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In the part one of this two-part feature we looked at the launch of Amazon Prime Air and whether Amazon’s announcement heralded a revolutionary new delivery method which could change field service as we know it, or if it was little more than a PR stunt to put the ecommerce giant in the public eye ahead of a key revenue-generating period and whether (or not) the public was ready for fleets of drones delivering their goods?

Now in the second part of the series we review how the business world has reacted to the launch, the regulatory challenges that stand in Amazon’s way and one reason why it might just work after all….

The business world poured scorn…

Whilst public opinion remained divided, in the corporate world Amazon’s competitors both current and potentially those from the future if they step into the realms of delivery and logistics.

When asked if Amazon could emerge as a competitor, FedEx CEO Fred Smith commented:

“Quite frankly I don’t think I’ve seen more mythology in the press about anything than I have about the e-commerce space over the last year or so…”

He further clarified FedEx’s position by adding:

“Now that’s not to belittle UAS [unmanned aerial systems] technology because we’ve got a lot of studies underway in that area ourselves,” he said. “…but at the end of the day [most products will be delivered through] the intercity transportation networks of FedEx and UPS and to a lesser degree the Postal Service, which is designed around delivering very lightweight items.”

John Donahoe, CEO of Ebay was equally dismissive of Amazon’s plans. Not pulling his punches he commented that Ebay were “Not really focusing on long-term fantasies, we're focusing on things that will change consumers' experience today," 

Meanwhile in a fantastic parody of the Amazon announcement British book retailer Waterstones, announced they were launching a new service using specially trained Owls to deliver online purchases within 30 minutes.

A question of regulations...

In fact whilst it does seem that open season has been declared on Amazon and mischievous sniggering can be heard in corporate boardrooms around the globe, the simple fact is that the technology to make this happen is very much a reality and should Amazon be able to overcome the regulatory obstacles then they may well find themselves not only laughing last but also lughing loudest.

So what exactly is the current state of affairs in terms of the regulation Unmanned Ariel Systems (UAS) to give the drones their official moniker?

Well last year the US Congress passed a law that required the FAA to publish their final regulations that would allow certain applications of commercial UAS by September 30^th 2015 – which is the likely the source of Amazon’s own claim that Prime Air could be launched as soon as then.

Having recently published its first annual “road map” in which it laid out the necessary steps it will be taking to move forward with plans for draft legislation within the next year, the agency has already approved certain UAS for use by energy firms off the Alaska coast, as instructed by Congress.

However, both types of UAS that the FAA certified had already been approved for military use, something the Amazon drones don’t have behind them. Whilst law enforcement agencies and other public organisations have also received permission from the FAA to fly UAS in US airspace for surveillance and other purposes, corporate uses are a long way from being cleared. One un-named source at the FAA is even quoted as saying:

“We can’t even handle the simpler cases… this is taking ridiculously long. We’re hurting a lot of industries.”

In fact as the Washington Post highlighted:

"The fact that Amazon had to leave the country to make the video underscores how slowly U.S. officials have embraced the policy challenge."

In the UK the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are responsible for the authorization of UAS. In response to the Amazon announcement a CAA spokesman commented

“There are rules in place to make sure unmanned aircraft are operated safely and don’t pose any risk of harm to the public. A key element of this is the operator must have the aircraft within visual sight at all times during the flight. So there are a number of safety issues Amazon would need to address before this type of operation could go ahead.”

Yet it could still work…

However, there is one potential application of delivery drones which has been overlooked by the Amazon spin machine but could actually prove to be a much more viable solution in terms of both the logistics of operation and also meeting existing regulations, which was outlined by Ralph Rio, A Research Director with the ARC group in an article on Forbes Magazine.

“Instead of replacing, think about augmenting.  Jeff [Bezo] said that 80% of the packages are light enough for a drone to carry.  That means 20% of packages will need a delivery truck and person to carry the package to the destination…”

“…Consider a truck with sides that roll-up to reveal shelves with drones.  The truck stops at a home and, while the delivery person gets and delivers a package, multiple drones emerge and deliver packages within a few hundred feet, and return.  If a drone has a problem, the delivery person is there to help.  Also, the drones could be limited to a lower altitude that avoids FAA issues. “

“With the delivery augmentation approach, each stop releases a swarm of drones.  One stop delivers five packages rather than one.  This would be a huge productivity improvement for a dense, same day delivery route – like in suburbia.”

“ Of course, this approach to package delivery requires creation of complex algorithms for issues like when to use, route optimisation, sequencing, error correction, failure response, and more.  Amazon has the PhD math scientists to solve these problems.  The major impediment may be the business agreement between Amazon and the package delivery service providers.  But, this may solved with the next iteration of its agreement with the post office.”

“The technology is known, and could be deployed.  We will be watching for you to see how the application of this technology unfolds.”

This would certainly seem to provide a more practical application of the drones for deliveries, rather than Amazon’s initial more simplistic version drones leaving direct from the factory. Of course drones have been applied in other field service environments such as this example here as well. So whether the announcement was a perfect PR exercise or not, perhaps the idea of seeing delivery drones is the next few years is not as far fetched as it might seem…

Technology has long been a key driver for innovation and change in business. Regardless of size or industry, the pace of technological change is a major factor in the ability of businesses to evolve, meet increasing customer demands and maintain a commercial advantage. Giles Margerison, Director with TomTom Telematics explains more...

Rarely has this relationship been more evident than in the recent development in the connected vehicle and the opportunities it offers to field service organisations.

Advancements in fleet management technology have resulted in a growing suite of applications designed to help managers boost operational efficiency and, increasingly, realise new levels of customer service delivery.

As a consequence of the recent economic slowdown, customers are seeking ever-greater value for money and demanding more from business than ever before. The effective application of connected vehicle technology could be crucial in helping field service operators to act quickly and introduce new services and innovations to further improve the customer experience.

What is the connected vehicle?

Although it is undergoing a period of rapid technological change, the connected vehicle is not a new concept. It has its roots in vehicle tracking, which has long allowed businesses to improve efficiency by gaining greater visibility of their mobile workforce.

But we are now experiencing greater degrees of connectivity than ever before - driven in part by the pace of technological innovation in the consumer sphere. Advancements are occurring at an ever-quickening pace, driving adoption and making technology such as smartphones and tablet PCs integral business tools.

These devices can work hand-in-hand with advanced telematics technology to create a seamless IT operation that encompasses all aspects of life – from business to your home, car and leisure time.

The same goes for business, where vehicle, smartphone, mobile hardware and office software can form a seamless loop that allows for greater flow of data through disparate parts of a business and its operations.

For example, a wireless Bluetooth connection might allow the tracking unit fitted into a vehicle to communicate with mobile printers, barcode scanners, signature-capture devices or even smartphones.

The result is an exchange of data which allows such hardware to incorporate precise information regarding time and location for the production of more accurate invoices or proof of delivery. This can then be communicated back to the office in real-time, allowing better management of workflow and fulfilment of customer orders.

Bringing mobile workers into the office fold

Such innovations allow management to exercise a greater degree of control over their mobile workforce, ensuring employees on the road are as connected and accessible as those in the office.

Combined data from in-vehicle technology and mobile hardware can be communicated back to the office and shared with the appropriate software applications - a vital relationship given society's increasing dependence on electronic relationships between companies and their customers, suppliers or partners.

When an order is received by a company, for example, the details can automatically be passed from the e-commerce platform or CRM to the fleet management dashboard.

This allows the mobile operations manager to view outstanding orders and dispatch the most appropriate employee to each job based on how long it will take them to arrive, with directions sent immediately to their satellite navigation device. Once the job is done, data will be sent from the vehicle back to the office, allowing the final details to be added to the CRM or invoicing software, completing the loop.

Such a situation is only made possible through the integration of fleet management hardware and software with existing office applications, which has become a growing concern given the rate of technological change.

IT integration must extend to all elements of a business, including both office and mobile operations, in order to form a flexible framework capable of providing a lasting competitive edge.

What does the future hold?

Even greater advances are close at hand. A number of insurance companies are already using fleet management technology to send driving performance data to a policy-holder's smartphone with a view to helping them drive more safely and reduce premiums.

For field service organisations, it is not hard to imagine a situation where the customer places an order and subsequently receives a message to their smartphone providing an accurate ETA for when the operative will arrive at their house - perhaps even tracking real-time progress on a map.

Not only that, but the smartphone then tells the customer exactly how long it will take for them to travel home in order to meet the operative and provides them with the best possible route, taking into account traffic congestion.

Extending the idea further, deliveries could be sent to a customer's exact location, pinpointed according to the GPS signal from their smartphone, whether that’s home, work or even the local coffee shop.

Roadside assistance companies could allow customers to make a distress call via a smartphone app before sending out the most appropriate responder based on engine diagnostics and location data sent immediately from the customer's vehicle.

No matter the application, the connected vehicle will only continue to offer new possibilities for the field service industry to future proof its service offering.

 

 

At the beginning of this month Amazon caused a global sensation when they announced their intentions to launch a new service Amazon Prime Air.

Prime Air is a revolutionary new delivery mechanism that would see the e-commerce giant utilise small unmanned drones to deliver packages weighing under 2.3kg to consumers within 30 minutes of ordering. It is the stuff of science fiction fantasy but if the plans are real then Amazon’s plans then it could be a move that will change field service forever.

But is there any substance to Amazon’s claims or is this just a very sophisticated marketing move? Serious questions remain about the legality of such a venture with legislation unclear both in the US and the UK , whilst the timing of the announcement, with the usually secretive Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos appearing on CBS’ 60 Minutes programme the day before ‘Cyber Monday’, raised further questions also.

Yet at the same time, if Amazon can find their way around the legislative maze that stands in their way, and if they have indeed perfected the technology then the business case for such a bold move is certainly sound.

Online purchases have been reported as having increased 20% year over year over the Christmas periods.  If this figure is compounded, that equate to business doubling within just four years.  The likelihood of Amazon being able to double their delivery capacity using existing methods by 2017 is questionable at best. Add to this the increasing consumer demand for free delivery driven by a highly competitive market, then finding an improved means of delivering small packages becomes a high priority to keep their business sustainable.

What Amazon’s official statements say…

With a powerful video that outlines Amazon’s vision for future deliveries sat prominently on their official site it certainly seems that Amazon themselves see Prime Air as more than just a pipe dream but an actual viable solution they will be rolling out to customers within the medium term.

In a dedicated FAQ about the Octocopters (Amazon’s official name for their drones) they describe the technology as:

"It looks like science fiction, but it's real. From a technology point of view, we'll be ready to enter commercial operations as soon as the necessary regulations are in place. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is actively working on rules for unmanned aerial vehicles”

In the same section they also claim that the “One day, Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today” and that the drones could be in action as early as 2015. They also appear to address one of the most likely objections to drone fleets taking to the skies… public safety.

Amazon’s official statement reads  “The FAA is actively working on rules and an approach for unmanned aerial vehicles that will prioritise public safety. Safety will be our top priority, and our vehicles will be built with multiple redundancies and designed to commercial aviation standards.”

But safety isn’t the public’s only objection to the drones…

A divided public reaction…

In the days following the announcement the Internet was buzzing with articles and comments about the drones. If the old cliché that there is no such thing as bad coverage is true, then this certainly was a PR masterpiece by Amazon as their brand was suddenly everywhere.

Many responses were positive, openly welcoming the announcement. Comments from a BBC online article discussing the drones included:

“The sooner the better. I'm sick of being imprisoned in my home waiting for deliveries to my online shopping mad daughters. Perhaps with this delivery system I will be able to go out and do some real shopping. You know, the type where you choose what you want and get it there and then.”

And

“Yes, I believe that this would be an effective means of parcel delivery... Eventually. Drones of this type can be easily flown and built, from as little as £100. A model aircraft can be classed as a drone. The law does not currently stop people from strapping a small GoPro camera to the front of a model aircraft, yet. Drones have many practical uses, but must be used in the correct way.”

However, whilst some greeted the prospect of drone fleets warmly many used the forum to express their misgivings about the concept.

“What about people living in apartments with no direct access to street level. I'm reckoning this will be limited to people who live in suburban detached or terraced houses - can't see this making its way to inner city areas with the technology advancing well enough to avoid substantial damage to property or life.”

And

“Amazon's aim is to get goods to customers faster and cheaper; and make more profit. Machines can put many people out of work, but we still have no plan in place to deal with it's effect, i.e.: unemployment.”

Certainly it seems that public opinion remains divided but what about the corporate world? Read the second part of this feature where we assess how Amazon’s competition has reacted, the regulatory challenges that need to be overcome if Amazon Air Prime is ever going to be realised, and one potential solution that could see drone fleets arriving sooner than you might think…

 

 

Big Data is a buzz word making its rounds across a variety of industries and the field service sector is no exception. Gartner defines Big Data as high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making.

Over the last 10 years, field service organisations have become overwhelmed by the relentless flow of information coming in from multiple sources, in various formats and through an array of tools. For example, in a typical field service business data will be coming in from GPS and vehicle-tracking systems, telematics, fleet management and workforce management. Merging and organising this ‘Big Data’ is so difficult that, in most businesses, it ends up sitting unused in applications and databases. However, many are now beginning to realise its sleeping intelligence and that they need to tap in to it to help make more informed business decisions.

The major challenge they face is how to make sense of the massive amounts of data they collect daily and tame this flow in order to extract valuable insights to help hone day-to-day operations and make long-term strategic decisions.

Performance Management Analytics (PMA) has come to the fore as a solution able to tackle the Big Data challenge. PMA provides field service managers with the visibility to analyse the productivity of their field service operations. For instance, the tool can help reduce unauthorised stops, minimise excessive speeding and idling, increase the number of jobs performed daily, and improve response times.

The Big Data Opportunity for Field Service

The ability to make sense of data can make the difference between a business that is good enough and one that stands out from the pack. When a company figures out how to review historical data about itself, identify patterns, and compile metrics and statistics to determine which assets and employees are the most productive, it can use those insights for predictive analysis and better business decisions.

The reward is higher customer satisfaction and profits. In a study commissioned by Trimble, The Road Ahead: The Future of Field Service Delivery, 80% of managers surveyed cited customer satisfaction as their top priority. A 2012 Aberdeen report highlighted the importance of customer satisfaction, finding that organisations with ratings of 90% or higher successfully retained at least 90% of customers, while those with ratings of 50% or lower retained only 26%.

Big data can play a major role here. Field service organisations that have deployed GPS, fleet and workforce management technologies already have the tools that help make sense of the information and make decisions to improve customer satisfaction. To accomplish this effectively, field service organisations must set specific goals, such as reducing overtime through route optimisation and cutting fuel costs through GPS tracking and fleet management systems.

Capture and Analysis

So much information flows back into dispatch centres and offices of field services organisations that letting it go unused actually hurts the business. Distilled properly, information through GPS, telematics, fleet management and workforce management tools provide concrete, actionable details, giving managers and dispatchers real-time visibility into fleet activities.

Systems set up to capture in-day exceptions, for instance, can save a company thousands of pounds by catching bad driver habits such as fueling cars with premium instead of regular fuel, making unscheduled stops, and ignoring pre-set routes optimised for time and fuel-savings.

Fleet and workforce management systems give managers the ability to review a day’s work and measure performance results against company standards. By leveraging Performance Management Analytics (PMA) tools, managers can identify top performers, determine which schedules and routes produce the best results, and compare results from one vehicle or worker against the entire fleet.

Performance analysis can also help with job assignments, helping managers match the skills of field technicians to specific service calls. This increases the prospect of first-time case resolution. According to Aberdeen, 26% of field visits fail to resolve the problem, requiring follow-up visits, and frustrating customers.

Telematics solutions can capture a wealth of useful information, from mechanical and emissions to driver safety habits, all of which can be collected and organised into easily digestible reports. Analytics reports, for example, can leverage telematics to provide stakeholders with information in easy-to-read, relevant snapshots highlighting operational areas that need immediate attention.

The basis of telematics was originally location, but location is now merely an enabling tool for a plethora of complex business applications. Analytics now let customers see everything from the most profitable jobs to success rates in meeting appointment times.  We’re moving towards an era of ‘super information’ delivered by telematics which will see the impact of the technology surge.

Immediate and Long-term Benefits

With big data, knowledge leads to action. A field service manager who knows which drivers have bad habits is better equipped to evaluate those drivers, act to correct their behaviour and schedule training for individuals who need it. Up-to-date information on the health of vehicles leads to better maintenance, which in turn leads to safer vehicles, improved fuel consumption and less wear and tear.

Likewise, the ability to collect real-time information on traffic through GPS tracking empowers dispatchers to make decisions on the fly to change routes and avoid congestion. AVL (automatic vehicle location) and real-time information on the distance between customer stops leads to routing and schedule optimisation.

Those are the immediate benefits, but understanding big data also brings long-term advantages, as companies engage in strategic planning based on historical patterns and predictive analysis. Thanks to big data, organisations can conduct predictive analysis for more accurate planning. For example, for companies focusing on repair, using historical data about when a part is most likely to fail, enable them to do better planning for the future. This is called preventative maintenance, fixing or changing a part even before it fails. Furthermore, adjusting resources, modifying schedules, planning vehicle purchases and forecasting hiring needs become less about guessing and more about precise, well-researched planning. And that’s why field organisations need to take control of their information.

 

Against a pan-European backdrop of regulatory change, increased consumer awareness of price and choice and concerns over energy security, the utility sector is facing many challenges and opportunities over the next decade.  Motion Computing's Ian Davies discusses... 

Within the industry itself, the concerns of customer service improvements, the aging workforce and enabling a more responsive field workforce are driving many utilities to re-evaluate key business operations, processes and the technology that supports them.

Core to many of these initiatives and achieving new levels of service and field worker productivity is ensuring seamless access to critical asset and customer data. Research has confirmed a strong correlation between a highly productive mobile workforce and ensuring utility networks deliver continuous service and meet customer service standards.  As a result, empowering a mobile workforce is now a key concern for many utilities.  As both the workforce and utility infrastructures age, many utilities are considering wireless technologies to help manage information, assets and workers.

Mobile workforce applications in utilities:

Connecting your mobile workforce with the information and human resources they require delivers many strategic benefits to utilities.  These can be grouped into three main areas - reduced operating costs, improved asset life and increased customer satisfaction.

At the tactical level these benefits are seen in metrics such as increased on-time responses, greater “wrench time”, and more job completions. Travel to the next job is less which not only saves time, but also reduces vehicle emissions, and cuts down missed appointments.

The financial savings of this increased productivity are seen in decreased crew hours and overheads. Further improvements to the bottom line can be realised by automating the work order process to help reduce operating costs.

Additional benefits include enabling seamless, real time and interoperable communications with field workers, centralised support staff, utility management and first responders in emergency situations.  Management is improved by incorporating training, work administration, and performance monitoring.  And by improving collaboration and enhancing knowledge transfer, utilities can begin to address the challenge of an aging workforce.

The applications to enable these benefits can be covered off in three main categories:

Next Generation Asset Management and Analytics

Advanced analytics draw on powerful analysis platforms to present data and complex interrelationships in a manner designed for the business and operational needs of different types of utility employees. From the field, to the asset manager, to the board room, asset analytics provide critical intelligence to ensure that appropriate decisions can be made in real time.

Modern mobile versions of asset analytics provide utility field crews with a thorough understanding of an asset’s inspection and maintenance history and help field crews better understand the importance of the accuracy of data they are capturing.

Real-Time Scheduling

Customer service in the utility sector has been lagging and much of this has to do with how customers engage with their local utilities.

While many experienced field technicians generally know their territory and the likely duration of different tasks, the same does not hold for less experienced workers and frequently, schedules developed by less experienced workers, can result in productivity decreases. Mobile workforce applications that include real-time scheduling prevent this productivity drop-off. As the crew finishes its emergency tasks, real-time schedulers immediately produce new schedules that start from the current location and follow rules for task priority and drive time.

Job Training and Monitoring

Experienced workers carry in their heads the correct safety techniques and job structure. Mobile workforce software incorporates that knowledge and makes it accessible via tools like checklists and context sensitive help. It ensures that less experienced crews meet utilities' safety and compliance guidelines.

As a result, mobile workforce management software can standardise tasks and guide newer employees through each step, decreasing the time it takes to become productive.

These applications also enable better and more accessible asset records, improved documentation, and integration with video and image management solutions to provide remote support capabilities.  Integration standards also enable efficient cross-departmental business processes.

The right platform

A variety of mobile form factors are being used to support field workers in the utility sector, and tablets represent an increasingly viable choice.  The tablet provides a strong balance of a highly portable device with sufficient display real estate to support the graphics rich applications common in the utility sector.

As a result of these benefits, according to research by VDC, over six in ten utilities are either currently using tablet PCs or are evaluating tablets for use among their field workers.

While much of the attention directed towards tablets has been for consumer-oriented devices, consumer devices have limitations when it comes to enterprise-use cases.  The challenges end users express with consumer tablets in the enterprise span everything from core device functionality to management of these devices by enterprise IT departments and their security limitations. The ability to seamlessly interact with backend systems and integrate with legacy applications including support for capabilities such as rapid updating also rank highly in this list of concerns.

For utility service technicians, critical requirements of a successful mobile platform include:

• Durable, yet lightweight design. Failure rates are a critical concern as they can substantially disrupt workflows. Devices designed to withstand inclement conditions and the potential for occasional drops are ideal. Another key requirement is the ability to interface with the display with wet hands or in wet conditions.
• Display daylight visibility. While consumer device displays are visually appealing, in sunlight or ambient light conditions they wash out. A display that can be easily read in these conditions is a key benefit, if not essential
• Application suitability. Many back-end utility applications are designed to operate in a Windows environment. Leveraging these platform investments and ensuring forward compatibility is critical for many utilities.
• Input/output configuration options. Mobile workforce management applications require a variety of input/output configuration options ranging from signature capture, bar code, GPS, image and video capture, multi-touch interface and magnetic stripe readers.
• Embedded wireless functionality. With more data moving to the cloud, a seamless wireless network connection, carrier (3G/4G) or Wi-Fi is critical.
• Unobtrusive, yet robust security.   Security requirements are becoming even more stringent due to increased regulation.  For mobile devices this likely means both hardware-based encryption, trusted boot functions, data-at-rest encryption, and remote lock and wipe capabilities. While security – especially for mobile insurance solutions – needs to be unobtrusive, sacrifices for the sake of ease of use cannot be made. [/unordered_list]

Based on these demands, and the driving force of customer service improvements, an aging workforce and a need to reduce operational cost, the tablet PC is set to become a stable fixture across the utility sector, especially out in the field and on the front line of service.

Manage the unexpected out of the mobile work day

With customer expectations at an all-time high in an increasingly competitive marketplace, the pressure for field service businesses to deliver best-in-class performance has never been higher. Providing excellent service delivery is a clear priority and for the mobile worker, their importance has shifted from one of operational necessity to strategic value.

With a number of obstacles to contend with out of the control of the technician, may it be traffic congestion or vehicle breakdown, there is never a ‘perfect’ mobile work day. But with work becoming increasingly mission-critical, companies need to ensure that their field service is not derailed by unpredictable dynamics of the working day. A technician is only as good as the tools he has to work with so the support of a solution to manage work efficiently and effectively is of the utmost importance to achieving service delivery excellence.

Trimble’s ‘Road Ahead’ report unveiled that customer satisfaction is ranked as the number one priority for field service businesses and 49 per cent of respondents agreed that the latest field-based technology would help them achieve their goals. Many operations directors see technology as an enabler with 41 per cent stating they will invest in workforce planning and investment and 44 per cent see planning and scheduling as the greatest opportunity for investment.

Investment in technology in the form of work management solutions provide far reaching benefits including:

• Increase productivity up to 30% with intelligent, in-day scheduling
• Improve dispatch efficiency by up to 60%
• Decrease drive time and mileage by up to20% per job
• Reduce overtime expenses by up to 70%

Take control of the unpredictable work day

Industries which run field service operations are often mission critical in what they do and require skilled staff to execute compliance focused work which is often variable and complex (location and task). The perfect mobile workday would start off with all employees reporting for work on time, there will be plenty of spare capacity for daily tasks, all vehicles will be operational, all recipients will be available and no drivers will come across any traffic delays or vehicle breakdowns. However this is rarely a reality and contending with these issues head on is the first step to maintaining a consistent and sustainable flow of productivity across field service operations.

The first step to managing productivity requires field service managers to get the right people with the right skills with the right assets to the right place within a set time. Performance management is vital and a modern work management solution can assist with this. It provides real-time job status of each mobile worker as well as alerts for proactively managing productivity. For example, if a job is in jeopardy of being missed due to such circumstances as a technician being caught in traffic, a vehicle breaks down or a customer emergency comes up, work management solutions automatically highlight this and can adjust schedules and reassign work to meet the new requirements.

Furthermore, managers must be able to look at the total number of jobs attended per day per technician as well as being able to view the utilisation of their technicians, ie: the amount of time spent on work as opposed to transit or idle time, to avoid falling into the trap of having more work than there are resources. Work management solutions provide the capabilities of comparing planned vs. actual work done per day/shift and communicate to mobile workers via a laptop or smart phone so they can view work details, provide current work status and receive work assignments without returning to the office.

Prioritise on-time performance and create a mission critical culture

The cost to businesses of missed or late appointments affect them more now than they used to, as customers increasingly expect more for less, happy to shop around for services and, with the growth of social media, are much more able and likely to share their experiences of poor customer service. This is largely down to global companies such as Amazon and Tesco having set new expectations for reliable, quick and cheap service delivery, such as providing one-hour delivery slots. This has lead many companies, especially those that need to carry out a more complex and skilled service, such as boiler installations or fixing electrical problems, struggling to seek new ways to keep up with demand whilst remaining profitable and competitive.

Achieving customer satisfaction in today’s marketplace is tough. On-time performance is the Holy Grail – problems must be solved the first time, and solved effectively. Research by Aberdeen group revealed 65% of incoming service requests require a field visit or a dispatch and nearly 26% of these dispatches fail to resolve the problem, requiring secondary or additional follow-up visits. AberdeenGroup also report that that 57 per cent of organisations say that their biggest customer complaint is that the 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.[1]

Issues like this can be avoided if companies focus on ‘processing 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, by making sure a qualified technician with the right tools and parts for the job is sent, will maintain productivity and ensure customer satisfaction. Aberdeen’s research found that Best-in-Class (the top 20%) performers had mean success ratios of 92% for meeting response or project completion deadlines, 88% for first-time fixes, and 83% for workforce utilisation.

The power of work management

Work Management solutions can greatly improve first time fix rates. Not only do they allocate the right worker, with the right skills, for the right job but back-end logistics like drive-time, route-booking, expected time of visit, and allotted time for the job are all analysed for efficiency, leaving staff with the information and time they need to do their jobs.

Furthermore, businesses can address the challenge of making better in-day decisions by utilising a work management self-learning tool. To avoid large data set-up exercises of skill sets and work areas, a self-learning tool supports the assignment of work orders to the field technicians by remembering who has the right skills and their usual work areas. The user also has the ability to enquire what has been learnt by the system and correct it.

The information managers can take from the analysed data that the solution can provide is significant. For example, they can analyse the time it takes a certain technician to do a job compared to another. If the time difference varies significantly they can determine if one is cutting corners to complete a job or if he/she has found a better way to do it more efficiently.   This analysis helps with the challenge all businesses face in how to balance service and cost.

There are very few people in the global field service management industry with the breadth of experience and depth of understanding of Bill Pollock.

With a career in the service industries spanning over twenty five years Bill has been commenting, advising and leading the industry as one of the most respected and highly thought of analysts working in field service.

He has worked as senior analyst for two of the worlds leading consultancies (Gartner and Aberdeen) as well as being Chief Research Officer and founder of The Service Council and is currently President and Principal Consulting Analyst with Strategies for Growth. He has also previously served as Chapter president for the Association for Service Management International, is a regular keynote speaker at leading services related events and has published more than 200 articles in numerous trade titles including Field Technologies, Reverse Logistics, and Healthcare Technology Management.

Suffice to say that Bill is in a fairly unique position to assess the current trends in the field service management industry and how these are evolving over time.

It is therefore with great pleasure that Field Service News is able to present exclusive UK access to Strategies for Growth’s 2013 Field Service Management Benchmarking report to readers of Field Service News written by Pollock himself.

This exceptional report is based on the findings of an exhaustive survey, which comprised of over 1,000 respondents and is perhaps the most comprehensive benchmarking exercise available, giving the truest indication of the mood and needs of the industry on a global scale.

With a range of respondents from right across the breadth of the service world, this research provides a true barometer of how service is moving on a multi-industry wide scale.

The sample of respondents also has true international representation with sizeable numbers from the North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific regions and with an almost even number of responses from small, medium and large companies the findings presented in this report present a clear picture of how service companies of all sizes are operating across the globe.

The headline findings of the research identify that the following three key factors are impacting on companies need to drive forward service efficiency:

• 52% Customer demand for improved asset availability
• 47% Need to improve workforce utilisation and productivity
• 43% Need to improve service process efficiencies[/unordered_list]

and the current strategic actions being required to address these issues are cited as:[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• 52% Develop / improve metrics, or KPIs, used to measure field service performance
•  44% Invest in mobile tools to provide field technicians with real-time access to required data and information in the field
• 35% Integrate new technologies into existing field service operations (i.e., iPads, Tablets or other devices, etc.)

The report then moves on to explore each of these areas in depth across 14 pages, providing insightful analysis on each, as well as exploring other related areas that may be impacting your organisation’s own drive to improve your field service management and attain service excellence.

To download this exclusive report for free simply click this link to open the report in a new tab in your browser.

It can make or break your service business growth strategy, yet it’s surprising how many service leaders do not appreciate the impact a separate service P&L can have on changing the mind-set of their people.

Many just focus on what they believe is the best way to maximise their corporate value. Yes it’s important to ensure we have the systems to manage the value of our enterprise, but we also need to consider the impact of measures on the performance of our people.

Take Textron Fastening Systems who were a $1.8bn global manufacturer of nuts, bolts, rivets, screws and plastic clips. Their European business became the sole supplier of fasteners to the Ford Fiesta, providing an integrated solution consisting of manufacturing, purchasing, logistics and engineering services. As far from their manufacturing core, it was set up with it’s own P&L and dedicated team. They succeeded due to their focus and separation from the main manufacturing business.

But once this $30million service business was stable, we decided to re-integrate it back into the core business. So a dedicated team, was re-deployed back into the operational silo’s of Engineering, Logistics, Purchasing , IT and Sales. What a disaster and I say that as this case study is from my own experiences. We lost focus, drive, energy and sales. Our biggest competitor, who set up a separate service business, grew to 5 times our revenue, from exactly the same starting point in time and experience. 15 years on the Textron Fastening Systems no longer exists, having been bought by Private Equity and then broken up. Ironically the remains of the service business have survived but without growth.

For me this was a very salutatory lesson about the importance of focus. But its not so simple as saying that for an industrial company to succeed you must have a separate P&L or Business Unit.

It depends on the strategic goals of the business and also where it is in the transformation process. For example companies such as Rolls Royce & BAE with over 50% of their revenues from services see it as such an integral part of their business model, they do not have a stand alone services division.

So if you are pondering how best to manage your corporate value and looking to make the profit/cost centre call, you might ask yourself 2 questions:

1. In your future business model how integrated will be your products and services offering.
2. Is organisational focus the key challenge facing your service transformation programme.

Having a sound service strategy is key to make the transformation to a sustainable high growth profitable service business. If you want to read  more about how real companies achieve this goal, you can look at the Bobst case study on www.noventum.eu

Read part one of this series, Creating value through services: Where to Start? here  

Read Part Three of this series, Finding nuggets of customer gold here

 

Overview:

The use of powerful mobile data capture devices and software can make a huge difference to delivery companies and their customers, particularly if the devices offer facilities such as image and signature capture. These can be used to streamline proof of delivery operations.  Leading parcels carrier, XDP,has installed a large number of Motorola devices sourced by Spirit Data Capture Limited, as well as specialist software developed by Spirit. These have already brought benefits of increased accuracy, time and cost savings, and higher customer satisfaction levels.

History:

XDP was formed in 1995 and is the largest privately owned parcels carrier in the UK. It has a network of franchises throughout the UK and Southern Ireland, comprising 80 depots. The company’s IT department provides 24x7 support to all depots and customers, which includes the provision of ‘out of hours’ telephone / remote support.

Over the past three years, XDP has developed and implemented a web-based system (XSYS) for its customers, depots and Head Office. This system now covers all aspects of the company’s day-to-day business operations, providing real-time, centralised information to all levels.

Implementing a solution to improve efficiency:

Some time ago, the IT department conducted a search for suitable hardware to streamline its operations. It contacted independent specialist Spirit Data Capture Limited, which sources, installs and supports both hardware and software for mobile enterprise solutions.

In the early stages, Spirit recommended the MC70 rugged PDA from Symbol. After Symbol was acquired by Motorola,XDP also bought over 200 MC55 rugged PDAs from Spirit. To add to these, XDP is now deploying the Motorola MC65 rugged PDA.

The M65 is the most rugged Enterprise Digital Assistant currently available. It enables mobile workers to have instant access to applications and information from the office. It also enables them to capture and process almost any kind of data whilst in the field, including photos and signatures. It is therefore ideal for delivery companies that need proof of delivery.

Spirit also offered XDP a software solution that complemented the hardware and integrated with the company’s own system. This was particularly useful, as XDP had experienced a number of problems with its existing software, which connected the mobile devices with its back-end system.

Chris Bailey, XDP’s IT Manager, explains: “The changes we’ve made have been largely driven by the commercial benefits involved. We had the confidence to make them because of our relationship with Spirit. The devices that Spirit has recommended have an overall better quality than those of other competitors, and they fit well into the hand. “A major factor in their purchase was the Comprehensive Service Contract provided by Motorola. We use this regularly as it ensures that we can keep all of our devices operable regardless of any damage they sustain in an often tough environment. I’m sure that the overall cost of this optional service would have been far exceeded by any repair bills over the years.”

Device usage:

The devices are used for barcode scanning within the depots to confirm the receipt of freight early in the morning and then later in the day when the drivers collect from local customers. The Motorola units are also used to capture an image for proof of delivery, which is made available to all parties through XSYS. Chris continues: “In the early stages of implementation, the devices were used solely inside a depot, with drivers capturing the proof of delivery information as they returned each afternoon.

Over time, we’ve acquired more devices and issued them to the drivers, who now perform the same operation during their deliveries.

“The Motorola units enable them to provide near-time information online, including the signed proof of delivery. This includes an image of a paper signature, rather than asking a customer to ‘sign on the screen’ - so it is a more accurate record of the signature.”

He adds: “Customers can now get near-time tracking information, particularly the proof of delivery images, which used to take up to 48hrs from delivery. The drivers have also received some benefits, because when they return to the depot they don’t have to enter all of their proofs of delivery onto a computer - they now capture them as they progress through their route during the day.

“Depots which input freight to the network now get far greater visibility of consignments and the administration need is reduced, as customers can see the same information. The depots can highlight areas to follow up and can concentrate their efforts on consignments that need attention.”

Chris concludes: “The Motorola devices have always proved reliable and the service we’ve received from Spirit has always been very professional. We experienced one issue which the operating system, but Spirit helped us with this and liaised with Motorola to identify a solution. Although we’re not making use of all of the other services that Spirit provides, it’s great to know that they are available if we need them. We look forward to any additional benefits that they are able to bring to our business in the future.”