ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘field-service’ CATEGORY

Marne Martin CEO of ServicePower explores how new challenges in field service are resulting in a delicate balance between digital innovation and industry pressures.

The field service industry is teetering on the edge of a precipice.

On one side are emerging technologies like mobile workforce management software, route optimisation, wearables, enterprise mobility software, operational analytics, IoT/M2M connected devices, and social collaboration. On the other is the shifting environment, including the changing workforce, the emergence of the millennials, legislative challenges and increasing competitive pressures.

Where the Age of Enlightenment that occurred from the 1600 to 1700’s was about cultural and intellectual change in Western Europe, based on new ideas around reasoning, analysis, and individualism, the ‘Age of Digital Enlightenment’ is very different.

It has created a digital effect on field service which requires that each organisation utilises technology, analysis and information together to enable new, better ways of delivering service, while meeting its business goals.

Emerging technologies, digital technologies, in particular can be transformational to field service. However, field service organisations must balance new technologies to meet compliance and productivity goals, and ultimately achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction and profit for the business.

Field Service Challenges

Field service organisations are continually challenged, by not only increasing competition, declining margin and changing customer expectations, but also a myriad of other issues, including:

• Evolving business strategy - Business strategy must be continuously adapted to address changes in the competitive environment, changes in customer’s communication preferences and changes in labor supply.
•   Legislation - Legislative changes absolutely impact how field service organisations operate. Legislation must be identified and business process designed or changed to accommodate them.
•   Emerging technologies - Social, mobile, analytics, cloud, wearables, and IoT/M2M are transformational and absolutely should be evaluated for impact to the business.
• Emerging millennial workforce - The workforce is aging. The millennials are increasing backfilling the ranks. They grew up with mobile and social technology. They are motivated differently than their more experienced peers.
• Competitive pressure - The competitive environment changes every day, with new entrants and early technology adopters, like Uber.

Impact on the sector

Field service doesn’t stand still. Established organisations continue to be threatened by new market players.

Meanwhile, the field service industry is reinventing itself, eliminating manual processes and schedules which are costly and inefficient. Field service recognises now the value of field based resources. People are our greatest opportunity and highest costs. We must fight for talent, especially as the labour pool shifts towards millennials.

There is confusion over which technologies to implement, in terms of legislation and productivity. In Europe, for instance, traveling to work is now considered part of reimbursable hours for employees. What workforce management software is best capable of handling accounting for this legislative change, and the new schedule complexity, while improving productivity and efficiency at the same time?

 

These challenges, these impacts on the industry, are the biggest threats to field service; they are also our biggest opportunity.

Navigating the Future of Field Service

All challenges that face field service organisations today can be addressed with emerging technology that transforms operations.

• Real time optimisation improves productivity and efficiency, while also reducing costs.
• Mobilised on-site processes improve first time fix rates and the customer experience.
• Operational and business analytics improve oversight and operational performance.
• IoT/M2M connected devices facilitate the evolution from reactive repair based models to proactive, less costly and more customer friendly models.
•  Social collaboration leverages the comfort of millennials workers to improve first time fix rates and reduce field based overhead.

Bridging the Divide

Bridging that precipice, between the digital effect and the industry challenges, requires quick and decisive action.

• Act strategically – Look at what technology delivers the greatest return on investment and prioritise your investment where it matters most.
• Recognise that field service (people, process, IT, parts, etc.) usually crosses multiple aspects of the organisation.
•  Be sure to gain alignment and recognise that every function has a vested interest in success.
• Don’t forget to build a business case and agree the metrics for success.
• Employ creative thinking to challenge the status quo and rethink how that strategy can be delivered.
•  Work with technology vendors that understand innovation and what’s possible.

Field Service is a critical part of most businesses today. Field based resources are often the only touch point with your customer post sale.

Take advantage of new technologies to build a platform for success which improves visibility and increases flexibility across the service value chain. Adapt faster and more efficiently to external change and new company strategies.

Productivity drives profits in your business!  Your competitors, and even businesses you don’t know about yet, are heading that way so Cross that bridge now before it is too late.

Field Service Europe returned to Amsterdam this autumn. Field Service News was keen to find out what delegates liked about the event and what their key take-aways were. Active technology, IoT progress, mobile device management, task-based scheduling and a shift to customer-focused services were among the hot topics and there was growing recognition that European service organisations face different challenges compared with their their US counterparts.

Here are some of the conversations we had….

Marne Martin, CEO, ServicePower

FSN: Why did you decide to come to Field Service Europe?
The greater Europe and EMEA region is an important one for ServicePower, so definitely being able to meet with customers that cover all these territories is a fantastic opportunity.

I think also it was wonderful to see many of the presentations and companies at various stages of their maturation in field service. We the more mature end with Airbus and what they were doing with IoT but also that there are still companies that don’t understand the difference between scheduling, manual or drag and drop, versus the real power of optimisation.

FSN: Do you find that the European challenges are slightly different to those faced by US based organisations?
I think it’s different. In the US you have larger field forces so the complexity of the size has driven them into optimisation in advance of some of the European companies. However, the European companies have the same pain points in service and now they are also having to effectively do more with less - the new regulations that count travel time to and from a job as working time actually increases demand for productivity-enhancing technology.

There is a difference between more passive service management technology like a GPS or some other regular solutions that are just monitoring and giving analytics versus a more active solution that actually can drive cycle times, jobs per day, making sure your working within SLAs, the priority of jobs etc.

 

I think it is really important that we talk about active technology, technology that you can continue earning a return on investment on. Again the drivers for technology purchases are a little bit different between regions but the pain points in field service are pretty much the same.

Alec Pinto, Associate Director Field Service Central, QIAGEN

FSN: Why did you decide to come to Field Service Europe?
Firstly it was the opportunity to meet with our peers and learn new ideas and see what other companies are doing so we can benchmark against what they are doing and find out what the next steps are for us to grow our service offering.

I normally come away with 20 or 25 ideas for what we can put into place for the next three years, so from a mid-term goal perspective it’s always useful. I’m also with Peak service: we are always looking for new partners so these opportunities are the second big reason we are here. In summary, it’s networking and business opportunities.

FSN: Have there been any significant key take aways for you this year?
What GE healthcare is doing is amazingly good. They’ve got some really good ideas: the concept of categorising the tasks that you do not the engineers ties in well with what we are looking to do - identifying tasks by complexity and grouping them, creating training plans, regional plans and dispatch plans based around that. The idea is something we’ve been playing with, but how to make it concrete is something that just clicked with us this time.

That’s one big thing. What is also interesting is that the internet of things is not really taking off like people think it is. That’s a big realisation. Obviously there is the pressure that we need to get into the Internet of Things but when you see where the market is going it’s not something that will become real in the next three years.

 

Paul Rogers, Support Engineer Instrumentation Products, Pall Corporation

FS News: Why did you attend FS Europe?
Within our corporation we have a dedicated support team that is now a separate entity in itself. My boss and colleagues in the USA have already attended the Palm Springs session. They thought it would be a good idea for me to come to this conference with a fresh pair of eyes. I guess what we’ll do when I get back is have a round table discussion.

I will then need to see which direction we are already moving in and probably reach out to some of these technology partners and see what is available in terms of compatible systems, look at some of the things that look quite exciting, some of the technology offerings, the use of smartphones and our engineers having something simplistic to improve their workflow.

At the moment,  I guess our support is complex - it needs to move into newer technologies. This is a great place to start and a way forward for our company. We’re doing a very good job at what we do at the moment but we have to work very hard to do that. What we are doing now is moving things up.

In terms of eureka moments what a lot of it will come down to is if things could be implemented in a machine’s design with embedded sensors reporting back so we are able to tailor an instrument’s servicing based on its usage.
Things like that we can maybe start feeding back to the design teams – things that they may or may not be aware and that they may or may not have even thought about. Exciting times are ahead and that was one Eureka moment I guess.

The other ones were just seeing the level of complexity that some of these providers can offer. If you want to go to that level it’s there.

Oleg Huber, Director of Sales, Coresystems

FSN: Why did you decide to come to Field Service Europe?
it was a natural decision for us to be here again this year - we were here a year ago , two years ago, so we know the community already. We know we meet the right people here, we’ve done business here.

FSN: Has there been a difference in the conversations you are having this year compared to previous years?
The delegates are better informed. When people were talking about Internet of Things or M2M communication or service automation two or three years ago mostly we were looking to tell them this is what it is all about; now it is more of a future based discussion.

At the moment they are really in the process of evaluating. A bit down-to-the earth again because after evaluating a year ago they realise, OK, we are not really there yet, so we need to first fix a couple of things internally before we can go to the Internet of Things or such fancy strategic things. But people are much better educated, I think.

FSN: Do you find on the whole companies are looking to upgrade legacy systems or are there still many companies with no FSM system at all?
A system is always in place whether it is paper-based or automated: they have a system they work somehow. Many companies are working either in spreadsheets or even paper and they come to us and they ask for best practice ; what are your unique selling points; why should we talk to you instead. The demand is there and they really want to see how we can help them move forward.

Jonathan Massoud, Divisional Director & Market Analyst, for WBR, organisers of FS Europe

FSN: What have been the big trends at this year’s Field Service Europe Conference?
In terms of the European market, last year conversations were very much about how to offer services and what to offer for services, how to get it down, present it, package it, market it.

At the end of 2015 a lot of the topics have been about refining that value proposition: putting yourself in your customers’ shoes, taking a step back and working towards a ‘what’s good for the customer is good for the company’ type of approach. Shifting towards that sort of mindset and having the technicians follow suit and recognise that is definitely a step along the path for European manufacturers.

An ongoing issue is a move from what can you market to how do we go from free to fee offerings of services and getting customers to pay for them. .

Other themes his year were around the path towards preventative services. Last year, companies were not talking about the technologies embedded into certain products. This year there have been advances in putting IoT into the thought process and companies looking at connected devices.

FS News: You've just hosted Field Service East in the US . Would you say that the delegates here, who are mainly European, have more pain points?
[quote float="right"]The different regions within Europe is the main differentiator between the US and the European manufacturers.

It’s a big deal for global manufacturers but not so much for those just based in the USA. Training around this is also a big issue for European manufacturers.

 

It’s not just that they have customers that vary with preferences, characteristics, what they expect and their customer demands but their own field workforces are also pretty diverse. European manufacturers struggle to get their own technicians to flex their soft skills to their regional customers as well.

You can even see it with the attendees here versus the attendees in the States - their personas are completely different. Our European constituents are very aware of personal boundaries, for example I’m French you’re German, we’re going to conduct business like this, I expect this it’s my nature. We don’t get that in the US.

In the European market a lot of these guys do business based around their relationships. That makes the community that we are trying to build here even more important. That’s how these guys build their relationships, it’s how they build their levels of trust.

FSN: Has there been any one technology showcased at this year’s conference that leapt out as one to keep our eyes on this year?
Device management has been big. Mobile device management has been one of the things that has been presented here.

Whilst Internet of things has been more of a loftier conversation, practicality and the technologies that were presented on mobile device management, having apps built for customers, creating a service app for your organisation that has been a big differentiator for some of the companies that we have seen presenting here and a big take away.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature.

What should field service companies focus on in 2016? Tom Bowe,  Industry Director, Enterprise Service Management, IFS, provides his expert insight

The holiday season is upon us, and beyond that, just around the corner, lies another year. You may already be suffering from a bombardment of messaging around “predictions for field service in 2016” or “top trends for field service in 2016.”

Truth be told, it is an exciting time to be in field service.

The world is changing rapidly, the profile of your average consumer is ever evolving, and technology is changing the service landscape along with expectations, the market, and more.

Trends like augmented reality, IoT, wearable technology, and 3D printing are poised to change the entire approach to field service, rocking the fundamental structures and foundations of service delivery that have taken years to develop.

So how does an organisation brace for all this and navigate through the messaging to begin the path to a successful 2016?

 

We have sifted through all the messaging this year for you; surveys, industry articles, field service forums, and customer feedback, and boiled it down to four tips to help you achieve service delivery excellence next year.

Consider using these tips as a beacon to help you achieve customer delight while gaining market share and maximising service margin in 2016.

Establish a Baseline

Whether you are lacking in the analytics department or you have analytics coming out of your ears, the end of the year is a good time to conduct an audit of your service processes. Map out your service lifecycle and pinpoint where your strengths and weaknesses are. Here are some things that are always good to evaluate at the end of the year:

• Employees: Which of your customer facing employees are consistently performing above average? Are they being incentivised to continue their good work? What about those below average? Is there something in place to help them improve?
• Processes: Which parts of your service operations are working well and which aren’t? Are the process issues manual or software related? Where are there holes in your automation or lags in efficiency?
• Systems: How solid are your integrations? Is data being lost or corrupted between systems? Is everything talking to each other the way it should?

If evaluating your current operations and establishing a baseline is harder than you would like it to be, consider investing in enterprise operational intelligence software. The ability to visualise your entire operation and use real-time analytics to directly impact processes and solve issues will help drive intelligent decision making in 2016.

Go Back to the Basics

New field service trends like IoT have the potential to completely eliminate reactive service and save millions in operational costs, but if you don’t have efficient processes in place before adopting these trends, their potential will never be achieved.

It’s no good to have a piece of equipment out in the field triggering an urgent request for service if you don’t have the means to get the right technician, with the right skills and the right equipment there in a timely fashion.

Start with the Customer

Steve Jobs famously said, “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology.”

Listening to your customers is more important than ever. Customer surveys and other forms of communication with your customer base are vital to helping you deliver the best customer service possible.

Let them tell you what they want and adjust your service delivery standards accordingly. It’s always important to remember that the escalator of service is always moving.

What might have been customer delight (unbelievable service) last year may be considered basic now. Keeping up with customer expectation and the scale of service will help you deliver continued service excellence.

Pick a Uniquely Inspired Future Path

Perhaps the most important tip that we can offer is don’t get swept up in the hype. Every service organisation is on a unique path with unique offerings and ultimately unique goals.

Service delivery excellence is best achieved when a balance is found between listening to your customers, keeping up with changing technology and its effect on the market, and operating your service centre as a profit centre.

Predictions and top trends for 2016 are only good on paper if they don’t fit your organisation’s vision. Don’t let that hold your innovation hostage…let your desire to provide your customers with unique, inspiring experience carve your path to service excellence in 2016.

Good luck and season’s greetings from IFS.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

The latest developments in remote workforce management are helping companies to get more from their field service teams, explains Paul Ridden, CEO, SmartTask .

For field service companies that provide contracted, scheduled staff to client sites, workforce costs are a significant overhead, especially when you consider the constant pressure on margins and the need to provide innovative services to win new contracts.

Remote workforce management has been around for some time, helping companies to capture proof of time, attendance and work completed, enabling them to monitor the status of their teams centrally. Now systems are emerging that bring all of these components in to a single package along with the other key back office functions required to effectively manage field service teams. As a result, they can now provide complete peace of mind that personnel are safe while ensuring they are delivering the services agreed.

Such tools can work alongside systems including payroll, invoicing and rostering, using real-time data to verify timesheets, provide accurate proof of work and overcome scheduling challenges. This is helping to maximise profitability of contracts using the most appropriate employees, billing correctly and not overpaying. Meanwhile, it is possible to integrate intelligent rostering and control room to automate and streamline operational processes as well as reduce office-based administration costs.

 

Based on a framework of electronic proof and attendance it is becoming possible for existing staff located at client sites to effectively take on additional tasks such as inspections or audits, enabling organisations to provide areas of differentiation to clients and make best use of resources to boost profitability. There is also an opportunity to provide a tool to register an operational issue or risk, irrespective of the remote worker’s core function, with an effective process included to encourage and simplify such an action.

Using smart forms, via a mobile application, an employee can quickly complete and submit an incident report, which triggers an email escalation process sent to the appropriate department so they can deal with the problem immediately. This means supervisors and managers can have a live-view of any issues, failures or wastage with details electronically captured including photographic evidence where appropriate. A copy of the incident can also be sent to an online portal where it can be monitored and managed through its lifecycle while providing data for trend analysis via the management information generated.

These flexible smart forms can be configured for a wide range of uses including alerts, inspections, audits, requests, job acceptance and job completion. In particular, it is possible to implement an electronic compliance solution for health and safety, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), COSHH hazardous substance procedures. These checks can replace existing manual processes to achieve immediate workplace compliance, while streamlining administration and saving money.

Typically, a paper-based solution is not only time consuming and costly to manage across multiple sites, but is easy to falsely or fraudulently complete. In contrast, a smart form registers the exact time it was completed and with signature capture shows which employee undertook the check. Furthermore, all the data is delivered to the online portal, so it is collected electronically in real-time without having to post hard copies and have someone collate manually.

The latest developments in remote workforce management is evolving beyond simply proof of attendance. It is providing the potential to enhance business performance and help overcome some of the operational challenges faced by companies in the field service marketplace in terms of revenue growth, customer satisfaction and compliance.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

The Aerospace and Defence sector has a deserved reputation for being early adopters of new technology solutions for  servicing and maintenance. True to form, ground breaking developments in Wearables and Context Aware technology are expected to  streamline  maintenance operations in the sector and empower the supply chain.  In Part One of this two-part feature, Brendan Viggers, product and sales support at IFS Aerospace & Defence Centre of Excellence, explains the potential.

Aerospace and Defence support, whether that is maintenance, engineering, supply or transportation, is complicated by the challenges of distance from the home base, environmental and operating pressures, and even cultural constraints in deployed operating areas. Maintenance in the field is very different from at the depot or base.

Maintenance activity requires, as a basic minimum, the right information and technical support with the right functionality to support operations, so it is a no-brainer that this needs to be tailored for the environment where the maintenance is taking place. For many years vendors have deployed solutions forwards that are manifestly complex, full enterprise solutions on mobile devices.

But in-field maintenance bears little or no similarity to that back at base, the environment is unique and often extreme. Time pressure is often increased for field engineers who have to meet tight turn-round schedules, and have the right technical documentation and direction to hand, dependent on the task and time. In unique, and often restrictive, maintenance environments full enterprise solution functionality can become a hindrance to field engineers - tailored functionality for the specific environment is critical to meeting operational deadlines.

The need for tailored information and functionality

Speedy resolution of unusual problems can be massively enhanced if equipment and those in support can understand the multiple contexts the field engineer is encountering. These include 'user' context such as the user’s profile, location, people nearby, even the current social situation; 'physical' context such as lighting, noise levels, traffic conditions and temperature; and 'time' context such as time of a day, week, month, and season of the year at the deployed location; and finally an 'operational' context to monitor elements such as spare part availability and the maintenance task at hand.

This is where wearables and context aware technology enter the fray. According to recent Forrester research, 68 percent of global technology and business decision makers say that wearables are a priority for their firm, with 51 percent calling it a moderate, high or critical priority.

 

Wearables can sense the user's physical environment much more completely than previously possible, and in many more situations. This makes them excellent platforms for applications where the computer is working even when you aren't giving explicit commands. Future developments will introduce increased use of solutions that will automatically tailor their presentation and operation through recognition of the maintenance environment it is in.

Context Aware and Wearables in action - Civil Aviation

In the base environment, there are opportunities for application of the technology across production, quality assurance, safety, warehousing and logistics - for example, wearables can increase worker agility. Supporting the location of faulty wires or equipment on a grounded aircraft, and notifying workers about hazards such as the presence of other activities being conducted on the aircraft, are areas that could be addressed right now. Boeing is currently experimenting with augmented reality for aircraft maintenance, a hands-free device instructs workers where to find a product in the inventory.

This could be extended to giving mechanics virtual 'sight' of components hidden behind other systems or structures relative to their personal location - allowing them to remove, fit or adjust a component that they cannot physically see.

The instant effect on maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO)

Wearables with augmented reality have the potential to automatically identify the spare part required by a field engineer. Information on the appearance, known context and maintenance task required can then be fed through to the engineer's wearable device negating the need to barcode scan or consult technology documents in difficult maintenance environments - such as a dark submarine bilge or the underbelly of an aircraft - where movement is limited. It also removes the requirement for the intimate support of a base supply chain and logistician. This comes with the added bonus of not having to trek kilometres across an airfield to access catalogues in a maintenance hangar or planning office.

With context aware and wearable technology cross-matching bar codes, stock or part numbers - or even better integrating with electronic technical documents - the engineer can ensure that the right item is demanded or fitted, with the benefit of reducing time consuming document and database searches that introduce a greater opportunity for error. Increased autonomy thanks to wearables and context aware computing means the maintenance engineer spends less time 'downing tools' to consult collateral material, improving overall MRO efficiency.

Expertise on demand

Wearables can also be used for maintenance, repairs and over-the-shoulder coaching for remote engineers. Cargo and maintenance personal from a major airline have trialled the use of an optical head-mounted display (OHMD) to help inspect aircraft on the tarmac. They capture video and photos and send them to a central office where technical safety professionals assess an aircraft’s condition.

IFS is working with XM Reality to bring forward a remote expert to assist in complex maintenance to broaden the capabilities of maintenance engineers on the ground - 'augmenting' flight-line workers' skills. IFS believes adding cognitive applications and voice-controlled intelligent agents similar to Siri to wearable devices would further augment such workers' skills, helping them identify and act on specific problems with more autonomy.

Look out for Part Two of this feature which takes a closer look at the role Context-Aware mobile apps will have in achieving wider deployment of wearables.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Gamification is helping fleet and field service organisations to engage and incentivise their drivers to become more safe and efficient on the roads, says John Cameron, general manager of Trimble Field Service Management.

Careless driving can cost fleet and field service companies thousands or even millions of pounds each year. The UK's Institute of Advanced Motorists’ Drive & Survive division report that 86 per cent of UK fleets have experienced an accident in the past 12 months, and that every fleet has had an accident where one of their drivers was ‘at fault’.

Many organisations look to improve driving behaviour by deploying telematics technology across their vehicle fleets. Whilst the technology has proven benefits, organisations often struggle to reap its full rewards as drivers may not always be fully engaged and motivated to improve their driving performance, mainly due to a lack of interest or incentive.

Demotivation is something many organisations struggle with, not just with initiatives for improving driver safety, but with all business aspects. In order to avoid the pitfalls of demotivation providing employees with recognition at work, regular rewards and a sense of competition amongst peers are all strong motivators.

In recent years, Gamification has come to the fore as a solution able to tap into an employee’s key motivators and sustain them. Indeed, organisations are increasingly calling upon the skills of software developers to apply the appealing traits of computer gaming into their business applications as a way to increase employee participation, engagement and accelerated learning in a business programme or initiative.

What is Gamification and how does it work?
Owning a smart phone or a tablet is a staple in many of our lives today and downloading apps, particularly gaming apps, is becoming ever more frequent. The power of popular games such as Candy Crush and Flappy Bird recently captured the lives of people from all walks of life. Students, businessmen, parents all became addicted to breaking the latest high score at any spare moment they could get. This inherent desire to compete, either with ourselves or others, is embedded within all of us.

In 2010, venture capitalists identified the potential for Gamification to incorporate the social/reward aspects of gaming into business software. This would not just make daily business tasks more enjoyable for employees, but would increase their collaboration and motivation at work to directly benefit the business and achieve company-wide goals.

Gamification and Driver Safety
A significant industry where Gamification has proven successful is in helping fleet and field service organisations to manage driver safety and risk. Being able to operate a safe and efficient fleet of drivers directly impacts the productivity and bottom line of a field operation. However, when it comes to adopting new processes, engaging employees is a notoriously difficult thing to do, especially when it is something as sensitive as monitoring their driver behaviour. Many businesses have therefore begun to implement gaming techniques into driver safety mobile apps to encourage drivers to perform better on the roads.

 

A driver safety mobile app typically records any extreme manoeuvres such as harsh acceleration, braking, turns and speed, the data of which is provided directly to the driver and sent to the back office for analysis. Gamification is integrated in the form of a scorecard that employees can use to record their driving performance. Although the recordings can be both personal and impartial it is the direct feedback that incentivises drivers to compete against themselves, and each other, for the best scores.

It often happens that employees are resistant to new initiatives because they don’t see any personal benefit in adopting them. Organisations therefore emphasise the gaming element of driver safety mobile apps to motivate their drivers, offering them positive recognition and rewards for good driving behaviour. Driver conversations inside an organisation therefore changes from gripes about the new technology to new excitement and collaboration around which team and individual has ranked top for the week and which areas they have improved in.

In order to reinforce focus over the long term, many apps also incorporate daily improvement tips based on an individual’s driving performance. For example, if speeding is proving to be a problem, the app will explain that higher speeds will result in longer stopping distances and excess fuel use, therefore negatively impacting their overall driver safety score.

Gamification ultimately offers a plethora of opportunities to fleet and field service organisations in helping them to motivate their drivers to change behaviours and develop their skills. However, the potential for Gamification doesn’t stop at driver safety. Gaming techniques can be incorporated into business applications both business and industry-wide. The pace at which gaming techniques is being adopted is gaining in momentum and market growth is expected to reach $5,500 billion by 2018.

Whether a company is looking to improve customer engagement, employee performance, training and education, innovation management, personal development, sustainability or health and wellness, organisations can integrate Gamification to help guarantee employees stay fully motivated and committed to achieve business goals.

 

---

 

Be social and share this article

We all know the old adage ‘the customer is always right’ and in all honesty we’ve all questioned the truth in that statement at least once in our lives, but how do we ensure that we stay in control when that customer problem becomes a problem customer?  Bill Pollock, President, Strategies for Growth has some suggestions.

Not all customers are “problems”, but as long as their equipment is down, they are experiencing a “problem”. In fact, most customers realize that their equipment will go down from time to time, and most interpret this as nothing more than an inconvenient “fact of life”.

However, particularly when the customer feels they have not received good customer service and support in the past, or if the machine has undergone a succession of similar types of failures one after the other, there is an increasing chance that even a “good customer” can turn into a “problem customer”.

Sometimes it’s your fault, sometimes it’s someone else’s fault within the organisation, and sometimes it’s the customer’s fault – however, when all is said and done, it will be the field technician who is the one who will have to deal with it.

Typically, the best way to distinguish between a “customer problem” and a “problem customer “is to observe the way in which the customer is handling the situation.

For example, if the customer remains cool, calm, and collected throughout all of its discussions with you regarding a specific service event – regardless of how many discussions you are forced to have – then, you may consider the problem to be more equipment-focused then customer-focused.

However, if you and your company are doing everything possible to get the equipment up and running, get the replacement parts to the customer site as soon as possible, or get a quick “fix” to a software glitch, and the customer is becoming increasingly less cool, calm, and collected, then you may soon be dealing more with a “problem customer” than with a “customer problem”.

 

We’ve all heard the expression, “The customer is always right”. Well, that is not always true.

The general rule of thumb is, “The more ‘right’ the customer is, the more likely you are to be dealing with a ‘customer problem’; however, the less ‘right’ the customer is, the more likely you are to be dealing with a ‘problem customer’”.

In some situations, it may not be entirely clear which is the case. The one thing that is clear, however, is that in either case you will still need to treat the customer in exactly the same way – that is, assuming they are “right”, and treating them accordingly.

However, dealing with an irate customer takes the situation to an entirely new level! We’ve all had them – irate customers! And, the bad news is, we will continue to have them for the duration!

However, there are two ways in which to experience irate customers; either directly as result of a specific event or situation (i.e., a failure in the middle of a key production run, a repeat failure, a self-inflicted failure, or any other number of product- and/or time-related reasons), or because we have made them irate (i.e., treated them poorly, didn’t respond quickly enough, looked like we weren’t paying attention to them, etc).

In most cases, the former types of situations are largely out of our control; however in virtually every case, the latter are entirely preventable. Of course, the best way to avoid having to deal with an irate customer is to do everything in our power to accommodate them – within reason!

But, that does not always work and, accordingly, there will generally be times when we will need to do some immediate – and intense – “damage
control”.

The main focus of any damage control on the part of the field technician would be primarily to:

• Address the situation directly, and attempt to resolve it quickly, completely and satisfactorily;
• Explain the reality of the situation objectively and calmly to the customer;
• Provide any relevant data or documentation that proves your case, if requested;
• Be prepared to correct any misinformation or misperceptions on the customer’s part to avoid any further miscommunication; and
• Explain concisely and accurately why a specific situation may have occurred, what positive actions you will be taking to correct it, and when they could reasonably expect the problem to be resolved to their satisfaction.

In the services profession, you will probably always be running into some customers who, for one reason or another, simply like to be “irate”. This is a fact of business life, and you should be prepared to deal with it as best you can.

However, by continually embracing and utilising a “Listen, Observe, Think, Speak” (i.e., LOTS) approach in all of your customer interactions, you can successfully reduce these types of instances in most cases.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Best practices for knowledge sharing in field service are understood but too few companies are allocating the necessary resources, warns John Ragsdale, vice president of technology and social research at the US's Technical Services Industry Association

Ragsdale was revealing the findings in the  TSIA's  annual research: The State of Knowledge Management: 2015.  “It is frustrating when  best practices for knowledge management, such as knowledge-centred support are understood, but companies refuse to allocate the necessary resources. I continue to hear companies struggling with problems we know how to solve, but there isn’t support from executives to provide the funding, staffing and cultural support required to be successful."

But there’s hope as some companies are building modern knowledge-sharing platforms to help techs access the best information available, from any device. Here, Ragsdale explains to Derek Korte, editor of Field Service Digital, how to build a next-gen knowledge base that techs will actually use.

Whose job is it to build a digital, “virtual” knowledge base?
Ragsdale: That may depend on who has the “intelligent search religion” in your company. Some very large companies are hiring a new position —knowledge czar — who reports to the CIO and ensures each department captures and shares knowledge amount peers.

But full-time resources are rare within support and field service companies, so multiple employees dedicate time to nurture the knowledge program. The starting point is to identify all of the content sources across your enterprise — and across the Web — with valuable content to include in the search indexing, then prioritise each source for inclusion.[quote float="left"]The starting point is to identify all of the content sources across your enterprise — and across the Web.

 

Isn’t that complex?
Ragsdale: A simple way to do this is to ask service techs which content sources they find valuable. Field service leaders will likely be surprised at the variety of sources employees use. Look at the search platform analytics to identify content and to find articles that need to be updated or removed. Then, use relevancy analysis to understand the most-used content. Some search products may be able to index everything at once, while others may require some custom filters or integrations to access every repository.

What companies have successfully put this plan into action?
Ragsdale: During my recent Technology Services World presentation, I highlighted three TSIA member companies that have embraced this concept with great results: Tricentis,which sells software testing tools; Broadsoft, a provider of unified communications and collaboration software and services; and Informatica, which delivers enterprise data integration and management software powering analytics for big data and cloud services.

Each company offers an elegant user interface with a single search field that retrieves content from multiple sources. They also offer filtering options to help employees find exactly what they need. It’s a much better option that scrolling through pages of results. In general, once the virtual knowledge base approach is implemented, users will respond. Employees will conduct more searches, access and download more documents, and spend more time overall on the site. That not only helps employees become more productive, but it also streamlines customer self-service, which has huge cost savings implications.

Is a smart knowledge management strategy the best lever at a manager’s disposal to fight against the looming talent gap?
Ragsdale: I think service managers have a few levers to pull (scheduling automation, mobile devices, remote access, among others), but knowledge is definitely a critical element. We continue to hear that large numbers of senior techs are retiring in the next two to three years, so now is the time to proactively begin capturing their hard-earned knowledge any way possible.

Nearly half of field service respondents said a 20-30 percent improvement would be possible, while more than a quarter pegged improvement at 30 percent or more. The results from our latest research, The State of Knowledge Management: 2015, make clear that employees and managers understand the potential value of knowledge.

Why isn’t that potential realised?
Ragsdale: In my report, I talk about the key obstacles to realising this potential, including insufficient resources, broken or outdated processes, and the lack of a sharing culture. I also talk about how to incorporate some key knowledge metrics into executive operational reviews, to at least introduce the subject and hopefully place it on the exec’s radar.

---

This feature first appeared on the US Field Service Digital  website and is republished here with kind permission

Our Industry Leaders interviews series continues  with an exclusive interview by Field Service NEws Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland with ServicePower CEO Marne Martin. In Part 1  they talk about the thinking behind the development of  the new NEXUS FS^TM  software, and the importance of user-friendly interfaces and deep functionality...

It’s been a busy time for the team at ServicePower, a company heavily focused on the constant evolution of their own suite of products, with a clear strategy of exploring and harnessing the latest emerging technologies and implementing them within their own solutions aimed solely at the field service management sector.

The recent release of NEXUS FS^TM  an enterprise-class, cloud-based field service management solution designed to be suitable for any sized service business is the latest addition to the Service Power line. It incorporates comprehensive mobile dispatch functionality that sits well with the dynamic scheduling engine that ServicePower is perhaps best known for.

In Marne Martin,  ServicePower have a focused and savvy CEO, with a strong background in highly senior roles, with both a passion for innovation and an understanding of what it takes to drive business forward. It is clear that Martin has a clear vision of the road map ServicePower needs to be taking both in the short to medium term as well and way beyond.

“We’ve really taken what we have -  a twenty year deep and rich experience in field service - and have accelerated it into new product development and innovation of our existing applications, to find new ways of approaching the pain points and needs of the field service industry,” Martin begins as we discuss where exactly ServicePower are in their development right now.

“Especially, the last twelve to eighteen months we’ve really accelerated,” she continues.  “We acquired the source code for mobility in January 2013 and we’ve actually built out a leading mobility product, so we’ve been able to leapfrog our competition in many regards.”

Our conversation is taking place just after the announcement of NEXUS FS^TM  which has a definitively fresh and modern feel with a lot of focus on the user experience. This is something that will sit across the suite of ServicePower products in the not too distant future and is clearly a consideration for the development of their product line.

The importance of the User Interface

“With the existing applications we’re about half way through migrating the User Interfaces to the really great new look and feel of NEXUS FS^TM . We’re using angular JS and Bootstrap but we’re looking at new technologies all the time and it’s a really beautiful UI,” Martin comments.  “Even when you think about what Salesforce and some of the really big players are doing, I feel we are really at the cutting edge now.”

UI has become an integral element of what makes a successful business application in today’s modern environment and this is something Martin is acutely aware of.

“You can’t underestimate how radically Apple has changed everything. With what they put out with the iPhone and how it looks and feels. You certainly have leaders in software that really care about user experience and UI like Salesforce, but I think Apple with the penetration they had really took it to the next level”

So how does this Martin filter this approach into her own organisation?

“The key is taking what we’ve done with some of the new technology, and then making sure we have integrated a great user experience throughout the other applications, modernising the UI, but not losing all the functionality that we have built over the last twenty years. It’s a really exciting time”

“I think ten years ago there were certainly some competitors that were more proactive in terms of UI than ServicePower were but we’ve actually worked to leapfrog them and even go beyond Salesforce is at the moment using them and Apple as a benchmark”

“Even if you look back at TOA at the time, they had a great UI and ClickSoftware were doing some UI development maybe ten years ago but I think we’ve actually moved beyond that.”

“At this point we are benchmarking off ourselves in a way; we have a great team led by Steve Higgins who joined with us in late January, and then he has integrated with all the various product teams with the existing applications. The product guys were just at Dreamforce the other week and they walked away saying wow we are actually ahead in certain areas now. I’m really proud of that.”

However, Martin is also keenly aware that mission critical software, especially at enterprise level, cannot be all style and no substance.

“When we look at SMB solutions on the Internet you know they want to see a UI like that but when ultimately when it comes to the enterprise deals, when you get to a certain scale it is still all about the functionality,” she explains.

 

“The UI is nice but in the end what enterprise level field service organisations care about is things like our ability to do real-time optimisation, heavy duty management of third party contractors, the warranty claims,  analytics -  all these things.”

“A great UI is necessary now, but it’s not enough - you’ve got to have depth of functionality because that’s what gives a barrier to entry,” Martin states before adding, “With a hundred grand I might be able to spin up a little UI and an app, but I’m never going to be able to get a robust solution that will satisfy the leading enterprises as well as having the depth of functionality.”

And with a product development road map starting to come to fruition, the next stage for ServicePower is an aggressive growth period as they seek to capitalise on the attention a raft of awards and recognition their technology has gathered as they’ve continually sought to improve their own suite of solutions.

Martin admits the next phase of their strategy is to really focus on sales execution now. “I think we have a very good position now in terms of growing our brand awareness, recognition of the technology in the product suite that now we can really start scaling on sales execution. That’ll be the big push the year forward.”

Look out for the second part of this exclusive interview coming next week....

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature