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In today’s society whereas consumer’s we are becoming increasingly used to and expectant of instant results is an obvious challenge for field service organisations but can remote services help bridge the gap? Manuel Grenacher, CEO, Coresystems discusses...

With the pervasiveness of the Internet of Things (IoT), everything from device performance to customer interactions has become faster and more connected. Devices that require maintenance and repair now operate on an accelerated timeline of immediately notifying the user when service is needed. Because of this, customers expect real-time responses, leaving little to no time for a field service technician to travel to the site, troubleshoot the issue and fix the device. Therefore, to maintain and improve customer satisfaction, technicians are exploring ways to provide the same level of onsite, but while remote.

The idea behind remote technicians stems from the technician’s ability to diagnose a problem, determine possible solutions, and lay out a plan for issue resolution - all before they take one step onto the worksite. In a perfect world, remote technicians essentially only have to leave their workstations once to perform tasks that require a high level of skill, or perhaps not at all for routine maintenance and repair. Naturally, this drastically cuts down the amount of travel cost and time and total project duration needed to solve an issue with a customer’s device, streamlining the entire service request from issue detection to resolution.

Field service technicians no longer need to blindly infer what is happening on the broken device based on descriptions from less experienced users, nor do they need to fumble through repair instructions over the phoneField service technicians no longer need to blindly infer what is happening on the broken device based on descriptions from less experienced users, nor do they need to fumble through repair instructions over the phone. Indeed, the remote technician takes full advantage of tools such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and even the IoT itself to deliver the same experience as a technician standing in front of the customer would.

So how does it work? It starts with putting the proper infrastructure in place to allow technicians to troubleshoot issues on devices and machines from afar. Taking issue detection as an example, remote technicians can use augmented reality to share a mobile phone screen with a customer for a visual walkthrough of the issue. From there, the remote technician can schedule an onsite appointment if needed and manage the parts orders needed for specific projects, ensuring all the necessary assets are in place well in advance.

To be fair, managing a workforce of remote technicians is no easy task. In order to optimize your field service operations, it is extremely beneficial to be able to automatically assign the most qualified and available technician for respective service requests, taking into account expertise, location, and availability. As a fail-safe, the onsite technicians should have easy access to online product specifications and other assets needed to complete service requests. Additionally, similar to how remote technicians use augmented reality to connect to the customer for issue detection, on-site technicians can connect to more experienced journeyman technicians back at headquarters to troubleshoot unforeseen issues. This creates a network of knowledge that will keep project duration to a minimum, improving efficiency for the technician while onsite.

The way in which field service technicians work has evolved and is continuing to do so. The next generation of technicians are prioritizing independence, autonomy, and flexibility, on top of foundational knowledge and customer service experience. As the IoT continues to grow, so will the need for remote technicians, and the field service industry assuredly has the infrastructure to maintain the high level of customer satisfaction that we strive for today.

What are your experiences experimenting with a more remote field service workforce? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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I was asked recently if my thinking has evolved since writing Beyond GREAT SERVICE, The Technician’s Role in Proactive Business Growth. The book is based on the premise that field service professionals add tremendous value when they use their experience and expertise to make recommendations that will help their customers to be better off.

As I reflect on the book, that view has not changed. In fact, it has been reinforced as I have worked with more and more companies across North America and in Europe and with their local offices around the world. I have seen how field professionals react favourably to this description of their role and how managers see the value of this approach. It squares the circle between service and sales.

Although there is nothing specific that I would change about the strategy described in the book, there are two things that I would add. Firstly, I would spend more time and provide more guidance on strategies to implement a “Beyond GREAT SERVICE” approach. Secondly, I would focus more attention on the service nature of the field service team’s proactive efforts.

 

"I have seen managers struggle to provide the ongoing focus necessary to achieve the type of cultural change needed to ensure that business development by field service professionals becomes an integral part of service delivery..."

 

I have seen managers struggle to provide the ongoing focus necessary to achieve the type of cultural change needed to ensure that business development by field service professionals becomes an integral part of service delivery. To achieve this requires systems, processes and most importantly, constant coaching and support. Not everyone on the team will be convinced of the service value of proactively making recommendations to customers, and many of those that do will be uncomfortable in those situations. Without the support structures and ongoing encouragement, even those field professionals with the best of intentions will gravitate back to how they have always done things in the past.

The reason that some managers struggle with the implementation of business promotion as a service is due to the very nature of the service business itself. The day-to-day immediacy of service pulls management away from the thoughtful, important but not urgent work that is needed to successfully engage technicians in proactive business development. Much of service is, by its very nature, reactive and that means much time is spent responding rather than initiating.

Although this is changing somewhat, there will always be a significant element of responding to unplanned emergencies that demand immediate attention and draws managers from the task of implementing a “Beyond GREAT SERVICE” approach. The irony in this is that, as progress is made toward implementing the “Beyond GREAT SERVICE” approach, the increasingly proactive efforts of the field team will reduce the number of, and resources required for, unplanned emergencies as many issues will be addressed before they become a problem. That means that the more progress managers make in implementing this approach, the more time they will have to support it – almost the opposite of what is needed.

It is also important that the Beyond GREAT SERVICE approach be viewed as an integral component of the service provided – as much a part of the service as troubleshooting, repairing and maintaining. Sure, you could argue that they are “selling” when they make a recommendation to the customer, but semantics aside, when the field team makes recommendations for the purpose of helping the customer achieve their goals they are really serving in its truest sense.

 

"Most service companies fail to achieve the results they desire when they engage their field service team in business development..."

 

The serving vs. selling perspective is a unique and critically important differentiator. From my experience, most service companies fail to achieve the results they desire when they engage their field service team in business development. In addition to the reason cited above, a contributing factor for these less than ideal outcomes is that managers don’t integrate these efforts as part of the service. Promotion of services is often treated as an “add-on” that many within the field team see as “optional”. Some even feel that promoting services is an unreasonable expectation by management.

If the field service professional’s efforts are part of the service, it is easier to get the field service team to buy-in. They can see a direct connection between what they are doing in promoting their services and the impact on the customer’s business. Customers see value in this too. When explained to them that the field service team is being asked to use their expertise to proactively identify steps that can help the customer achieve their business goals (as opposed to looking to increase revenues), they can see the benefit for their business.

So, to address these two issues, I would add this challenge for the reader of my book:

Assume for a moment that you will be adding a new service offering to your service portfolio. The new offering has the following characteristics:

• It is an add-on to existing services (does not replace)
• It’s a new concept – the customer needs to be educated on the value
• New knowledge and skills are required to implement effectively
• No new tools or test equipment needed
• It has the potential to be highly profitable – efficiency in delivery critical
• The service relies on another division to deliver a part of the service
• There is a 1 to 2 year head start over the competition

When implementing a service of this nature, what steps will you take to ensure that you successfully and profitably introduce this service?

As managers ponder this challenge, they will come up with a list of things to be done such as: (Note: This list is far from complete)

• Define the service so it can be understood internally and externally
• Identify the processes needed to support the initiative
• Take steps to get buy-in from supporting divisions and a seamless coordination between groups
• Provide training and coaching to achieve the behaviour change needed
• Create the messaging and strategy to promote to our customers etc.

The point of this challenge is that the service described in the challenge is the service of promoting services to help the customer to be better off and this contributes to management’s efforts in two ways.

Firstly, it gives them a better perspective of all of the moving parts of a successful strategy in a meaningful way that is familiar to them (they have implemented new services before). Secondly, when the initiative is recognized as a service, management will see that its implementation is not a “part-time job” that is pursued if there is time but rather an important service initiative that requires continuous focus to ensure its successful implementation.

By devoting more space in the book to helping management implement the strategy as a service, I think that Beyond GREAT SERVICE would become an even more valuable resource for those organizations that want to truly help their customers achieve their business goals. I have a feeling that a second edition is in the works.

 

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A recent survey has revealed that 88% of field engineers see no opportunity to progress in their careers.

This less than favourable statistic comes from specialist field engineering recruitment consultancy, Concept Resourcing’s latest Field Engineering Salary and Engagement Survey where they delved into average salaries across the industry as well as fluctuations and expectations in pay, employee happiness and ranked the most desirable perks and benefits.

Engineer’s reports of a lack of career progression were backed up by the fact that 81% of Concept’s respondents reported having more than 10 years’ experience in the industry, and yet 75% of them were still in the same role. Not only does this pose a problem for those who are feeling stagnant in their career, but it does very little to help draw the next generation of engineers into the sector, with progression seemingly curbed.

Between an ongoing battle with the STEM skills shortage and burgeoning concerns over an ageing workforce, some would say the field engineering industry has its work cut out when it comes to attracting new talent. When we look at how the sector has changed in recent years, from advancements in innovation - such as automation and augmented reality, to a natural increase in customer demand for instant resource in the digital age - it comes as no surprise that the sector is crying out for new talent.

Aside from attracting individuals into the industry, retention of existing skilled employees is equally as crucial. Particularly to facilitate knowledge transfer to new starters to ease the pressure on the ageing workforce. With that in mind, it comes as something of a surprise that the survey revealed that 44% of field engineering professionals are feeling undervalued at work.

 

Retaining your field service engineers

It’s easy to assume that field service organisations would be desperate to retain their existing workforce and would be bending over backwards for them as a result. This may well be the case, but if employers are concentrating their efforts in the wrong places – their engineers simply won’t reap the benefits.

Of course, salary is always going to be a big factor to employee happiness, but with a whopping 79% of field engineers stating that they were dissatisfied with their salaries, the industry may well have a problem on its hands.

 

"Just 9% of those who requested a pay rise were successful, and of those, 62% were still dissatisfied with their salaries, an indication that perhaps the salary increases weren’t significant enough..."

 

Just 9% of those who requested a pay rise were successful, and of those, 62% were still dissatisfied with their salaries, an indication that perhaps the salary increases weren’t significant enough.

A potential reason for this could be the commoditisation of traditional field engineering sectors and the skillsets of engineers becoming increasingly focused on replacement over repair, meaning salaries have been driven down.

It seems as though the sector as a whole is missing the mark when it comes to giving their workforce what it wants, not through lack of trying – but simply through not knowing what they truly value where non-financial benefits and rewards are concerned.

Thankfully for employers, it’s not all about money. Feeling valued at work can overshadow a less than desirable salary. However, it’s worth noting that it works both ways, 80% of those who said they didn’t feel valued at work were actively looking to leave the company within the next 2 years.

 

Making your workforce feel more valued

Whilst salary naturally came out as the most important factor when choosing a job, company culture-related factors such as job security, work-life balance and a good work environment all followed.

When asked which benefits made the most difference to their happiness at work, field engineers ranked having a generous annual leave package, access to a good pension plan, a company vehicle and fuel card as their top priorities.

We saw a direct link between employee happiness and training. While only 6% of respondents felt that they didn’t have the necessary skills for their role, the gesture of being supported with personal or professional development clearly had a positive impact. Of those who said they were ‘happy’ and ‘very happy’ at work, 94% had been on a training course in the last 12 months.

Dan Sholl, Concept Resourcing’s Business Development Director for the field engineering division had this to say, “The results of the salary survey have been really eye-opening, to say the least. It’s clear that the sector has some work to do when it comes to both employee retention and attracting new talent.”

“Not every organisation has the budget to be able to provide regular substantial pay increases, but there’s a lot that can be done to make field engineering employees feel valued and happy at work. In our experience as a field engineering specialist recruiter, we often advise our clients on the significant impact that things like regular training can have on engineers and their happiness. Evidently, it’s these additional benefits and perks that can make all the difference when it comes to bringing the next generation of field engineers into the sector.”

If you’re interested in learning about average salaries in field engineering, or if you’re working on your hiring strategy for the year and would like some extra insight, read the rest of Concept’s Field Engineering Salary and Engagement Survey here.

 

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Manuel Grenacher discusses why Automation is set to play a crucial part in the two key pillars of field service success, operational effectiveness and customer satisfaction...

As part of the fourth industrial revolution, manufacturing factories are undergoing digital transformations, and not just on the factory floor but also business-wide – specifically regarding automation.

Research firm Gartner defines intelligent automation services as “a variety of strategies, skills, tools, and techniques that service providers are using to remove the need for labour, and increase the predictability and reliability of services while reducing the cost of delivery,” and Gartner predicts that automation will reshape managed workplace services over the next few years, providing a higher customer experience at a deflated cost.

 

"More than 50% of job responsibilities of today’s global labour force can be automated by adapting contemporary technologies..."

 

Less than 5% of occupations are likely to be affected by full automation, thus curbing job dismissals – which are often cited as the main risk of the automation trend. Instead, industry experts are discussing the “partial automation potential” concept and estimate that more than 50% of job responsibilities of today’s global labour force can be automated by adapting contemporary technologies, amounting to over $15 trillion in wages.

In the field service management (FSM) industry, to keep up with customer demands, field service organisations are refining, expediting and automating service processes, using automated dispatch and scheduling software to adjust and balance resources and manage the growing number of jobs, technicians and customers.

Dispatchers work closely together with the system, leading the more face-front work and leaving the technical, tedious work to the automation-enabled software – and this results in the following benefits and outcomes.

 

Finding the Perfect Fit

With the help of automated dispatch and scheduling, service providers can review historical customer information at-a-glance and send out the best-fit technician with the proper skill set and tools, resulting in the quickest match and an excellent experience for all partners involved.

Having a technician on-the-job without the proper equipment and expertise can damage the relationship between the customer and technician, and can lead to many inconveniences when chasing down the potential solution. Field service organizations can deploy the automated system for both short-term projects, as well as long-cycle projects, which requires a complex calculation and organization of specific resources over an extended period.

 

"Automated dispatch and scheduling projects enable the best possible utilisation of all available resources, resulting in simplifying the dispatching process..."

 

Automated dispatch and scheduling projects enable the best possible utilisation of all available resources, resulting in simplifying the dispatching process, increasing first-time fix rate, and elevating efficiency and productivity (which translates directly into a sizable return on investments).

By providing relevant details to technicians in the field, while they are in the middle of scheduling future appointments and managing various projects, field service organisations will notice smoother and swifter operations.

 

Flexible Mobility and Real-time Results

Customer satisfaction extends far beyond the purchase of machines and devices, as the increasing shift towards a mobile-enabled, connected world has conditioned end-users to expect delivery of products and services in realtime.

People do not have time to wait around for a technician set to arrive sometime within an 8-hour time-frame; with the help of up-to-date, automated status reports via mobile devices (including phones, tablets and more), customers are supported as conveniently as possible.

An automated system also benefits the technicians, as they can receive real-time information on their schedules, directly to their mobile device. If a colleague is unable to perform a project or task, the automated software dispatches the adequate person to the assignment and eliminates the tasks of heading to the back office to get assignments or manually checking the best route to appointments.

Before automation, administrative staff were dependent on a labour-intensive process and inefficient combination of spreadsheets and geographic expertise of schedulers to get engineers where and when they needed to go.

Automated dispatching and scheduling gets the right people to the right place, on time, and with the parts they need – and enables organizations to transmit critical information much faster and more efficiently than before.

This leads to improved field service operations on a local, national and international scale, which results in the ultimate goal: an enriched customer experience.

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Manuel Grenacher is CEO, Coresystems

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ServiceMax from GE Digital, a leading provider of field service software, today announced a major new release of Predix ServiceMax Field Service Management (FSM), a next-generation field service offering that brings new ways of working to all professionals in service delivery. Recognized as one of the most comprehensive and visionary FSM solutions, the newest ServiceMax offering gives service technicians greater autonomy, empowers dispatchers with more robust decision-making tools, and helps companies better plan and execute complex service projects.

“By delivering innovative field service solutions, our customers are able to achieve higher service efficiency and a better experience for their customers – while remaining competitive in an increasingly crowded market,” said Scott Berg, CEO, ServiceMax from GE Digital. “Responding to evolving customer needs and executing on our long-standing commitment to service innovation and thought leadership, we are excited to introduce our next-generation field service solution.”

Leading the market in customer response, ServiceMax FSM 18.3 addresses three key pillars in next-generation field service work, including technician autonomy, dispatcher empowerment and complex work execution.

 

Granting Technicians Greater Autonomy

Traditionally, technicians receive guidance from a central dispatch in a linear and prescriptive manner. As the face to customers, field service engineers need the flexibility to make decisions that best serve customer needs. Giving technicians and contractors the ability to make autonomous decisions on a mobile device without depending on the central dispatch supports more confident and effective execution of work – ultimately helping them be more responsive to customer needs.

ServiceMax FSM 18.3 is the company’s fourth-generation mobile application and the culmination of its history and experience in empowering and enabling service technicians. Today’s service operations rely increasingly on combinations of third-party and on-staff service teams, requiring a higher grade of usability, easy adoption and a variety of mobile devices. This new release represents a consumer-style field service mobile app running on the device of their choice.

 

Empowering the Dispatcher

Additionally, service organizations have evolved the role of service dispatchers. Most do not plan to replace their dispatchers with automated scheduling algorithms – but they do want to free them from the mundane task of day-to-day scheduling to focus on complex, strategic decision making. To support this, ServiceMax FSM 18.3 gives dispatchers tools to be more effective – with software serving up recommendations at every step.

Where dispatchers previously relied on their experience and intuition about how to deploy technicians, this FSM offering delivers a new user experience for the dispatchers and planners called Service Board. Featuring an intuitive UI and significant added functionality over the existing Dispatch Console, the Service Board adds new features that support more efficient planning, scheduling and dispatching. This solution gives dispatchers the flexibility to deal with escalations or problems, focusing on more sophisticated work where human decision making is required.

 

Addressing Complex Work

Not all types of service jobs are the same; they range from short duration and low complexity, such as cable TV installations in the consumer world, too much more complex and sophisticated service calls, as in the manufacturing and energy space. Major projects – overhauls, equipment decommissioning, installations and upgrades – can be highly complex. Additionally, industries such as power and utilities, aviation, and oil and gas must follow strict regulatory requirements. As service organizations look to expand their service offerings, they must be able to effectively manage service jobs that span multiple days, require multiple technicians, and even work done in multiple shifts. ServiceMax FSM 18.3 offers a new way of solving these challenges.

The new FSM solution helps service organizations scale this complex work, giving companies the ability to define standard or complex shift plans. This includes jobs with multiple technician skill sets, management of multiple resources, and situations when technicians must work on a job for days rather than hours. Additionally, FSM 18.3 can incorporate data from predictive maintenance software, such as GE Digital’s Predix Asset Performance Management, giving companies greater understanding of an equipment condition for highly complex assets.

“It is no longer working to just focus on ‘what’s wrong’ when delivering service in the field. Smart service organizations are working to focus on what RIGHT looks like for the customer, delivering reliable uptime rather than just fast response and resolution times” says Vele Galovski, VP of Field Services Research for the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA). “To accomplish that, you need to really empower your employees with the right tools that help them get their jobs done. ServiceMax’s new capabilities capitalize on this trend, and it is great to see ServiceMax, now as part of GE, continue to focus on features that matter for our field service members.”

 

Availability

The new capabilities introduced in ServiceMax FSM 18.3 are currently available in beta. During this beta period, ServiceMax is working closely with select customers to refine use cases and the product experience, after which the features will become generally available in the first quarter of 2019. For more details about ServiceMax FSM 18.3, click here.

 

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Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News talks to Kevin Starr of ABB's Oil and Gas Division, to get his take on just how pivotal it is we all get on board with the digitalisation agenda…

Kevin Starr, Program Director, Advanced Digital Services, for ABB jokingly refers to himself as someone who is just getting started, having spent 31 years in the industry.

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

Yet, underneath all that evolution, there also remain fundamental goals in place that we mustn’t lose sight of either.

As Starr himself explains - across his varied career the core objective for ABB, regardless of the technology surrounding the discussion is always to allow their clients to “hit their value, production and quality requirements by providing them with solutions.”

 

"Regardless of the technology surrounding the discussion is always to allow their clients to “hit their value, production and quality requirements by providing them with solutions...”

 

However, Starr also absolutely sees a convergence in the various skill-sets he has honed across his career in the area and era of digitalisation we are all working within today.

Indeed, certainly within field service circles, when it comes to digitalisation Starr is to be regarded a leading subject matter expert – a fact that is attested to the fact he is a highly sought-after speaker at industry conferences as well being the host of a successful YouTube series and author on the topic.

“We definitely are in the industrial revolution 4.0,” Starr asserts with conviction when I spoke to him recently during whilst recording a forthcoming episode of The Field Service Podcast.

All well and good, but what exactly does this shift to the Industrial Revolution 4.0 actually mean in real terms for most companies, who perhaps are lacking the innovative streak ABB certainly have embedded at their core.

Whilst there are undoubted opportunities to be had, for many it means stepping into a brave new world of the unknown and for many, this can be a daunting proposition.

“We are definitely moving into an area where our customers may have some new concerns and fears. There are some misunderstandings that need clarification and there are a number of different issues relating to digital that they have to consider," Starr explains continuing, “so what we’ve tried to do is make this discussion feel more real for them, we’ve tried to make it concrete and actionable.”

 

"When clients hear things like Data Science, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and all the other tech jargon that is being thrown around, they can get nervous...“

 

When clients hear things like Data Science, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and all the other tech jargon that is being thrown around, they can get nervous.”

Additionally, the wave of technological innovation we are witnessing today is only part of the sea change of disruption that currently surrounds us.

“It is something of a perfect storm,” Starr agrees expanding on the topic.

“There is an ageing workforce, there is knowledge retiring, there are new people coming into the workforce who just aren’t ready to spend thirty years with the technology,” he adds.

Yet, it is exactly within these challenges that Starr sees big potential for innovation.

“We have here some opportunities to really change the game for our industrial clients and along with this is what is really an industrial explosion of automation.,” he explains.

“When I started off the controllers were on a wall, so the size of the service was aligned with the physical proximity of a wall. Now, you have dots on a screen. Where once you might have had thirty or forty devices, now you have three or four thousand.”

 

"What we’ve always done in the service space, doesn’t work today..."

 

This anecdote serves as a stark example of just how much service delivery has moved within just a matter of decades.  In terms of actual service delivery, automation, particularly in industrial sectors, has made the way work today almost unrecognisable from how things were done in the past.

This is something which needs to be fully understood and acknowledged for companies to be able to bring their business and operational processes in line with modern means of tackling service delivery.

“What we’ve always done in the service space, doesn’t work today,” Starr states bluntly.

“What this means is that there are a lot more failures, a lot more downtime and a lot more product instability. This leads to a lot more fear, uncertainty and doubt  - because if that phone rings and your client calls you and says my system is down - what do you do?  That is a terrifying call to get and it always has been, but with digital, we can solve all that.”

“In the Oil and Gas sector, for example, we have clients who are trying to remain competitive in an industry in which price changes sent a complete shockwave through the sector. Companies who used to have large corporate staff are shrinking, with reduced manned or unmanned solutions becoming more prevalent.”

“Yet, most solutions involve people working on a system, so we truly have a gap. We’ve got to keep the site running but we also have to make our production and our quality efficient - and of course first and foremost we have to make sure our people are safe.”

“To me, the digital arena is what will allow us to use devices to reduce this problem space.”

Of course, many of the challenges that Starr outlines are also prevalent in sectors well beyond the Oil and Gas industry and searching for solutions for those challenges within the digital realm is now well established as the correct path to follow.

Yet, one of the reasons perhaps Starr has proven to be such a popular speaker on this topic is his ability to blend the technical and the practical and to help those listening to visualise how the often vague concepts sitting under the umbrella of digitalization will manifest in real, pragmatic terms – something he demonstrated again when we spoke with a particularly neat and effective summary of how the implementation of such tools can really have a significant impact on service delivery.

“It’s kind of like a heads-up display in a car. When I have a problem, it advises me so I then know when to dispatch somebody and make sure they have the right tools at the right time,” he explains.

 

"When that happens, great things happen and you can actually push through and hit production, quality and cost to produce levels that have literally been unheard of..."

 

“When that happens, great things happen and you can actually push through and hit production, quality and cost to produce levels that have literally been unheard of.”

“That’s what keeps me just giddy with excitement,” he says before adding wryly “but if it was easy it would already be done.”

Here, of course, Starr has hit the nail firmly on the head with regards to the current dichotomy most service companies find themselves in.

Whilst it seems that digitalisation of service delivery offers us great opportunities they equally bring additional challenges. As with many things in life, it appears there is an ever-evolving arms race between these two. As one challenge is solved thus creating new opportunities, so a new challenge is born.

With this in mind, I was keen to see if Starr sees field service today as something that has been simplified by technology, or in particular as we consider the vast amount of data we are now generating, has it actually become further complicated?

“I was always one of ABB’s smart guys with a bag of tricks. If there was a problem I’d get a ticket and I’d go fix the site. But I was always able to do that because the problem space wasn’t as huge as it is today,” he replies.

“Today our guys have to worry about cyber attacks, IT Security, Back Ups, Disk Space, Uptime, Communication, Visualisation and much, much more – so it’s very difficult to have someone who is an expert in all of those areas - and we’ve got to quit trying,” Starr explains.

“What’s different now is that the components being produced, and ABB makes an awful lot of these, each has their own digital signatures. Basically, they have a built-in data stream associated with the asset.”

 

"If I go outside and see a vapour trail in the sky I know a jet went by – even if I don’t see the jet. That’s the same principle on every single connected asset – it will leave a digital signature behind it..."

 

“For example, if I go outside and see a vapour trail in the sky I know a jet went by – even if I don’t see the jet. That’s the same principle on every single connected asset – it will leave a digital signature behind it.

“I was fortunate to have been the fireman and put the fire out on the site, but I would think ‘If I had just been here yesterday and I could have seen this data trail I could have prevented the failure.’ So that’s where we started packaging that and we called those diagnostic solutions, benchmarks and fingerprints - where we would provide scope and insight.”

“We would go and harvest the data and fifteen or twenty years ago that was very difficult. We would go and hook up resistors and current line – but we learned the technique.”

But it was time well spent and a highly precipitous move that has placed ABB perfectly at home in today’s world where there is more data and storage than they’re ever has been.  And a reflection of their expertise in this area is that they are now getting more requests from customers for us to go and look at there data than ever before.

As the conversation begins to conclude Starr offered up one ore excellent anecdote that really helps visualise the importance of digital in service delivery today.

“I was driving along the road in Vietnam the other day when we came to a bridge across a river,” he begins.

 

"That’s what modern service is – you can either fish with a hook or fish with a net..."

 

“On the side of the bridge there were two men fishing with a line, but in the shallows, there was a man fishing with a net – and he was bringing in a far greater haul than those two guys with their lines.  I thought to myself, that’s what modern service is – you can either fish with a hook or fish with a net.”

“In our world of automation, you don’t need to physically go and touch every single asset, that is hurting people, putting them in harm's way. When there are digital components you can actually send out agents, pull that digital signature back, run data analytics and compare it to known failure rates, known performance and you can tell exactly where your systems are.”

“So you can actually know if your safe reliable and optimised and you can demonstrate it.”

If your organisation hasn’t done so already perhaps it’s time to start thinking about what your digital net should look like as well?

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Subscribe to The Field Service Podcast to be sure to hear the full interview with Starr by clicking here

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CSG the trusted partner to simplify the complexity of business transformation in the digital age now offers even more ways for Pay-TV and other service providers to proactively communicate in real-time with consumers about their service appointments.

CSG's Where's My Tech solution offers a real-time view of a service technician's arrival schedule.

As part of CSG’s overall philosophy to enable an exceptional, interactive experience between service providers and their customers anytime, anywhere, on any channel, CSG now offers a real-time option for consumers to follow the arrival progress of a service technician.

Today’s digitally-savvy consumers are conditioned to receive updates from the companies they do business with at every step of the customer experienceThe new solution, named Where’s My Tech, is part of CSG’s field service management solution, Workforce Express (WFX), which offers the ability to get the right technician, to the right job, at the right time and now, can show consumers exactly where their service technician is and when they will arrive at the job site.

Where’s My Tech offers consumers real-time information about the status of a service technician appointment, enables consumers to digitally follow the technician while they are on their way to the service location, and receive email or SMS messages with the estimated arrival time of their technician’s arrival.

“Today’s digitally-savvy consumers are conditioned to receive updates from the companies they do business with at every step of the customer experience,” said Tim McElligott, senior consulting analyst at Stratecast | Frost & Sullivan. “When those real-time updates don’t happen, the customer experience is tarnished which can potentially have a negative impact on customer satisfaction, and even a Net Promoter Score.”

The Where’s My Tech solution is the latest enhancement to WFX, in addition to real-time traffic, capabilities announced earlier this year.

“CSG’s communications management solutions offer an integrated approach for service providers to manage and more actively engage with their customer interactions throughout the customer lifecycle,” said Chad Dunavant, head of product management, CSG. “This solution is the latest step we have taken to help our clients deliver easy-to-use, connected experiences that instantly raise the consumer experience to a new level.”

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