Understanding the various ways in which your customers may perceive value from your services is crucial if you are to be able to effectively sell preventative maintenance based service solutions to them, writes Coen Jeukens...

Selling preventive maintenance is not what it used to be. In the old days a manufacturer could use its expert position to prescribe a maintenance scheme. Today, a combination of emerging technologies and pressure from buyers to do it cheaper/ smarter warrant a revisiting of the value proposition of preventive maintenance.

PM = Periodical Maintenance

As acronym we use PM. When talking we utter the words preventive maintenance. But what do we really mean?

• Planned Maintenance
• Periodical Maintenance
• Predictive Maintenance
• Prescriptive Maintenance

Analysing a lot of service contracts offered by OEMs we still see most of the maintenance is periodical or counter based. Just like the maintenance interval for your car; a PM each year or at 15,000 km.

All those periodical or counter based maintenance jobs are good service revenue for your service organisations But what happens when customers start challenging you? What if the customer has access to knowledge that amends or contradicts the engineering assumptions that led to the definition of your current maintenance intervals?

Buyers seek to reduce maintenance cost

In a world where people are more vocal, we see customers expecting things to work and buyers seeking to reduce maintenance cost. These expectations impact the way we sell service contracts.

Selling is more straight forward when you can see a direct relationship between the pain and the gain. Such a link is obvious for installation and break-fix activities. But it is less apparent for preventive maintenance. Try to picture buyers asking these questions:

• What does PM prevent and what is the risk that remains?
• What is the rationale of the current maintenance interval?
• Nothing happened last year. What will happen if we skip or delay a PM?
• Can you dissect the PM job in activities (show me what you do) and is it really necessary to have all those activities done by an experienced/ expensive technician as yours?
• Can we do pieces of the PM job ourselves?

 

 

 

You get the gist of the conversation and know where it is leading less cost for your customer at the expense of less PM revenue for your service organisation.

What complicates the selling of service, is that in most scenarios the buyer and the customer/ user are not the same person. You may convince the user of a piece of equipment to do preventive maintenance, the buyer on the other hand has a different set of objectives. Most likely the buyer will push you on a path towards commoditising and cannibalising your PM services. All in order to reduce cost.

Rediscovering value

To stay ahead of the game let’s dissect PM along the lines of value creation for the customer. High level you can split a PM into three pieces:

1. The execution of the maintenance activities
2. The reporting on those activities
3. The communication and interpretation of the results

Ask your customers to rate the value of each of those pieces. It’s probable that you will find that the business value of PM to a lesser extent is in the execution and more in the reporting and communication.

Maybe you pride yourself in your uniqueness of execution, whereas the customer might perceive it as a commodity. If also reporting and communication are on par, you may face price erosion.

If your customer needs the PM report for compliance or insurance purposes, the value of the report increases. When you consider that PM is often a play of risk and liability, you can price the value of your brand.

Example: It does make a difference to an insurer if a yearly PM/ inspection is performed by a triple A company or a middle of the road company. Communication value comes into play when your customer expects you to be a partner rather than a supplier.

• Supplier – “just send me the PM report, I’ll read and interpret it myself. When I need assistance, I’ll contact you.”
• Partner – “help me interpret the findings and consequences of the PM. How does this impact my business?”.

In the latter situation you can monetise the communication beyond the effort of having a conversation for a couple of hours. PM can thus elevate from an obligatory periodical execution to an instrument of customer satisfaction and cross- and upselling.

Repackaging the preventive maintenance offering

In order to retain and expand your PM revenue stream in a context where the buyers move to reduce their spend, do go in discovery mode and (re)define preventive maintenance.

PM is not a singular black box once defined by somebody in engineering with a product focus. Modern PM is a menu of choices (and consequences) for your buyer based on the usage profile of the product, budget and risk.

Field Service News' Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland, offers opinion on what 2020 could bring for the service sector...

Maybe it’s just the bluster of a new year, magnified but a whole shiny new decade, and not just any decade, 2020 an iconic turning point for an ageing Xennial like me old enough to remember the exciting future that Doc Brown showed us back in the 80’s, yet young enough to harbour the distinctly millenial disappointment that actually the early part of the twenty first century was pretty much the same as the end of its predecessor - just with more anxiety a far, far worse movies.

But I can’t help but feel a tinge of anticipation and excitement as we cross into 2020. Sure, I might have been massively let down by ‘hover boards’ but wont stop my enthusiasm for celebrating the future with the vim and vigour of someone raised on a diet of sci-fi movies that are almost all now set in the past.

But stepping away from childhood flights of fancy and back into my grown up job I actually think there is a huge amount of potentially very rapid development that is going to take the FIeld Sector by storm in the next twelve to eighteen months. And this, dear reader is why this issue is entitled “it’s all coming together” comes from.  Let me take a moment to explain further. 

"It feels much less like a crisis now and more of an objective to be undertaken..."

To begin I think it is become increasingly clear that we are moving away from an age where technology existed in silos. The concept of the technology stack is not a particularly new one, but it has finally begun to really take root in our broader consciousness in terms of how we view the tools we need to improve on our field service efficiencies.

As Amit Jain comments in this issues Big Discussion which is on Artificial Intelligence: “Ultimately, I think the days of viewing technologies in isolation are rapidly becoming a relic of the past. In today’s modern systems and solutions, you should expect to see a wide range of technologies all sitting alongside each other working in harmony towards an improved outcome.”

This echoes my own thinking I couldn’t have put it better myself. In another area of pressing concern again I feel we are coming together to overcome challenges - this time namely the ageing workforce crisis.

We are now quite some way into to dealing with this and many of us have gone through the process of replacing the retiring ‘boomers with incoming millennials to the point where the look and feel of the field workforce has begun to change and as the blended workforce gains traction that evolution will continue.

But it feels much less like a crisis now and more of an objective to be undertaken.

It’s an important objective make no mistake, but nothing we can’t handle.

Paul Joesbury, Commercial Operations Director at Homeserve discusses the pitfalls and victories 'Uberizing' can bring to your firm.

 

Paul Joesbury joins the pod again this time discussing the Uberization of service and how him and his team at Homeserve are implementing it into the service offering.

Listen here to Paul's last visit to the podcast when he suggested tech will eventually supersede the human in service and to take this up with him or to discuss any of the points he raised you can connect with him on LinkedIn here.

Zack Bergreen, Astea’s outgoing CEO, has nearly 40 years in the service sector. As the firm finally confirms its merger with IFS, Mark Glover speaks to IFS’s Marne Martin to discuss the dynamics of the transition.

Marne Martin is telling me when she first met Astea’s Zack Bergreen. “I’ve known him since 2013,” she recalls “when I tried to convince him to merge with the company that I worked for at the time.”

Of course, Martin bats in IFS colours these days, but seven years on she is finally overseeing the acquisition of Bergreen’s Astea, a deal confirmed in December which saw Bergreen step aside as CEO, allowing Martin to assume the position during the period of integration, absorbing the task into her current mantle as President of IFS’s Service Management Business Unit with overall responsibility for the merger. But as is the case for any transition, both parties need to work together. How will the pair make this handover work?

“Zack and I have a good relationship,” Martin explains. “He’s not involved in the day-to-day post the transaction, but absolutely is involved in the customer transitions and has been very supportive. For example, he and I together will go to Japan in early February.”

As I write, both may well be in the Far East, smoothing relationships in a market foreign to IFS’s strategy. That Bergreen curated business in such unorthodox regions at the time is testament to the customer focus that Astea created and as Martin alludes to, this will be an important factor going forward given IFS’s larger global presence.   

“Astea has a wonderful customer base,” she explains. “Customers reach out to him and that’s been a great conduit in the early days because Zack and I can compare notes around customers. Hopefully they’re hearing the messages that we’re investing even more in them!”

Martin of course is no stranger to such business transitions. The Astea deal will be her second go-private to add to her two previous IPOs. “An even-steven,” she says, laughing.  I quote from an old press release where she is referred to as an “industry veteran”, a term that in the UK at least, evokes an individual on the cusp of retirement, but one full of experience and knowledge.

“Although I’m not as much an industry veteran as Zack,” she retorts, musing over the phone. “He actually founded Astea not long after I was born.”

Zack Bergreen, one could argue, is a genuine veteran of the service sector, bringing Astea to market in 1979, a digitally baron time when the first clunky and commercially available mobile phone would not appear for five years and Tim-Berners Lee, the man credited with the internet, was ten years away from presenting his idea.

“With Workwave, I did need to bring that company into a place where it was part of IFS and part of our strategy and really rationalise how it all fits together..."

Since then, before IFS’s acquisition, Bergreen had built the company into one of the leaders in global service management software. It’s meant, according to some analysts, the firm has been ripe for takeover for some time. “Astea has been on the list of potential acquires for as long as many of the market analysts can remember,” says Bill Pollock, “It is not a surprise that it has finally been acquired – the real surprise is that it took so long.”

Despite the delay though in Astea being acquired, Martin remains on-brief with IFS’s CEO Darren Roos, who tasked her on arrival to create and grow the Service Management Business Unit. With the integration of Astea, the successful go-to-market implementation of WorkWave, and strong organic growth of the products acquired previously by IFS, Martin is on track.

Skilfully, Martin recruited Dave Giannetto to take over the day-to-day as Workwave’s CEO, him being promoted approximately a week before the Astea deal was closed out.  Having worked alongside Giannetto for eight months leading up to his appointment, Martin felt confident handing over the reins.

“With Workwave, I did need to bring that company into a place where it was part of IFS and part of our strategy and really rationalise how it all fits together,” Martin recalls, “but it was also a talent expansion strategy, so with Darren’s support, I recruited in Dave and I was able to transition these CEO duties to him.”

However, she was quick to credit the team around her and the recruitment of those bought in for the fantastic growth IFS is experiencing in the Service Management Business Unit and with the Astea transition. This included Simon Niesler who joined in December as CRO, laying a foundation Martin says, to sustain their rate of growth – the division’s bookings growth was over 100 per cent in 2019 – and successfully absorb Astea. “It was absolutely time to bring in a CRO, and with again Darren’s support, we were able to bring in another very strong talent,” she says. “I'm thrilled, as it enables us to keep scaling and gives me the confidence we really have someone who is best in class in the role.”

Through Q1 at least, IFS will retain the knowledge of another class act in Bergreen, who has an advisory role as a sort of relay between Astea’s customer-base and its integration with IFS. Officially, he will take on the role of Senior Advisor of IFS’s Group Management and be an influential voice in the Service Management Advisory Board.

Come Q2, we will know more about the success of the transaction. Given Martin’s track record however, don’t be surprised, if there were any cynical Astea customers, our bet is that they will be more than appeased with the engagement and customer focus.

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Enjoyed this article? You can read more analysis and news from Marne and the IFS team by clicking here 

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In the Big Discussion we bring together a panel of industry experts and focus on one key topic within the field service sector. In the first of a four part series, we turn our attention to AI where our panel includes FieldAware's Mark Tatarsky and ServiceMax's Amit Jain.

 

Just how important is ArtificIal intelligence going to be in the future of field service?

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Mark Tatarsky, SVP Marketing, FieldAware

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already working its way into many different aspects of field service delivery today.

However, its prevalence and impact will be more influential for some field service organizations than others. It really depends on the industry served; the type of service provided as well as the complexity of the equipment serviced. AI can impact all field service delivery to varying levels.

In many instances, AI can be applied behind the scenes to improve efficiency without the end-user, even knowing it is at work.

An example of behind the scenes activity is when AI improves the optimization engine results for scheduling and routing. Even basic consumer-oriented routing systems like WAZE or GoogleMaps use varying levels of AI to help select the most efficient route.

When field service organizations are servicing sophisticated equipment monitored via IoT connectivity, AI will be applied to the monitoring and deployment process to enable predictive maintenance and automated dispatch based on AI processes and equipment tolerance thresholds.

 

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Amit Jain, Senior VP of Product, ServiceMax. 

Artificial Intelligence is going to play a significant role in many areas that are crucial to field service delivery today and moving forward—it is early stages now.  Much of the conversation in field service now is centred on two key aspects - how we drive efficiency and how we establish the 360-degree view of the customer. In each of these areas, data is an essential factor in terms of driving improvements - and having a view into asset service data is equally important.

Connected asset and service data as maintained in the field hold insights far beyond the service department, providing a better business lens for almost every other line of business. Within field service operations, a major component of any day-to-day business is the data that is used in the variety of operational processes. Field service engineers, dispatchers and managers rely on and collect valuable data direct from source and ensure its accuracy, whether that’s product status and performance, contracts, location or account details.

With the advent of predictive analytics and condition-based maintenance, this data, which can be curated and fed into an organization’s data system has the potential to provide accurate intelligence across the organization. As it gravitates towards the data lake, it can touch and enhance other data sources such as CRM, ERP, parts, logistics and supply chain, HR, compliance and even data sources such as traffic and weather forecasting. Essentially, field service and asset data gives all other data relevance and accuracy.

However, the sheer unprecedented volumes of data being generated today, which is set to continue to increase almost exponentially moving forwards, is simply too vast to be useful unless we implement Artificial Intelligence within FSM systems. This is also the case with interpreting IoT data, which is largely predicted to be the backbone of field service operations of the future, and is empowering field service organizations to move away from the traditional break/fix approach to much more effective and profitable advanced service models.

The second part of this Big Discussion will be published next week, when the pair are asked the difference between Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

The Field Service News editorial team offer analysis on the stories circling in the service sector...

 

As IFS finally completed its full acquisition of Astea, Mark Glover ponders the challenges ahead for Marne Martin, who is tasked with overseeing the transition...

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It’s not new news, but IFS finally completing its acquisition of Astea, following the announcement the pair had signed a definitive agreement in October, meant a fresh press release pinging into Field Service News’ inbox confirming a deal that many had been predicting for a while. 

As is the form for acquisition announcements the release took a postive angle, explaining what benefits the merger will bring to IFS and its customer base. “With the acquisition of Astea, IFS has strengthened and deepened its ability to help customers innovate in field service and service management,” affirmed Nicole French, VP and Analyst at Constellation Research in a quote taken from the release. Delivering innovation to its customer base falls sqaurely on the shoulders of IFS’ Marne Martin, who is set to assume leadership of Astea, taking the reins from Zack Bergreen, who founded the company in 1979. 

In an interview with Martin, just after the confirmation announcement in December, I asked how the dynamic between the pair will operate through the transitionary period. However, in response she reveals the pair could have been working together seven years ago. “I’ve known him since 2013, when I tried to convince him to merge with ServicePower,” she recalls.

“Customers reach out to him [Bergreen] and that’s a great conduit because he and I can compare notes around customers.Hopefully they’re hearing hearing the messages that we’re trying to speak to them about.”

Martin is no stranger to acquisitions, being at the helm of ServicePower when it merged with IFS in 2017, but three years on and this time absorbing a company that has a dedicated, loyal and expectant customer-base, the task ahead could be one of her biggest challenges to-date.

The full interview with Marne Martin will be published Thursday 5 February.

 

... and Field Service News’ Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland, also reflects on what the big stories in the news are for him...

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For me the most exciting story that leaps out of our news round-up this month is that Nokia are entering the race to solve the headaches of last mile delivery.

This story albeit just a tempting snippet and a glimpse of a potential solution will come as very welcome news to all field service providers as the challenges of inner-city congestion are just set to worsen as we enter the third decade of the twentieth century.

Not only does the introduction of a company with a history of pioneering innovation entering this arena to solve what I fear may be the biggest challenge of the coming years for field service companies bode well for overcoming this challenge. They are also looking to fix it with cute little delivery robots.

Finally, the year 2020 is living up to its billing of being ‘the future’. I might even get the personal jet pack I’ve been dreaming of since I was 11 at some point in the next few years as well!

In terms, of industry trends I think that the move by WebFleet to introduce a sustainability initiative is not only smart but also a likely sign of things to come. Indeed, I was discussing this exact topic with Rich Agostinelli’s the new CEO of ByBox recently (look out for that discussion in an upcoming edition of the Field Service Podcast) and I think we will see plenty of companies across the next year tapping into the ‘green dollar.’

As I mentioned to Rich, it may be that I am just a bit of a cynical old man, but I think the true driver behind much of the moves towards more sustainable operations will still inevitably be economic rather than some sudden shift in the corporate mindset to save the world.

However, given the current high focus on the well intentioned, but somewhat naive actions of the likes of Extinction Rebellion and their teen messiah Greta Thunberg, the societal pressure for businesses to at least be seen to be focussing on green issues are moving from huge to enormous. However, the fact is that solutions like ByBox’s overnight delivery services ultimately reduce costs and increase efficiency within a field service operation, whilst simultaneously reducing carbon emissions due to less idling.

So we get to improve our bottom line and save the planet from impending doom at the same time. Now that’s got to be classed as a win-win in anyone’s book?

The only question that remains is ‘will we be able to play snake on those cute little Nokia robots?

In an article submitted by Synchroteam, we look into the advantages of the humble mobile phone. It's more important than you realise...

 

 

They say the best camera is the one you always have with you - and nowadays, this is probably your mobile phone. The same could be applied to the tools you use at work on a daily basis. Whether you’re a maintenance worker, a telecommunications engineer or an HVAC technician, there are probably a bunch of tools that you always need to have at hand. The ones you couldn’t go out in the field without, the ones that make your work easier. Well, guess what: your phone could be one of those.

Going mobile is probably one of the smartest changes you can apply to your field service company. It usually means being able to maximize productivity, and has a positive impact both on your workers and your customers. Nowadays technology can help companies thrive in many different areas of industry and commerce, and the field service sector is no exception.

 

Advantages of mobile workforce software

One of the first advantages you’ll notice when taking the leap into mobile is a dramatic improvement in communication. Technicians are now able to access any necessary information anytime, anywhere, right from their devices. They can check the customers’ job history, check if there’s stock of certain parts, or even send the invoice back to the office right after the job is done.

 

An improved communication makes any teamwork more efficient. Mobile devices help your team stay in touch, making job assigning and scheduling a lot easier. It also lets you know the whereabouts of each technician at any given time, and inform the customer of any possible delays or reschedules.

 

Using the appropriate app on your device, you’ll be able to optimize team routes, so that when the technicians leave the office, they’ll make the most of their time out in the field - and will surely avoid any traffic jams on their way. No more wasting time and fuel!

 

How to make the most of mobile integration

Let’s be honest: Including mobile technology in your daily workflow is not a piece of cake. It’s a process that can take some time, depending on different elements. But truth to be told, there are also some key points you should take bear in mind before taking the leap into mobile.

 

First of all, you should take all the necessary time to find the perfect solution for you. Going mobile means making a bunch of small but important decisions: which field software app should I use? What mobile devices do I buy? iPhone or Android?

 

If your mobile software of choice can be integrated with the system you’re already using at work, you’ll be saving a lot of time there. The perfect solution here would be choosing a field software management solution that includes mobile clients as well. Not only will you have access to all the information you already have, but also the technicians will probably have a much less steep learning curve when trying to familiarize themselves with the app.

 

All in all, when it comes to bring mobile technology to your field service company, the faster you can have it up and running, the better. Any system that can be integrated within the current company structure and workflow in days or weeks, and not months, means more benefits for your business. You’ll start seeing the return to your investment, both in terms of productivity and income!

 

 

Built-in apps can be field service apps!

Now, like we said at the beginning, the best camera is the one you have with you. Turns out some of the apps that come pre-installed in almost any mobile device today can also work as field service tools. Some of these apps that have a secret identity as handyman tools are:

 

Flashlight: you can have as many specialized field service apps, but sometimes all you need to make your work easier is a simple flashlight. The one that comes built-in with mobile devices comes in really handy, especially in those occasions when you’ve left the “real” flashlight back in the van, or it has run out of batteries.

 

Calculator: when taking measures for a new installation or invoicing a customer, number accuracy is a must. Take no risks here with the basic calculator that comes pre-installed with all smartphones.

 

Notes: when you enter the mobile software world, you’re also taking a leap into digitalization. And of course, this means saying goodbye to paper. In an all-digital, paperless office, using the built-in Notes app in your mobile device to jot down any important piece of information makes total sense!

 

Maps: most smartphones have a GPS chip included, which can help you find the address of your next customer in no time - together with the faster, more optimized route to arrive there.

 

Camera: we’ve mentioned cameras a few times already, so we couldn’t forget about them! The built-camera of your mobile device can be very useful when you need to take a picture of any job you’ve completed - for instance, for insurance purposes.

 

The best professional apps for field service

Besides the apps that come pre-installed on your device, you can also find tons of apps in app markets, both for Android (Google Play) and iPhone (App Store). Some of these apps, while not having been specifically designed for field service usage, can help you with work. Some of them are:

 

Evernote

Though you probably have a pre-installed Notes app in your device, Evernote adds some interesting features to the note-taking business. Things such as synchronization of notes across devices, and the ability to share documents easily with the rest of the team.

Slack

Remember when we mentioned communication before, as one of the key elements in your company that would benefit more from digitalization? Slack can also help with that. This app lets you organize instant messaging with your team in groups, channels and also private chats. In other words, this app lets you save time usually wasted in never-ending email chains and meetings, and devote that time to more productive things.

Dropbox

Besides notes and chats, you probably need a space online to store and share documents. And when talking about online file sharing, Dropbox is a great alternative. You can store and share files and, most importantly, create a backup copy of all the important documents saved in your company’s database. Other interesting alternatives for online storing are Google Drive and Onedrive (Microsoft).

 

Going mobile, but with precaution

Both built-in apps and the software available in app markets can be used as field service tools. But if you turn your mobile device into a work tool, there are certain points you need to take care of.

 

For starters, you should keep your device’s operating system updated to the last version. This applies to all the apps you use as well. The most recent versions usually add new features, and also fix bugs and security issues - something you should take very seriously, specially if you’re using this device for work.

 

Also, make sure you set up the lost phone system integrated both in Android (Android Device Manager) and iPhone (Find my iPhone). Thus you’ll be able to track, locate or even remote wipe the device in case it gets lost or stolen.

 

Last, but not least, both the mobile device and the apps you use at work are useless if you run out of battery. In order to avoid this situation, next time you pack up your stuff to go out in the field, make sure you throw a power bank in!

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Click here to find out more about Synchroteam

 

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FieldAware’s Marc Tatarsky explains how you can tap into your all-star resources and advance your field service operational maturity...

As your overall field service maturity evolves, one way to move your operational maturity to the next level is to extend the impact the field service team has on the success of the entire organization. To achieve this goal, field service leaders have several critical levers they must pull to gain momentum.

The first lever is to change the organization’s view of the potential role and influence of the most valuable resource within the field service organization - the field technician. The second lever is to integrate the tools that empower these all-star players with the broader business systems necessary to make them successful in an expanded role. And finally, they must encompass these efforts with a well-developed change management program. The program should focus on tooling the field technicians with the necessary skills for success, providing them proper training, and aligning their workflows and client interactions for a smooth transition to the expanded roles, ensuring long-term success.

 

ROLE DEFINITION IN FIELD SERVICE

As one of the first faces to the customer, the field technician has the potential to support or even take on several critical roles for growing organizations. These roles could include: 

• Customer Success
• Relationship Manager
• Sales/Upselling
• Marketing/Brand Ambassador
• Proactive Support

To take advantage of the field technician’s regular and in-depth interactions with existing customers, organizations need to embrace their expanded role. Resistance to change and under-utilization typical occurs due to one of two drivers – hyper-focus or fear/trust isolation.

Hyper-focus happens when there is a perception that the technician’s time and skills are too valuable to allocate to new tasks other than pure field service deliverables. Non-core field service activities could be viewed as distractions.  Fear/Trust isolation, on the other hand, is typically driven by broader siloed organizations that don’t trust the “ill-equipped” field worker to adequately perform tasks that are not considered core to their skill set. Many times, these fears are exasperated by limited training opportunities, poor system integration and data flow, and a lack of available supporting tools that would be necessary to capitalize on the expanding role of the field worker.  

 

Field Service SYSTEM AND DATA INTEGRATION

Some of these challenges lead us to the second critical lever - integrating FSM with other key Systems of Record. To achieve this next step in operational maturity, the organization must already be at a level of technical maturity that leverages an FSM platform that easily integrates and plays nice with other non-field service systems of record. These can include:

• CRM
• ERP
• BI
• EAM
• Inventory

Having access to data and workflows that interact with some or all of these other systems is critical in determining what areas an expanded field tech role could best add value to the broader organization.  One of the typical areas of role expansion includes supporting the sales process with upsells or relationship management.

To effectively and productively improve an organization’s capacity in these areas, the field technician must have access to critical elements of the CRM data on the mobile device while in the field.

When adequately equipped, with both data (key contacts, contract details, etc.) and workflow (sales/service order, upsell options, etc.), the augmented field technician role happily engages with customers.   When employed at the appropriate times, they can improve upsell-revenue opportunities and reduce churn metrics. When done correctly, these interactions are seamless and provide value to the customer as well as the service organization.

 

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

The final lever, change management, is often the most critical step even though it is the least complex and technically challenging. In this context, change management represents the longer-term set of processes, training, and workflows that help to ensure the new activities and responsibilities you designed for your all-star players can be successfully executed and deliver the value as promised.

Program leaders must carefully evaluate the data made available to the field technician on the mobile, design an aligned scope of tasks/activities, and identify triggers that are easy for the technician to utilize and execute as well as create training. 

Training should consist of both hard-skill (technical, data workflow, etc.) and soft-skill (business process, interpersonal, etc.) techniques. It should create steps and criteria for when to use the new procedures. Finally, you will want to establish success criteria so you can track the progress the field workers are making, how easily they are adopting and executing the new responsibilities, and ultimately measure their success in terms of financial impact.

 

ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES for field service organisations

The opportunities to leverage and build on the excellent customer service your field workers already provide are endless. In many organizations, the field technician represents the one employee that has an intimate pulse on your customer’s health and overall success with your products. As your Field Service organizational and technology maturity develops, expanding the role of these critical all-stars is a natural fit for improving the overall success of the broader organization.

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Marc Tartarsky is SVP Marketing at FieldAware. Find out more about the solutions Marc and his team offer @ www.fieldaware.com 

Enjoyed this article? You can read more analysis and news from Marc and the Field Aware team by clicking here 

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Nick Frank outlines the PAS280, a British standard aimed at improving service business.