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The selection of a field service management system that meets the needs of your company is one of incredible importance. In this installation of our serialisation of The Service Manager Handbook (2015 edition) published by Advanced Field Service we look at some of the key considerations field service managers should be aware of when selecting their own field service management systems... 

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Download the full 40 page ebook for free by simply clicking here and completing the brief registration form

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Whatever your goals – growth, increased efficiency, cost savings or improved customer satisfaction – you differentiate your business by demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness to customers’ needs.

The latest advances in service management technology provide businesses with increased opportunities to automate processes, uncover new revenue streams and add value for customers.

The power to transform your business

Questions to ask your management team:

• When was the last time we thoroughly investigated and evaluated our business processes?
• Can we accurately pinpoint where time is being spent or which are the most/least profitable areas of the business?
• Can we say with confidence that all of our teams are consistently working at optimum efficiency?[/unordered_list] 

Successful service managers maximise their use of available technologies to eliminate unnecessary manual processes, such as making multiple entries of the same information. Freed from laborious, manual administration, such as timesheets, your staff can spend time on higher value tasks.

Moving to a modern, secure and reliable service management solution will enable your organisation to significantly improve its productivity through streamlining processes and cutting costs.

A note on cloud: Cloud-based solutions, where IT resources and services are accessed via the web, remove the need for the software to be physically located on your premises or in a data centre. Increasingly, service businesses are using cloud-based applications and enabling their engineers to access and enter data via the cloud field.

Finding the right software for you

With what might seem an overabundance of software providers promising the earth, how can you go about finding the solution that’s right for your business, both now and in the future?

Here are some pointers...

Prioritise: Internally agree which processes you are looking to automate and improve, and make these requirements your priority. Think, too, about where you want to be and what you want to be able to do tomorrow, so you don’t get ‘boxed in’ by your purchase within a few short years.

Get buy in: Establish a product steering group that includes people from across the business who will either use or be affected by the implementation of a new system.

Requirements: Look at your requirements against the supplier’s feature lists.

Integration:Modern software solutions can no longer afford to work in isolation. Explore the areas where information needs to be shared across multiple systems.

Culture: Do not underestimate how the culture of your company will be affected. Explain to your staff the rationale for the change and how it will benefit them.

Expertise: Pick a supplier who has relevant experience in your industry and can provide references.

Create a shortlist: Once you’ve compared potential software packages against your key requirements, draw up a shortlist of your preferred vendors, who you will invite to demonstrate how their solution could work for your business. Ideally, this should be three maximum.

Planning: Be realistic about the time it will take for your system to be fully up and running and how much involvement will be required internally.

Support: Ensure your supplier provides you with timely ongoing support once you have implemented the solution.

Supplier stability: Pick a supplier with the resources to support all of their clients with day-to-day technical assistance, while still having a dedicated development team for producing new versions to continuously improve the software and keep it aligned to changing industry requirements.

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Download the full 40 page ebook for free by simply clicking here and completing the brief registration form

 

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The UK not-for-profit group The Service Community, run by service professionals with the simple aim of sharing knowledge within the community,  continues to go from strength to strength. Their latest conference held at Aston Business School, discussed Big Data.  Community member Chris Farnarth of Allocate Software reports on the day's presentations.

The Service Community’s Aston University Special Event focused on “Big Data” attracted over thirty guests to participate in a lively forum of discussion with a range of academic and practitioner based perspectives. The host for this Big Data themed event was Aston University, enerously made available to us by Community favourite Professor Tim Baines and Jill Forrest.

The Community continues to thrive with over 140 registered members and each event drives more involvement and new participation. Four key note presentations were delivered offering insight into the ubiquitous subject matter of Big Data.

Aston Business School’s Dr Andreas Schroeder opened with a truly engaging and interactive keynote presentation that reviewed the role that data plays in developing basic, intermediate and advanced services, in particular the technical, organisational and strategic considerations a company should consider.

In the second keynote presentation, Andrew Harrison explained that big data is a cost to Rolls Royce and is only turned to value through knowledge by contributing to three areas of their business:[ordered_list style="decimal"]

1. Creating value potential in the design of a product
2. Maximising value in the use of product
3. Refreshing value a product’s life and recovering value its end of life

The audience by this stage were truly engaged, challenging perspectives and generating a liely interaction.

 

Andy Reid energised us further with another perspective of Big Data and how Pitney Bowes has used it with great effect.

Andy set the scene explaining the “4 V’s” of Big Data; Volume, Velocity, Variety and Veracity and went on to demonstrate how Pitney Bowes is developing infrastructure to make its own operations more efficient through its use of data, as well as offering location services that can help the company monetize their big data.

Our final key note was presented by Mark Noble of Inca Digital who told his story of how using the data already generated by their high tech digital printers, they were able to dramatically improve the productivity of their Service organisation.

The key lesson being it’s not the quantity of data that is important, but knowing what to do with it!

For example he showed how by combining 3 key indicators of machine performance, his team were able to prioritise service actions on the worst performing machines.

Thus saving money and improving customer satisfaction.

Once again, The Service Community delivered on its objectives. The content of the meetings is the life-blood of The Community, followed closely by the generosity of participants to offer facilities and key skills such as PR, marketing promotion or other services that will keep The Service Community alive.

To this point, the next event is proposed for March 2016 – date and location to be confirmed.

 

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Sumair Dutta of The Service Council explores the findings of their latest IoT research...

Of the near 70% of organisations in The Service Council’s (TSC) community with connected service (or M2M or IoT) projects in place in a 2015 research survey, 53% indicated that they have had remote access to machine data for over 5 years. In return, they have built improved responsive and predictive service delivery processes.

As organisations get more mature around the use of IoT-enabled data in service, they are beginning to identify the opportunity present in leveraging data across other areas of the organisation. This sharing strategy follows a maturity path, wherein engineering and product design are the initial beneficiaries before sales, marketing and other groups can access this data for revenue programs.

Inside the Enterprise
Organisations continue to be extremely silo’d and the use of IoT-generated data is no exception. Largely, service data is typically used by service and operations in an organised manner. Use outside of service tends to be mostly sporadic or ad hoc with a few exceptions. This will change, and the bullets below highlight areas of opportunity currently untapped by most service organisations.

Engineering[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• Improve quality of products tied to failure and performance information (currently done by 68% of respondents)
• Work with service teams to improve serviceability of products (currently done by 58% of respondents[/unordered_list]

Product Design and Systems Support[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• Track software versions and make necessary updates (currently done by 40% of respondents)
• Add/remove product features tied to usage (currently done by 19% of respondents)[/unordered_list]

Operations and Business Planning[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• Predict future business trends and plan resource needs (currently done by 36% respondents)
• Work with service teams to manage performance-based contracts (currently done by 40% of respondents)
•  Manage and administer pay-per-use[/unordered_list]

HR and Training[unordered_list style="bullet"]

•   Improve and modify training based on service event occurrence (currently done by 36% of respondents)
• Deliver real-time training during a service event (currently done by 23% of respondents)[/unordered_list]

Sales and Marketing[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• Improve account management with better access into customer usage of product and features (currently done minimally)
• Personalise messaging and content tied to customer preferences (done minimally)
• Recognise need for and build new services (currently done by 28% of respondents)[/unordered_list]

Supply Chain
[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• Manage inventory replenishment levels (currently done minimally)
•  Evaluate partner performance and isolate quality issues to supply chain link (currently done minimally)[/unordered_list]

Other teams such as compliance and finance cam also tap into these data streams for better results, but as with most maturity models, this takes time. Progress requires interest on behalf of non-service groups to tap into this data; the ability to easily acquire and analyse data; and a set of processes to use this data to enact business change. These changes aren’t usually part of the short-term goals provided to these teams. However, as organisations begin to take an integrated look at customer journeys and customer success, there will be better alignment of functional activities with broader organisation and customer objectives.[quote float="left"]Delivering value is extremely important, but so is selling the sizzle...[/quote]Outside the Enterprise
In increasing the reach of IoT investments, organisations still run into a large group of customers who are unwilling to connect. Security and regulatory concerns lend to this lack of commitment from customers but it also comes down to a fear of connectivity and the lack of understanding in the true value.

Most of the financial value discussed with remote monitoring accrues to the servicing organisation. While there are uptime and efficiency benefits for the end customer, these customers either have to pay more for it, or are unaware of the benefit provided. In some instances, customers believe they are receiving less value, as the service teams are less visible. Therefore, delivering value is extremely important, but so is selling the sizzle.

To this end, it is important to consistently provide customers with visibility into:[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• IoT infrastructure investments made to support their businesses
• Reporting tied to issue, failure and cost avoidance
• Data on asset usage and performance
• Strategies to maximize customer outcomes[/unordered_list]

More than 60% of those in TSC’s research with IoT deployments in place already provide operating and performance information to customers. Traditionally this data has been in the form of emailed reports featuring historical performance. Now, there is a greater emphasis on providing diagnostic information and transaction logs in a more real-time manner. In addition, organisations are also providing their customers with access to benchmarking data tied to the performance of other like assets or other like customers.

With the aid of this information, customers see additional value in connecting via IoT, on top of the improved service delivered by their servicing partner. It also opens up the door for co-innovation opportunities where the customer and the servicing organisation can create new relationship and value opportunities that benefit both. It is also worth noting that these data reports generate additional revenue. Fifty-five percent (55%) of TSC’s community with IoT deployments in place indicate that their customers currently pay for reporting and additional data that is provided by the servicing organisation.

As service organisations look to transition to become solution partners, they can greatly improve their positioning with customers with the aid of IoT-enabled performance data. However, there has to be a greater emphasis on collaboration and innovation around the use of IoT data to truly drive sustained enterprise and customer value.

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Our recent research run in partnership with ClickSoftware was focussed on understanding the appetite and prevalence of use of Cloud computing as a platform for field service management solutions. Here, in part three we turn our attention to those who have to date stayed away from the Cloud to understand their reasons for doing so....

 

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Missed the other features in this series?  Find Part One here and Part Two here

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Want to see the full picture? Download the full research report here!

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REMAINING ON PREMISE…

So let’s look in more detail at why some companies are remaining with an on premise field service management system?

To begin let’s return to our hypothesis that whilst on premise solutions are currently more in favour, the Cloud is growing in popularity and will continue to do so as companies slowly move from their current systems to more modern next-gen equivalents.

Again a strong indicator in support of this would be how long those companies which are still using on premise solutions have been with their existing system.

In fact when we look at the responses to this question we do indeed see a mirror of the same question put to those using a Cloud solution, with just 11% of companies having implemented their current system within the last year whilst 62% are using a system that is at least three years old.

 

Further to this we asked those using an on premise solution whether they were likely to consider a Cloud platform for the next iteration of their field service management solution.

Again the response re-affirmed a growing acceptance towards the Cloud with 69% of respondents indicating that they would in fact consider the the Cloud next time round.

Also if we compare this to our 2014 survey, where we asked the same question to those who weren’t using a Cloud based field service solution, we see that this figure has in fact increased by 15%. This adds further weight to the argument that acceptance of the Cloud for field service management is growing.

But whilst there may be evidence of the Cloud becoming more trusted for those who remain unconvinced it is the same issues that represent their biggest fears.

As per our 2014 survey, our research shows that once again Security is the biggest reason that some field service companies do not feel confident in turning to the Cloud with 38% of companies stating this is their greatest concern.

Connectivity issues are also a significant concern cited by 24% as being their number one fear.

 

However some worries around the Cloud do seem to be abating. Worries around integration with legacy systems have fallen from being cited by 37% of respondents in 2014 to just 15% in this year’s survey.

Another commonly cited reason for not moving to the Cloud last year was a desire to stay with an existing supplier.

However, in this year’s findings just 3% of respondents cited that as a reason they would not consider the Cloud. However, as referenced in the introduction almost all field service management software providers are now offering a Cloud based version of their existing software so perhaps this comes as little surprise.

The research also shows that for those companies that aren’t currently using a Cloud based field service management solution the reluctance to move to the Cloud isn’t restricted to the field service division.

In fact over half (52%) of those companies using an on-premise solution for their field service management system have no Cloud based systems at all.

So whilst it appears that the Cloud is indeed gaining momentum as a platform for field service management software, the biggest barrier to adoption for many remains concerns around security.

Of course well documented, high profile consumer breaches such as that of Apple’s iCloud add fuel to the flames and 58% of respondents admitted that incidents such as these influence their opinion of Cloud being used in the enterprise.

Yet in spite of this our research shows that as the Cloud matures perceptions are definitely changing.

Two thirds (66%) of our respondents admitted that they have become more open to the idea of Cloud being used in business in recent years whilst just 8% state that they have always felt the Cloud is too risky and that opinion hasn’t changed.

 

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Want to know more? Download the full research report here!

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As we continue our serialisation of The Service Manager Handbook (2015 edition) published by Advanced Field Service we look at mobile working and reporting...

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Download the full 40 page ebook for free by simply clicking here and completing the brief registration form

 

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Operating in a fast-moving environment doesn’t allow time for your engineers to wait until they’re back at the office to give you an update on their status. Having the ability to report onsite directly from their mobile device is invaluable.

With time-sheets, inspection sheets, job cards, expenses and invoices being completed on the spot, accurate data is fed back to the call-handling centre and engineers can move swiftly on to the next job. Live capture of information means that back-office systems have a constant stream of up-to-date information – reflecting the business as it stands today, not how it was days or even weeks ago.

Mobile software that works seamlessly hand-in-hand with your back-end service management software will give you the added benefit of instantly analysing the performance and productivity of your workers and can react immediately to any potential issues. You no longer have to be office-based to run your reports: this can be done at the touch of a button, whatever your location.

Sharing information with your customers

Mobile technology also enables you to share with your clients up-to-date information on your performance, with the latest stats and reports, demonstrating the value of your service.

If your service management system can provide this information in dashboard format, as opposed to spreadsheets, customers have the added reassurance of knowing that the data cannot have been manipulated at any point. This is a great selling point when tendering for new business or to extend a contract.

How are businesses like yours adopting mobile?

There is clear evidence of the wide scale take-up of mobile technology.

According to a recent Field Service News research project, commissioned by Advanced Field Service, far from encountering user resistance, it is a trend that is welcomed by engineers out in the field, as a way to make their workflow easier, enhance productivity and increase first-time fix.

Key findings of the survey include:

• 46% of field service companies are now using a mix of different digital devices – many are now in their second, third or even fourth generation of digital device for their field engineers
• 100% of companies still using pen and paper feel at a commercial disadvantage
• 57% of field engineers state that their digital device makes their workflow easier
• 81% of field engineers are happy to be using digital devices as part of their daily tools

Making mobile work for you

 The benefits of adopting an integrated mobile and service management solution are obvious. So, why then, do some mobile initiatives fail to become an integral part of the business? There are four common pitfalls that can impede the smooth transition to mobile:

Lack of integration

Poor integration between the field and back-office systems can make the mobile solution inherently unstable and lead to a disparity between the situation out-in-the-field, on stock, engineers’ timesheets and resource utilisation, and your back-office systems for scheduling, billing and reporting.

User resistance

Sometimes the biggest barrier to a successful roll-out of mobile technology is a psychological one. However, as research shows, engineers can be some of the most positive adopters of mobile.

Unnecessary complexity

Organisations embarking on mobile initiatives can attempt too much too soon.

Lack of synchronization

Whether working in a remote part of the country or stuck onsite in a basement, there are bound to be times when your engineers have poor connection or no signal at all. If the facility isn’t available to work offline, engineers operating in less-than-ideal conditions will be forever catching up, entering data later in the day.

So how can you overcome these barriers and what can you do to improve your chances of successful mobile adoption across your entire organisation?

Choose a system with mobile technology at its core

Avoid field service management systems where mobile functionality has been bolted on at a later stage. A seamless flow of information from the field to the back-office is essential.

Encourage user adoption

Engage your engineers at an early stage of the mobile implementation process through team meetings and later through formal training. In the Field Service News research, of those companies that did involve their field workers in the selection process the overwhelming majority (93%) felt that doing so had aided adoption of their chosen solution.

Keep it simple

Don’t try to introduce too much functionality too quickly. A gradual phased approach can in the long run be more effective than a ‘big bang’ implementation.

Connectivity is key

To be fully effective, your engineers need to be able to use the mobile solution offline as well as online. It must offer the ability to store information such as photographs, worksheets and customers’ signatures that are entered onsite, and then automatically transmit this information back to the call-handling centre once coverage is regained.

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Download the full 40 page ebook for free by simply clicking here and completing the brief registration form

 

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This excellent infographic published by Cox Motor Parts shows us that the Driverless Vehicle is coming ever closer...

 

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Our Industry Leaders interviews series continues  with an exclusive interview by Field Service NEws Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland with ServicePower CEO Marne Martin. In Part 1  they talk about the thinking behind the development of  the new NEXUS FS^TM  software, and the importance of user-friendly interfaces and deep functionality...

It’s been a busy time for the team at ServicePower, a company heavily focused on the constant evolution of their own suite of products, with a clear strategy of exploring and harnessing the latest emerging technologies and implementing them within their own solutions aimed solely at the field service management sector.

The recent release of NEXUS FS^TM  an enterprise-class, cloud-based field service management solution designed to be suitable for any sized service business is the latest addition to the Service Power line. It incorporates comprehensive mobile dispatch functionality that sits well with the dynamic scheduling engine that ServicePower is perhaps best known for.

In Marne Martin,  ServicePower have a focused and savvy CEO, with a strong background in highly senior roles, with both a passion for innovation and an understanding of what it takes to drive business forward. It is clear that Martin has a clear vision of the road map ServicePower needs to be taking both in the short to medium term as well and way beyond.

“We’ve really taken what we have -  a twenty year deep and rich experience in field service - and have accelerated it into new product development and innovation of our existing applications, to find new ways of approaching the pain points and needs of the field service industry,” Martin begins as we discuss where exactly ServicePower are in their development right now.

“Especially, the last twelve to eighteen months we’ve really accelerated,” she continues.  “We acquired the source code for mobility in January 2013 and we’ve actually built out a leading mobility product, so we’ve been able to leapfrog our competition in many regards.”

Our conversation is taking place just after the announcement of NEXUS FS^TM  which has a definitively fresh and modern feel with a lot of focus on the user experience. This is something that will sit across the suite of ServicePower products in the not too distant future and is clearly a consideration for the development of their product line.

The importance of the User Interface

“With the existing applications we’re about half way through migrating the User Interfaces to the really great new look and feel of NEXUS FS^TM . We’re using angular JS and Bootstrap but we’re looking at new technologies all the time and it’s a really beautiful UI,” Martin comments.  “Even when you think about what Salesforce and some of the really big players are doing, I feel we are really at the cutting edge now.”

UI has become an integral element of what makes a successful business application in today’s modern environment and this is something Martin is acutely aware of.

“You can’t underestimate how radically Apple has changed everything. With what they put out with the iPhone and how it looks and feels. You certainly have leaders in software that really care about user experience and UI like Salesforce, but I think Apple with the penetration they had really took it to the next level”

So how does this Martin filter this approach into her own organisation?

“The key is taking what we’ve done with some of the new technology, and then making sure we have integrated a great user experience throughout the other applications, modernising the UI, but not losing all the functionality that we have built over the last twenty years. It’s a really exciting time”

“I think ten years ago there were certainly some competitors that were more proactive in terms of UI than ServicePower were but we’ve actually worked to leapfrog them and even go beyond Salesforce is at the moment using them and Apple as a benchmark”

“Even if you look back at TOA at the time, they had a great UI and ClickSoftware were doing some UI development maybe ten years ago but I think we’ve actually moved beyond that.”

“At this point we are benchmarking off ourselves in a way; we have a great team led by Steve Higgins who joined with us in late January, and then he has integrated with all the various product teams with the existing applications. The product guys were just at Dreamforce the other week and they walked away saying wow we are actually ahead in certain areas now. I’m really proud of that.”

However, Martin is also keenly aware that mission critical software, especially at enterprise level, cannot be all style and no substance.

“When we look at SMB solutions on the Internet you know they want to see a UI like that but when ultimately when it comes to the enterprise deals, when you get to a certain scale it is still all about the functionality,” she explains.

 

“The UI is nice but in the end what enterprise level field service organisations care about is things like our ability to do real-time optimisation, heavy duty management of third party contractors, the warranty claims,  analytics -  all these things.”

“A great UI is necessary now, but it’s not enough - you’ve got to have depth of functionality because that’s what gives a barrier to entry,” Martin states before adding, “With a hundred grand I might be able to spin up a little UI and an app, but I’m never going to be able to get a robust solution that will satisfy the leading enterprises as well as having the depth of functionality.”

And with a product development road map starting to come to fruition, the next stage for ServicePower is an aggressive growth period as they seek to capitalise on the attention a raft of awards and recognition their technology has gathered as they’ve continually sought to improve their own suite of solutions.

Martin admits the next phase of their strategy is to really focus on sales execution now. “I think we have a very good position now in terms of growing our brand awareness, recognition of the technology in the product suite that now we can really start scaling on sales execution. That’ll be the big push the year forward.”

Look out for the second part of this exclusive interview coming next week....

 

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Field Service has long been an industry open to embracing the latest innovations, but what technology will have the greatest impact in the long term on field service operations? In Part One of this two-part review, FSN's Editor-in-Chief Kris Oldland gives his opinion on what technology will be the most important driving field service technology forward.

As technology becomes ever increasingly intertwined with the evolution of business in these early decades of the twentieth century, the importance of identifying the right technologies that can drive a business forward.

As opposed to those that may be either just passing fads (such as the clamour for Google Glass perhaps?) or technologies that become so over-hyped, that we see unrealistic expectations laid at their door, so when initial Beta versions are launched they ultimately seemed doomed to failure making it harder to win over sceptics once the technology finally does mature enough to be significantly deployed (once again… Glass anyone?)

We have seen huge examples of companies backing the right technology, embracing it, building it into their DNA and becoming massive successes.

Salesforce saw the potential of the Cloud and reinvented the global CRM marketplace; MAN Truck and Bus UK embraced telematics to create the Trucknology generation and saw revenue grow by 1000% within a decade.

Then there is Amazon who through a studied focus on developing Big Data based technologies and algorithms, have evolved from being an online shopping portal with ‘a smile on the box’ to being not only the online shopping portal, but also the name in enterprise Cloud solutions, and perhaps the only real competitor to the Apple and Google duopoly of digital music and film distribution via their impressive Prime service.

But it is not only the household names that can take advantage of technology.

 

Take Service2 for example, a local HVAC and Gas Appliance maintenance firm based in the North of England who were a Field Service News case study earlier this year. Through the implementation of field service management software they are now in a position to have far greater grasp on their P&L, deliver a superior level of service to their customers, and are perfectly primed for rapid expansion. For them, field service management technology is a massive enabler and key driver for their business.

Another fantastic example was shared with us by Nick Frank, Frank Consulting on a recent Field Service News webinar. Nick described how Northern Irish business LISTO who have been able to combine an understanding of customers’ needs, some out of the box thinking and using existing technologies have been able to help SME’s help shape not only their own futures but seriously disrupt their relative markets whilst doing so, causing new benchmarks and customer expectations and again being empowered by technology.

So in such an environment where technology can be a genuine key differentiator for companies both big and small, the technology analysts such as Aberdeen and Gartner play a huge role in helping us assess what technologies we should be exploring, researching and investing in to help us become leaders in our field.

Indeed the annual Gartner hype cycle has become one of the most hotly anticipated publications within industry, as a barometer initially of which technologies were gaining the most attention across global media and businesses alike and now also incorporates an indication of maturity for each technology listed as well to help us further understand where such technologies sit in the road map for future business operations that Gartner predicts we should potentially be adopting.

However, the rapid evolution of technology in what many are referring to as a golden age of information, is progressing at such a rapid speed that even Gartner are unable to keep up sometimes it seems. Having dominated business technology conversations for the last two years, Big Data disappeared from the company's 2015 Hype Cycle entirely. The reason, according to Gartner Analyst Betsy Burton is that “Big Data has quickly moved over the Peak of Inflated Expectations and has become prevalent in our lives”.

And whilst this is almost certainly true, the fact is that Big Data remains a mystery to many outside of the Data Scientist illuminati who are redefining the way business operates today.

 

As Dave Hart, ServiceMax Vice President of Global Customer Transformation commented in a previous Field Service News podcast, “Big Data is like teenage sex: everyone talks about it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, but nobody really knows how to do it.”

Yet the fact is the ability to build easily configurable dashboards, that give field service directors and their managers access to the vast swathes of data generated by a field service team is high on the list of any company currently exploring a new field service management system.

John Cooper, Head of IT and Workflow Solutions in Sony’s Professional Solutions explained in a recent exclusive Field Service News interview: “We have this dream of the account managers turning up at customer sites and being completely clued in with all the stuff that’s happened in a nice simple to understand graphical way. So they don’t need to get into technical complexity but they know what we’ve done for the customers, they know of any live issues and they’re not going to get ambushed with you’ve got this problem or that problem.”

Such open flow of data and more importantly is of course powered by Big Data so whilst the technical whirrings of this monumental technology may not be fully understood by those outside of those niche Data Scientist circles, the reality is that it’s impact is very much being felt, even if it is through its output and application rather than a more tangible, physical everyday sense.

 

However, is Big Data the most important technology changing the way business operates today?

Well in the sphere of field service there are justified claims for a number of other recent technologies. Without doubt one of the most important developments that has truly revolutionised our industries and the way field service operates is the leap forward mobile computing pushed dramatically forward by the rise in prominence of the smartphone and iPhone in particular.

Look out for Part 2 of this review where Kris examines the case for the Cloud and the Internet of Things as the most important technology for the future of field service.

 

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As our focus begins to shift towards next year planning it is important that we are able to assess and interpret the data we have gathered across the year, but your data is only as good as its application,  writes Tom Bowe, IFS

It’s that time of year again, preparing budgets and setting goals for next year, even though it probably seems like just yesterday you were doing so for 2015.

Soon, if you haven’t already, you will be gathering data from this year like volumes and revenues. To plan what’s next for your field service organisation in 2016. If you have an integrated or best-of-breed field service solution, ideally the data you have collected from the field, and your customers, will help you navigate your decisions.

But does all your research and planning apply to the real world? Do you need to do complicated calculations to attempt to understand capacity, resourcing and demand?

2015 saw another year of field service growth, with more organisations applying IoT practices and other technological advances to help cut costs, increase efficencies, and ensure customer satisfaction. More data than ever before was being fed from the customer and the field to back-end systems. But your data is only as good as its application.[quote float="left"]By its very nature a forecast intrinsically contains some degree of error

 

What if you could know, as close to real life as possible, what resources you would need, and where, to meet your 2016 field service KPIs? What if you were given visibility into the success of your predetermined KPIs, and suggestions for improvement? Imagine having an interactive tool at your fingertips that would allow you to run multiple real-life field service scenarios simultaneously. Imagine that same tool being able to store all your results and present them in a printable dashboard that you could take to management.

Such a tool does exist, and we call it the WISE (what-if scenario explorer). This easy-to-navigate forecasting and planning tool forecasts your resources based on your predicted demand; new contracts, possible acquisitions, and shifts in business. It allows you to drill down into the resulting schedules to see what the real-time schedule would look like.

So why does this all matter? Field service is an ever-shifting and highly demanding industry. It ebbs and flows with seasonal changes, shifts in demand, and multiple other factors so if there is so much potential change then why bother?

By its very nature a forecast is always wrong – it intrinsically contains some degree of error because it is based on many factors including past performance, future unknowns, confidence levels and statistical extrapolation and correlations of this data.

The skill therefore is to build a forecast that’s as close to being accurate and believable as possible thus minimising the margin of error. With any forecasting errors minimised, the impact on your KPIs becomes more predictable.

Here are some of the Key Performance Indicators that can be positively affected by scenario planning and forecasting: [ordered_list style="decimal"]

1. Headcount: (Having the right number of people, when and where they are needed)
   Run real-life scenarios by feeding the WISE your organisation’s data and see whether you should add or reallocate resources. If you need t o add resources to meet demand, the WISE will show you where regionally you should be hiring. It also provides territory balancing to ensure your service areas have proper coverage.
2. Response time:  (Planning to respond reliably within the SLA or appointment window)
   The WISE will predict your response times to service calls and will also calculate the number of SLAs you will meet with your current resources. It will then make suggestions to help you increase your SLA hit rate.
3. Customer Satisfaction:  (Directly correlated to #1 and #2)Scenario planning and forecasting provides territory balancing to ensure your service areas have proper coverage. Not only will you be able to more easily achieve your SLAs but you will also be able to provide new customers with reliable first time service.
4. Operating Costs: (Reducing overtime and travel costs)With a forecasting tool that can not only tell you the outcome of your current operations but help you determine what organisational changes are needed to meet your demands; you have the ability to reduce your upcoming costs. By automatically seeing where your technicians should be located based on demand, you can ensure your technicians aren’t travelling unnecessary distances.

A scenario planning tool can be used to help establish goals and expectations for the fiscal year, but it can also be used for short term planning as well. It can help your organisation understand how to best manage new important contracts, proactively plan for changes in seasonal demand, and more.

When you start budgeting for 2016, rather than wonder why you are bothering, instead, reverse the mentality and question “why not? Using WISE could have a notable impact on your service delivery metrics and bottom line. WISE will show you where regionally you should be hiring. It also provides territory balancing to ensure your service areas have proper coverage.

 

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