ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘field-service’ CATEGORY

Logistics provider UPS recently showcased a working prototype of a drone solution that launches from the top of a delivery truck. The test which was conducted in collaboration with drone-maker Workhorse echoes a proposed means of using drones within a delivery mechanism suggested by Ralph Rio, A Research Director with the ARC group which Field Service News reported on back in December 2013 whereby drones are used to augmented existing delivery drivers capabilities whilst they are in the field rather than deliver packages straight from the depot.

UPS believe that sending drones to make deliveries from package cars could bolster efficiency in their network by reducing miles driven across their delivery route and whilst the test was for residential delivery, a similar approach could potentially be adapted for delivery of parts to field service technicians - particularly if combined with other technology such as the location based services offered by organisations such as Glympse. 

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Jim Baston continues Charlie’s journey as the serialisation of his service oriented book beyond Great Service continues as we bring this section on “The Revelation” concludes...

 

---

 

If you missed the earlier parts of this series you can catch up by clicking here

 

---

 

As you may recall, Charlie comes to the realisation that the highest level of service that his company can provide is by helping the customer be better off for having hired them. That will require his field service team to be proactive in looking for and recommending products and services that will benefit the customer and help them achieve their business goals. Charlie’s plan to get his technicians to sell seems to come off of the rails by the technicians’ reluctance to act as salespeople for the company.

Fortunately for Charlie, his very able service supervisor Ken, helps him sort things out. As they sit together going over the details of their service meeting, Ken points out:

“What Angus said Charlie, was that it was not the technician’s job to ‘sell’. He didn’t say anything about the technician’s responsibility to help the customer run their facilities better. Actions speak louder than words and Angus’ actions—as you just pointed out—clearly indicate he believes that serving the customer in this way is very much a part of the technician’s role.”

“Ken, you’re going to have to slow down. I’m getting dizzy. Isn’t ‘selling’ and speaking to the customer about things they should do to run their facilities more effectively the same thing?”

“No. There is a subtle but important difference, and most people get these confused. It’s why there are very few service companies that could honestly tell you they are fully satisfied with the work being generated by the field service team.”

 

Ken continues: “Let’s say you go to the doctor with a headache and you’re prescribed a pill to relieve the pain. Have you been truly served?”

“I guess so. I wanted to get rid of my headache and the doctor gave me the medication to do that,” says Charlie.

“Hmmm. Let’s compare that to an emergency service call. The customer calls complaining of no heat. We go to the site and find a blown fuse. We replace the fuse and get the heat back on. The customer signs our work order and we leave. Is that a comparable situation?”

“Sounds like it to me.”

“Unfortunately Charlie, I don’t think that the customer (or patient in the case of the doctor) was well served. Would you not think that the doctor should at least ask a few questions to explore the possible cause of the headache?  Where does it hurt? How long have you had it? What have you taken so far to relieve the pain? That sort of thing. Would you not expect basic information to be taken, including your pulse and blood pressure, or have your ears or throat checked? If something of concern was found, would you be surprised if further tests were suggested? And, based on the results, would you consider recommendations for a particular medication or a change in diet to help you get better as a sales pitch?”

“No. Now that you mention it, I would expect those basic actions. Without them, the doctor might provide me with temporary relief but overlook  the cause, which could have a troubling impact later on. And as for the recommendation for specific medications or diet, I would see that as part of the process to help me get and feel better.”

“Right!” exclaims Ken. He stands and becomes more animated.

“Let’s go back to our fuse example. I recognise it’s not a perfect analogy, and that most technicians worth their salt would do some basic tests to determine if there is a further cause beyond simply a blown fuse. But that’s where it often ends. We solve the immediate problem and move on to the next patient—I mean customer—without doing an ‘examination’ of the customer’s condition beyond the immediate problem. As a result, we miss countless opportunities to help the customer run their facilities more effectively or, perhaps more tragically, to avoid catastrophic breakdowns.”

 

… “I don’t sell, Charlie. I simply use my expertise and experience, and ask a few questions about the situation and the customer’s goals. Then I bring to their attention the types of remedies they might consider to reduce energy, increase tenant comfort, improve operational performance and so on. The customer then makes a decision on what they want to do. I don’t try to force or convince them against their will. I simply assist them to make informed decisions which will help them operate more effectively.”

It’s now that Charlie stands up and gets animated. “So, if I understand you Ken, what you are saying is that Angus and the rest of the team don’t see themselves as salespeople flogging Novus services, but rather as recommenders of our services when they see that as solving a customer’s problems. The challenge then is to help them recognise the difference and encourage them to speak with the customer about what they feel would be in the customer’s best interest to do. Have I got that right?”

Thinking about your business:

• If you have a formal or informal expectation for your technicians to generate opportunities in the field, how do you position this activity with your field team? Is this a selling activity or a serving activity?
• Does your team fully grasp the important service they are providing?
• Do they see it as important a service as their ability to fix or maintain the equipment?

Next time we will look at some of the hurdles that Charlie will need to address if he is to be successful.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Kris Oldland, talks to the ever effervescent Carsten Groth, Technology Solutions Professional with Microsoft Field Service, to discuss what field service will look like in the not so distant future...

There are some people who have a such a clear passion for what they do it is palpably infectious, you can literally see the effect they have on those around them.

I find such people are usually a joy to talk to and so when I caught up with Carsten Groth, a Technology Solution Professional working with Microsoft, for the first time in a year or so (at the industry conference Field Service Europe) it was a true joy to see that there was an almost childlike excitement in his eyes.

He had just given a presentation discussing how and what Microsoft are terming connected field service and it is clear that it is a topic that seems to truly capture Groth’s natural passion for technology and harness it into something resembling true exhilaration.

It’s what makes him such a great ambassador for his company and such an engaging speaker. However, with Microsoft’s own field service focussed offering rapidly evolving and spreading it’s technological wings he seems to have cranked the passion all the way up to 11.

“There are complicated processes that need to be rethought, it’s like working in a big think tank around where is field service heading in 2020?” Is his first response when I ask him what developments are being focussed on in Microsoft’s Field Service team.

However, Groth is quite right to be excited by the new IoT enabled world we will all soon be occupying.

We often talk about revolutions in business but truly have we truly seen a revolution in field service on a par with what the near future promises to deliver.

If we are honest our industry that hasn’t massively changed even with the rise of mobile computing. Yet, what we are now seeing is true evolution, field service 2.0.

Mobile just made field service better, faster, and more efficient. But what we are seeing now is a maelstrom of technologies coming together which will deliver genuine, industry defining transformation change. And that is a concept that Groth is fully on-board with.

 

“The way we see it and the way Microsoft has started to think of field service, is in terms of what are the new field service enablers,” he begins.

“To begin there are the classical elements, things like the dispatching and scheduling elements and then there are also some influential parts coming from the mobile side of that, turning the mobile experience into more task oriented, check list oriented and more efficient UI oriented functionalities.”

“But now we have augmented and virtual reality in the mix as well as cloud services and of course IoT and these are all enablers to all these field services as well.”

And it is these enablers that are changing every part of both service providers and their customers thinking around field service. Although the introduction of new technologies, which lead to new processes, will also bring with them new challenges as well.

“When you think about an on-site service for a washing machine, in the past it may have taken 60 minutes and as a customer I would be billed for 60 minutes worth of work,” Groth explains.

“But now I see that the field service engineer has far more capabilities enabled by technology so am I still willing to be charged for 60 minutes when he is now doing the same job within 15 in minutes. Obviously I am not”

“If I then see a field service engineer struggling with that same task which I have just looked up online, a task I now know should take less than 15 minutes. Am I going to think it is fair for his company to be charging me an hours work when he should only be spending a quarter of an hour working?”

“By having all these influential cards we see that the customer has more influence and more impact than they have ever had in the past,” Groth adds.

It is a very valid point and it is absolutely vital that field service organisations understand that whilst technology will undoubtedly revolutionise our industry for the better in the coming years, it will also create new challenges that we must be prepared to face.

So how does this not so distant future look to Groth and his colleagues at Microsoft?

“We are driving forward from the term connected field service because we are talking about connected things that have an influence on field service. We are talking about IoT but not only that - also for example, sentiments coming from omni-channels.”

“For example, in my generation if I got stuck in an elevator then the first thing I would do would be to push the assistance button. But the generation following mine may be more inclined to pull out their phone and tell the world they are stuck in an elevator made by x,y or z. They’ll probably do this even before they think of pressing the emergency button to get rescued!”

“OK, so it may be a somewhat extreme example but it is also a perfect example of negative sentiment that we can also assimilate and utilise as a tool to improve service delivery,” Groth adds.

 

Of course this type of thinking wouldn’t be at all possible without Cloud computing and the all encompassing, pervasive connectivity that it can deliver. Is this why we suddenly see Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, stepping heavily into the field service sector, once more? Is the future a world of integrated platforms with FSM systems being an integral part of a much wider operational ecosystem?

“I do think we’ll see a movement where we will see the niche players who are offering very specialised FSM software, who are focussed on specific productivity sets, having to step out of their niche,” Groth replies.

“I think they will need to move towards a broader set of thinking as they will only be able to enable the use case scenario if they take into account more things. It’s a bit like building a house.”

“If you’re designing a house as an architect you need to be way more efficient than just designing the shell of the house. You need to have all these different parameters around how are we building the house.”

“I think this is where we see the movement inside field service. It’s not only about thinking ‘I want to enable my field service engineer to do things more efficiently and more productively’. We now must think ‘I want to enable all the kind of things for on-site service as well as customer satisfaction.’”

Of course, it is impossible to discuss the future of the field service sector without touching upon the topic of servitization.

 

Does Groth see the current focus on servitization as being driven by the technology available or is the opposite true - and it is in fact a desire to servitize our businesses that is leading us to seek out technology solutions more aggressively?

“The shift to servitization is one driver for technology but I think there are a lot of other influential parts enabled by technology. It is also based in part on a generational thing. The younger generation playing around with all sorts of technologies and asking why they can’t use these in their day to day business?”

“For instance, we’ve had customers requesting to use WhatsApp for their chat mechanism for field service. We asked why do you specifically want to use WhatsApp? We do offer a solution that offers the same capabilities but it was a generational step up with this product line. They knew how to use it and were familiar with it, they didn’t need training and could just get on with it.”

Regardless of the drivers which as Groth points out are in fact numerous, the fact is that technology is playing an ever increasing role in field service management, and now more than ever before it is beginning to shape how we work and importantly also how we interact with our customers.

“As I said, there is this enablement where we get more knowledge on the side of the customer,’ he reflects.

“We need to think how does connected field service, how do vendors like Microsoft, help our customers empower their own customers.”

“This is actually what Microsoft does with our entire partner ecosystem. It’s the way we are thinking. How do we empower users, not businesses to do more and be more productive.”

“We are thinking how do we step out of the box of FSM only and we need to think about IoT from the consumer side and business side. Changing the way companies think about doing business with field service operational software.”

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Nick Frank, Founding Partner with Si2 Partners explains why profitable long term growth comes from having the right people in the right place at the right time and why technology although important, usually plays a secondary role...

In todays fast moving world this might be an “off- message” statement, but the truth is that it is still people who deliver profits. As a result creating ‘High Performance Teams’ or what some call the ‘Self Learning’ organisation has become a priority in staying competitive within the new digital economy.

Sustainable improvement requires a commitment to learning.

In successful organisations, this is embedded in the DNA of its people which drives themselves forward to deliver results that makes the real difference.

How does your team measure up? Perhaps a good place to start is to review how your teams manage problems and the language they use. Most technically orientated organisations pride themselves on solving problems.

Ironically, too strong an emphasis on problem solving does not necessarily drive the customer-orientated behaviours we are looking for. Problems are in fact very static, with a focus on past events.

If organisations are not careful, problems become a blame game, concentrating on why things cannot be done. ‘Yes but……’ is a phrase that become endemic within the organisations way of doing things. However, problems are also the life-blood of innovation, in that they can create a focal point for organisations to rally around.

 

The resulting solutions are often focused on customers, are dynamic in nature and focused on the future. The language of solutions concentrates on ‘Yes and…’, seeking possibilities and opportunities. It is in fact solution thinking that really drives the organisation forward in creating competitive advantage.

A self learning organisation is one that has the rigour to identify and quantify problems, yet the discipline to shift to solution thinking, develop forward momentum and achieve results.

This problem-solution-problem-solution learning loop sounds fairly straight forward, but actually requires a level of management maturity that is often surprisingly missing from many organisations.

As Winston Churchill pointed out, learning is all about engagement: “Where my reason, imagination or interest were not engaged, I would not or could not learn”

So how do we go about creating a culture of ‘self learning’, which is deeply embedded in the corporate DNA. In most businesses, focussing on two important aspects of organisations can really make a difference. The first is a strong vision of what the company is all about, why it is there, what it is trying to achieve for its customers and how.

More important than the vision statement’s words, is the way that it is communicated.

Successful communication comes from:

1. Targeting your message: For example Field Service Techs have very different drivers from their Product Sales colleagues.
2. Augmenting logical reasoning with an emotional appeal that inspires employees to do things differently.

The second aspect is Values.

A company’s values are the core of its culture. While a vision articulates a company’s purpose, values offer a set of guidelines on the behaviours and mindsets needed to achieve that vision. While many companies find their values revolve around a few simple topics (employees, clients, professionalism), the originality of those values is less important than their authenticity.

Developing a culture that is aligned to values and vision is what provides people with a purpose, and this is the key to facilitating innovation.

Organisations that successfully create a self-learning environment typically start to see:

• Problem being solved systematically
• Experimentation with new approaches to work
• Learning from other companies and a focus on customers solutions
• Greater knowledge transfer through out the organisation
• An acceptance that change is normal and to be embraced

To get the ball rolling does not necessarily require large complex change projects. For example at Amazon, every person who wants to pitch a new idea to the management, is asked to describe it as a press release written on the day that the idea is launched. This press release, together with a list of ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ is what Amazon executives use to judge whether there is real value in the innovation.

This relatively simple idea forces everyone to focus on outcomes and solutions.

And if leaders ‘do what they say!’, then these practices and thinking, can become part of an organisations DNA.

 

So if you sense that your teams are struggling to execute on new opportunities that are arising in this digital age, or are becoming to focused on problems and falling into the blame game, then perhaps it is time to think about how you can evolve the dynamics of your organisation.

Using a 3rd party to help leaders gain new perspectives can be useful, because people listen more to a new voice. However, at the end of the day it is the Leadership at all levels in the organisation who by taking reasonably simple steps can set expectations, ‘Walk the Talk!’ and move the organisation on.

Nick can be contacted on nick.frank@Si2partners.com. Si2 ON-Demand is a unique advisory and support service that enables top performing leaders to solve problems and get things done, quickly, easily and cost effectively.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Manuel Grenacher, CEO, Coresystems explains the Crowd Service concept...

There has been a rapid increase in technological advancements designed to enhance our quality of life and a consistent trend towards gadgets that save us time. From checking in for flights on our smartphones to having our food home-delivered, we have become accustomed to getting things and accomplishing things as quickly as possible.

Where we stand now 

Recent surveys conducted across a broad spectrum of people located in numerous countries determined that 60% of consumers defined a bad customer experience as one that involves waiting a long time for service after booking an appointment. Customers want reliable and fast service, and they want it in real-time. They are looking for convenience:

Time is Precious: Every moment spent waiting for a technician is one spent away from other important activities. Consumers do not want their time taken for granted. They expect service in real-time.

Keep It Simple: Complex booking systems that involve multiple steps or unnecessary time investment (e.g. being on hold with call centres) are a big turn off.

Freedom to choose: Customers do not want to have to fit their lives to the suppliers’ schedules.

They want the flexibility to decide which service appointment best accommodates their day.

Room for Improvement

The problem: many of the gadgets produced for our consumers, though intended to buy them a few precious moments a day, are in fact costing them even more time. Minutes lost on hold with customer representatives. Hours spent waiting for technicians to arrive. Days lost because machines have broken down and can not be repaired immediately.

According to studies, “61% of all field service suppliers cited ‘customer satisfaction’ as their top measure for success”. However, they simultaneously ranked ‘response time’ (3%) and ‘customer complaints’ (5%) as substantially less significant priorities.

When taking into account what customers really value – real-time service and their time – the current supplier ranking of priorities needs to be adjusted to reflect what would actually keep customers satisfied. Emphasis needs to be placed on optimising field service and reducing the amount of time it takes to meet service demands.

The Surmountable Roadblock

Though it is easy to isolate the best way to improve customer satisfaction, many field service suppliers still face a serious obstacle when it comes to addressing this need. Real-time service requires access to an extensive, widespread and qualified workforce. Access that many suppliers do not have.

A lack of trained and readily available personnel has always led to longer wait times and unsatisfied customers. However, the dawn of IoT is making the problem more pronounced. More and more devices are interconnected. Predictive technology is making it possible to accurately foresee technical malfunctions and breakdowns before they occur. There is a greater demand for service than ever. And yet the number of technicians that most service providers has on hand has remained the same.

The reason for this is mainly the cost factor. Hiring full-time technicians is expensive. Particularly when they are needed for short-term projects. In addition, hiring full-time service employees does not guarantee that they will be where they are most in demand. Having a full-time team member in a remote corner of the globe is not a viable business model.

However, having access to a skilled worker who could provide these same services in remote areas is. What is the solution?

The Solution Is Crowd Services

This is where the Uber-like on demand model prevails. The company created a business model that utilises untapped resources to meet an unfilled demand Receptiveness to this concept of the shared economy has given rise to the crowd service model. And it is being applied to field service management.

The creation of a crowd – a group of competent and certified technicians, partners or freelancers available upon request – to accommodate the growing need for real-time service is a game changer in field service management. Companies have all the benefits of skilled labor, at a fraction of the price. It saves companies enormous overhead costs and end customers the most valuable commodity: time.

Revolutionise the Way You Do Service Before It’s Too Late!

Coresystems, with its ample experience in platform implementation and extensive knowledge of all legal aspects, is pressing this revolution forwards by providing the software that makes crowd service implementation possible.

We are on the cusp of a significant shift. If one supplier does not start adapting to real-time demands, consumers will find a supplier that does.

Now is the time to adopt the measures necessary to keep pace with IoT and the direction it is taking us. Make your service model about real-time convenience served up quick and hassle free.

When customers feel that you value their time, they will value your products. Only crowd service can deliver in real-time. Empower your ecosystem today

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

David Troll, SVP, Sales & Customer Operations, Glympse puts forward one potential innovative solution of the perennial field service challenge of getting parts and engineers aligned at the same time...

“You can’t deliver a part to a service van.”

This is something we hear often in the field service industry. The reality is, you can.

A recent Aberdeen Group report found the top reason for a failed service visit is parts unavailability1. This is a critical factor in achieving first-time fix (FTF), which is a top driver of customer satisfaction. Without the right parts at the right time, field service businesses face not only increased costs (truck re-rolls) but also lower NPS/CSAT. Yet many factors affecting parts availability are beyond the control of field operations, making the FTF elusive. Assuming the dispatched technician has the skills and expertise to solve the problem, there are still numerous issues that can arise. The initial diagnosis may have been incorrect, only to be discovered on site; the historical record doesn’t match the actual parts used in previous repairs; or fixing the first problem reveals additional issues, requiring new parts.

Some cutting edge technologies like 3D printing (in the field service van) and drone delivery are being explored as possible solutions. They hold promise in the future, but neither is a realistic option today.

Nor will they ever fully address complex, heavy or sensitive parts.

However, current technologies like location services and the Internet of Moving Things (IoMT), including connected vehicles, provide a readily available solution to enable better spare parts delivery, in pursuit of happier, stickier customer engagements.

With three simple steps, you can turn any field service van into a mobile, on-demand parts depot.

Step 1: Source the Right Part

A technician’s options for sourcing a needed part are limited. He can drive to a nearby warehouse, find a co-worker with a spare, or buy it at a local supply store. All of this is time-consuming and inefficient, which can frustrate the customer and worse, jeopardize SLAs – resulting in penalties.

Without a readily available part, the technician may have to wait around (inefficient) or defer to a follow up appointment (bad service experience). SPL providers have the networks and logistics expertise to handle some of this with just-in-time courier delivery, but they still need to connect with the technician.

By logging all inventory (assets, parts, consumables) and making it discoverable based on its location or affiliation with a vehicle, you can gain visibility into all parts options. By integrating your parts management system with your fleet management or field service system, you can achieve maximum efficiency.

Step 2: Apply Location Services to Vans, Parts and People

Regardless of where you source the spare part - a warehouse, a co-worker’s van or an SPL courier -  coordinating streamlined delivery to the job site is crucial.

Leverage a robust location platform to show stakeholders an accurate ETA and location for a spare part handoff. Choose a partner with the flexibility to build sophisticated live map views that enable a real-time holistic vision of people, vehicles and relevant parts in a connected ecosystem.

Finally, determine which scenario(s) you’ll empower your teams to execute:

• A field manager or teammate secures a part from a warehouse and delivers it to the technician
• A technician on the road with the missing equipment drops it off to his nearby teammate
• A colleague or 3rd party courier is dispatched
• The technician locates the part at a warehouse, depot or supply store and travels there himself for a quick pickup

At Glympse, we help customers around the world like Charter (formerly Time Warner Cable), Comcast and others provide the ETA of their field service technicians and deliveries via live map and proactive alerts. We are working with others to provide that same location services platform to inform technicians about exactly when their co-worker or courier will arrive with a spare part and help the delivery person find the technician quickly.

Step 3: Enable the Connected Vehicle for Unattended Delivery

Speed and efficiency are critical for a FTF.

Technicians can’t afford to stop working to wait for a delivery or go into a warehouse/store to pick something up. Instead, make the trunk of your technicians’ vehicles the warehouse or delivery depot.

With location technology and today’s smart-car capabilities, it’s simple. Integrate your connected vehicle with location services to automatically unlock a trunk (using a secure, one-time code and a geofence trigger) once the delivery or pickup person is in proximity of the vehicle.

The part is delivered and ready for the technician when he needs it - right in his own van.

Alternatively, a technician could leverage his connected vehicle to alert a warehouse manager of his ETA and verify his identity for a fast, curbside pickup with zero waiting.

This is just the beginning.

Emerging technologies and location-enabled ecosystems are set to change the way we operate, making field service execution more efficient and effective, driving unmatched customer satisfaction.

For now, we’re well on our way to making sure availability of parts is never a barrier to satisfying customers.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Dan Dillon, Vice President of Marketing, Mobile Reach explores the key criteria for industry benchmark Gartner when it comes to field service and mobile applications...

In the 2016 Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, Gartner identifies four key drivers of mobile app adoption for field service organisations:

• Improved technician utilisation
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Increased dispatcher efficiency
• Increased service profitability

Mobile apps that enable these performance improvements are among the most important requirements a field service organisation can have when choosing a mobility solution. But not all mobile field workforce enablement tools are the same, so how does one know what to select?

A new white paper published by Mobile Reach includes a set of critical capabilities for enabling field technicians with mobile apps to help ensure your implementation drives exceptional results.

Best-in-class mobile solutions are designed for the unique tasks your field service technicians fulfill, and the apps function effectively under the constraints of your specific environment. There are several critical capabilities for strategic mobility in field service management. At a more granular level, strategic mobile apps:

• Are flexible to mould to your organisation’s field processes. To accomplish this, a mobile platform with a rapid application development tool is a necessity. This gives the field service organisation the ability to easily configure the apps to match field workflows.
• Connect directly into the enterprise service platform, ERP and/or CRM system. Many solutions use separate staging databases or plugins that require additional administration and support costs. Selecting a mobile platform that connects directly into your service platform or ERP system prevents the need for additional development resources and reduces potential points of failure.
• Need to operate offline. Offline capability gives field techs the ability to do their jobs even in remote locations with spotty or no network connectivity. Techs can continue to work and capture data regarding work time, asset status, or any other condition. Once the tech receives an approved network connection, data is synched with the back-end service platform or ERP system.
• Must support various modes of data capture and necessary peripheral devices — Bluetooth barcode scanners, RFID-enabled devices and signature capture pads to name a few.
• Operate on all mobile operating systems that your organisation currently supports or is expected to support in the foreseeable future — iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile.
• Support all peripheral devices that your organisation currently supports or is expected to support — smartphones, tablets, ruggedized barcode scanners, and Bluetooth-enabled devices like handheld barcodes scanners for inventory management.

There are a range of use cases that leading field service organisations solve for with strategic mobile apps that go well beyond standard work order management.

Field service managers can use GPS coordinates to track field techs and view technicians on a map for dispatch efficiency. Mobile apps can also be used to route field techs to a job site with a map and turn-by-turn directions.

 

Once at the job site, field technicians and engineers can receive push notifications and alerts from the service team informing them of new needs, tasks or other relevant information. To help mitigate the complexity of work, field techs should be able to use apps to collaborate with other field techs and the service team in real time.

In terms of work orders, field techs need to be able to record time on a job, and track when individual tasks and jobs are completed. Perhaps most importantly, technicians need to have the ability to create and manage change requests out in the field. The “Field Service 2016: The Technician’s Perspective” report showed that just 22 percent of technicians have the ability to capture customer requests via mobile apps, while 77 percent of technicians say that solving customer problems is the aspect of their work they enjoy most.

Field service organisations aiming to improve upon technician utilisation, customer satisfaction, dispatcher efficiency and service profitability should consider these critical capabilities for mobile apps. Those that do not are likely to miss out on a significant opportunity to increase their competitive advantage in the marketplace.

A full analysis of how strategic mobility for field service management drives long-term business value is available in this free white paper, “Mobile Field Workforce Enablement Drives Business Value.”

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

The Internet of Things has been positioned as the key technology that will lead to a true evolution of field service delivery. Bill Pollock, President of Strategies for GrowthSM looks at the challenges revealed in his latest benchmarking research and explains how IoT will help field service organisations meet these...

The Convergence of the IoT and Field Service Management (FSM)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is not a new concept.

To a growing number of services managers, the two are inseparable as they have been integrally linked together for as long as they have been heading their organisation’s services operations.

This is especially true in an environment where an influx of millennials are rapidly replacing baby boomers in virtually all aspects of the services sector; where the “marriage” between Field Service Management (FSM) and the IoT is generally seen as a “given” with respect to providing the organisation with the ability to satisfy the total needs, requirements and expectations of their respective customers.

As such, this “marriage” is somewhat analogous to the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, or taking “tried and true” favourites like chocolate and peanut butter, integrating the two together, and coming up with something “new” that the marketplace simply cannot live without. The big difference, however, is that the IoT is much more than just a tasty morsel - it is transforming the very core of field service management.

However, the IoT, in and of itself, cannot transform a poorly run Field Service Organisation (FSO) into an efficient operation; nor can it turn an unprofitable one into a cash cow.

 

However, it can clearly help to re-position an already well-run organisation for accelerated growth, heightened market position, improved effectiveness, improved customer satisfaction and increased profitability. For a growing number of FSOs, the greatest determinants of their commercial viability – and profitability – are the efficiency, functionality and effectiveness of their IoT-based Field Service Management (FSM) solution.

There’s FSM, and Then There’s the IoT-powered FSM

For most field service organisations (i.e., Gartner estimates roughly 75%) FSM solutions are no longer “new” to the services industry – they are a fact of life. What is still news, however, is how easy they now are to implement, as Cloud technology has essentially normalized the playing field so that FSOs of all types and sizes, and serving any geography, can benefit from its implementation.

The results of Strategies For GrowthSM‘s (SFGSM) 2016/17 Field Service Management Benchmark Survey report that the top opportunities, or benefits, cited by FSOs with respect to acquiring and integrating new technology (i.e., the IoT, among others) are:

• 44% Ability to run a more efficient field service operation by eliminating silos
• 39% Improve customer satisfaction
• 35% Ability to provide customers with an end-to-end engagement relationship
• 30% Establish a competitive advantage
• 26% Improve field technician utilisation and productivity
• 25% Reduce Total Cost of Operations (TCO)

The survey data also suggest that the opportunities and benefits significantly outweigh the challenges for a clear majority of FSOs – but, they still exist.

However, the IoT helps to make it all possible by allowing the new technology – in most cases – to easily integrate with existing FSM systems.

This is particularly true for FSOs whose FSM solutions are already built on a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, where the addition of field service management functionality may be as easy as simply adding a module to the existing system. This is an important factor – and it should be – for FSOs as they make their decision to acquire a specific FSM solution.

The SFGSM survey research also reveals that, for a near majority of FSOs, this decision is “impacted mostly” by:

• 50% Prefer a solution that interfaces with CRM
• 47% Prefer to work with a single provider of Field Service functionality
• 47% Prefer a solution that is intuitive and easy to train on
• 45% Integrating new technologies into existing FSM solution platform

Another 35% also prefer to invest in a solution that fosters collaboration between Sales and Service as a top decision-making factor.

What the Future Holds for the Convergence of the IoT and Field Service Management

The “future” of field service is already here!

Today’s IoT-powered FSM solutions already provide FSOs with the ability to monitor equipment remotely, and transmit data into the business’ database in real-time.

 

The greatest manifestations of this pervasive technology may be best described in the providing FSOs with the capabilities to:

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

The IoT technology is readily available; the market demand is here; and the positive impact on the bottom line of an FSM solution, powered by the IoT, is quite compelling. Just like the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, the market does not really care how the chocolate and the peanut butter are engineered into the final product; they just know that it tastes good, and the two ingredients work exceptionally well together – just like the Internet of Things and Field Service Management.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Jan Van Veen, explores the concept of momentum within a field service organisation and outlines the Momentum Framework - a series of best-practices and tools that can allow you to ensure your organisation flourishes in today’s increasingly competitive markets...

Manufacturing companies have a huge potential with their services. But many struggle to gain the Momentum to make it happen.

The problem is not their vision or business strategy.  It’s all about their ability to execute and change.

After all, service innovation is a serious business innovation.

The winners in our rapidly changing world have adopted modern management perspectives and practices and thus increased Momentum to change. The common management perspectives and practices fail today, as they create resistance against change.

The problem

Most manufacturing companies focus on incrementally improving performance of existing operations.

They follow tight “planning & control” management practices which trigger defensive behaviour and resistance against change. The typically suffer from:

• Ongoing performance issues, without adequate, timely and sustainable interventions
• Failing execution of strategies and change programmes
• No significant innovation beyond incremental improvements of current products and practices
• No preparations for (potentially) disruptive change

Without a rapid pace of continuous change, companies will struggle to develop a strong service business and will not thrive in our rapidly changing world.

What is Momentum?

In an organisation with high Momentum for continuous change, people are passionate and eager to perform, develop, grow and make things happen.

They take action in a coherent way. They collaborate with teams across the entire organisation. People feel safe and confident to engage in ambitious objectives, to pursue the uncertain, to drive change and to collaborate. Everyone is open to new ideas, new approaches and new opportunities.

The Momentum Framework – high level overview

The winners of today and tomorrow already have adopted modern management perspectives and practices and hence increased Momentum. They have flourishing and mature service-oriented businesses and outperform their competitors.

During our research in 2015-2016, we have established the Momentum Framework, which include the Momentum Perspectives and Practices, as well as practical approaches and tools.

Momentum Perspectives

Three perspectives are key to successfully use Momentum Practices and drive Momentum.

The majority of people in the organisation need to believe in these perspectives and use these as guiding principle in all decisions, actions and communications.

People drive change: By nature, people can and want to drive change, if there are good reasons and no serious obstacles.

Resistance does not come from people themselves, but is created by the way we have been managing and leading our companies.

Capabilities drive performance: People and organisations can only deliver sustainable high performance through adequate (organisational) capabilities. Pushing performance by merely working harder and faster is considered not to be sustainable.

Future success lies beyond business as usual: In a rapidly changing world, there is no sustainable success without adaptation and adjusting the core business, business models and organisation.

 

---

 

 

---

 

Momentum Practices

The best-in-class manufacturing companies use modern “sense & respond” management practices at all levels and entities.

They have abandoned traditional “plan & control” management practices.

Compelling direction: Winning manufacturers have defined ambitious goals for the entire organisation about increasing their relevance for their customers and achieving high growth figures.

They have painted a concrete picture of the unmet customer needs, the future offerings and required organisational competencies.

People can relate to this, get exited and see how they will fit in and how they can contribute to the change in a coherent and aligned manner.

Strategic dialogue: Best-in-class manufactures have a clear corporate strategy on choices, priorities and approach.

Objective and targets for sales, service, R&D - what have you - are all aligned towards the common  goal of becoming a more service oriented solution provider.

Each local entity and department takes ownership and has its own strategy and roadmap to move from their specific as-is situation, considering their specific circumstances, towards the envisioned future.

Objectives are not just numbers to hit every month or quarter. They articulate ambitions, direction and focus. Any issues in progress or results are confidently and transparently shared and discussed.

This leads to timely and adequate collaborative interventions. People feel safe and confident to try, to respond, to take ownership and do their best to make things happen even though the outcome is uncertain.

Continuous learning: Innovative and responsive manufacturers regularly explore (potential) trends, new threats and opportunities. New ideas are regarded as the way towards sustainable success.

New ideas are never cut off because it would be different than usual or would not fit in the (current) core-business.

Momentum Road Map

The leading companies followed a road map for building momentum, from mobilising, through increasing to sustaining Momentum.

Most of them started mobilising momentum by creating awareness and a shared concern. Leaders stood up and led the way and spread the mind-set of “just-do-it!”.

Soon they further built solid perspectives and practices into habits and ultimately embedded this in the culture and DNA of the organisation.

Once in the DNA, Momentum will survive even a change in leadership.

 

---

 

How much Momentum do you have in your organisation?

Get Your Free Professional Momentum Score Card @ www.van-veen.nl

The Momentum Score Card benchmarks your organisation’s Momentum to continuously change for sustainable success. It helps you identify your strengths and how to improve Momentum to:

Have better interventions for (ongoing) performance issues

• Have easier and quicker execution of strategies and change-programmes
• Have better value innovation for future success

The Momentum Score Card is based on our research in 2015-2016 into “Momentum for Sustainable Success” and the Momentum Management Framework which we developed during this research.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature