtaaS solution from FieldAware and ThingTech enables companies to gather data from any asset type in the field. The data is processed in real-time and produces alerts, reports, and notifications based on user-configured rules and workflows. Based on these rules and workflows, automation within the FieldAware service hub triggers the appropriate action. For example, submit a work order, dispatch a technician, or schedule a preventative maintenance visit. Once the service event is completed, the technician can document his actions and update the system through his mobile device.

M.E.S.O., a company that provides Fleet Maintenance on capital intensive, mobile equipment found in multiple industries (i.e., Oil & Gas, Construction, Utilities, etc.), needed a solution that could provide a line of sight to the assets in the field, facilitate high levels of technician efficiency and productivity, and streamline back-office operations. M.E.S.O. was able to achieve these results by implementing the UtaaS solution described above.

By implementing this solution, M.E.S.O. can provide its customers with a predictive and proactive solution that increases uptime, reduces maintenance and repair expenditures, and extends the equipment lifecycle. This solution also saves M.E.S.O. an enormous amount of time. Backoffice productivity has improved by a factor of five without hiring additional staff. The decision to provide Uptime as a Service and invest in the has had positive results for M.E.S.O. The management team views it as a huge competitive advantage, and it plays a central role in the company's sales & marketing message.

Read Michael’s latest white paper, Uptime as a Service: Driving Service Excellence, Cost Reduction, and Growth in the New Normal, to obtain more insights and perspectives on this topic.  Click Here

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more FSN exclusive articles by Michael Blumberg @ www.fieldservicenews.com/michael-blumberg
• Read Michael's latest white paper @ info.fieldaware.com/Uptime-as-a-Service-IOT-White-Paper
• Read about the impact of COVID-19 on the field service sector @ www.fieldservicenews.com/covid-19
• Follow Michael Blumberg on Twitter @ twitter.com/blumberg1
• Connect with Michael Blumberg directly by email @ michaelblumberg@blumbergadvisor.com

Despite the anticipated decline of 5.6% in total value in 2020, the enterprise mobility market in Singapore will maintain a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2% over the 2019-2024 period, driven by the rising adoption of remote working and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) strategies across enterprises, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. 

The uncertainty in business environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic has forced enterprises in Singapore to take a conservative approach towards their ICT spending in 2020, which has hurt the demand prospects for enterprise mobility solutions and services for most part of the year. As business activity picks up, enterprise mobility spending is expected to recover in 2021. 

GROWTH IN MOBILITY APPS SEGMENT WILL BE LED BY MOBILE APPLICATION PLATFORM MANAGEMENT

Nidhi Gupta, Technology Analyst at GlobalData, says: “With businesses adapting to the new normal, and allowing employees to work-from-home and use their personal devices to access corporate networks, their investments on enterprise mobility solutions will recover in 2021 and grow up to US$347m in 2024.” 

Mobility software/applications comprising mobile application platform management software, mobile content management software, mobile device management software and telecom expense management software categories represent the largest market segment in the enterprise mobility market in Singapore, in terms of value.  

Growth in mobility software/applications segment will be led by mobile application platform management (MAPM) software, which is expected register a CAGR of 12.1% over 2019-2024. With several companies expected to retain their remote working strategies even in the post COVID-19 era, their investment on MAPM software, which can equip their remote workforce with enterprise apps and secure access to the same on devices, will increase going forward. 

Ms Gupta concludes: “Managed mobility services segment will see its market value grow at 8.1% CAGR during the forecast period. The rising complexity of managing the huge number of mobile devices and apps that connect employees operating remotely with enterprise data and network will be instrumental in driving the demand for managed mobility services.” 

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Find out more more about GlobalData @ www.globaldata.com
• Read more about GlobalData on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/globaldata
• Read more about Mobility on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/mobility

Esko, a global company active in the packaging sector and headquartered in Gent, Belgium, has ordered XMReality Remote Guidance for a period of at least two years.

The main use case is to guide customers and internal field technicians in servicing their advanced packaging and printing machines. The order came after a successful pilot project that evaluated the software, use cases and benefits.

About XMReality Guidance Guidance™

About XMReality Guidance Guidance™

XMReality develops and sells solutions that revolutionizes knowledge sharing through Augmented Reality (AR). The company is a market leader in Remote Guidance, which uses AR to guide onsite staff to enable quick dispositions, resolutions and/or problem prevention. The product is currently used in more than 60 countries. ABB, Nestlé, Electrolux, AB Inbev, Sidel, Hexagon, Bühler and Minibea Intec are some of the more than 90 Enterprise customers. With operations in Sweden and US, XMReality is listed on Nasdaq First North (ticker: XMR). Further information is available under www.xmreality.com

About Esko

Esko, a Danaher company, connects people, processes and tools to meet the needs of global brands and the people who trust them. Esko customers bring consumer products to life with accuracy, efficiency and speed. Packaging for 9 out of 10 major brands is produced by Esko customers today. Headquartered in Gent, Belgium, Esko employs 1800 people worldwide with a unique focus on the packaging sector. Esko is the undisputed global market leader in digital flexo imaging. A globally deployed service staff of more than 500 help improve customer processes and guarantee maximal uptime. Further information is available under www.esko.com/

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Find out more about XM Reality @ xmreality.com
• Learn more about Esko @ www.esko.com
• Follow XM Reality on Twitter @ twitter.com/xmreality
• Follow XM Reality on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/xmreality/