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Servitization has been an increasingly widely discussed topic amongst the Manufacturing sector for some time now, but whilst an understanding of the why is becoming widely accepted, the how still remains a mystery for many.

Here Christian Kowalkowski and Wolfgang Ulaga coauthors of the book Service Strategy in Action go some way towards demystifying the path to servitization...

With growing digital disruption across industries, the emergence of new business models, and the mounting pressure to deliver better business outcomes for customers, much has been written about what servitization of industries means and why firms need to move into the service space.

Yet, in times where increasingly ‘everything’ is considered as a service, decision makers still need to understand how to master this profound transformation and decide which concrete actions they must take to carry out this change.

Roadmap for service growth

In our new book, Service Strategy in Action (S2iA), we show how to shift your business from a goods-centric model to a service-savvy one.

For over a decade, we have accompanied numerous firms on their journeys from focusing on manufacturing and selling products to providing services and customer solutions in a broad array of industries and markets. We distilled what we learned into a 12-step roadmap which provides clear directions for crafting a competitive service strategy and putting it into practice. We recognize that all companies have different starting points and goals for their service businesses, so we tailored the roadmap to make it possible for managers to focus on the most pressing issues.

When service-growth strategies work, the payoffs are impressive, and firms often discover that their new activities make more money than productsWhen service-growth strategies work, the payoffs are impressive, and firms often discover that their new activities make more money than products. But for every success story, numerous cautionary tales remind us that this move involves more than a few cosmetic adjustments.

Without giving this strategic initiative serious thought, and without methodologically managing the change process, our research has found that the transition is doomed to fail and companies struggle to turn a profit from their service growth initiative.

Our intention in this book is, therefore, to provide decision-makers with the tools they need to craft a competitive service strategy and put it into practice.

Readers can employ our proprietary 12-step roadmap and use methods and frameworks for each step in their own firms to navigate the transformation.

The first part of the roadmap tackles the very foundations of a service business: why to move into services and how to embed a true service-centric culture in your organisation.

The second part deals with strategic issues: how to drive change and align your service strategy with corporate goals, and determine if your company is “fit-for-service.” Then we discuss how to come to grips with implementation: how to make the most of your existing services, innovate and create value-added services and solutions beyond your products, and build the service factory.

Finally, we show how to build the structure needed: transforming your product-centric sales force into a service-savvy sales organization, designing an organizational structure that promotes service growth, and aligning your interests with distributors and partners.

Many firms profited from our hands-on approach.

For example, in one project with a forklift manufacturer, we worked on transforming short-term opportunities in revenues and profits.

Together with the company, we reviewed more than 80 “low-hanging fruits.”

In one project with a forklift manufacturer, we worked on transforming short-term opportunities in revenues and profits.During the project, we identified 22 service activities that the firm had been providing free of charge, but that offered notable opportunities for revenue generation.

Over a period of several months, the company moved 14 of these activities along the journey from free to fee. For example, the manufacturer started invoicing for on-site equipment diagnostics, an activity previously provided free of charge by service technicians during customer visits.

The diagnostic fees for each customer were relatively small, so customers were widely willing to pay. In one test market, 80 percent of customers accepted the fees, resulting in substantial additional revenues in the first year in which this single initiative was implemented in just one country.

The various free-to-fee initiatives that the forklift manufacturer adopted after attending our workshop collectively led to millions of euros in added revenues.

Building a true service culture

Once you understand why to move into service and what the main roadblocks are, consider the culture that supports successful service enterprises and how to venture into the service space. In working with managers in industrial and professional services companies, we have seen over the years that a strong service culture serves as a powerful enabler of successful service growth.

Product firms that neglect to assess culture often struggle to implement services, and sometimes abandon the effort.Product firms that neglect to assess culture often struggle to implement services, and sometimes abandon the effort. A company can burn a lot of energy trying to move forward with services if its culture is product-centric, because culture underpins the organization.

We have identified six misconceptions that are hurdles to transitioning from a product-centric to a service-savvy culture. Here are the hurdles, and the signs that you still need to jump over them:

1. A product-centric mind-set — Your marketing efforts focus on things that come in boxes. Your accounting system is designed for physical resources. R&D works on solutions that are objects. You compensate your sales team based on boxes moved.
2. An absence of deep customer insights — You are using a distributer network, and those channels – not you — have the close and valuable relationships with your customers.
3. A lack of understanding and using the co-creation concept. You still think value is created in your factory and you can’t see how customers can partner with you to co-create a service product.
4. The right rules are factory rules — You are uncomfortable with the new rules of service production that upset traditional factory values like standardization and quality control.
5. It’s all about CAPEX — You are focused on capital expenditures and selling customers equipment, rather than helping them solve operational challenges.
6. Working through channels — You have built a strong channel network, and you don’t want to think that it may be necessary to assume more control over channels – even owning them outright.

Making the move to services, then, is a process that starts with the culture at the very core of your business.

Changing culture is never easy, and understanding that fact improves a company’s chances of transforming their product-centric culture to service-focused culture.

Four stages mark the way. Not every company starts at the same point, so it’s useful to figure out where your firm is on the map, and what actions and initiatives will be required to move to the next step.

• Step One: The Service Desert – Many firms are what we call services-myopic. They are aware of service, but they see it as an after-sale addon.Firms deeply grounded in the service desert often consider providing spare parts or repairing equipment as a substantial part of their service business. This is a narrow focus view that obscures opportunities that could result in double-digit revenue growth.
• Step Two: The Dark Tunnel – A company ramps up investment in service, but results are slow. It’s a “bitter pill” experienced by many companies going through this transition. Decision makers must understand that a critical mass of services is needed before reaping benefits. A short-term focus only can lead to sacrificing long-term growth.
• Step Three: Promising Light – In this stage, companies that seized service opportunities early on are experiencing quick wins.Some firms emerge into this stage without even going through the dark tunnel. When it happens, welcome revenues turn up, and the proponents of the services transition have powerful evidence to persuade others across the organization.
• Step Four: Bright Landscape – This is the destination! The company has devoted sufficient resources and people top its cultural transformation, and the new service business is a source of profit and growth.

Would you like to know more? Please visit us on www.ServiceStrategyInAction.com To find out more and continue the conversation.

We are sincerely interested in your comments and reactions and hope that our book will initiate a fruitful dialogue among our community on this topic we all are so passionate about!

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With service becoming more and more integral to business strategies across the globe the role of the service leader is equally becoming increasingly crucial within successful organisations. Nick Frank, Principal Consultant and Founder of Si2 Partners explores what makes a great Service Leader...

For Service leaders wanting to develop their talent, or companies wanting to recruit new talent, knowing the competencies required to achieve your business goals is vital.

To start, we need to define what a ‘Service Leader’ looks like, smells like and tastes like, similar to a fine cheese it is not one dimensional.

As with most things in life, what defines success is often contextual.

In defining service leadership, we have identified four relevant perspectives.

1. Business Evolution;
2. Service Evolution;
3. Organizational Structure;
4. People or the individual.

Business evolution

Businesses are constantly developing and pass through different stages such as start-up, maturity or transformation.

What we find is that many companies run into problems when their business context changes due to economic realities, and their leadership cannot adapt fast enough.

As a service leader you will consequently need to be clear on your current and future position aspiration.Successful leaders need to be able to demonstrate different competencies depending on this business context. As a service leader you will consequently need to be clear on your current and future position aspiration.

For example, if you currently work for a start-up or a business at its early stages, it will be critical for your long-term career development that you acquire a higher level of business acumen. In a larger more mature business, leaders will develop change management capabilities which are essential for business transformation.

Service evolution 

The overall business context of the company drives the service evolution, inevitably putting new demands on service leadership.

Breaking this down, we observed four generic service strategy steps, which describe the journey of companies when evolving from product focus to service orientation:

1. Product life cycle; Ensure equipment availability
2. Product performance; Optimize performance over the lifecycle
3. Process support; to help the customer in improving their business processes
4. Process Outsourcing; perform processes on behalf of customers

This evolution is influenced by the mix and maturity of customer profile(s) and will impact both the breadth and depth of competence requirements.

For example, looking at how leaders deal with segmentation, a company focusing on solving product issues will segment their business by-products and geographical markets, whereas companies focusing on business outcomes will segment in terms of customer value.

Understanding the service evolution context is probably the most important area to consider when hiring/developing future service leaders.

Organisational structure

Increasingly, service organizations are being managed as a stand-alone business where companies see it as a strategic driver of growth with its own Profit & Loss responsibility. Led by a single Service leader with subordinate sub-function leaders, business acumen becomes more important than the technical knowledge of service.

The more traditional cost focused service organizations are often organized along functional lines with leaders for Field Service, Technical Support and other ‘technical’ teams.In contrast, the more traditional cost focused service organizations are often organized along functional lines with leaders for Field Service, Technical Support and other ‘technical’ teams.

Here technical expertise is more important.

The difference between the two business needs is profound. Having the wrong person in a leadership role can become a major barrier to growth. It is not that they are a poor performer, but that their skill sets and temperament have not developed to be effective to overcome a particular business challenge.

People or individual

As companies develop internal talent or search for new talent externally, Service Leaders may come from a non-technical function and/or background.

For example, Sales people are increasingly being asked to lead service organizations because of their commercial background. Alternatively, the current Service leader might only have worked within a specific organizational context such as Field Service or Digital Marketing.

The impact in both scenarios is that an individual is being moved or promoted into the position, shouldering new accountabilities with a different and/or limited traditional, service knowledge.

As service organizations become more sophisticated and require a leadership team with a diverse mix of competencies it becomes more important to be cognizant of the complementary expertise required as well as how it fits into company culture and people strategies, processes and aspirations.

Linking context to competency

Competencies are the parameters we use to describe the capabilities of people.

Within service, we have identified 30 of these competencies which can be grouped under leadership, management, personal attributes and technology (in the digital context). Successful service leadership comes from conscious adoption of these competencies to the business context and service maturity you operate in.

Coupled with a genuine understanding of your current/aspired structure, values and culture will enable leaders to create an organizational environment where people can succeedCoupled with a genuine understanding of your current/aspired structure, values and culture will enable leaders to create an organizational environment where people can succeed. So how can we use this insight when recruiting new service leaders into your teams.

One of the most powerful factors applied in the selection of competencies is undoubtedly the job/position requirements. To support this and to provide a summary overview, we found it was possible to distinguish four functional groups, Service Sales; Service Delivery; Service Excellence and Service Innovation.

Each of these groups include a complete set of relevant accountabilities.

For example, for Service Sales we include customer management, sales management, business development and product development. In total, one position should ideally include 5-8 clearly articulated and prioritized competencies.

The mix of these competencies will depend on the context we have discussed and in combination, will be used to develop job descriptions that more accurately reflect the needs of the business, rather than an intuitive perception of what the business leader thinks.

In summary

Great is defined by a number of contextual factors, therefore, the consideration of the competencies required and the weighting of each is going to be essential to be able to articulate the right job profile for a given context.

Whether you are developing the capabilities of an existing employee or hiring externally, our recommendation is to ‘go slow to go quick’, meaning take the extra time to consider your context at the outset of your search. Companies’ likelihood of finding and developing great service leaders in the B2B world will be greatly enhanced.

If you would like to know more about the competencies that define great Service leaders, than you can download our white paper by contacting the authors at dag.gronevik@servicepeoplematters.com, richard.cowley@servicepeoplematters.com or nick.frank@si2partners.com

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Having been widely touted as a technology that wouldn’t just improve service delivery but would completely revolutionise the way we even approach field service operations the Internet of Things has rapidly become an ever-present discussion topic amongst field service companies - but has the IoT revolution finally happened or is it still just the realm of those at the leading edge of adoption?

We ask three experts to give us their opinions on IoT in field service...

What are the core benefits of IoT for field service organizations?

Mark Homer, Vice President Global Customer Transformation at ServiceMax from GE Digital: One of the biggest challenges in field service is having advanced warning, visibility and insight into the equipment assets configuration, operational health and state, verification of location – before turning up onsite.

IoT is extremely beneficial in this regard.

It can tell you all of the above, as well as its environment, its connected to an echo system its configuration – including factory settings and as installed, localized configurations, additions, configuration changes, software and firmware settings or modifications as it’s currently operating and maintained).

IoT can also provide you with the current maintenance build, MBOM history of what parts have been changed, swap-outs, inspections, prior faults, diagnostics and lubrication, wear and tear process flow counters etc.

Using connected field service, IoT enables field service organizations to see visibility to all these and many other operational aspects of the installed asset/equipment prior to an engineering visit.Using connected field service, IoT enables field service organizations to see visibility to all these and many other operational aspects of the installed asset/equipment prior to an engineering visit.

The ability to see an asset’s health, performance, usage, RCM data, and access to a unique digital twin of this physical asset are all now possible in the field.

This empowers predictive, condition-based maintenance, as well as saving time and money, increasing first-time fix rates and customer contract renewals, and decreasing costs, overheads and streamlining supply chain issues for service call outs.

Gary Brooks, CMO Syncron: With the Internet of Things (IoT) becoming more mainstream – the market is expected to reach $267B by 2020 – companies across industries and verticals are starting to prepare for the impact this game-changing technology will have on their business.

Leading manufacturers like Caterpillar are investing heavily in connected machines to allow equipment to pass information from one to another, ultimately pro-actively repairing equipment before it fails.

This shift in thinking from a reactive, break-fix service model to one focused on maximizing product uptime is a fundamental change to how manufacturers handle service today, and IoT is at the core. Major benefits of incorporating IoT data into field service include:

• Quicker resolutions. IoT data can provide more diagnostic information, so a technician can arrive to a job site and immediately know the steps necessary to make a repair. IoT can identify what part needs to be replaced, and trigger action to either pre-emptively replace the part before it fails, or take immediate action if downtime does occur. Using IoT data effectively ensures that technicians are equipped with the correct parts, and can make a repair on their first visit.
• Happy customers. Customers are happy when their equipment is up and running, and any unnecessary downtime leads to dissatisfaction and frustration. Service parts availability is the linchpin to any successful service organization, and IoT data can help service organizations better manage their service parts inventories to ensure downtime is rare or completely eliminated.
• Increased revenue. When technicians are stocked with the appropriate parts and are able to repair issues on the first time, quickly and correctly, not only are customers content, but technicians are able to make more visits to more customers each day – ultimately resulting in more business and ROI for the manufacturer.

Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director for Service Management, IFS: The Internet of Things (IoT) and so-called “digital twin” technologies are poised to have a huge impact on the service sector; reducing costs, maximizing data analytics, and extending the lifespan of products.

IoT allows field service organizations to become proactive and predictive by identifying equipment issues and mitigating the problem before it cascades into dreaded unplanned failureIoT allows field service organizations to become proactive and predictive by identifying equipment issues and mitigating the problem before it cascades into dreaded unplanned failure that impacts business performance and safety.

When embedded into the right field service management software, service organizations can analyze and visualize real-time operational data from connected machines and devices and automatically turn the information into immediate and predictive actions. This, in turn, delivers service level improvements and drives better business intelligence and flexibility.

Another core benefit of IoT for not only service organizations, but any asset-intensive company wanting to optimize their service offering is the ability of predictive maintenance. The Predictive Maintenance report forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for predictive maintenance of 39 percent over the time frame of 2016–2022, with annual technology spending reaching £7.96 billion by 2022.

Has IoT become prevalent amongst field service organizations as yet, or are those now utilizing IoT within field service delivery still leading edge? 

Mark Homer: It’s a hot topic. We see that most CSO are aware of IoT, and many prospects and customers are activating in IoT as well as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), participating in one or two pilot or POC projects.

As an industry many service technicians have been collecting data from machines for years, typically through interface cables (e.g. RS232, Bluetooth collection of binary OT data, or early telematics).

Many Technicians are also used to reading meters and process counters, sampling lubrications and collecting photographic and thermography imaging as part of their work order completing debrief process.

IoT makes this process real time.

Gary Brooks: While many manufacturers are collecting data from sensor-equipped products in the field, few are actually using it to improve their service operations.

As the cost of sensor-equipped parts decreases and more data becomes readily available, it will become more important than ever to invest in human capital and technology that support a service model focused on maximizing product uptime.

Companies that do this in the next 12 to 24 months will be equipped to succeed.

Mark Brewer: Whilst IoT solutions are not yet prevalent in the majority of field service organizations, those utilizing IoT solutions and rolling them out at scale will be the winners over the next few years. Sensors are increasing in sophistication and are transmitting increasing amounts of data. With IoT sensors, the asset or machine becomes “smart” and is placed at the centre, sending data back to the service centre and enabling diagnostics to determine issues that may arise in a day, week or months’ time.

It’s this predictability that will enable field service organizations to deliver next-level customer satisfaction.

However, any IoT driven business requires data acquisition (communications and networking), analytics and business software to work in unison.

The problem is that very few companies have all the skills in-house to do this on their own. As such, savvy field service organizations will look to seek out IoT experts and form partnerships with them to take their business to the next level.

What steps are needed to introduce IoT processes into a field service delivery workflow?

Mark Homer: I am a great fan of using IoT education kits that are widely available and brilliant for educating technicians through practical and fun training labs - for example, the GE Predix IOT kit which you can find @ http://fs-ne.ws/1CJ730iXfcT

Mark Brewer: Firstly, companies need to be careful of integrating IoT for IoT’s sake.

By 2020, more than seven billion business devices are expected to be connected, but smart tech does not always add value. Misuse can lead to security vulnerabilities, with the network chain becoming more exposed to cyber threats. Organizations, therefore, need to first consider the business case for IoT.

A lot of IoT solutions mostly focus on a single element of IoT; for example, connecting the devices, or big data analytics - rather than providing a complete end-to-end IoT solution.Once this is understood, companies must start small - ideally by trialling a proof of concept. Before globally rolling out IoT solutions as part of their business, organizations need to check that the equipment, gateways and sensors work; that they are capturing the right data, and that they have all of the correct business applications in place to make sense of that data.

Next up is choosing a best-in-breed software application that can be easily integrated from inception with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, or whichever management software the business has implemented. It’s important that the solution is completely mappable to the back end, closing the loop from device to business application.

A lot of IoT solutions mostly focus on a single element of IoT; for example, connecting the devices, or big data analytics - rather than providing a complete end-to-end IoT solution.

Field Service organizations need solutions that make the critical connection between analytics and transactional applications, which turn analysis into action and then into value.

Is adoption of IoT essential for a field service company to remain competitive?

Mark Homer: Yes, obtaining more accurate data from your connected assets will provide deeper understanding and insight into how your customers use and operate the equipment and assets you provide and thus enable you to derive a clearer understanding as to the value of that provision to your customer and their end customer or the upstream or downstream supply chain.

By understanding the asset performance, availability, and its RCM (condition and status), the asset true through life cost (cost of the asset throughout its whole life and its ultimate replacement) the servicing costs of inspection, maintenance, breakdown in the event of unplanned downtime is all critical as it allows for future innovation to improve future profit, performance and efficiency of the assets and the workforce maintaining it.

Connected products are also able to provide R&D with amazing data to give deep visibility into how a customer truly uses the equipment you provide.

This, in turn, is assisting the product development lifecycle in designing easier to use and maintain products.

Gary Brooks: As more products are equipped with smart sensors and complete autonomy becomes a reality, it will be more important than ever to shift from a reactive, break-fix service model to one focused on maximizing product uptime, or preemptively repairing equipment before it ever fails.

The best way to achieve this is to leverage IoT data to ensure parts are pre-emptively replaced before they fail.

Manufacturers must reinvent their service organizations, adopting sophisticated solutions and new business processes to optimize service parts inventory levels and prices while maximizing product uptime, which not only leads to improvements in revenue, gross profits and operational efficiency but also the overall customer experience.

Mark Brewer: By 2020, around 25 percent of asset-intensive companies will adopt IoT and digital twins to optimize service.

Whilst this doesn’t seem tremendously high, with the general shift towards servitization and the demand from consumers to have an all-encompassing customer service experience, more and more organizations in industries like manufacturing and construction, and logistics companies, in general, will be utilizing IoT technologies to expand their service offerings.

IoT technologies have the potential to enable companies across all industries to measure aspects in a detail and quality that has never been possible before; empowering businesses with assets’ performance indicators.

Leveraging IoT solutions can help organizations measure essential key metrics, such as availability, reliability, maintainability, supportability, cost of ownership and end-result, allowing them to operate more like service industries.This enables companies to find the most profitable models - turning service into opportunity.

Leveraging IoT solutions can help organizations measure essential key metrics, such as availability, reliability, maintainability, supportability, cost of ownership and end-result, allowing them to operate more like service industries.

For example, previously, the manufacturer’s knowledge of a product stopped once it left the factory. But now, via the feedback made possible through IoT, manufacturers can start to learn the usage, behavior and performance of these products in the real world, and can even make engineering changes to improve them over time.

Another example is construction machine manufacturer Caterpillar. The company has been able to fit its equipment with smart sensors to measure tire pressure, temperature, oil levels, and so on. It is a win-win for customer and service organization alike; minimizing equipment downtime and enhancing product development and improving service efficiency.

The approach is said to have saved Caterpillar millions of dollars already.

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Augmented Reality ticks all the boxes of a technology that could have a truly transformational impact on field service delivery and offers a viable solution to many of the challenges of an ageing workforce. However, 2017 research by Field Service News revealed that adoption of AR is still lower than expected - so just what is holding everybody back?

It is long been a widely held belief here at Field Service News that Augmented Reality (AR) will one day play a hugely important role in field service delivery.

But how will that belief begin to materialize and perhaps, more importantly, why has it failed to do so in a significant manner as yet? Yes, there are a growing number of case studies of organizations who have implemented an AR solution but they still seem to be the exception rather than the rule and mass adoption of AR still seems a long way off - but why?

Is it a case that we are pushing at an open door and as we saw with Cloud adoption? Is it just a case of waiting for the rest of the sector to catch up?

Scott Montgomerie, CEO, Scope AR certainly seems to think so.

The potential for AR in field service is tremendous and as the technology continues to prove its worth within organisations who were early to adopt it, AR will only become more pervasive“The potential for AR in field service is tremendous and as the technology continues to prove its worth within organizations who were early to adopt it, AR will only become more pervasive,” he asserts.

“The technology is uniquely positioned to close the growing skills gap in the field service industry by delivering on-demand knowledge transfer and empowering workers to become experts at any given task with little to no training.”

“The efficiencies this creates in terms of a) ensuring a procedure is completed accurately every time by delivering best practices and verifying completed work, b) time savings gained with regard to reduced mean time to resolution and equipment downtime and, c) improved customer satisfaction, will soon propel AR into becoming a table-stakes technology that field service companies can’t afford to go without if they want to remain competitive.”

Evans Manolis, Senior Consultant at another of the pioneers of AR in Field Service, Help Lightning, also thinks that AR has huge potential in our sector.

“The potential is unlimited,” he asserts. “We are only now beginning to scratch the surface of the positive impact that Augmented Reality will have on the field service marketplace and the future of service delivery.”

When used correctly, AR can positively impact several Key Performance Indicators that most field service organizations measure.“When used correctly, AR can positively impact several Key Performance Indicators that most field service organizations measure. From significant reductions in truck rolls, to increased first-time fix rates, to improved time to resolution, to maximized product uptime and better overall customer experiences, AR’s potential is easy to envision. AR is the future of service delivery.”

So given this potential, just what is holding companies back from getting on-board the AR train? What exactly are the objections and hurdles (perceived or real) which are holding field service companies back from adopting AR?

“The biggest objection to AR adoption is actually a misconception,” comments Montgomerie.

“Fancy videos and energetic Innovation Teams want to show the future of AR in industry, which often jumps past the practical applications that can scale saving time and money today.”

“The future of AR will include everyone having AR wearables, which are still limited in availability and costly today. While practical applications of AR can be deployed in scale to support field teams on wearables where available, AR solutions can also support handhelds like smartphones and tablets for everyone else. Combine this with the fact that wearables will become readily available and increasingly affordable in the coming months, and AR is something for now, not just in the future.”

However, cost is also a consideration that is holding some companies back as Montgomorie explains.

The cost of hardware remains a barrier to entry for many organizations. Equipping an entire remote workforce or team of field service technicians with a wearable device requires a sizable capital expenditure, one that most enterprise companies don’t have.“The cost of hardware remains a barrier to entry for many organizations. Equipping an entire remote workforce or team of field service technicians with a wearable device requires a sizable capital expenditure, one that most enterprise companies don’t have.”

This is set to change rapidly though as an increase in demand drives competition up and costs down.

“The cost of even the most sophisticated AR devices on the market, such as the HoloLens, are becoming more affordable,” adds Montgomorie.

“That, coupled with big investments from the likes of Apple and Google to deliver platforms enabling AR to be accessed on nearly any smart device, are quickly reducing the hardware-related hurdles holding many companies back.”

For Manolis the question is more about a reluctance to adapt radically new service strategies more than the additional costs.

“A few years ago, the major objections centered on the technology. AR looked really cool and was cutting edge, but did it work?” He asks.

“Fast forward a few years and now few question whether AR works from a product standpoint. But the reality is that the use of AR is not a technology play.”

“The technology works. The successful deployment of a service strategy rooted in AR is really about service transformation, not technology.”

“It’s about effectively changing the way organizations deliver service. It is about breaking down walls of resistance within service teams and about driving successful buy-in from the service teams tasked with using the technology. It’s about the entire company and not just the service department. It’s about effectively communicating early successes and focusing on what is in it for the service team. Most service leaders we speak with see this (change management) as a hurdle,” he continues.

“At Help Lightning we realized these challenges and have started a Coaching and Consulting Practice, to help our customers successfully use AR to transform their service organization and that has been the game changer for our customers.”

Manolis’ point about the importance of understanding the sheer magnitude of impact AR will have on how an organization approaches service delivery is a hugely salient one and it leads us to consider how AR will fit into the ecosystem of technologies that field service organizations include within their workflows.

Could it be that ultimately AR will become an integrated element of the Field Service Management solution as mobile did previously?Could it be that ultimately AR will become an integrated element of the Field Service Management solution as mobile did previously?

Montgomerie certainly believes so.

“AR will inevitably become part of the tools that field technicians and remote workers use daily in order to do their job. AR is the next evolution in user interfaces and is revolutionizing the way we see and interact with data and information.”

“By allowing users to intuitively follow instructions or easily act upon insights by putting content when and where the worker needs it most - directly overlaid onto the real world - AR is delivering the on-demand knowledge transfer employees need to conduct complex tasks.”

“As the market matures, we expect to see fewer evaluations of how AR alone can drive value, but instead, the mindset will shift toward how it, integrated with other support tools, can impact a company’s bottom line collectively.”

Manolis also thinks that this will, without question be the case.

“Service delivery is changing rapidly. If you are delivering service today the same way you were 5 years ago, you are in trouble. And if you continue to deliver service that very same way, you will be extinct in another 5 years. Integration is a key element in the successful deployment of AR,” he states.

“Integrating AR technologies into service management software solutions like ServiceMax and SalesForce, is critically important,” he adds.

Of course, one additional theory as to why AR hasn’t yet set the world on fire is that in the minds of many field service executives it is intrinsically linked with the development of smartglasses - which themselves are struggling to overcome the stigma left by the widespread disappointment of Google Glass.

Is the widespread adoption of AR essentially actually tied to the adoption of smart glasses in reality?But is the widespread adoption of AR essentially actually tied to the adoption of smart glasses in reality?

Montgomorie doesn’t think this is necessarily the case.

“While smart glasses deliver the ideal hands-free experience to allow remote workers to more easily and efficiently repair or assemble a piece equipment, AR is successfully being deployed (and showing ROI) through the use of smartphones and tablets today. Considering that AR glasses are very limited in availability at this point, it is critical that adoption also includes handhelds so that an organization can support all employees today until glasses become more common,” he explains.

“With advances in hardware, we are expecting several new smart glasses to come to market in the next year or two, bringing down the price and solving many of the issues with the current crop of smart glasses, including field of view, battery life, durability and user experience.”

“It may be a few years after that, but within 3-5 years we expect many field service technicians to be equipped with smart glasses.”

Manolis also sees the future of AR not being dependent on smartglasses in the short term although he does see that changing in the future.

“The important word in the question is “essentially” and my answer to that is no,” he comments.

“We have many customers who have adopted and deployed our solution to their service organizations on a global basis and they’re not using Smart glass technology.”

“That being said, smart glasses will be the next wave of AR technology that we will see, but in my opinion, we are still 18-24 months away from that point. Today there are too many challenges to deploying smart glasses across large service organizations. They tend to overheat, battery life is short, field service techs tend to treat them roughly and they are prone to break, they are still expensive, and many service techs say they are hard to use. All of this will change as the technology improves over the next few years.”

With AR being such a quickly evolving market, FSOs should look for a technology solution that can be implemented today, but that is scalable enough to support devices or hardware platforms of the future,But what about those companies that want to move forward with AR in the here and now? Whilst it is still a sector in its infancy, there are an increasing number of companies offering AR solutions dedicated to the field service sector. So what should we be looking for in an AR provider?

“With AR being such a quickly evolving market, FSOs should look for a technology solution that can be implemented today, but that is scalable enough to support devices or hardware platforms of the future,” urges Montgomorie.

“In addition, it is important for FSO’s to identify a specific challenge with the vendor and ensure that this challenge can be solved. Just as important, FSOs need to remember that it does not need to be every challenge,” he adds.

“The first question a field service company should ask themselves is what is driving their interest in AR and what do they hope to accomplish through the use of AR? Once those answers have been given they should look for a company that fits their goals and objectives,” Manolis asserts.

“Then they should look at the product roadmap the company has laid out. They should be sure that the AR vendor they choose has a product that is easy to use. Frictionless and effortless for both internal and external customers. Finally, they should ask about what the AR provider can offer to help them through the process of service transformation and adaption of the AR solution.”

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Bill Pollock, President of Strategies for Growth explains why the future of the field service sector is going to be fully dependent on the emerging technologies that are driving ever greater connectivity...

Connected Field Service empowers Field Service Organizations (FSOs) with the ability to monitor equipment remotely, and transmit data into the business’ database in real-time.

The greatest manifestations of this increasingly pervasive technology may be best described in the following terms:

• Traditional Field Service Management (FSM) tools have long since taken their place in the everyday service operations of a large majority of FSOs
• Field technicians have been effectively repositioned as industry experts, equipped with data that helps improve productivity while delivering higher levels of customer service, and attaining enhanced levels of customer satisfaction
• Keeping up with the latest technology is an ongoing challenge for most FSOs – but one that is necessary to maintain their competitive position in an evolving competitive landscape
• Establishing a formal KPI program – with the flexibility to add new types of KPIs to address new ways of measuring connected field service performance – is becoming increasingly important.
• The more progressive companies have already begun to migrate toward newer, alternative business models, such as servitization or selling “power by the hour”.

As such, and by harnessing the power of the IoT combined with pervasive functionalities of a Cloud-based CRM platform, more and more FSOs have begun to shift away from the traditional “breakfix” repair model to a newer, “never-fail” service model. The combination of these new technologies with the adoption of alternative business models, are allowing companies to more effectively manage the entire business operations of the enterprise, rather than just its service operations – again, made possible through the advent and proliferation of connected field service.

Fast forward to today, we believe that the future of IoT-powered FSM solutions, particularly those built on a CRM platform, is quite bright.

Why? Because the value proposition is clear – and universal – across all segments and participants involved in the provider-customer services transaction:

• For services management – it provides a set of configurable tools, working in real time, that are necessary to make the critical decisions needed to run a successful services organization;
• For field service professionals – it provides immediate access to valuable data and information, and eliminates much of the cumbersome and repetitive paperwork required in the past;
• For the organization’s services customers – it provides the ability to initiate service requests and monitor call status directly via the Web (i.e., via a customer portal);
• For the parts/inventory organization – it sets the stage for controlled inventory and parts replenishment that helps keep costs down; and
• For the back office – it facilitates the streamlined flow of information between and among dispatch, finance, purchasing, parts/ inventory and all other relevant stakeholders within the organization.

The staggering amount of data that can be generated through a connected field service environment also brings to the table several new data-related capabilities for FSOs, including the ability to:

1. Collect whatever data that is needed to improve a process, or improve a product, based on its measured, monitored and tracked usage
2. Switch to a lower-cost predictive model vs. the more traditional – and more expensive – preventive maintenance model
3. Determine which services to offer to customers that the organization cannot offer today (e.g., a next-level guarantee against downtime, which can be turned into a premium service, etc.)
4. Sell, cross-sell and up-sell new services, packaged as competitive differentiators
5. Create a more effective KPI program that can measure, monitor and track both the still relevant traditional KPIs, as well as the “new” KPIs that are being created using connected field service

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Samir Gulati, Chief Marketing Officer with ServicePower joins the exclusive ranks of Field Service News associate columnists and in his first article explains why in a world of increasing customer demands field service delivery needs to be the platform from which you wow your customers...

Customers expect more from today’s service providers. In a service environment where consumers are connected to the internet and each other 24 hours a day, they expect the same connectivity and instant response from companies they do business with. Consider the popular pizza tracker technology.

We’ve seen the technology cheekily called a baby monitor for pizza. Who among us hasn’t watched the tracker move in the right direction, just to stall right before the pizza is due to be delivered, leaving us disappointed, anxious and hungry?

Though pizza has little in common with complex field service operations, the tracker concept is very applicable.

Though pizza has little in common with complex field service operations, the tracker concept is very applicable.Consumers today expect to have full access to your services. Field service technology with supports the entire service lifecycle, from entitlement to completion is so important in today’s environment given those expectations. Consumers expect to be able to schedule a service or maintenance event whenever, and on whatever device is convenient to them, just like ordering a pizza. Enabling your customers to digitally engage with you operational teams, faster and in a smarter way, is a critical first step to building brand loyalty and increasing future revenues.

Providing visibility, just like that pizza tracker, is also now expected by consumers. Digitally booking a service event, to your employed or contracted workforce, is the first step in a faster, smarter service experience for your consumers.

Providing visibility to the appointment, the tech’s schedule and his or her location on the day or service not only improves customer satisfaction by delivering complete transparency related to the service event, it reduces costs for your organization by eliminating phone calls that historically would have occurred related to the appointment. The latest field service management technology can also enable customers to do more. It provides the ability to review new services and product offers based on asset ownership and service history, while also enabling techs and consumers to communicate directly.

Better than the traditional call ahead while en route, or a dial on a screen showing location only, consumers can upload pictures and other information related to their service event such that techs are better prepared to arrive and complete the service event while onsite.

Pizza tracker technology delivers updates based on preprogrammed timing and a series of predefined events, with very little engagement from the actual delivery drivers. That’s not good enough in field service. Field service is complex. Better visibility for the consumer is great. It’s the first step in providing faster, smarter service. However, it’s only the last mile of great service delivery.

Smart field service technology better supports complex field service delivery models.The miles in between matter just as much.  Smart field service technology better supports complex field service delivery models. It enables technicians to be scheduled with the skills and required parts to complete a consumer’s service order on time. It provides the tech with product information, repair information, and access to expert resources, even AI-based digital assistants which can define how to fix a certain product using available information, versus having the tech swipe through pages of documentation on a device to find a solution.

Field service technology delivers a great customer experience because it enables your field techs to connect to your customers throughout the entire service lifecycle, delivering service in a smarter way.

For the operational teams, the pizza tracker seems to do little else than automate the order, eliminating phones calls to the store. In field service, complex operations require robust, often AI-based technology, to deliver great service beginning with entitlement. Field service technology is the foundation on which service delivery technology is built, enabling each to manage complex processes and engage employed or contracted technicians and consumers in a smarter way, to deliver faster, more complete service using a single field service solution.

AI schedule optimization drives productivity, no doubt. Unlike the pizza tracker which can take a single input, an order, and deliver a single output, the delivery status, AI can be used in field service to harness a multitude of inputs related to consumer requirements, tech skills, and other hard and soft constraints, while also incorporating the latest in mapping and location technologies, to deliver a schedule which reduces operational costs, but which also improves service delivery, ensuring techs arrive on time, with the parts and knowledge needed to complete the service event.

Integrated contractor management solutions can ensure a similarly seamless service experience using contracted labour. Mobile technology can support full onsite processes, ensuring smarter, faster on-site service delivery.

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Michael Blumberg, President of Blumberg Associates and Founder of Field Service Insights offers us an in-depth look at how the key market forces that influence service revenues...

I am often asked by clients to help them implement strategies to grow their service revenue.

Often these engagements occur because a client perceives that they are not getting their fair share of revenue and it's impacting the profitability of their company.

Developing new revenue streams does not happen by magic, a consultant doesn’t just waive his wand and suddenly sales take off. Increasing top line service revenue takes a little work but the results of this effort can pay off  handsomely.

All too often, Field Service management teams attempt to solve their revenue woes without first understanding their root cause.

They assume that the reason why more customers are not purchasing services from their company is that they price is too high. After all, that’s what their customers are telling them, so it must be true.

Companies that get caught up in this line of reasoning often find themselves implementing sales strategies based on some form of price concession, discount, or gimmick.

For example, charging the customer a small upfront contract fee for the right to purchase Time & Materials (T &M) service at a discounted rate, or treating service contracts as though they were a paid-up T & M retainer and allowing customers to carry unused portion of the retainer into the next year.

The assumption behind these pricing strategies is that more customers are likely to purchase the service because it is more affordable.

Unfortunately, the logic behind this line of reasoning is a bit flawed. Sure, the company may be able to secure more equipment under contracts through price adjustments. However, they will more than likely need to sell more service contracts to achieve the same gross margins as before the increase.

A company with a 40% Gross Margin target would need to generate an additional 35% in service revenue if they were to lower their prices by 10%.For example, a company with a 40% Gross Margin target would need to generate an additional 35% in service revenue if they were to lower their prices by 10%.

At issue, price may not necessarily be the only reason why companies don’t buy service. This assumption would hold true if all customers are price sensitive. The truth is all customers are not. It typically a small percentage.

More importantly, customers will always point to price as their primary reason for not buying services if they are not presented with other compelling reasons to buy.

The reason many customers do not purchase service is because of the perceived lack of value.

Customers think prices are too high when they do not recognise or understand the value they will receive from the service provided.

The problem is that it is difficult to articulate the value of service.

Most companies, particularly manufacturers, don’t know where to begin.

The more distinctions that can be made about a service, the more tangible it becomes, and the higher the probability that more customers will buy it.As consumers, we’ve all become accustomed to describing value in terms of the tangible aspects of a product. For example, its size, colour, workmanship, reliability and price. However, service is an intangible. How does one describe the value of something that is intangible?

The answer is by making distinctions about it. In other words, by describing the service in terms of the problems it solves, the outcomes or results it create, and/or the time it takes to complete.

Indeed, time is usually one of the biggest value drivers in field service.

Consider this, the more distinctions that can be made about a service, the more tangible it becomes, and the higher the probability that more customers will buy it.

Assuming no difference in price, which service offering sounds more appealing?

• A) a service contract that simply provides parts and labour or,
• B) one that provides 7-day by 24- hour coverage, parts, labor, same day onsite response time, remote support, and guaranteed uptime.

My hunch is that you picked B. This offering provides more value. Don’t you agree?

Unfortunately, most companies are not making these types of distinctions about their service offering.

It is should comes as no surprise that customers think the price is too high and don’t buy service contracts, and instead choose to take their chances and purchase service when needed on a Time & Materials basis.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am not urging field service companies to sell service features or outcomes they can’t deliver.

On the other hand, I am recommending those companies who are struggling with selling service contracts consider whether their service offerings or portfolios are defined with the customers' perception of value in mind.

For the service to have value, it must be described in terms of the experience or outcome provided.

Does it save time or money? Does it increase machine utilization? Does it improve the quality or cost of operations?

By defining the portfolio in this way, Field Service companies can test different offerings through competitive analysis, survey research, and conjoint (i.e., trade-off) analysis.

They would, of course, need to ensure they can deliver on the promise of the portfolio prior to offering it to the customers.

Conducting this type of research, also allows companies to determine which service offerings are most optimal or in demand by their customer base.

All things being equal, Customers will always choose the service offering the provides more value as defined by more distinctions In addition, distinctions provide the basis for differentiation and creating a competitive advantage. All things being equal, Customers will always choose the service offering the provides more value as defined by more distinctions then one that does not.

Some segments of the market may even pay a higher price for high value services particularly if they cannot purchase them elsewhere.

With the trend towards offering anything (e.g., products) as a service (XaaS) and Smart (i.e., IoT) Services, Field Service companies will need to become more adept at selling outcomes.

To do so they must be able to describe distinctions and articulate value. XaaS and Smart Services will not just sell themselves.

Field Service Executives are advised to start developing these skills now with service offered on existing equipment so they learn to be proficient at selling service contract when their XaaS and Smart Service programs are actually launched.

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Blockchain, the technology developed to enable the crypto-currency Bitcoin has become the latest big buzz phrase technology across industries worldwide, but is it just hyperbole or can it be an important factor in the future of field service?

Business across the world are turning their attention to BlockChain right now and in the majority of cases, the main focus of this attention is centred around Bitcoin, the first globally recognized digital (crypto) currency that has hit the headlines largely for huge spikes and dips in its value across the last 12 months.

However, whilst Crypto-Currency is the most widely understood application of Blockchain technology, there may be a number of other applications which could be far more important to how the field service sector operates.

Blockchain 101

So for the uninitiated lets first get our heads around exactly what BlockChain is...

To begin a blockchain is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using encrypted codes. Essentially, each block will typically contain a cryptographic hash of the previous block, alongside a time stamp and the transaction data.

Perhaps the most critical point to comprehend about blockchain is that by design, a blockchain is inherently resistant to modification of the dataPerhaps the most critical point to comprehend about blockchain is that by design, a blockchain is inherently resistant to modification of the data. The technical language is that it is “an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way”.

When used as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is generally managed by a peer-to-peer network which adheres to the same protocols for validating new blocks collectively. What this means is that in practice, once the data is within in any given block it can not be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks. The particularly clever part here is that as each peer within the chain is working as part of the collective, such a change requires the collusion of a majority from the network - this makes pulling a fast one anywhere along the line pretty much near impossible.

Thus blockchains are inherently secure by design.

For the more technically minded amongst us, one could suggest quite rightly that the establishment of blockchain has meant that decentralized consensus has become realized, with blockchain ‘exemplifying a distributed computing system with high Byzantine fault tolerance’

For those of us who are perhaps more interested in the outcomes, however, essentially what we need to know is that due to the way they have been designed they are highly suitable for the recording of information that needs watertight security - such as medical records and of course financial transactions - which is where it all began.

Whilst Blockchain is rapidly gaining attention, it is the crypto-currency that it was created for use with, Bitcoins, even more widely recognized within the mainstream.

Blockchain was invented by wonderfully mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto back in 2008 as Bitcoin’s public transaction ledger.

Indeed it was the invention of the blockchain that allowed bitcoin to become the first digital currency to solve what is known as the ‘double spending problem’, without the need of a trusted authority or central server - essentially making crypto-currency viable.

So it’s just a new way of taking payment?

Well no, as we alluded to at the top there could be a lot more to how Blockchain plays a role in field service which we’ll go into shortly - but whilst we are at it there is certainly a case for adding crypto-currencies to the list of how your organisation receives payment for the services delivered - especially if you are serving the consumer directly.

Certainly whilst crypto-currency is by no means a mainstream payment method as yet, an increasing number of businesses are starting to accept it and with a lower barrier to entry than accepting plastic, any business in any industry has the ability to adopt crypto-currencies.

In Japan alone, an estimated 260,000 businesses were reported to offer the cryptocurrency as a payment channel in 2017.In Japan alone, an estimated 260,000 businesses were reported to offer the cryptocurrency as a payment channel in 2017.

But what are the benefits of accepting cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin for a business?

There are plenty of positives in doing so but some key reasons cited in an article on business.com include:

• Eliminate chargeback fraud: A Bitcoin transaction is immutable. Once a client has paid for a product or service, the money is in your account. Unlike credit card payments, charges cannot be reversed.
• Immediate availability: There is no third party-dependent waiting period the way there is with bank-owned payments.Once payment is successful, the transaction amount is in your wallet and accessible immediately.You can convert Bitcoin into your local currency fiat at the end of each transaction, at the end of each working day or according to a custom set schedule.
• Lower transaction costs: Credit card payments usually end up costing you a 2 to 4 percent fee.With Bitcoin, this amount is a low flat fee, not a percentage of the transaction.
• Attract new customers: As Bitcoin rises in popularity, more users seek out participating businesses. This can mean exposure to a clientele you didn’t have before.
• Garner publicity: Bitcoin makes the news in a way fiat currency can’t. Local, national and even international news outlets are reporting on businesses taking Bitcoin payments, giving you an opportunity for free publicity.

Fixing the holes in the Internet of Things

However, as mentioned above, within the field service sector Blockchain has a huge amount more potential than just facilitating an additional means of receiving payment.

Firstly, there is its potential application within the Internet of Things - which is set to become the fundamental backbone of service delivery in the future - although widespread mass adoption is still arguably held back due to security concerns, a very real example of which being realized back in October 2016 when an unprecedented distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack involving an estimated 100,000 compromised devices in the Mirai malware botnet nearly brought the Internet to its knees in 2016 provided a clear indicator of the precarious state of IoT security.

The root of such weaknesses lies essentially within the security architecture of the IoT itself.

IoT architecture relies upon a distributed client-server model which uses a central authority to manage both the IoT devices as well as the data generated across an IoT network.

For IoT data to be trusted, all trust requests are aggregated into a single location which creates a sole point of security intelligence that can compromise IoT security. This is how Mirai-style botnet attacks can succeed.

Basically, during such an attack, IoT devices are unable to adapt their behaviour because they are not considered “smart” enough to make security decisions without the help of the central authority.

In an interview with computerweekly.com Joseph Pindar, Director for Strategy in the CTO office at Gemalto, and co-founder of the Trusted IoT Alliance, a non-profit group that advocates the use of blockchain to secure IoT ecosystem outlined why he believes Blockchain could hold the answer to true IoT security.

Pindar explained how blockchain removes the single point of decision-making that leads to failure, by enabling device networks to protect themselves in other ways, such as allowing devices to form group consensus about what is normal within a given network, and to quarantine any nodes that behave unusually.

Blockchain can play a crucial role in building trust in IoT dataIn addition to this blockchain can play a crucial role in building trust in IoT data by enabling what Pindar called the five digital security primitives: availability, auditability, accountability, integrity and confidentiality.

In blockchain, data is automatically stored in many locations and is always accessible to users.

For auditability and accountability, a private, permission-based blockchain is used – where all users are authorized to access the network – and because all data stored on the blockchain is signed, each device is accountable for its actions.

With regards to integrity, blockchain is as we’ve outlined above a public ledger of data entries.

With every entry, deletion or correction of data being confirmed across the network across a fully verifiable complete chain of events.

Further to this, there is also another perhaps less obvious but equally important benefit of utilizing Blockchain within IoT systems which Pinder raises.

There is a fairly widespread mindset amongst IT executive management regarding securing the industrial Internet which is that once a sensor, device or controller has been deployed and is working, it cannot be touched.

“Even if there is a known security vulnerability, it is not worth fixing it, because there is a chance that the security patch would cause problems elsewhere in the system that no one knows how to fix,” explained Pindar when speaking to Computer Weekly’s Aaron Tan “But as cloud computing has demonstrated, there are continual failures of devices and systems when operating at very large scale.”

“Simply put, it is not possible to manage large-scale systems that are fragile and not resilient to failure – as is the case with many current industrial IoT and OT systems.”

And the solution to this which Pindar recommends is to allow continuous deployment of software updates, alongside blockchain technology after devices have been deployed, with little or no downtime through an over-the-air update system - something he believes delivers both cost and operational efficiency when delivering over-the-air updates and patching to IoT devices and sensors.

With the IoT becoming more and more prevalent amongst field service organizations, the suggestions Pindar makes regarding the application of Blockchain in such systems should indeed be an important consideration for field service organisations as they establish their IoT processes.

The final piece of the 3D printing puzzle?

However, there could be yet another important place for blockchain within the field service sector, it could just be the missing piece of the puzzle in resolving one of the biggest challenges within our sector, namely managing the spare parts supply chain.

3D printing has for a long time been touted as a potential solution to getting parts needed to engineers as soon as possible, but one potential hurdle has always been how organisations control the licensing of the spare parts to ensure that firstly if the customer has 3D printing capability on-site - which has been one suggested use case, how can the provider ensure they don’t simply print off as many parts as needed once they have initially received the schematics file.

Similarly, by sending the parts data across in a digital file, the potential for such a file to make its way into the hands of unscrupulous third parties happy to make unauthorized parts for sale elsewhere is also a cause for concern for many organizations. Frankly, the risk to their IP and the significant loss of revenue this could lead has meant that many OEMs still view 3D printing with a distinct lack of trust.

However, could Blockchain perhaps hold the solution to such fears?

This certainly seems to be the thinking behind one Italian startup called 3D-TOKEN, which aims to integrate Blockchain and 3D printing technologies, in order to create a “unique, decentralized, global Just-In-Time Factory 4.0 for this century’s digital revolution.”

If successful it could certainly set a precedent for how Blockchain and 3D printing could work in harmonyAside from cramming as many manufacturing buzz phrases into their mission statement as possible, it seems it is certainly a concept that could have a potentially huge impact on service organizations within OEMs.

The goal for 3DToken is to connect thousands of 3D printers in a network hub based in Blockchain. In short, the plan is to create a Blockchain-managed network hub of desktop 3D printers.

The project will be used to bring just-in-time small-to-medium scale digital manufacturing to a new level.

Coin Telegraph described the startup as being capable of “accelerating the 3D printing market to its full potential” by changing up industry norms on product cost and time to market.

Whilst this project is still very much in its infancy, they have made impressive progress to date and although the focus on desktop 3D printers would suggest a consumer-centric approach initially as opposed to something suited for industry, if successful it could certainly set a precedent for how Blockchain and 3D printing could work in harmony, and the concept should at the very least give many OEMs food for thought as to how they could harness the potential of 3D printing. Especially as a means of bypassing much of the often highly complex service supply chain.

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Rosanne Gresnigt and Hilbrand Rustema at specialist service management consultancy Noventum tackle one of the big challenges all field service organizations face - aligning the core functions of service and sales...

It’s one of the questions we hear so often. How can a company build a scalable service sales and delivery model? With increased commoditisation, pressure on growth and margins are forcing companies to think outside the box when it comes to their services.

Service businesses need savvy innovation programmes, which allow them to evolve quickly and nimbly – they need to create new customer-oriented offerings, quickly adapting to changing markets. However, navigating the right path to service transformation isn’t always straightforward. Most common approaches, Big Bang and Incremental, carry risks and yield surprisingly low success rates.

There’s an alternate path, however, increasingly being adopted by today’s more successful and forward-looking service organizations: ‘The Service Factory’.

The Service Factory approach is an agile, systematic, highly successful, low-risk approach to service transformations enabling companies to adopt innovations in tandem with today’s fast-changing customer and market needs.

How does it work?

The Service Factory approach is an analogy to an actual factory and consists of three core steps:

• Creating and maintaining a high-level vision of the future for your business with a defined portfolio of services that you want to offer to your customers
• Defining a precise architecture of your business model components that you need to sell and deliver the services in the portfolio
• Defining a roadmap in which the components are improved step-by-step according to new and changing requirements

In further detail, having developed a high-level vision of your organization’s future services portfolio, the approach requires that you break down your business into sales and delivery model components; Request Management, Diagnosis, Planning, Maintenance Engineering and Knowledge Management are examples of valuable components in your Service Factory.

Each component is then looked at from the following perspectives:

• Management Practices
• Processes
• Performance Metrics
• IT functionality

Businesses implementing this approach must:

• Have a clear vision of how the business will develop in years to come.
• Set out well-defined long-term business objectives
• Develop an understanding of what components are required and what they should look like.

Using this holistic approach, businesses can embark on an ongoing process whereby a new component is implemented every 6-8 weeks.

As such, the Service Factory is a high-paced, focused approach involving fixing, raising and maturing the level of the business, component by component.

Where to begin?

A thorough assessment of the business is a good place to begin.

Companies can start by benchmarking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like Customer Experience, Productivity, Gross Profit Margins and Growth Rates against top performers in their industry and proven standards.

This will enable the company to identify what the biggest areas for improvement are. As a next step, a more qualitative assessment can help to identify the root causes of under-performance and best practices.

By prioritizing the opportunities that are derived from such assessment, based on time/complexity to implement and expected added value for the company, a service transformation roadmap can be created.By prioritizing the opportunities that are derived from such assessment, based on time/complexity to implement and expected added value for the company, a service transformation roadmap can be created.

As Europe’s leading Service Management experts, Noventum has developed a comprehensive library of industry benchmarks and best practice industry standards for components covering all the major capabilities of a Service Factory.

They are developed and updated frequently based on our research activities and our work with leading service businesses across the globe.

Start with Self Assessment:

To help you move forward we're pleased to offer you access to our free online self-assessment tool which covers a limited scope of functional service business areas which is available @ www.noventum.eu/fsm-assessment-demo

This assessment will take approximately 30 minutes of your time and then upon completion of the assessment, you will directly gain access to your personalized report of opportunities that could help you to improve your own business and get your sales and service operations more closely aligned.

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