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As the importance of harnessing the latest technology to ensure service delivery is as efficient as possible grows, field service companies appear to be investing more frequently in technology than ever before as the latest research by Field Service News in partnership with ServiceMax appears to show. 

 

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Almost a third of field service companies are now investing in technology on an annual basis now the early findings of the current research from Field Service News and ServiceMax reveals.

In fact, whilst 34% of companies are investing on an annual basis an additional 27% are investing in field service technology every two-years - meaning almost two thirds of field service companies surveyed appear to be investing in technology a lot faster than the perceived 3 to 5 year replacement cycle many industry experts cite.

The same survey, which is still running and available for field service professionals to participate in by clicking here, also highlights that over three quarters of field service professionals do not think their company is investing sufficiently enough in field service technology to deliver a competitive level of service, with 77% of our respondents stating they felt this was the case. 

It is perhaps no surprise that the technologies that are viewed as key for driving forward improved service delivery are Mobile, Cloud, IoT and Big Data. Each of which were identified by over half of respondents as having an impact within their own organisations.

Mobile technology remains the most prominent of these four,being cited by 71% of companies, which given it's longer standing and maturity within a field service environment is of little surprise. What is perhaps a bit more unexpected however is that 58% of companies state that IoT or connected assets are already having an impact in their field service organisations, when we think that the first dedicated field service systems including Connected Field Service by ServiceMax only started appearing earlier this year.

 

This is particularly interesting as the potential impact of IoT in Field Service could be literally game changing as companies begin to move away from traditional break fix and towards more predictive, servitized business models.

Indeed, the early results of this research certainly support this hypothesis with 63% of companies admitting they are preparing for the cultural impact that the introduction of IoT will have in their organisations, whilst a further 13% state that they have already prepared for the impact.

How does this align to your own organisation? Take part in our research and once the results are concluded you will receive a copy of an exclusive white paper detailing the findings of the report. Plus every research project we run includes a prize draw for our respondents with three £50 Amazon vouchers available for each project. We recently announced the last three lucky winners here - could you be next?

 

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Click here to take part in our current survey now and you could be our next £50 winner!

 

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Driver behaviour has become a key focus for many field service organisations but what are the key reasons for companies paying more attention to how their engineers are performing when on the road?

In fact the benefits of focussing on this particular aspect of field service operations are numerous, although often health and safety compliance is the primary driver with other benefits only being realised later as a byproduct of implementing a driver improvement strategy.

As Paul Foster, Director of Solutions Engineering for Telogis explains;

“There are two main aspects to driver improvement projects. One is compliance and showing that your able to keep your workplace safe.“

“At the end of the day your providing them with a tool to do the job and what you need to do as an employer is prove that your not doing that irresponsibly.”

“Safety is paramount but that can then have all sorts of knock on effects not least around costs,” he adds.

“The big thing is design for safety, but that will have its impact on costs.”

“If your engineers are driving safely then they will be driving within limits and that means that fuel consumption and vehicle maintenance on items such as tyres, brakes and general wear and tear will be reduced. In turn that means vehicles are easier to maintain and over a large fleet that is going to be very beneficial.”

 

“It also means that in operational terms you stand a better chance of having your assets available for work more of the time so it’s a win, win really.”

This is a sentiment echoed by Jeremy Gould, VP Sales Europe, TomTom Telematics.

“The management of driving behaviour for field service companies can not only enable the improvement of the business bottom line by helping to cut fuel usage, it can also help protect driver safety, the environment and a business’ brand image,” Gould comments.

“From a financial perspective, fuel costs account for a significant proportion of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of field service vehicles and, aside from vehicle choice, one of the single biggest factors affecting fuel consumption is driving style,” he explains.

Stuart Kerr, Senior Vice President, Global Enterprise Business, Fleetmatics also highlights economic benefits as a major factor for embarking on a driver improvement program.

“The economics of improving driver behaviour are staggering,” he states.

“With ROI’s of 400% to 700% the financial returns are immediate and significant. Firms assume their drivers are following the plan and order of the days activities. The reality is that every day your drivers head off into the fog and you are left with a sea of assumptions. These turn out to be false but without telematics you do not know what you are missing,” he continues.

Of course the advancement of driver improvement programmes is heavily linked to the rapid evolution of telematics technology.

 

As Kerr comments “Cutting edge telematics solutions, offer an exceptional view of field tech behaviour.

You can spend serious capital ensuring you have the optimised plan for your technician’s day but if it is not followed well or if the driving is erratic and unoptimised, a great amount of those savings will fall by the wayside.”

“Over and over we see our clients using the simple fact that ‘the truck is the truth’ to ensure that they have good data on how long jobs really take and how better to optimise the schedule going forward.”

“That often results in managers seeing a 15% jump on technician productivity and drops directly to the bottom line,” Kerr adds.

“The advance of technology is allowing us to step away from the direct management of driver behaviour,” Foster adds.

“We can now introduce systems that allow us to create self management, so if you can give a driver feedback about his behaviour without having to call him into the office every-time something has gone wrong and allow a driver to correct himself based on results that are relative to his peer group, then you’re saving cost in terms of both time and money - but it’s also a more effective way of doing things because your no longer relying on somebody’s judgement on driver behaviour and safety, your using a system that is going to plan the landscape and judge everybody by the same measure.”

“Whether you agree or not with what those measures there is no argument because everybody is held against the same standards.”

This is a view shared by Jonathan Dolby, Head of Marketing, Microlise “Technology is fundamental in improving driver standards. Telematics in particular allows organisations to measure the standards of their drivers, but subsequently empower those drivers to improve their own performance by helping them to identify any areas of weakness, for example the recording of too many harsh braking incidents which could relate to a lack of anticipation,” he comments.

 

“Not only does telematics help measure initial performance, but it allows organisations to measure improvements in standards over time, understanding return on investment from any training perhaps.”

“Furthermore, telematics helps maintain improvements over the long-term - any drivers slipping back into bad habits can be identified and mentored.”

“Advancements in technology that monitors driver behaviour and provides feedback to both drivers and managers have continued apace over recent years,” agrees Gould.

“New technology is providing businesses with the tools to make a real impact in this area by helping them to work with their drivers to improve standards.”

“Telematics technology can draw upon a wide range of actionable data, taking live information directly from vehicles to profile individual drivers or entire fleets.”

“Driver behaviour tools are of course an offshoot of telematics technology really, and we’ve seen the basic hardware become a lot cheaper, the services that go around that have become a lot cheaper and therefore more affordable to small and medium sized businesses. That means that adoption rates can go up,” Foster explains.

“There is more and more standardisation around the way data is being recorded so that we can standardise how the technology works - which again makes it cheaper to install and maintain and also the advent of connected cars on the production means aftermarket installations are going to become a thing of the past and that means we can just bolt services onto connected car movement.”

 

“With the improvements we are seeing in the technology we are not just looking at things like idle behaviour or speed but better and better hardware is giving us better insight into what harsh braking is or harsh acceleration or harsh cornering and so on. We can begin to look through more of the different aspects of driver behaviour as the hardware improves.”

Indeed the solutions today are becoming ever more advanced. “The technology available now is able to provide businesses with a complete approach to driver improvement. Pre-trip, it provides motorists with best practice advice on how to drive safely and fuel-efficiently. Direct feedback and driving advice can be offered during the trip to actively coach the driver, through technology such as our OptiDrive 360,” adds Gould.

“This technology has helped slashed fuel consumption by 10% for ventilation product manufacturer EnviroVent and by 11% for gas distribution giant SGN.

Developments in driver behaviour improvement technologies have helped revolutionise the performance and safety of mobile workforces in recent years and this trend shows few signs of abating,” he expands.

“Five year’s ago it was tough to view info on a map in real time,” explains Kerr.

 

“Now we can not only know the drivers behaviour, but we can view it in the context of the overall business. How many stops did he make today that were actual work orders? What portion of his day was spent on work orders versus other activity?”

“Firms can use modern telematics to also determine who is driving safely and who is heading towards an expensive accident. Being able to truly identify dangerous drivers and improve overall safety is a monumental shift forward.”

“Lastly, the world has gone mobile. Truly advanced telematics vendors have fully fledged, rich and robust mobile apps that run on both IOS and Android.

These provide info at the fingertips for managers and can be even be very useful to give to the drivers themselves so they can see first hand the results of the choices they make while driving.”

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  Field Service News (sponsored by IFS)
Title Standing alone or part of a bigger picture?

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Synopsis:

The benefits of adopting a scheduling solution for field service companies are well documented. Increases in efficiency and productivity are matched by clear and tangible return on investment, whilst enhanced service delivery standards lead to greater customer satisfaction.

However, scheduling solutions come in a number of different flavours including manual, semi-automated and fully dynamic plus there is the consideration of whether to opt for an integrated scheduling engine or a stand alone 'best-of-breed' solution. So which is best for your organisation?

Overview:

For those that have already implemented a scheduling tool as part of their field service delivery, whether it be a fully dynamic system or something simpler that is designed to assist a human dispatcher rather than fully automate the dispatch process, it is almost certain that there will have been some important savings made in key performance areas.

However, there is another perhaps equally important argument for implementing some form of scheduling tool – the impact it will have on a company’s ability to deliver the highest levels of service excellence.

We live in an age where service is absolutely a key differentiator between similar competing brands.

It is certainly fair to say that the consumer of these early few decades of the twenty first century is more empowered, more knowledgeable and far more demanding than ever before.

 

But does this translate across from our consumer lives into our working environments?

We have already seen the consumerisation of technology within the working space and very simply the mind-set of many is “If Amazon can guarantee to deliver products to me within 60 minutes for no extra charge why can’t my service provider improve his Service Level Agreements (SLA) so I can expect an engineer on site within hours rather than days?”

So in a world of high customer expectations can field service companies afford not to assess their own scheduling set up and see what solutions are available?

Almost certainly not because they can be assured that their competitors most likely will be doing so at some point in the near future, such are the clear benefits identified in any given case study on the implementation of a scheduling solution.

However, scheduling solutions come in many different flavours and across the following pages we shall look at some of the considerations field service companies must take into account when selecting a solution that is right for their organisation.

This white paper looks at:

• The different types of scheduling engine available
• Selecting which is right for your organisation
• Stand alone solutions versus integrated
• What differentiates scheduling engines?
• What advancements should we be looking for in a scheduling engine?

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  FieldAware
Title: Making the move to mobility: the digitilaisation of field service

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Synopsis

Field service organisations have always embraced technology, and the rate at which technology has developed in recent years has led to true revolution within our industry...

Providing both a comprehensive overview and practical advice on how you and your organisation can improve efficiency and productivity amongst your mobile workforce this white paper explore a number of key areas including:

• Extending your back office into the field
• Empowering your field workers
• Focussing on the right mobility tools for your business

Published by FieldAware this white paper covers the key considerations service leaders should focus on to ensure they able to harness the power of this new wave of mobility in field service management...

To access your copy of this great resource simply click the link above and complete the brief form to register.

Overview

Field service organisations have always embraced technology, being early adopters of field service management software since it was introduced in the late 1970s.

Originally designed as on-premise, server-based scheduling solutions, the software was very much focused on enabling the back office to improve the efficiency of work order scheduling and dispatch. Technicians however, had only limited access to job and customer information due to the cost and performance limitations of existing devices (proprietary handheld devices or laptops) and networks.

The mobile evolution has shifted this balance. With the widespread adoption of smartphones, for example, over the last decade, digital mobile devices now form an integral part of both work and personal lives. Add to this the proliferation of tablets in the last mobility wave five years ago with the introduction of the iPad and most companies now use some form of mobile device. This use may be a mix of smartphones, tablets and laptops, but as such the focus of the service work has now moved significantly on to the field technician.

Extending the back office into the field

Although the technician is the “new” priority for field service organisations, back office processes remain essential components of any service operation. The right mobility solution gives the whole organisation the ability to manage the workflow seamlessly and keeps all operational elements connected.

For the back office, a mobile solution which easily integrates into existing systems is critical, as often within a field service organisation a mix of best of breed solutions are employed due to the niche nature of the work carried out. This can often mean that systems are used in isolation and data from one system doesn’t always assimilate with others. An integrated mobile solution means that the two-way flow of data and information is captured just once and in a consistent and efficient way.

Empowering the field worker

Managers and technicians, alike, report that the key to any technology implementation is ease of use. Taking time to learn new, complicated ways of working puts up barriers to adoption which workers may well look to by-pass and either go back to the way things used to be done or patch together their own and disparate ways of using the various solutions.

Equally both older technicians and newer more technology-savvy workers may resist the change, but with a solution that is easy to use the implementation is easier and quicker adoption inevitably means a better ROI.

Implementing mobility and the next evolution

While it is recognised that most companies now use some form of mobility, it is also acknowledged that the majority still do so in a basic way; to enable a checklist approach to their work. Those that still work with paper-based systems report they will look to move to digital mobile platforms in the near future, understanding this disadvantage affects their ability to be competitive.

Focus on the right mobility solution

Whether you are looking at developing a current mobility strategy or introducing a mobility solution for the first time, how do you choose the right software for your business with the many solutions on offer today?

From working with a range of companies in different industries, FieldAware have found that whatever type of field service organisation you manage there are some principals that cut across the different requirements and these are revealed in this section.

Focus on performance

The face of field service has changed. Technicians are the priority, and they need the tools and access to the information that will transform them from corporate overhead to revenue and profit generating brand proponents.

Technology has changed. The world has “gone mobile”. Smartphones and tablets are powerful and relatively inexpensive, and the networks that support them are fast and reliable.

Mobile apps must have capabilities which take the technicians’ role into account, without forgetting the back office. Cloud-based web applications deliver advanced capabilities (scheduling and dispatch; asset, parts, customer and roles and rights [security] management; employee time tracking and comprehensive reporting) and must be easy to use and easy to integrate with existing ERP, CRM and accounting systems

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For more detailed information on each of these topics and a how you can better harness mobility in your field service operations click here and download the white paper in full now!

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Verisae CEO Jerry Dolinsky talks exclusively to Kris Oldland about why IoT is the future of field service.  However it is not something we can jump straight into  by just flipping a few switches he warns...

From within the opening salvo of my conversation with Verisae CEO, Jerry Dolinsky it is clear that the Verisae mission isn’t a humble one. His view of the world is of one that is changing, and one which is doing so rapidly - and he sees Verisae sitting firmly at the heart of much of that change.

“Our vision is that we want to connect up every facility and every asset and connect those assets to every service team around the world via IoT products,” he explains - without doubt that he and his team can in fact achieve this feat.

However, IoT is just one part of their overall strategy.

 In reality Verisae actually have three major solutions.

 

The first of these is a rich asset management and facility maintenance solution which boasts a particularly healthy client list including the likes of supermarket giants, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose, Tesco and  Co-Op within the UK alone.

On the back of this platform they then stepped into the IoT space, initially working alongside Sainsbury’s on an IoT suite that is to date monitoring over 70,000 pieces for equipment, checking units for condition - whether it be for food quality, food safety, or simply because a unit is consuming too much energy.

The final piece of the puzzle is mobile workforce management, which very much sits in the model of traditional scheduling, dispatch and mobile tools as well as optimisation from both product and resources perspective etc.

Given their broad range of offerings, Dolinsky is perfectly placed to share an opinion on how technology is driving service forward.

Is there a particular technology taking the lead in the evolution we are seeing, or is it more the coming together of many technologies developing at once that is the major driving factor in change?

“There are really four compelling things that are forcing change,” Dolinsky asserts.

“Firstly there is the lowering cost of mobile and BYOD, where I no longer need to go and spend $3000 dollars on a rugged mobile device for mobile field work.”

“Then there is big data - I just had our user conference in the UK three weeks ago where we brought all our customers together and the next day we brought a  number of their contractors and OEMs together. What we got back from the customers was they are continually looking to do things better, faster, cheaper.”

“That was the message they wanted us to take to the OEMs and contractors.”

“When we sat down with the contractors they said if the compelling event is to do it better, faster, cheaper then we need Big Data. We need to leverage IoT, we need to leverage mobile and finally Cloud based solutions are what are enabling us to do that.”

 

Of course in any sector there are early adopters and laggards. However, at least within the sectors that Verisae are primarily operating in (retail, utilities and telco) the need to embrace technology has become requisite believes Dolinsky.

“Lets focus on the grocery sector within the UK -    which is highly competitive with everybody across the corner from each other,” he begins.

“What do you need to do? You need to offer the highest level of customer service, you need to reduce food loss due to equipment failure, you need to ensure that the quality and safety of the food is of the highest standards and you need to get the longest life out of my equipment at the lowest operating costs.”

“So I think that everybody at least from that sector, has seen the implementation of automation technologies as imperative for a while but because of the competing capital costs it was just never affordable to do.”

 

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Tell us your thoughts on IoT in Field Service and you could win one of three £50 Amazon vouchers! Click here to take part now

 

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Of course in retail as with many other sectors there is a complicated service chain which can involve end users (the supermarkets themselves for instance) but also OEMs and third party contractors.

However, the same pressures exist for all three further driving the need for IoT and automation, although amongst the contractor and OEM communities take up for such technology appears to be somewhat slower.

“OEMs and contractors know it is a very competitive market. Supermarket giant can push back and say  ‘You’ve got to reduce costs’ - the only way the can make money is to reduce overall operating costs.” Dolinsky explains

“I had 90 of these service providers in a room who all did business with my customers and what they simply said was margins are getting tighter while our customers are expecting more. Yet when I asked them what tools they are using todaymany of them said they were still paper based. If you have 100 techs out there using paper - how are you going to get it better, faster cheaper?”

“The only way to do that is to automate things.”

Indeed, good implementation of technology can yield better service standards for the customer whilst reducing the cost of providing maintenance. Something Dolinsky was able to demonstrate with a real-life example.

“Refrigeration units within a Sainsbury’s grocery store need to hold a set temperature for different produce, in order to keep the food inside fresh across it’s shelf life. “

“So how we automate things here - for both sides the contractor and the owner of the equipment, is through a rules engine that is monitoring the temperature and basically says when that fridge goes above a defined threshold what do you want to do?” He explains.

“In the case of Sainsbury’s there is then an automated call which directs the store to a problem in one of their units.

 

“The local store receives that message and they can have a look at the unit and see if the door has been left open or they are restocking - both of which would cause the temperature to go up. If that’s the case an engineer doesn’t need to be sent out - they can resolve the issue right at the location.”

“Alternatively if the guys on site can’t see an obvious reason why the temperature is rising then the system will send it to an individual who can connect remotely to the unit.

“They can then frame up all the telemetry data, what’s happening with compressors and things that could be going wrong, and the person behind the screen could recommend a temporary fix or control change without the expense of an emergency site visit.”

“Just like you would change the temperature on the thermostat in your house for example.” The system would then continue to monitor the issue, but corrective action could be taken in a more planned way. Especially useful if the issue occurs overnight when the store is closed.”

So there is a clear benefit for contractors and OEMs turning to technology to help them not only meet their clients growing expectations but also reduce their own expenses. But it is not just a case of switching on an IoT button.

The technology must be introduced systematically if it is going to work.

Again Dolinsky has a real-life example to hand just to illustrate this point. This time it is from the other side of the Atlantic as we take trash compactor manufacturer, Bace as a case study.

“They came to us and said we want to move into IoT,” Dolinsky begins.

“I said great we have a solution for you where we can monitor your trash compactors, tell if it’s working or if it’s not, how full it is etc”

“The first question we asked them was ‘can you tell us where the units are?’ Can you tell us the physical location, how many are there, the model numbers and the  year they were manufactured?”

“They couldn’t so we explained that it would be tough for them to go to IoT at this stage because the first thing you need to do for IoT is to connect up to a piece of equipment and that’s hard if you don’t know exactly where it is.”

 

“So first off we got them working with our asset management solution, so they can track the overall life expectancy of that piece of equipment and the overall maintenance cost of it.”

“The next question we asked them was ‘what is your mobile workforce management solution?’  The response was that the engineers were still all on paper. So again advised them that we’d also need to get them automated before they could move to IoT.”

“We use a term that we make big data small. Having a report at the end of the week that tells you what’s wrong and why doesn’t provide a lot of value. It has to be real-time to change things and get the right technician with the right parts where they’re needed as effectively as possible.”

What is clear is that IoT is set to have a profound place in the future of field service and for those companies not already embracing it - the need to find time for putting together a development roadmap to enable you to an IoT enabled future is becoming more pressing with each passing day.

 

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Tell us your thoughts on IoT in Field Service and you could win one of three £50 Amazon vouchers! Click here to take part now

 

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As part of FieldAware’s current mobility campaign Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News, caught up with Steve Mason, Chief Revenue Officer with FieldAware, to get his insight into what to expect from mobility as tool in modern field service... 

KO: So why focus on mobility?

SM: With advancements in field service management software going hand-in-hand with the mobile evolution, the focus in service operations is quite firmly now on the field worker themselves.

This is quite right too. The technician or engineer has long been the face of the organisation and often the only direct contact a customer will have, so the customer experience they are able to deliver counts for a great deal.

The technician needs a mobile solution which helps them to do their job in the best possible way. The workflow to and from the back office has to be seamless as this quick and easy access to information enables better decision-making and ultimately improved resolution.

Through integration with other back office systems the field worker has access to the job history and customer records allowing for a more detailed understanding of not only the task at hand but also what has happened before and why.

Knowledge of the different elements of the task are often fundamental in the delivery of service excellence and turning up to site with this information at hand or having access to it, as we know from business or personal experience, delivers an improved customer experience.

KO: We hear too much about companies investing in fsm solutions and not maximising the value – what do you recommend?

SM: From working with a range of companies, who are either looking at developing their mobile strategy or starting out from scratch, we’ve found that there are some common principals.

Ease of integration is key. You don’t need to have to think about changing your whole field service solution. Extending the life of current systems is all important so look at mobile solutions which will leverage and expand their use.

Implementation needs to be as quick and straightforward as possible. A lengthy implementation process will defeat its objective. So being up and running in days, not months, should be the realistic goal - delivering a much faster ROI.

Any mobility solution should be easy to use. Overly-complicated systems will be bypassed and worked around or ignored all together. The easier to use, the quicker the adoption and the better the ROI.

All mobility software needs to be agile and able to move with the next generation of mobility. Developments are moving fast, so providers keeping their solutions up to speed is important.

It is crucial for any mobility solution to work across mixed digital devices.  The apps will need to work across different operating systems too.

Vitally, mobility is about the anytime, anywhere access to information and it is essential that your solution makes it as easy as possible to achieve this.

KO: What next for mobility?

SM: We’re excited about embedded communications in mobility, as with customer expectations higher than ever, the ability to streamline the service process and deliver faster, better service creates a richer customer experience.

Real-time communication technology, combined with field service automation solutions will bring service businesses an entirely new way to communicate across the organisation and with customers.

As an example, innovative collaboration tools improve task completion through real-time contact with remote experts through a smartphone or tablet, for improved first-time resolution rates. These capabilities are akin to augmented reality without the prohibitive costs of the hardware. Remote experts can assist multiple technicians, so speeding up the completion and accuracy of the work, while balancing the cost of an organisation’s service delivery.

At FieldAware we see this as a game changer for any company focused on enhancing the customer experience.

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Want to know more? Click this link to download FieldAware's latest white paper 'Making the move to mobility' now

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Rugged comes in many different flavours from Business Rugged to Ultra Rugged. In the latest feature in our Rugged Decoded series Kris Oldland takes a look at each of the main different classes of rugged devices and outlines what level of rugged is right for your field technicians...

As we continue our series looking at the various elements that define what makes a rugged device rugged, and try to decipher what the various alpha numeric codes and other associated technical jargon actually mean in reality, we now turn our attention to perhaps one of the most confusing areas of terminology – namely rugged definitions.

So let’s take a broad look at what exactly companies mean by the terms semi-rugged, business rugged, fully rugged and ultra rugged, highlighting examples of each asset class, and their possible use cases.

Business Rugged:

The business rugged device is the first entry into the rugged sector, although business rugged devices essentially offer little more protection and reliability than a consumer device in protective casings. Generally business rugged devices are designed for travel use, but are not sealed and prepared in the same manner as a semi-rugged or fully rugged device.

A business rugged device will have shock mounted hard disk drives and magnesium casings, to protect them from light drops and knocks but they are not waterproofed and sealed. They can survive a small fall, but not necessarily a drop of greater than 18 inches.

They do, however, tend to have the most flexibility of rugged devices when it comes to style and performance, since a greater range of parts can be used as part of their design. A business rugged device is a generally regarded as being geared towards traveling executives and other people who will be on the road often, but who will not be using their device as part of fieldwork on a regular basis. Therefore business rugged devices are not ideally suited for most field service roles.

Semi-Rugged:

A semi-rugged device is a standard notebook, smartphone or tablet that has been adapted to rugged use.

Semi-rugged devices will have gone through a process known as ruggedization. This will includes giving them a magnesium case, a shock or gel-mounted hard disk drive, and a spill-proof keyboard.

Such devices are able to withstand reasonably high and low temperatures ranges, however they may suffer a decrease in performance in those environments. For example, the gel in the screen might freeze at very cold temperatures, reducing visibility for a short period of time.

Semi-rugged devices are still very good for travel and outdoor use, and are best for people who travel often and need to occasionally work outside, but who don’t want the higher cost of a fully rugged laptop.

Therefore, they can be a good option for field engineers who are largely working in indoor client sites, such as those working in office based maintenance and repair sectors like print services, vending machine repair or IT infrastructure.

Fully Rugged:

A fully rugged device has been designed from the ground up with one overall purpose in mind: to be able to function anywhere, even in outdoor, dusty, or extreme weather conditions.

Each component is carefully weatherproofed and sealed to prevent salt, sand, moisture, or other environmental hazards from affecting it. The screens are specially designed to reduce glare, making it possible to use the device outdoors and in bright sunlight.

These devices can typically withstand freezing temperatures and heat up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit and are able to still function without a significant reduction in operating performance in a greater range of temperatures than a semi-rugged device.

Fully rugged devices will also generally have been tested to MIL STD 801G which will include drop testing across numerous different angles from a set height, which means that the device is capable of withstanding most drops and knocks likely to occur in a a field service engineers day.

Fully rugged devices are ideally suited for field engineers working outdoors and in more challenging environments such as those in utilities, construction, oil and gas or anybody else who is likely to need a computer outside and in an extreme working environment.

Ultra Rugged:

Ultra rugged devices are the most rugged devices available. They are tested to be able to withstand even greater drops, be fully submersible and impervious to dust ingress and are essentially able to operate within the most inhospitable environments on Earth with little to no reduction in operational performance.

Generally for most field service requirements ultra rugged devices are perhaps a touch of overkill as they are generally designed primarily for military use, however, field technicians working in environments such as deserts or at sea including oil rigs might also want the uncompromising reliability that an ultra rugged device can provide.

 

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What happens when two IT giants using different versions of Tesseract’s service management software decide to merge? In 2015, IT solutions provider XMA found out by embarking on a major systems amalgamation with Alan Sugar’s company Viglen.

In late 2013, Alan Sugar, business veteran and star of hit BBC TV show The Apprentice, decided to sell major PC builder Viglen to XMA’s parent company, Westcoast Holdings. Westcoast took the decision to dissolve Viglen as a corporate entity but allow the Viglen brand to endure as part of XMA.

XMA uses Tesseract’s service management software to govern its print services division, namely the installation and maintenance of printers and photocopiers under tailored, all-inclusive printing and copying contracts. Viglen uses Tesseract’s software to manage the production of its PCs, as well as all warranty and maintenance contracts offered with them. At the time of the takeover, XMA and Viglen were using two different versions of Tesseract’s software, both of which were out of date.

A skill set overlap

As the two companies came together, XMA realised that it now had two customer service desks with a major skill set overlap. One was at the XMA head office in Nottingham. The other was at the former Viglen head office in St. Albans, which has remained the centre of operations for Viglen PC production and maintenance since the takeover. (Famously, it’s also where the BBC films the ‘walk of shame’ sequences on The Apprentice.)

“In terms of dealing with customer support requests, we found that our agents in Nottingham were using the same skills as our agents in St. Albans,” says Vaughan Tyas, IT Manager at XMA. “The problem was having two very different Tesseract systems to look at. We decided that we needed to rationalise this so that agents in both locations could take calls for printer maintenance and PC warranty and maintenance.”

 

This was the main reason why XMA saw fit to merge the two Tesseract systems and bring all the data for XMA and Viglen under one umbrella.

A step up from the old systems

As a result of the Tesseract merge, XMA still has two service desks across two sites, but they share a unified service management software system. Each site now uses a single toolset to record calls, diarise and dispatch engineers, dramatically improving efficiency.

Furthermore, XMA was able to upgrade to the latest version of Tesseract’s Service Centre, SC5.1. Previously it was using SC5, while Viglen was using the much older SC4.2. The upgrade to SC5.1 has brought a range of improvements, including enhanced task automation and a new user interface with simpler navigation. Unlike previous versions, SC5.1 is also completely browser-independent, allowing users to run the software on any browser on any device.

Still, the biggest benefit for XMA is the Advanced Program Interface (API) that comes with SC5.1. Previously, Viglen was relying on a variety of bespoke mechanisms to allow Tesseract to communicate with other Viglen systems and pieces of software. These mechanisms were created by Viglen using old, inflexible technology and could not be developed or evolved. This restricted the company’s ability to upgrade its service management software and was largely the reason why Viglen was still using SC4.2—originally released in 2001—at the time of the takeover.

 

These outmoded systems integrations have now been removed and replaced by the flexible, Tesseract-supported API that is built into SC5.1, which means all the integrations are maintained in-house by Tesseract.

“The new API is so much more versatile than the bespoke integrations we had before,” says Vaughan Tyas. “It means we’re no longer in a cul de sac if we need to upgrade again.”

What were the challenges?

The biggest challenge XMA faced when embarking on the Tesseract merge and upgrade was dealing with the data from the two systems. In particular, each system had different serialised product and service codes for the same actions. These codes needed to be the same in order for XMA to use SC5.1 as one unified system.

To accommodate, Tesseract was able to implement a data translation algorithm to synchronise the codes and bring the two systems in line with one another.

How have things improved? 

Now that the systems merge and upgrade is complete, XMA has seen a substantial rise in operational efficiency and productivity.

Staff are no longer working two systems, dramatically cutting back on time and manpower, and the company doesn’t need to over-resource to make sure it has agents who know how to use each system. In addition, SC5.1’s new and improved functionality has made a number of the company’s processes quicker and easier.

 

“The other good thing is that for our agents, it’s just business as usual,” says Vaughan Tyas. “The implementation was smooth and the training was easy, because they were all so familiar with the previous Tesseract systems—and SC5.1 is even more user-friendly than those were.”

 

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Manuel Grenacher, CEO Coresystems takes a look at how crowdsourcing could potentially be a revolution in delivering field service as and when it’s needed...

Imagine a customer calls your customer service line and says he has a problem with his router. He wants someone there to fix it, and he wants them there yesterday. They’re upset because they’ve called your office several times for the past few months requesting service.

Your dispatcher tells the customer that the next available appointment is in two days. Your customer starts screaming at the dispatcher saying that it is unacceptable to have such a long wait time for an appointment.

In a world where a ride can be ordered on demand and Amazon will deliver almost any product you want the same-day you order it, customers’ expectations for the type of service they want to receive from businesses continue to grow more demanding. And timeliness and flexibility often come high on the list of customer desires, even if field service companies did not initially consider these things to be customer priorities. Since field service customers’ hopes are now through the roof, there should be a new way of delivering on-demand field service to meet those high expectations.

Creating an enjoyable customer experience is important for the success of any field service business. To create this experience, field service organizations must prioritize coming up with strategies to deliver instant service that’s fast, personal and predictive.

Service should be more predictive

Gone are the days of waiting around for machines to break, then sending field service workers to the rescue at the next available appointment time. Because of IoT sensors and smart machines, preventive and predictive maintenance are what customers want. Field service workers should be able to predict machine failures and stop problems before they occur, therefore preventing downtime. The pros of predictive maintenance are numerous.

A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy, found that predictive maintenance results in a 35% to 45% reduction in downtime and a 20% to 25% increase in production within the oil and gas industry.

Field service software enables predictive maintenance by collecting and analysing data so service visits can be planned ahead of time.

Predictive maintenance means no more unnecessary truck rolls. Service appointments are scheduled only when needed; at times when a machine has been predicted to fail.

On-demand field service workforce

No matter how an organisation decides to enable predictive maintenance, predicting service needs to be accompanied by a scalable workforce. In order to dispatch field service workers on demand, companies can use crowdsourcing platforms like Mila. The company builds service crowds of pre-vetted, trusted, and qualified technicians who are ready to provide service at a moment’s notice.

For example, Swisscom, a major telecommunications company, is already using this external on-demand workforce consisting of vetted individuals (Mila Friends) and professional service providers (Mila Pros) to help customers with setting up their Wi-Fi, troubleshooting or explaining new products. Having these kinds of workers means they can give customers service that is quicker and more flexible.

The Mila Crowd is most often active in the evening during the week or on the weekends, outside of regular office hours.

More flexible and faster service

In the past, companies have relied on dispatchers to fill their technicians’ schedules with appointments for the day or week.

However, this type of scheduling means all of your workers may be booked up if there’s a spike in problems or customer requests at a certain time. Additionally, if there are certain times of year that are more demanding for your business than others, this style of dispatching can cause long customer wait times for appointments.

By using an on-demand workforce, companies can react to customer requests more efficiently. Workforce-as-a-service also means field service organisations can save money, since they are able to scale their services without having to invest in hiring and training new full-time employees.

Provide more proactive service

Have you ever been at a restaurant and needed a napkin, silverware, or ketchup to eat your food, only to have your server appear out of nowhere and deliver those items? How amazing does it feel to know your server anticipated your need and gave you something you wanted and needed without you having to ask for it?

Customers now prefer service that stops problems before they occur. By implementing preventive and predictive maintenance, companies are no longer just being reactive. Being proactive means offering individualised service and personalised help to customers with consideration for their specific needs.

It also means customer engagement is higher since companies no longer have to wait for customers to come to them with a problem. Field service workers can monitor IoT-connected sensors and smart machines send notifications when a failure is going to occur.

Being proactive, rather than reactive is a better way to run a field service business in today’s market. And workforce-as-a-service makes this possible.

 

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