ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘future-of-field-service-2’ CATEGORY

Technology and field service are now almost inherently intertwined such is the rapid evolution of field service industry. As we enter the New Year Field Service News continues to take a look at some of the key technologies that we believe will have a significant impact on the way field service will continue to evolve.

In the first part of this series we looked at wearables, NFC and the Cloud. Now we turn our attention to the Internet of Things, Big Data and Cyber Security…

The Internet of Things will start becoming an integral part of field service…

Ahh Gartner’s Hype-Cycle. The “peak of inflated expectations”, the “trough of despair” and the brilliant “plateau of productivity” – every-time I look at it I conjure up images of a Jules Verne –esque mysterious lost island where herds of wild analysts and ferrel consultants roam wild, free and happy. I may well be alone in this, but I’m certainly not alone in keeping an eye on where emerging tech is on the cycle.

They may not always get it right, but to be fair to the good folk at Gartner, their usually pretty close.

 

So it was with interest last August that I looked at the latest hype cycle and saw that Internet of Things had just superseded Big Data at the top of the tree where the “hyperbole has hit hyperdrive” (If anyone at Gartner’s paying attention you can have that one for free!). I found this particularly interesting for two reasons.

Firstly whilst it may like some kind of earth shattering tragedy for all those data scientists who were being treated like geek-royalty what seems like ten minutes ago, the reality is that Big Data slipping into the trough of despair just means that we are starting to think about it in grown up terms (see below) rather than the Chuck Norris of technology.

The second and perhaps most important part is that whilst according to Gartner IoT may now have officially the most over inflated expectations, the reality is that in field service at least it is already being actively used far more openly than Big Data was when it was on the same point of the Hype Cycle. In fact I would go as far as to say that this time Gartner have got it wrong and the Internet of Things is perhaps just past the top of the peak and starting to stare down into the trough.

 

Maybe it’s a distorted view in the field service industry, but I genuinely feel that whilst it may be a minority, there is a decent amount of companies that have implemented some form of IoT control or monitoring into their Field Service operations. In some corners it’s not even that new, heck, medical device manufacturer Elekta have been building connection into their devices for twenty odd years – they even used to ship their devices with 56K modems of their own back in the day.

As we roll into 2015, connected devices are booming, from thermostats to thermonuclear power generators, and the ability to remotely monitor, diagnose and even repair device faults is such a no brainer for field service companies that they cannot afford to miss the IoT revolution.

BigData in field service will get past those awkward teen years and get to work…

So back to Big Data then.

One of my favourite phrases I’ve heard about Big Data was from Dave Hart at ServiceMax when he said Big Data is like teenage sex, everyone’s talking about it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it but no one actually knows how to actually do it.

This I think is why Gartner may have their timings a bit backwards when it comes to Big Data and IoT.

 

For whilst I can see Big Data languishing within the ‘Trough’ as we mere mortals spend time still trying to define exactly what Big Data is (how many V’s are we up to now?) and reluctantly turning to those mystic shaman we call Data Scientists to try and get some sense out it all, I see IoT racing by to it’s own little place in the ‘plateau’.

Why? because IoT is pretty much results in tangible outcomes and combines two factors we are already comfortable with, that is ‘Internet’ and ‘Things’. And I’m not trying to be flippant when I say that either, it’s just IoT is that much easier to get.

So back to Big Data then (again?) where does this leave us in field service?

Well hopefully with a much more mature, sensible mindset because there is no denying the sheer power of Big Data to revolutionise a business and there is also no denying that as field service companies have access to huge, vast swathes of data – they perhaps more than any other industry segment could benefit from the true application of Big Data.

However, what Big Data is not is adding a new module to a field service management software with a few convertible dashboards and hey presto the board can tick off that pesky little box empty box on their to do list.

 

Let’s think about this for a moment, when in our lives has anything that is billed to be powerful enough to reshape the way we do business been as easy as buying a new module. This is where Big Data got lost to the hyperbole. In some quarters it was the magic bullet that would cure all evils. As we all know magic bullets don’t really work. However, hard-work combined with a clear strategy and intelligent implementation does.

Big Data is reliant on investment.

Investment in technology, investment in personel with new skill sets unique to the task and investment in time to devise and implement a Big Data strategy. However, once it is succesfully implemented that investment could yield a phenomenal return on investment both financially and also in our understanding of both our business and our customers.

I believe 2015 could be the year that field service companies will start to see through the hyperbole that just scratches the surface of Big Data and see it’s true game changing potential. However, for that to happen we need to treat it with the respect it deserves.

We need to re-adjust our thinking around risk management and cyber security…

Given the two points above this third point of the article is a bit of a given. So we won’t dwell to long here.

There are two simple facts here; Firstly Data is essentially becoming a new form of currency, and I’m not referring to crypto-currencies here but to the fact that the information available to be mined from data is inherently valuable.

Secondly,as we turn more and more of our functions across to the cloud including data storage, the more it will become a place of interest for twenty first century criminals.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the Cloud is any less secure than on premise data centres. It just means that we must realign our thinking to ensure we are protected.

According to Cloud Security experts Trend Micro the three key best security practices for 2015 are to:

• Develop and implement an overall risk management strategy
• Secure and regularly maintain web infrastructure
• Enforce stricter mobile device and data management policies

Lets take a quick look at each of these in turn…

Firstly, whilst it is of course recommended to turn to a cyber security specialist in devising your security strategies, a [quote float="left"]When it comes to risk management, much like insurance it can be disastrous if you cut corners and opt for the cheapest package. And often we only realise this when it’s too late.

quick, easy off the shelf solution is simply not going to cut the mustard. A robust cyber defence should be custom built to meet the requirements of your company. When it comes to risk management, much like insurance it can be disastrous if you cut corners and opt for the cheapest package. And often we only realise this when it’s too late.

 

With regards to point two, last years exposure to Shellshock and Heartbleed identified significant vulnerabilities and this should serve as a warning to companies that they need to keep software regularly updated and patched. Heuristic scanning and sandbox technologies are two of the key technologies that Trend Micro recommend here.

And as we look at the final point we also enter the world of HR as well as technology.

In field service in particular, where our workforce is becoming ever more reliant on mobile devices, we really need to consider the introduction of mobile safety policies to safeguard your data – even more so if you are operating a BYOD policy, whilst of course IT administrators must address mobile device management concerns to protect work related apps and data.

As mentioned above, today’s world of the internet, cloud and mobile is not necessarily any less secure than days gone by. It is just with new methods come new security concerns, so we must remain vigilant and I think 2015 will see us to further improve in this area once more.

Look out for the final part of this series where we complete our look at technology trends we believe we will see in field service across 2015.

Be social and share this feature

End to end field service was one of the biggest buzz phrases heard across the past year. At trade shows, in the industry press and not least from a considerable number of field service technology providers themselves we kept hearing that ‘end-to-end’ was a core consideration that field service organisations should be factoring on when exploring how they can modernise their current service management systems.

However, there was and still remains a number of inconsistencies around exactly what is end-to-end field service management. Is it a case of having all existing systems under one platform? Or perhaps just the need to have each of our various components within the field service chain talking to each other? Is it a software or hardware solution – or is it both?

As with any emerging concept it will take time to substantiate into clearly defined parameters (if ever). However, one thing is certain, taking in a comprehensive overview of each step in the lifecycle of a service call within your organisation is certainly an advisable route to take before even contemplating moving to a next generation solution be it hardware, software or both.

Whilst the service journey may differ from organisation to organisation, as in reality, no two companies are identical, yet there are key points within the service cycle that will likely exist within most organisations.

In this new series we will look across some of these points and explore some of the technology solutions that could help both you and your company in achieving higher first time fix rates and better field service productivity.

There is also an accompanying white paper to this series which is available to download here

Incoming – taking the service request

Of course in most instances the first part of the service call lifecycle starts with the initial call for a service request itself. However, in today’s age of apps and internet is that first communication necessarily over the telephone? Well according to research undertaken by Field Service News earlier this year the telephone certainly remains the dominant means of communication between service companies and their clients with over 80% of companies operating a call centre.

Whilst having a dedicated phone line for service calls is a tried and trusted method of allowing a service call and it certainly has it’s place within field service organisations (particularly if staffed by knowledgeable agents with a clear understanding of both your products and systems as well as a great customer centric nature) if your call centre performs under par for any given reason it can reflect incredibly poorly on your brand as a whole.

 

Be honest… how many times have you been sat at the end of the phone listening to muzak and being told your call is important for the umpteenth time and you’ve thought less than positive thoughts about the provider your trying to reach.

And if your trying to reach someone, just so you can the product you paid good money for back up and running as it is impacting on your ability to do business… well you can crank that frustration all the way up to 11.

Of course, in many cases especially in a business to business environment, Service Level Agreement’s can include quicker call response times etc, but the fact remains that phoning a call centre can potentially be both time consuming and frustrating. In today’s technologically rich environment a call centre should be one option you offer your customers not the only option.

So how else could we accept and log a service call?

Well a case could be made for email. Indeed the same research as above identified email as the second most common means of service companies accepting service request with 63% of companies also offering an email option. On the plus side, like the phone it is something that we all know and are familiar with. However, there are also a number of potential pitfalls that could cause problems with email.

Firstly it isn’t necessarily a system that conveys urgency particularly well. Unless you have someone who is monitoring an email account as their sole focus response times could vary from minutes to days.

 

Not particularly helpful if you want to offer consistency in your response times, yet ensuring a service request email account is monitored could be both complex to manage and poor use of available resources. Also with email communication it can be hard to get a clear grasp of the exact issue your customer is facing – they may not know the correct terminology for example.

Going through a series of preliminary questions during a phone conversation may take just a few minutes and can greatly help in identifying the issue, resulting in better diagnosis and higher likelihood of a first time fix.

Over email this could easily become a laborious, long winded process over a number of emails that could span days rather than minutes. Again not good if your product is business critical to your customer.

Why hasn’t web taken firmer foothold?

Given the potential limitations of both phone and email it is surprising that so few companies have explored alternatives such as self-help portals, web-chat and mobile apps, yet only 29% of companies had the functionality of booking appointments online, and only 5% had this functionality via an app.

One obvious issue around giving your customers the power to schedule appointments is of course once again the lack of opportunity to understand the issue which would likely result in a higher proportion of service visits being ‘diagnosis’ rather than fix. One solution around this is to build in some form of diagnosis ahead of the form submission.

This could take a number of formats. One that telecoms provider Sky use well for example is to guide the customer through a series of questions that either lead to the customer achieving a fix themselves or a diagnosis of the problem that is a lot more fine tuned. The process for example could be as follows. Your customer logs in to request call.

The web portal asks the customer a series of questions the answers to each prompt a suggested fix, if this is unsuccessful further questions, further refining the diagnosis and so on. Of course you don’t want the process to be too drawn out but the customer could quite easily try two or three common fixes before being granted access to a service request form. The information gleaned from the form could then be easily included within the pre-dispatch data.

For example we know the problem is not A, B or C so it is likely D or E.

 

Therefore your dispatch knows to send an engineer who is capable of dealing with and has the right tools to fix D or E. Another means of getting this insight is web-chat systems.

Web chat basically combines the benefits of phone in that it is possible to question the customer in real time to improve the diagnosis, yet is cheaper to operate and can offer a more convenient means of contact for the customer.

UK Blue Chip British Telecoms are one company that have heavily explored the potential of web-chat portals. Nicola Millard, Customer Experience Futurologist at BT Global Services commented:

“We found that web chat is considered to be an equivalent and often superior method of working compared to calls…. our research identifies a double bonus: both advisors and customers like using it and it leads to cost savings for contact centre operators. For these reasons, we expect web chat to continue to grow as a channel.”

With smart phones now pretty much ubiquitous across most developed nations it is also worth considering your customers journey in reaching you also.

 Studies have indicated that 50% of smart phone users prefer to use apps for contact than phone and many of the web tools mentioned (plus the option to move to a phone call if desired) can all be integrated into an app seamlessly.

 

Whilst each of the above may have their plusses and minuses what is important is to remember that logging a service request is the first step in an incredibly important process in terms of how your customers perceive your levels of service. Get it right and you can likely expect this customer to remain loyal, get it wrong and it is your competition that will benefit.

Therefore it is important to ensure you are providing your customer with the options that he prefers (some may prefer the phone, others online for example) but that also allows you to collect the right information to ensure you can correctly diagnose as many issues as possible to feed into the service request which will ultimately help keep your field service engineers productivity at a maximum.    

There is also an accompanying white paper to this series which is available to download here

This series is sponsored by:

Be social and share this feature

The field service industries are often leading the way in terms of technology being used within enterprise.

For example the wider world of Enterprise Mobility Management is still something of an infantile stage compared to the percentage of field service companies that have embraced mobile solutions. Yet in field service the message has become clear and it is now a case of how and when companies move to an automated mobile led solution, rather than if and why.

So with this in mind Field Service News has taken a look at some of the key technological trends that we believe will impact the field service industries in the next 12 months.

In this the first of three features in this series we look at The Cloud, Wearables and NFC

 1. The Cloud will finally come of age in field service management...

It has been debated for a long time and worries around security of the cloud have been continuously refreshed by the occasional high profile breaches of consumer cloud technology such as last years breach of Apple’s iCloud, which due to the celebrities involved, made headline news across the globe.

However, in the world of industry Cloud security is far more sophisticated, with companies such as Axeda and Amazon Web Services being names regularly thrown out in discussions around the Cloud as they have built a reputation for being leaders in developing robust cloud security within their product offerings.

Early last year Field Service News conducted research into how the Cloud had taken root amongst field service companies, and we revealed that although at that point only 23% of field service companies were using a Cloud based field service solution. Of those that were either using either an on premise solution or manual based processes, well over half were actively considering moving to a Cloud based solution in the next iteration of their field service software.

 

The benefits of the Cloud are well documented and well suited to field service organisations. Scalable, low IT costs, quick roll out, easy mobile access, and built in disaster recovery plus an affordable pricing structure for smaller and medium sized companies via the SaaS model. With almost all Field Service management software vendors now providing a cloud offering it seems just a matter of time before Cloud becomes the dominant distribution model of field service software and we think that 2015 will be the year that we really see the pendulum swing in favour of the Cloud.

2. We will start getting smart about wearables…

Given that last year was supposed to have been ‘The Year of The Wearables’ it has to be said that the appetite for wearable computing both amongst consumers and businesses alike has been rather stunted. In fact a recent report from Juniper Research predicted that sales of Smart Glasses, perhaps the most exciting of the current wearable options, are unlikely to reach more than 10 million per anum globally by 2018.

Yet are we victims of falling for the hyperbole a touch too much when it comes to our expectations of wearables, almost certainly. In too many corners wearables were being heralded as the next wave of technology that would be all conquering, much along the lines of tablets and smartphones before them.

This is where we are going wrong. Wearables such as Smart Glasses and Smart Watches are not replacements for tablets and smart phones, they are companion devices and when we change our thought process to view them as such they can be powerful tools – particularly in the area of field service.

 

We all can see for example how Smart watches offer a great means for a field engineer to receive alerts and messages without having to interrupt their workflow. However, a more specific use for the field service engineer could be if he were to use the camera on his smart watch in combination with the screen of his phone to view otherwise inaccessible area - such as the back of a machine.

With Smart Glasses the opportunities in field service are even more apparent. For example a less experienced field service engineer could put a video call into a more experienced colleague. Whilst this is of course possible with most modern smart phones, when such a call is made via smart glasses the more senior engineer can see exactly what the onsite engineer is looking at, whilst of course the onsite engineer has their hands free.

As the hyperbole dies down and real-life practical uses of wearables such as the above become better developed then we will see wearables take their place within the field service engineers tool-kit.

3. NFC will finally take it’s rightful place amongst field service must haves…

Near Field Communication (NFC) has been kicking around for some time now and the term is fairly well known amongst those with just a modicum of technological understanding, yet it hasn’t yet truly emerged to meet it’s potential as yet. And that potential could be massive in terms of further automating and streamlining multiple steps across a field service technicians working day.

However, as with smartphones themselves, it may just be that now computing giant Apple has stepped into the NFC fray (albeit somewhat tentatively it must be said) that we see NFC achieving true mass market penetration.

In very basic terms NFC acts in a wi-fi lite type where an NFC tag can be written to convey a set of rules which can be actioned by an NFC enabled device (many smart phones are now NFC enabled) when the device is brought in close proximity (typically within 10cm or more).

For the field service engineer for example there are a number of potential options for adding further layers of automation throughout his day. For example an NFC tag within the field service engineers vehicle dashboard could be programmed to open up a routing/mapping application and log the start of a journey in a field service app simply by pressing the field engineers smart phone against the tag.

 

If your field service operatives visit a company regularly then you could ship out NFC tags to your clients for them to put on reception so when a field service engineer comes in he can log his arrival at your clients premises – important when providing SLA reports for example.

As well as being able to provide actionable instructions, some NFC tags can also be written to contain data as well. So one other particularly useful application of a NFC in field service could be to leave an NFC tag on the device being repaired with notes on the maintenance carried out. That way the next time that device is repaired the field service engineer can read his colleagues notes to see if there are recurring problems etc. Similarly an NFC tag on the device could also open up a web-based knowledge base for that particular model etc.

Whilst all of the above options could of course simply be actioned by manually accessing apps what NFC offers is a means to further speed up and improve a field service engineer’s workflow. Indeed, the potential for NFC is vast and what makes it a particularly attractive proposition is that it is a relatively inexpensive addition (appx 30/40p per tag) that simply takes advantage of the functionality of the existing tools being used by the the field service engineer (i.e. smart phone or tablet)

With NFC now becoming an expected feature in most smartphones and tablets field service news believes that NFC will see much wider adoption in 2015.

Look out for the second part of this feature where we will be revealing three more of the big technology trends we believe will appear in 2015…

Be social and share this feature

The Cloud. Can you really avoid it? The cloud market is expected to grow to $121 billion dollars in 2015, a 26% compound annual growth rate from 2010’s $37 billion[1].

Such growth is set to continue, with research showing that 81% of organisations forecast a move to the cloud for 50% of their future transactions.

Indeed field service news research at the beginning of this year identified that whilst the shift to cloud based computing for service management software solutions hasn’t been as prevalent as say CRM systems there is a growing ground swell as companies establish an appetite for the cloud when it comes to the next generation of their service management software.

So what are the drivers for the growth in the cloud market?

With 60% of CIOs stating that their number one priority is cloud computing[2], a major driver has been the adoption of Software as a Service (SaaS) technology.

By 2017, SaaS is set to generate almost 60% of cloud revenues[3]. The move to SaaS is primarily driven by its ability to offer greater scalability, higher efficiencies with no loss of functionality, and reduced application costs, with a move to the cloud offering annual savings of over 20%.

However, there are of course additional benefits to the cloud as well as the SaaS model which whilst in the short term can make software more affordable in the long term can sometimes become the more costly option across a period of 3 years or more.

One significant benefit that the Cloud brings is that by it’s very nature it comes with disaster recovery essentially built in. Unlike an on premise system, should any significant problems hit your office such as fire, flooding or theft, if your core operating systems are Cloud based there will be no direct impact on your ability to continue work the next day.

Also we are now finally seeing fears around Cloud security being put to bed. Whilst amongst the general populace and in consumer computing the risk remains somewhat and the perception of this risk is amplified by security breaches of high profile consumer systems such as Apple’s iCloud, in the world of enterprise Cloud security is far more protected.

It is no coincidence that companies such as Axeda and Amazon Web Services have become dominant within the enterprise cloud sector and that both have an excellent reputation for understanding and delivering complex security solutions that meet the demands of their marketplace.

How are these trends reflected in the Service Management market?

IDC Research sponsored by Axios highlighted that every second company that now uses on-premise IT Service Management software plans to launch a cloud-based version within the next two years[4]. For many organizations, cloud has already become mainstream and their ITSM solution may be the 3rd or 4th major application that they have moved to the cloud.

The uptake of Microsoft’s Exchange365 in particular has increased businesses faith in cloud provision and allowed them to concentrate on their core business while cloud providers look after the infrastructure. Similarly, whilst some 15 years ago the likes of SAP and IBM were openly questioning and even mocking the likes of Salesforce.com and their cloud based infrastructure now there is something of a race amongst the slumbering IT giants to try and catch the tail of the wave and make out they were their all along.

Commenting on the research Scott Leckie, CTO at Axios Systems, said

“We’re seeing a shift in the market, with SaaS gaining substantial traction over the past year. Why is Service Management so suitable for cloud? For us, the move has been driven by a significant increase in user mobility and range of devices from which users require access to technology, anywhere and at any time. SaaS technologies fully support this, and provide compliance without sacrificing on functionality or standards for data security or speed.”

Tasos Symeonides, CEO at Axios Systems, went further adding

“Here at Axios, we’re seeing a 25% compound annual growth rate in the uptake of SaaS, which reflects the current trends in the cloud industry as a whole. IT leaders are seeing the benefits of moving to the cloud, allowing them to be more agile and responsive to business needs. Ultimately this drives greater efficiencies.

Our IT Service Management solution, assyst, provides the technology you need over the web, without any of the application management overheads. All you require is a browser-enabled desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone. That means no new infrastructure, no server application, no desktop installs, no upgrade projects. No hassle.”

<em><strong>[1]</strong></em><em> Cloud Computing Market: Global Forecast (2010 – 2015), October 2010: </em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cloud-computing-234.html"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;"><em>http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cloud-computing-234.html</em></span></a></span></span>

<em><strong>[2]</strong></em><em> CloudTweaks ‘Demystifying the Cloud’ Infographic, January 2014: </em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a href="http://cloudtweaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/demystifying-the-cloud.jpg"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em>http://cloudtweaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/demystifying-the-cloud.jpg</em></span></a></span></span>

<em><strong>[3]</strong></em><em> Worldwide and Regional Public IT Cloud Services 2013–2017 Forecast, August 2013: </em><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=242464"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;"><em>http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=242464</em></span></a></span><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span> </em></span>

[4] IT Service Management in Deutschland 2014, ITSM im Spannungsfeld von Cloud Computing und Enterprise Mobility, Mark Alexander Schulte for IDC, February 2014:: http://idc.de/de/research/multi-client-projekte/it-service-management-in-deutschland-2014

Be social share this feature

mplsystems, the UK multi-channel contact technology specialist, believes that 2015 will be the year that truly configurable, mash-up powered Customer Engagement Centres start to set the customer contact technology agenda.

“For 2015 we’re expecting an increased focus on those solutions that allow service providers to model exactly the customer engagement approach they require, without having to force their business processes around needlessly complex, one-size-fits-all CRM models. Technologies that support this next generation model, particularly when it comes to taking advantage of digital channels, will play a key role in 2015’s best practice contact technology deployments,” commented Paul White, CEO, mplsystems.

mplsystems' five key Customer Engagement Centre Technology Indicators for 2015 are:

 

• Agent Desktops enable true Customer Engagement Centres – while 2014 saw greater integration between contact centre and CRM systems, organisations still need to go much further if they are to provide agents with truly intelligent Agent Desktops. 2015’s biggest challenge will involve organisations getting much closer to customers, leveraging more meaningful and context-sensitive information through smart Big Data mash-ups to provide agents with relevant insight into all of a customer’s interactions with a business –ensuring that agents no longer need to hand off interactions to other departments
• Embedding customer care into mobile apps – we’re already seeing dedicated mobile apps assume greater importance in service providers’ omnichannel strategies, however for 2015 customer service organisations will build on this by embedding direct contact capabilities such as webchat, callback and instant messaging – effectively offering a Virtual IVR capability for those digital customers frustrated with traditional contact channels
• Web chat on track to become the dominant channel – our recent webinar with BT’s Head of Customer Insight and Futures, Nicola Millard, referenced how webchat is set to become the dominant customer contact channel of the future. 2015 will see chat continue to grow in terms of channel representation, as it transitions from browser-based web chat as we know it, to live messaging via customer mobile apps
• Text Analytics ready to handle increased volume of incoming text messages – whether it’s messages from mobile apps, social media, web chat, email or Visual IVR channels, many contact centres are seriously concerned about how to manage dramatically escalating text-based messaging volumes as customers increasingly engage via digital channels. Some businesses are still seeing major backlogs – sometimes of up to 48 hours – particularly at busy times such as the countdown to Christmas. The latest multi-channel textual analytics solutions are poised to address this during 2015, enabling up to 60% of messages to be handled automatically and freeing significant amounts of agent time and allowing them to focus on more complex customer engagement issues
• Broadening out the Customer Engagement Centre – while refining the customer experience within the contact centre and digitally has undoubtedly helped to reduce customer effort, there are still significant gaps in the provision of integrated service. For 2015 we expect to see more organisations build out their joined-up customer service propositions to embrace other key touch-points including field service, logistics and delivery capabilities as well as in-store engagement in the retail sector particularly and showroom engagement

“2014 has again shown that traditional CRM and contact centre vendors struggle to deploy in months, or even years, what more flexible, cloud-enabled solutions providers such as mplsystems can deliver in days and weeks,” concluded mplsystems’ CEO Paul White.

“It’s this kind of disruptive technology – powered by the five innovations listed above – that will continue to shake up the traditional contact centre infrastructure market in 2015.”

be social and share this feature

The Internet of Things is rapidly gaining momentum and is moving from hyperbole to reality. Gil Bouhnick, VP of Mobility at ClickSoftware looks at why IoT will become indispensable in the world of field service... perhaps sooner than we may think...

With the Internet of Things (IoT) virtually any object now can have the capability to either process, store or transmit data. From infrastructure to the human body, the connected world provides the opportunity to use sensors to generate information that can be monitored, analysed and acted upon. However, while the IoT is still finding its feet, there’s no denying the positive impact it can have moving forward – not just on businesses but for customers too.

For businesses, the potential is extensive and there are already many examples of connected devices that are set to revolutionise industries. The field service space is anticipated to be one of the early adopters, largely because it currently depends considerably on human mediation between machines, meters and managers.

 

With IoT the opportunities here are vast, ranging from devices that help the emergency services in search and rescue operations to energy companies using predictive technology and smart alerts to help identify problems as early as possible, even preventing them in some cases.

Machine-to-machine communication has been used in the field service industry for years. However, IoT has the capabilities to expand beyond this one-to-one level of communication, sending “smart alerts” to a whole network. For example, an alert may be triggered when a sensor exceeds its temperature threshold. Through this information, the sensor would be able to decide the next steps – whether this can be fixed remotely and if not, to allocate the most suitable worker for the job. The ‘smart’ alert would be able to advise what tools are needed for the job, the skills required, the estimated time it will take to fix and most importantly, how urgent it is.

Whereas smart alerts are essential for notifying workers to issues, the real value is predictive technology. With the IoT and cloud-based services, remote machines and equipment can send status updates, location information, and other condition-based, servicing data. This enables companies to locate machinery and figure out how to get to it with the correct replacement parts and the right technicians to resolve issues before failures occur.

 

An example of this is if a sensor identifies a crack in a waste-pipe and feeds this back to the control centre. By alerting that there are signs of erosion, a technician could get to the site and repair the pipe before it bursts. As well as this helping to prevent such issues occurring but it also cuts down the number of inspections that are needed meaning that workers can focus on more urgent repair work.

Not only does predictive technology benefit the business and technician, this also has a huge impact on the customer experience. For example, being able to lessen the number of power cuts or even keeping the customer updated on the progress of getting the power back on.

By identifying issues as early as possible and being able to allow resources to focus on more urgent areas can make a real difference to the overall experience. Customers have come to expect an instant response to potential issues and with the increased use of social media, a company’s reputation can suffer if they are not able to respond in an acceptable time, along with the consequences of missing any service level agreements in place. Pre-empting customer complaints is the next evolutionary stage in improving customer service and predictive, smart technology is one of the tools that can help businesses make that next step up and avoid potentially losing over a third of their customers due to poor service.

Driving the IoT, is the use of mobile and smart devices which have steadily become a key part of remote field service. The emergence of wearable technology has the tools capable of taking remote working, communication and convenience to a whole new level.

 

Combine that with IoT and status messages and updates can be sent directly between machines and the devices worn by technicians, all while they are on the move and keeping their hands free. No longer will technicians working in complex situations have to risk taking their phone out to read a new notification. Actions can now be sent straight to the wrist or smart glasses making them easier to read and act upon, increasing the experience for the worker.

While it is unclear what the scale of adoption of IoT will be, (Morgan Stanley has estimated the number of connected devices will reach 75 billion by 2020, whereas Gartner believes it will be much lower at 26 million), what we are seeing is significant investments in the technology. Take Germany for example, it has poured huge sums of money into what it calls ‘Smart Factories’ that are able to fetch and assemble components without further human inputs. At the same time, Google has paid $3.2 billion for Nest Labs which produces thermostats that can be remotely controlled by smartphones and other connected devices. Here in the UK, the roll-out of smart meters in homes is another step for IoT transitioning from theory to reality.

Whether it is changing how a field technician repairs something or how they work and communicate with people back at the office, the IoT is set to change how the person using devices and systems spend their day. It’s still early days for IoT but it seems to be only good news for the industry, bringing benefits for employees, businesses and the customer.

 

Be social & share this feature!

Today, the ultimate goal of field service excellence is to respond quickly to customer needs, whatever they may be and it takes four criteria to meet this goal: Be on time, allow enough time to do the job, have the right skills and bring the right equipment. Trimble Field Service Management's General Manager John Cameron explains more...

For the mobile technician, an increased importance has been put on their role to the overall success of the organisation, as they are quite often the only interaction a customer will have with the business. This has led to the search for new ways to empower technicians and equip them with the right tools that allow them to excel at their jobs, through improved communication, collaboration, data sharing and integration.

 

Recent research from Aberdeen Group[1] found that 82 per cent of field service organisations identified mobility as a strategic initiative for the service operation in the next 12 months, as a tool to empower the field with real-time intelligence to make decisions and resolve issues to better serve the customer. Companies that understand how to strategically leverage mobility solutions stand to drive efficiencies, improve customer service and benefit from a more profitable bottom line.

 

With field-based work becoming increasingly complex and time-sensitive, more and more businesses are beginning to focus on the proliferation of mobile solutions, integrated with back-end field service solutions, to help manage field operations and provide the mobile workforce with the real-time knowledge needed to make better, more intelligent decisions while in the field.

The Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) has huge potential for the field service industry. It enables devices that are equipped with sensors, hardware and software to be networked together through the internet, where they can communicate with one another and send and receive data. Machine-to-machine (M2M) technology is already helping field service companies to find out about issues before they occur through this development but the IoT is said to go beyond M2M and represents the ‘next generation’ for field service, connecting not just with machines but with systems, people and other things.

For example, IoT allows field service companies to gain greater insight into the status and health of their assets remotely, enabling a smarter approach to proactive and preventive maintenance. Sensors can be integrated into their devices in the field which can yield a huge amount of data on diagnostics, measurements, temperature and overall conditions, all of which is instrumental in preventing equipment failure, scheduling maintenance and improving safety. The same principle applies for condition-based maintenance. Businesses will be able to become better at it as they will have access to more and better information in the first place.

Mobile apps

There are a number of different approaches a business can take in order to create a mobile application strategy, one of the most common being to develop them internally with mobile app development tools. At its core, mobile applications provide technicians with the ability to share, store and view job data while out in the field, offering them a virtual link to the back office that helps to inform and empower them.

 

Having full visibility of a field operation is a key success factor and mobile applications that can offer visibility into the status, location and performance of field assets (technicians, parts, equipment etc) help technicians considerably in getting to the right place at the right time with the information they need to do their job correctly the first time. A number of mobile applications on the market today also provide added value to the field worker by enabling them to easily locate and contact nearby co-workers if they need assistance on a job or require advice on solving a problem. By having the tools to work more collaboratively, resolution is more likely to be reached first-time, helping to increase worker productivity and effectiveness.

 

The plethora of information offered through mobile applications can include previous work history of jobs and upcoming work details. For example, if a technician is en-route to a customer, a quick look at service history on a mobile phone can inform them that the customer has complained multiple times to the helpdesk about a product/equipment failure. This is vital information that can help the technician approach the customer with more care, helping to maintain a good customer service. Furthermore, when a technician reviews and accepts a job within a mobile application, the mobile devices’ navigation tool can help them find the most efficient route. Helping to reduce fuel consumption and travel time. From a service perspective, the technician can then pull up the customer’s details and call them to confirm when they will be arriving on-site.

Mobility solutions: What to choose?

There are a multitude of mobile devices on the market today that help technicians get to the right place on time, fix the customer’s problem the first time, and move on to the next task. The problem field service organisations face is choosing the right technology for their field based workers.

Ruggedised devices continue to evolve as mobile technology improves and have proven successful in helping field workers to complete their daily tasks. Such devices can be used in the harshest of environments and enable scanning packages, diagnostics, checking customer records, invoicing and delivery confirmation, among other tasks.

As the lines between consumer and business technology continue to merge, non-rugged tablets and smartphones have also broken into the field service marketplace. Tablets tend to be larger than smartphones and therefore engineers may find it easier to view and input job details. At the same time, smartphones offer the portability factor.

The ‘Bring Your Own Device’ debate has received much coverage in the service sector and has arguably been dubbed as being the only way forward for businesses looking to compete effectively and offer the most efficient customer service and increased employee satisfaction.

 

Simply, ‘Bring Your Own Device’ refers to employees having the ability to connect their own technical devices, such as smartphones, laptops and tablets, to their company’s network instead of using a device owned by the company. Uptake of BYOD had been relatively slow in the field service industry but recent years have seen an influx of workers bringing their own personal devices into their work environment to use in their everyday jobs and the advantages, both to the organisation and the employee, are significant.

 

For the field service organisation, it creates new opportunities for the business by increasing the number of tech-savvy and mobile-application users in the workforce. For the employee, they have taken a personal choice to use the technology and are familiar with it. This in turn will lead to increased satisfaction and productivity whilst eliminating the need for technical support and training costs for the business.

Mobility solutions: Capturing the insight

When a field service organisation deploys a mobile strategy, the wealth of data captured around technician performance, customer data, vehicle location, work order status etc. is not enough to make intelligent business decisions. It is how that data is analysed and turned into usable information that is what will really make a difference. For this reason, data captured through mobile devices must be tied into other systems within the organisation’s technology infrastructure, if not it will get lost. Indeed, Aberdeen Group found the top strategic action for 62 per cent of best-in-class field service organisations to be to improve data integration between the field and back office systems[2].

Aberdeen Group’s research also found that best-in-class field service organisations are 49 per cent more likely than peers to integrate data from mobile devices with back-end systems, such as ERP and CRM[3]. This integration will then allow other departments, such as sales, marketing and engineering to benefit from the field insights captured and maximise its value.

 

For example, customer and equipment data has the ability to spark insights into new products, services and campaigns, which benefit the organisation in revenue opportunities. This interaction also helps customers get access to products and services that will help improve their productivity and business goals. Service is ultimately a partnership between the customer and the organisation and without the use of captured data, the opportunity to evolve will be lost.

 

Ultimately, having a mobility strategy in place allows for better empowerment, data sharing and collaboration out in the field. For the field worker, they are provided with the best possible support and are able, themselves, to make use of the real-time information and knowledge to make the right decisions while on the move. As a result, they are better positioned to resolve issues first-time and deliver the best service they can.

For more information on how to drive an agile, dynamic field service operation through the adoption of mobile solutions, download Aberdeen Group Senior Research Analyst Aly Pinder’s recent report, Empowering the Mobile Worker with Real-Time Insight and Data Integration, here.  The report provides insight into how top performers provide technicians with the right information in the field, integrate data captured in the field with back office systems (via mobile apps) and excel at delivering resolution and not just a response.

[1] Aberdeen Group, Empowering the mobile worker with real-time insight and data integration, 2014

[2] Aberdeen Group: Service Mobility: The right technology for the tech, 2014

[3] Aberdeen Group: Service Mobility: The right technology for the tech, 2014

As companies capture more data through mobile devices, remote sensors and telematics, the opportunity to increase the efficiency of field service operations has never been better argues coresystems CEO Phillip Emmenegger... 

This year, at tennis’ US Open, we got a glimpse of just how pervasive the idea has become of big data’s transformative power.

Thanks to cameras and remote sensors trained on the every move of the tennis players, we learned from the estimated 41 million data points collected how important it is for tennis players to return the ball to their opponent in the least amount of moves. Or, as the new “must-know” tennis stat that tracks the average distance a player travels on the court for each point is called, “Feet (meter) per point”.

It’s obvious that it’s better to expend less energy chasing down a ball, but now there’s tangible proof. The two men’s players to make the finals, Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori, both despite their different styles of play, racked up the least amount of distance per point. Cilic averaged 42 feet per point; Nishikori, 52. In contrast, Roger Federer came in at 57 feet per point, and Andy Murray at 70 feet.

But what does the data crunching at the US Open have to do with field service? Just as in tennis, so in field service: those with the most efficient delivery win. Moreover, just as collecting the seemingly mundane data of the average distance a player ran per point is now being used by tennis coaches to re-examine their player’s games, so a company can now collect the most specific data to be transformed into meaningful analytics to eventually give companies an edge.

Indeed, according to the Aberdeen Group, companies have a strong belief that the proper use of big data will give them a competitive advantage. In the consultancy’s report, “Big Data Perspectives: Users vs. IT,” 43% of IT personnel believe that faster, more complex analytics will give them an edge over other companies.

 

Moreover, providing superior customer service has been show to impact a company’s bottom line. According to business consultancy the Aberdeen Group in its recent study, “Secrets to Optimize Field Service for Better Customer Experience,” those companies that hit a 90% + customer satisfaction were also able to achieve an annual 6.1% growth in service revenue, a 3.7% growth in overall revenue, and even more importantly, an 89% current level of customer retention.

But how can field service companies harness big data? And, what exactly is “big data”? Big data – as opposed to just data – usually refers to the entire process of capturing, storing, managing and analyzing massive amounts of various types of data, according to the Aberdeen Group. Typically, the amounts are in the terabytes or petabytes, stored in multiple formats, from both internal and external sources, and with strict demands for speed and complexity of analysis.

Here are three ways your company can get started:

Collect and Capture Data: Within field service, there are a number of ways big data can be used. The first place to start is to assess the data that your organisation already collects. Using a field service software solution will allow you to collect data quicker and more easily. A field engineer using a tablet-based solution could seamlessly collect the time the technician was dispatched, the time to fix the job, whether or not the job was fixed the first time, if a technician had to return, what reason they had to go back, and what part was needed. What other data does your company collect? Is there fleet management of telematics data available? Would placing remote sensors at certain locations to collect data make sense?

Analysing Data: Once you have captured the data, it’s time to make sense of it. You could compare it to historical data and analyse it for patterns. For example, real-time data from service engineers can show how long a job took on average, giving managers guidance on the right amount of time to assign future similar jobs. In turn, this would impact the accuracy of arrival times, and reduce the amount of jobs that have to be rescheduled, improving customer service.

 

The next place to look is across departments in your company. Could shared data from different departments lead to more efficiencies or opportunities? For example, could data shared between the field service department and the sales department end in more sales opportunities? Managers could also see if one particular area has a higher need for service technicians, and hire accordingly.

Predictive Analysis: More exciting examples could happen when companies get more sophisticated with remote sensors and machine-to-machine communications. The term “predictive analytics” is usually spoken of in marketing as the ability to track the behaviour of prospective buyers to help sellers understand the right time to engage them. But now we’re beginning to hear the term “predictive maintenance”, referring to the ability to foresee when a part or piece of equipment is near the end of its life span. With remote sensors, it would be possible to begin gathering data on whether a particular part is more prone to breaking down by monitoring a machine’s changes over time; or within a certain use case, and what its average life span is. The data could help predict the best time to schedule a pre-emptive service call.

It’s no secret that customer demand for better service has increased and that its success now contributes or takes away from a company’s bottom line. Ironically, as technology helps organizations deliver better customer service, the expectation for even better service just keeps rising. It’s up to companies to use every single tool they have, including the most minute details, to turn them into their own competitive advantage.

Looking to the future is not just about which technology you should be applying to your mobile workforce to ensure that you are beating productivity level KPIs, it is also about looking at how you can ensure sustained growth within the business.

A key part of this is of course staffing.

However, for many companies an ageing workforce could prove to be a significant hurdle to not only growing their business but also to simply maintaining their existing size and standards. One such company that is attempting to tackle the issue before it becomes irreversible is Siemens.

“We have a habit of looking a few years ahead and we are looking at where will we be in 2020” states Graeme Coyne, Business Development Manager, Siemens Customer Services

“Our particular department is about 200 people in the UK. Based on the growth of our department over the last few years, we believe that by 2020 we will need around 250 people.” on to Coyne explains before going highlight the gravity of the situation that the manufacturing giant faced.

“We had a problem. We have 200 employees now and we needed 250 in six years time but we estimated we were going to lose about 100 people through retirement by then also”

“We’ve got an ageing population. I’ve personally been in Siemens for 30 years; the oldest person in our service organisation is 75 years old. There is a big bulge of people who are aged between 45 and 55 and we are expecting many of them to go fairly soon.”

Siemens are certainly not alone in facing this issue. Indeed it is a problem mirrored in many other companies in many other verticals. So what can be done to resolve the problem and build a sustainable workforce for the future?

 

The idea of these technology centres is that on the one side you’ve got academia producing skilled engineers of many different types and on the other side you’ve got some very good manufacturers. Sometimes in between we lose things and the idea is that these catapult centres are sat there to help avoid this”

Well of course the first thing to do is to look to engage with the next generation, something that Siemens have done through both traditional and non-traditional routes.

“We’ve gone out to the universities to sponsor students, we’ve got about 1,500 sponsors throughout the UK – it something we have to do.” Begins Coyne. However, Siemens are not just targeting graduates, they have an apprenticeship scheme that means they won’t miss out on those bright young minds that for whatever reason don’t see academia as the right path to choose.

“The other thing that we have done is that we have got 400 apprentices in the UK.” Coyne continues,  “I am told this is not enough. We were talking about taking people from the age of 13, 14 15 – it is essential. So we are trying to do our bit, we’re investing a lot of time and effort into it and it is starting to show results.”

However, the Siemens recruitment machine is far more sophisticated than just supporting and developing training programs.

“We think we are doing an OK job recruiting people” Coyne admits, “What we have been doing is we have been investing in manufacturing technology centres. These are important, as they are specialist areas which are invested in by academia, by manufacturers and by government.”

These technology centres are key to solving both the Siemens problem and that of the wider industry. By sitting in between the gap between business and academia they allow smart young minds to connect with industry without the pressure that may come from a more formal environment.

As Coyne explains “The idea of these technology centres is that on the one side you’ve got academia producing skilled engineers of many different types and on the other side you’ve got some very good manufacturers. Sometimes in between we lose things and the idea is that these catapult centres are sat there to help avoid this”

However, these centres play a deeper role in the recruitment and retention of the next generation of field engineers. They are also important to ensure that that next generation of field engineers are ready for the next generation of technology as well.

“All of our new technology is moving on, we are moving to industry 4.0.” Coyne begins “basically all the things we are trying to do is so we can get engineers to fit where this next wave of manufacturing technology is going to be”

This approach is commendably, but necessarily long sighted.

“We are talking about something that is not yet ready. It’s going to be ready in maybe 20 years but parts of it are already there.” However, the manufacturing technology centres, being co-funded by industry, education and state provide opportunities for the next generation of field engineers to start understanding and utilising tomorrows tools today.

This has two-fold importance. It ensures you are not only attracting the best minds but also that they are being readily prepared for the future.

“We need engineers that are fresh faced, fresh minds that know all about the current technology,” states Coyne. “But I’ve been out and talked to some of our graduates and asked what do you want “they said they want experience, they want to do as much as possible, learn as many skills as possible and get trained so that they can do many different things”

Getting this balance between what you and your future employees want is not an easy road but it is companies like Siemens who are investing in the future heavily today that will almost certainly be set to reap the rewards tomorrow.