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Mark Glover, Deputy Editor, Field Service News continues the latest series of The Field Service Podcast as he sits down with simPRO's Richard Pratley. 

Field Service News Deputy Editor, Mark Glover, sits down with Richard Pratley, Managing Director, UK simPRO and discuss how the challenge of an ageing workforce is being echoed around the world for field service companies and how technology, in particular, IoT, is able to help resolve the problem by increasing service management efficiency. 

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As part of an excellent ‘analyst’s take’ paper commissioned by ServicePower, Bill Pollock has provided an in-depth look at the service requirements for the security sector, here Samir Gulati offers us a key excerpt from that paper...

There are now more security systems players than ever, bringing refined ways of doing business and new efficiencies to the marketplace. 

In addition, there has been a complete transformation of the security installer/service technician into an “everything as a service”

professional, supported by service delivery models that embrace Cloud technology, interactive services, predictive diagnostics and customer self-service.

The most successful companies will ultimately differentiate themselves with unique and seemingly indispensable services and solutions that make it easier for a consumer (or business) to be smarter, safer, and more cost-effective.

For those organisations that install, monitor, and maintain commercial or residential security systems, ServicePower enables faster, smarter service, so they can deliver on today’s consumer service preferences and expectations, while also reducing operational costs and driving new and more predictable revenue streams.

 

"The most successful companies will ultimately differentiate themselves with unique and seemingly indispensable services and solutions..."

 

The five primary factors to focus on when evaluating alternative Field Service Management (FSM) and Warranty Management (WM) solutions for the security services segment are critical to the success of the vendor/solution evaluation and selection processes.

They include:

• Customer Engagement – by offering a customised, self-service portal to enable customers to log in with their account number and report issues or order add-on security services, schedule the appointment, watch their installer/ service technician en route, and communicate with him or her, if needed; also to suggest relevant new cross sell and/or upsell services during this key interaction opportunity.
• Smart Scheduling – the ability to pair parameters such as skills, certifications, and geography with the latest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for real-time scheduling to ensure that the best installer/service technician is assigned, at the least cost; and provide the opportunity to re-optimise schedules and routes in real-time to accommodate intra-day changes, increase on-time arrival and completed jobs per day, and decrease travel costs.
• Mobile Tech Enablement – to ensure that the installer/service technicians arrive with everything they need to get the job done the first time, driving consistent quality service delivery, improved productivity, and increased completion rates; also to provide a value-based experience by personalising the customer’s experience via fully configurable mobile functionality which also improves schedule compliance and first-time installation/ fix rates, and proactively offer additional value-added security solutions while onsite to increase revenue.
• Contractor Management – to facilitate better management of outsourced or supplementary third-party contractor staff to quickly expand geographic reach or support changing demand; the ability to dynamically choose a contractor based on rank scores, credentials, crowd-sourced Better Business Bureau (BBB) info, and dynamic rules configuration; and confidently being able to book an appointment based on available time-slots, coupled with the ability to view the current job status and track overall progress.
• Reporting & Analytics – the ability to use real-time Business Intelligence (BI) to measure performance metrics, fine tune future operations, and enhance the customer experience; along with the ability to access Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), scorecards and reports in real-time, from either mobile devices or the desktop, and share them both inside and outside the organisation, as warranted.

The best FSM and WM solutions will also be those that include additional functionalities, such as:

• Claims Management
• Work Order Management
• Inventory, Asset and Contract Management
• Outsourced Managed Services

The main benefits that can be realised through the implementation and use of a Field Service Management (FSM) and Warranty Management (WM) solution designed specifically for the security services segment are many, and quite compelling, as follows:

• Improve management control over service provisioning
• Reduce manual processes to create and manage field schedule routes, thereby reducing travel times
• Increase appointments, per day
• Less time spent on-site
• Enable improvements in overtime, travel, skills, and spares
• Grow revenue
• Increase customer engagement
• Serve customers more efficiently with convenient scheduling, increased first-time installation/ fix rates, and improved service levels
• Use Business Intelligence (BI) to better measure and improve service operations KPIs
• Research has shown that for a typical Fortune 1000 company, just a 10% increase in data accessibility will result in more than US$65 million additional net income, according to Forbes.com.

These benefits, albeit on a smaller scale, can also be realised by small-to-medium-sized security services organisations as well.

 

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 Samir Gulati is Chief Marketing Office with ServicePower

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Customer demands and expectations are greater than ever before at at time when training and retaining service engineers is a major challenge due in no large part to an exodus of retiring baby boomers exiting the workforce. Outsourcing is a tempting solution to the problem but can you ensure your customer’s needs will be fully met and satisfied? Bill Pollock discusses...

As customers become more sophisticated, the market more complicated, the economy more volatile, and the services community more demanding, it is also becoming more difficult to manage all customer service-related activities in-house.

As a result, many businesses have turned to outsourcing in order to ensure that they have the required staffing and resources to get the total job done.

While some businesses may outsource only in non-core competency areas such as accounting and payroll, secretarial and clerical, or even telesales, others may outsource entire blocks of their core business activities to firms specialising in distinct areas such as field service, technical support, customer service, sales management, manufacturing and production, human resources, quality control, etc.

However, whether the organisation’s customer service functions are staffed by full-time company employees, part-time support personnel, outsourced agencies or personnel, or any combination thereof, one thing remains certain; the company’s customers and prospects must receive consistently high levels of customer service and support, regardless of whose personnel they happen to be dealing with at any given moment.

 

"It is important to remember that customers will not care what type of employee representing your company was rude to them on the telephone, or did not provide them with the desired level of customer service – all they will remember is that your business failed to get the job done..."

 

Most managers agree that the key ingredient for success in running a services business, whether it is run exclusively by an organisation’s own full-time employees, or supplemented in part by outside personnel, outsource agencies or other third parties, is to have all of the workers that represent the business in the marketplace put on a cohesive and consistent front when they deal with customers and prospects.

It is important to remember that customers will not care what type of employee representing your company was rude to them on the telephone, or did not provide them with the desired level of customer service – all they will remember is that your business failed to get the job done.

There are many good reasons for why a services organisation might consider outsourcing; but before entering into any specific outsourcing agreement, you should first prepare yourself, and your employees, for the most effective way to manage this complementary workforce.

 

We suggest six basic recommended guidelines: 

1. Train your outsourced personnel as if they were your own employees. Make sure they understand the products and services you sell, the markets you sell to, and the way you normally conduct business.

If your business involves dealing with highly demanding customers such as hospitals, banks or aerospace, etc., make sure they share the same “sense of urgency” that your own employees have when they deal with these types of customers.

2. Take any outsourced customer contact workers on a short “field trip” to show them how your customer support center works and, if direct customer contacts will eventually be made in the field, take them along on a few customer calls first to show them the way you normally treat your customers.

3. Provide the manager of the outsourced operation with a fail-safe “back door” to a full-time manager at your company, even at the C-level, if necessary. Let the manager know that he/she is not in it alone when help is needed.

4. Get daily reports in a standard reporting format (e.g., problem or exception reports) every morning to ensure that everything is in order, and that no special problems are developing.

5. Give your outsourced employees samples of your company’s products or other items, product pictures or services marketing brochures.

You may also want to give them some small gifts with your company’s logo or name on them, such as T-shirts, mugs, pens, desk calendars, a picture frame, etc. This might be especially helpful in dealing with an outsourced night crew or other off-shift workers who would otherwise have no real contact with your full-time company personnel. Some businesses arrange for an Open House lunch or reception for their outsourced personnel for the purpose of having them meet the full-time staff.

6. Problems should be confronted immediately, head on, with the outsource manager. 

When your own managers are faced with a problem, they typically know exactly what to do – they have been there before. However, the same problems may be new to your outsource managers, and they may need some immediate help from your own management.

 

Outsourcing is basically a “partnership” designed to deliver quality equal to or greater than that which you yourself would provide.

 

"Too often these agreements are handled more as a “‘vendor” relationship, rather than as a partnership..."

 

We have found that too often these agreements are handled more as a “‘vendor” relationship, rather than as a partnership, even to the point where the in-house person responsible is often referred to as the “Vendor Manager.”

Sometimes, simple things like this set the wrong tone right from the start – and things can easily go downhill from there. It is crucially important to create an atmosphere whereby your partners feel they are part of your company’s service delivery infrastructure, and not just an add-on.

Treating outsource vendors and their employees in the manner described through these six suggestions is the first step to creating a win/win alliance.

However, it is typically the attitude of the key people that often makes the difference between success and failure in any relationship.

By following these six suggestions, a services organisation can maximise its chances for cultivating an environment that would allow for the attainment of desired levels of customer service and satisfaction.

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Bill Pollock is President of Strategies for GrowthSM. Follow his blog @ www.pollockonservice.com

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Life is full of fine lines. Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin it is often said and the balance between science and art is one full of intricate nuance. Similarly the relationship between increasing service revenue and healthy profit margin relies a a special type of alchemy, as Michael Blumberg explains...

Companies who are extremely effective at growing their service revenue while maintaining healthy profit margins typically have a very good understanding of the size and forecast of the markets they serve.

Their perspective is not defined solely terms of an order of magnitude, for example stating “their market is approximately $500M -$750M, but articulating the size of their market down to the exact monetary value (e.g., £, €, $, etc.) of revenue and decimal point of the growth.

Knowing the exact size and forecast of service markets is critical for making optimal decisions with respect to investment and resource allocation. For example, it might be important to have this information on hand prior to building a marketing strategy, establishing a division, or developing a service offering for it. If the data validates that a market segment is large and growing rapidly then a more aggressive investment maybe warranted. Rely solely on an order of magnitude or general assumptions can lead to miscalculated decision that results in a significant loss or failure for the company.

 

"While obtaining a granular level of data on the size and growth rate of a market segment can help service executives make better decisions and ensure better results, it is surprising the many do not attempt to obtain this level of insight..."

 

While obtaining a granular level of data on the size and growth rate of a market segment can help service executives make better decisions and ensure better results, it is surprising the many do not attempt to obtain this level of insight.

Instead, service executives often rely on gut instinct or settle on an order of magnitude, given some related indicator. For example, we often hear service executives claim that it is enough for them to simply know that service market for a product is large because sales of the product have been high .

The problem with this type of market analysis is that it assumes that 100% of people who have bought a product will also purchase the service.

The truth is that very few, if any, companies have a captive market or experience 100% attachment and renewal rates. Even Best in Class companies experience averages attachment rates of 76% and 90% renewal rates.

Unfortunately, relying on KPIs does not take into account broader, strategic and objective factors such as the installed base size, competitive threats, economic factors technology trends, or other market trends, More importantly, it does not provide any hard data related to revenue which also necessary for developing objective ROI and/or make versus buy analysis.

While surveys and secondary research also have merit when it comes to market sizing and forecast, they too have their shortcomings. Surveys and secondary research can of course provide insight into size and growth of a market as well as answer questions with respect to who buys, what do they buy, and factors influencing supply and demand.

However, they do not measure the actual size and growth of the Total Available Market (TAM) for the service under consideration at any level of precision. A shortcoming of secondary research is that it may not specific enough or tailored in its the perspective. The research methodology behind the forecast may also not be very sound or defensible.

 

"We have found econometric market models to be very effective method for conducting this type of service market analysis..."

 

Ultimately, a good TAM analysis is one that takes into account the size and growth rate of the customer base or installed base as well as the serviceable value of that base along with its anticipated growth rate. We have found econometric market models to be very effective method for conducting this type of service market analysis.

A good econometric model considers several data points related to the number buying organisations, types of buying organizations, purchase trigger events, equipment penetration rates (i.e., shipments), population density, replacement rates, and revenue allocation by service category and/or equipment category. These factors help determine the size and value of the serviceable customer or installed base while surveys and secondary research provides data points (e.g., price points, average spend, etc.) necessary for determining current and forecasted revenues and/or expenditures for a given service.

Building an econometric model to determine the size and forecast of the TAM may seem like a lot of work. However, the efforts are worth it and can prevent a company from making serious mistakes and/or miscalculations about their market opportunity. Several years ago, a client of mine gave a presentation at an industry conference where his competitors were present.

The presentation showed that his service business was growing twice as fast as the market. Although he had commissioned us to build a TAM model, he chose to compare his company’s revenue growth to market size data from an industry analyst’s report (i.e., secondary research). After the presentation, I asked him why he didn’t present our data. “We based our investment and resource allocation decisions on your model not the secondary research. We want to keep this fact a secret from our competitors as long as we can” was his reply. Had his company relied only on secondary data they would have had different results. His answer provided that his investment in building the market model was worth it.

To learn more about using econometric modelling to determine the Total Available Market for your company’s services check out Blumberg Advisory Group’s Revenue Maximization practice at https:// blumberg-advisor.com/revenue-maximization/

In fact, it is those smaller organisations that may likely see the biggest benefits.

 

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Michael Blumberg is President of the Blumberg Advisory Group and founder of Field Service Insights

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The Field Service Podcast returns for series three with a brand new host Mark Glover who speaks to Oneserve's CEO Chris Proctor. 

in this edition of the podcast fieldservicenews.com Deputy Editor, Mark Glover talks to the ever insightful and engaging Chris Proctor, CEO with Oneserve where they discuss why robots won't be taking over field service operations (just yet) and how OK should no longer be good enough for field service companies that want to excel.

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Jan Van Veen continues his latest exclusive Field Service News series on how companies can monetise their services and data by exploring how companies can remove the obstacles that are stopping them build momentum with their clients...

 

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Catch up with the previous articles in this series How to Monetise Services and IoT and How To Monetise Services And IoT: Better Articulate Value now! 

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Central question

Many manufacturers experience pressure on growth, revenue and margins.

Their products and services are being commoditised. Competition from lower cost alternatives are arising. On the other hand, there are huge opportunities with new technologies, value propositions and business models.

One of the important trends is that value proposition and offerings become more data-driven and more service-oriented. However, many manufacturers are product-driven businesses which do not fully appreciate the value that service has for their customers and own business.

So, one of the central questions is: How to Monetise Services and Data in order to Grow in a Disruptive World? The capability to monetising service and IoT is mission critical for sustainable performance and existence of manufacturing.

In a series of articles, we cover 4 critical steps that make the difference between success and failure in monetising Services and Data:

1. Solve bigger customer problems, which is about creating significantly more value for customers. 
2. Articulate the value
3. Build momentum with clients to adopt
4. Build internal momentum for monetisation

 

Common mistakes

Too often we see that with (new) services, the new solutions and features we launch are not always that easy to start using for our clients. If the obstacles to adopt are too big and not solved, less clients will use it or will delay using it significantly, and in the meantime will not see the real value, in turn creating more obstacles and resistance, resulting in limited commercial success.

If you encounter such signals, it may not always be easy to get a clear picture whether;

1. Your clients simply do not have the problem that your solution is trying to solve
2. Your solution is not adequately fixing the problem compared to other solutions
3. There are serious constraints in applying your solution, even if it is a good solution

So, caution is advised in these situations not to jump to wrong conclusions.

For the sake of this article, let us assume 1) and 2).

The obstacles in applying your solution can be categorised as follows:

 

Lack of money

The new solution you are offering appears to be too expensive for your client.

It is seen as too big an investment and/or recurring cost in relation to the value they perceive will be received.

It could be that the issue is more related to the perception of the value, how well that has been articulated (see previous article on ‘Better Articulate the Value’) or that you are not talking to the right decision makers in your client’s organisation.

 

Lack of skills

Using the new solutions are too complex and difficult for your client, as they are complex to use and require a lot of training to acquire the necessary skills.

 

Lack of access

Often, the new solutions can only be used and generate value in certain circumstances.

Commonly overlooked is that applying the new solutions and receiving value from it, often requires:

• A significant change in the way of working by staff, which triggers too much resistance
• A significant overhaul of the processes and information flow
• A change in the structure of the organisation and roles, with some staff even losing their role/ job

 

Lack of time

For many new solutions, it takes time and effort to make sure they are adequately used and embedded in the organisation. If the pressure from daily business and other projects is high, it easily happens that adopting the new solutions is put on the back burner and falls off the radar.

 

Risk

In essence, there could be two main sources of perceived risk:

• The risk that the solution does not work as expected and hence does not bring value
• The more social risk of sticking out your neck for change which might not be accepted by stakeholders
• Too often we focus on the technical part of our new solution or features, and do not give other client needs and obstacles enough consideration,  when:
• Gaining customer insight into their bigger problems
• Developing a remarkable solution to solve these bigger customer problems
• How and with whom we discuss the client problems, and promote and sell our solutions

An interesting example is a major metal wholesaler that is looking into adding extra value to industrial clients by not only offering standard trade sizes, but other services too.

They also offer services like cutting, drilling, bending and even picking packages for direct delivery into different locations in the manufacturing  for their clients. This really solves a lot of challenges for low-volume high-mix manufacturers.

However, using these services means that equipment and people doing the pre-manufacturing work becomes redundant or they have to change their role. It also means inventory goes down, which changes the (perception of the) stability and contingency in the production line, depending on an external party.

The result was that initially most clients did not buy the new offerings, regardless of the well-articulated (financial) benefits and business cases.

At some point, stakeholders started doubting the potential of the added value services and whether to abandon the initiative or not.

 

Some practical solutions

Manufacturers that are quite successful in launching and growing customer adoption of the new solutions and features, have the following good practices:

1. The have a broader view on the bigger customer problems and challenges beyond the functional requirements of equipment. They better understand the operational and change challenges and therefore have a more integral view on what it takes to improve on these problems and challenges. Important obstacles are included in the design instead of as an afterthought.

2. They develop a more concrete and remarkable solution to solve the bigger customer problems. Where needed, the obstacles (in using the new solutions) are already designed into the solution.

For example:

a. They focus more on simplifying the solution, making it easier to use with less training and implementation effort for their clients.

b. Their solution is more than a technical solution and includes support in implementing and maintaining a new way of working.

 c. They offer an ascending engagement model in which customers step-by-step can implement and use portions of the overall solution. This way they can mitigate risk, reduce the change challenge and allow their organisation to become familiar with the new way of thinking and working. Simplify the solution and ease of use.

 

3. They involve the right stakeholders in the client’s organisation – who have a stake in the problem being solved, in the decision-making phase and in the implementation phase.

Further to the metal wholesaler example above, the next steps of the added services portfolio were to:

• Organise open workshops for clients, discussing trends and changes in the sector, and some best practices and success stories.
• Workshops with the client’s key stakeholders to get a full picture of the journey of maturing their manufacturing operation, supply chain, plant layout, equipment, competencies and people. And then use the information to develop a road-map on how to step-by-step develop. It also helped to get stakeholders on the same page and engaged.
• Provide project management and change management practices and resources.
• Organise pilot tests, get used to new ways of working and building trust.
• Offering ongoing performance management dashboards to get full visibility and transparency of performance, progress and issues. This helped preventing blame for every incident, and also helped to feed a continuous improvement programme.

 

The Benefit

Manufacturers that are better in building momentum with their clients to adapt to their new solutions, see that their customers fluidly adopt new solutions and have a fairly high pace of scaling up.

Hence, these manufacturers generate more new revenue streams with higher margins and differentiate more from their competition.

 

Give monetisation of Services and Data an Impulse

If you want to accelerate the monetisation of your (new) Services and Data, join our upcoming Impulse Sessions on “How to Monetise Service and Data”.

These are full day interactive meetings with like-minded peers during which we will exchange experiences, insights and challenges.

Book your seat @ http://fs-ne.ws/5gyg30mWzze

 

Essence

Our value is not only in the developing and offering of great solutions to our customers’ big problems, it is about how our clients use and benefit from our solutions.

 

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 Jan Van Veen is founder of MoreMomentum 

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Simon Fahie, Managing Director - Global Technologies, at ByBox reflects on a busy final quarter for the year, what the big challenges for 2019 will be and how we can overcome them...

Judging by the packed conference halls I’ve seen across the world this quarter, I think it’s fair to say that Winter 2018 is ‘events season’ for the global field service industry.

I was among the thousands of professionals who travelled to attend flagship conferences – all connected by a ‘need to know’ the latest developments within our sector.

But, as I heard tales of pioneering innovations and technologies at, for example, exhibitions in the USA, and a user group event in the UK, I was struck that the processes behind our work are just as important as the technology which supports it.

Hearing about the increasing pressures and challenges affecting the field service supply chain, and the different ways organisations are seeking to address them, triggered a train of thought in my mind around the power of lean thinking.

The principles of Lean are clear. It’s a systematic way of checking every process to find and extinguish waste. By eradicating unnecessary spend, time and resources, organisations can focus on adding value to customers.

And this one methodology is so effective, it can be used equally well within a wide range of businesses, from office cleaning, to automotive manufacturing, or the delivery of complex highway schemes. All three of these tasks have been analysed, broken down into steps, designed and redesigned to be as Lean as possible.

For decades, service companies have seen the value in similarly systematically removing unnecessary delays, materials, labour and costs from their processes. And yet, as the events began to wrap up, it became obvious to me that Lean thinking could have played a part in the case studies I had presented, and the networking conversations I had enjoyed.

I heard over and over again that the pain points are there. For example, getting the right service part to the right place at the right time is so important that, ironically, some businesses seem wary of making strategic changes. We heard stories about excessive inventory or significant costs related to same-day distribution being left unchallenged because ‘it works’. We know from analysis carried out recently for one organisation that 65% of items sent to site using same-day transport were returned by the engineer as good stock.

It doesn’t take much effort to start finding waste in that process, but what are the seven types of waste in Lean, and how might field service industries start finding some waste to eliminate?

Based on my experience at 2018 field service events, here are some examples, and how our customers are going about eliminating them:

 

Transport: Unnecessary movement of people or parts between processes

We saw one company save 640,000 miles of driving by delivering parts to app lockers at service sites, instead of using dispersed forward stocking locations. (FSLs)

 

Inventory: Excess raw material or finished parts 

Another firm had more than £1 million-worth of duplicated stock sitting in repair engineers’ vans.

The company cut spend significantly, by storing items specifically required by each location in secure on-site lockers

 

Waiting: People or parts waiting for the next step of a process

45 minutes per day, per engineer – that was the average waiting time saved by one organisation when it replaced PUDO collections with public locker collections.

 

Motions: Unnecessary movement of people or parts within a process

In our experience, the most advanced firms enable engineers to order parts for direct delivery, using a mobile app. This eliminates the unnecessary and inefficient movement of thousands of parts to and from warehouses, and can even enable firms to remove entire FSLs from their supply chains.

 

Rework: Correction or repetition of a process 

Forward-thinking firms also use mobile apps to assign condition codes for parts which need to be returned. This allows items to be directly routed to repairers, rather than return to the warehouse for evaluation. We’ve seen this contribute to a 40% reduction in total inventory for some firms, as well as a reduction in processing resources.

 

Overproduction: producing sooner or in greater quantities than customer demand

We saw one corporation reduce duplicate inventory by consolidating a UK stock-holding into a European warehouse. Delivery lead times and customer service levels were maintained by exploiting scheduled flights, and pre-8am distribution to lockers.

 

Over processing: Processing beyond standard required

Implementing a dedicated delivery point at a secure site reduced same-day transportation costs by 80% for one customer. In this use case same-day delivery was only used to ensure early next day availability.

 

It’s important to remember that the benefits of Lean thinking go above and beyond reducing waste, and into adding value to customers. For example, eliminating unnecessary movements often reduces overall lead-times -which in turn reduces risks to SLA compliance. And reducing transportation waste further supports carbon reduction targets.

I don’t pretend to be an expert in Lean thinking, however, as we seek to meet ever tighter service level requirements while simultaneously reducing costs these examples serve as reminders that there is plenty of waste to find if we go looking for it.

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Simon Fahie is Managing Director, Global Technologies for ByBox

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Aly Pinder looks at three ways in which manufacturers must consider leveraging augmented service tools...

The way we work, learn, and communicate have all taken a drastic turn from just a couple decades ago. When was the last time you saw a teenager or even a current college student read a physical newspaper, write a note in a notebook or on piece of paper, or look up a definition in a dictionary (not an online one)?

I imagine like me, you probably can’t remember the last time. This transformation has wide ranging implications, the least of which is the collapse of the encyclopedia industry. But this is not another article on why millennials need to be coddled, or how Gen Z is bad for the economy.

I don’t think any generation, ones before or after me, are the problem. But the way in which their behaviours impact the world around us must be addressed and used to help us all evolve.

 

"Manufacturers must take a few steps to turn knowledge into a shared resource  and not just a repository of work instructions..."

 

This is where manufacturers and service leaders come in. For manufacturers, the implications of a changing economy and digital world are even more real as it is becoming more apparent that to fill a growing gap in labor the tools, training, incentives, and motivations of work will need to be transformed as well. Not only do manufacturers need to do more for the customer, it increasingly is coming from more junior workers who need to get up to speed fast.

This convergence is where I believe augmented service tools can play a big role in democratizing knowledge across a varied set of employees and levels of tenure. But to get there, manufacturers must take a few steps to turn knowledge into a shared resource  and not just a repository of work instructions. 

With this in mind there are three things I believe manufacturers should consider.

 

Peer-to-Peer vs. Top Down.

Are you more likely to listen to your boss or your colleague?

The answer may be a bit different depending on whether you work in an office or out in the field. Many manufacturers I’ve spoken with talk about the level of engagement they find when they empower their field teams to work together to share best practices, whether in a newsletter, during beginning of day meetings, or via a video. Insights are more powerful when they come from a peer that is going through the same challenges you are.

Therefore, I believe user-generated content from field service technicians will help speed the adoption of video training tools and knowledge sharing.

But it is up to the manufacturer and service leadership to provide the tools, security, and platform for this technology to work and be accessible to the right people.

 

Amplify Investments in Innovation and Collaboration.

It is probably not prudent to predict industrial manufacturers or an oil & gas company to rival Google or Apple as the next great innovative companies of this generation.

However, there is a lot of innovation happening today within manufacturers that doesn’t often get reported to the outside public. If manufacturers want to draw the talent of the future they must not only have the tools the next wave of workers want to use, but they must also highlight in recruiting and marketing materials the innovative technologies that are used daily to get work done. This may help differentiate from the throng of manufacturers that are trying to procure talent. And why not promote innovation to those you want to bring in as employees in the same ways you woo customers.

 

AR / VR should play a role in the field.

I am not as bullish as my peers regarding the future pervasiveness of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) tools in field service. I do, however, think there are several use cases and environments where this technology makes sense.

 

"What it most important though, is that manufacturers evaluate their infrastructure, environment, and workforce capability to maximise the value of this technology..."

 

What it most important though, is that manufacturers evaluate their infrastructure, environment, and workforce capability to maximise the value of this technology. AR and VR tools do have the ability to help bridge the gap between an ageing workforce that may need to move to a back-office role and a less tenured technician who needs real-time assistance while on a job.

The talent pool or lack thereof is forcing manufacturers to re-think how they recruit, where they recruit, and what tools they need to navigate this environment.

As much as we have all discussed this topic for years and almost a decade now, manufacturers must take this moment to understand the worker of the future. It is imperative that manufactures provide the tools to augment their work environment to bring them in and keep them on the team.

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Aly Pinder is Program Director for IDC

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Oftentimes field service directors and managers can see the importance of investment within a dedicated Field Service Management (FSM) ahead of their colleagues in the boardroom. In this series of articles Kevin McNally, Sales Director, Asolvi outlines how to build a case for investment to drive your field service operations forwards.

In the first instalment in this series, we looked at how FSM systems can deliver easy Return on Investment. Now we look at how investment in FSM solutions can help you achieve better staff retention.

 

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Is building a case for investment in FSM a key topic for you?! There is a full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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Not too long ago we lived in a world where things were expensive and labour was cheap. That dichotomy in most regions of the world has now pretty much been flipped upside down.

As it is, the most valuable asset in a field service organisation is widely perceived to be the field service engineers themselves.

Add into this the ageing workforce crisis that many organisations are facing, leading to dramatic increases in costs to replace those experienced engineers leaving the workplace across the next five to ten years, and the importance of good talent retention should definitely not be overlooked.

Neither should the positive impact that the implementation of an FSM solution that empowers your field service engineers.

Let’s now take a look of just a few of the ways that implementing a new FSM solution can help you keep your field workforce happy and staff turnover in this mission-critical operation low…

 

Offer A Better Work/Life Balance:

One of the key fundamentals of most FSM solutions is some form of scheduling solution. Often when we look at the benefits of scheduling we tend to focus on the business benefits. As mentioned above ROI is a clear selling point for investing in such a solution for example.

Yet, from the engineers’ perspective, a well-planned job schedule within their working day can be a huge positive. By utilising an FSM system you can factor in things like the engineer’s home so their work schedule across the day can bring them closer to home as they approach the final few jobs of the day.

When a field service engineer finishes their last job at 5 pm on a Friday the difference between being close to home or being stuck two hours away in rush hour traffic can have a huge impact on their work/life balance.

 

Keep Them Doing What They Signed Up For Not Endless Mountains Of Paperwork:

While there are invariably exceptions to every rule, in the main, there are some key attributes that field service managers share. They enjoy problem-solving the ability to work autonomously and solving technical or mechanical problems.

What they tend not to enjoy is the endless filing of reports and administrative tasks – which can be necessary for a business granted, but would certainly rank near the bottom of a list of tasks the majority of field service engineers relish most about their work.

Fixing stuff and solving problems is what field service engineers are paid to do and largely it is also what they excel at. Admin is not.

As the late, great Peter Drucker outlined, we are far better off focussing on what we are good at so we can become excellent in that field than trying to improve areas where we are weak – as no matter how much we focus on our weaknesses, we will only ever become average in these areas at best.

This is a major area of improvement to the engineers’ day to day enjoyment of his work that an FSM solution can bring. By automating many of the essential yet mundane admin tasks such as sending completion reports, tracking parts inventory in and out of their van stock, or even sending invoices – the engineer is able to focus on what they do and enjoy best.

 

Make The Engineers The First-Time-Fix Hero:

Our field service engineers are the frontline of our businesses and very often the most frequent face-to-face interaction that your customers’ may have with your organisation.

As such when things go wrong, it is your engineers who are in the firing line.

The flipside of this, of course, is that when things go right, they may as well walk out of your customer’s premises with a cape around there neck and their pants on outside there trousers – the standard uniform for every superhero who has just saved the day.

It is fairly self-evident which of these is the preferred scenario for the engineer, and a good FSM solution can help him achieve that more often in a number of ways.

For a start, an FSM solution can be harnessed to provide the engineer with all the relevant history and information available for the job he is about to undertake, including things like previous maintenance carried out, potential likely failures on the asset and even if this is a regular fault or if this is the first time service has been required on the asset.

 

 

"In addition to things like asset history, many FSM solutions can be integrated with knowledge banks, so should the issue fall outside of the engineer’s current experience, he can access detailed information on how best to tackle the problem..."

 

 

All of these pieces of information can not only allow the engineer to diagnose the issue swiftly but also to gain an understanding of how best to approach the customer – for example, if this is a regular fault that has already been repaired on numerous other occasions, then the customer may require a more delicate and empathetic approach compared to a customer who has had a more favourable previous experience with your organisation – who may be a prime target for potential upselling.

In addition to things like asset history, many FSM solutions can be integrated with knowledge banks, so should the issue fall outside of the engineer’s current experience, he can access detailed information on how best to tackle the problem.

Similarly, engineer-to-engineer communications are something we are beginning to see become included more often in FSM solutions, which can also give an engineer access to the knowledge of one of their peers who may have encountered the problem, they face before.

In fact, engineer-engineer communication can be vital in providing a support network for engineers so they don’t feel isolated and disenfranchised from the business.

Finally, you should remember that investment in tools for your engineers is an investment in your engineers – and when someone understands you are investing in them and that you do so because they are respected and valued within your organization, you will more often than not engendered much greater employee loyalty. In fact, every time you roll out a new aspect of an FSM solution you can reinforce this point simply by establishing change management champions from within your field workforce.

And if your engineers’ feel valued, you can guarantee your staff turnover will be below the average.

 

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Want to know more?! There is a full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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