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The potential utilisation of Autonomous Vehicles within the field service has been discussed for some time so forward-looking field service organisations may be keen to see the latest developments in this emerging technology have made public use of driverless cars a reality...

Earlier this month, Aptiv PLC, a global technology leader in mobility, announced the launch of a fleet of 30 autonomous vehicles in Las Vegas on the Lyft network.

A product of Aptiv’s Mobility and Services group, these vehicles will operate on Aptiv’s fully-integrated autonomous driving platform and be made available to the public in partnership with Lyft. On an opt-in basis, passengers will have the ability to hail a self-driving vehicle equipped with Aptiv technology to and from high-demand locations.

This partnership is a multiyear agreement between the two companies and a clear step toward generating revenue for Aptiv’s autonomous driving business. Both companies will leverage Aptiv’s connected services capabilities and Lyft’s ride-hailing experience to provide valuable insights on self-driving fleet operations and management.

“With Aptiv’s autonomous driving technology deployed throughout Las Vegas and broadly accessible through the Lyft app, a wide range of consumers will be able to share the experience of autonomous vehicles in a complex urban environment,” said Kevin Clark, Aptiv president and chief executive officer. “More importantly, the resulting knowledge and data will allow us to further refine our autonomous driving capabilities and strengthen our portfolio of industry-leading active safety solutions.”

The combination of Aptiv’s autonomous driving technology and Lyft’s ride-hailing app is the expansion of a successful partnership that launched in Las Vegas during CES 2018. That initial pilot provided more than 400 self-driving rides to the public and earned an average customer rating of 4.99 out of five stars. Like the CES program, vehicles will be operated by highly-trained safety drivers.

Aptiv, built on decades of experience in automotive performance, has a strong foundation in delivering safe technologies. The company prioritizes and meets high-level functional safety requirements in both its software and hardware validation.

Aptiv autonomous vehicles on the Lyft network have been available to the general public in Las Vegas starting May 3.

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It’s been several years since the official end of the Great Recession and we finally see organizations beginning to switch from a cautionary mindset to one of business expansion. However, business and revenue expansion initiatives need to be built on an infrastructure of growth, an area where organizations haven’t invested significantly in the previous 5-10 years. The desire for growth needs to be matched with investments in knowledge, technology, and innovation.

Sumair Dutta, Chief Customer Officer, Service Council explains why he anticipates that the next twelve months will be a period when service leaders begin to transition into new revenue models.

The Voice of the Service Leader:

In The Service Council’s annual trends survey of 2017, service leaders indicated that their top initiatives were focused on the improvement of customer management, the enhancement of service operations with the aid of business data, and an expansion of knowledge management across the enterprise.

In discussions with service leaders, it seemed like most were looking to get closer to their customers via better voice of the customer and listening initiatives to truly understand what these customers valued. In several industries, we also noted that organizations were balancing the demands and needs of various customers within an organization.

2018 initiatives are similar to those planned for 2017 and we don’t see a major deviation for service leaders. The push is to continue to drive operational efficiencies and business capacity with the aid of data, information, and technology. In parallel, organizations are looking to continue to ramp up their customer experience initiatives. As these initiatives get more mature and move from the listening phase to the customer understanding phase, organizations are hoping to use customer insight and data to support revenue generation efforts.

In discussions with service leaders, it seemed like most were looking to get closer to their customers via better voice of the customer and listening initiatives to truly understand what these customers valued.Voice of the customer efforts have been popular for several years and were championed by those in business to consumer industries.

In serving a larger number of customers and customer transactions, it was essential for these organizations to get a pulse of customer sentiment tied to service transactions and business relationships. The effort from these organizations was to improve operations to support better loyalty and retention.

Some would argue that the intent of these organizations is now shifting to ensuring a greater use of purchased product and service features, akin to the customer success model.

In enterprises that work directly with other businesses, the volume of transactions and interactions might not be as large; nevertheless, these interactions can have a high degree of value or impact attached to them. Historically, organizations were happy to capture feedback from their customers, but customer listening wasn’t a prioritized activity.

That has changed; as over the last three years, we have seen more organizations invest in voice of the customer and customer surveying programs.

More so, service leaders have also sought after resources to map customer journeys and identify key pain points in the service delivery ecosystem.

These customer experience activities have led to a handful of initiatives that strive to assuage frustrated customers, increase visibility into the service process, and reduce the effort required to access the service organization.

We now believe that organizations are fairly well equipped to deal with direct customer feedback but now need to dive deeper to truly unearth customer value.

Deciphering value requires a deeper look at customer feedback. Customer complaints and outreach are typically a channel for customers to share their expressed wishes. Answering expressed needs and wishes is essential to maintaining customer satisfaction, but addressing unexpressed needs is the key to differentiation.

This requires the ability for service teams to dig deeper into the reasons for a customer contact and what that specific customer might be looking to accomplish with the delivered information.

Addressing constraint:

The delivery of improved experiences must occur in a constraint heavy environment. The biggest constraint faced by organizations is the capacity of the service workforce.

This capacity isn’t solely tied to the quantity of service tasks that must be met, but in the quality of service interactions that must be supported by service personnel. In organizations with field service groups, there is a major focus on replacing retiring service workers and in retaining and replicating their knowledge for future generations.

Several industries are having major issues tapping into the next generation of service workers. Yet service requests continue and customers require a higher level of service.

Technology might seem like the best answer to addressing capacity issues, but the real solution comes from a better understanding of available service data. This explains why service leaders are looking at their major sources of data to identify:

• Inefficient service delivery processes
• Opportunities for automation and elimination of manual intervention
• Opportunities for enhancement of service worker output and coverage

The data that is available at the service leader’s fingertips can come from multiple sources. It may come direct from the product being serviced, and this mode of data communication continues to gain traction. Yet reliable data is already available from:

• Customer requests, complaints, and claims
• Point-of-service systems tracking work completion and resources required

Once operational improvement opportunities are identified, it makes sense to inject technology solutions to address these opportunities.

For instance, portals can be created to offer customers an easier path to service information or to the creation of a service request as compared to a traditional 1-800 call queue.

Routing technology can be used to directly connect customers to higher-level technical support. Video solutions can allow for assisted service resolution or improved diagnosis prior to dispatch. And just-in-time content can be sent to technicians to ensure that their service visits are successful.

We would recommend that service leaders also analyze and review data tied to the customer experience as much as they use data to prioritize operational improvements.We would recommend that service leaders also analyze and review data tied to the customer experience as much as they use data to prioritize operational improvements.

If customers indicate that the ease of access to service personnel is a priority for them, or that other areas in the service delivery ecosystem need improvement, then these could help service leaders rank needed changes.

The growth plan:

Operational and customer-focused initiatives are being paired with those that focus on business and service revenue. In discussions around service’s impact on the business, TSC has previously highlighted two revenue buckets that are directly enhanced by service.

• Service-Impacted Revenue – Revenue generated as a result of positive customer satisfaction, typically tied to up-sells, cross-sells, renewals, new purchases, and referrals.
• Service Revenue – Revenue generated from the sale of service products such as service parts, time & material work, or service agreements.

In pursuing growth in 2018, service leaders continue to support the first bucket of revenue typically driven by other parts of the organization but are taking aim at enhancing their overall service revenue contribution.

This expansion is typically supported in two ways:

1. Understanding customer use of current service products
2. Uncovering appetite for new service products

For those organizations with service agreements in place, it’s essential to understand which customers are covered by these agreements and which ones are coming up for renewal. Better visibility into coverage and renewal opportunities can uncover millions in revenue opportunities.

Once visibility is established, it is essential to identify why customers chose to stay away from service agreements or other products. This might uncover awareness or sales opportunities for the service enterprise.

In addition to actual coverage and renewal, service organizations must understand how customers are utilizing products and services. Awareness of customer adoption and usage will allow for improved account management opportunities. It might also yield ideas for net new services that can be valuable to customers.

Summary/Conclusion: the need for service innovation

While organizations are navigating what it means to be a digital business, they are also looking to new collaboration models with their customers to ensure longer and more profitable relationships.

For organizations to be more innovative in service, an internal transformation needs to occur around business leadership, around business measurement, and around the technology in place to support a new service business.In innovation-focused research conducted by The Service Council in 2017, less than one-half of organizations highlighted that their service businesses received as much focus on innovation, as did the other parts of the business.

For organizations to be more innovative in service, an internal transformation needs to occur around business leadership, around business measurement, and around the technology in place to support a new service business.

Service leaders must develop and fuel a culture that welcomes and accepts new ways of doing business, even at the cost of cannibalizing existing revenue streams. The promise of innovation is ripe at service organizations; it’s now time for service leaders to execute on this promise.

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In this latest of his Momentum Case Studies, Jan van Veen, co-founder of moreMomentum, interviews proven leaders across the globe who are successfully implementing the 4 Winning Habits to lead innovative, energised and engaged teams.

Here the case study examines a global leader serving the mining and oil & gas industries. Much of their recent success has come because they take services very seriously, being seen as a knowledge partner to help their customers improve operational efficiency, reduce risks and increase profitability.

The challenges faced

The company operates in traditionally slow-moving industries with large incumbent players and has become a leader by creating a strong service business which now generates a significant portion of total revenues, deepens customer relationships and creates resilience during economic downturns.

However, it has now spotted that a potentially significant disruptive threat could emerge from ‘big data’ and data analytics technologies, enabling new types of services. In the past, they would have considered taking five years to develop new equipment to be fast for the industry, but now understands that when it comes to future services, the speed of innovation needs to be higher.

Senior management is very aware that customers will move away if they see a better way of doing things, so the company must adapt if it is to stay a market leader.

The Strategy

The company has entered a period of change. To meet the disruptive threat ahead it must be visionary: to redesign itself and its culture so it can move much faster to keep ahead, enthusiastically embracing digital technologies with a focus on the end-to-end customer experience. In fact, it has to re-imagine its relationship with its customers so that rather than selling products, it provides ways to help its customers improve their operational processes and even their business models.

The company has demonstrated success from the 4 Winning Habits for Momentum so far, but now they need to take it to another level. Here we will show how they are using each of the 4 Winning Habits in the implementation of its strategy, creating Momentum for long-term sustainable success.

Direction – the common cause that everyone can get behind

The company management has recognised that, at a time of change, a compelling vision describing their role to help customers be more profitable is important to pull everyone together in the same direction. It is being spread throughout the company using both traditional townhall meetings, the company intranet as well as new digital social sharing methods such as Salesforce, Chatter and Yammer.

It helps operational messages fit into context if there is a beacon for people to move towards if there is a vision of what the company will look like in five yearVP of Service Marketing: “It helps operational messages fit into context if there is a beacon for people to move towards if there is a vision of what the company will look like in five years, what the industry will be like, what our company will be like. Otherwise, you have isolated initiatives”.

To push the new company direction, the company has been busy hiring a new CEO, CMO and CDO (Chief Digital Officer), all with experience in driving innovation. The Board understands the need for change, but the company can be a supertanker which takes time to turn. However, it is also aware that the competitive landscape can change quite quickly.

Dialogue – open discussion at and between all levels to encourage new ideas

Digital initiatives are at the centre of this company’s reinvention, so senior managers are heavily involved in steering new ideas, to get behind them and also to prevent them from breaking current business streams.

Across the company, at least 75% of targets and incentives are collective, leading to limited silo thinking between teams since they’re all in the same boat. Where there is friction, it’s usually because goals have been set too narrowly and issues fall between the silos. As a result, there is much less politics than might be expected in a large company and a higher level of transparency on performance.

This all helps create a culture of trust with less finger pointing and blame.

VP of Service Marketing: “Rather than looking for blame, people look at how to fix issues and learn from mistakes. It works well due to open dialogue. People don’t feel threatened and are not so eager to hide problems”.

Decision-making – local decision-making empowerment

The company has always had a decentralised structure. Different markets are quite autonomous and allowed to make their own local sales decisions, choosing which sales and marketing initiatives in which to participate based on market needs. This has been a successful approach so far, but staff at all levels and across the business will need to now be included in the decision making processes if the company is to continue adapting at a fast enough pace.

Discovery – Looking for new trends, opportunities and threats (internal and external)

The newly established Digital Office is a powerhouse of new ideas to add new technology to client relationships, including tools such as the Internet of Things devices and data analytics. It has been set up to operate somewhat separately from the mainstream company in order to be free from ‘business as usual’ thinking.

Companies, middle managers actually, are often quick to kill new products they see as a threat to the status quo and that’s why it’s good to have a Chief Digital Officer, tasked to create change and disruptionVP of Service Marketing: “Companies, middle managers actually, are often quick to kill new products they see as a threat to the status quo and that’s why it’s good to have a CDO, tasked to create change and disruption. We might all be comfortable with how things are today and not want to change it but I’m damn sure there’s someone out there who wants to kill our business model, and will be aided and abetted by our customers if they see a better way of doing things”.

The company has even started trying new approaches to R&D, such as hackathons.

VP of Service Marketing: “When I first heard of hackathons I have to admit I was sceptical, but from what I’ve seen they actually allow people to look at problems in new ways and get people involved who would never normally be involved, and maybe redesign the way of doing things. And for big companies, that’s what we have to do, because our competitors don’t worry about the fact we have an established base and products, they’re actually thinking ‘How can I change the industry to make money? They don’t care if it destroys our business’”.

The company has also started involving customers in its processes, for example with surveys. They keep the company honest about its achievements, drive change and allow them to spot systemic issues. The voice of the customer can be very powerful.

Next Steps:

Change is an ongoing process at this manufacturing company, but they recognise the need to accelerate the pace of change to a new level and then make it ‘business as usual’ – a revolution in the mining sector!

The 4 Winning Habits for Momentum will be key. They are working on a clearer picture of the future state of the company, to give stronger Direction to the business units and local staff for local Decisionmaking.

Dialogue with staff will improve, so personal objectives will be better aligned to the strategy and not be so focussed on purely financial targets, but also learning, collaboration and Discovery of new opportunities. If they can do all this, then they will truly be creating a revolution in mining.

Outcomes

The huge growth in the service business at the company has brought enormous benefits for their customers, made the company a trusted ‘knowledge partner’ and expertly positioned them to forge ahead into digital transformation.

People buy from them now because of the advice they give and their approach to improving their customers’ businesses. For instance, mining equipment runs 24/7/365 and downtime can cost many €100,000s per day so, they have redesigned parts, consumables and field services to reduce the time it takes to change them, so reducing costs for their customers.

Energy efficiency has been another focus, as has the charging model – customers pay for service contracts by the ton, so they know their costs in advance. These changes epitomise the innovations that the company has achieved, and there are many more on the way.

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Noventum and the Service Science Factory have been working together to help establish a working framework for service organisations seeking to harness the power of the IoT. Damien Nunes, Dr. Dominik Mahr from the Service Science Factory and Rosanne Gresnigt, Noventum introduce some of the key concepts that have underpinned their work...

Recent advances in technology put Internet-of-things (IoT)-innovation on top of the management agenda across industries. IoT innovation is predicted to increase economic value by $11.1 trillion in 2025 (McKinsey 2015).

The Service Science Factory and Noventum collaborated to showcase the implementation of IoT in organisations.

What is the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and why is it relevant?

Over the past few years, computer technology has increasingly become a commodity as it has become cheaper, faster, more reliable, more efficient, smarter, smaller, portable and more connected.

It has given the opportunity to add new capabilities to the things (products and machines) that make up our lives. Consumer-focused examples include Philips Hue lights and the Nest Thermostat that knows via your smartphone when you have arrived home and automatically turns on your lights and heating.

But this is only a small part of the opportunities that IoT can bring.

The basis of all IoT innovations are the 6 principles listed in the graphic below. The power of IoT is to combine them in such a way that they provide new services and capabilities for your customers and organisation.

How can your organisation take advantage of IoT?

Top management often delegates the development of (IoT) innovation to middle and lower management. However, new ideas frequently face scepticism and even opposition across the firm. An example of this is the belief that IoT innovation often disrupts work practices as well as current product and service portfolios, thereby cannibalising existing revenues.

More so, some employees become worried about their jobs, and can even block innovations.

Fresh ideas, awareness of opportunities and positive attitudes across the organisation are what create the breeding ground for transformative innovation. This requires a user-centred, employee participative, explorative, iterative and routed approach like Service Design Thinking.

1. Set business focus: To leverage IoT opportunities, top management not only need to commit to drive IoT innovation but also clearly determine the strategic goals such as lowering cost, creating customer delight, building the brand or driving profits.
2. Introduce IoT Capabilities & Design Thinking: Before embarking further on this explorative journey it is important to recruit an interdisciplinary team. The team should understand customer needs (in the form of critical customer pains and gains), the context of the market they are operating in, and the potential capabilities of smart connected products. In addition, the team needs to be able to think in networks and eco-systems to be able to translate this understanding into new concrete service opportunities which are both valuable to, and in line with, the organisation's ambitions.
3. Ideate IoT innovations: The field of (service) Design Thinking provides various ideation techniques which are used by the interdisciplinary team to spark creativity. This results in ideas that embody both theopportunities that IoT can provide, and also the various perspectives of the market and the organisation.
4. Share, combine and prioritise ideas: The collective sharing of ideas strengthens the feeling of organisation-wide involvement, and collective prioritisation drives commitment. It is also an important period to receive feedback and identify if ideas can be strengthened by combining them with other concepts and initiatives.
5. Map the eco-system of the IoT innovation: IoT innovations typically involve a complex ecosystem of actors, components and connections. Visually mapping out eco-systems, on both macro as well as microscale, can reveal possible challenges to realise the IoT innovation.
6. Identify the business implications: Creating a clear understanding of potential benefits, required investments, and risks is crucial to driving any innovation. In addition, managers need to know what the implications on the organisation will be and what they can expect as ‘return on investment’.
7. Pitch to important decision makers: Especially in large international organisations with multiple divisions and functions, it is critical to have ambassadors who drive internal alignment. Pitch-like presentations towards (top) management and other parts of the organisation help to create a coalition of the willing, and obtain the commitment needed for further development and implementation.
8. In summary, the outcomes of the above process are not only great ideas but also form cross-functional teams that become ambassadors for their IoT innovations. The seven-step process is, in essence, a process for changing the mindset towards an IoT future. In the end, your employees are the basis for designing IoT Innovation – Not the technology.

What’s next?

IoT enabled services usually have a disruptive nature, and this realisation often affects all areas of the organisation. The implementation, therefore, requires a clear strategy and roadmap. Without this or an agile attitude towards unforeseen events, you risk losing not only the momentum you created in the IoT exploration phase,

 

Free IoT Readiness Assesment - Do you understand the value of IoT but don't know where to start? Have you already started on your IoT journey but want to get more out of it?

Click here to take the Noventum 5 minute IoT Readiness Assesment to get an overview of where you stand in relation to IoT and determine how ready your organisation is to benefit from it.

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Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News talks to New York Times and Wall St Journal bestseller, international speaker and all-around customer service guru Shep Hyken about six important steps companies must embrace if they are to deliver service excellence...

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE! You can now subscribe to the Field Service Podcast via iTunes here

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Our Hands-On review series returns as we continue to evaluate the best mobile technology designed with the field service engineer in mind. In the first review of 2018, we’ve got our hands on Janam’s XT100 - the stablemate of the XT2 which we found to be an excellent unit when we reviewed it back in September 2016...

The launch of Janam’s new rugged mobile computer the XT100 looks set to continue on the path that the company began walking along when they launched the XT1, which introduced a more modern form factor to their product line up.

When Field Service News reviewed the XT2 back in September 2016 we concluded that “all in all the XT2 is a fantastic option for any field service technician, it is a lightweight device and the programmable buttons could greatly improve work-flow in some areas. However, the XT2 is especially suited for those field technicians working in an environment where a fully rugged device becomes essential.”

So 18 months on how does the latest iteration of the XT range shape up?

What the manufacturers say:

Power. Performance. Price Advantage.

While smartphones have grown more popular in the enterprise, organizations still struggle with their poor fit and high failure rates when deployed in demanding work environments. Today’s mobile worker requires a rugged, purpose-built device that is capable of reliably and securely running line-of-business applications in the palm of the hand.

Eliminating the pitfalls and hidden costs associated with deploying consumer-grade devices in the enterprise, Janam’s XT100 rugged touch computer delivers the best of both business and personal. With more features and functionality than any other device in its class, the XT100 delivers the latest technological advances to organizations of all sizes at an extremely attractive price point.

First impressions:

As alluded to above when we last reviewed a device from Janam we were indeed highly impressed.

The XT2 had built upon the solid foundation that Janam held in their other rugged mobile computing ranges (notably the XM and XP ranges) by introducing a device with high-end specs both in terms of its ruggedity and its processing power that was housed in a form factor which adopted much of the feel of a consumer device.

Janam were by no means the first rugged manufacturer to follow this route with Getac, Panasonic, and Xplore amongst others, all following the trend of producing devices that blurred the lines between rugged and consumer – certainly from an aesthetic perspective at least. Indeed, there are strong arguments behind the reasoning for this shift, which in the main centre around an uptake in adoption rates amongst engineers when the devices they use in their working lies are similar to those that they use in their day-to-day consumer lives.

That said, with such a trend emerging amongst rugged manufacturers the need for Janam (or any of their peers) to ensure that their new range didn’t just look and feel good, but that they also maintained their credentials both in terms of the rugged value of the device as well as it’s potential use within an enterprise sector that values long battery life, high performance and perhaps most important of all reliability in mobile computing devices, was of huge importance.

This was very much in our thoughts when we reviewed the XT2, and the device passed all of our benchmarks with flying colours and on initial glance the XT100 acts and feels very much in a similar vein.

For a rugged device the XT100 is light. Really light.The XT100 does have a smaller and lighter footprint than its stablemate (which itself was able to boast of being lightest in its class when we reviewed it at launch.)

Janam appear to prefer to avoid comparing their devices with smartphones, referring to the XT range as the rugged touch computers, so they may not thank me for this, but in terms of the device in hand, the difference between the XT2 and the XT100 is most easily described as the difference between a phablet such as the Galaxy Note or iPhone Plus compared to a regular sized smartphone - with the XT100 falling into the latter bracket.

For a rugged device the XT100 is light. Really light.

At just 7.5 ounces (213 grams) the XT100 is lighter than both the Gen2Wave RT1600 and the Ruggex Rhino 3 (despite having a bigger screen than the latter as well). The profile of the phone is certainly chunkier than a regular consumer device of course, which is largely due to the inclusion of a dedicated barcode scanner but also to mention being sturdy enough to survive multiple 1.2m drops – which we will explore a little later.

Having booted up the device for the first time the device was quick to launch and the menus responsive and quick to access as we would have anticipated based on the performance of the XT2 in the previous review.

So how did the device fare during our hands-on review?

Processing power:

In terms of processing power, the XT100 comes with 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 410 quad-core, which is pretty much in the same ballpark as the XT2’s MSM8916 CPU @1.2GHz. In terms of the market for similar devices as to the XT range these offer a fairly standard amount of processing power. It’s certainly true that this is still a wee bit short of devices such as Panasonic’s FZ-N1 (which runs a Qualcomm® MSM8974AB 2.3GHz Quad Core for example) but the XT100 should certainly be powerful enough to cope with the majority of field service related software that might be required for a service engineer’s day-to-day tasks.

The XT100 also comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM as standard, unlike the XT2 where whilst these specs are available they are an upgrade option (from a 1GB/8GB standard option).

Again this sits pretty much in the middle of the pack in terms of similar devices and is definitely suitable for a number of field service applications. Also, as with the XT2 the memory is expandable via a user accessible Micro SD slot with SD and SDHC support – which can become a very useful option for engineers who need to record a lot of data, or even for those who work in offline environments regularly where locally storing asset maintenance information to aid a firsttime fix could be of benefit.

Operating system:

The XT100 is currently running Android 6 (Marshmallow), which is a perfect option for industry, focused devices. Whilst the latest consumer devices are now running Android 8 (Oreo), in a world of enterprise, the need for a robustly road-tested OS is hugely important. Marshmallow is currently the most advanced iteration of the OS that also has the stability required for enterprise-grade computing.

Additionally, there were two important inclusions in the Marshmallow iteration of the Android OS which could provide important benefits for use by field service operatives which were not included within the previous version of Android (Lollipop).

This makes Marshmallow a strong platform for field service organisations where the need for a mobile device to last the duration of a service engineer’s often long working day is essential.The first of these is an improved battery management feature, which utilises two solutions to extend battery life. These are Doze - which automatically puts your phone to sleep when not being used and App Standby which reduces the amount of battery drain form seldom-used apps.

This makes Marshmallow a strong platform for field service organisations where the need for a mobile device to last the duration of a service engineer’s often long working day is essential.

The second development in Marshmallow of interest in the context of the field service engineers is the ability to migrate data and applications to a MicroSD card. As we referenced earlier the XT100 has MicroSD memory expansion options which can be useful for field service engineers working offline or who are required to record a lot of supplementary data, so improving the functionality of file management is another welcome introduction to the Android OS.

In addition to this Marshmallow also remains the most widely used Android OS in the world of consumer devices as well according to the Android developer community website (last updated February 2018) so there is also the added benefit of the interface being likely to be familiar to end users which will also have big benefits on user adoption rates.

The Ins & Outs:

As with the XT2, the XT100 doesn’t have a huge array of physical input options – but this can’t really be avoided in a device of such a size. However, in terms of the physical inputs, the key essentials are all included and there are a number of excellent inclusions in terms of data capture functionality that mark out the XT100 as a well thought out device designed to be fit-for-purpose.

To begin with the basics, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is, of course, is a hugely important inclusion, especially as remote support or engineer to engineer communication, is becoming increasingly common. There is a micro USB 2.0 port, which is there for charging and data syncing although the XT100 is also capable of wireless charging as well.

One of the core USPs and strengths of the whole Janam range is that their devices are designed for the industry and with their end-users workflow in mind.There are also two cameras, which are additionally useful for both data collection and video conferencing. The rear camera is 13MP and the front-facing camera is 4MP – which whilst neither being particularly groundbreaking in terms of resolution, are both absolutely fit for purpose.

However, one of the core USPs and strengths of the whole Janam range is that their devices are designed for the industry and with their end-users workflow in mind.

The XT100 has two additional hard keys (three including the power key), which by default trigger the XT100’s built-in barcode scanner which is the Honeywell N6603 2D Imager – which in our tests responded extremely efficiently and reliably.

Another inclusion which is hugely beneficial specifically for the field service engineer is the inclusion of a NFC/RFID reader (which reads Reads ISO14443 Type A; ISO14443 Type B & ISO15693; MIFARE UltraLight; MIFARE UltraLight C; MIFARE 1k/4k/Plus; MIFARE DESFire;MIFARE DESFire EV1; NFC in the 13.56MHz range). Again, within our tests, we found the XT100 was able to identify and read tags with easily and we had a 100% success rate during our tests of this functionality, finding the reader to have a good sensitivity.

Both of these inclusions are important as amongst other benefits they can allow the field service engineer to easily log spare parts moving in and out of the van – and given that tracking parts inventory remains a considerable challenge for many field service organisations, all solutions that can improve efficiency in this area are of course highly desirable.

Finally, there is a Pogo Connector at the bottom of the device, which can be used for charging within a cradle such as a vehicle dock.

Connectivity:

When it comes to connectivity the XT100 supports the latest 802.11a/b/g/n/d/h/i/k/r/v protocols so accessing strong wi-fi connectivity speeds should be no issue and within our tests, the device was able to reach 50Mbps. The XT100 also supports EDGE/GPRS/GSM, WCDMA and LTE for 4G mobile internet and when tested with a moderate to strong 4G signal the device reached 18Mbps.

As one would expect with a device designed for the enterprise XT100 has robust security protocols (IEEE802.11; WEP; WPA/WPA2; PEAP/MSCHAPv2; EAP-TLS).

The XT100 also features Bluetooth 4.1 so can be paired with additional tools in the field including potentially Android Wear-based smartglasses, a keyboard for data input and of course Bluetooth headphones should the device be utilised for field service engineers receiving remote guidance.

Additionally, the device offers Qualcomm GPS which supports GLONASS so the device offers precise location tracking in the vast majority of locations across the globe, which can be invaluable to the field service organisation with regards to updating asset information as well as the adoption of geo-location functionalities within a field service technician’s workflow.

Ruggedity:

In terms of its ruggedity, the XT100 holds its head high with good rugged credentials albeit slightly less so than its sibling the XT2.

The XT100 is capable of withstanding multiple drops at 1.2m. The device also came with a clear hard plastic case to add additional protection from drops and knocks and survived our own drop testing with no issues.

The XT100’s IP rating is perhaps one area which is ever so slightly disappointing as having delivered the XT2 to an IP67 standard previously, Janam have opted to make the XT100 at the lower rating of IP65.

What this means, in reality, is the XT100 is impervious to dust ingress and largely resistant to water ingress although it is not fully submersible in water as an IP67 device would be. In reality, an IP65 rating should be sufficient for most field service environments although given the XT2’s more robust rating the difference should be noted and taken into account for those companies working in naturally wet environments such as perhaps certain waste management or water-based utilities sectors.

When it comes to operating temperature ranges the XT100 -20 to 60 degrees centigrade – which means that even in the most inhospitable environments the device should function effectively, and in terms of humidity it is non-condensing up to 95%. Finally, the capacitive touchscreen boasts toughened Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to further add to the devices robust credentials.

Battery Life:

In terms of battery life, the XT100 comes with a 3000mAh 3.8v rechargeable Li-ion battery.

After an 8 hour day of reasonable to heavy usage the battery was at 14% so the device should be capable of seeing out most field service engineers working days, especially if the device is placed in an in-vehicle charging cradle in between jobs. However, for those engineers who are required to spend long days in one location, a four-slot battery charger is an optional accessory.

Conclusion:

As with the XT2, the XT100 is, first of all, a fantastic looking device that feels great in hand and is sure to feel instantly familiar for end users.

The fact that it is so lightweight, easily one of the lightest (if not the lightest) rugged devices we’ve reviewed and comfortable in hand means it could easily pass for a consumer device at first glance and the fact that it runs on Android 6 is going to make that familiarity all the more prevalent, which as we’ve discussed above is an important factor in terms of user adoption and potentially a path to quicker return on investment.

For most tasks that a field service engineer would be likely to use on the device, the XT100 should have more than enough power under the hood to be up to the task.Whilst the XT100 doesn’t have quite the same protection against water ingress as the XT2 it should certainly be a rugged and robust enough device for most field service environments, with the possible exception of those engineers who will be working in potentially wet situations where the likelihood is that the device could be dropped and submersed into water.

In terms of processing power, the device is at a reasonable mid-range and performed well within our own tests, responding quickly with multiple apps open and offering strong connectivity to both Wi-Fi and 4G signals.

Whilst it is not at the very highest range of computational power within its category if your engineers are required to use an intensive CPU hungry app then one might question whether such a small form factor would be correct for your engineers anyway. However, for most tasks that a field service engineer would be likely to use on the device, the XT100 should have more than enough power under the hood to be up to the task.

As with other Janam products the XT100 is clearly designed with the end users workflow in mind and the rapid performance and ease of access of both the NFC/RFID readers and the barcode scanner make this a great option for those engineers who are moving a lot of parts stock in and out of the van each day.

By introducing the XT100, Janam have taken the blueprint of excellence that they have established with the XT range as a whole and created one of the smallest rugged devices suited for field service to date.

The XT100 is an excellent addition to the range and certainly worthy of consideration for any field service organisation looking to update the mobile computing options with a sleek, lightweight yet robust device – this holds especially true for organisations that are currently running an older Android solution as the transition should be fairly seamless.

As we’ve alluded to across the article the similarities with the XT2 are as one might expect wide-ranging and the XT2’s slightly better-rugged credentials might still make it the pick for those organisations hose engineers are working in the most testing of environments, but what Janam have done with the introduction of the XT100 is deliver a device of similar standard to the impressive XT2 with an even lighter footprint giving field service companies another excellent additional option to choose from.

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Welcome to the relaunched and revamped Field Service Podcast hosted by Field Service News Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland.

In this episode, Kris is speaking to Kevin McNally, Sales Director for Asolvi about the importance of building a request for proposal when they are searching for a new field service management solution as well as sharing his insight into some of the key considerations that an organisation should have in mind when approaching building the actual RFP document.

Did You Know? You can now subscribe to The Field Service Podcast on iTunes! Check it out here and subscribe to get the podcast straight to your phone each week! 

Want to know more? Kevin and Kris have co-authored a white paper that expands on this topic which is available exclusively for Field Service News subscribers.

If you are not yet a subscriber and are a field service professional you can apply for a complimentary subscription below (after reading our T&Cs here first) and we will send you a copy of the white paper as soon as we receive your application.

 Click Here to apply for your subscription now!

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Connected vehicle cameras are having a dramatic impact on the cost and lifecycle of insurance claims according to Intelligent Telematics and Plexus Law, so could save the commercial fleet sector many millions of pounds each year. Following the analysis of 4,000 vehicles fitted with the SureCam 3G forward-facing device, it was found that there was a 50% reduction in average claims costs and a 15% increase in the average speed of resolution when compared to vans and HGVs operating without a camera.

“The clear message to commercial fleet operators is that connected vehicle cameras are proven to make insurance claims cheaper and quicker to resolve,” explains Sam Footer, Partnerships & Marketing Director at Intelligent Telematics. “Understanding who was responsible can quickly be established with immediate access to video footage – avoiding costly 50/50, exaggerated and fraudulent claims – while at fault incidents can be identified and processed rapidly, keeping third-party costs to a minimum.”

The findings show that it is possible to take better control of the claims management process using connected vehicle camerasBy having access to video evidence with supporting vehicle data directly from the scene of a collision is helping insurance claims handlers to make a faster and more accurate liability decision. The findings show that it is possible to take better control of the claims management process using connected vehicle cameras, with rear-end shunts (55%) and collisions while emerging from junctions (43%) seeing the largest reductions in average claims costs.

Tim Short, Head of Motor Practice at Plexus Law commented: “When you consider that the reported average cost of motor property damage and personal injury claims last year was almost £3,000 and £10,000 respectively, there are clear benefits to be had from adopting connected vehicle cameras. By taking advantage of first notification of loss (FNOL) and proactive claims management a commercial fleet operator can make dramatic savings, which will go straight to the bottom line of their business.”

Intelligent Telematics’ SureCam 3G devices are the leading single, dual and multi-camera solutions for vehicle operations, providing increased protection against fraudulent insurance claims, false driving allegations and disputed liability. They use the most sophisticated 3G and 4G technology so that HD footage of any collision, near miss or harsh driving incident is captured and automatically transmitted within moments of it happening. Unlike other systems in the marketplace, the videos and supporting data are uploaded to a secure server network with no user intervention required, making them the only truly effective 3G vehicle cameras for First Notification of Loss (FNOL).

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Barrett Coakley, Product Marketing Manager, ClickSoftware offers some crucial advice in the complex and crucial area of change management...

Organisational change is hard but, given constantly shifting market conditions and the rate new technologies are released, dealing with transformation is now a requirement at most firms.

However, McKinsey reports that 70% of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support. With that type of failure rate, you might be wondering why even bother. Nonetheless, when done correctly, change management can have an enormous impact on employee engagement, operational efficiency and financial success.

There are three areas that are causing change within field service teams that leaders must address Field service organizations are being asked to address multiple reforms but there are three areas that should be high on your change management list; talent management issues, technology advances and new customer attitudes.

Here are some recommendations to help your field service group succeed on this change management journey.

Talent Management

According to The Service Council, 70% of service organizations report they’ll be facing a pinch as they lose workers to retirement in the coming years. The retirement of baby boomers has the potential to leave a vast knowledge and experience gap on many field service teams.

There is hope, however, as the 75 million large millennial generation has entered the workforce and they have the skills to fill these open positions.

However, field service managers must understand the drivers that motivate millennials and how they differ from the retiring baby boomers, including:

• Tech savvy: The millennial generation grew up with all things digital. They embrace technology and expect the organizations that they work for to provide the most current technology for them to perform their job.
• Mission: Millennials are looking from a deeper meaning from work. They want to feel that they are having an impact both on the company as well as greater society.
• Retention: You might have some members on your field service team that have worked in the group for 10-20+ years. Millennials, however, tend to change jobs frequently. In fact, Gallup revealed that 21% of millennials report changing jobs within the last year, which is more than three times the number of non-millennials.

Here are some areas your field service team should focus on to facilitate the changes this generation will bring to your team.

Offer Incentives:

While you might think a raise would be sufficient for millennial retention, you should instead focus on benefits you could offer.

According to Gallup, millennials are more likely than any other generation to say they would change jobs for a particular benefit or perk. They especially appreciate perks that directly impact their lives and the lives of their family. It makes sense considering many millennials are starting families, have large student loans, and desire a work-life balance.

Popular benefits for Millennials include:

• Paid paternal and maternity leave
• Student loan reimbursement
• Childcare reimbursement
• Tuition reimbursement

So instead of just offering a pay raise next year, poll your workforce to determine what they truly value.

The responses might surprise you.

Development opportunities: The best way to attract millennials is by leveraging two of their biggest desires—development and purpose.

67% of millennials are engaged at work when they strongly agree that the mission or purpose of their company makes them feel their job is importantFor instance, Gallup reports that “rallying millennials around a mission and purpose dramatically increases their employee engagement: 67% of millennials are engaged at work when they strongly agree that the mission or purpose of their company makes them feel their job is important.”

Focus your attraction and retention strategies on delivering learning opportunities and career development. This way millennials are assured that their jobs provide plenty of opportunities for skill development and career advancement.

Keep in mind millennials may want to pursue independent project work, attend conferences, take classes, and join professional organizations.

Give them the flexibility and resources to do so, whether this means tuition reimbursement, or time off work to ensure they are fulfilled.

The Impact of New Technology

New technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data analytics are having a huge impact on field service operations.

These new technologies are providing real-time insights into field assets that can be used to predict when a piece of equipment might fail, allowing for proactive maintenance. However, with all of this technology, there comes the need for change across your field team in order make sense of all this new information. Here are a few steps you can take to make sure your team is prepared for the impact of technology on your field service group.

Make a Plan:

First off, you will need a plan to prepare for the impact these technologies will have across your field service organization. For example, you will need to train field engineers on how to potentially service IoT-based equipment, build a roadmap for incorporating new devices, and identify which technician or dispatch behaviours will change based on this new technology.

Will customer issues be identified at a server level when equipment fails? What does this do to the dispatch workflow? Are you incorporating wearables at an employee level to improve communication or field-based efficiency? What software will you need to ensure these devices operate smoothly within your current frameworks and infrastructure?

Create a roadmap that accounts for the short, and long-term implications of devices, services, and technician needs.

KISS Principal:

Albert Einstein once stated, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” This is where the KISS principle comes into play during change management exercises. Stepping up to the challenges associated with all of these different technologies is difficult and complicated.

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simplerWith any digital transformation, the best possible course of action is to simplify by starting with small, simple changes. Select a small behaviour, or wearable device that your customers are using, and optimize around that. Then, scale what you have learned across more devices, customer behaviours, and internal processes. With a change this impactful it is best to keep it simple, sir.

Uberization of Service

As Amazon, Uber, Airbnb and other upstart organizations continue to heighten customer expectations, field service organizations have struggled to keep pace with these new demands.

Customers now expect transparency around service delivery such as the real-time location of the field technician responsible for the appointment as well as personalized communication preferences like text or email.

However, the delivery of exceptional service requires changes to the technician’s traditional role and skill set.

Here are few areas that should be looked at to change.

Product and Service Training:

Field service professionals understand the inner workings of the products they maintain but they might not be knowledgeable enough to upsell a new product or service to a customer.

To enable this ability, sales and marketing training should be provided to field service professionals so they understand the features and benefits of different services. Sales and marketing is a new type of training and skillset for most field service professionals but one that can really benefit the top line.

Increasing revenue is an important focus for many organizations but it is proving to be a difficult one as 76% of field service providers report they are struggling to achieve revenue growth, according to the TSIA. Sales and marketing training could be the support ticket that helps change this trend.

Soft Skill Training:

Field service professionals are now required to interact with clients in a way that elevates the customer experience, resulting in upsell opportunities and less customer churn.

64% of consumers have switched providers in at least one industry due to poor customer service.Preventing customer churn is especially important as Accenture reported that 64% of consumers have switched providers in at least one industry due to poor customer service.

To provide a higher level of personalized service requires better soft skills, something not every person has, but this ability is a key to this new service delivery model. In fact, study conducted by Development Dimensions International found that for every $1,100 invested in soft skills training, employers earned an average return of $4,000.

Training soft skills can help a technician provide more empathy towards the customer, improve communication and the ability to provide a more personalized experience.

Soft skill training is especially important for millennials as they often lack these abilities. An investment in soft skills training is worthwhile for any organization but can be particularly important in delivering a great customer experience.

Conclusion

The key to handling all of these changes is a commitment from all involved. In fact, McKinsey found that when people are truly invested in change it is 30 percent more likely to stick.

However, making the challenge even more daunting is that organizations no longer have the luxury of implementing changes over a 3-5 year period of time as in the past.

Change is no longer a periodic event, but one that is constant as the market and technology continue to evolve at faster and faster rates. Field service teams need to prepare now.

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