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Titos Anastassacos from Si2Partners shares with us some interesting insight on Augmented Reality from their recent research-based reports...

Technology is changing field service rapidly.

In the not too distant future Smart Connected Products will be self-diagnosing; Maintenance will become, almost exclusively, predictive; Spare parts will be 3D printed; And humans will interact at a deeper level with machines through Augmented Reality and Digital Twins, whether the machine is in the same room or on the other side of the planet.

The nature of the service business will shift from technical labour and logistics to knowledge management and exchange. Service delivery will change drastically as will the nature of competition and business models.

 

"The nature of the service business will shift from technical labour and logistics to knowledge management and exchange. Service delivery will change drastically as will the nature of competition and business models..."

 

But if the “end-state” medium term can be discerned quite clearly, getting there poses significant challenges.

So, at a Si2 Partners, we developed a series of survey-based management reports, to shine a spotlight into service businesses’ efforts to grasp the opportunities of digitization while dealing with the challenges. We then draw conclusions and recommend the best ways forward. The first report on Augmented Reality is available now, the next report on Predictive Maintenance is due by the end of the year.

The first public demonstration of AR was in 1998 during ESPN’s coverage of a football game: Generation and display of the yellow first down line. The line stayed fixed within the coordinates of the playing field. It was not physically present on the field and was visible only to the television audience.

But from that simple application, only 15 years later, Gartner was predicting that companies would be increasing their profits by over $1 billion annually -by 2017- through the application of AR in their field service business.

Things, of course, are not so simple. Reducing costs does not directly translate into increased profits.

That depends on prices and we know that digitization tends to make them drop, sometimes to zero -think of what happened to chemical photography. But even if we only consider costs, AR is clearly important, in many ways transformational, technology with a potentially very powerful impact.

So, are companies adopting AR for field service? Our survey showed that they are.

Most expect significant cost savings and productivity improvements through AR, mainly in engineering time and travel cost -and, interestingly, smaller companies are at least as much engaged with the technology as larger ones: Upfront investment can be low, and it can be implemented quickly and stand-alone (at least initially).

Importantly, it may help reduce pressure on scarce, highly qualified, and expensive engineering resources, while simultaneously improving the cost-effective support of remote customers (smaller companies are less likely to have extensive service networks).

Overall, we found that while less than 1/3 of respondents already used AR, and, of those, the majority had introduced it over the past 12 months, another third planned to introduce it over the coming 12 months. This indicates an accelerating trend.

Of course, for users, it has not been all smooth sailing. Challenges are numerous: For example, it turns out that connectivity at customer sites is a significant issue, which hampers the use of the technology. But technical problems are normal at this stage of introduction.

Far more important are managerial challenges.

For example, as always, one size does not fit all: The most commonly reported use case is field technicians receiving AR-based support by experienced engineers from a remote central hub.

 

"Better applications for such cases may be pooling AR-based support, providing technical information through “knowledge-libraries”..."

 

This may help companies with large field service workforces (possibly with high turn-over rates or fewer qualifications) supporting standardized equipment. It is not much help to vendors of highly complex equipment whose field engineers are already highly experienced and qualified themselves.

In fact, it may be even counter-productive, slowing things down or reducing acceptance.

Better applications for such cases may be pooling AR-based support, providing technical information through “knowledge-libraries”, particularly on rarely encountered problems or legacy equipment, or integrating AR with the IoT, so that operational data can provide real-time context to engineers and support for diagnostics.

However, such applications require investment in digital content, something that many AR users have often not considered, as well as a process of experimentation and development.

Another finding is that following implementation of AR, many managements don’t take the necessary action to lock-in the AR benefits by pushing through change in the support and field service processes. For example, few companies eliminate technical manuals and drawings from a field engineer’s toolbox, delaying the necessary adjustments.

And, while many companies market their AR capability to customers, few have developed AR-based offerings. Yet our survey shows that customers would welcome AR-based support if it would help to reduce costs and improve performance, notwithstanding issues of confidentiality or privacy.

The process to integrate AR into a company’s mode of operations and to maximize its benefits will, as for any new technology, be arduous and bumpy. But the impact on costs and productivity is becoming clear. Though most don’t yet formally track it, 72% of our respondents said that AR is on par with or has exceeded expectations.

Augmented Reality in Service: Ready for Prime Time? Visit the Service in Industry Hub Shop to download the flyer or purchase the report. For more information contact titos.anastassacos@si2partners.com or visit Si2Partners

 

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In a new series, fieldservicenews.com is pleased to bring you a selection of articles taken from the recently released limited edition of Mobile Resource Management for Dummies, which is presented by Verizon Connect.

 

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Modern Challenges in Managing a Mobile Workforce and Assets

Digital transformation has become imperative for many businesses today that find they must reinvent themselves, or face the possibility of extinction in an increasingly competitive and rapidly evolving market landscape.

Amazon, Netflix and Uber are three modern examples of companies that have used disruptive technologies to transform entire business models.

Beginning in the 1990s, Amazon challenged the status quo in the bookselling market (remember when Amazon only sold books?!). Today, Amazon has become a colossal market force befitting its name. Retail booksellers like Waterstones, Borders and Barnes & Noble have either disappeared altogether or are struggling to hold on. Beyond books, Amazon has transformed the entire retail industry. Amazon has also transformed distribution and logistics. Perhaps most excitingly, Amazon has taken a novel idea to sell excess compute capacity in its data centres and completely revolutionised computing as we know it today. With the launch of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2006, Amazon helped to usher in the cloud computing era.

Netflix is another example of a company that used digital transformation to completely reinvent the film rental business, and crush the Blockbuster chain of video rental stores. Today, Netflix is transforming the entire entertainment industry as it produces original films and television programming, largely bypassing the traditional Hollywood entertainment moguls altogether.

 

"The factor that unites all of these success stories is a user-centric experience that gives end-users what they want, now..."

 

Finally, Uber is challenging traditional taxi companies by leveraging an intuitive mobile app to connect drivers with passengers using global positioning system (GPS) location services and crowdsourcing to replace inefficient dispatchers. Uber uses cashless transactions to safely and efficiently collect and pay fares.

The factor that unites all of these success stories is a user-centric experience that gives end-users what they want, now.

For businesses and industries that manage large mobile workforces and assets – such as fleet vehicles, heavy equipment and specialised tools – plus field service organisations, and construction and repair services, innovative uses for technology are driving exciting new opportunities, as well as complex challenges.

Among these challenges, the evolution of the many disparate solutions to manage the mobile workforce has limited the potential of MRM deployments. Different applications and functions – such as route optimisation, navigation, telematics and mobility – operating in independent silos with little or no data connectivity or integration between them create a complex environment that doesn’t adequately support real-time operations (see Figure 1-1).

FIGURE 1-1: Siloed applications and technologies add complexity.

 

A rapidly changing landscape

Not surprisingly, technology is driving a rapidly changing industry landscape. For example, electric cars – once considered science fiction – are now very much a reality. The UK is the latest in a growing list of countries, along with France, to outline plans to halt the manufacture of petrol and diesel cars, announcing that it will ban their production by 2040. For any business that relies on fl preparation for this transition starts now. MRM solutions are key to this, having been shown to lead to significant cost savings through efficient route planning and reduced idling time and fuel waste.

 

"Just as technology is driving this change, it also offers the solution to the challenges it presents..."

 

But just as technology is driving this change, it also offers the solution to the challenges it presents. In the US, record numbers of businesses are turning to advanced MRM systems to collect vital information on their staff, vehicles and assets to ensure that they can keep pace with inevitable changes to business processes, regulation and reporting. C.J. Driscoll and Associates project that the total number of MRM units installed on fleet vehicles, commercial trailers, heavy construction equipment and personal mobile devices used in the field will grow to more than 14 million units in the US by 2019.

Naturally, data plays a key role in any business transformation – especially when upgrading vehicles to new technologies or transitioning to new systems and processes. The more data you collect, the easier it is to adapt. With this in mind, the choice facing business fleets is simple: get ahead of the game now, or spend precious resources catching up in the future.

 

The technologies of tomorrow are here today

In other areas, there’s simply no time to get ahead of the game – tomorrow’s technologies are already integral to the way we work and live. This is particularly true of the Internet of Things (IoT). Just like the cloud before it, the IoT is most definitely here to stay, with various industry analysts predicting anywhere from 20 to 30 billion IoT connected devices by 2020.

 

"The natural progression of this vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication is, of course, the autonomous vehicle..."

 

The impact of this trend on fleets is potentially enormous, as greater connectivity allows vehicles to interact with one another and collect data on vehicle environment, condition and performance. Most fleets already collect information on speed, fuel use and driver behaviour, but the technology exists to go much further. Businesses can automate previously labour-intensive or manual processes such as routing, payroll and reporting, through comprehensive MRM systems, connecting the vehicle, the people and the work seamlessly – potentially improving efficiency, productivity and, ultimately, the bottom line. The natural progression of this vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication is, of course, the autonomous vehicle. Uber launched its first fleet of autonomous taxis in 2016, and the likes of Google, Apple, Tesla, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz are investing millions in the space.

Vehicle connectivity and standard fitment of hardware will become increasingly widespread, enabling live updates of current vehicle health, GPS positioning and traffic and weather feeds. The speed of change is phenomenal, and businesses need agility and flexibility to survive and thrive in the market.

 

Change today or pay tomorrow

With any new technological development, the last to adapt pays the heaviest price. Progress waits for no one and the companies that thrive are those that embrace it. In the current climate, doing nothing is simply not an option – change is happening, and it is happening now.

As technology continues to infiltrate the way we work, we create more data than ever before. At best, this leaves companies in a position where they have more data than they know what to do with, and therefore fail to take advantage of the potential opportunity that it offers. At worst, businesses waste precious time and resources analysing that data, which can make it feel like more of a hindrance than a help. In such an environment, implementing a system that can analyse this data for you, help to automate key processes, and future-proof your business is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

 

"Your customers are used to technology as an enabler, and they will go to whoever can give them the best and most convenient service possible!"

 

Your customers are used to technology as an enabler, and they will go to whoever can give them the best and most convenient service possible!

MRM technology can do this and more: giving you a clear picture of your business every minute of the working day, and enabling you to make the best use of your people, your vehicles, and your resources – potentially saving you time and money, and providing a better customer experience and competitive advantage.

The companies that now lead the world all used technology to carve out a niche and disrupt the norm, changing the industries they now dominate forever. Who remembers the companies they crushed along the way?!

 

Leveraging Cloud and Mobile Technology

Cloud computing takes mobile resource management to new heights. The cloud enables businesses of any size to leverage massive computing and storage capacity without committing capital expenditure or requiring entire IT departments to operate and maintain it. Cloud services are typically provisioned on a subscription basis in which customers only pay for what they use – much like public utilities. Business can easily and automatically scale their cloud environment up or down as business needs dictate.

One of the most popular cloud computing service models is software as a service (SaaS), in which a cloud customer uses an application that’s hosted in the cloud, but the customer is not responsible for maintaining the software application (such as updates and security patches) or the underlying infrastructure (such as servers, databases and network equipment).

The cloud also enables near real-time access to data – critical to many mobile resource management applications. Rather than connecting back to a server in a corporate network that may have relatively limited network bandwidth, some MRM applications exchange data in the cloud, which supports more robust data centres located around the world and is equipped with massive computing and storage capacity, as well as network connectivity.

 

"Like the cloud, mobile innovation has changed our world today. Smartphones are everywhere – and they’re getting smarter..."

 

Like the cloud, mobile innovation has changed our world today. Smartphones are everywhere – and they’re getting smarter. Increasingly powerful and intuitive applications create new possibilities for solving complex mobile workforce and resource management challenges.

As 5G cellular technology begins to be deployed by 2020, ubiquitous connectivity – practically everywhere – will become a reality. In addition to ever greater network speeds, 5G technology will enable near real-time communication between devices, applications, and users in harsh and remote environments that are not possible today, such as at sea, in the air, or in remote mining areas. 5G innovations will enable certain types of Internet traffic to be prioritised so that mission-critical applications – such as for autonomous vehicles – are delivered reliably and quickly. 5G will also overcome many current structural challenges, such as interference in metropolitan areas and tall buildings.

As 5G networks become a reality, the power of cloud computing and its applications for telematics and mobile resource management will continue to drive digital transformation in every industry. Additional information on vehicle hardware (as standard from 2018 on new model launches) will improve vehicle connectivity and information gathering.

 

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Previously on fieldservicenews.com we published an analysis of an exclusive research project run in partnership with Si2 Partners, WorkAmmo and Service People Matters where we revealed that 57% of field service organisations prefer to promote from within when appointing service managers.

Here in the second part of this analysis, we now explore in greater depth whether service organisations should be redefining the role of the service manager and ask what are the key attributes we should look for in service leaders of the future...

As field service operations continue to become an increasingly important part of revenue and customer engagement strategies for organisations of all sizes and in all verticals, it, of course, follows that those leading our field service teams are simultaneously becoming essential to the wider success of a business.

In our previous analysis of our research into development and recruitment trends within field service organisations we revealed that currently just over half of field service organisations prefer to promote from within when seeking to fill field service management vacancies, which is largely how things have been done historically - it is a sure bet that a large percentage of the service directors reading this report will have started their career as a technician in the field and this background and experience certainly has its advantages.

For a start when promoting someone from within they will, of course, have a much more intimate understanding of your organisation, your engineers’ workflows and perhaps most importantly your customer base. These are all factors that will help them hit the ground running in their new management role.

 

"Sometimes the best engineers, no matter how conscientious and efficient they may be when working in the field, just can’t make the step up into management - running a team requires a very different skill set than keeping your clients’ assets running..."

 

Yet, there is, of course, a flip side. Sometimes the best engineers, no matter how conscientious and efficient they may be when working in the field, just can’t make the step up into management - running a team requires a very different skill set than keeping your clients’ assets running.

Discussing this particular finding within the research in a recent episode of the Field Service Podcast Nick Frank, Founder of Si2 Partners commented:

“I think it is very natural, especially for companies who see service as a cost centre and as simply a way of generating customer loyalty, to see the people that they want to lead these functions within their own organisation.”

“Of course, these companies will be looking for people with the leadership skills - but they may also have a preference for someone who also knows the business.

“A large reason for that is is because service involves dealing with so many different stakeholders such as R&D and sales. Then it is also good to have someone who also knows the products and how those products work and how they operate in the customer environment.”

“So yes, if you are coming from a viewpoint of 'we are fundamentally there to keep the machines running and try to satisfy our customers’ then I’m not that surprised companies are still predominantly hiring from within.”

“But frankly, to be completely honest I’m a little bit disappointed that the percentage is still so high.”

 

"Service is becoming much, much more of a strategic growth driver..."

 

“The reason for that is because for me service is becoming much, much more of a strategic growth driver. Now that’s not to say it is the only drive, but it is certainly becoming recognised as an important strategic growth driver alongside  a number of other things.”

“When you adopt that approach, you’re suddenly your not really looking so much for that in-depth product knowledge in your service leadership - in fact as a leader you should always have people within your team who understand the technical side.”

So the key attributes you want to see in your service managers then become much more about business leadership elements. By this, I mean things such as strategic direction, decision making and getting teams aligned etc. Also, business acumen becomes far more important because when you start seeing service as a driver for growth you are no longer operating as a cost centre, you’re generating revenue and running a business - so in some ways, I was a little bit disappointed that so many are still hiring from within.”

 

"Business acumen becomes far more important because when you start seeing service as a driver for growth you are no longer operating as a cost centre, you’re generating revenue and running a business..."

 

“Who knows, maybe these companies are finding people with all those skills within their organisations, but I feel that it is more likely that they are opting to play it a bit safe, rather than being a bit more ambitious with where they want to take their service business.”

It is certainly an interesting topic for discussion and Frank raises many valid points, but is the fact that so many field service companies are still predominantly hiring from within indicative of field service companies erring on the side of caution, or is it perhaps the case that as with many other areas within field service we see patterns evolve at a slightly slower pace often due to the necessity of keeping what is invariably a mission-critical side of the business on relatively stable ground.

To help us understand this better and to dig deeper into the thinking behind many field service companies approach to hiring and developing new service managers, we will focus in this second part of our research analysis on the key trends amongst service organisations in terms what we attribute are key in the next generation of service leadership and how companies are nurturing them.

About The Research:

The research was conducted over a six week period reaching out to fieldservicenews.com subscribers as well as the respective audiences of our partners inviting recipients to complete a detailed online survey. In total there were 131 respondents.

In addition to this Field Service News Editor-in-Chief conducted a live polling session at the recent Field Service Connect event, held at the Belfry, UK which was hosted by WBR at which an additional 33 senior field service executives were present bringing the total respondent level to 164 field service professionals - a sufficiently large enough response base to provide a fairly robust snapshot of the current trends around recruitment and development amongst field service organisations today.

The respondents represented a diverse range of industries including; Heavy Manufacturing, Healthcare, Consumer Electronics, Power Generation and Facilities Management. There were respondents from all across the globe including the UK, Belgium, Germany, UAE, Canada, Spain and the USA and there were responses from companies of varying sizes ranging from those with less than 10 engineers through to those with over 800 engineers.

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Look out for the second part of this analysis where we will explore how a deeper exploration of the research findings correlated with Frank’s hypotheses as we dig deeper into the key characteristics field service companies are seeking when recruiting for new service managers…

 

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Field Service News Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland offers up some insight into how field service has become a core differentiator amongst competing organisations and how the trend towards advanced services is being driven by technology...

 

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This video was originally included in a video presentation run in partnership with Salesforce.

Download the full webcast @ http://fs-ne.ws/Y8ny30lsZUR

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We've all know it for a long time, field service management is a rocking sector. Now Bill Pollock provides us with the evidence - rock on...

 

Whenever one of your service customers hollers “Help”, you not only need to respond quickly, you also need to Get It Right the First Time – because you certainly won’t want to waste the time and expense of having one of your field technicians Truckin’ to the customer site unnecessarily – and you also won’t want to have to Do It Again later! If you’re not careful, it will all be Wasted Time!

By the way, this is why many of the leading services organisations are incorporating Augmented Reality (AR) into their Field Service Management (FSM) solutions – because Every Picture Tells a Story, don’t it? With all of this “new” technology being integrated into FSM solutions supporting the global field services community, The Times They Are a Changin’, for sure!

For a majority of users, the decision as to which type and brand of equipment to acquire is based more on the quality of service that will be provided after the purchase, rather than on the acquisition of the piece of equipment itself. Plus, it’s not only based on Money, Money, Money – it’s more often than not based on things including Promises, Honesty and A Matter of Trust!

However, once selected, after the services provider asks the user to “Take a Chance on Me”, it will need to, first, make sure that its new customer has a Peaceful Easy Feeling, and that it hasn’t spent a whole lot of Money for Nothing (or you could end up in Dire Straights)!

 

"After the services provider asks the user to “Take a Chance on Me”, it will need to, first, make sure that its new customer has a Peaceful Easy Feeling, and that it hasn’t spent a whole lot of Money for Nothing (or you could end up in Dire Straights)!"

 

Further, whether the customer’s equipment is located in Allentown or Katmandu, the services provider must be sure that there Ain’t No Mountain High Enough to keep it away from delivering the services that have been promised. If you cannot cover all of the geographic areas where your customers’ (and prospects’) equipment is located, you may end up with an unhappy customer in Massachusetts, requiring your field techs to work weekends on Tulsa Time, finding a suitable contractor in Sweet Home Alabama, being stuck in Lodi (again), authorizing a costly flight to Kokomo, Going to California yourself – or even worse – having to deal with a Panic in Detroit! One way or the other, you’ll never want to hear one of your Colorado customers tell you to “Get Out of Denver”!

Communications is also a critical component of any services relationship – and the last thing you will ever need to experience with your customers is a Communications Breakdown! Customers will want you to be their “Nights in White Satin”, consistently being able to provide them with what they want, “Any Way You Want It”, so they will always feel Glad All Over.

Customers hate it when they call their services provider and get No Reply! There’s a Fine Line between being only casually responsive and treating your customers with a full measure of Respect – and you don’t want to cross that line the wrong way, otherwise, your customer will feel like “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and end up in Misery!

If you get your communications right with your customers, you’ll find that The Winner Takes It All (i.e., your services organization); but if you Try Too Hard, you might end up just Livin’ on a Prayer, waiting for another opportunity to make it up to them – and they may simply tell you, “Not a Second Time”! It’s also important to remember that even if your customers have already asked you 65 or 66 questions, you will still need to be prepared to answer Questions 67 and 68!

So, … if you consistently deliver the expected – and desired – levels of service to your customers, and your field technicians remain Cool, Calm and Collected with respect to managing their customer relationships, then you may be in it for The Long Run! If so, then Long May You Run (that is, in circles around your competitors)!

However, for every services organization that actually “gets it”, there are probably a dozen or so more that don’t! That’s why it is so important to make sure you properly train – and arm – your field techs (i.e., with mobile tools and accompanying technology, etc.) with everything they need All Down the Line, so they can satisfy their customers consistently, and go home every day after their last call feeling Free as a Bird and ready to Rock and Roll All Nite!

 

Bill Pollock, is President of Strategies for GrowthSM

 

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Derek Bryan outlines how field service organisations can protect their fleets from an increasing risk of theft... 

There’s little doubt that buying and maintaining a fleet of vehicles can be expensive, especially for small or medium enterprises. Aside from staff, fleet vehicles are one of the biggest overheads for a business. And not only that, they often store vital goods, tools or equipment, meaning their whereabouts, safety and security is crucial to business success.

Recently, criminals have targeted vans up and down the country, and late last year West Midlands Police revealed that van thefts had almost tripled. Statistics like this are particularly worrying for fleet managers, as losing just one van can have a significant effect on revenue, productivity and customer satisfaction. While thieves can’t always be stopped, there are steps that can be taken to help fleet managers better protect their assets and prevent criminal activity.

 

Vehicle tracking and geofencing

One way to help thwart thieves is to install a fleet management system that includes features to help keep track of your vehicles at all times. For example, live map features that can identify vehicles’ locations in near real-time and trace the exact route each one has taken. From this data, fleet managers can run detailed reports via intuitive dashboards to monitor key metrics such as speeding and exact distance travelled. In doing so, if a vehicle is stolen it can be quite simple to track where your van ends up. Information like this can be critical in helping the police to track down any stolen vehicle.

[quote float="left"]One way to help thwart thieves is to install a fleet management system that includes features to help keep track of your vehicles at all times[/quote]‘Geofences’, a virtual perimeter that’s set up around physical locations that can be labelled and categorised, are a good tool for this. Managers can use them to map out areas that have been targeted by thieves and ensure that drivers do not leave vehicles in these ‘at-risk’ areas.

In addition, a fleet manager can also geo-fence their drivers’ homes to track if a vehicle leaves the area outside of agreed working hours, reducing unnecessary fuel expenditure and inappropriate usage.

 

Intelligent driver identification and real-time alerts

Intelligent alert systems, usually put in place to monitor driver behaviour, can also be useful for stopping thieves in their tracks. Fleet managers can also equip vehicles with driver ID functionality by providing each driver with a unique key fob that connects with a key reader in each vehicle’s dashboard. This system ensures that only registered [quote float="right"]This system ensures that only registered drivers are permitted to start the van[/quote]drivers are permitted to start the van; if a thief manages to break-in and start the ignition, fleet managers receive an alert that the vehicle has been started by an unapproved driver and an alarm sounds in the cab, helping deter any further criminal activity.

Alerts can also be set up to send fleet managers notifications if their vehicle has been used outside of working hours. In doing so, any unusual activity can be picked up quickly and a potential theft can be identified in good time. With crime numbers rising, it suggests that the thieves might be getting smarter and is growing wise to the steps fleet managers are taking to protect their assets.

 

Energy and efficiency

The steps used to keep track of vans can also have many other benefits for businesses: from monitoring driver behaviour to cutting down fuel costs and shortening delivering times via route optimisation. By using the advanced mapping tools available, fleets can easily identify the most suitable driver to a certain job based on their vehicle’s size, proximity, assigned geo-fenced area, and the amount of working hours they have available. Doing so ultimately helps fleet managers save time and money, and creates greater clarity when it comes to allocating jobs.

While there is no such thing as a theft-proof van, making criminals’ jobs that more difficult helps to deter thieves and helps the police to track down stolen assets. It’s therefore advisable to invest in a solution that monitors your fleet around the clock and offers safety and savings benefits.

Derek Bryan is VP EMEA, with Verizon Connect

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In this excerpt from an exclusive fieldservicenews.com webcast Scott Flatman, Regional Sales Director, Salesforce about how technology is enabling field service companies to bridge the gap between their customers and the mobile workforce.

 

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Want to know more? The full webcast is available for fieldservicenews.com subscribers. If you are a field service professional you may well qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription and if you apply for your subscription using the link below you will receive instant access to the full webcast.

Click here to apply and access the full webcast now

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Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News talks to nick Frank, Founding Partner, Si2 Partners, about some of the key findings of a recent research project recently undertaken by the two companies that explored emerging trends in the recruitment and development of both field service engineers as well as service managers across a wide range of industry verticals.

 

Find more from Nick Frank @ Si2Partners

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John Cameron outline some key areas of focus for organisations looking to improve the cash flow of their field service division...

 

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Is your Service to Cash Cycle a key topic for you?! There is a detailed white paper on this topic which is available for fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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For equipment dealers and companies that manage large service operations, service-to-cash cycles can be a headache. Indeed, the gap between when a technician is assigned a job to when accounting receives payment and recognises the revenue, can turn out to be one of the most stressful tasks if it is prolonged. Why? Because it can put a squeeze on your cash flow and profits.

Aberdeen Group reports that the average service-to-cash cycle is 34 days, with the best performers able to reduce this to around 26 days.

 

What Causes Long Service to Cash Cycles? 

A recent Trimble study1 amongst equipment dealers and service organisations found that most payment delays will often lie in the service-to-invoice process.

The main reasons for this being:

1. Paper forms are still being used by technicians to capture job details

40 per cent of those surveyed either do not use mobile devices to capture data in the field or are still in the process of rolling it out. If technicians must wait until the end of the day to enter job information, or if back office staff must manually enter job data into a separate billing application, the closing of work orders will be delayed.

2. A lack of visibility into customer data 

When a work order is closed, not having instant access to view customer data, such as discounts, service contracts, warranty info and equipment data may delay the work order process in the back-office.

3. A lack of process automation

When an invoice is generated and sent to the customer, there is a lack of process automation that would otherwise enable invoice creation and email upon work completion. Automated workflows also lack when exceptions occur eg: if additional parts are needed during a repair. 39% of those surveyed admitted that it takes 14-30 days to get an invoice to a customer once the job has been completed.

4. A lack of visibility into job details for the customer

When a customer receives an invoice, there may be little or inconsistent job details added, so the customer disputes it. There may also be no process automation or easy-pay options causing the customer to be dissatisfied and payment is delayed. 48% of those surveyed had no process in place for their customers to pay online.

 

What is the Impact to the Business?

Long service-to-cash cycles tie up excessive amounts of cash for working capital, instead of using that money to grow the business. When the service workflow and cross-departments are not connected, there is no real-time view of what’s going on in the field. What’s more, if paper-based forms are being relied upon to inform billing departments, the service organisation can suffer from both delayed and missed revenue.

For example, all too often, a technician will arrive at a job to find out that there are multiple items that require a fix. He may perform these fixes, run over his allocated time for the job and forgets to jot his extra hours down as he urgently moves on to the next job. This may end up in customers not being billed for all relevant hours, resulting in missed service revenue.

 

How Can You Improve Your Service to Cash Cycles?

Turning service-to-cash starts with identifying obstructions that are holding you back from receiving payment quickly and accurately. These can be identified by mapping out your service workflow, from the back office, through schedule and dispatch, to those out in the field.

Since each customer has different service requirements and service delivery can be complex, connecting your entire service workflow with a flexible and automated solution and following a three-step “manage, mobilise, monitor” process, is vital to making sure that no money is left behind.

Manage

An advanced service workflow solution automates workflows and completely removes the unnecessary and error-prone task of having to manually enter the same information, multiple times, into different systems and duplicating work. Being able to pull up work orders, billing information, parts inventory, service contract information and customer data in real-time, from a single source, gives the customer a more tailored experience in a consistent, professional and timely manner.

It is important to ensure that the service workflow solution is fully integrated with other systems, such as ERP solutions, telematics devices and CRM platforms.

This should include a workflow that communicates in real-time with every other part of the business and allows for streamlined business processes that are repeatable, predictable and instantaneous. When done right, companies get service revenue into their business as quickly as possible.

Mobilise

Equipping technicians with a mobile device out in the field enables them to connect and share real-time information with the back office, customers and equipment. They can capture the exact parts used on a job and change work orders to accurately reflect what services were performed onsite, which means that no profit is left on the table. Additionally, if the technician was able to perform some preventative maintenance at the same time, they wouldn’t need to plan a return trip. Mobile service apps give the technician flexibility to pass this information back to the office at the push of a button.

Monitor

Adding GPS into the equation means that you can verify that technicians are at the job when they say they are. Tracking your technicians through their smart device or vehicle telematics allows you to accurately bill for the amount of time the technician was actually onsite. If a task overruns because its actual complexity wasn’t originally planned for, not only are you able to reschedule the following tasks, but you will also be able to recognise that additional time in the billing process.

The back office can be instantly alerted of job completion through both signature capture on the service app and geofencing to notify that the technician has left the area. This process enables invoice generation automatically, reducing the billing cycle.

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John Cameron, is General Manager, Trimble Field Service Management 

 

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