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Service Management Expo 2015 saw a number of excellent debates including a panel discussion that focused on the challenge of replacing an ageing workforce. As the millenials take over the work place, moderator Kris Oldand asked the panel just what will the changing face of field service look like?

The challenge for service companies was not so much the age of their current workforce but the aptitude and willingness to learn new skills, said Andy Beer, European Service director, Pitney Bowes. "As technology changes, the engineer's role may change from being field-based to carrying out remote diagnosis on a Help Desk. Regardless, they still need an underlying skill set and it's important those skills sets are up-to-date. Do they have the aptitude to learn and adapt?"

In field service, solutions are knowledge-based, pointed out Susannah Richardson, Marketing Director at mplsystems. "What is important is to get that knowledge documented - and your ageing, very experienced workforce can often be the best source for that. See it as an opportunity to get that valuable knowledge out of one engineer’s head and into the wider workforce. Once you've secured that knowledge, your service levels won’t drop if key staff leave or retire."

Formal, documented knowledge can also improve customer service, she added. "Once available, it can be used by the Help Desk engineers for remote diagnostics and repair, or even to guide customers on fixing problems themselves via a help area on your own website."

It is important that during the process of documenting knowledge, experienced engineers do not feel threatened, said Beer. "The solution is to show them you appreciate that knowledge and involve them in the process - such as sending them the final document for approval."

How important is technology in attracting tomorrow's engineers?

The consensus on the panel was that technology would play a key role in attracting the Millennials who will be the next generation of field service workers. As Professor Howard Lightfoot of Cranfield University School of Management said: "Young people don't think about technology, they just use it. They access everything digitally, including training and education."

 

Service companies need to remember that Millennials would also form a large part of their customer based in future said Lightfoot. "They'll expect a different sort of service and engineers will need training in soft skills. Managing clients and client behaviour, coping with complaints on a face-to-face basis will become an important part of the skill set."

A service sector that used modern technology would help attract the next generation and get buy-in from existing engineers when work processes were changing. "Giving engineers an iPad to work with wins hearts and minds," said Beer. "We found giving them permission to use the device in their personal lives made them excited and got them thoroughly engaged in the changes we were making in the business."

The sharing generation

Service companies could also benefit if they grasped the fact that the millennial generation, whether customers or engineers, are used to social media and sharing of information, remarked Richardson. "In the workplace, millennials will want to be part of a social community that shares information, interacts and is collaborative.  This generation are more likely to communicate via Instant Messaging than make a voice call. Millennial customers wouldn't be phased by requesting a service via an app, not via a call to the help desk. "

It might also drive earlier resolution of a problem, she added. "Technology enables a three-way web chat, for example, with the customer calling the help desk who then brings in a field-based engineer to discuss the problem."

Trusted advisor or sales person?

The panel was asked whether a new generation of engineers would be less resistant than older workers to the idea of leveraging their position as “trusted advisor” to become a “trusted sales advisor". All were adamant that while this might be appealing for service companies, there were also inherent risks.

"There is potentially a lot to be gained, but if the field engineer starts to act in a more overt sales fashion, there is also the risk of losing that trusted advisor status with the customer," commented Beer. "Field engineers see themselves as trusted advisers and fixers. Many will resist the ideal of becoming sales representatives and customers, indeed, can see through overt sales tactics. "

Richardson however, thought some engineers would welcome a sales/upselling role. "Incentivising engineers for sales rewards them monetarily, but can also be attractive from a career development point of view."

Technology for training

"Skills training needs to accept that there is a wide spectrum of workers, from those who are scared of a mouse to those comfortable with a smartphone,” remarked Professor Lightfoot. "Training is no longer just talking to people, it’s more interactive these days,” he added.

 

Baby steps and the gamification concept was the way forward, thought the panel with Dan Lancaster, Field Service Specialist with Telogis, advising "Set questions in a dynamic format. The process can be heavy at the start but you soon reach the point where you can get them to filling in questionnaires to test their skills levels."

Ageing workforce: crisis or opportunity?

Having already identified the need to interact with Millennial workers, each of the panel members were asked whether they considered if an ageing workforce represented a crisis (all that knowledge disappearing from the company) or an opportunity (with all those young people with a new outlook, enthusiastic about embracing the technology) that is going to be essential for service delivery over the next couple of decades.

"There are over 1 billion mobile devices out there: your workforce will be using them anyway, so tap into that mindset," urged Lightfoot.

"Technology is delivering the opportunity to document a vast amount of knowledge and get it out there to the wider workforce and customers," pointed out Richardson.

Finally, Lancaster added: "Younger people expect to be engaged in what they are doing, at work or play. So engage them. It's a fantastic opportunity to look at your operation in a different way."

So, in conclusion, our panel unanimously agreed that any potential crisis in terms of loss of expertise as older workers retired could be overcome and that service companies should explore the different aptitudes and mindset of a younger generation to drive process change and transform customer service strategies.

The face of field service is changing, but as with anything change can be both frightening and exciting at the same time. The trick is to walk the line in the middle so you are prepared for the pitfalls and ready to embrace the opportunities. Is your company up to the challenge?

 

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In Part One of this interview in our Industry Leaders series, John Cooper, Head of IT and Workflow Solutions in Sony’s Professional Solutions unit in Europe explained why he and his colleagues needed to revisit their existing service infrastructure and replace a 15-year-old legacy system with something better suited to the growing complexity of their service organisation.

In Part 2, he talks to FSN's Kris Oldand about how he and his team reviewed both off-the-shelf systems and customised solutions to determine which was fit-for-purpose, their reasons for making the choice they did and the impact on the service operation.

“We had a remedy based solution that actually had its routes dating back almost 15 years believe it or not,” Cooper begins. “It was initially designed for specific service offerings we had which were very much one-to-one. One customer , one product. So a kind of classic repair-related issue. They’d call the help desk, raise a remedy ticket, we’d determine if a repair was required, we’d pull the units back and we’d issue replacements;  a nice simple system.”

“Of course now we are in a situation where we have technology that sits across multiple partners of Sony, plus hardware and software vendors,  and we look after it all. It may be multi-site, it may even have multiple SLAs within contracts.” Cooper explains.

So despite having updated and improved their existing system across the years, its core purpose was as a backend system, and it lacked the reporting functionality and dashboards that it was becoming more and more apparent Cooper and his team required.  “We got to the point that we realised the bits that really mattered to our customers were the bits that we were finding it hardest to do.”

 

As the need for a more modern service management system became apparent Cooper and his colleagues had some clear expectations of what they wanted. “We thought about this issue of the ecosystem and how do we get everybody involved. Pretty quickly we came to the decision that what we needed to do was get something that sat within the Salesforce world; our sales and marketing organisation use Salesforce - it’s a standard platform in Sony,” he explains

Bespoke or fit-for-purpose?

However the next decision was whether to opt for a ‘fit-for-purpose’ solution or create something bespoke. Something Cooper clearly gave great consideration to:   “We had two other big choices – do we bespoke something or do we look for something that is fit for purpose,” he begins.  "In the past I didn’t see much in ‘fit-for-purpose’ solutions that I felt actually really understood something as complex as what we wanted to do. At the same time I was very wary about bespoking because it gets you a solution for today and,  if you're clever,  maybe for the next two or three years. I didn’t want my team to be thinking what to do next about IT, I wanted them to be thinking about making the customers happy."

 

“So we looked around and we found ServiceMax amongst a number of systems that we had already looked at. I just thought: this is a system that has really been thought through by service professionals, people who really understand what happens. It’s not just a standard set of processes.”

“Despite it being an off the shelf package there is such as degree of configurability that you can work how you want to work. There is such a good degree of best practice built in it pushes you down a path of best practice and I’m a big fan of that.”

 Dual benefits

Of course there are numerous benefits to a next generation service management system such as ServiceMax, including easy Salesforce integration, breaking down many of the data silos that can exist within an organisation.

And perhaps the most important of these is the ease of access to reporting which Sony had found lacking in their previous solution.  This is of course indicative of how business is done today and a common expectation of Sony’s customers, so it was a key necessity for Sony when implementing their new system.

However, given the changing nature of Sony’s business with both a shift towards a more service-orientated business structure and also, through the use of remote diagnostics tools, a move towards a much more proactive and preventative service offering, such reporting tools also provide an important second function  - namely,  being able to report on all of the service value Sony are delivering that may otherwise potentially not get noticed or acknowledged.

“Sometimes we can have a conversation with customers and they’ll say well we’re not really aware of you doing that much for us.” Cooper explains.  “And that’s a facet of us keeping processes and systems nice and clean in such a way that systems continue to run. So the desire for us to want to demonstrate all the good stuff we’ve done is really strong.”

 

“The flip side of course is that no service organisation is perfect and sometimes when things go wrong the first person that hears about it is someone senior on the customer’s side and then the second person that hears about it is the account manager.  So if you’re not careful the only time people hear about service is when there is bad news and the reality is that 99% of the stuff is going wonderfully but there is not any awareness of this.”

In fact Cooper believes such easy access to reports and dashboards, is as powerful tool for his account managers as it is for his service managers.  “One of the other drivers for us in this quest for the right sort of system was something that keeps the whole ecosystem aware of what’s going on and what we are doing for the end customer.”

“We have this dream of the account managers turning up at customer sites and being completely clued in with all the stuff that’s happened in a nice simple to understand graphical way. So they don’t need to get into technical complexity but they know what we’ve done for the customers, they know of any live issues and they’re not going to get ambushed with you’ve got this problem or that problem.”

And Cooper sees this as perhaps one of the biggest changes in service today.  “That sort of thinking wasn’t there many years ago in our industry but now it’s becoming imperative, ” he asserts.  “Our feeling is that that service will really help us differentiate ourselves with our customers. Our goal at the end of the day is we want customers to come back to us and keep renewing service contracts and then when their technology gets to the point where there is something better for them out there they come back and buy from Sony.”

 

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In the continual evolution of field service, mobile will continue to be the most impactful technology for enterprise field service in the near future, more so than the Internet of Things, writes Sumair Dutta, Chief Customer Officer for The Service Council

Field service, as a discipline, is changing. The rate of change isn’t as dramatic as the typical prognostications of technology-focused publications and outlets. Yes, IoT is having and will have a huge impact. So will wearable technology. But remember, this is an industry that isn’t completely mobile. Pen, paper, and the clipboard, are still considered useful tools. Technology is increasing the rate of change in field service, but the overall industry is one that is still quite cautious.

In early 2015, nearly 200 organisations participating in a field service study conducted by The Service Council highlighted the following as their top focus areas for 2015:

• Process control, review, and management
• Field service execution
•  Talent management
• IT infrastructure for field service

These areas are similar to some of the priorities outline by survey participants in 2014. What is different about 2015 is the increased focus by organisations to lay a strategic foundation for their field service businesses to support sustained business growth. It's not just about cutting field service visits, but more about maximising the value of necessary field service visits. With this in mind, we see a continued evolution of field service around these three major areas:[quote float="right"]It's not just about cutting field service visits, but more about maximising the value of necessary field service visits

[ordered_list style="decimal"]

 

1. Service Model Integration:
   Reactive field service isn’t dead. Organisations were more likely to see an increase in reactive field service visits in 2014 than they were a decrease in these visits. In 2014, 41% of organisations polled saw an increase in reactive field visits over the course compared to only 28% of organisations that saw a decrease. While organisations are looking to eliminate unnecessary reactive field service visits with the aid of connected or self-service business models, their service portfolios are still comprised of a heavy dose of reactive field service visits.  The primary goal with reactive visits is to increase efficiency so that the first reactive visit is the last reactive visit. However, organisations are also looking to enhance value delivered per service visit wherein an onsite visit is seen as an opportunity to share knowledge with, provide advice to, and improve relationships with the customer. Eventually the hope is that this leads to better trust, increased retention, and continued customer spending. In looking at the overall service continuum, the objective is to eliminate effort and inconvenience in dispatch-less service models but to maximise value when a dispatch is required. This requires a focused integration of the service delivery models around the end outcome felt by the customer.
2. Talent:
   While most organisations we poll are able to deal with their field service workloads with current resource levels, most are looking for new field service talent and are having a hard time a) finding this talent, and b) getting the talent trained and out of the door. Our research shows that 46% of organisations had unfilled positions for field service technicians at the end of 2014. In searching for new agents, organisations are prioritising customer management and communication skills so that these agents aren’t only good at fixing things, but are also able to effectively communicate with customers. Organisations are also looking to hire agents who are familiar with the use of mobile devices and applications adopted by the organisation. We’re also seeing a significant change in training philosophies when it comes to field service. The overarching objective is to get new hires out in the field as soon as possible and so organisations are prioritising online training, collaboration, and knowledge platforms, to provide field agents with an always-on and always updated mode of instruction while on the move.
3. Mobile: Mobile will continue to be the most impactful technology for enterprise field service in the near future, more so than the Internet of Things. The reason for this is that we are just scratching the surface of what mobile can do for field service, especially when it comes to workforce empowerment.[quote float="left"]We are just scratching the surface of what mobile can do for field service, especially when it comes to workforce empowerment

    

   While most organisations we poll have provided their agents with some form of mobile device, they have yet to fully empower their field agents with the capabilities of mobile technology. We’re still in the early stages of mobile maturity for field service wherein most investments have been made primarily to replace ineffective paper-based processes. However, mobility presents the opportunity to provide richer information to field agents to allow them to effectively resolve customer issues. It also offers field agents the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with broader groups across the organisation with the aim of improving productivity and enhancing customer satisfaction. Finally, mobility also allows organisations to create an army of data gatherers. This data can be used to monitor service demand, improve customer relationships, and identify opportunities for service business growth. In our 2015 service big data research project, 40% of organisations identified mobile point-of-service solutions as the avenue of data collection that they most wanted to tap into.

Field service is changing. The speed of change is picking up with the aid of mobile technology. Yet field service is still a human discipline, and human empowerment and engagement is key to supporting field service growth.

 

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Continuing our series of interviews with industry leaders, Kris Oldland speaks with John Cooper, Head of IT and Workflow Solutions in Sony’s Professional Solutions unit in Europe. 

John Cooper is man with not just one division to oversee but many. Each has particularly demanding service challenges and, of course, due to the high technology industries that Sony inhabit, each is also an ever evolving sector.

With a pan European team of around 110 field engineers working alongside other members of the wider Sony workforce and various third parties, Cooper’s responsibilities are essentially across the entirety of the non-consumer portfolio of the tech giant, and it seems service is an increasingly important part of the wider business strategies and plans.

The areas that fall under Cooper’s remit also each have their own unique service challenges.

Firstly there is Sony’s healthcare solutions unit which has evolved from simply producing medical printers to now working on much more adventurous projects with hospitals and surgeons such as transmitting operations as part of a training program and even potentially aiming towards remote surgery by utilising a mix of cameras, high quality displays and 3D technologies.  Of course in such an environment, uptime is essential. “As a service challenge it’s quite an interesting one as you don’t want anything to fail mid-cut as it were” Cooper comments wryly.

Another of the divisions in Cooper’s area of the business is the theatre solutions division, which is focused on digital cinema. Here the products include high-end 4K cinema projectors and the clients the likes of Vue and Everyman.

 

And whilst the pressure on the service operation here is perhaps not a matter of life and death as it is in Healthcare, it certainly still exists. Quite simply the clients in this division are reliant on the technology functioning for them to make any money at all, so if the projectors fail, then they don’t pay.

And of course then there is the Classic AV/Media side of the business, the largest of Cooper’s divisions and a key area for Sony as a whole. Again the pressure to deliver reliable uptime is paramount.

With high profile clients including the unusual (Sony is responsible for the archiving and recording solutions for Vatican City) to the more standard broadcast clients such as UK terrestrial provider ITV and Spain’s Telemadrid, there is an expectancy for the products and solutions they provide to be wholly reliable.

As Cooper states “if you think about News and just TV broadcast generally that whole industry was built around reliability. It’s so rare for the screen to go black and so it’s [100% uptime] an expectation.

Challenges of service complexity

To deliver these expectations Cooper’s team is comprised of a number of differing elements within the service -chain focused on maintaining the various different technologies at play. Firstly there is a service management team that focuses separately on those technologies with a team of field engineers with the requisite skills based in and around Europe. Then there are the other equally important components of Sony’s service delivery such as centralised repair locations, where they pull all sorts of technology back to a select number of places across the continent to get fast turnround time.

Essentially,  part of their service operation is in the field, part of it is remotely placed in terms of repair and then in addition to this they also employ a number of remote technologies that allow them to log in to systems quickly to make initial diagnosis.

And in the midst of all that there is an ever increasing complexity within their product set which in turn adds further complexities to the organisational structure, making the smooth handling of operations even harder.

Cooper outlined three facets to this complexity.  One is the increasing challenge of potentially lots of different partners in the service chain. “IT workflow solutions for example, might well have an oracle database plus harmonic storage and we have to look at the whole piece,"  he explains

Then there is the issue of Sony’s customers reducing their own internal expertise with many shedding engineers, particularly as engineers retire and aren’t necessarily replaced. In the theatre business, for example, there is no need for a highly skilled projectionist who in the days of analogue might have had a greater understanding of the machines he worked with and the ability to potentially undertake maintenance himself or at least provide a detailed overview of the fault when reporting it.

 

In a modern cinema the technology is much simpler to operate so that skillset is lost on the client side, adding further emphasis on Cooper’s team to be able to work at optimum efficiency.  As Cooper asserts:  “Our ability to diagnose has to be very good because the fault diagnostics aren’t always fantastic as you might imagine.”

Finally, there is the fact that Sony themselves are also facing their own price pressures.  The price of a high end broadcast cameras for example, have fallen dramatically in the last ten years and this hit to the bottom line also is of course felt by the service division. “We used to be able to, in certain instances, give some of our service elements away for free because it was built into the margin, that’s no longer possible," Cooper concedes.

Bespoke service offering

And it is these challenges that have ultimately led to Sony having to adopt a much more focussed approach to their service.

“In order to protect our customers and to deliver the levels of service that we want to be recognised for, we give a fairly high level of service at point of sale but then we sell our additional service contract offerings up to any level including up to full bespoke.” Cooper explains

Add to this the growing trend of servitization, which for Sony at the moment is currently something of a pull market with their customers more and more frequently seeking to engage with Sony on a pay-per-usage basis.

 

A perfect example of this is a new system Sony have just implemented for Telemadrid.  Replacing a previous Sony system which was over a decade old, the suite contains the latest technology and is provided on a pay-per-usage basis. “It’s a fully managed system, and in that instance it’s all about the service - the technology is just an enabler.” Cooper explains. “And we are starting to see the pressures on the broadcasters, big lumps of cash are harder to come by, many are now starting to ask about pay per usage. Then it’s all about service delivery, ” he adds.

With such significant shifts in business principals, service is quite rightly becoming a much more fundamental part of Sony’s wider business strategy.

As a result of these shifts however, Cooper and his colleagues needed to revisit their existing service infrastructure, with a view to replacing their 15-year-old legacy system with something better suited to the growing complexity of their service organisation. “We used to be able to, in certain instances, give some of our service elements away for free because it was built into the margin, that’s no longer possible,“ Cooper concedes.

And it is these challenges that have ultimately led to Sony having to adopt a much more focused approach to their service. “In order to protect our customers and to deliver the levels of service that we want to be recognised for, we give a fairly high level of service at point of sale but then we sell our additional service contract offerings up to any level including up to full bespoke,” Cooper explains

Add to this the growing trend of servitization, which for Sony at the moment is currently something of a pull market with their customers more and more frequently seeking to engage with Sony on pay-per-usage basis.

As a result of these shifts however, Cooper and his colleagues needed to revisit their existing service infrastructure, with a view to replacing their 15-year-old legacy system with something better suited to the growing complexity of their service organisation.

 

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Look out for Part 2 of this interview, when Cooper will talk about how he and his team reviewed both off-the-shelf systems and customised solutions to determine which was fit-for-purpose, their reasons for making the choice they did and the impact on the service operation.

 

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Today’s world of industry is evolving at a faster pace than ever before. Agility is key to surviving and thriving in this modern era and agility in service can be the difference between you and your competitors writes Tom Bowe of IFS.

At IFS we talk a lot about business agility, because we believe organisations that are able to respond rapidly to internal and external environmental changes without losing momentum or vision will be game-changers in their field. Why is being adaptable and flexible so important in today’s business world? The world is changing at an exponential rate. The youngest generation of the workforce is further removed from those leaving the workforce than ever before.

Then, of course, you have the learning lessons of those businesses that failed to respond effectively to the rapidly changing technological landscape. Nokia failed to recognise evolving customer demands in the smartphone market and ultimately were destroyed by Apple and Android’s fast paced R&D and delivery cycles. They were the world’s dominant mobile-phone maker but by the time Microsoft bought them in 2013, they claimed just three percent of the global smartphone market. The New Yorker put it aptly, stating; “Nokia’s failure resulted at least in part from an institutional reluctance to transition into a new era.”

Agility is something that will not only allow your business to survive and keep up with an ever evolving market, but it will also give your organisation a competitive edge, particularly in the service sector. This flexibility must be driven internally with a scalable approach. The buy-in must be company-wide, and one place to start is with your processes and systems. The implementation and application of ERP software is most often considered traditional, rigid development, but that is not necessarily the case. ERP software from IFS is built with an architecture that lets you pick and choose what you need for your business. It is optimised to be the best option for service organisations, it is user-friendly, and developmentally adaptable and scalable.

 

Imagine having this flexibility and usability across your organisation, driving your service as a profit centre. An integrated service management platform gives you the consistency, reliability and speed to react in real-time to real-world events. It is an enabler for agility. An integrated solution is provided all on the same platform, so changes to business processes and workflows don’t need to be implemented across multiple systems. This means that processes and workflows are applied seamlessly across the organisation, ensuring efficiency, productivity and accuracy of information. Implementations of multiple systems take time, are tied to prohibitive costs, and are fraught with risk. With one fully integrated system rather than multiple systems connected together, you as an organisation benefit from speed of change, ease of change, reduced costs, and less risk.

Having a fully integrated system gives your organisation true visibility into not only operations, but the field as well. From call intake to financials, the entire process is documented, tracked, and easily accessed at any point during the entire service life-cycle. This gives an organisation visibility of day-to-day activity, and business intelligence needed to forecast accurately for the future. Imagine a flexible system that automatically applies certain determined processes to specific workflows, that identifies parts needed for specific jobs and then instructs technicians on what procedures need to take place during certain projects.

An agile system provides automation and optimisation, coupled with complete configurability and usability, allowing you to operate on a level that continually ensures success. Business agility is particularly important when it comes to service. Customer demands are at an all-time high, thanks to social media and the instant gratification culture created by having things available, immediately, at our fingertips. Service organisations must meet, or better yet, exceed, these expectations.

 

Agility in service not only drives speed-to-market, but also speed-to-delivery, which creates a competitive edge. So what can you do to achieve this agility when it comes to your software solutions and business processes? Evaluate the challenges and failings you have in relation to your current systems and delivery. Consider replacing your current back end system with something that will give you flexibility as your organisation grows internally and externally.

Often with larger, monolithic systems, internal change is static or too complicated to be effective. IFS Applications 9 is able to provide a business edge when it comes to visibility with perhaps the industry’s first user-configurable role-specific interfaces in IFS Lobby, enhanced usability within existing mobile service management tools and strategic customer relationship management (CRM) embedded directly in the applications for real-time visibility and control over the customer lifecycle.

Change the game by approaching the market with a system that will give you the visibility and flexibility needed to truly operate in the fast changing service industry. By making this fundamental change to integrated service management, you will be more prepared for external change, including trends like IoT, share economy, drones, and more. With a foundation based on agility, your organisation is guaranteed to adapt, no matter the situation.

 

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New levels of customer service performance are now the norm and it’s about time we all realised this,  writes Bill Pollock, President, Strategies for Growth

Until only recently, the Services Lifecycle Management (SLM) solutions purchase/acquisition cycle was a fairly closed-loop, highly structured, and oftentimes formal process. Potential users obtained most of their decision-making data and informational input directly from the vendors, sought the recommendations of published buyer’s guides and directories, and picked up on the latest “buzz” at industry trade shows or via services trade publications – all historically serving as powerful and rich resources.

This was the way SLM solution decisions had been supported and made for decades. But then, the LinkedIn, blogs and social media changed everything – including the means by which information is gathered, reviewed, and analysed; how potential vendors are evaluated and selected; and even the way in which customers position themselves as potential buyers in a largely buyer’s market.

The White House Office of Consumer Affairs has reported that dissatisfied customers will tell between nine and 15 people about their negative experience, with roughly 13 percent (i.e., or about one-in-eight) telling more than 20 people. Satisfied customers, on the other hand, will only tell about four to six people about their positive experience.

 

Therefore, according to the report, customer service failures are likely to be communicated two-and-a-half times more often than customer service successes. As a result, services organisations need to maintain a ratio of roughly 2.5-to-1 satisfied vs. dissatisfied customers just to break even in terms of word-of-mouth customer service feedback.

In all likelihood, customers will become even more critical – and communicative – about their service experiences in the future, based on the widespread usage of social media tools and technology devices. This presents a new front for services organisations to address in an increasingly social media-influenced marketplace; however, there are still many other challenges that must also be addressed.

The three most uniquely daunting challenges faced by services organisations over the past few decades have included the following:

 

• Transforming themselves from manufacturer/OEM cost centers to strategic lines of business (i.e., with their own executive-level management and P&L responsibility).
• Shifting their operational focus from company-centric to customer-centric, whereby the customer represents the focal point of their universe.
• Learning how to treat their business-to-business (B2B) accounts with the same high level of service and support that other vendors use to treat their business-to-consumer (B2C) customers.

Surely there have been other equally daunting challenges facing the services industry throughout this period, as well, including:

• The globalization of business operations.
• An uncertain cycle of volatile economic upturns and downturns.
• The proliferation of new technologies and applications.
• The continuing shakeout of marginal performers, and the resultant consolidation within the supply side sectors.
• The widespread growth of social media for business purposes.

However, while each of these business game-changers ultimately impacts all business segments, the three challenges outlined in the top list above focus uniquely on the services sector.

 

It is no longer good enough to tell your customers that your organisation is “no worse” than any of its competitors (the “like-company” comparison); because, if you do, you will risk hearing something in return such as, “I understand that. But what I don’t understand is why you can’t process my order as accurately as Amazon.com or QVC, or handle my return – and process my credit – as quickly as American Express!”

Companies like Amazon.com and QVC are maximizing their use of the Internet’s communications capabilities by making not only the purchasing process easy – but the returns process as well. For example, you might purchase an item from one of these vendors via telephone, laptop, iPhone, tablet or other handheld device. Once you obtain a customer number, it’s all very easy to place an order.

The overall customer experience is then heightened even further by the high level of communications provided to the consumer (i.e., the receipt of a near-instant e-mail confirmation of the order; the subsequent follow-up e-mails when the item is shipped; notification of when an item is on backorder; etc.). Even the return process is easy: if the item isn’t what you thought it would be (e.g., wrong color or size, you already got one for your birthday – whatever!) you can simply return it in the same packaging used for the initial shipping along with the supplied return mailing label, and a return receipt and credit notification will be forwarded to you (typically) in a matter of days – if not hours! By comparison, can your organisation match these industry-leading practices with respect to its parts sales?

By simply delivering (or promising) the same-old, same-old treatment to your existing customers, you are guaranteed to continue treating them as “just another business account” (i.e., the “B” in B2B). However, your customers are quickly becoming accustomed to being treated better as “C’s” by some of the most successful B2C vendors. They are also increasingly being empowered by the Internet; a seemingly unending number of new technologies, apps and devices; and the ongoing explosion of social media tools.

The time has come for your organisation to recognize that these “new” levels of customer delivery performance are now the norm – and that its customers will increasingly settle for nothing less than the best.

 

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Copperberg hosted 100+ field service leaders from across Europe and cross-sectors within the manufacturing industry at its 2nd Annual Field Service Forum, which took place in June at the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport.  Thomas Igou, Editorial Director for event producer Copperberg gives us his personal overview of how the two day event took place... 

Pre-Event Workshops

The conference was preceded by two pre-event workshops that focused on core aspects of a successful Field Service business. The mobility workshop, hosted by Marc Tonen, Pre-Sales Consultancy Manager EMEA at Astea, delved into how to best integrate mobility solutions to create a mobile workforce that will enhance the value of your service offerings to your customers. As many manufacturers are planning to or are currently rolling out mobility solutions, this was an essential topic to be discussed, and one that would be further covered during the rest of the conference.

The second workshop was hosted by Jim Baston, President of BBA Consulting Group, and covered an ever growing topic in field service today: the technician’s role in pro-active business growth in order to go beyond great service. In other words, how to develop the soft skills of field technicians they can lay the groundwork for up-sells or customer retention. Considering the amazing reaction to Jim’s workshop, it is clear that for many field service businesses, technicians are more than maintenance experts. They are the first pawns in the battle of creating long lasting relationships with customers.

Service Mastery Day

The conference officially kicked off with a new and highly appreciated feature: the Service Mastery Day. The three hour seminar from Chris Daffy, a renowned customer service specialist from the UK, covered the key aspects to building exceptional customer loyalty through field engineers. Chris is a very charismatic speaker who is not afraid to use humor to put forth his message, built from years of experience working in customer service, as well as research from professionals and academics into the topic. The result was a refreshing presentation on the art and science of customer loyalty building, why a balanced brain approach is essential for building sustainable customer loyalty, and the engineering excellence principles and tools that are equally effective in engineering customer loyalty.

Networking Evening

Following the Service Mastery Day, participants joined for a long evening of structured networking, always one of the highlights of Copperberg events. Delegates, speakers and partners were able, prior to the event, to schedule one-to-one meetings to ensure making the most out of the event and creating long lasting professional contacts. The evening featured different activities such as a mingling drink reception, elevator pitches from some of the partners, and an inspirational session from Motivational Coach Malcolm Larri. Participants were then invited to a very relaxed dinner banquet where they were also treated to a magic show.

The main conference day offered participants a wide array of formats, from morning masterclasses, keynotes, industry-driven and technology-driven executive circles, and parallel tracks of focus sessions meant to challenge them to not only learn, but also share. There were three key themes that floated around during the event: global workforce, smart services, and operational efficiency.

Global Workforce

Further to Jim Baston’s introductory workshop on the development of a technician’s soft sales ability, many sessions focused on talent and the workforce needed for a successful field service. ServiceMax’s morning masterclass, held by Patrice Eberline, best resumed the reason behind why this topic is of great importance: 40% of service technicians are over the age of 40, and 60% of companies are understaffed in their technical and highly skilled positions, meaning that the service industry has a looming talent problem.

There were also many discussions during networking breaks and executive circles on the underestimated importance of good leadership, as field service is by definition a people business, and people crave for good and inspiring leadership. Another session that stood out was from Brian Dahl Thomsen, Head of Operations and Regional Support for Siemens Wind Power, who shared his views on the needed competencies to be a service technician. Brian developed on Siemens Wind Service’s method of analyzing what competencies are need to cope with the environment of their products, the technology as well as the logistics aspect. Finally, they ensure to have the right approach on a management level to cope with talent management by setting clear target and objectives and investing in the right training methods.

Smart Services

Another hot topic at the event was how to develop smart services, such as predictive maintenance. A lot of manufacturers are currently looking into IoT, and how M2M/Big Data can help them improve their service business. One session from Magnus Sävenäs, VP Customer Service, Head of Global Field Service & Training at ABB Robotics gave an insight on how to use the latest technology trends to improve your business. The session focused on how to run a data driven organisation with the motto, “easy to buy, easy to service”. Magnus explained the five pillars for this: installed base data, organisation, remote service, customer access to information, and knowledge management.

Operational Efficiency

The highlight of the third track was a great case study from Andre Skerlavaj, Director Global Service Strategy for Pentair Valves and Control. His session focused on their PRONTO project, a holistic approach to increased service levels. PRONTO is a cross-functional approach that was developed to ensure streamlined processes and smooth execution from service scoping through to international service delivery. The rest of the track also featured interesting sessions from Brick, on how to make heroes of your service sales team, and Elektrobit Wireless, on how to conduct a successful mobility project.

Technology

The event was also a great showcase of the latest technological developments that support field service activities. Mobility was of course a big part of the event as more and more organizations understand the necessity to connect their front line (field service technicians dispersed all over the globe) to the back office. Through focus sessions, case studies, and roundtable discussions, delegates were able to get a full spectrum of implementing mobility solutions, from the key challenges faced when mobilising business processes, how to achieve ROI, or even the possibilities with a mobile service sales tool. Another, more disruptive, technology that was discussed was Internet of Things (IoT). Mark Brewer from PTC gave an exciting keynote on the impact IoT will have on service operations by looking at breakthroughs in operational effectiveness and strategic differentiation. Staying on the theme of connectivity, there was a lot of buzz about wearables technology. XMReality were able to give a demo of wearable tech on the exhibition floor, while Måns Granholm, General Manager Process Development & Commissioning at Wärtsilä, gave a keynote on their use of Virtual Engineers in an augmented reality environment.

The closing keynote from Edmilson Toledo, Head of Global FSO Program at Ericsson, was one of the highlights of the event. Edmilson’s session focused on the networked society, and how digital technologies can transform field service businesses in a game changing way. The keynote covered mobility, and how Ericsson is using mobile phones as a tool available for all field technicians, as well as wearables smart glasses, which Edmilson feels is a market moving to maturity. Lastly, the session highlighted UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), also known as drones, as a tool to support technicians.

Conclusion

All in all, the event was an impressive gathering of industry leaders and solution providers. A lot of innovative ideas were thrown around by the participants either during the presentations, roundtable conversations, Q&A’s, or networking sessions, on how to grow the field service business.

 

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ABOUT AFTERMARKET

The 9th Aftermarket Business Platform will take place October 21st-23rd at the Grand Hotel Huis Ter Duin in the Netherlands, gathering 200+ service leaders from global manufacturers. The theme of the event will be, Service Transformation: delivering value and differentiation to customers and will feature case studies from KONE, Zimmer, Scania, Emerson Process Management, ABB Power Generation, AGCO Parts, Hyundai Motor UK, Medtronic and many more. The event will be chaired by Rob Van Hove, CEO of Kuiken Group. For more information, visit: www.aftermarketeurope.com

 

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What is the value of a customer relationship? Is it worth it to over-deliver on SLAs just to keep a paying client? What role does field service have in keeping customers happy? Aly Pinder, senior research analyst analyst, Service Management, Aberdeen Group,  shares his views.

These are all questions which have put a microscope on service technicians and field engineers. Historically, the field service team was solely looked to in order to show up on time based on a 4-8 hour service window and fix a failure. But in this age of empowered customers, the field service team is expected to deliver real value to each customer interaction (while also, of course, fixing the failure).

But with this demand for increased value comes the opportunity to find new products and services that customers need and want to buy. As seen in Aberdeen’s Service Revenue: Unearth an Untapped Stream of Dollars research, eight out of ten top performers (81%) were able to attain their service revenue goals in 2014 and they also cultivate an environment of innovation for their service offerings to meet the needs of their customers. But how did these service organizations and manufacturers achieve these results? Did the money just fall from the trees? Of course not, these companies helped the field team excel at service and wow their customers into new opportunities.

The path to this level of engagement is outlined below and should be the centerpiece of any strategy to drive profitability from the field:

• The carrot is often more successful than the stick in business. Incentives, if targeted the right way, have the ability to drive the behaviors which can transform an organization.[quote float="left"]The carrot is often more successful than the stick in business. 

   

  This is true for the field team. If your organization only monitors or incents doing more jobs as quickly as possible, your technicians will neglect aspects of the service experience which could prove valuable to customers. Savvy service leaders implement incentives and performance goals which tackle both short-term operational objectives and long-term relationship goals like profitability, revenue, and customer satisfaction.
• Give the sales team a view into the field. The sales team has a difficult job (and no, I am not pandering to the sales executives out there). They “always must be closing” new business. And one of their top challenges is having enough leads to close. This is where the field service team can help out. Service technicians are in front of customers every day, they’re in front of the equipment on site, and they even have access to the competition’s assets. But in order to connect customer insight with the sales team, the field needs the mobile tools AND the training to pass along the right information. Technicians need to ask the right questions while on site with customers and have their eyes / ears open to gaps in the current products and services being used. Passing these leads on to sales can drive the top line for the entire organization.
• Don’t give service away for free.

   

  Don’t give service away for free. Too often organizations send technicians out to customers to service equipment and assets which are no longer under warranty or within a service contract. This is a missed opportunity. Top performing organizations ensure their service team delivers service which is being paid for. And when contracts expire or are close to, technicians don’t have to refuse service but they will have the knowledge to give the customer a small nudge reminding them their bill is due.

The field service team has a special place in the hearts and minds of customers. Technicians show up when there is a problem (or before), fix it, and leave with a smile. But this relationship has the opportunity to garner insights that can turn into new revenue opportunities. I don’t think technicians should be salespeople, but they understand customers, equipment, and assets. And this insight makes them invaluable in finding the next dollar while ensuring customers remain happy.

 

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As someone who has been involved in the growing trend towards Servitization and Advanced Services since their inception, Dr Michael Provost is perfectly placed to help make sense of what can be a complex topic in his new book “Everything Works Wonderfully: an Overview of Servitization and Physical Asset Management” (www.everythingworkswonderfully.com).
Mike’s book begins with an excellent short story that helps define Servitization in a clear and concise way. Click here to read the first part. Now Field Service News is pleased to publish the conclusion…

A Short Story (continued)

Peter Carpenter* managed to book some time with Anna Edwards* and they met two weeks later. Over coffee and sandwiches in Anna’s office, Peter went through the thinking he had been doing and showed Anna the ‘elevator speech’ that he had quickly put together during the train journey to HQ.

Anna stared at this for a minute or two before turning to Peter with a broad smile on her face. “I think you’ve cracked it, Peter!” she exclaimed. “I can see it now: our customers want what our power units do, not what they are. If we sell reliable power, not units, our customers will come to us rather than the competition to get what they really want and will pay us a fair price instead of ringing me up at all hours of the day and night demanding yet more concessions.”

“You realise, Anna, that this will mean the company will have to change its thinking, from top to bottom.” said Peter. “For example, we won’t be able to rely on profits from spares sales to offset any losses made on unit sales because spares usage will appear on our books, not the customers’. Our units will have to consume fewer spares than they do now. Engineering and Manufacturing will have to listen to inputs from Spares and Repairs and we will need to put comprehensive and robust systems in place to gather, store, process and output information about how our units are working in the field. It’s a whole different mindset and some of the current managers won’t get it.” “Don’t worry, Peter!” retorted Anna. “Those that don’t buy into this will either have to change their thinking or leave. I’ll need a plan, a budget and a list of the people you think you’ll need to help you for the next Board meeting, to which you are invited.”

“Would you like to be the director in charge of this?” Anna added. “Of course, Anna!” exclaimed Peter. “This looks like a real challenge and, with your backing, we can build this into something that will completely transform the organisation. It will also get me away from all the jobs that need doing at home.” They both laughed. “What do you think of Helen’s design for a logo?” enquired Peter, as he turned to leave. “I thought it showed real flair and imagination.” “That could be your first decision.” replied Anna. “Let’s discuss it with Marketing before the meeting.”

 

The Board poured cold water on Peter’s presentation, but Anna insisted that Peter’s initiative had to be pursued, made Peter the Board member responsible and gave him her full support. The next few years were hard, but genuine progress was made by Peter and his team and even the most sceptical Board members couldn’t brush aside the company’s much improved financial state. Peter set up a subsidiary to ensure that the initiative grew without being stifled by the old guard, who saw their power and status threatened and pushed back hard.  As predicted, those who didn’t fit into the new culture either left voluntarily or were asked to go.

MW4 grew rapidly: many managers and employees saw it as an opportunity to escape from the limitations imposed by existing corporate structures, the company was able to recruit many good people with the skills it required and those involved relished the chance to contribute fresh ideas. Eventually, as the market responded positively to the new way the organisation conducted its business and built more constructive relationships with its customers, sales and profits rose, the City started to take notice and the share price began to rise rapidly. Anna knew that she had turned the corner when she overheard a long-serving manager talk about product sales as the entry ticket to the true market, which was satisfying real customer needs rather than merely selling clever bits of metal.

Customers began to ring Anna up with fulsome praise rather than complaints and the press and investment analysts began writing long, glowing articles about the ‘new’ Precision Powerplants*, which began to be seen as a model company that pointed the way to the future rather than a relic of past glories. Peter and Anna were in great demand to speak at industry and government events as other companies sought to emulate Precision Powerplant’s success. Marketing even produced a very concise summary of MW4, inspired by Japanese Haiku poetry: “We will both prosper if you buy what our products do, not what they are”.

 

Anna was just finishing off her last cup of ‘canteen cappuccino’ when Peter breezed in. “The Oracle has spoken!” he exclaimed. “I am the new boss! It wouldn’t have happened without your unwavering support over the last ten years, Anna. Thanks for everything!” Anna stood up to shake Peter’s hand, knowing that the company would grow and prosper under Peter’s wise guidance. As she left for the last time, a thought struck her as she turned on the windscreen wipers: perhaps she should use the proceeds from selling some of her share options to buy that villa near Saint-Tropez that Chris had seen advertised in the FT. It would make a good surprise birthday present for him and provide a much-needed bolthole from the atrocious UK weather.

* Note: the company and characters are fictitious, but the scenarios are based on experience.

Please note that this short story has been previously published in the following:-
Provost, M. (2014). Everything Works Wonderfully: an Overview of Servitization and Physical Asset Management - a Short Story. Asset Management and Maintenance Journal, Volume 27, Issue 5, September 2014, pp. 43-45. Mornington, Victoria, Australia: Engineering Information Transfer Pty Ltd.

 

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