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Every year, the team at Copperberg AB, producers of the forthcoming Aftermarket Business Platform gather the brightest service leaders from the largest manufacturing companies and from all corners of Europe to dissect the ongoing service transformation and share the key to a successful servitization journey.

It is a networking experience which has proven to be critical for defining new business models that can allow field service companies to respond to changing customer expectations, which are moving from ownership to outcome-based solutions.

One such service leader is Carl-Henrik Sjölund, Global Consultancy Service Director at SECO TOOLS, whom Copperberg recently interviewed for a new eBook in order to put together an eBook on Servitization that shares some practical steps towards a successful servitization journey.

Here, we take a look at some of that advice...

Want to know more? Register to access Copperberg's Servitization eBook @ http://fs-ne.ws/CAjc30lXctz

10 steps to servitization success... 

Within the eBook Sjölund outlines what he sees as 10 key steps that field service companies should consider when approaching shifting to a servitized business model.

These are:

1. Define the customer process where your product is in use
2. Define the components in the close world around your product
3. Define the challenges for efficient use, and cost of inefficient use
4. If necessary, define your own core competence (know-how, not product)
5. Match the customers’ challenges with the biggest cost of “inefficient use of components” with your best core competence to “fix it"
6. Check customer interest of your new service by using real proof of concept. Could be fake landing pages for services where people can click for interest to buy, subscribe or just know more.
7. If you find good interest for your new service, make a business case for profitability and start
8. Build a service organization by parallel “selling and recruiting”
9. Use Aftermarket Business Platform to communicate your strategy and you get many interested system suppliers that can help you to enable and control the business
10. Enjoy the success!

Hindsight with 20/20 vision:

Reflecting back on his own journey, one of the core challenges in making a transition to a business strategy he had experienced was the difference between the traditional sales approach found in product-focused sales compared to the more nuanced approach required to sell complicated, yet highly profitable outcome-based service-centric contracts. As Sjölund commented:

"The journey was more or less OK except that we had too much trust in the existing product sales organization to sell the new services."

"They just didn’t understand it, he added. "Instead we found a few of our own salespeople for service sales with different backgrounds to understand the complete customer journey (challenge) and communicate with the highest management level about this. It’s important to bring people from the product service organization along to learn and pick the best.

The major trends of Servitization:

The eBook also draws on the wider pool of senior Service Professionals that attend the Aftermarket Business Platform and as such outlines some of the key trends that are becoming prevalent amongst Manufacturers across Europe.

These include:

• Manufacturing companies are faced with smaller and smaller batch sizes because of faster and faster development cycles.
• This leads to challenges to estimate costs earlier, prepare for the unknown and have very fast set-up of machine. Added to that, the need to produce good parts directly when there are orders means there is no time for optimization.
• Companies lack staff with the right skills and working methods for this.
• Many suppliers are promising industry 4.0 ready-to-use solutions without success support and this leads to bad experiences.

The technology of Servitization: 

Of course, as we have discussed many times here at fieldservicenews.com technology is a major factor in enabling the growth of servitized business strategies and models.

However, for Sjölund, the sheer volume of innovative technology that is empowering field service organisations to push ever further the boundaries of service excellence, a path that logically leads towards servitization, can be something of a double-edged sword.

"Technology is part of the problem: what is good and what to do?" He asks. "We already tried out a lot of technology (AI, Robotics, 3D Printing, AR/VR) to know what is usable and what is not."

"Most important change according to my experience so far is the use of big data mining to predict the future and access virtual good advices combined with virtual collaboration between users for “reality checks” and confirmation between professionals," Sjölund continues.

"This needs, however, data generating systems (IoT) in the workshop and well managed virtual communities. This is today not yet spread and partly not even available."

Want to know more? Register to access Copperberg's Servitization eBook @ http://fs-ne.ws/CAjc30lXctz

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As part of a new mini-series of excerpts of from the latest white paper from IFS we take a look at how communication is changing and technology is evolving. In the first feature in the series we looked at how when it comes to communications, Customers Want It Their Way .At the end of that article we asserted that in truth, we live in a world of five generations of consumers and employees. The choice of communication channel is ours. We pick whichever works for us. And by the way, if you think letter writing is dead just ask any complaints team!

So what does this mean? Does it condemn organisations that want to do the right thing by their customers to every increasing cost? The answer depends on what generation of infrastructure you are using...

Are improving your communication channels a key issue for you?! The 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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While a choice of voice and text has been available to all current generations, their accessibility and immediacy has been transformed over the last forty years: from landline to smartphone, from letter to instant messaging. Our preferences tend to be based on the dominant channel(s) within our peer group.

But before we start to look at that, there is another stakeholder’s point of view that needs to be included beyond that of the customer. No prizes for guessing that the advisors’ experience matters in equal measure. Once routing and triage business rules have matched customer need with the best qualified, available person, your advisors assume prime responsibility for the quality of outcome and the customer’s retained memory of the service experience.

That’s a lot to get right, especially with five generations of customers and personas to take into consideration. In fact, it requires single-minded concentration and attention on the unique needs and expectations of each customer to nail those deliverables consistently.

While we might imagine that multi-tasking is the obvious way through a busy day, it has a price. Our attention span is finite. Split it too far amongst competing tasks and something has to suffer. More often than not it’s the nuances of each individual customer need that is missed when advisors find their focus and listening power distracted by the logistics of helping the customer towards their outcome.

"There are many triggers for losing focus on the customer experience. For instance, desktops can rapidly become a mosaic of overlapping application windows as information and workflow is requested and generated..."

There are many triggers for losing focus on the customer experience. For instance, desktops can rapidly become a mosaic of overlapping application windows as information and workflow is requested and generated.

Moreover, these are not consistent interfaces. They can range from mainframe style green screens to back-office ERP systems and cloud CRM interfaces. Legacy organisations typically expect advisors to toggle between half a dozen screens for certain customer jobs. There are even some sectors with double-digit complexity when additional third-party applications are used, such as customer eligibility checks.

Navigating all this is a daunting challenge for anyone just arriving at a new contact centre. They have the challenge of live engagement layered with the unfamiliarity of multiple systems and their idiosyncrasies. No wonder that much contact centre induction time is soaked up in systems familiarisation and training at the expense of customer experience skills.

On top of all that, it is not uncommon for larger contact centres to endure 20%+ annual attrition rates. Given the learning curve just described, a continual drag on performance and service reputation is created that is hard to overcome.

Finally, one of the most common complaints against the contact centre versus a typical online experience is that organisations never remember customers’ profile and history, despite asking for it multiple times. ‘Know me’ is a key mantra in digital economies.

But within the fast moving dynamics of a live engagement, advisors cannot be expected to hunt down relevant customer information in order to personalise an interaction. Even when captured in CRM, that information can remain hidden from view nestled behind multiple tabs and menus. No wonder we still hear the ‘system is slow today’ apology as the search for relevant details continues in the background.

There are multiple negatives from this way of working.

More time has to be spent on each customer, which inflates headcount costs. It then gets worse if the outcome is failure to find the right answer or get something done

immediately. Handoffs to other teams generate more work, inflate inbound queues with progress checking customers and put a big dent in the quality of customer experience for those who suffer.

Advisor motivation takes a hit too, as the pressure mounts on working harder. Command and control culture is reinforced to meet targets and the chemistry of an empowered employee culture driving positive customer experience starts to dissolve as a result. The ongoing stress of being underequipped and unable to do your best can hollow out the enthusiasm of even the most dedicated advisor.

But the good news is that it is possible to work smarter as opposed to expecting the team just to work harder. Advisors have the same right as customers to expect low effort engagement. This happens when a great desktop experience is enabling the right customer experience.

Want to know more? The 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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The idea of outcome-based business models has not completely taken off as yet, and this is reflected by what respondents’ report is happening in their organisations.

On average, respondents estimate that 19% of their organisation’s business model is outcome-based, compared to 38% of the model that would be classified as product-based and 26% that is service-based.

However, there is potential for an outcome-based approach to be a big hit and it is unlikely to be too long before large multi-national corporations realise that product and service-based models are not as relevant as they once were.

It seems as though this realisation has already started to some extent; of respondents whose organisation does not currently operate a 100% outcome-based business model, more than nine in ten (95%) report that they are currently working towards moving some or all of their products and/or services in this direction or are planning to in the future.

Surveyed organisations from the oil and gas sector appear as though they are looking to get a head start on their competition with 64% of them reporting that their organisation is already working towards implementing a more outcome-based business model.

In recent times, organisations have found themselves in a race to the bottom, constantly undercutting their competitors on price, but often at the expense of product or service quality, simultaneously cutting their own profit margins.

This is not sustainable as a business model, not only due to reducing profits but also reducing customer satisfaction levels. Outcome-based business models provide an opportunity to differentiate from the competition and raise standards across all industries.

Enhanced Performance and More Competitive

The shift towards this type of business model is therefore somewhat unsurprising, and surveyed decision makers display overwhelmingly positive attitudes towards this approach.

The vast majority (89%) believe that the move to more outcome-based business models will enhance the way their industry operates, and only slightly fewer (82%) agree that this model will make their company more competitive than ever before.

Not only do organisations from the oil and gas sector appear to be making an early leap towards outcome-based business models, but surveyed IT and field service decision makers from organisations in this sector are almost completely convinced on the possible impacts of such a change.

More than nine in ten (94%) respondents from the oil and gas sector believe that this switch will enhance the way that their industry operates, including 71% who believe it will lead to significant enhancements.

Decision makers in oil and gas seem to be tired of the shortcomings of product and service-based business models and are ready to embrace the positive changes that outcome-based models will inevitably have.

Everything has a shelf-life, and it is evident that old school approaches to business have run their course – it is time for a change, and oil and gas are hoping to lead the way.

In business, those who can be first to the punch will often be very successful, but with a transition such as this, organisations must ensure that their plan is rigorous and well thought out.

Implementing a fully functional outcome-based model will not necessarily be a straightforward process and could be fraught with difficulties along the way, but it is certainly a step worth taking to improve customer satisfaction levels, the bottom line and the way industries operate as a whole.

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

 

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Adopting IoT as part of the greater service and business environment involves keeping up with industry changes as they take place. That means incorporating better measures when needs arise in any business area and keeping cost-effective solutions in mind for future progress of the company as a whole.

Research indicates IoT deployments are set to skyrocket over the next four years, growing 140% to exceed 50 billion connected devices by 2020...

As the cost and complexity of deploying connected devices continue to fall, IoT projects are no longer a far-fetched dream but a deliverable reality, already transforming a huge range of industries from Field Service to Manufacturing. Martin Clothier, Technical Director at Columbus UK, explains how businesses of all sizes can quickly seize advantage of IoT to deliver operational efficiency, provide actionable insights and improve business processes.

The Internet of Things has comfortably moved beyond the ‘hype’ stage of recent years, with IoT devices and projects now cheap enough to be viable for almost any business. Smaller IoT projects are capable of reaching full operational status in as little as a week. Deployments currently range in ambition from a dozen sensors to capture warehouse temperature, to monitoring the output and performance of remote oil fields across Africa.

There are more and more industries now taking advantage of IoT – and their success lies in identifying the right use case and ensuring they successfully harness device data to produce actionable insights.

Use Case One: Turning inefficiency into opportunity

The manufacturing industry is set to gain from IoT deployments that focus on using connected devices to provide a detailed, real-time picture of existing business operations and identify bottlenecks inefficiency. With repetitive processes running around the clock, any minor improvements to efficiency in the production cycle can generate major savings for a manufacturer.

"Identifying anomalies at an early stage can allow employees to take immediate corrective action to avoid excessive wastage, unnecessary asset strain or increased production cycle times..."

IoT sensors connected to machinery generate continuous streams of performance data, which can be analysed on platforms such as the Azure IoT Suite to identify leaks and bottlenecks hindering production. Identifying anomalies at an early stage can allow employees to take immediate corrective action to avoid excessive wastage, unnecessary asset strain or increased production cycle times.

This potential is not limited to minor efficiency improvements but can provide key metrics that drive business success. If we take, for example, the food and beverage sector – product quality is a top priority. Installing connected cameras above a production line enables manufacturers to introduce machine vision – monitoring and analysing the packaging, labelling and quality of products to ensure compliance and consistency.

Use Case Two: Space optimisation and the race against time

IoT monitoring is not restricted to simply monitoring and reporting physical asset conditions but can provide valuable insights into the two basic resources manufacturers have to juggle – space and time. At Columbus, we’ve worked to develop SpaceMAX that helps optimise usage of both workspace and time. With physical space at a premium for businesses – particularly in urban areas – optimised space usage can be invaluable in securing a competitive advantage.

Deploying connected beacons throughout a location such as a warehouse will capture the locations of assets, employees and vehicles from a forklift to a tow tractor. Harnessing the Microsoft Azure

platform, this location data can then be analysed to produce heat maps and identify hotspots, bottlenecks and other areas of inefficiency. By eliminating these we can optimise operations, product flow and the use of employee time.

Use Case Three: Tackling skills shortages by providing a helping hand to junior technicians

The threat of a skilled workforce shortage is well documented, with the UK cited as being particularly at risk. As the number of skilled engineers and field service technicians shrinks, the burden to complete detailed installation, repair and maintenance tasks falls increasingly on the shoulders of less experienced staff. Technology holds the answer to ensuring speed and quality is not compromised during remote site visits.

"The augmented reality aspect of the HoloLens can be harnessed to deliver contextual information such as service history and manuals explaining the maintenance process step-by-step..."

Here’s where developments such as the Microsoft ‘mixed reality’ HoloLens headset take centre stage. Using this headset senior workers can provide remote support and supervision for challenging maintenance tasks, tapping into a collaboration platform such as Microsoft Teams to discuss the task at hand. The augmented reality aspect of the HoloLens can be harnessed to deliver contextual information such as service history and manuals explaining the maintenance process step-by-step.

Remote assistance is just the first step for potential HoloLens applications. More advanced applications involve streaming real-time IoT data directly to the headset, such as telemetry of a production asset, assisted picking or put away, or projected life expectancy of individual components.

Bringing it all together – the icing on the transformation cake

By introducing connected devices to monitor environmental conditions, asset status and performance levels, we are generating significant volumes of data around the clock. But how can we translate data generated by machinery on the shop floor into actionable insights?

In order to make use of IoT data, businesses need to be able to collect, format and clean IoT data for analysis. Rules can then be set for actions to be taken if data falls outside of acceptable thresholds, such as staff being notified if a sensor detects a sharp rise in temperature. This is where cloud solutions come into play.

Cloud-based platforms such as the Azure IoT Hub introduce advanced machine learning tools to further identify complex patterns, and data visualisation for supervisors to closely monitor operational performance in real-time. By unlocking these previously unseen insights, IoT is enabling business leaders to make data-driven decisions to improve efficiency for the first time.

IoT can be also a significant asset to businesses by introducing increased automation of repetitive workflows – requiring just minor oversight from supervisors. Take field service as an example. Asset performance data from IoT sensors fed into the Azure platform can be analysed to detect anomalies, indicating a particular component is expected to fail shortly. Through a platform such as Dynamics 365 for Field Service, an automated work order can be created, scheduling an engineer to be dispatched with the correct component to complete maintenance before the failure ever occurs. This brings the added benefit of ensuring business processes are never brought to an unexpected halt through asset failure – an action which could cost thousands in lost revenue.

Staying ahead of today’s wave of digital disruption

The steady rise in successful enterprise IoT projects is testament to how IoT is today delivering on the promise of connecting people, processes and systems to enhance business operations and efficiency.

[quote float="left"]Businesses that have not yet developed an IoT strategy to enhance their operations are in danger of surrendering any competitive advantages developed through previous innovation.[/quote] Businesses that have not yet developed an IoT strategy to enhance their operations are in danger of surrendering any competitive advantages developed through previous innovation. But they must also be wary of avoiding the temptation of rolling out connected devices piecemeal, and instead opt for a comprehensive, measured IoT strategy that will consistently add value and deliver the in-depth business intelligence to make smarter decisions.

The real opportunities of IoT are often hidden in full view! Many businesses find it difficult to identify the areas from which they will gain maximum benefit and ROI. Partnering with an experienced company such as Columbus can provide a ‘third eye’, helping companies develop an IoT strategy, deploy suitable hardware and software with sufficient scalability, and support the project from planning stage through to go-live – and beyond.

Columbus is hosting an IoT Quick Start Workshop at the Microsoft HoloLounge in London, 2 October, to help organisations develop their own IoT proof of concept, break down existing use cases and identify operations where IoT can add value and provide actionable insights. Business leaders can secure their spot at the workshop by registering here.

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Volvo Trucks has been using connectivity for many years to support customers with efficient service planning. Now technologies are opening up new opportunities to take truck uptime even further. Enabling a deeper, more thorough analysis in real time so that we can predict some potential failures that may otherwise have resulted in an unplanned stop.

It is interesting for us in field service to monitor just how rapidly vehicle automation is moving forward in the logistics sector as it will surely translate from HGV to LCV soon enough and Volvo Trucks are currently pioneering in the field. 

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As humans, we communicate as readily as we breathe and eat. Whichever generation we are born into the desire to relate to the peer group we grow up with remains a constant. The difference lies in the communication technology at our disposal. in this the first part of a new series of excerpts from the latest white paper from IFS we take a look at how communication is changing and technology is evolving.

Are improving your communication channels a key issue for you?! The full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

Sponsored by:

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

While a choice of voice and text has been available to all current generations, their accessibility and immediacy has been transformed over the last forty years: from landline to smartphone, from letter to instant messaging. Our preferences tend to be based on the dominant channel(s) within our peer group

Source: Global Mobile Messaging Consumer Report 2016 Twilio

Generation Z parents famously wonder why voice has become such an alien channel to their children. Millennials can still manage a weekend catch up call to parents but typically revert to texting amongst friends, even though workdays become all about email. Meanwhile, silver surfers boast an expanded repertoire of being natively comfortable with live voice and increasingly up to speed with family group messaging.

Naturally, this personal use cascades into our lives as consumers and employees. Retaining our choices is expected. We still want to communicate in ways that suit us. Adoption of these expectations is as common in B2B as in B2C markets. The technology has become ubiquitous.

The problem, of course, is that brands and employers keep finding themselves behind the curve as new channels pop up.

Take messaging for example. The absolute dominance of Tencent’s

WeChat within Chinese daily life is such that cash and credit cards are already in rapid decline. We now see the same payment system being offered to Western brands that recognise revenue growth from Chinese tourists requires a trusted and familiar payment interface.

In terms of ‘messaging as a platform’, enabling users to get most things done in their lives, from booking doctor’s appointments to paying bills, the West lags the critical mass of functionality that WeChat has already gained. As of 2018, we are still at the very beginning of monetising messaging as a trusted channel between customers and organisations.

Although business case logic makes us hope that the latest channels will replace existing ones, the evidence says otherwise...

From a customer service leadership perspective, this must seem like a never-ending road. Although old as an industry topic, web chat remains the next new channel for many organisations. Even those already up and running are still sourcing the best practices required to engage effectively. Besides chat, many have also had to deal with social media and now find themselves being told that messaging is the next iteration.

However, the story gets worse.

Although business case logic makes us hope that the latest channels will replace existing ones, the evidence says otherwise. It is an expanding, rather than declining set that most organisations deal with. As such, it is hard to imagine that a single channel will ever emerge as the ‘silver bullet’.

Email is often written off as a legacy channel yet OFCOM’s 2017 communications report shows it remained the single most popular channel for 16+ adults in the UK. What does that imply if you want to be a customer-centric organisation?

Voice might be declining as is often reported, and yes, there are those millennial orientated brands that don’t do voice because their customers don’t, but it remains the dominant live channel of choice by some margin. For many customers, it has unique qualities. It’s faster than text as a form of communication. It’s richer in terms of emotion. Text channels have to augment with emojis.

As the dominant channel, it also attracts negative press for the lack of sophisticated routing many organisations still subject their customers too. First contact resolution without bumps is not as common as it should be. Customers expect low effort outcomes. Even so, once the right person is found, live voice still fulfils many of the expectations customers have for what a service experience should be.

In truth, we live in a world of five generations of consumers and employees. The choice of communication channel is ours. We pick whichever works for us. And by the way, if you think letter writing is dead just ask any complaints team!

So what does this mean? Does it condemn organisations that want to do the right thing by their customers to every increasing cost? The answer depends on what generation of infrastructure you are using.

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

 Sponsored by:

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

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Aly Pinder outlines how the growing trend for connected products is set to revolutionise the way we approach service...

What is the value of a connected product or asset? Some might argue, connected products allow a manufacturer to capture a wealth of product data which can be used to make better products in the future.

Others might state, connected products open a window into customer usage data which can help manufacturers and sales teams target customers more effectively driving increased revenues.

These are two important use cases and show some of the promise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected products.

But I think there is an even more impactful area of value from the ability to connect to products – field service.

Now you may be thinking, of course, it’s all of field service, as you peruse the articles of Field Service News. But even if I am preaching to the choir, the impact that connected products can have on the ability for manufacturers to transform the way they deliver field service and customer support is not necessarily a given.

However, as more products and assets are connected I believe there is a real opportunity to see great leaps in field service and the transformation of the way manufacturers interact with the end customer.

Three opportunities, in particular, jump out as big wins for the future of field service as a result of data captured from connected products and equipment:

Finally, predict and not react

The journey from reactive field service to proactive and predictive persists for many manufacturers. I don’t think this is necessarily a battle which will ever reach a state of 100% predictive service, and nor should it.

But I do think there is a great opportunity to take the volumes of data being captured in real-time to make smarter decisions in field service which can lead to a different balance of reactive, proactive, and predictive support.

Also, data gleaned from connected products can help make reactive service calls more valuable and efficient as a technician should have the answers to the issue without having to guess or lean on gut-feel.

Service without a truck roll.

As noted in recent IDC research, by 2020, 50% of global OEMs with connected service offerings will have incorporated augmented service execution and/or remote management thus improving service margins by up to 30%.

The ability to resolve issues remotely or to utilize a centralized expert to help a customer solve a problem can be transformative for field service. This type of model could help service leaders allocate their seasoned technicians to the most complex problems as opposed to just an issue within their geographic footprint.

Connected products enable a manufacturer to know what is wrong in advance of a response and ensure the right response is the one scheduled for a scarce set of resources.

Focus on the value of the human interaction.

When we think about the negatives associated with the rise of the machines (i.e., Terminator), we often miss something.

This should be an opportunity not a threat.

Connected products which ‘talk’ to each other provides an opening for field technicians to focus on the humans while they are on site as opposed to spending time looking for information, turning wrenches, or filling out paperwork.

Obviously, this will mean manufacturers and service leaders will need to train their technicians on a new set of skills and activities. But as the workforce and economies evolve, the skill of interaction will be in more demand and provide more value in the customer relationship.

And manufacturers which leverage connected product data to have their field teams focus on the customer will succeed.

The promise and value gained from connected products is more than just additional data points.

As manufacturers look to transform their organizations and teams, connected products should be the catalyst for a journey of new ways of delivering value to customers and not the end result of a technology investment.

Field service should be the aspect of the business which sees the biggest gains from connected products and equipment.

The possibilities are endless, and I look forward to seeing where manufacturers take this technology as it extends beyond IT and engineering to the field.

Aly Pinder is Program Director - Service Innovation & Connected Products, IDC Manufacturing Insights

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The field service sector is one that has always bred innovation and ingenuity and in today’s business landscape, where boundaries are being continually pushed forward by radical new approaches to service delivery, empowered by a wave of exciting technologies, there has never been a greater opportunity for companies to drive their businesses forwards through service.

As a celebration of excellence in our sector, Field Service News is pleased to announce the 2018 edition of the #fsn20 - a list of service professionals who are leading lights within our sector...

Andy Harrison, Engineering Associate Fellow, Life Cycle Engineering, Rolls Royce

Rolls Royce has long been the poster boy for the servitization and advanced service movement we are now seeing begin to really gain momentum within the manufacturing sector and beyond.

As such, it makes sense that they are heavily involved within helping to establish a framework for advanced services as part of a multi-organisational committee dedicated to identifying the some of the fundamental steps towards such an approach.

Harrison is the man that is leading that committee and some of the work he and his colleagues within the group are undertaking will be pivotal to the future of field service.

Ashley Weller, UK Sales Director, Mars Drinks

Having joined the organisation in 2011 Weller has held roles across a number of disciplines within the business including field service management, marketing and as Customer Service Director.

It is in this role that Weller established the creation and delivery of a highly successful customer service strategy and customer engagement across both direct & indirect business streams.

In 2015 Weller took the visionary decision to challenge his people to elevate their role, transforming themselves into Brand Ambassadors and adding even more value to great customer relationships. As a result of the team’s work over several years, the new processes are now a living, breathing animal and are running smoothly under the control of the regional managers. The new brand ambassadors are a true USP for the company and are loved by their customers. The engineers are proud that they’ve achieved all this – it’s what their customers wanted.

Having recently taken on the role of UK Sales Director, it is anticipated that Weller will be able to build on this success and to further drive revenue through their now well-established 'Brand Ambassadors'.

Seva Gavrilov, Market Unit Director, Russia, Volvo Penta

Seva Gavrilov joined Volvo Penta 22 years ago and took over leadership of the Russian business in 2007.

He has always had a passion for nautical engineering, having graduated from the Marine Technology University in St Petersberg as a Naval engineer but also as a visionary with a head for business. Now, he is leading Volvo Penta through a programme of initiatives that are giving their dealerships a competitive edge, more momentum and increasing the company’s market share.

The group HQ in Gothenburg, Sweden has been watching Gavrilov’s programme carefully and has already implemented some similar ideas internationally. Since the company is in a transition period from being largely product and dealer focussed to Customer focused, Russia’s key message is to enforce the shift to end-user benefits.

Improvements in change processes, complaint handling and collaboration between groups such as sales and service can make huge improvements.

Ulrika Lindberg, Executive Vice President, Service, Marel

A member of the Harvard Business School alumni Lindberg holds an impressive CV having held many senior service and management roles in Europe, Africa and the Middle East Lindberg has a deep knowledge of customer satisfaction, aftermarket, spare parts and of course field service - in fact, she is something of a specialist when it comes to establishing and developing service portfolios.

Having built a new unit within Swedish-industrial giant Alfa Laval, with an overall objective to increase sales of services and a focus on developing and maintaining a portfolio of well defined service offerings for the organisation, Lindberg took on the role of Vice President for Global Service where she was responsible for Global Service operations with focus on Growth of Service, Competence Development within Service and Service Operations before recently moving to her current role as Executive VP with Marel.

Kevin Starr, Program Director, Advanced Digital Services, ABB Oil and Gas Division

Given Starr’s wide-ranging background which encompasses installing industrial automation, working with pneumatics, then electrics, DCS and now digital and across roles that include R&D managers, software developer, data scientist and cloud specialist - he is perhaps the very personification and embodiment of how the field service sector is in constant flux on a journey of continuous evolution.

When it comes to digitalisation of automation of service within the industrial sector, Starr is to be regarded a leading subject matter expert – a fact that is attested to the fact he is a highly sought-after speaker at industry conferences as well being the host of a successful YouTube series and author on the topic and he has played a sustained role in establishing ABB as a pioneer of data-led service delivery.

Jonas Granath, COO and Deputy CEO, Polygon

Deputy CEO and COO of Polygon a company with over 3,500 field service engineers, Granath has worked in service businesses across the globe, throughout his career.

One key attribute that really marks Granath out as leading figure within the industry has been how he has continuously demonstrated across his career an ability to find different ways to lead and get his message across no matter the background of the people he is interacting with and it is this ability to communicate that has made him such a successful change leader and senior service professional.

Across the last four years, he has helped Polygon evolve their approach to service delivery and is driving their present shift towards a more comprehensive post-folio of advanced services that have come from that evolution.

Tim Jones, Professional Services Director EMEAI, Waters

Having spent over thirty years with Waters Jones has worked across their Sales, Product and Service divisions and has become an integral part of the organisation who deliver practical and sustainable scientific innovation to enable significant advancement in healthcare delivery, environmental management, food safety, and water quality.

In his role as Professional Services Director for EMEAI he has played a critical role for ensuring Waters continue to meet the high level of service standards that they have become known for and has shown in the way he has structured his teams that he has a firm grasp of the importance of the engineer/customer relationship and of empowering his service engineers to take ownership of their performance.

Dan Sewell, COO, Espresso Service

Sewell has been a driving force behind not only driving his organisation's field service efficiencies but also in Espresso Service’s wide embrace of the Internet of Things.

It is this willingness to adopt leading-edge technologies that have seen the organisation increase profits through the intelligent use of data that has enabled their customers to get greater guarantees of uptime and improved visibility into how t ey can also build their revenue streams.

In addition to this, the company has been able to rapidly expand into new territories as well as establish key patents and partnerships that will firmly establish them as one of the leading service providers within their space and Sewell’s deep industry knowledge and expertise have been a fundamental element of that success.

Larry Wash, Executive Vice President, Kone Americas

Wash has a long and distinguished career that has included senior executive positions in service operations for a host of highly respected organisations including Xerox, Trane and Ingersoll Rand before joining Kone where he is at the vanguard of their drive to lead service innovation in a highly dynamic and rapidly evolving sector.

Alongside his role as Executive Vice President, Wash serves as a member of KONE’s Executive Board. and leads a $2 billion business that includes teams across the United States, Canada and Latin America.

Wash also serves as Board President for the National Elevator Industry, Inc., a pre-eminent trade association for the building transportation industry as is highly regarded as a thought leader within the executive service community.

James Mylett, Vice President, Schneider Electric

Mylett is another member of the #fsn20 that has established his credentials as a highly respected service leader across a number of executive level service centred roles with a host of organisations who each have a reputation for excellence in terms of service delivery with a CV that lists positions with Comfort Systems, Johnson Controls and now Schneider Electric, whom he has been working for since 2017.

Schneider has shown ambitious plans in terms of establishing a highly progressive and forward-looking approach to their service operations on a global scale and as Vice President Mylett will be instrumental in seeing them meet their goals.

Wilhelm Nehring, CEO, OSRAM

In his role as UK CEO of the elevator division of thyssenkrupp Nehring showed a balanced understanding for the importance of technology in driving a service business forwards alongside the fundamental role that his field service technicians played in ensuring his organisation continued to stay at the forefront of what is both a highly competitive and exceptionally innovative sector.

Speaking at an exclusive fieldservicenews.com Think Tank session last year he commented ‘for us all this digitalisation that we’re talking about is not something to replace engineers, or even to have less engineers – it is for us to enable our engineers to do the job better than they could before.’

Having recently taken on the CEO position of globally leading lighting manufacturer OSRAM it is clear that he intends to carry that belief with him into his new role stating ‘my aim for OSRAM is to become a key player in the digitalization of our buildings and cities. On that journey our employees are our most important assets; they make the impossible possible.”

Nehring is a perfect example of the new breed of business leaders who understand the huge impact service personnel will have on the future of enterprise and we predict OSRAM will flourish under his leadership.

Chris Dexter, Senior Director, Technical Services EMEAR, Cisco Systems

With over 25 years of industry experience, Dexter is currently Senior Director, Technical Services EMEAR.

Based in the UK, leading a team of 200+ diverse and talented engineers across the region, Dexter is responsible for providing support for Cisco’s most complex technologies and emergent service offerings, as well as acquisition integration within the services function.

Innovation lead for EMEAR - funding, incubating and developing disruptive new concepts relating to customer experience and support quality and has given a number of exceptionally well-received talks at leading industry conferences such as TSIA Europe and Field Service Europe highlighting his and Cisco’s experience is achieving service excellence.

Christian Nolte, Vice President, Global Service, WMF Group

Nolte has been a popular and well-respected speaker within the European Field Service community for many years now and in his previous role with cash management and retail financial firm Diebold Nixdorf was at the vanguard of introducing the concepts of IoT and connected assets into field service as well as offering a number of insightful and innovative strategies to help improve service efficiency to his peers at a number of key field service focused conferences within Europe.

Now in his new role with WMF he is set to translate those ideas himself into the coffee retail sector, where again his extensive experience and insight into utilising the Internet of Things to drive service improvements will prove invaluable.

David Douglas, Vice President, Scientific Games

Douglas possesses over 25 years of global technology leadership experience.

His focus has been in the Lottery and Gaming sectors and broad experience includes executive leadership of North American organizations responsible for Service Management, customer deployments of large-scale systems and infrastructure, professional services, technical service, field service, operational support and call centres.

His current scope at Scientific Games includes the oversight of Scientific Games’ Service Management functions is currently leading a team comprised of 900+ employees. Douglas has a long history of achieving enormous operating efficiencies through the consolidation and creation of technology centres, process and quality improvements through the implementation of ITIL as well as hands-on experience with mergers, acquisitions and company integration activities.

In addition to having a mindful eye towards creating a strong, effective team and delivery practices, he is widely respected in the field service sector for his focus on creating value for the customer through the implementation of new, innovative service-related technologies.

Neil Johnson, Vice President & General Manager, Fujifilm North America Technical Services

Johnson is a highly seasoned service leader and is regarded as s one of the top executives in the US Service Industry.

He has demonstrated exceptional management expertise as he took a lead role in the transformation of Fujifilm’s Service Group from a cost centre to profit centre whilst developing strategies within the organisation for staffing, systems and CSA’s as the company established a well-deserved reputation for delivering flawless installations during the peak of the digital prepress evolution and his latest role with the group he looks set to further build upon his past successes and a bright and profitable future for the company’s service operations.

Rajat Kakar, Vice President, Head of Product Related Services Business, Fujitsu

Kakar is a frequent speaker and well respected at industry events whilst within Fujitsu, he is known for driving growth and sustained profitability, successfully penetrating new markets and building highly functional teams.

In his industry, he is recognized as first to market with new products. As prior leader of Product divisions within Fujitsu, he was first to market with UMTS integrated lightest laptops, Green IT with Zero-Watt PCs and Zero-Watt Monitors. His pragmatic and inclusive management practice for sales as well as operations, coupled with an as needed hands-on leadership style, has earned him a reputation of the desired leader and has enabled him to turn around dated or loss-generating organizations, both indirect and matrix structures.

Steve Smith, Founder and CTO, Astro Communications

Smith is a shining example of how excellent leadership, out of the box thinking and a genuine dedication to developing talent within the service side of the business can be implemented to establish a service organisation that is able to punch significantly above its weight in terms of establishing an excellent reputation for meeting the highest service standards.

Through innovative schemes such as taking his team sailing across the English Channel Smith has been able to engender an excellent sense of brand pride within his field engineers and is also a major proponent of apprenticeship schemes - through which he is developing a series of excellent, highly professional and well-rounded service engineers who can only enhance Astro’s reputation even further.

Ton van den Ham, Manager Engineering & Service, Yokogawa Europe Solutions

Yokogawa's industrial automation business provides vital products, services, and solutions to a diverse range of process industries including oil, chemicals, natural gas, power, iron and steel, and pulp and paper additionally with the life innovation business the company aims to radically improve productivity across the pharmaceutical and food industry value chains.

In recent year’s their European operations have established a strong reputation for providing service levels that exceed customer expectations and Van den Ham has shown within the year he has been with the organisation that he is an impressive service leader with innovative ideas who could have a major impact on the service sector.

Ged Cranny, Head of Direct Services, Konica Minolta

Cranny has played a fundamental role in spearheading Konica Minolta’s efforts to bring transparency to their data which has empowered the print/copy specialists to massively improve efficiencies within their service operations whilst simultaneously being able to dramatically reduce their employee churn, boost customer engagement and increase service related profits.

Having adopted a very hands on approach when implementing key systems that have enabled these achievements, Cranny is also prepared to speak openly about the approaches he and Konica Minolta adopted with his peers and help guide others on a similar path by sharing the insight of his experience.

John Cullen, Vice President, Digital Marketing, Metso

Whilst Cullen would invariably suggest that this accolade should perhaps be handed to one of his highly capable colleagues focussing specifically on the service operations side of the business at Metso, as former Vice President of Service Portfolio Management & Marketing, Automation Services for the organisation he has been a key role in the mining and aggregates giant’s shift from product centric to customer-oriented solutions on a global sale before building upon that as Vice President of Minerals Services where he was responsible for the development of service value propositions for the €1.4Bn business.

Given his pivotal role in establishing a service-orientated approach within Metso, we anticipate that Cullen will continue to drive the benefits of advanced services that Metso have developed in his latest role also.

the #fsn20 panel

Many thanks to this year’s advisory panel:

Aly Pinder, IDC, Sara Mueller, WBR, Bill Pollock, Strategies for GrowthSM, Kris Oldland, Field Service News, Jan Van Veen, MoreMomentum, Prudence Kolong, Copperberg, Michael Blumberg, Blumberg Advisory Group and Nick Frank, Si2 Partners.

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