Ultra Consultants, Inc., an independent research and enterprise solutions consulting firm serving the manufacturing and distribution industries, today announced the availability of a complimentary ERP Toolkit eBook. The in-depth eBook provides...
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Dec 17, 2018 • News • manufacturing • ERP • field service • Service Management • Software and Apps • Enterprise Resource Planning • Jeff Carr • Manufaxcturing • Resoruces • Ultra Consultants • Managing the Mobile Workforce
Ultra Consultants, Inc., an independent research and enterprise solutions consulting firm serving the manufacturing and distribution industries, today announced the availability of a complimentary ERP Toolkit eBook. The in-depth eBook provides comprehensive ERP education to help teams work effectively through business process improvement, enterprise technology evaluation, selection and implementation. The resources curated in the eBook draw upon Ultra’s decades of expert methodologies and deep knowledge of manufacturing and distribution.
Developed for project teams at manufacturing and distribution organizations considering an active ERP project, the ERP Toolkit delivers in-depth educational resources, including videos, white papers, podcasts and more.
Project teams are invited to download the ERP Toolkit eBook to prepare for 2019 planning.
Key resources include:
- Educational assets to get started and plan for an effective technology project
- Tips to organize a project, reduce risk of failure and drive change management
- A curated guide to help teams understand what it takes to evaluate, select and implement enterprise technology
“The decision to upgrade or implement a new enterprise technology system is likely one of the most complex and resource-intensive initiatives a company will face. The manufacturers and distributors we speak with have told us that it’s difficult to understand how to begin an enterprise technology project,” notes Ultra Consultants Founder and CEO Jeff Carr. “This toolkit gathers insight and leverages Ultra’s unique perspective as trusted, independent advisors serving manufacturing and distribution teams. We encourage project teams to download the eBook for insight specific to their organizations.”
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Nov 14, 2018 • Features • Augmented Reality • CRM • FSM • FSM Systems • Future of FIeld Service • MArne MArtin • Podcast • resources • Workwave • ERP • field service • IFS • Internet of Things • IoT • Service Management • Field Service Technologies • Service Management Online • Managing the Mobile Workforce
In this, the latest edition of the Field Service Podcast, Kris Oldland, Field Service News, Editor-in-Chief, is joined by Marne Martin, CEO of WorkWave and president of Service Management for IFS about her new role with IFS as well as discussing...
In this, the latest edition of the Field Service Podcast, Kris Oldland, Field Service News, Editor-in-Chief, is joined by Marne Martin, CEO of WorkWave and president of Service Management for IFS about her new role with IFS as well as discussing whether the time has come to finally recognised Field Service Management systems as a standalone category such as CRM or ERP [hr]
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Jul 03, 2018 • Features • FSM • Best of breed • Bill Pollock • ERP • ERP Alternatives • field service management • Service Management • Software and Apps
Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst at Strategies For GrowthSM, takes a look at the biggest two tools being used for field service management and explore the merits of each...
Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst at Strategies For GrowthSM, takes a look at the biggest two tools being used for field service management and explore the merits of each...
In today’s business environment, too much attention is often focused on new technologies on the horizon, and whatever else might be “hot” in the blogs or other social media, rather than on the core attributes of substance and sustainability.
However, when it comes down to selecting the right Field Service Management (FSM) solution for your organisation, one thing remains very clear – it must “fit” your organisation with respect to functionality, application, accessibility, scalability and – of course – cost.
While some organisations may prefer an all-encompassing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that addresses all areas within the company (e.g., manufacturing, engineering, distribution, sales, marketing, etc.) in addition to services, others may prefer to use a Best-of-Breed FSM solution that serves as a custom “fit” to its services operations.
Differentiators that Distinguish Best-of-Breed vs. ERP solutions:
There are many definitions of Best-of-Breed currently being used in the global services community, ranging from “best in segment”, to “best anywhere”, to “best currently available”, and so on.
However, much too often, “best in segment” may not necessarily reflect “Best Practices”; “best anywhere” may be too elusive, and “best currently available” may not be quite good enough. With so many alternative definitions, some organisations may eventually end up not quite knowing which “best” they should be aspiring to.
Further, what may be “best-of-breed” in the manufacturing sector may not even be relevant in the medical device sector, and vice versa.
The complexity of the concept of “best” as it pertains specifically to a field services organisation can cloud the ability of management to choose either the precise goals to target, or the appropriate technology solutions that will be required to attain them.
Research has shown that the ability to pick and choose the specific components to support an organisation’s FSM activities offers a much more tailored solution that is able to address all facets of this service-centric process.Research has shown that the ability to pick and choose the specific components to support an organisation’s FSM activities offers a much more tailored solution that is able to address all facets of this service-centric process.
That is not necessarily to say that an ERP solution will not, or cannot, support FSM – rather, that a robust, application-specific, Best-of-Breed solution may be able to do it better.
Further, many ERP solution providers go-to-market with messages that proclaim “everything your organisation needs to support its services activities”. However, the “everything” that is offered by some of these vendors may only follow the 80/20 rule; that is, providing only “80% of the FSM functionality required”, but delivered by a “brand name” company typically as an add-on to a more extensive – and expensive – ERP solution.
On the other hand, a Best-of-Breed FSM solution typically offers 100% – or close to it – of the specific functionality required by the field services organisation from a services-oriented solution provider that truly understands the user’s needs from the requisite functional specs; to the terminology and buzzwords to the requirements for installation and training; and ongoing technical and customer support.
In addition, Best-of-Breed solution providers in the services segment have typically supported clients in their field for decades, gaining a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the market space including who the key and niche players are (i.e., vendors and users), how customers’ service organisations operate, what specific functionalities are required (and available), how usage has been and will be evolving over time, and what the key pain points are for all parties involved.
Most of today’s Best-of-Breed vendors represent the ones that have been successful in differentiating themselves beyond the enterprise-wide capabilities of the ERP generalists and the 80/20 CRM vendors.
Evaluating and Comparing Best-of-Breed vs. ERP Alternatives
Just as “you cannot tell a book by its cover”, it is uncertain – and unwise – to try to assess a solution provider simply by its marketing collateral.
Just because they say they can do it all, does not necessarily mean they can – and just because they say they support the field services segment does not mean they are specialists in doing so.
Many organisations have found that the difference between a generalist and a specialist can make all the difference in the world.
That is why it is so important to make sure that when selecting an FSM solution provider, the organisation evaluates all vendors with the same high level of due diligence – that is, assessing and comparing all vendors using the same criteria, and holding them to the same standards whether they are ERP generalists, FSM Best-of-Breed specialists, or anything else in-between.
Whether Best-of-Breed or ERP is better for your organisation will ultimately be your call – however, the results of a thorough needs assessment and long list/short list evaluation of potential solutions (and vendors) will take you to the point where you can make the right decision.
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Jun 18, 2018 • Features • FSM • IFS FSM 6 • Mark Brewer • mplsystems • Work Wave • EQT • ERP • field service management • IFS • IFS APPS 10 • SAP • Service Management • Software and Apps • Stephen Jeff Watts
With a new CEO taking the helm Swedish FSM and ERP providers, IFS enter a new era of their ongoing development. Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief was on hand at the IFS World Conference in Atlanta to see the developments first hand and caught up with...
With a new CEO taking the helm Swedish FSM and ERP providers, IFS enter a new era of their ongoing development. Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief was on hand at the IFS World Conference in Atlanta to see the developments first hand and caught up with FSN associate columnist Mark Brewer, Global Director of Field Service, to get the inside scoop...
The IFS World Conference is an event that never really fails to deliver at least one key highlight of interest. Memories of CTO, Dan Matthews bouncing around madly to Bruce Springsteen on the stage last time out in Gothenburg- he was demonstrating how IoT sensors work just in case you were wondering, is one such example of the unique way the Swedish company approach things.
Similarly, Ulf Stern, one of the companies original founders keeping customers, prospects and the press alike entertained playing some (pretty darned good) rock and roll with his band in a ‘Fish Cathedral’ later that evening is just another example of how the same core ethos remains in the company today as it did when they first started out some 35 years ago. Despite significant growth and development across the years, there all often overlooked secret-sauce that can allow a company to flourish, the uniqueness within their DNA - has always remained the same.
Who IFS are today is very much a different company to who they were then, just 18 months ago.Yet, who IFS are today is very much a different company to who they were then, just 18 months ago.
Firstly, there is the acquisition by - investment firm EQT. Which was in fact announced just days before the Gothenburg World Conference.
At the time the discussion had been highly positive - especially from a field service point of view as the message from EQT was clear - we are giving you the funds to go and do what you do better and faster - with field service being one of the top three areas IFS would be targeting for significant growth.
Given their stature in the market at the time as an already established major player within the field service industry, this was certainly an exciting announcement for those close to our sector.
Indeed, there have already been some significant acquisitions that Field Service News readers, especially those from the UK will be aware of which have followed after the acquisition.
The first of these was to bring IFS UK and Eire reseller Field Service Management in-house, which was a sensible and largely expected move.
The second, which saw mplsystems become part of the IFS family, however, was far more strategic.
mplsystems core strength lies is there omnichannel contact centre technology, essentially plugging a major gap in the IFS solutionAlthough, an FSM solution provider themselves, mplsystems core strength lies is there omnichannel contact centre technology, essentially plugging a major gap in the IFS solution and giving them a genuinely robust end to end service solution.
This is not to mention the US acquisition of WorkWave, an FSM solution that is dedicated to the SMB market - which instantly gave IFS access to a huge market, which many of the larger FSM solution providers struggle to penetrate.
So in fairness the record of EQT in terms of delivering on their promise has been mightily impressive and IFS have continued to grow in stature within the FSM sector as one of the true key players - an achievement all the more impressive given the attention our sector has had within the last few years with the lieks of GE, SAP, Microsoft and Salesforce all investing significantly in building a global presence.
My anticipation was therefore high when I spotted that the launch of FSM6 was to be given a major spotlight, being presented on the main stage as a key announcement on day 1.
Mark Brewer, Gloabl Director, Field Service, alongside Steve Jeff-Watts, Senior Advisor, IFS were the men tasked with giving that presentation.
“If you go back to the origins of IFS, we are an ERP company, but that can be something of an ambiguous term,” opened Brewer when I caught up with him.
We built a product that managed service, maintenance and projects. This means the intrinsic DNA of the business is actually service not manufacturing“ERP for most people is a product built for managing a manufacturing business. IFS did not ever take that approach. We built a product that managed service, maintennance and projects. This means the intrinsic DNA of the business is actually service not manufacturing.”
“Fast forward to today with the IFS FSM platform you’ve got a best in class service offering, there is an almost equivalent best-in-class service functionality in an ERP in Apps 10.”
“This means you can already have an existing ERP such as SAP or somethign similar which you are unable to swap out, we can layer that with best-in-class field service. However, if you also need solutions for your manufacturing, supply chain, financials etc then we can also give you all of this whilst encapsulating a best-in-class service solution within it.”
Customer experience is a huge part of the equation in service organisations now and we are moving into the experience economy “It is a unique position, where we can not only offer the stand alone FSM solution but the wider ESM (Enterprise Service Management) solution as well.”
“I also thought it was very telling that the announcement of our acquisition and mplsystems and our integration of their technology into IFS FSM was front and centre on the main stage during the opening key note sessions.”
“We call our solution IFS FSM but the truth is now that it is a full end-to-end lifecycle management solution. It is far more than just field service, it includes depot repair operations, reverse logistics, customer specific billing, deep contract and warranty capability.”
“Given that it goes all the way to the end, we were missing a piece at the front, and mplsystems omni channel solution completes the picture. Customer experience is a huge part of the equation in service organisations now and we are moving into the experience economy so that customer journey needs to be consistent across the whole lifecycle.”
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May 14, 2018 • Features • Continuous Improvement • CRM • Data Analytics • FSM • optimisation • big data • ERP • field service analytics • field service management • FieldAware • Software and Apps • statistical modelling • Steve Wellens
Steve Wellen, CEO of FieldAware outlines the evolution of analytics and how field service organisations are reaping the benefits...
Steve Wellen, CEO of FieldAware outlines the evolution of analytics and how field service organisations are reaping the benefits...
Research into field service management consistently shows that when respondents are asked what they are planning to invest in or are looking to implement, analytic tools, more and more, are being highlighted above other functionality.
No great surprise given that today’s field service operations can rely on many different systems and solutions, all of which generate huge amounts of data. However, being able to organise and analyse data in an effective, simple and reliable way is a major challenge and without the means of turning it into something actionable, many businesses just don’t benefit. So, where are we in the evolution of field service analytics and how are field service organisations making their data work smarter, not harder?
Data, data everywhere
Over the past decade, field service organisations have become overwhelmed by the increasing information coming in from multiple sources and in various formats. As field service has become more and more integrated with other business solutions, (including accounting, ERP and CRM), organising this data becomes such a complex task that it may simply end up being unused. Managers and team members may then revert to relying on what they used to do, or make decisions based on hunches to run the business, rather than use the business intelligence they need.
Business leaders understand the data they have cannot be ignored. The major challenge they face, however, is how to sift through the data and link it together in a meaningful way. Data is often from disparate systems, but needs to be collated and reported in an easily understood way, to reveal the valuable insights that are needed for day-to-day performance and longer-term business strategy.
A brief history of field service analytics
The early adopters of field service analytics have seen a transformation of the solutions available, and we have witnessed this evolution first-hand.
We have seen our customers move from their initial requirements of basic business reporting, through to needing a comprehensive business intelligence solution.
Early on, it was often a snapshot of what had happened that was required, for example, how many jobs had been completed. It soon became apparent that organisations had different performance indicators to manage, and individuals needed metrics specific to roles. A layer of sophistication was needed, with custom reports where customers could then dive deeper to retrieve further information.
They could explore the types of jobs that were being completed, monitor individual performance or compare geographies.
Using data to make business decisions then drove the need for further information and queries could be set up to examine any problems or if any differences were apparent, for example, time taken on jobs, cost variations or first-time fix rates.
In addition, alerts could be set to enable better management of SLAs by flagging potential issues such as at-risk jobs.
A continual journey
All useful perspective, but for those using analytics for the first time, there is now no reason to stop at what could simply be seen to be mimicking what paper-based processes capture on the ‘what’ and the ‘where’.
Leap forward and it is the ‘why’ within analytics capabilities that truly enhances the value. After generating basic reports, managers did not always have time, the knowledge or experience to translate the results into meaningful action.
Advances in analytics provide businesses with the ability to view data after it has been configured and cross-referenced using statistical modelling.
Better decisions can be made more easily as they are based on accurate, analysed information, and better decision-making means a more effective, efficient operation.
The future’s bright, the future is optimised
Today, field service leaders realise they need analytics that enables them to make more informed decisions to continue to grow their business. Just having data is not enough – they need the ability to use the data to align service teams to work together towards meeting company goals and managing customer expectations. Organisations now demand analytics solutions that migrate from reactive to predictive operations.
They need to move from insight to action faster than ever before with business insights from finance, CRM, ERP, FSM solutions that they depend upon for everyday operations.
They need better teamwork and collaboration so that they can quickly arrive at consensus, act and capitalise on opportunities.
These include discovering hidden opportunities and finding the next big opportunity in the business intelligence.
The business is optimised not only through these day-to-day enhancements, but the operational insights are consistently fed back to business and management, enabling a real-time feedback loop ensuring that key metrics improve continuously - creating a cycle of continual improvement for the field service organisation and improved operations.
For more information on using analytics for your field service optimisation and how you can reap the benefits, visit www.fieldaware.com
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Oct 05, 2017 • News • Future of FIeld Service • ERP • IFS • IoT
IFS, the global enterprise applications company, has released a primary research study on how the Internet of Things (IoT) affects readiness for digital transformation in industrial companies.
IFS, the global enterprise applications company, has released a primary research study on how the Internet of Things (IoT) affects readiness for digital transformation in industrial companies.
According to survey of 200 IoT decision makers at industrial companies in North America, only 16 percent of respondents consume IoT data in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. That means 84 percent of industrial companies face a disconnect between data from connected devices and strategic decision making and operations, limiting the digital transformation potential of IoT.
The study posed questions about companies’ degree of IoT sophistication. The study also explores how well their enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM) or field service management (FSM) software prepares them for digital transformation and to consume IoT data within enterprise software.
Respondents were divided into groups including IoT Leaders and IoT Laggards, depending on how well their enterprise software prepared them to consume IoT data—as well as Digital Transformation Leaders and Digital Transformation Laggards depending on how well their enterprise software prepared them for digital transformation.
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- The two Leaders groups overlapped, with 88 percent of Digital Transformation Leaders also qualifying as IoT Leaders, suggesting IoT is a technology that underpins the loose concept of digital transformation.
- Digital Transformation Leaders made more complete use of IoT data than Digital Transformation Laggards; Leaders are almost three times as likely to use IoT data for corporate business intelligence or to monitor performance against service level agreements.
- Digital Transformation Leaders were more likely than Digital Transformation Laggards to be able to access IoT data in applications used beyond the plant floor. They were more than four times as lilkely to have access to IoT data in enterprise asset management software, twice as likely than Digital Transformation Laggards to be able to access IoT data in high-value asset performance management software, and almost twice as likely to be able to be able to use IoT data in ERP.
- The data suggests a real need for more IoT-enabled enterprise applications designed to put data from networks of connected devices into the context of the business.[/unordered_list]
In reviewing the findings, IFS Chief Technology Officer for North America, Rick Veague, commented, “Are your planning and maintenance systems robust enough to make real time decisions using IoT-sourced data? Many are facing the reality of having to answer ‘no.’ We have seen examples of companies coming to us because their incumbent software is not able to administer and use IoT data to achieve the gains they want to realize.”
Long before the term IoT was coined, IFS was committed to introducing machine data into enterprise applications. With the release of the IFS IoT Business Connector, we are in a better position than ever to help our customers operationalise their IoT data -Steve Andrew, IFS Vice President of Marketing for North America
“Study data suggest that the most common use case for IoT in these industrial settings is condition-based maintenance. The benefits go beyond operational improvements and maintenance cost avoidance,” said Ralph Rio, Vice President of Enterprise Software at ARC Advisory Group. “It increases uptime that provides additional capacity for increased revenue. It also avoids unplanned downtime that interrupts production schedules causing missed shipment dates and customer satisfaction issues. When married to demand and scheduling systems in ERP, IoT becomes a revenue-enhancement tool improving the top line.”
Download the Industrial IoT and Digital Transformation Study.
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Jan 21, 2016 • News • ERP • IFS • Software and Apps • Managing the Mobile Workforce
Work-at-height and scaffolding solutions company Turner Access is improving operational management and increasing productivity of its mobile workforce with IFS Applications 9 ERP software.
Work-at-height and scaffolding solutions company Turner Access is improving operational management and increasing productivity of its mobile workforce with IFS Applications 9 ERP software.
Turner Access is a division of family-owned, Turner & Co (Glasgow) Ltd and was founded over 30 years ago. It designs, manufactures and supplies access equipment for safe working at height. In response to the current skills shortage facing the UK construction sector, the industry is under constant pressure to ensure employees are as efficient with their time as possible.
As part of this drive for efficiency, Turner Access was looking to refresh its legacy IT infrastructure, which was running a number of disparate systems working together inefficiently. As a result, staff have been spending unnecessary time inputting data into multiple systems and were struggling to access important documents on the move.
In addition, the company wanted to grow net margin and improve factory productivity through increased visibility of employee performance by centralising systems and providing an easy-to-view summary of key business data via the IFS Lobby, a key feature of IFS Applications 9.
Turner Access is also looking to increase turnover through tighter internal control and better cost visibility leading to increased competitiveness. Through the standardisation of processes users will be expected to save time and be more efficient and productive through communication improvements and better visibility of real time information and analysis.
Ian Wilson, Managing Director, said, “The needs of Turner Access are specific to manufacturing, sales, rental, training and contracting across multiple industry sectors and International territories and IFS demonstrated its specialism in this area with IFS Applications 9. The system will ensure we can improve efficiency across the board and we also have the option in the future to scale the solution across a number of specialist areas in both hemispheres.”
Paul Massey, Managing Director of IFS Europe West, said, “It’s always great to see manufacturing and contracting companies taking technology seriously, especially in the current climate where we are facing a serious skills shortage - technology can help. Introducing IFS Applications 9 will ensure that Turner Access stays one step ahead of its competitors and is in an excellent position to improve efficiency throughout its business over the coming years.”
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Dec 23, 2015 • Features • mobile apps • mobility platform • BYOD • ERP • Software and Apps • solarvista
Mobile app design has come a long way. Paul Adams, Marketing & Development Director at Solarvista Software, talks about the change in conceptual approach.
Mobile app design has come a long way. Paul Adams, Marketing & Development Director at Solarvista Software, talks about the change in conceptual approach.
At Solarvista, we launched our first mobile app way back in 2002, called Mobile Worker. It was designed to operate as field service mobile application with our existing field service management back office ERP suite. It did it very well.
But… that’s all it did. Yes, you could receive jobs. Yes, you could order parts. Yes, you could capture signatures, take pictures etc. And it worked offline as well as online. In fact it did all of the things that we could think that service technicians wanted to do.
It was (and still is) a great application. In fact, it’s used to this day for thousands of users. But times change. And architectural practices have improved beyond all recognition in the last decade.
Whilst our Mobile Worker app is flexible, it’s flexible within constraints. The reason for this is that the application was specifically designed to do specific functions in a specific way. It was designed to work with existing Solarvista ERP back office applications and, practically speaking, only those applications.
For our next generation of mobile apps, we didn’t want ANY constraints… at all. We didn’t want specificity in any shape or form. The days of “hard-coding” were over.
Our conclusion?
We wanted to build a PLATFORM, not an application, which we then applied to business problems to deliver elegant solutions.
“For our next generation of mobile apps, we didn’t want ANY constraints… at all. We didn’t want specificity in any shape or form. The days of “hard-coding” were over.”
Oh… and in 2015, we need to support “Bring Your Own Device” too, so it needs to work on ALL platforms… Android, iOS and Windows. And we mustn’t forget offline working too.
It was quite an ambition. Especially when we consider the need to build for three different environments. Of course, we would use the platform to create apps for field service personnel operating in organisations that ran Solarvista ERP suites. But we also wanted an app that would work with everything else too.
We had lots of prototypes that we ended up throwing away. Each one took a different architectural approach but there was always a snag. Eventually, after three years development, we produced Solarvista LIVE Mobile… a PLATFORM not just an app.
It’s not a platform in the sense of development environments from the likes of Microsoft, Apple and Google… no one is going to compete with those guys. But it is a platform in the sense of building mobile apps for people who have work to do in the field.
In the old days, we would create a function by “hard coding” programs and providing another version. Now, we just create a text file that defines what the app should do, when and how. Workflow, texts, labels, logic, validation etc...
All done in a file updated over the airwaves in seconds. In fact, our customers can soon create e-forms to do anything using a simple web-based tool.
So, yes it does all the things that the original did and to most users it just feels like a normal app. But underneath, it’s a platform… and that means it’s ready for the future.
Users can get started easily with standard features/ functions that just work. But when needs change… as they always do… the platform can adapt in flash.
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Dec 11, 2015 • Features • Aerospace • context aware • mobile apps • wearables • ERP • IFS
In Part One of this feature, Brendan Viggers, head of product and sales support at IFS Aerospace & Defence Centre of Excellence, explained the potential of Wearables and Context Aware technology to transform various maintenance and servicing tasks in the Aerospace and Defence sector. In Part Two, he explains why Context Aware apps will be critical in delivering ROI and user satisfaction in wearables.
With device development enabling us to monitor activity in more detail, user context-awareness is being included in consumer devices to an ever-increasing degree. Imagine what could be achieved if technologies like cameras and the Kinect - a motion-sensing input device by Microsoft for the Xbox One video game console - were included in appliances and devices in your base maintenance facility or field location.
Recognising where people are and what they do will enable designers to create attentive applications that look at what is going on and react appropriately. For example, teleporting - sometimes called “follow- me” computing - is a tool available today to dynamically map the user interface onto the resources of the surrounding computer and communication facilities in office complexes.
Making applications more social and user friendly through context-aware wearable technology will surely be the way forward.
So What?
CCS Insight predict that there will be up to 100million smartphone companions such as smartwatches by 2017. Research from Business Insider Intelligence indicates the global wearables market will grow at an annual compound rate of 35 percent over the next five years.
The advance of wearable technology seems unstoppable, but it isn't a new revolution - witness the use of emergency buttons to call for help after a fall. Its deployment has simply taken off over the past few years. We all understand that wearable blood glucose, heart rate, blood pressure monitors can help people stay healthier for longer. In Aerospace and Defence, future wearable technology must be demonstrably useful - both needed and wanted. To be wanted, we have got to have valuable applications that will benefit wearables and be contextually aware - only then can we truly demonstrate a real return on investment that warrants change and adoption of the technology.
Empowerment and the future with wearables
The key to this is not so much wearables, but the context aware applications that are accessed by or loaded onto them. Making applications more social and user friendly through context-aware wearable technology will surely be the way forward. Mobile applications, as a front end to powerful enterprise platforms, can be developed and made context aware in very short order.
Our experience shows that it is possible to develop and deliver mobile applications specific to a user’s requirements often in weeks rather than the traditional ERP software application that takes months or even years to deploy. In the forward space these apps must be optimised with functionality for the engineer depending on the operational environment. Overloading an engineer with full IS solution functionality doesn't make sense.
Mobile apps offer a solution to the problem of gaining essential feedback of operational information without inundating the engineer - they must be task-specific, in a recognisable format, optimised for specific equipment, easy to customise and devoid of superfluous overhead. The ability to add operational data relating to flight, crew and vehicle in real-time adds real value to ERP.
IFS is currently deploying a range of mobile apps, the next step would be to port mobile apps on to a wearable device that is sufficiently context aware so automatically records when and where a fault is logged – saving valuable time by negating the need for the engineer to 'down tools' in order to log on to a laptop or handheld device to gain access to back-office information.
Innovative wearable technology has matured over the past decades from 'fall monitors' to truly interactive, context aware support tools. We can give operators direct support at their fingertips, in their ears or in front of their eyes, and also intimately understand the challenges they are facing. The development of hardware and sensors to 'socialise' the technology is about to take off, but these are really just delivery and input points for information that allows context-tailored applications to link users to powerful enterprise processes.
The immediate benefits of delivering powerful computer support directly to users, and capturing contextual information to improve enterprise-level knowledge offers exciting opportunities in the immediate future to streamline MRO activity and allow supply chains to get ahead of the game.
IFS is at the forefront of integrating innovative wearable and context aware technology with an agile Aerospace and Defence ERP application which streamlines support and, critically, reduces costly operational downtime. The result is aircraft spend more time in the air with maintenance support tailored to suit any environment, at any time.
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