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Ahead of his speech to delegates at the 2014 Service Management Expo Giles Margerison, TomTom Telematics’ Director UK & Ireland, considers the impact of technology on the changing face of field service management.

The activities of field workers have traditionally been managed as separate, distinct, operations to those of the back office – but times they are a changin’.

The face and pace of service business is being revolutionised by innovations in mobile workforce management.

The field is increasingly being brought into the fold with technology forging end-to-end connections between vehicles, field hardware, mobile workers, the back office, management and other departments. The value of this cannot be underestimated with data generated by field service fleets proving invaluable to numerous areas of a company – from customer relations to HR, sales and accounts.

What’s more it is becoming easier than ever to connect business hardware and software with fleet management technology. Out-of-the-box integrations mean back office systems are seamlessly connecting with vehicles and mobile workers without the need for expensive IT consultancy.

Harnessing big data to boost business performance

By using connected technologies to make smarter decisions, informing advancements in operational processes, radical improvements can be made to business performance and the bottom line.

Business connectivity is already having a major impact in the back office, where the integration of CRM, ERP, workflow planning and other software platforms has allowed companies to achieve significant efficiency gains.

Fleet management systems that have open APIs are now extending integration capabilities to the field – helping businesses harness the potential of big data to cut costs and achieve unprecedented levels of customer service.

The telematics gateway for M2M efficiency

Using an in-vehicle telematics unit to transmit field data to the back office, signature capture devices, for example, can now make use of job and GPS positional data from a fleet management platform to prove a delivery was made to a specific location at a particular time by a designated driver.

Similarly, mobile printers, paired by Bluetooth to an in-vehicle telematics box, can now print receipts or invoices enriched with this same information.

Accessed via fleet management software, all field data can be shared with back office software, including routing and scheduling and workflow management systems. By doing so, managers can ensure jobs or deliveries are completed punctually and customers notified in advance of precise arrival times, with work schedules planned in the most efficient manner, taking into account factors such as traffic or proximity.

Tomorrow’s world ...today

Innovations such as TomTom Telematics’ PRO 8275 driver terminal extend field service capabilities even further, combining the capability of mobile hardware, satellite navigation and mobile business applications on a single device.

Bespoke apps for use on such terminals are now being developed, enabling it be tailored to meet specific business and service requirements – from conducting and submitting vehicle safety checks to recording proof of delivery.

Managers and drivers, as a result, are now being brought closer together than ever before with new M2M processes catapulting field service into a bold new era,

 

 

Enterprise Mobility expert, Jon Vass of Telogis, claims that instead of cutting back on services businesses should instead look to optimise their mobile workforces...

With the right technologies an organisation can save hundreds of thousands of pounds by simply working more efficiently. Route optimisation, improved vehicle maintenance and mobile technology can provide significant savings on the bottom line and give a competitive edge.

Pundits claim that Britain's 'Great Recession' started in the spring of 2008 and ended in the summer of 2009. Today many would argue differently, for figures show that businesses are still in slow recovery. The key factor over the last few years - and possibly the biggest - is that consumers, companies and the state are all locked in a race to straighten out their finances. Which means each of these will be trying to reduce costs.

Of course, for many businesses it is easy to reduce costs by looking at expenditure and simply cutting back, reducing staff and overheads, even moving premises. However, this is often reactionary and short term and does not allow for business growth or changes in customer demand.

For businesses with mobile workforces there is another way to reduce costs – and this involves optimisation of current resources with technology. With today’s advances in web based applications, investing in a business solution no longer means purchasing hardware, software and expensive support services. Solutions are now readily available that can be deployed in the field and accessed securely on the Internet without investing in costly infrastructure.

Optimising resources

For a business with a mobile workforce, the costs that need close scrutiny are the driver’s time and vehicle routing and maintenance. While a professional operations manager can plan and oversee driver routes, vehicle running and maintenance, a computer can do a much better job of analysis and planning.

An example is route optimisation. A simple route from A to B can be easily planned. Add into that route several drop off points and immediately the number of routes becomes more complex. Factors such as different average speed, traffic congestion, access and roadworks and immediately fuel costs will fluctuate. Planning so many variations to optimise routes is a task that a computer programme is made to crunch through.

 

And it’s not simply a matter of daily management and planning. Monitoring job completion over the air and comparing this with the plan is key. Ensuring regular vehicle checks can also reduce costly maintenance bills. Capturing such data and analysing it for meaningful intelligence can be easily managed using mobile technologies.

 

These arguments make even more sense when you quantify them with real figures. The average costs quoted for a driver and vehicle is £50,000 a year, a not insignificant amount. By utilising effective technologies to optimise route plans and eliminate unnecessary journeys a business could reduce these costs by 10-20%. This could equate to a saving of between £250k - £500k a year for a fleet of 50 vehicles or more. Definite food for thought.

Choosing the right technologies and provider

The figures easily support the case for why a business should adopt technology for its route optimisation and mobile workforce management tools – the second important decision is how to execute it.

Such has been the rapid innovations in the past few years that there are now many business applications available on the market that capture driver data, increase efficiencies and reduce costs. And many of these solutions are readily available, plug and play offerings.

Software available as a cloud based solution or software-as-a-service means that a business can benefit from the latest technologies, built-in security and the assurance that upgrades are automatically implemented. More users and increased storage capacity can be easily accommodated with no disruption to daily business and without big additional costs.

There are also two other important factors to consider. Choosing the right professional services partner is key to ensure that the technologies adopted are right for the business. This means selecting a first class provider with proven industry credentials that can provide responsive support both at start up and ongoing. A rapid start up minimises costs and ensures a fast return on the investment.

The second factor is to choose systems from one provider and on one platform. Selecting different solutions and supplier platforms can result in costly integration issues and difficulty in sharing data, reducing the ability to use important intelligence to optimise resources.

There is no doubt that the power and versatility of technologies available today, coupled with the ubiquity of fast Internet connectivity, means that organisations are now able to harness enterprise-grade solutions for managing their mobile resources. Businesses that choose to adopt these technologies can quickly reap the benefits of these developments by optimising their workforce and reducing costs.

Following a three step approach will ensure business success; by selecting a proven industry supplier, adopting a single platform for connected vehicle services and thirdly ensuring that the data is used for future planning as well as resource optimisation.

 

 

2014 has been deemed the "year of the wearables" and field service is one industry that could profit greatly if the potential advancements being discussed in such devices could come become a reality, in this exclusive feature, Conor O'Neill, Director of Product Management at Irish mobile application platform provider, FeedHenry takes a closer look...

While Google Glass may have been dismissed as a fad a couple of years ago, it offers obvious benefits for field service efficiency and lone worker safety. A report into mobile workers' device preferences, undertaken by Aruba Networks, surveyed 5,000 people worldwide and found that a fifth want to be provided with wearable technology within the next five years.

Augmented reality on wearable glasses allows workers to make better and quicker use of business information. This offers organisations an opportunity to reduce costs, by allowing employees in the field to report back to base and get relevant information while they are still on site, thereby reducing, or eliminating the need for a repeat call out. Field service engineers can also be more productive by gathering visual information and feeding this back to head office, while leaving their hands free to complete the tasks they are engaged in.

Adoption of wearable tech is still niche. IDC anticipates only 111.8 million wearable tech units worldwide by 2018. However, BYOD adoption of wearable devices and major players offering supporting apps could rapidly accelerate market adoption. For example, Salesforce.com Wear is a developer pack to aid the creation of apps for wearable devices including the Pebble Smartwatch; Samsung Gear; the Myo gesture controlled armband and Google Glass

Organisations that are adopting a Mobile-First strategy tend to be led by their users on device selection and app design. Innovation is often driven by field service engineers, the people on the ground who undertake tasks on a daily basis. These organisations tend to take an open an agile approach to their mobile app development.

Mobile-first organisations are willing to transform processes and involve frontline workers in order to completely re-invent the user experience and help them to be more productive. For example, Severn Trent Water recently announced its intention to trial Google Glass so that lone workers can protect their eyes, receive information and provide live feedback on their health and safety status, while leaving their hands free to complete the work. However, initiatives like this require support from the top. Executive sponsorship will improve the traction of wearable tech.

Adoption of any mobile technology involves risk because, by necessity, it allows employees to carry company data beyond the traditional enterprise perimeter. Robust user authentication and authorisation are essential, but keep your focus on enabling users. Your security measures should be invisible and respect the user experience. The key is to secure corporate information rather than restrict the use of apps.

CIOs need to be prepared for wearable devices to come into their organisations and to put the relevant security policies and controls in place.

From our point of view, the devices that employees select are less important than the information that they process and that involves managing the lifecycle of the apps end to end.

When organisations use an end-to-end mobile application platform (MAP) to support their mobile app strategy, field service employees gain the freedom to select the right devices to suit their roles, whether they are handheld or wearable, without sacrificing any app functionality. This is because MAPs securely link enterprise back end systems with mobile apps that can support multiple OS and various device form factors. Meanwhile, enterprises gain the ability to plan their mobile app strategies to support current and future devices, without having to redevelop code for every new batch of devices.

 

 

TCSJOHNHUXLEY is the world’s leading manufacturer and supplier of end-to-end live gaming solutions and services. The company offers the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of live gaming and electronic gaming products, from quality, handcrafted furniture through to cutting-edge technical equipment that enhances the overall gaming experience, profits and security.

The company prides itself on delivering the highest standards of service and support, with a comprehensive European Technical Support Centre based at Stoke-on-Trent, and a dedicated pan-European network of staff offering 24/7 technical support. Given the company’s continued growth, TCSJOHNHUXLEY was keen to update its service management technology infrastructure so that they had greater visibility across its Europe-wide service and support activities.

According to Rob Burgess, European Service Manager for TCSJOHNHUXLEY: “while we had evolved a fully functional scheduling system for our planned engineering activities - we knew we needed a more integrated solution, to give us visibility and the management information we needed to optimise our processes and really excel in customer service.

“It had become clear that adopting an end-to-end field service management encompassing customer contact, scheduling and mobile field service would give us the meaningful data that we needed to optimise performance. We were also keen to find a solution which would give us reports exactly as we required to allow us to optimise our business, rather than the standard reports that an off the shelf tool would provide”

After looking at a range of different solutions, TCSJOHNHUXLEY selected a cloud-based field service management solution from mplsystems that integrated all its customer contact, service management, parts management and engineer scheduling activities.

 

Available on a pay-per-use basis, mplsystems’ field service management solution directly addresses the three main barriers to field service efficiency: the need to combine disparate IT systems; the ability to schedule reactive engineering tasks alongside planned maintenance schedules; and efficiently highlighting ongoing issues in the field.

 

Combining off-the-shelf functionality with bespoke flexibility

“We selected an mplsystems field service management solution because it provided us with all the benefits and cost-effective performance of an off-the-shelf application, while also providing the ability for us to customise our new solution to match the specific requirements of the TCSJOHNHUXLEY business – particularly in the important area of reporting,” added Rob Burgess. “Combining the dynamic planning and scheduling of service activities with a dedicated application on our engineers’ tablet devices has allowed us to create our mplsystems-powered GEMS Global Engineers Management System that now gives us a true, real-time view of all maintenance activities and reactive calls across the business.”

According to Rob: “working with mplsystems is enabling us to bring our different customer contact, workflow, service management and field service operations together, providing TCSJOHNHUXLEY with the potential for driving efficiency and freeing us to deliver an even higher overall standard of service.”

Working with the mplsystems’ field service management allows the TCSJOHNHUXLEY service team to close the loop, improving efficiency all the way from the initial point of customer interaction through to fault resolution “With our previous more manual process, we wouldn’t necessarily have visibility of a repeat failure with a particular product or component. Now with our mplsystems field service solution we’re able to generate automatic alerts or analyse data to proactively replace components prior to failure or determine a manufacturing fix.”

For Rob Burgess and the TCSJOHNHUXLEY service team, the real benefits come through close analysis of the data unlocked through the mplsystems solution. “It’s all about the data, understanding what’s actually going on in the business and then sharing best practice behaviours and outcomes – both across our UK service team and also with our international operations.”

Business benefits:

• Achieving the best of both worlds – cost-effectiveness of an off-the-shelf field service management solution with the focused benefits of bespoke reporting
• Successful blending or both planned and reactive maintenance tasks – ability to optimise scheduling in real time
• Increased visibility of parts issues, enabling optimisation of overall stock levels and the ability to identify and routinely replace parts or components that fail more often – reducing overall callback rate
• Greater visibility and analysis of engineer schedules – more awareness of time required for fixes, travel time to customer sites,
• Escalation processes now in place, assigning technical specialists for repeat issues
• Better integration of field operations, with immediate service incident reporting via tablets

 

 

As Managing Director of the company that developed the world's first browser based service management software, Colin Brown of Tesseract is a bit of an expert when it comes to both SM software and the Cloud itself so we asked him to give us some guidance on the SaaS model...

I’ve been asked by our dear editor to look at the SaaS model in delivering a service management application. SaaS or Software as a Service has been around many years but has recently entered the mainstream with the term “cloud”.

There is no doubt that many large software companies ignored SaaS, hoping it would go away, their business models based on big sales and complex, expensive IT infrastructures. Not small monthly amounts that SaaS proffers.

So without certain advancements - cost effective data centres, Internet and predominantly browser based software, SaaS would not exist. The cost would have been simply too high. There is no question that the SaaS model was born out of the right technology.

In 2005, Tesseract was in the vanguard of offering this as another option to deliver its service system. Salesforce.com has made SaaS more mainstream and now we see companies developing application software that is only available on SaaS and have a business model built around it. All of this in a short space of time.

From a service management perspective, the high cost of owning sophisticated software, which is a significant barrier, has been removed by SaaS. Now relatively small companies can now compete with larger rival as they can rent the same standard of software. This renting of the software reflects a huge shift in mind set by the developers. Historically, they would have been terrified of the software being copied and low value recurring revenue threatened their business model. However, most independent service companies have recurring revenue which actually fits neatly with “renting” the software.

SaaS is also a good practical fit with service management as field based technicians can connect with the system, via any web browser anywhere in the world (as long as the application is browser based.) In the old days, the software had to be physically installed onto a PC and required a phone connection to be accessed. Now a mobile workforce can be mobile!

 

In large part, this is thanks to the hosted server a.k.a. The Cloud. SaaS data centres handle all the expensive, complex fire walls and demilitarized zones that keep information safe. We work with Rackspace in the US, the leading hosting and cloud global supplier, and Memset, an award winning UK supplier of hosting and cloud solutions. SaaS is also safer in that there are no systems in the office in case of disaster or power shortages. However, I think it is wise to invest in additional servers as back-up, giving a higher degree of resilience. This is something we offer at Tesseract.

The support offered under SaaS is also advantageous. Since access to the software is controlled by the supplier, all the software upgrades are installed and installed correctly (free of charge at Tesseract). Employees are no longer able to “play” with the data as it is hosted remotely, which reduces system errors.

However, it does not mean businesses are isolated from their systems, Most modern web products support Web services, including Tesseract, allowing connectivity to tracking solutions, accounts/erp packages, post code hosted solutions, hosted customer survey solutions and all new web-based services.

We have found that the service management industry is a diverse bunch with different requirements so we offer the ability to “Pick ‘n’ Mix”. Some customers take the rental and support option but would rather install the software on their own server; other customers require remote hosting and support but they prefer to buy the software and others want the whole SaaS package of hosting, rental and support. With all three options, the internet and/or an intranet are the delivery routes.

SaaS has really taken off in the US, more so than in the UK currently. All of our new business in the US is SaaS and we expect the UK to follow suit.

 

Want to know more? Colin is speaking at this year's Service Management Expo. Click here to register!

 

 

Find out more about Tesseract in the Field Service News directory

 

 

Overview: 

While most people are enjoying their summer holidays, the staff at GRITIT are hard at work getting ready for the long, cold winter months ahead. It’s the tough winters that GRITIT counts on as the UK’s leading provider of gritting services, supplying winter services protection and winter risk management services to organisations in the retail, commercial, financial, high security, industrial, logistics, health and education sectors.

With more than 166,000 service visits, of which 99.99 percent were successfully completed, maintaining a 99.2 percent customer satisfaction rate and the British Institute of Facilities Management Service Provider of the Year 2013 distinction, it’s clear that customer service is of supreme importance to GRITIT.

“We work from 6pm to 6am, so are an ‘unseen service’, therefore it is critical that we can track and manage our operatives on site and have the ability to guarantee to our customers that the services they requested have been completed,” said Brendon Petsch, IT Director at GRITIT.

“So confident are we of our service, and our ability to ensure customers’ sites are safe for the public and employees, we stand the liability for clients in the event of an accident or claim.”

Harnessing the Power of the Cloud to Manage Data:

To support this bold stance GRITIT accumulates millions of pieces of data during the course of a season and employs cloud-based telematics – also known as location intelligence – software from Telogis that works with its existing technology investments to identify the key pieces of data it needs to improve overall operations. The ability to create efficiencies within its workforce and streamline processes – particularly through the ubiquity of mobile devices – is passed on as an added value to GRITIT’s customers.

“Smartphones and handheld devices are the backbone of our business. Despite the phenomenal increase in usage and adoption of mobile devices and cloud based technologies in the last five years, the telematics software industry has not kept pace. That is where Telogis is different. The combination of its cloud/Software-as a-Service software platform and cutting edge mobile solutions means the very latest technology is always used,” said Petsch.

Platform Approach Supports Multiple Devices:

The first stage of the plan was to replace GRITIT’s existing systems with Telogis’ fully integrated, single platform for location intelligence. Previously GRITIT used two disparate systems, one for mobile device reporting and job allocation and the other for locating vehicles and assets. Getting the two systems to talk to each other in the past took some major software development.

The appeal of Telogis was the automatic integration of all of its solutions, so the initial implementation was smoother and the GRITIT team was up and running more quickly.

“Operationally, updating our systems to work with just one platform is great. The (Telogis) system works really well and is easy to use,” said Petsch. “The rest of the industry is still in the dark ages when it comes to smartphone and tablet software, whereas with Telogis we are able to use the very latest Android and iOS devices.”

Location Intelligence supports GRITIT operations in the Field:

GRITIT is now using numerous solutions as part of the  comprehensive Telogis platform: Telogis Fleet is used to track all vehicles during and after service for proof of attendance. As the vehicle arrives on site, the amount of data collected is increased to enable them to track exactly where the vehicle is within the site, as well as monitor driver behaviour like speeding, idling and out of hours use of the vehicle.

Telogis Progression offers real-time job creation, tracking, alerts, job reassignment if things don’t go to plan and job completion reporting. It also provides real-time alerts that notify GRITIT supervisors when drivers have completed work and validation that drivers were on the job site to complete their work. This helps them maintain their job completion rate throughout each shift. If staff are running behind, jobs can easily be assigned to other drivers by dragging and dropping a job onto another driver’s route, where it automatically shows up on his job list. At the end of the shift GRITIT performs a final check by reconciling completed jobs with the actual location of the vehicle at that time. This allows the company to maintain its gold-standard customer satisfaction rating.

Using Telogis Mobile running on a smartphone or other handheld device, drivers receive their job allocations and are able to report on each job, logging arrival and departure times, any issues and site conditions. Details specific to certain sites for example, site access codes, are stored in the Telogis system and supplied to the drivers as required. This way, drivers can easily convey site conditions by attaching photos to their form responses which provides easy confirmation for supervisors and customers that a site has been serviced to spec.

Additionally, GRITIT managers complete random site inspections to ensure quality is maintained, and they too report back to head office in real time. Because all the documentation received from the field is available within the Telogis systems in real time these inspections can take place within minutes of jobs being completed. In this way, if there are any issues onsite such as a leaking pipe or someone that shouldn’t be there, the client is alerted immediately.

Powerful Real-time Reporting Provides Proof of Service:

Strong reporting is a key part of the Telogis platform, and an integral part of GRITIT’s service to its customers. With Telogis GRITIT is now able to build its own customised reports to exactly match client requirements.

Unlike most other organisations in the industry, GRITIT uses its tracking data proactively to provide proof of service, and as part of its daily reporting to clients. If any job does not go ahead as expected, an alert is produced by the Telogis system, enabling GRITIT’s management team to resolve the issue and alert the customer as necessary in real time.

Next Step – online tracking for the customer:

The next phase of the implementation is to further integrate the Telogis platform with GRITIT’s business systems, using Telogis Data Exchange (TDE). Ultimately this will enable the collection of information from drivers’ onsite via mobile devices that will pass through the entire organisation seamlessly such as providing information to contracts, finance/invoicing, and HR.

Brendon Petsch sums up; “It is still relatively early days with the Telogis system, but everything is running well and we are looking forward to a long and successful partnership. Ultimately GRITIT would like to provide live tracking data to our customers through Telogis Live, so that they can see for themselves exactly what is happening on site. We are proud to be taking this innovative approach and Telogis is the ideal partner to help us realise our business goals.”

 

 

In recent years, the battle to improve operational efficiency in field service has been hard fought with businesses constantly looking for new ways to do more with fewer resources. As a result, business leaders are being forced to critically examine the way their organisation works and look for new ways to deliver the competitive edge required to thrive in today’s marketplace.

Customer Service vs. Cost

71% of field service organisations use customer satisfaction as the main metric to measure the performance of their business. However with an increased focus on service excellence, yet reduced customer spending and a squeeze on profit margins, companies must find ways to balance service delivery with the cost.

One way organisations can look to achieve this balance is through ‘getting it right first time’. The most common customer complaint is when a technician does not resolve the issue first time. This may be due to not having the right part or tools, not having the right skills or not enough time to complete the job .

Issues like this can be avoided if companies focus on their productivity by taking a bird’s eye view of the end-to-end process. They need to know what the problem is, who is qualified to solve it, notify them of the task, know where they are, when they will arrive and when the job is done. Taking these necessary steps to avoid a return visit will maintain productivity and ensure customer satisfaction.
“Customer Service is a strategic issue,” says Jo Causon, chief executive of the Institute of Customer Service. “If organisations do not include it in the boardroom then some of those organisations won’t be around in the longer term.”

Managing Mobile Resources in Field Service Delivery

Managing a large field service operation today is filled with complexity, from managing the people to the assets, vehicles and jobs. Research shows that workforce management is one of the biggest areas of concern in field service and with much field-based work becoming increasingly complex and critical in terms of timing, skills and consequence, more importantly than ever companies need to ensure that their field service is not derailed by unpredictable dynamics of the working day.

The biggest and most repetitive challenge facing organisations managing a mobile workforce is cost and this is closely related to the following secondary challenges:

• The role of the technician in the business - with a proven link between customer satisfaction, retention and profitability, how the technician interacts with the customer can be significant in the customer experience.
• Measuring service performance - ultimately you need to understand what has happened and you want to know that ‘now’ to use that data to enable real-time decision-making.
• Managing change and embedding best practice - organisations often wrestle with change whether it is new technology, new people, new policy or new assets. Finding a way to embed change and making sure that best practice is shared across the workforce is a key success factor.[/unordered_list] 

The importance of Measuring Field Service Performance

As the business adage goes, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure” and this has never been truer when it comes to the performance of field service organisations.
A field service operation is extremely dynamic and often unpredictable. Each day, managers are faced with complex issues which require fast action. However lack of real-time visibility into what is happening in the field can result in managers making poor decisions; directly impacting the performance level of their workforce. Indeed, performance management and visibility were cited as being key areas of concern for field service organisations .

In order to improve operational decision-making, field service managers must begin to utilise instant and accurate information about key trends occurring in the field. Real-time data about why a service window wasn’t met, how many planned jobs were left incomplete, duration of tasks and which technicians are performing well, can all be used to drive service performance levels and transform the way work is planned, allocated, managed, reported and evaluated.

Turning data into information

In recent years, field service organisations have been overwhelmed by the flow of information coming in from multiple sources, in various formats and through an array of tools. The major challenge they face is how to make sense of the massive amounts of data in order to extract valuable insights to help hone day-to-day operations and make long-term strategic decisions.

In a recent Trimble survey, the main concern with using data from the field was the reliability of the information. Performance Management Analytics (PMA) has come to the fore as a solution able to tackle this challenge by giving managers the ability to review a day’s work and measure performance results against specific metrics. For example, they can identify the most productive performers, determine which schedules and routes produce the best results and compare results from one vehicle or worker against the entire workforce.

Implementing successful change to better engage workers

When a company is implementing any change to the way it works, whether it is rolling out new technology or processes or ways of working, engaging the workforce is the key for success.
“Board engagement is absolutely essential,” says Will Sambrook, Managing Director of The Akenham Partnership. “But it is important that Boards do not believe they have to be all-seeing, all-doing, all-acting. Their role is much more about creating the line of sight, from the Board strategy to what’s happening in the organisation; the processes, the people, their engagement with the customer – everything is aligned.”

Using Technology & Tools

It widely acknowledged that technology is a key enabler to being able to deliver service excellence. Indeed, 70% of field service companies believe the key to achieving strategic business goals is having the latest field service technology in place.

Some of the future technology trends set to make an impact on field service organisations include:

• Increased integration of M2M
•  Profit-Driven Analytics
• Knowledge Management shaping strategy
• Leverage of Mobile Apps
• Cloud-Driven Transformations
• Data-Driven Productivity
• Growth of rugged mobility

For further insight into how to transform your field service operations, catch Trimble’s Caroline Pennington, Market & Analyst Manager and editor of Trimble’s recently-launched publication, Transforming Service Delivery: An Insight Report, at this months’ Service Management Expo. Caroline will be exclusively presenting some of the key trends and issues highlighted in the publication at 12pm on 17th June. Complimentary copies of the report will also be on offer at Trimble’s stand O1470. 

 

 

If the Internet of Things (IoT) lives up to its billing it has the potential to change the way the field service industry operates entirely. In this exclusive articele for Field Service News, Philipp Emmenegger, CEO of coresystems AG looks at what companies can do today to prep for the Internet of Things to come...

When it comes to “hot” buzzwords in tech, the “Internet of Things,” (and its acronym – IoT) may just be the hottest. A steady stream of headlines tout the latest in “smart” gadgets, internet-connected devices that keep us informed on the devices’ workings, our interaction with them, or our behaviour as we use them. We now have smart fire alarms, smart thermostats, smart fitness monitors and even smart bicycle locks. Appliance companies have been especially interested in the possibilities of Internet of Things, and for years now, we’ve been tantalised with the idea that our refrigerators will one day not only know when we are running low of groceries, but know which ones, and even place an order for more. When search giant Google bought smart home devices company Nest in January this year, it only cemented the notion that IoT is the future.

IoT: An Evolution, not A Revolution

But as fun as it is to imagine what might happen when IoT is in full force, it’s becoming abundantly clear that many challenges must be surmounted to get to this point. Tech research and consulting firm Gartner has identified no less than seven potential challenges that the big data generated from IoT devices and systems.

Security and consumer privacy are the two that tend to dominate headlines. As Gartner so rightly points out in their recent report on IoT, the challenge of security is in sheer “multitudes” of devices expected to eventually run in an automated fashion across a vast number of IT systems. Moreover, the amount of data that IoT systems will collect on consumers – and more importantly, on consumer behaviour – is another major area of concern. While the sort of information that IoT devices and gadgets will generate is key to helping companies develop better services, one security slip-up can be very damaging to market confidence.

IoT security issues will have a knock-on effect throughout a company’s IT systems. As the number of Internet-connected devices rises, and security complexity increases, availability requirements will also be impacted, putting real-time processes at risk. How do companies store the vast amounts of consumer data and enterprise data that IoT is expected to generate? How will it impact storage infrastructure and what will inevitably be an increased demand for more storage capacity? How will this impact server technologies and how will this effect data centre networks?

With these complex challenges ahead, it’s no wonder coresystems board member Elgar Fleisch, well-known IoT expert and Zurich ETH tech professor, says, “IoT is an evolution, not a revolution.”

The Pre-Cursor of the Internet of Things to Come

But what Fleisch also likes to say is, “It’s only a revolution when you miss it.”

So how can companies prepare for IoT before it’s truly operable? Smart devices are the precursor to completely automated gadgets. These still require human intervention to set them in motion and often to maintain them, but they are the first steps toward IoT.

We know, for instance, that IoT has the ability to transform customer service and field service. Imagine the day when IoT is fully operational. Your washing machine breaks down, or a sensor detects that a part is close to its breaking point, or isn’t functioning. Your washing machine sends the information to the manufacturer, who then sends an alert to the consumer and on the consumer’s approval immediately dispatches an engineer to fix the problem. What’s currently missing is the automated ability for machines to talk to customer service systems without any intervention on the owner’s part.

What can be done today? Using the humble QR code affixed to the product – for example, on your washing machine – a customer can request service and manage the repair process. At coresystems, our product coresuite companion lets consumers scan a product’s QR code, which then opens up (or downloads if this is the first attempt) the company’s branded mobile app to request service.

Of course, it means the consumer must manually scan the code and tap in their request. It does, however, give them a level of control and transparency that improves their customer service experience. For companies, it’s not only a way to let customers start self-managing the service process, buts it’s also a good warm up for how they will manage these requests within their IT systems. After all if they can’t manage them when consumers are manually requesting service, how will they manage the much faster process of multiple machines sending automated requests?

m-way, the Swiss e-mobility specialists, best known for their electric bicycles, have been trialling coresuite companion for its bicycles. As m-way marketing head Mario Klaus tells us, the combination of QR code and branded app will help them improve long-term customer retention and is a way they can start to examine a more automated process of service.

We believe that IoT will one day be a reality, but we recognize the complex challenges that lie ahead. Smart devices or smart connections to products can help companies prepare for the inevitable revolution.

 

 

Welcome to the latest edition of the Field Service News podcast. This month we are joined by Simon Spriggs, Account Manager Exel Computer Systems.

In this exclusive interview Simon talks openly about what we can expect and demand from Service Management software providers, including the differences between scheduling systems, how much customisation can be expected, what we should expect in terms of support during implementation of a new software and how to build a case for investment from your board.

 

 

 

Simon will also be joining Field Service News in the Field Service Solutions Theatre at this year's Service Management Expo being held in London's ExCel on June 17th, 18th and 19th. So if you want to here more from him then make sure you get your complimentary 3 day pass by clicking this link

[quote style ="boxed"]Find out more about Exel Computer Systems in the Field Service News Directory by clicking here

 

Please note that that promotion of this download is a joint venture between Field Service News and Exel Computer Systems and by downloading the podcast you agree to the fascinating terms and conditions which are available right here.