Durabook is delighted to announce a new distribution agreement with APC Technology Group.

The distribution partnership complements APC’s existing line up of ruggedised and Mil-STD computing solutions, which include displays, laptops, tablets, networking solutions and embedded boards. In addition to front-end systems, APC also supply Mil-STD components with design-in support - ranging from power conversion solutions, semiconductors and optoelectronics to RF and Microwave components and precision test equipment.

APC and DURABOOK offers customers access to the latest systems and technologies to provide a seamless and reliable service.

For more extensively customised products, APC’s team of defence-grade computing specialists can assist customers with creating bespoke solutions. From boards, displays to chassis, DURABOOK and APC can build to your requirements quickly and economically.

Fred Kao, CEO for DURABOOK commented: “DURABOOK is delighted to announce this new partnership with APC Technology Group. Our rugged laptops are designed to deliver an unrivalled performance in the most challenging environments, and we are confident that APC is the perfect partner to promote this offering. In addition, this collaboration will enable us to fulfil growing demand and opens up new market opportunities.”

Mark Broadhead, APC’s Sales Director said of the agreement:

"This partnership provides our UK military customer base with an outstanding opportunity to source high-performance computer systems. Also suitable for other blue light applications, such as the emergency response services, it ensures people on the frontline can carry out their roles protecting the public with the right tools to do so in what is increasingly becoming a connected, mobile world.

For more information or to register as a partner visit: www.partners.durabook.com/register.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Find out more about Durabook @ www.durabook.com/
• Read more about Durabook on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/all-about-durabook
• Learn more about APC Technology Group @ apcplc.com
• Follow Durabook on Twitter @ twitter.com/Durabook
• Follow Durabook on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/company/durabook/

Durabook, Twinhead International Corp. and IPC2U GmbH have agreed a distribution partnership in which the entire mobile rugged portfolio is now available directly to both IPC2U customers as well as to the resellers of IPC2U.

This means that IPC2U’s partners and customers across various industries, from logistics, forestry and energy, right up to the public sector and the military, will receive the most up-to-date and highly customized solutions for their individual requirements.

the agreement will help durabook and ipc2u further expand their market presence

For IPC2U, the signing of this agreement is yet another important step towards expanding its already diverse client services in the field of industrial computers. The service portfolio of IPC2U is highly varied, ranging from consulting to distribution and ultimately sales of dedicated embedded computer systems, panel PCs and networking equipment, to joint planning of complex projects.

“With Durabook`s rugged notebooks and tablets from Twinhead, we have included an innovative addition to our product portfolio, which perfectly reflects the requirements in the mobile rugged sector. Durabook’s many years of expertise and know-how offers us tailor-made solutions that we can now make available directly to our customers,” says Jens M. Güßregen, Director of Sales and Development at IPC2U.

Kevin Wang, Business Development Manager at Twinhead, also emphasizes the importance of the connection: “By cooperating with IPC2U, we are gaining an extremely important resource in the IT channel and can now make our successful, rugged solutions available to an even larger group of customers. IPC2U offers all the prerequisites to further expand our market presence.”

For more information or to register as a partner visit: www.partners.durabook.com/register.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Find out more about Durabook @ www.durabook.com/
• Read more about Durabook on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/all-about-durabook
• Learn more about IPC2U @ https://ipc2u.com/
• Follow Durabook on Twitter @ twitter.com/Durabook
• Follow Durabook on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/company/durabook/

In this article for Field Service News, Sami Eric, UK Country Manager at Vimcar, discusses the benefits of digitalisation in fleet management.

With businesses looking to increase their fleets in the wake the Coronavirus pandemic, the pressure is on to efficiently and successfully keep track of any new vehicles added to growing fleets. In a recent survey by Vimcar, a quarter (24%) of fleet managers said they spend half their working day on spreadsheets, with almost half of fleet managers finding spreadsheet set up too time consuming and 37% say it leaves room for mistakes. What’s more, there are still some who have not made the switch to digital spreadsheets, as 10% of those surveyed are still using pen and paper to keep tabs on vehicles, drivers, regulations and more.

Those fleet managers using spreadsheets or pen and paper to track costs, etc. are clearly not utilising their data to analyse the efficiency of their fleets. Yet, according to thousands of key decision makers in a recent survey, 75% believe that ‘data plays an important role in underpinning business decision making’.

With the challenges facing business growth, including economic uncertainty, Brexit, driver shortages, changes in road regulations and emission charges, there is a need for fleet managers to utilise data effectively in order to keep track of the numerus changes unfolding and make key business decisions. Efficiency and accuracy are crucial, and without it, problems arise. But the benefits of streamlining fleet management processes will go beyond efficiency and time saving.

WHY FLEET MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE IS SO IMPORTANT

Fleet management software is a broad term that describes the work required to keep fleet vehicles safe and operational at all times. Unexpected vehicle breakdowns, unplanned trips and hefty fines for expired vehicle documentation are all common fleet management issues that can be solved with more efficient ways of fleet tracking, which is often part of fleet management software. Modern tools that draw on data analysis gives a more in-depth knowledge of how a fleet is running and makes it easier to spot any potential issues ahead of time. Businesses that are still using paper logs to track their fleet are at a much larger disadvantage and run the risk of overlooking vehicle document renewal deadlines, misplacing mileage logs and more.

With the current issues around HGV driver shortages, fleet management is proving to be even more vital for companies keeping up with increased customer demands. As a temporary solution to the driver shortage, the government relaxed the HGV driver’s hours rules, meaning drivers can increase their daily driving limit from 9 hours to 11 hours twice a week. However, it’s up to each company to ensure drivers are properly tracking and sticking to their hours.

The problem is that many companies lack proper oversight of their drivers’ movements, and few can afford steep fines from incompliance. Plus, when you don’t monitor drivers, resources inevitably get wasted. And during a driver shortage, efficiency is essential.

THE DIGITAL SWITCH AND ITS BENEFITS

SMEs that have not yet digitalised their fleet are at a significant disadvantage compared to those who have. Without fleet management software, it’s impossible to tell where each driver is and whether they’re running on time or within the desired driving hours. That also means customers can’t be provided with accurate ETAs, nor can they be given concrete proof of delivery or pickup.

Without this digital software, fleet managers have to monitor driving hours with manually-filled mileage logs, which take longer to go through and are easily misplaced. With fleet management software, users are able to optimisie drivers’ routes, which not only reduces travel time, but also helps to decrease fuel expenses and optimise driving behaviour.

Vimcar’s survey found that 1 in 3 SMEs digitalised their fleet during the Covid pandemic. Of those, 94% agreed that adopting more technology has directly benefited their business by making services more efficient, improving the customer experience and it making employees’ lives easier.

As the pressure grows for business of all sizes to continue to build back, whilst maximising efficiency and satisfying customers’ demands for deliveries, using data to provide insights and analysis on how fleets are performing is key. With clarity comes efficiency, but also helps to relieve the stress from fleet managers and drivers, when a fleet is well managed and under control.

TIPS AND TACTICS TO SUPPORT THE SWITCH FROM EXCEL TO A FLEET ADMIN TOOL

• Tracking vehicle hours: If you know how long a vehicle is booked for, you know how long it will be driven for and which driver you need to follow up with if they do not drive the hours specified.
• Fuel consumption: Ensure your fleet management software supports the fuel card you use. This makes it much easier to keep track of fuel costs, which are undoubtedly one of the biggest expenditures for a fleet.
• Take time upfront to input important dates and tasks: Regular tasks and deadlines such as contract expirations or MOTs can quickly creep up when they are not properly managed. By taking the time at the start to input this data will not only save a lot of time in the long run but will ensure you never miss an important deadline.
• Get the guidance you need: Make sure your fleet software provider takes the time to walk you through the software – either in person or remotely. This will give you a good understanding of how each aspect of the software works and will allow you to make the most of all of its functionality. At the very least, be sure your provider has a high level of customer service so if you do have any questions you can get through to someone easily.
• Automated workflows: Where possible, set up automated workflows to help save time, allow real-time improvements to your fleet and give you reduce running costs.
  

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Managing the Mobile Workforce @ www.fieldservicenews.com/managing-the-mobile-workforce
• Read more about Fleet Management on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/fleet-management
• Learn more about Vimcar @ vimcar.co.uk
• Connect with Sami Eric on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/sami-eric
• Follow Vimcar on Twitter @ twitter.com/goVimcar

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) is launching its Intelligent Automation Platform, a service management and orchestration product which enables any mobile network to be intelligently automated.

Building on existing offerings, including cloud native dual-mode 5G Core and the Cloud RAN portfolio, the company is adding the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform and a suite of rApps as a natural next step to build the networks of the future.

The solution facilitates AI and automation, which improves network performance, operational efficiency and customer experience to help create smarter networks.

ERICSSON INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION PLATFORM IS AN OPEN SERVICE MANAGEMENT PRODUCT THAT WILL HELP COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDERS OPTIMIZE NETWORK PERFORMANCE AND DELIVER ENHANCED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.

The cloud-native solution will work across new and existing 4G and 5G radio access networks (RAN) and will support diverse vendors and RAN technologies, including purpose-built and Open RAN.

This will create greater choice for communications service providers (CSPs) as they evolve their networks. Ericsson’s investment in this platform is reflective of the company’s contributions to industry development of Open RAN technologies.

Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform automates the radio access network using AI and radio network applications (rApps) with different functionalities. In a similar way to an operating system that automates operations, resources and identifies improvements to be made across the network, Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform includes a non-real-time RAN intelligent controller (Non-RT-RIC) that operates rApps.

The platform supports ecosystem innovation by enabling software developers to build products through a software-development toolkit (SDK). A suite of Ericsson rApps with field-proven capabilities will be made available on the platform across four domains: efficient automated deployment; network healing; network evolution; and network optimization. The suite will continue to grow in collaboration with customers.

Jan Karlsson, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Digital Services, Ericsson, says: “We embrace the principle of openness and the evolution to open network architectures. Building upon our Cloud RAN offering, we are taking another major step towards building the network for the digital future with the launch of Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform, which fundamentally enables smarter mobile networks. We look forward to providing our customers with an open platform that enables operational efficiency, enhances customer experience and drives service innovation. I am happy to hear the reactions from our customers already being positive towards our new product and we look forward to future development and innovation.”

Neil McRae, MD Architecture & Strategy, BT Group Chief Architect, says: “At BT we connect for good and continuously innovate to provide the best services for our customers. As we expand and modernize building more reliable networks in more places, managing network complexity via automation is critical to ensure our customers best quality of experience.  I’m pleased to see that Ericsson is launching the Intelligent Automation Platform for automating networks, based on the O-RAN Alliance Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) concept. Ericsson’s vision to extend that SMO concept to support both Open RAN and existing 4G and 5G networks, using a single operational pane-of-glass is an innovative approach.”

Toshikazu Yokai, Executive Officer, Chief Director of Mobile Technology, KDDI, says: “KDDI recognizes the importance of Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) and automation to achieve optimal network operations across multi-vendor, purpose-built RAN and Open RAN environments. SMO combined with an open software-development toolkit (SDK) has the potential to drive application (rApps) innovation and diversity, unleashing CSP, telecommunications vendor and third-party software provider innovation to optimize network performance, improve operational efficiency and drive superior customer experiences. KDDI expects SMO and the Non-Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller (Non-RT-RIC) to fine-tune RAN behavior and to assure SLAs dynamically based on slice specific service requirements. KDDI looks forward to collaborating with Ericsson to explore the potential of these solutions.”

Sue Rudd, Director Networks and Service Platforms, Strategy Analytics, says: “Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform brings scalability, performance and operations simplicity to the increasingly complex environment of mobile networks, including purpose-built and Open RAN. Ericsson’s long-demonstrated expertise in radio networking and end-to-end network slicing, in parallel with its active participation in the O-RAN Alliance and leadership in ONAP network automation, have enabled it to create this powerful platform to assist customers to maximize their ROI through smart delivery of high-quality services to their end-customers. Ericsson’s proven record of multi-vendor service orchestration and open operations automation make it an excellent partner for rApps developers and systems integrators who can leverage this unique toolkit and development environment.”

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Learn more about Ericsson Automation Platform @ www.ericsson.com/intelligent-automation-platform
• Read more about Ericsson on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/ericsson
• Find out more about Ericsson @ www.ericsson.com/
• Follow Ericsson on Twitter @ twitter.com/Ericsson

 

Help Lightning, the leading provider of remote visual assistance software, announced today the acquisition of Fieldbit, an augmented reality-enabled platform known for its innovative knowledge sharing, remote collaboration and workflow automation capabilities supporting both expert led and self-help solutioning. 

Help Lightning is a leading innovator in the application of augmented reality for use cases that deliver positive outcomes in industries such as complex medical equipment and telecommunications. According to Gartner®, “by 2026, 75% of capital-equipment-intensive industries will use AR as a key component for cost reduction/avoidance among frontline workers”. With significant category growth expected over the next 3 years, the acquisition of Fieldbit will provide the broadest and deepest value creation for its growing list of global enterprise customers.

THE ACQUISITION SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCES HELP LIGHTNING'S INDUSTRY-LEADING REMOTE ASSISTANCE SOLUTION WITH NEW, EXPANSIVE CAPABILITIES TO DEEPEN CUSTOMER VALUE

“Today’s announcement represents another exciting milestone for Help Lightning and more good news for our more than 200 customers who benefit every day from our AR-enabled solution,” said Gary York, CEO of Help Lightning. “The acquisition of Fieldbit is an important step in fulfilling our vision to provide instant access to expertise, delivering dramatic improvements in first time fix rates, resolution times, and customer satisfaction.” 

With Fieldbit, Help Lightning customers will benefit from access to additional capabilities to enable real-time, expert-led problem solving while also supporting a variety of self-help scenarios. The combined solution will include an industry-leading set of capabilities such as:

• Remote video collaboration and technical support
• 3D annotation
• The industry’s only Merged Reality feature
• Knowledge capture and share
• Work instructions including operational & safety procedures
• Augmenting real time data from IIoT platforms

“Like few other technology vendors we partner with, Help Lightning has been both an innovator and a partner in support of our company’s success,” said Tim Spencer, Senior Vice President and General Manager Service Operations at BUNN. “We were excited to hear about Help Lightning’s acquisition of Fieldbit and anticipate an exponential growth in value internally and externally from our use of the newly combined solution.”

With this acquisition, Help Lightning improves support for the ever-expanding needs of enterprise customers who depend on its services, including leading brands like Ricoh, Bunn and Becton Dickinson. Fieldbit brings depth and breadth in comparison to other solutions on the market, allowing the combined power of these two industry leaders to successfully meet the needs of today’s global enterprises. Fieldbit has a strong roster of successful customers including large enterprises such as BP, Emerson, and Veolia. 

“From the beginning, our vision at Fieldbit has been to be at the forefront of technology so we can provide the most advanced AR solutions for our customers,” said Evyatar Meiron, CEO of Fieldbit. “With our strong footprint in the energy, utilities and manufacturing industries, and together with Help Lightning’s ability to create and expand customer value, we are now able to bring unparalleled expertise and powerful capabilities to create positive outcomes for our customers.”

For more information about how Help Lightning enables business experts to virtually work side-by-side with anyone needing help, anywhere in the world, visit helplightning.com.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Help Lightning on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/helplightning
• Read more about Remote Assistance on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/remote-assistance
• Find out more about Help Lightning @ helplightning.com
• Learn more about Fieldbit @ www.fieldbit.net
• Connect with Help Lightning on LinkedIn@ www.linkedin.com/company/helplightning/
• Follow Help Lightning on Twitter @ twitter.com/helplightning

ServiceMax, Inc., a leader in asset-centric field service management, has announced that FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe has selected and deployed ServiceMax’s field service management platform for the digitization of its service operations in Europe. As part of its move from a product-focused services strategy to outcome-based solutions, ServiceMax is empowering FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe to better support hospitals and other medical providers with more personalized solutions and service maintenance as they continue the expansion of treatment and diagnostic capabilities available to patients.

SERVICEMAX DRIVING OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE, EFFICIENCY AND DIGITAL MONITORING OF KPIs

“By digitizing its service operations, FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe will drive operational excellence through optimised processes, delivering greater customer and employee satisfaction and more efficient service planning.

“We already had plans to move our service technicians away from pen and paper, but COVID-19 forced us to rethink healthcare and connect digitally,” said Jean-Luc Budillon, President and COO at FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe. “Our vision is to become a leading healthcare company with excellent customer experience and innovative solutions. With our shift to outcome-based solutions, the ServiceMax platform ensures we will always be able to provide timely and personalized assistance to our engineers whilst still being able to prioritize individual relationships and commitments with our customers. We are a passionate team going the extra mile for our customers, and ServiceMax is the right partner to help us take service care to the next level.”

By completely digitizing its technical service support process, FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe has instant and easy access to critical customer information, such as machines installed, contract details and warranty duration, as well as specific parts. The company can now optimize service planning and improve the management of spare parts, and ultimately provide a better customer experience.

“With ServiceMax, we can plan resources more efficiently and provide faster and more proactive customer support with all the necessary information directly available, enabling our engineers to take immediate decisions,” added Robbert Merkus, Head of Services Europe at FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe. “ServiceMax also simplifies our review process with dashboard monitoring and management of all KPIs for our outcome-based solutions.”

ServiceMax was deployed in Italy in November 2020 and is currently rolling out across Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, UK, DACH and France.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about ServiceMax on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/servicemax
• Read more about Healthcare on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/healthcare
• Find out more about ServiceMax @ www.servicemax.com
• Learn more about FujiFilm Healthcare Europe @ hce.fujifilm.com
• Follow ServiceMax on Twitter @ twitter.com/ServiceMax

During our Field Service Expo, which took place in Birmingham on 27th and 28th of October, BigChange held a presentation discussing the findings of a major research project that the company has conducted about the state of UK's field service sector.

Nick Gregory, Chief Marketing Officer at BigChange, discussed how the company has performed a health check of the status of the UK's field service sector to better understand the impact of the pandemic in the industry, how businesses have fared since COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted and what challenges and opportunities field service organisations are facing today.

If you haven't been able to attend our event, you can now watch BigChange's presentation by clicking below.

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contactdetails submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content BigChange who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this video, 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.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership & Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more about the impact of COVID-19 in the Field Service industry @ www.fieldservicenews.com/covid-19
• Read more about BigChange on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/bigchange
• Learn more about BigChange @ www.bigchange.com
• Follow BigChange on Twitter @ twitter.com/bigchangeapps

ADTANCE, a leading international After-Sales Service technology platform provider for manufactures, industrial companies and mechanical engineering organizations, announced the integration of ADTANCE Smart Services with Microsoft Teams, providing users with a comprehensive solution for industrial customer service.Teams users can utilize ADTANCE Smart Services for digitizing the entire customer service lifecycle including live remote customer support, ticketing, document management, workflow and predictive maintenance.

“Many manufacturing, engineering and industrial organizations already use Microsoft Teams for video conferencing, team chats and sharing documents,” said Nils Arnold, CEO and co-founder of ADTANCE. “Having the ADTANCE customer service functionality within the same application that is already part of users everyday workflow can increase work efficiency and improve customer service.”

TEAMS UERS GAIN NEW OPTION FOR INTEGRATED CUSTOMER SUPPORT WITH UNIQUE MULTI-CAMERA LIVESTREAMING VIDEO CAPABILITIES

“As a world leader in specialty chemicals, we employ more than 30,000 people in 100 countries,” said Dr. Christian Blaufelder, Leiter Commercial Interface & Development, Technical Service, Evonik Industries. “Our service technicians across the globe are avid users of both Microsoft Teams and ADTANCE Smart Services. Having ADTANCE’s multi-camera live video and customer support functionality integrated into Teams will enable us to deliver high quality remote customer service and collaboration, while boosting productivity.”

“Microsoft Teams enables users around the world to collaborate with no limits in time and space,” said Marie Therese Fontaine, Microsoft Teams Business Lead at Microsoft Germany. “ADTANCE Smart Services extends Teams with a comprehensive range of customer service and collaboration capabilities for industrial organizations.  “Manufacturers and engineering companies with locations across the globe have the convenience of using a single, robust solution for both team collaboration and customer service.”

The ADTANCE Smart Services solution is available as an installable application through Microsoft App Source. Users can login with their Teams credentials and benefit from the full scope of the ADTANCE Smart Services, which includes the new ADTANCE Support and Fieldstreaming solution—live remote video support software capable of connecting smart glasses with every type of camera to the system. Cameras include those within smartphones, tablets, computers, security cameras, drones and underwater Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs), as well as Microsoft HoloLens. Manufacturing and engineering organizations can livestream views of machines from various angles simultaneously – significantly improving customer support, remote machine maintenance and training in the field.

The ADTANCE Smart Services integrated into Teams include the following:

ADTANCE Support – Enables live remote support, inspection and maintenance for customers, utilizing devices such as smart glasses and multi-camera fieldstreaming.

ADTANCE Workflow – Digitizes, analyzes, and optimizes all workflows, including everyday processes such as maintenance instructions.

ADTANCE Process Visualization and Monitoring (PVM) - Monitors the performance of individual machines as well as entire industrial plants.

ADTANCE Predictive Maintenance (PM) - Analyzes and evaluates operational data in real time through the continuous monitoring of machines or the entire production plant using built-in sensors. Machine learning-based analysis offer predictions about potential downtime as well as warnings if a piece of equipment will require maintenance. 

ADTANCE Ticketing - Standardizes entire customer service channels by bundling different channels into one system, including e-mail, telephone, SMS and social media. Creates order and clarity by providing different escalation levels with the respective reaction and resolution times.

ADTANCE Document Management (DM) - Stores all customer service documents centrally, and controls access rights for security and privacy purposes. 

ADTANCE Parts – A central catalogue system to ensure that all spare part information remains centrally located and easily discoverable.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Customer Service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/customer-service
• Learn more about ADTANCE @ www.adtance.com
• Follow ADTANCE on Twitter @ twitter.com/adtance
• Connect with ADTANCE on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/company/adtance

In this final feature from a recent white paper published by BigChange, we explain why businesses are increasingly looking at customer experiences as a new source of competitive advantage.