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In the latest Field Service Podcast, Bill Pollock discusses why management buy-in can ultimately lead to service excellence.

 

In this special episode, Deputy Editor Mark Glover, speaks to long-term Field Service News' contributor Bill Pollock about the importance of top-down buy-in when integrating new technologies.

Citing trends from Strategies for Growth's 2018 Field Service Management Tracking Survey, Bill dissects the current state of the sector, providing some surprising insights.An essential listen from one of the most influential and experienced voices in the industry. 

 

Kris Oldland talks exclusively to Steve Wellen, CEO of FieldAware about today’s field service operation, maturity model adoption and when the time is right for an organisation’s evolution…

Evolution of an organisation’s field service and field service maturity models are hot topics and gaining increasing attention in field service management right now. Moving from basic, manual processes through to automated stages and beyond can deliver significant results to an organisation. But what does this maturity model mean in reality to an organisation and do all field service companies need to strive for the highest levels of field service maturity?

With over 35 years’ experience in the technology industry, Steve Wellen is somebody who knows more than most how important developing maturity is to business success. Prior to joining FieldAware, nearly two years ago, Steve held executive positions with software giants Domo, Inc and Omniture and his passion for the results that technology can deliver is clear.

It is useful to get his insight into how the concept of a field service maturity models can turn into reality for organisations and to take a closer look at the evolution that is happening right now. “I hear time and time again from our clients directly and through our customer support teams that field service is moving on from simply bringing efficiencies into operations, keeping customers happy and managing costs.

“These are important factors in any business, without doubt, but the focus is shifting and that shift is away from service delivery being considered to be an overhead within the business model and for field service to be an integral part of the company, that adds real value. With this strategic shift on the operational side, technology has to at least match these objectives or better still drive and deliver the outcome. Field service leaders realise they have the means to be empowered by the many recent developments in software capabilities - and how forward thinking companies are applying them - to become true value drivers in their business.”

As Steve highlights, technology and operational maturity are integral to one another, so it is useful to talk through the stages that are identified in the FieldAware model.

“In the simplest terms, we have outlined five stages going from the basic, paper-based processes through to a wholly transformative level of maturity which embraces the latest capabilities and emerging technologies.”

At the most basic stage, the field service team is seen as purely reactive, Steve explains. “The organisation’s operational development is restricted by the use of paper-based processes; there is reduced visibility of the workflow and the approach to managing work will generally be function-based and hence, reactive in nature. The field team is likely to be a siloed operation with strong focus on the department, rather than any wider business requirements.”

Moving up to the next level to part-automation means with near real-time management the work can move to a less reactive, more controlled approach with procedures and processes more easily established. However, while field service KPIs may be more easily defined because of the enhanced visibility, they may not align to wider business strategy, so the field service operations may continue to operate within a silo.

The next stage identified in the FieldAware model brings in integrated technology, and as such the operations become more managed. At level three, an integrated operation brings realtime visibility across all of the elements that need to be considered, bringing improved collaboration between teams and increased accountability within them.

Operational growth across the wider business can start to be realised, extending the impact of the field service organisation without compromising effective delivery of service promises and SLAs.


The fourth level is an optimised stage of technology maturity which means operationally field service turns into an opportunity to drive business as continual operational improvement becomes the norm. Processes become underpinned by true business intelligence and trend analysis.

Operations become more quantitatively measured and managed. An optimised stage brings with it a shift from being seen merely as service delivery, to unlocking the business value of field service with the competitive advantage that this can bring.

Finally, the most advanced stage of maturity in the FieldAware model is transformative, where the emerging technologies of IoT, AR, AI and Machine Learning become the norm and this stage has potential to have huge influence on field service operations. At this stage of maturity, the field service organisation is wholly connected across the company, applying analysis to continually improve performance, and adding value to the business through product and service innovation.

Ultimately, this enables field service to drive, not only the business, but the market, which is how companies differentiate themselves from their competition and lead company growth. The maturity of a company’s field service operations is dictated by many factors, explains Steve. Company size, type of industry and customers served, complexity of workflow, value of the assets and equipment they supply and service, and importantly, their leadership.

"One of the most significant transitions for companies, Steve believes comes when they focus on their business insight..."

So, taking these into account, what then drives a company to develop and evolve their field service solution and how is FieldAware seeing this firsthand I ask. “There are four key drivers we see within organisations looking to evolve. The first driver is growth as it is imperative that a growing field service organisation has solutions to support it and keep pace with operational needs. Next is flexibility, which is crucial to a developing field service organisation – being locked into using any solution that can’t easily adapt, handcuffs the business and restricts its development. Efficiency is critical as not having the right technology in place can be a cost driver, limit productivity and compromise service delivery.”

Last, but certainly no means least important is the increasing need for business insight. With more data available to field service organisations than ever, field service leaders demand better insight into their business and they understand that the right software holds the key to this.”

One of the most significant transitions for companies, Steve believes comes when they focus on their business insight. It becomes clear as Steve talks that business intelligence and analytics is an area he is particularly passionate about. His previous role as COO at Domo, Inc has enabled him to bring a fresh look at the application of analytics capabilities in field service.

“The premise of Domo is that it unifies every component of your business and while field service solutions have long had the capability to integrate into other business systems, such as CRM, ERP and accounting, it is analytics that provides the means for field service organisations to realise their full potential.” “Companies that recognise this value, see the importance of a closely integrated and connected field service within the wider business. The new interactions that come from this connection, further unlock the value for the company in terms of customer service, sales or product development to fuel competitive advantage.”

FieldAware has a strong focus on enabling clients to know more through their business insight, allowing them to serve more and grow more as a business. Steve again believes that analytics underpins much of this and for him seeing FieldAware clients achieve their objectives for company growth is another area he has great passion for.

“We are starting to see analytical data being used in unique ways to help field service organisations leverage the findings that are uncovered to drive innovation into their products and services. Forward-thinking companies apply these insights to help customise the service they offer to their customers more easily, deepening the customer relationship and improving levels of satisfaction.” “At the transformative level, the creation of new, unique, predictive and preventative services will help them to serve more and ultimately achieve greater growth.”

FieldAware is working with many organisations through their stages of maturity to address issues they encounter when their operational and technology stages are not aligned. Meadows Office Interiors is just one example. With over 50 years in business, Meadows Office Interiors creates innovative workspaces and company growth along with a strong customer focus, meant the creation of Meadows Service Group to offer ongoing support to their customer base.

A dedicated team was set up to focus on maximising the lifetime and effectiveness of their clients’ workplace assets, but as Steve explained it soon become clear to the management that current processes and practices couldn’t keep pace and more streamlined ways of working had to be introduced.

“Meadows quickly realised they had to be more strategic in the way they worked, to effectively manage the operational side of the business. Working with them to develop their technology maturity enabled improved day-to-day operational management, which has translated into driving their revenue growth. A great success for our client.”

It certainly seems like a successful approach for FieldAware and it is interesting times with their field service maturity model, which will mean more and more organisations will be asking themselves the question is the time right for their evolution in field service maturity.

For more information on field service maturity visit www.fieldaware.com or see Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing at FieldAware who joins a panel at Field Service USA 2019, Wednesday April 24th at the JW Marriott Palm Desert Resort & Spa

 

Field Service Management is becoming an increasingly complex beast, particularly in the face of increasing customer demands - the solution lies in real-time writes Manuel Grenacher, GM of SAP Field Service Management...

The longer a plant is malfunctioning or down, the more costs companies have to bear. To avoid that, IoT-based solutions such as condition monitoring and predictive maintenance enable organizations to oversee machines in real-time. At the same time, however, these concepts result in increased complexity: In the event of emergency, companies expect that problems with their plants will be remedied immediately.

For service technicians, that means to act fast upon requests: their customers do not only expect high-quality service, but also the speed of service delivery should be up to their expectations. But how to keep up with the increasing demand? Intelligent planning in an ever-growing digitalized world is crucial to companies: it builds the foundation for excellent field service. Thus, on-demand service is no longer sufficient – organizations have to go beyond their conventional methods to handle customer requests.

More than ever, field service software helps to keep up with the pace: technicians are able to receive information that is accurate to the minute and can respond directly. Thanks to modern transformation technologies, upcoming problems can be detected right from the start and inquiries can be processed in real-time. Companies need to be the master of your offered services. Real-time service delivery can be easily implemented, and the result is remarkable: more satisfied customers and an increased turnover.

Requirements For Digital Twins In Service
Sufficient sensors and a systematic evaluation of the data are the essential basis to predict imminent component failures – an approach that is already feasible today. However, technical possibilities are still far from being exhausted right now. Due to ongoing depreciations or for other economic reasons, companies are only gradually investing in plants equipped with modern IoT technology. IoT, however, will become more affordable in the near future. Sensors will therefore spread continuously while at the same time becoming easier to use, more resistant and cheaper.

New concepts for real-time monitoring
Predictive maintenance and condition monitoring are two examples for future-oriented solutions that support service technicians in delivering the right service at the right time. The concepts are able to identify when maintenance work is required by collecting data from the machine itself, previous service calls and connected tools. Under certain circumstances, maintenance can even be conducted by the machine itself without human interaction.

Furthermore, technologies providing predictive maintenance and condition monitoring do not only help to maintain plants, they also steer the technician toward the root cause of the problem: the service specialist knows when a problem will occur and is able to initiate preventive actions – In addition to malfunctions and interruptions of plants being reduced, production capacity increases.

The potential of digital field service and crowd service
If you want to offer high-quality field service to your clients, you cannot avoid digitizing your work processes. With the rise of IoT, a wide range of new solutions have emerged, for example digital field service management solutions. By using such software, service providers can record, sort, and prioritize customer data easily. This helps to quickly assign technicians to customer requests and process them. Digital field service management solutions store information on the current order, the customer history and machines, which leads to a high first-time fix rate. But what to do if a plant unexpectedly shuts down and no technician is available?

A nightmare not only for operators, but also for manufacturers and service-providers. To master this challenge, the implementation of a crowd service approach can help to strategically avoid service shortage. Companies can reach out to their partner ecosystem, which may consist of the enterprise group, subsidiaries, partners or freelancers. In that way, technicians can be sent to the client by using on-demand distribution.

As a result, resources can be bundled, services improved, and customer satisfaction increased. Increased service reach through real-time support Real-time service is not only about being quickly on-site – it is also about giving support via email, video, chat and social media as well as via client portals and mobile applications.

At the same time, many customers want to be actively involved: with the help of self-service portals they can check operational data, view tutorials, request remote support from an external support team, or even make an appointment with a service technician.

Offering clients a range of real-time contact opportunities, and, thus, being available 24/7, ensures a sustainable and positive customer experience.

Manuel Grenacher is General Manager of SAP Field Service Management

In a world of connected field service, new exciting oppportunities are being created by new technology such as Augmented Reality. Michael Murphy, VP International Operations, Librestream Technologies explains...

The Field Service industry is in the midst of digital change – investments are being made in different digital transformation technologies to help expand their service offerings to customers.

According to Forrester1, 32% of enterprises are focusing on digital transformation, and in two years, that number will increase to 49%. Augmented Reality (AR) is one key technology that organizations are deploying as part of these digital transformation initiatives.

It is difficult to define AR as capabilities rangefrom deployable now to future applications. The future capability can be considered ‘extreme AR’ - think of 3D digital models of assets that you can pull apart and manipulate. However, most organizations don’t have the content or infrastructure available for this form of AR even though this is the type of AR many refer to first.

In reality, the more deployed form of AR includes applications such as remote assistance and digital work instructions.
Within field service we are seeing this ‘deployable now’ AR gain significant traction. In working with industrial customers, we have identified three main drivers behind this growth: aging/ loss of experts, change in customer demands and service offerings, and ecosystem readiness.

These three drivers are propelling service organizations to adopt AR tools that can leverage expertise across a broad product set and customer base. Early adopters within industry have already proven results with performance improvements in first-time-fix rates, asset uptime, and overall issue resolution time. Embracing AR capabilities can be difficult if you don’t know where or how to start, and there are critical factors that can make the deployment a success or failure.

Here are the three main stages of successfully deploying AR technologies:

Get Started
The first and most crucial step is articulating the problem or need - Are you experiencing a loss of expertise within your organization? Are customers demanding stronger SLA commitments? If there is more demand on your service organization, AR technology can help meet these demands.

Once the need and goals are identified, the next challenge is choosing the AR technology and vendor that best fits your needs. Ask if they have other customers like you. Can they provide you with best practice suggestions? Starting with applications like digital work instructions and remote expertise will expedite results as they are proven already. In addition to wearables, these solutions can be used on smart devices, such as smartphones and tablets, that your workers likely already have in their pockets.

Work with your team to figure out the potential use cases for this technology and document them. Creating a library of use cases will help a lot in the deployment stage.

The last important part of the ‘get started’ stage is getting the right people involved from the start. That means IT, project champions, and the executive buy-in. Having all these groups on board will help make the deployment a success.

Make It A Success
AR technology is usually a learning curve for new users. Making this technology deployment a success is key when users adopt the new tools. You will see the most benefit from AR when deployed in scale – if one user has the technology it’s hard to see it success.

Think of the network effect. If only two users have the technology, there is only one connection that can be made, but with 100 users enabled, there are 4,950 potential connections. The next most important step to success is in creating an achievable adoption plan.

Work with your team and your AR vendor to properly introduce and train on the technology. And communicate your use cases and successes to help with the adoption.

If users understand how and why the technology is being used, the chance of them actually using the technology grows.

Think About the Future
The future of AR within service is virtually limitless, and enterprise businesses are testing a range of wearables as part of various AR applications. While wearables add hands-free capabilities, they add cost to the initial deployments. Many enterprises are deploying test groups with wearables while enabling workers to use the applications on their mobile devices to expand the value.

Capturing field intelligence data and providing expanded analytics are also major topics within AR. Applications such as remote expert and digital work instructions capture valuable information from the field including IoT data. Solutions are also moving toward working with IoT sensors to grab valuable data in real-time or to record in step-bystep workflow.

Using the data you’ve collected from the AR applications, you can add to your predictive maintenance and service analytics. The field intelligence data you capture also must be available within your existing systems such as your ERP or knowledge management system.

To achieve this integration, connectors and APIs are a ‘big thing’ in AR - and ad-hoc or silo systems are no longer acceptable. Enterprises expect a completely integrated solution. Practical AR solutions are proven to improve performance, especially in the field service industry.

With AR the main drivers of the ageing workforce, ecosystem readiness, and the change in service offerings and customer demands,
service organizations are realizing the need for innovation and digital change.

As the industrycontinues to embrace the digital space, AR will become the norm within field service.

IoT has long been touted as a transformational technology within field service management, and its impact will be felt by smaller organisations just as much as their larger peers writes Craig Chantler, Head of IoT, at simPRO...

Field Service is being transformed thanks to technological developments such as machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT). The ability to remotely monitor equipment and transmit data back to the business in real-time has previously only been available to larger corporates with deep pockets. The reality is small to medium enterprises can also benefit from an agile operational environment and it doesn’t need to cost the earth.

Let’s take a look at the key benefits IoT brings to small to medium-sized field service operations.

Trigger automated actions
IoT connected assets are monitored for anomalies,and error messages can trigger alerts and create work orders. There doesn’t need to be any human interaction in this process which reduces the impact it can have on limited resources. If a part fails, the correct parts can be ordered and then the job can be assigned to the suitably qualified and located engineer for the job.

Increased first-time fix rate
Repeat service visits are costly, especially for smaller businesses with limited resources. IoT can help to provide more efficient and cost effective service delivery. Accurate reports on the behaviour of connected assets help to reduce unnecessary visits but when a problem arises, the right person with the correct parts can solve the problem on the first visit.

Predictive maintenance to provide better service
Moving to a predictive maintenance model, where equipment can notify us when they are operating outside of normal parameters or predict when failure is imminent, can hugely benefit businesses. By only sending an engineer to site when required can reduce costs and administration as well as improve equipment up-time and customer satisfaction.

What are the practical applications for IoT in smaller field service businesses?
When looking to implement an IoT solution, it’s important to evaluate all options. It’s not only about cost, but the full end-to-end solution. Consider whether new equipment is required or whether the technology works with existing installations. One of our customers did exactly that when they looked at how they could use IoT in their business.

The business in question is an installer and maintainer of specialist plant equipment found in the plant rooms of many prestigious commercial buildings. They were seeking a solution that could deliver live operational data on the performance of their equipment to support their ongoing maintenance and servicing activities and even help create new revenue-generating services.

Having persevered with another IoT system for close to two years and getting nowhere, they implemented simPRO IoT and had it up and running in a very short space of time. The simPRO plug and play sensors can be retrofitted to existing equipment quickly and
easily, along with the easy connection of existing sensors in place on the equipment. These sensors communicate with the gateway to the simPRO platform through thick plant room walls that other approaches were struggling with.

The sensors are used to monitor key areas of system performance such as energy usage, water levels (using pressure sensors) and water flow (via pulse meters). Thanks to real-time updates through the cloud, the provider can be instantly alerted of these metrics, along with faults on the local equipment console. This has allowed them to improve the operational performance of their equipment and add value to the customer by reducing costs, increasing asset uptime and facility performance. They are able to “sweat the asset” and get more out of the equipment long term.

Moving away from reactive and prescriptive pre-planned work, towards cost-effective proactive management of the equipment, has had a positive impact on their bottom line. Lowering the cost of operations has enabled them to use resources more efficiently
which ultimately benefits the customer.

By integrating the core simPRO solution, which combines comprehensive asset and job management, with the IoT enabled live window into asset/equipment operational performance, simPRO delivers an end-to-end solution. Small businesses can benefit from this one-stop-shop approach where all hardware and software are provided, installed, configured and supported by the one vendor.

The simPRO solution allows smaller service providers to punch above their weight, and bring innovative new services into their portfolio to bring a tangible source of differentiation. With the real-world practicalities of simPRO IoT increasing in usage by small to medium enterprises, the onus falls on the field service industry to embrace it for the wide array of benefits previously unattainable for these businesses.

In the latest Field Service Podcast, Sarah Pettigrew, Head of Service Delivery at Thales UK, discusses the affect of an ageing workforce in service and what needs to be done to retain the knowledge lost when this demographic retires.

In this special episode, Field Service News' Deputy Editor Mark Glover, speaks to Sarah Pettigrew from Thales, ahead of her keynote address at Field Service Connect next month titled, Two worlds collide: How to build and retain a star team within an ageing workforce, whilst investing in the future workforce and driving the transfer of knowledge forwards.

Sarah suggests an investment across the entire workforce spectrum, as well as apprenticeship schemes and technology adoption can help to negate one of the biggest challenges facing the sector - an ageing workforce.

An essential listen!

You can find out more information about Field Service Connect which takes place on 15 and 16 May at Celtic Manor, South Wales here. 

 

Gary Jones from Service Geeni talks about how cloud-based field service technology can help tackle the problem of business silos.

Silos are a challenge for most organisations, with a silo mentality or infrastructure one of the biggest barriers to business success. Where different offices or departments don’t share information with others in the same company, both efficiency and productivity are diminished.
In response, management teams must do more to educate and equip their teams with everything needed to break them down. And, to do this, two things must happen.

A change in attitude
Silos occur when individuals, teams, offices or departments are unwilling to share resources or ideas with the larger organisation. These factions fail to see how cooperation can help them to work smarter and are often reluctant to share data or ideas for fear of negative scrutiny or consequences.

 

Quite often this culture is passed down from the top, with a lack of inter-departmental meetings, training sessions or information-sharing strategies. But, this attitude can cause damage to the organisation as a whole by wasting resources, stifling productivity and hampering the realisation of goals.

 

Naturally, different groups within a business often have different priorities. But regular meetings between teams (or at the very least team leaders) is a must if you want to create an open and collaborative culture. Not least because, by ensuring managers know what other departments are working on, opportunities for collaboration and business improvements will develop.

 

Breaking down silos also helps to stop the build-up of resentment, blame and frustration. Because once everyone knows what everyone else is doing, it is easier to identify solutions that will work.

 

To help to boost collaboration across your company, you should look to:

 

• Establish a united vision and set of goals at the heart of your organisation
• Make sure your leadership team is on board with this vision and goals
• Ensure your leadership team understands the damage that can be caused by silos, and the opportunities that exist when they are removed
• Ensure managers communicate these messages and approach to the wider business
• Implement training to help create and support a collaborative culture
• Incentivise managers and individuals who succeed in breaking down barriers
• Establish KPIs to help measure the success of your efforts (and to identify where more work is needed)
• Establish working practices and spaces that foster collaboration rather than hinder it
• Encourage constructive feedback.

 
A change in technology

 

Of course, merely being aware of the need for greater collaboration across a business isn’t enough. You also have to put the tools in place to enable this to happen.

 

In most cases, IT silos (where systems are unable to communicate resulting in an environment of disparate technology and practices) are not deliberate. They have simply evolved. For example, the customer support department within an organisation chose to invest in a specific system, while the sales department opted for another. Because each team had their own priorities, responsibilities and vision, neither thought about whether having two standalone systems would cause issues further down the line.

 

But as long as different departments continue to use separate databanks, without sharing this info (or even being aware of what the other is doing), the benefits of modern tech will never be fully exploited. So, not tackling historical silos is no longer an option. In 2019, you can’t have your call centre telling people one thing, while your marketing department is sharing opposing information.

 

Capable of creating a single, integrated infrastructure, the latest cloud-based software encourages the simplification and standardisation of business processes, while helping people across your organisation to work collaboratively with one another.

 

Even better, real-time collaboration is possible. So, when an employee in one place makes a change, that information is immediately available to others, regardless of where they are. 

 

For example, with everything available via the cloud, mobile employees can fill in electronic forms using smartphones or tablets, and this information automatically and immediately syncs with your back office systems. Indeed, SaaS applications are capable of performing a vast range of business tasks, while opening up unprecedented opportunities for enhanced collaboration.

 

Historically, if an organisation wanted to make a significant change to their IT, this would be a costly task. But cloud computing breaks this trend by providing access to enterprise-level software at an affordable price. And, because moving to the cloud tends to be a business decision rather than one made by IT departments in isolation, cloud-based field service software is a silo-busting investment from the off.

This article first published on the HSO blog offers five crucial steps that field service companies can take to get a better handle on the core processes of field service delivery...

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It’s a no-brainer that a flawless service process contributes to higher customer satisfaction and increased service revenues.
But how do you ensure fast and accurate invoicing, service technicians who are always well equipped to solve the problem at hand, and that the right resources are in the right place at the right time? This blog outlines 5 steps to an optimised service process with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service. 

 

Optimised field service scheduling:

When a visit by a technical field service engineer doesn’t go as planned for one reason or another, money is lost. The five most common reasons why a service is not completed on the first visit are: 

• The right part is not available
• The customer or the equipment is not ready for the service
• The diagnosis already made appears incorrect on site
• The field service engineer does not have the right skills
• The solution was temporary
• The above problems cost the service company money, the field service engineer time and the customer’s patience and satisfaction. Microsoft Dynamics for Field Service offers you Resource Scheduling Optimisation functionality that allows Field Service engineers to be scheduled according to the location, time, customer SLA, personal preferences of the customer and the right skills for the job.

The schedule can be viewed via a mobile device and includes optimised routes that the engineers should take. When a change is made to the schedule, because, for example, there is an unexpected job that requires someone with specific skills, the Field Service engineer receives a notification with a new route. This means that the right person is always at the right place. When the job is completed, a new job is automatically set up. As a result, the time of the Field Service engineer is optimally utilised and no time is lost. Projects can also be planned via the schedule board. When, for example, 50 boilers need to be replaced, it is useful to have a good overview of all available Field Service engineers, based on which the schedule is created as efficiently as possible, taking into account the individual’s workload. In this way, an optimised schedule is automatically drawn up, which dynamically responds to the customer, the Field Service engineer and the company. 

 

Authorise & mobilise Field Service engineer:

Field Service employees often feel alone on the job or do not have access to the right information to solve a customer problem. They want to take control and have insight into the job. When you let your Field Service engineers go ‘mobile’, the company benefits from: 

• On-time appointments through the optimised schedules and routes.
• Case history & instructions: all information about the customer is at hand and when necessary insight into all the steps to complete the task.
• Work order completion: the Field Service engineer can take photos of the finished job, collect a customer signature and even handle the payment.

The process surrounding the purchase of new parts with Field Service has also been optimised. If for example, a certain part is required for the job, the Field Service engineer can order the correct part directly. The purchase page can be chosen to ‘send to ERP’, as a result of which the order will immediately appear in the ERP system of the company. When a certain purchase amount has been preapproved, approval for the purchase can be given immediately, so that the part is immediately ordered. This makes the process more efficient and eliminates unnecessary waiting times. Mobility is a game changer within Field Service and allows for greater flexibility in the field. The possibility of a complete overview of the customer and real-time guidance is necessary for the independent appointment of the Field Service engineer and the optimisation of the customer relationship.

 

Using Machine Learning and the IoT in Field Service:

If your car breaks down, it would be handy if your car could indicate what exactly is wrong. This would save a lot of valuable time. This is possible with machine learning – keep track of which customers or machines often have problems, what the problems are, what solutions have been put forward and which ones were effective. If, for example, it becomes clear that the same solution is always effective for a specific customer, then in the future, the problem can be solved in advance by the Field Service engineer with the right skills or even by providing the right directions remotely. With Field Service you can make optimum use of the opportunities offered by Internet of Things devices. Through optimal application, problems are predicted before downtime occurs and before the customer is affected by the problem. With Field Service you can: 

• Detect and resolve problems before the customer knows about it and only deploy a Field Service engineer when needed.
• Use predictive maintenance effortlessly: repair, clean or replace parts when necessary instead of using a fixed maintenance schedule.
• Automatically adjust work orders and assign these to the correct Field Service engineer, when self-healing steps do not solve the problem.

 

Optimal use of the cloud with the Azure IoT Suite:

What exactly is the Azure IoT Suite? Let’s take a step back and start with the problem for which it was designed. We are currently experiencing tremendous growth in IoT solutions, but why now? The answer to this question is simple: the advantages of IoT solutions start to outweigh the costs that are incurred to implement it. The complex layout of IoT is pricey since you have to have sensors that safely send all data, the data has to be stored, processed and analysed and finally presented to the end user in a clear way.Today, the hardware is already much more affordable and the connectivity is cheaper. The Azure IoT Suite is a set of different technologies brought together in one tool in the cloud. What’s in this tool? 

• Data storage
• Data analytics
• Stream processing
• Predictive analytics
• Workflow automation
• Dashboarding

 Everything you need for optimal use of the cloud. 

 

Customer relationship optimisation:

In 2016, 62% of consumers worldwide indicated they would no longer do business with a brand due to a single bad experience that has taken place with customer service. This highlights the importance of excellent customer service.  With Customer Communications, Field Service helps you to retain your customers by providing optimal service, insight and by involving them in the processes: 

• Companies must gain insight and control the entire customer journey across all touchpoints.
• Maintaining the customer relationship should no longer be a statistical, ‘one-size fits all model’, but should be personalised for each customer.
• Companies have to meet the customer on their preferred channel (e-mail, chat, social media, web, telephone, shop, etc.).

 

And perhaps most importantly: the customer service doesn’t end with a single transaction, it is important to build a long-term relationship. In addition, real-time up-to-date stock management is a must. Poor stock management is, in addition to being a drain on the profitability of a company, an irritation point for the customer. With Customer Communications you always ensure an optimally personalised, proactive and predictive approach to the customer. That is what the customer wants from you nowadays and what companies have to offer.

Dr Christian Kowalkowski, Professor Of Industrial Marketing at Linköping University outlines how two of the biggest trends amongst manufacturers, digitalisation and servitization, are in essence two sides of the same coin and why digitalisation requires more, not less, service and customer centricity than ever before. 

The growing digital disruption is blurring industry boundaries and altering established positions of firms. While manufacturers are investing strategically in data gathering and analytics capabilities and in cloud-based platforms, many firms remain concerned about how to best address digital disruption and enable digitalisation.

Last year, General Electric cut expenses by more than 25% at its digital unit responsible for Predix, its software platform for the collection and analysis of data, which previously has been hailed as a revolutionary driver for Industry 4.0. This move highlights the difficulties involved in adopting digital technology in an industrial business. Having worked with B2B firms in diverse industries on designing and implementing service-growth strategies, I have seen both highly successful and unsuccessful cases of what I call ‘digital servitization.’

Why is it so that even many firms that run a profitable field service organisation struggle to implement digitally-enabled services?

Before looking at some key challenges, let us first define what we mean by digital servitization. As a start, we need to distinguish between digitisation, which means turning analogue into digital, and digitalisation, which refers to the use of digital technology to change the business model. A tech-savvy firm with a product-centric mindset may have little difficulty in implementing digitisation, as when record companies moved from selling LPs to CDs.

However, rather than embracing the new digital opportunities that changed the way we interact with music, most record companies then clung on to a product-centric business logic of selling CDs.

Instead of developing business models based on Internet distribution they promoted new physical media like the Super Audio CD. Ironically, their defensive stance—manifested in such things as copy protected CDs—forced many people to illegal downloading in order to conveniently access MP3 music, thereby undermining their product-centric model even further. Digital servitization, then, refers to the utilisation of digital technologies for the transformation whereby a company shifts from a productcentric to a service-centric business model.

Of course, digitally-enabled services are not new; for example, Rolls-Royce’s archetypal solution TotalCare begun in 1997 and BT Rolatruc (since 2000 part of Toyota Material Handling) created its software system BT Compass in 1993, to help its customers improve their performance. Digital technology can be a double-edged sword however. For example, many manufacturers have been carried away by the technical possibilities of telematics without having a clear service business model in mind.

Rather than crafting a compelling value proposition based on enhanced customer performance, it was tempting to give the service away for free with the hope that customers eventually would discover the value of data access and be willing to pay for it.

There are however at least three problems with such a technology-centric approach. First, as the connected installed base grows and the costs of collecting and managing data increase year by year, it becomes increasingly difficult to defend the model unless service sales start to materialise. Second, giving services away for free always reduce the perceived value of the offering in the eyes of the customer. Why should they pay for something that was previously free of charge and that competitors may still be treating as a commodity and giving away?

Third, customers typically do not have the time nor the skills to interpret and act on the data collected. The real value of Big Data only comes once it is processed. By collecting and analysing data from multiple customers, a supplier may know more about the customers’ equipment and operations then they know themselves, which creates opportunities for new advanced advisory services.

The digital dimension of service growth requires purposeful and coordinated effort. As we know, while manufacturing and conventional R&D activities can be centrally managed to achieve efficiency and standardisation, services require increased local responsiveness and closer customer relationships.

"The real value of Big Data only comes once it is processed..."

 

During digital servitization, however, the central organisation must take a more proactive leading role to ensure platform consistency and data quality, to provide the requisite data science skills, to support local units, and to address cyber security issues. The 2017 large-scale cyberattack (NotPetya) on Danish shipping giant Møller-Maersk, which shut down offices worldwide, illustrates the dangers of inadequately managing the latter issue.

A service manager at Toyota pointed out over ten years ago that service development “is very much IS/IT. Instead of sitting and discussing how to be able to quickly change oil in the truck, there has become very much focus on data.”

Viewing data as “the new oil” is a claim oftentimes heard. Like oil, data is a source of power. It is a resource used to power transformative technologies such as automation, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics.

However, unlike oil, data also has other properties. We are currently seeing a shift from scarcity of information (data) to abundance of it. Data can be replicated and distributed as marginal cost, and competitive advantage can be achieved by bringing together new datasets, enabling new services. But this also creates new tensions between companies regarding the issues of generation, collection, and utilisation of data. If a customer is generating massive amounts of data that the supplier is collecting, once processed, it can be used for better serving also the customer’s competitors. In other cases, we are seeing completely new companies emerging and collecting data on behalf of their clients.

Digitalisation is beginning to have a profound impact on even the most stable businesses. Customers increasingly expect that a single provider will integrate the system of which the products are part, and that they will do so through one digital interface. Whether the platform provider is one of the established OEMs or a new software entrant might not matter. Competition may come from unexpected sources, as for example when one of the leading international standards organizations in the marine industry recently moved into platform-based services.

Oftentimes, the most formidable threat comes from disruptive innovators outside the traditional industry boundaries. An executive in a leading incumbent firm stressed that her main concern was not the competition from any established player. Instead, what kept her awake at night was the prospect of Amazon entering—and reshaping—the market. While many share the concerns of being overrun by new competitors, the threat is most imminent to those firms that lack service leadership and a clear road map for service growth.

To conclude, no firm can afford not to strategically invest in digitalisation. However, as firms compete in the digital arena, there is a risk that focus shifts too much away from service and customer centricity to new digital initiatives and units. Ten years ago, many executives sang the praises of servitization.

Today, digitalisation is the poster boy for business transformation. Given the rapid pace of innovation, it may be tempting to launch new concepts as soon as the technology is available, rather than waiting until the they have been properly piloted and customer insights gained. To reap the benefits, firms also need to understand the interplay between back end and front end, investing in both back-end development for enhanced efficiency and better-informed decision-making, and front-end initiatives to enable new services and closer customer integration.

Correctly designed and implemented, digital servitization provides benefits for companies, networks, and society at large. Successfully seizing digital opportunities, however, requires more, not less, service and customer centricity than before.

Dr Christian Kowalkowski is professor of industrial marketing at Linköping University, Sweden, and the author of Service Strategy in Action: A Practical Guide for Growing Your B2B Service and Solution Business. Find out more here.