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Sara Mueller, Field Service Portfolio Director, Program Development, Worldwide Business Research reflects on her research in building the program for this year’s Field Service USA conference and explores the growing connection between technology and customer experience...

Nurturing a customer-centric culture was a common 2017 priority expressed by service executives when I began researching the Field Service Fall program at the beginning of the year.

No matter what industry or how large the organisation was that I spoke to, no matter how much they were embracing digitization or mobile technologies, putting customers first was the common theme that weaved its way through the strategic vision of service organisations.

While this is a common theme, there are many different routes being taken to accomplish the goal of building a customer-centric culture. Each year service organisations are connecting more and more of their devices with the Internet of Things (IoT).

While IoT is being used to achieve greater operational efficiency and move from reactive to predictive service, service organisations are also exploring how they can use IoT data to build customer loyalty and competitive differentiation.

 

Most importantly perhaps is that IoT allows service organisations to monitor how customers use their products. They can tell when a machine is operating and whether or not certain features are being used properly or even at all.

This creates an opportunity for service organisations to step in and train their customer on better ways to use the equipment or how to take advantage of different capabilities that ensures they take full advantage of their product.

Technicians build rapport and are more likely to be viewed as the “trusted advisor,” what so many service organisations strive for. This also creates a doorway for discussing product or service upgrades depending on how the customer is using their product.

In order to nurture a culture that puts customers first, service organisations are shifting the conversations with their customers to be about buying results, rather than buying products.

With new business models and service contracts that allow customers to have options like only paying for up-time of equipment or discounts when equipment is not functioning properly, customers have more faith in what they are buying. It aligns the goals of the service organisation with that of their customers, and builds differentiation, customer loyalty, and even greater profitably when the right model and pricing is established.

In order to most efficiently serve customers in the field, many organisations are moving to a mixed-model field force: a mix of full-time and freelance or independent contractor employees. Service leaders are deciding which type of technician is best for remote locations or key accounts, for tier one calls or escalated issues. Once that balance has been established, service organisations are providing an appropriate level of transparency to both employees and freelancers to ensure service remains consistent no matter what type of technician shows up at the customer site. Proper freelance management systems and knowledge management tools are essential to support this shifting technician staffing model.

 

At the end of the day, in order to have a customer-centric culture, service organisations need to know what their customers think of them and what they are doing right and wrong. While customer satisfaction levels have long been an indicator of service organisation performance, many organisations are moving to embrace more strongly Net Promoter Score (NPS) programs.

What good are high customer satisfaction levels if your customers end up leaving out the back door?

Once an effective NPS or other standard metric program is in place, service leaders can take the knowledge gained to modify and evolve their customer offerings to line up with what their customers truly value.

Finally, perhaps the hottest buzz word used in field service today is the “uberizing” of service in order to put the customer first. Companies are continuing to monitor trailblazers like Amazon and Uber to put customer needs at the center of their operations. They are building or investing in telematics that can shorten the expected service delivery time window and offer features like a text message that lets the customer know when the technician is on his or her way or running late.

 

While this is a simple gesture, it’s been creating phenomenal results in customer satisfaction. Organisations are also creating processes and trainings that ensure employees have the authority and empowerment necessary to take the extra step to rectify a customer crisis that will result in raving fans.

As service organisations, customers have always been the reason for business. But by leveraging new technologies, committing to growth, and aligning business goals with that of their customers, service organisations will achieve the customer centricity goal driving their business this year.

 

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After a series of great workshop sessions on day 1 at Field Service USA the format across the next few days moves to a more traditional focus of presentations, panel discussions and case studies.

The agenda is jam-packed with a number of insightful sessions on all of the key challenges and trends within our industry, but Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News highlights his three key picks of the day's must-see sessions...

 

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Vision from the C-Suite

• When: 8.30 - 9.00
• Where: Desert Salon 8
• What's it all about: This fireside chat style interview with Frank Bibens, President, Global Services Vertiv aims to shed some light on the major initiaives of the C-Suite at Vertiv a company that has service as a top priority. With a focus on how service plays into competitive tactics through to macro-level business trends this session should present plenty of ideas to shape your future service and business strategy.

 

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Establishing the right technology to enable the wide use of digital services

• When: 10.40 to 11.00
• Where: Desert Salon 8
• What's it all about: Decisions on hardware, data structures, integrated services and services that will enable digitalization for customers while actually making your field service team more efficient are critical to industry leadership and even survival in some cases. Scott Day, EVP Product and Business Strategy Thyssenkrupp, will share how one of the most advanced companies in the field service arena have enabled their own digital services program

 

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Panel: Building a cohesive service parts logistics program that puts the right part in the right place at the right time

• When: 15:30 to 16.10
• Where: Springs Salon G
• What's it all about: Getting the right engineer to the right job at the right time has been a mantra for many a field service organisation for some time now but it's all a moot point if you cannot get them the parts they need to do the job. The fact that this panel session has five senior industry figures debating the topic adds testament that this is an important topic that has been somewhat overlooked for far too long. Panelists include: Stephen Abate, Service Director Americas, Edwards Vacuum, Blake Bolton, Director Global Logistics and Aftermarket Services, ViaSat, Steven Caldwell, VP Product Management PTC, Mike Ross, Diretor of Product Strategy, Baxter Planning Systems and Jorge Torres Harware Services Director, Global Strategic Programs. Global Services Operations, Ericsson.

 

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Ahead of giving a presentation on this topic at Field Service USA, Scott E. Day, Executive Vice President, Thyssenkrupp Elevator Corporation, gives us his insight on taking the right path on the journey to embracing digital services...

When we embark on a mission to digitalize our business processes, it’s easy to just jump in and assume that if we can get it done we will be more efficient and make more money.

While digitizing is a smart move – it is important to think about: data structure, data cost, hardware and access carefully.

The goal is to make sure your strategy is complete and ensure your customers need your services above all else. So, before jumping in to keep up with competitors, realise that data is not the only consideration.

What’s Your Business Model?

It’s important to know what your business model is and what you’re trying to accomplish with an Internet of Things (IoT) solution.

You might be seeking efficiencies, like those found by thyssenkrupp via our MAX solution (more on that later). Or you might have other ideas like Splunk’s CEO, Godfrey Sullivan did - using data to determine the likelihood of lease renewals and the health of tenant’s businesses based on the frequency of the elevator stops at each tenant’s floors.

Whatever your business model and reason for getting into IoT, this is the leading decision that drives the remaining components of the infrastructure you use.

Data

So let’s start with data. What data will your technicians consume and what data will your customers want? Many companies want all the data, which makes it easier to do analytics down the road.

However, if you are sending raw data from hundreds of thousands of complex machines, you’d better have deep pockets.

If this level of data is needed, data compression algorithms are widely available and should be considered critical in setting up schemas to get the data to the cloud and to the consumers.

Connectivity

If your project requires attaching hardware to equipment you service, it’s important to understand the full costs and trade-offs between a one-time hardware expenditure and long-term data costs.

Depending on the industry, choosing low-cost solutions like LoRa, a long range low power wireless platform, are great for low consumption applications. This is not the case for elevators, they require cellular connectivity because multiple processors are connected within a single unit each one sending massive amounts of data.

Cellular

If using cellular, consider if your customers, your call centres or your technicians will need realtime access to the state of the machine to find a balance between cost and performance. If you are sending massive amounts of data, compare the costs of 3G versus 4G/LTE services versus the time to transmit and the coverage of those technologies.

Keep in mind that 3G may appear to be cheaper, but it won’t be long before 4G/LTE services become the new norm and the piece of hardware you installed may need to be replaced or upgraded if you’ve rolled out with lower bandwidth and slower technology.

Make vs. Buy

When thinking about hardware beyond telecom, it’s important to weigh time to market against core competency.

Are you an engineering company that specialises in building microprocessor and telecom devices? And can they communicate serially and temporarily store data until the right condition is met to send it?

If not, it might be best to look for off-the-shelf hardware that will allow you to get the total solution adding value to the business and customers sooner.

Cloud Solutions and Predictive Analytics

For thyssenkrupp, this is the next frontier. We are moving our business into a more predictive, condition-based maintenance model.

This will allow our technicians to work on the right issues during every single visit to a customer’s location. This is where efficiency and customer value meet.

Fixing it right the first time, or using lifecycle models to predict and replace parts before they fail are key to a customer base that is looking for guaranteed up time and always-on performance.

Microsoft Azure, GE Predix, and IBM Watson are to name a few, and each have their niche in Industry 4.0.

Digitization to Digitalization

When planning the business benefits for IoT solutions, transparency of information is where digitization meets digitalization. As in the Splunk example, can you monetise the data?

Does making it more accessible to make your field workforce make them more efficient?

Many businesses have begun providing portals full of information to their customers. Our experience has been that many times this data sharing is overwhelming for customers who don’t necessarily have the time to read it.

To demonstrate value and monetise the solution, it’s got to be the data or services that the customer wants and will spend money for.

At thyssenkrupp, our vision is to provide technicians with access to a wide variety of information specific to the building which will help them service the elevator more effectively in turn improving the elevator experience for tenants.

This is possible, via access to live data from the elevator controller (brain) and to schematics and manuals.

At the same time, destination dispatch kiosks at every floor allow customers to not only select their desired floor, but to also see streaming services displaying things like weather, stock market and news feeds. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and NFC (Near Field Communication), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth applications make it easier to recognise people so the elevator system can place the call automatically for them.

So, what seemed like a simple case of connecting a machine to a cloud and making your technicians more efficient is really a more sustaining decision that requires a well thought out strategy.

Digitizing your current processes is the simple part, and many are doing it. The strategy needs to include how to turn digitization into digitalization through the right infrastructure.

 

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Ahead of this years Field Service USA event in Palm Springs, The team at WBR have put together this great infographic which takes a look at some of the key areas that will be under the lens this year...

 

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Want to know more? There is also a more detailed white paper that accompanies this infographic which you can access by clicking here (note: external link with registration required) 

 

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Thinking of attending Field Service USA this year? Field Service News subscribers are entitled to a 25% discount to this and many other events across the USA, Europe and the Middle East!

Field service professionals can subscribe now for free here and then simply email the subscriber benefits team on subscriber.benefits@fieldservicenews.com to get your relevant discount codes!

 

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Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief talks exclusively to Jonathan Massoud, Divisional Director, Field Service, WBR about the key topics and discussions that took place at Field Service Medical held at Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego.

We also take a sneak peak at what to expect at this year's Field Service USA event being held in Palm Springs this April

 

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Thinking of attending Field Service USA this year? Field Service News subscribers are entitled to a 25% discount! 

Field service professionals can subscribe now for free here and then simply email the subscriber benefits team on subscriber.benefits@fieldservicenews.com to get your discount code!

 

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Who are the most influential people in the global field service sector that you need to pay attention to in 2017?

The Field Service News #FSN20 is our list of the individuals we believe will be key influencers in our industry across the next twelve months. Those included in the list have been selected by our own panel of industry insiders, who were given the simple criteria of identifying people who will have a significant impact on field service thinking.

However, more than just an annual list of 20 individuals the #FSN20 has grown since it’s launch to become a true celebration of excellence and innovation within our industry.

There are some familiar names and some new faces on this years list and as always we don’t expect everyone to agree with our selection - at it’s heart the #FSN20 was conceived as a tool to get everyone in our industry thinking about who it is that they have come across in the global field service sector that has made them think, who has made them question the accepted paradigms, who has inspired them to do just one little thing more in their own day to day role.

The #FSN20 is not just about the list our panel has put together. It is about fostering discussion that celebrates the unsung heroes of the field service sector. So look out for the online version of this list as well to take part in the debate.

But for now, ladies and gentleman and without further a do, in no particular order, we are pleased to introduce the #FSN20 of 2017...

Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director - Service Management

Brewer is a new entry to the #FSN20 having recently moved to IFS from PTC.

The message from the IFS hierarchy was loud and clear when they held their last World Conference in Gothenburg towards the end of last year. Field Service was a key priority moving forward and their new owners EQT had every intention of pushing the Swedish company to keep doing what has made them a well respected brand within manufacturing and field service management circles - but do it bigger, better and to get to there faster.

Having taken the reigns of the service management division globally Brewer is set to figure prominently in the industry across the next twelve months.

 

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Professor Tim Baines, Group Director of the Aston Centre for Servitization Research and Practice

Baines retains his place on this years list and is perhaps he one person that has appeared multiple times on the list whose entry becomes even more deserved each year.

Baines has been at the centre of the servitization movement for as long as anyone and although many of his peers such as Neely and Lightfoot should share equal status for being the Godfathers of Servitization, it is fair to say that Baines’ work as a leading proponent of the servitization movement is as unparalleled as it is inexhaustible. The Aston Spring Servitization Conference which is the show-piece of the Aston Centre for Research and Practice continues to grow in terms of both audience and importance each year and it’s location in Lucerne, Switzerland this year is a testament to it’s growing status on the international industrial map. Whilst Baines’ would humbly point to the great team he has working with him at Aston, his role in the global shift towards servitization simply cannot be overlooked.

 

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Bill Pollock, President and Principal Consultant, Strategies for GrowthSM

Another that has been ever present on the #FSN20 since it’s inception and someone who is likely to remain on the list until the day comes where he retires, which given Pollock’s passion for the industry and seemingly eternal youth may won’t be any time soon!

Pollock is not only still a key commentator and analyst within our sector whose papers and features are not only widely read but also hugely respected, but he has been a mentor for a number of key figures within the global field service industry, including a number of other #FSN20 members, and also Field Service News’ own highly respected Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland.

However, Pollock’s inclusion on the #FSN20 isn’t just based on his past merits, his organisation Strategies for GrowthSM continues to provide some of the most detailed research and insightful analysis for the field service sector that is essential reading for any field service executives that wish to stay in touch with what is driving our industry forward.

 

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Thomas Igou, Editorial Director, Copperberg

Igou has been integral to Copperberg’s continued success and growth in the European field service conference circuit, In fact with five industry focussed events now running across the continent that should be of interest to senior field service and aftermarket executives, Copperberg are firmly established central pillar within the European field service community, and Igou sits proudly at the heart of that. In his role as Editorial Director, Igou is responsible for making sure the key topics in the industry are raised and the leading thinkers within our space are given a voice.

A key influencer within our industry.

 

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Mark Holleran, COO, Xplore Technologies

Under Holleran’s leadership Xplore Technologies acquired Motion Computing and became the 2nd largest manufacturer of rugged tablets in the world.

Holleran is a man who not only truly understands the different sectors his clients operate in but also who truly appreciates the importance of understanding his customers’ work-flows and therefore their technological needs.

A perfect case in point being the inclusion of a HDMI in on their XSLATE D10 rugged tablet, which makes it a perfect device for Telco and Pay TV engineers needing to test signals - which is exactly why it is there.

We don’t expect anything other than rugged tablets to be coming out of Xplore, but we do expect them to keep delivering best-in-class products in this form factor. As Holleran says “that’s what we do and we are the worlds best at it.

 

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Dr John Erkoyuncu, Through-life Engineering Services Institute, Cranfield University

Erkoyuncu takes over from Professor Howard Lightfoot as a representative of Cranfield University in the #FSN20 this year, however it isn’t just a straight like for like swap. Whilst the two worked together at the Through Life Services Institute, Erkoyuncu’s place on this year list is based primarily around the work he is doing in both industrial maintenance simulation and also augmented reality, and as such we believe he will be a key commentator and influencer on our sector in the years to come.

 

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Jonathan Massoud, Divisional Director & Market Analyst Field Service, WBR

Massoud’s role as Divisional Director at WBR puts him in control of a number of the industry’s key events including Field Service USA which is the jewel in the crown as the key point in the USA field service calender.

In addition to Field Service USA, WBR also run a number of important industry focussed events including Field Service Medical and Field Service Europe and in his role as Divisional Director Massoud is directly involved with each of the events and responsible for delivering industry leading content to keep field service professionals up to date with the key trends with in the industry. Massoud is also responsible for overseeing WBR’s research and a respected analyst within the sector

 

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Sumair Dutta, Customer Satisfaction Officer, The Service Council

Chief Customer Officer for The Service Council™ Dutta is responsible for new member acquisition, member engagement, community expansion, as well as the development and expansion of TSC’s Smarter Services oriented research agenda and portfolio.

He is also heavily involved in The Service Council’s ability to provide service executives the ability to benchmark their operations and also provide guided insight to improve service organisation performance through dedicated research programs. Dutta also plays a key role in building out TSC’s community platform focused on becoming the single source of information and networking for service executives globally and is a prolific author on the matter of field service.

 

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Click here to see page two of the 2017 #FSN20

 

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In his leader for issue 12 of Field Service News, Editor-in-Chief Kris Oldland discusses the number of field service solution providers companies flourishing in an industry that is going through seismic change and evolution... 

 

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Click here to download a digital version of Field Service News issue 12 now

 

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As the field service conference season enters full swing there have been plenty of solution providers banging the drum of late...

Indeed, the list of field service solution providers at Field Service USA held in Palm Springs a month ago was a certifiable who’s who of the industry, and alongside what was a truly fantastic three days of education, there were a number of big announcements from some of the industry’s key players.

ClickSoftware announced a new solution that takes advantage of some pretty slick artificial intelligence algorithms, Trimble Field Service Management introduced an entire new end-to-end FSM suite called Pulse whilst ServiceMax announced a very interesting tool called Service Performance Metrics that brings together analytics and best-practices in a highly innovative solution.

Then there were the new kids on the block such as Help Lightning, whose ‘mobile merged reality’ solution we’ve championed in Field Service News previously as a great use of an emerging technology that could have a truly disruptive impact on the industry.

Another honourable mention should also go to Co-Tap whose collaboration tool is perfectly set to help empower knowledge sharing and intra-engineer collaboration, a perfect tool for the emerging millennial workforce.

Not to be out done by their software counterparts, there has been plenty of innovation coming from the hardware side of the industry of late as well.

Getac have announced the launch of the next-gen S400, a fully rugged laptop that has the footprint of a regular business notebook, whilst the Toughbook 20 (which Field Service News first reported as being in development back in March last year) is the world’s first fully rugged detachable and has been picking up some very positive comments since it became available at the beginning of the year.

Another impressive looking piece of kit is Gen2Wave’s RP1600 which I got my hands on this month. The RP1600 sits in the relative embryonic niche between rugged smartphone and handheld computer - a form factor that I can certainly see evolving rapidly. You can find my review of the RP1600 on page 36.

 

And if new technology launches are the drums being banged, then it is also important to note that there have been a number of new band leaders coming to the fore lately too.

Perhaps the highest profile of these is the new CEO at industry stalwarts ClickSoftware. Following the sale of the company to Californian private equity firm Francisco Partners, Tom Heiser has been appointed and in his own words one of his first tasks is to start ‘banging the drum’ a bit more about the innovations his R&D team are developing.

Another new CEO on the block is Chris Proctor of OneServe who has had a meteoric rise through the Exeter based company within the last year. Proctor also sees the need to raise the bar in terms of shouting about the Exeter based companies successes, and is not afraid to call out his competitors (as he did back in Field Service News back in November last year).

In this issue we’ve exclusive interviews with both Proctor (page 18) and Heiser (page 40) as well as another new face to field service Rei Kasai who recently joined ServiceMax from SAP and spoke to us about what exactly Service Performance Metrics means (page 32).

Of course, we can’t talk about new developments from solution providers with out mentioning Microsoft who with their purchase of FieldOne and it’s subsequent recent re-brand to Field Service have arrived firmly back within the field service sector with all the swagger of the Rolling Stones announcing a new world tour.

Like the Rolling Stones, Microsoft having been around seemingly forever, yet they still have it in them to mix it with the very best. By incorporating FieldOne into their wider Dynamics platform, the software giant have put together a very attractive solution and I spoke to Carsten Groth about Microsoft’s plans for Field Service which you can read on page 50.

With so much development and innovation in the sector it is truly an exciting time, and such fierce competition amongst field service solution providers is not only indicative of the growing importance of service within industry, but also can only be a good thing for practitioners when it comes to finding the right solution for them.

Bang on.

 

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Click here to download a digital version of Field Service News issue 12 now

 

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