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Consumer & IndustryLab released its latest Insight Report today - the Zero touch customer experience – exploring the future of customer interactions with mobile service providers.

Today, smartphone users interact with operators across multiple touch points: from discovering offerings and signing up to services, to requesting support for ending a contract.

The report highlights consumers’ current frustrations at their interactions with their mobile service provider, taking on average 2.2 attempts and 4.1 days to successfully complete an interaction. This high customer effort impacts negatively on satisfaction levels.

Digitally leading brands offer the minimal effort interaction consumers prefer. Smartphone users now expect the same hassle-free, one-click digital experience from operators. The report highlights that mobile service providers can leapfrog to a zero-touch customer experience future by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics:

• Enabled by AI, telecom service providers could use data from earlier interactions and consumer behaviour to predict what consumers need before they even contact them for support. More than half (56 percent) of smartphone users expect operators to anticipate their needs even before they realize what they are.
• While we have grown accustomed to typing, clicking and swiping on our devices, new zero-touch methods are emerging based on voice, gestures, and augmented or virtual reality.One in ten households in the US already has a voice-enabled home assistant device such as Amazon Alexa. As voice assistants become more prominent in consumers’ everyday lives, they will expect integration of support interactions over those platforms too.

Digitally leading brands offer the minimal effort interaction consumers prefer.Pernilla Jonsson, Head of Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab, says: “Consumers believe telecom service providers treat touchpoints like isolated interactions."

"Siloed focus means they miss the bigger picture. Interestingly, telecom service providers could leapfrog one-click and move from multiple-click to zero-touch by deploying future technologies in their customer offerings. The zero-touch customer experience report shows that zero-touch experiences are now an expectation of their customers.”

Read The zero-touch customer experience’ Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab Insight Report here.

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Data collation has become perhaps one of the most important factors in delivering the levels of standards that today’s empowered customers demand. However, many companies are now finding themselves struggling to turn the vast amounts of data being generated today into meaningful insight. Bill Pollock, President for Strategies for GrowthSM explores how field service companies can find a balance between flood and thirst...

Many reports have been written about services organisations (and businesses of all types) “drowning in data lakes”. However, the key to success is to establish early on what data is needed to effectively run services operations, and focus specifically on those types of data when collecting and processing the reams and reams of data points generated from your IoT-based systems.

Too much data is … well, too much data, if you don’t have a plan to harvest it effectively.Too much data is … well, too much data, if you don’t have a plan to harvest it effectively.

The most important asset a services organisation owns is the cumulative knowledge and expertise it has acquired, developed and utilised over time to support its customers’ systems and equipment – and, in many cases, the entire customer enterprise.

Some of this knowledge may be in the form of bits of information stored in a database, while other knowledge is often manifested in the form of new systems, tools and technologies that have been placed into use.

However, knowledge can only be built on a strong foundation of data and information – and these key components of knowledge must be inherently accurate, clean, well-defined, and easily accessible.

Today, everybody talks about data analytics, but many often confuse data with information and knowledge. Basically, data is a core corporate asset that must be synthesised into information before it can serve as the basis for knowledge within the organisation. As such, data may be defined primarily as:

• Facts about things, organised for analysis, or used to support or make decisions; or
• Raw material from which information is derived to serve as the basis for making intelligent decisions.

Information, on the other hand, is defined as:

• Collections, or aggregations, of usable facts or data;
• Processed, stored, or transmitted data; or
• Data in context, accompanied by precise definition and clear presentation.

Finally, knowledge may be defined as:

• Specific information about something; that is, the sum or range of what has been discovered or learned;
• Information known, and presented in the proper context; or
• The value added to information by people who have the experience and/or acumen to understand its business potential.

The quality of the data that an organisation collects, measures and distributes is also a key factor in database building. To attain an acceptable level of data quality, the organisation must be able to mine its data whilst focusing on key areas, such as:

• Clear definition or meaning
• Correct values
• Understandable presentation format
• Usefulness in supporting targeted business processes

However, regardless of the state of the organisation’s data assets, there must still be a balance of data, process and systems in order to meet the company’s stated business objectives, which generally focus on things like:

• Increasing revenues and margins
• Increasing market share
• Increasing customer satisfaction

However, if there is not a match between data quality and the application of that data, then the entire process will ultimately become a fool’s errand (i.e., garbage-in; garbage-out).

Regardless, data is ubiquitous – it is used to support every aspect of the business, and is an integral component of every key business process. But, the usefulness of the data is only as good as the data itself – and this is where many organisations run into trouble.

You don’t go to work wearing 12 watches; you don’t buy 48 oz. of steaks, per person, to put on the grill for a summer barbecue; so, why would you pay for more data than you will ever needAs such, services organisations need to be able to identify which data is “need to know” vs. which data is only “nice-to-know”. Nice-to-know data is ultimately way too expensive to collect, process, analyse, monitor and distribute; however, need-to-know data is not only invaluable – but critical to ensuring the operational and financial well-being of the organisation.

For example, you don’t go to work wearing 12 watches; you don’t buy 48 oz. of steaks, per person, to put on the grill for a summer barbecue; so, why would you pay for more data than you will ever need when you can harvest just what you need for now (plus whatever else looks like you may need in the future)?

The quest for knowledge is the key that can unlock the potential applications and uses of the organisation’s existing – or planned – databases.

In fact, most businesses are already sitting on a goldmine of data that can – and should – be transformed into actionable information and knowledge with the potential to:

• Enhance and expand their existing product, service, supply chain, CRM and operational databases;
• Create knowledge-oriented delivery systems for new, or enhanced, value-added products, services and support; and
• Differentiate itself from other competitive market players.

Knowledge that was previously unknown – or unavailable – such as profiles of potential buyers, or specific patterns of product/service usage may be uncovered and put into practical use for the first time. The end result can lead to anything ranging from improvements in operational efficiency to improved service delivery performance, more accurate parts forecasting, and higher levels of customer service and support – all based on a strong foundation of data collection, measurement and distribution.

Consider your data repository as a storage space for all of the data you will need today, tomorrow and in the future. If large enough, put it in a data lake – but make sure you don’t use Loch Ness for what a smaller data lake can do for you more efficiently.

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Scott Berg, CEO at ServiceMax, from GE Digital explains why for those organisations getting the results that matter, the Industrial Internet of Things alone isn’t enough to transform their service offering...

Complex machines power the world’s largest industries, from offshore rigs to networks of medical devices, to massive wind turbines.

Over the last decade, we’ve seen everything from treadmills to coffee makers digitized in pursuit of smarter, better and faster machines to get better results. Industrial companies are adopting digital strategies and require a distinct understanding of connected machinery to do so successfully. It’s no surprise that these machines require thoughtful, technical and predictive maintenance.

Companies now more than ever are in the business of keeping machines running to ensure that the absolute most value is derived from each piece of equipmentCompanies now more than ever are in the business of keeping machines running to ensure that the absolute most value is derived from each piece of equipment. Our customers report, on average, a 19% increase in productivity since implementing Predix ServiceMax. That basically means that we can add an extra day to the technician’s week without working overtime.

ServiceMax from GE Digital is helping the world’s largest companies on their digital journey, starting with service delivery. What is fundamental to our understanding of Field Service Management (FSM) is the scale at which we provide service. We are meeting our customers at a global, enterprise level. As the industry adopts the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) we think about service in a big way and help companies on their digital journey.

We are 100% invested in making sure our customers are getting absolutely all the value they can from the equipment they have and how it’s being used.

Why IIoT won’t be enough to transform service

IIoT-enabled devices and data insights alone are not enough to paint a clear picture of service in the future. Talk of IIoT is everywhere, from budgets to yearly planning, to newspaper headlines. At the end of the day, data informs a procedural change within only one part of a machine at one point in time. Decisions are made on a limited set of inputs, whether that be wear and tear of a specific part, or work order history.

You might say that using IIoT alone is tunnel vision.

Meaningful service is going beyond IIoT, and Asset Performance Management (APM) is the catalyst: it opens up data to more contextual inputs from the broader ecosystem. APM harnesses the behaviour of the machine and goes beyond a simple exercise in efficiency.

It’s important to understand the key is not solely APM, FSM or IIoT. Rather, it’s all three working together to create a holistic solution.It’s important to understand the key is not solely APM, FSM or IIoT. Rather, it’s all three working together to create a holistic solution.

APM monitors the behaviour of the machine, and the FSM platform brings it all together to inform how, when, and why we choose to service or replace a machine. It monitors machine health directly after a repair, and cycles that information into future repairs, to close the loop of service.

The powerful combination of APM and FSM provides a complete view of a product and establishes lifecycle management strategies. The result is a service product management solution that has up-leveled a traditional connected device strategy, incorporating a business’s bottom line. This has saved our customers millions of dollars.

Digital industry brings dynamic results 

Field service in the industrial era is more than a one-time project. Done well, it is an industrialists guide to a digital future, providing vital insights and outcomes for customers. The new era of field service will be marked by connectivity and share a fundamental goal of zero downtime for critical equipment.

There will be industrial behemoths and then there will be digital industrial behemoths.

Field service is evolving into a system that doesn’t forgetField service is evolving into a system that doesn’t forget: an APM-integrated platform incorporates past data to make decisions about parts, technicians, and compliance in the present. And then the magic happens: the system integrates several data factors based on the outcomes of similar work orders and controls for a business perspective: how much time and money can we afford to spend here? That data is translated to actionable insights for technicians on the ground, meaning they are not working towards a static goal of ‘machine repair.’ Instead, technicians are working towards a dynamic outcome: machine uptime.

We are reaching a point where FSM is simultaneously smarter than us yet utterly useless without the most vital component of service: humans. Technicians close the loop between data and predictions by recording the actions they take.

They have the training, the expertise, and the context for each work order with a FSM platform at their fingertips. And the result is that not only is complex machinery functioning smoothly, but FSM is providing the savvy digital industrialist an avenue to a more prosperous day on the job tomorrow.

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Insights from a recent study by the Advanced Services Group at Aston Business School can help you understand if you’re on the right path to advanced services. Professor Tim Baines explains...

Is Servitization a burning topic for your organisation - join Professor Baines and the Advanced Services Group for the Spring Servitization Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 14 - 16 May 2018 more info @ https://www.advancedservicesgroup.co.uk/ssc2018

Researchers and pioneering manufacturers have been singing the praises of servitization and its benefits to business – and it seems industry is starting to listen.

Increasing numbers of manufacturing and technology companies are trying to implement services-led strategies. How to go about doing this in practice, however, still presents a challenge to many. The leaders of today’s industry see the success of Rolls-Royce and Xerox in this area, yet they often struggle to work out how to achieve the same for their own businesses.

Within the Advanced Services Group at Aston Business School we’ve been working with manufacturers around the world using the latest research to support them in finding their path to compete through advanced services.

Advanced services’ go a step beyond the product condition and focus on the outcomes that the product enables.While most manufacturers already offer ‘base services’ focusing on product provision such as warranty and spare parts, others take a further step by providing ‘intermediate services’ focused on the product condition such as maintenance, repair, overhaul and remanufacturing,. ‘Advanced services’ go a step beyond the product condition and focus on the outcomes that the product enables.

Real-life examples include Rolls-Royce’s Total-Care offer on gas turbines for their airline customers based on a ‘fixed dollar per flying hour’; Xerox delivering ‘pay-per-click’ scanning, copying and printing of documents; and Alstom Train-Life Services supporting Virgin by assuring the availability, reliability and performance of their Pendolino trains on the UK West Coast Mainline. Advanced services such as these are a core concept in servitization.

With their potential to radically disrupt and alter the face of manufacturing, understanding the process of introducing them is vital to businesses and the economy.

At the Advanced Services Group, this is the focus of our work.

In a recent study, we examined two key questions about the path to servitization:

1. What stages do manufacturing companies go through to achieve competitive advantage through advanced services?
2. What factors and forces affect their progression through those stages?

We conducted interviews with 14 multinational manufacturing companies, all on a trajectory to compete through advanced services, representing a range of industries – from aerospace, defence and road transport through to air filtration and precision motion control systems.

The four stages of transformation

We found that manufacturing companies go through four stages in their transformation to compete through advanced services: exploration, engagement, expansion and exploitation. As manufacturers become conscious of the concept of servitization and suspect that advanced services may be relevant to their organisation, they will start out in a stage of Exploration, where they are doing their research to find out more about the concept and how it could benefit their business.

If the Exploration stage yields a viable opportunity for growth, the initiative will move to Engagement. Here, companies experiment and run pilots with customers and relevant technology, to evaluate and demonstrate the potential value of advanced services.

If the Exploration stage yields a viable opportunity for growth, the initiative will move to Engagement. Here, companies experiment and run pilots with customers and relevant technology, to evaluate and demonstrate the potential value of advanced services.Once a constructive outcome is achieved, the attention moves to Expansion, where advanced services are innovated and implemented with increased scale and speed. When the value of these is demonstrated, attention will switch from individual projects, to initiatives focused on the reliable and efficient delivery of a portfolio of services across the organisation. In doing this, manufacturers are focusing on Exploitation of advanced services.

In each of these stages you can expect multiple iterations and interactions until there is sufficient evidence and consent to move to the following stage.

Progression through the four stages – or in some cases falling back – is influenced by five forces.

Five forces affecting transformation

1. Customer Pull

Customers’ appetite for services has a significant influence on progression.

Several companies described their decision to offer more advanced services, together with usage-based revenue models (i.e. pay-for-flight-hours or pay-for-passengers-moved) as a direct reaction to customer demand.

2. Technology Push

Other manufacturers start servitization having become aware of the technology that could record how their products are being used and transmit this data back. The data makes it possible to develop advanced services contracts based around payment for outputs achieved rather than asset ownership.

The majority of the companies we studied said they had been influenced by this ‘technology push’; IoT and industry 4.0, which are hot topics in industry at the moment, were often mentioned. Fewer companies mentioned the ‘customer pull’ factor, and yet customers’ growing appetite for ‘experiences’ over ownership is arguably just as significant.

In the UK for example, the appetite for services has grown 2.4% per year for the past 20 years according to the Office for National Statistics, significantly outstripping that for selling products – a trend that is being replicated in every developed economy across the world.

3. Value network position

The position of the organisation within the wider value network can affect business transformation.

As an example, working through distributors can restrict access to customers and inhibit the changes needed to deliver services. In several cases, manufacturers chose to acquire their distributors.

One manufacturer was stalled by the access to remote sensing technologies, wrestling for some time over acquiring a technology vendor, to give them access and control over information. Positioning in the value network that delivers dependable access to both customers and suppliers has a significant influence.

4. Readiness to change

Internal organisational factors influence readiness to change and can affect progression. Having reliable and well-performing products, for example, is a prerequisite to compete through services. It also leads to an interest in advanced services in cases where, increasingly, product reliability and performance are no longer differentiators.

Organisational commitment is also important. In some cases, where the support of the management board was in place from the outset, companies progressed quickly through the exploration and engagement stages. Without this, progress can be much slower.

5. Competitor threat

The actions of competitors significantly affect organisational commitment. In one case, organisational commitment to advanced services came about when a principal competitor acquired a network of service providers.

This caused anxiety amongst the leadership of the company and led to significant investment in its own advanced services programme.

Are you on the right path?

The findings of our study suggest that transformation towards servitization is neither a clear-cut, linear processnor an easy one. In each of the four stages, key milestones have to be achieved before a company can move to the next stage.

The five influencing forces work internally and externally, affecting progress in each stage. These five forces may be so strong that the manufacturer moves rapidly through all four stages. In other instances, they may be so weak that the manufacturer fails to progress entirely.

Next month we will be running the seventh annual Spring Servitization Conference, this time in partnership with Copenhagen Business School, where we will examine research into the detail of these stages and influencing forces.

The Conference is the go-to place for researchers from around the world to present and discuss their latest work, and topics this year will include: changing the mindset of the organisation in order to compete through services; pricing advanced services; how to use data as an enabler for servitization; how SMEs, in particular, can create value through servitization; internal and external enablers and inhibitors.

To book your place, visit https://www.advancedservicesgroup.co.uk/ssc2018. 

Field Service News will be reporting from the conference and interviewing some of the industrial speakers; look out for updates in future issues.

Can’t join us at the conference?

You can still develop the skills, knowledge and action plans to implement servitization and advanced services at our Skills for Servitization workshop on 22 May 2018. Find out more at https://www.advancedservicesgroup.co.uk/skills-for-servitization In the meantime if you want to assess where your company stands today in terms of adopting a services strategy and where you’re aiming to get to- and compare your thoughts with colleagues to test your alignment- our quick survey Unlock Your Insight will give you a personalised set of feedback in under five minutes. Visit https://www.unlockyourinsight.co.uk/

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Jan Van Veen, Managing Director, moreMomentum explains how field service companies can thrive in a disruptive industry...

The key challenge

In the manufacturing sector, a popular topic is the potential disruption, driven by:

• New technologies like artificial intelligence, Internet of things and augmented reality
• New technology specific to the equipment we offer
• Changing customers
• Emerging markets
• New entrants into the industry

And the potentially disruptive new value offerings, operating models and business models which could emerge.

As manufacturers, we run the risk of missing the boat, so the question is: Disrupt or Be Disrupted? Most of the companies will not be able to disrupt but certainly, need to know how to thrive in a disruptive world.

In my view, the following is required to be successful:

1. Full understanding of disruption and its potential impact for the business
2. Clarity on what needs to change in your business to thrive in a disruptive industry
3. The high pace of continuous change to innovate and execute

However, too often I see misconceptions about disruption and disruptive innovation, a lack of clarity on what needs to change and too slow a pace of change.

By consequence, manufacturers tend to make inadequate assessments and develop inadequate strategies, allowing leading competitors and new entrants into the industry to take the lead.

In this article, I will focus on what disruptive innovation is, the impact and how to prevent typical pitfalls.

What is disruption?

Disruptive innovation is a nasty beast. We have seen quite a few strong brands (almost) disappearing because of disruption, like Kodak, Nokia, IBM computers and Polaroid to mention a few.

For clarity, I’d like to categorize innovation along two dimensions:

• Impact: mainstream versus disruptive
• Scope: Customer value versus internal capabilities

Mainstream innovation

Mainstream innovations annually improve the value of products and services (including the related internal capabilities) as expected by the market. The aim is to increase our value and margins by better serving our best clients.

These innovations can be small and incremental or more radical.

Examples of incremental mainstream innovations are improved fuel consumption of cars engines, improved uptime of the equipment we sell through more reliable equipment and better maintenance.

Examples of more radical mainstream innovations are cars going electric and our services becoming more predictive and performance basedExamples of more radical mainstream innovations are cars going electric and our services becoming more predictive and performance-based.

Manufacturers that fall behind the competition, have not been disrupted yet The majority of the manufacturing companies are too slow in driving the mainstream innovation and see leading competitors achieving higher growth rates, higher margins, more service – recurring and stable – revenue and higher customer loyalties being ahead of the game. As Jack Welsh said: “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.”

Disruptive innovation

Disruptive innovations break with the ongoing and upward trend of improving value. There are two ways of disruptive innovation: offering lower value at a lower price for the low-end market or offering lower-barrier solution opening new market segments which have not been served so far.

At the early stages, disruptive products and services serve a small niche, often at a lower value level.

These solutions will follow a mainstream innovation journey, increasing value and price. Gradually the products or services become a viable alternative for a larger portion of the markets.

Examples of low-end disruptions are the low-cost airlines, which offer flights at lower service levels and lower prices. This is quite attractive for business travellers who do not want to pay a premium price for meals and convenience.

One example of new market disruptions in which a new product or service serves other needs are the PC’s, which after some time started competing against the mainframes. Another example is salesforce.com, which offered so much more flexibility and lower cost of ownership than the traditional on-premise CRM systems.

Innovating internal capabilities

New technology enables us to develop new organizational capabilities.

For example, the low-cost airlines have adopted quite different operating models which allow them to consistently fly at much lower cost and hence maintain good margins at a low price level. For service operations, we see many manufacturers developing capabilities like remote service, connectivity, big-data and algorithms and predicting failures.

These, in themselves, are not value propositions and have no value for customers. However, these can be crucial capabilities for new service propositions.

Innovating external (customer) value

For maximum impact focus on customer value, not on capabilities

The real impact to drive competitive value is by addressing unmet needs or barriers to use new technology or solutions with a new product, services or integrated solutions. Examples are:

• How Rolls Royce offers a zero-disruption proposition for aerospace engines in which clients only pay per flight hour
• How MAN reduces fuel consumption by improving driving behaviour
• How Caterpillar helps managing a construction plant and will ensure at every stage of the construction the right number of the required equipment is available.

Besides the services and products, we can also increase value by enhancing customer experience, our brand and (lower) price levels.

Why does this matter?

At the early stages of a disruption, incumbents may see the new products and services entering their market.

However, compared to business-as-usual, the new products and services are relevant for a small niche only, the market volumes are small and the added value often is much lower. Their best clients are not interested.

At the early stages of a disruption, incumbents may see the new products and services entering their market.Above that, there are so many trends and new innovations, it is hard to predict which ones will become successful. This, together with the pressure to optimize top-line and bottom line and adequately serving our best clients, means it is easy to ignore the signs and consider them as irrelevant.

Disruption most often comes from outside your industry

Historically it appears that often incumbents beat new entrants when it’s about mainstream innovations, as they will defend their main business with valuable clients. However, when it’s about disruptive innovation, new entrants disrupt the industry and incumbents only start to respond (in panic) when it’s too late.

The new entrants have built the knowledge, capabilities and the brand which makes it tough for incumbents to catch up in time.

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Sara Mueller, Field Service Portfolio Director, WBR looks at how the rapid evolution of service excellence is a double-edged sword of opportunity and challenges...

I’ve been a conference producer for Worldwide Business Research (WBR) for over ten years, but most of my friends still don’t understand what that means or how I spend my days.

My mom finally gets it though.

I told her that I conduct market research by talking to service executives to learn what their biggest challenges and initiatives are. I also talk to their vendors and solution providers to understand what innovative technologies and services they provide to solve these challenges. Then I write a conference program and recruit thought leaders to speak about these subjects to bring the industry together and help advance service organizations.

Throw in fun parties, innovative formats that get people talking, and beautiful venues where people enjoy building business relationships, and you’ve got the essence of a WBR Field Service event!

Whether or not you grasp the function of my job, I’m sure you can relate to the four major trends I see impacting field service over the next few years.

They are:

1. Driving service innovation using technological advancements like augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analysis.
2. Doing more with less by determining the quickest, most efficient way to automate field service operations.
3. Transitioning to a customer success organization that sells customer business outcomes.
4. Aligning talent recruitment and training with the needs of an evolved service/support business model.

Driving Service Innovation Using Technological Advancements Like Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) And Big Data Analysis.

Augmented reality pilot programs are well underway and starting to reveal the best ways to use this technology for remote-assisted repair and troubleshooting.

Whether hands-free wearables or tablet devices are the hardware of choice, there are numerous software options to choose from to execute an AR strategy.Whether hands-free wearables or tablet devices are the hardware of choice, there are numerous software options to choose from to execute an AR strategy.

It’s clear that AR is not just a buzz word, but a concrete field service tool that’s here to stay and will be implemented by the majority of service organizations within the next three years.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotization are continually being explored in order to understand where technology can replace unnecessary human work, increase automation, and drive productivity. Bots are being used to get information to field service teams quickly and for memory nudging.

Virtual assistants or virtual customer agents are starting to be the norm. Innovative service organizations are looking to the further future to use machine learning to building autonomous services or self-healing, self-repairing products.

And, finally, data: Since devices became connected and IoT found its way into more and more products, we’ve never had more data on hand. Companies are spending their resources to ensure the data that is being gathered is clean, relevant, and easy to interpret.

It’s being used to measure product quality and gain performance insights from the field. Data visualization and analytics tools are helping to validate and adapt maintenance schedules, customer experience, and revenue generation.

Whether you classify this information as “big data” or not, it’s clear the data you now have available from connected products is essential for making “big” important business decisions and learning how you can better serve your customers.

Doing More With Less By Determining The Quickest, Most Efficient Way To Automate Field Service Operations.

Service executives are exploring the best tools for service automation in order to get more work done without increasing headcount. The speed of change and ease of implementation are key factors going into technology investment and process decisions.

Change management has never been more important. And lean, six sigma, and kaizen are being used to look beyond manufacturing to service operations to reduce complexity and streamline processes.

Artificial intelligence, as mentioned above, comes into play as a leading tool to increase automation.

Transitioning To A Customer Success Organization That Sells Business Outcomes

Service organizations are continuing their business model evolution away from selling products towards selling results, up-time or customer business outcomes.

Part of this entire company cultural shift has led to the development of “customer success” organizations.

Rather than calling the customer-facing side of the organization customer service, or support, or technical support, companies are using the name “success” to describe how they go above and beyond for the customers, owning responsibility for the success of their customer’s business.

Customer success takes into account being a trusted advisor to customers to ensure they are leveraging all the capabilities of your product offeringCustomer success takes into account being a trusted advisor to customers to ensure they are leveraging all the capabilities of your product offering. It, of course, brings together service and call centre support, as well as sales.

Customer success is sometimes its own department, or it can be a combination of sales and service. Of key importance is to understand how all parts of the organization that contribute to customer success can have aligned goals and incentives.

Service organizations are exploring customer engagement software and the best ways to measure the customer experience throughout all points of contact.

Aligning Talent Recruitment And Training With The Needs Of An Evolved Service And Support Business Model.

With a shift to more cloud and software-based services, the required skill set of technicians is changing.

Companies need to recruit for a new skill set while still trying to fill gaps in their team caused by baby boomer retirement, a lack of apprentices after apprenticeship programs were discontinued during the economic downturn, and with the positive challenge of business and customer growth.

Some companies are choosing to bring in computer science software folks, then train them on the hardware piece.

Some are using veteran career-placement programs to find qualified, screened, and trained talent.

Given field service and support is highly influenced by technology, its clear the industry, its solutions, and your customer needs will continue changing rapidly. On top of this, the current workforce needs to be trained to service products that are supported by more automation and digitization.

Even recruiting for women is taking a higher priority at many organizations, since women make up half of the workforce, but generally a much smaller percentage of the field service industry. Diversity and inclusion efforts are being carried out with the knowing that aligning goals, incentives, and measurement against these efforts is imperative to their success.

Given field service and support is highly influenced by technology, its clear the industry, its solutions, and your customer needs will continue changing rapidly.

This is a good thing as you’ve never had more ways to be able to move the needle of the service you provide your customers.

Plus it keeps things interesting for someone like me (a conference producer for your industry)!

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Having been widely touted as a technology that wouldn’t just improve service delivery but would completely revolutionise the way we even approach field service operations the Internet of Things has rapidly become an ever-present discussion topic amongst field service companies - but has the IoT revolution finally happened or is it still just the realm of those at the leading edge of adoption?

We ask three experts to give us their opinions on IoT in field service...

What are the core benefits of IoT for field service organizations?

Mark Homer, Vice President Global Customer Transformation at ServiceMax from GE Digital: One of the biggest challenges in field service is having advanced warning, visibility and insight into the equipment assets configuration, operational health and state, verification of location – before turning up onsite.

IoT is extremely beneficial in this regard.

It can tell you all of the above, as well as its environment, its connected to an echo system its configuration – including factory settings and as installed, localized configurations, additions, configuration changes, software and firmware settings or modifications as it’s currently operating and maintained).

IoT can also provide you with the current maintenance build, MBOM history of what parts have been changed, swap-outs, inspections, prior faults, diagnostics and lubrication, wear and tear process flow counters etc.

Using connected field service, IoT enables field service organizations to see visibility to all these and many other operational aspects of the installed asset/equipment prior to an engineering visit.Using connected field service, IoT enables field service organizations to see visibility to all these and many other operational aspects of the installed asset/equipment prior to an engineering visit.

The ability to see an asset’s health, performance, usage, RCM data, and access to a unique digital twin of this physical asset are all now possible in the field.

This empowers predictive, condition-based maintenance, as well as saving time and money, increasing first-time fix rates and customer contract renewals, and decreasing costs, overheads and streamlining supply chain issues for service call outs.

Gary Brooks, CMO Syncron: With the Internet of Things (IoT) becoming more mainstream – the market is expected to reach $267B by 2020 – companies across industries and verticals are starting to prepare for the impact this game-changing technology will have on their business.

Leading manufacturers like Caterpillar are investing heavily in connected machines to allow equipment to pass information from one to another, ultimately pro-actively repairing equipment before it fails.

This shift in thinking from a reactive, break-fix service model to one focused on maximizing product uptime is a fundamental change to how manufacturers handle service today, and IoT is at the core. Major benefits of incorporating IoT data into field service include:

• Quicker resolutions. IoT data can provide more diagnostic information, so a technician can arrive to a job site and immediately know the steps necessary to make a repair. IoT can identify what part needs to be replaced, and trigger action to either pre-emptively replace the part before it fails, or take immediate action if downtime does occur. Using IoT data effectively ensures that technicians are equipped with the correct parts, and can make a repair on their first visit.
• Happy customers. Customers are happy when their equipment is up and running, and any unnecessary downtime leads to dissatisfaction and frustration. Service parts availability is the linchpin to any successful service organization, and IoT data can help service organizations better manage their service parts inventories to ensure downtime is rare or completely eliminated.
• Increased revenue. When technicians are stocked with the appropriate parts and are able to repair issues on the first time, quickly and correctly, not only are customers content, but technicians are able to make more visits to more customers each day – ultimately resulting in more business and ROI for the manufacturer.

Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director for Service Management, IFS: The Internet of Things (IoT) and so-called “digital twin” technologies are poised to have a huge impact on the service sector; reducing costs, maximizing data analytics, and extending the lifespan of products.

IoT allows field service organizations to become proactive and predictive by identifying equipment issues and mitigating the problem before it cascades into dreaded unplanned failureIoT allows field service organizations to become proactive and predictive by identifying equipment issues and mitigating the problem before it cascades into dreaded unplanned failure that impacts business performance and safety.

When embedded into the right field service management software, service organizations can analyze and visualize real-time operational data from connected machines and devices and automatically turn the information into immediate and predictive actions. This, in turn, delivers service level improvements and drives better business intelligence and flexibility.

Another core benefit of IoT for not only service organizations, but any asset-intensive company wanting to optimize their service offering is the ability of predictive maintenance. The Predictive Maintenance report forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for predictive maintenance of 39 percent over the time frame of 2016–2022, with annual technology spending reaching £7.96 billion by 2022.

Has IoT become prevalent amongst field service organizations as yet, or are those now utilizing IoT within field service delivery still leading edge? 

Mark Homer: It’s a hot topic. We see that most CSO are aware of IoT, and many prospects and customers are activating in IoT as well as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), participating in one or two pilot or POC projects.

As an industry many service technicians have been collecting data from machines for years, typically through interface cables (e.g. RS232, Bluetooth collection of binary OT data, or early telematics).

Many Technicians are also used to reading meters and process counters, sampling lubrications and collecting photographic and thermography imaging as part of their work order completing debrief process.

IoT makes this process real time.

Gary Brooks: While many manufacturers are collecting data from sensor-equipped products in the field, few are actually using it to improve their service operations.

As the cost of sensor-equipped parts decreases and more data becomes readily available, it will become more important than ever to invest in human capital and technology that support a service model focused on maximizing product uptime.

Companies that do this in the next 12 to 24 months will be equipped to succeed.

Mark Brewer: Whilst IoT solutions are not yet prevalent in the majority of field service organizations, those utilizing IoT solutions and rolling them out at scale will be the winners over the next few years. Sensors are increasing in sophistication and are transmitting increasing amounts of data. With IoT sensors, the asset or machine becomes “smart” and is placed at the centre, sending data back to the service centre and enabling diagnostics to determine issues that may arise in a day, week or months’ time.

It’s this predictability that will enable field service organizations to deliver next-level customer satisfaction.

However, any IoT driven business requires data acquisition (communications and networking), analytics and business software to work in unison.

The problem is that very few companies have all the skills in-house to do this on their own. As such, savvy field service organizations will look to seek out IoT experts and form partnerships with them to take their business to the next level.

What steps are needed to introduce IoT processes into a field service delivery workflow?

Mark Homer: I am a great fan of using IoT education kits that are widely available and brilliant for educating technicians through practical and fun training labs - for example, the GE Predix IOT kit which you can find @ http://fs-ne.ws/1CJ730iXfcT

Mark Brewer: Firstly, companies need to be careful of integrating IoT for IoT’s sake.

By 2020, more than seven billion business devices are expected to be connected, but smart tech does not always add value. Misuse can lead to security vulnerabilities, with the network chain becoming more exposed to cyber threats. Organizations, therefore, need to first consider the business case for IoT.

A lot of IoT solutions mostly focus on a single element of IoT; for example, connecting the devices, or big data analytics - rather than providing a complete end-to-end IoT solution.Once this is understood, companies must start small - ideally by trialling a proof of concept. Before globally rolling out IoT solutions as part of their business, organizations need to check that the equipment, gateways and sensors work; that they are capturing the right data, and that they have all of the correct business applications in place to make sense of that data.

Next up is choosing a best-in-breed software application that can be easily integrated from inception with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, or whichever management software the business has implemented. It’s important that the solution is completely mappable to the back end, closing the loop from device to business application.

A lot of IoT solutions mostly focus on a single element of IoT; for example, connecting the devices, or big data analytics - rather than providing a complete end-to-end IoT solution.

Field Service organizations need solutions that make the critical connection between analytics and transactional applications, which turn analysis into action and then into value.

Is adoption of IoT essential for a field service company to remain competitive?

Mark Homer: Yes, obtaining more accurate data from your connected assets will provide deeper understanding and insight into how your customers use and operate the equipment and assets you provide and thus enable you to derive a clearer understanding as to the value of that provision to your customer and their end customer or the upstream or downstream supply chain.

By understanding the asset performance, availability, and its RCM (condition and status), the asset true through life cost (cost of the asset throughout its whole life and its ultimate replacement) the servicing costs of inspection, maintenance, breakdown in the event of unplanned downtime is all critical as it allows for future innovation to improve future profit, performance and efficiency of the assets and the workforce maintaining it.

Connected products are also able to provide R&D with amazing data to give deep visibility into how a customer truly uses the equipment you provide.

This, in turn, is assisting the product development lifecycle in designing easier to use and maintain products.

Gary Brooks: As more products are equipped with smart sensors and complete autonomy becomes a reality, it will be more important than ever to shift from a reactive, break-fix service model to one focused on maximizing product uptime, or preemptively repairing equipment before it ever fails.

The best way to achieve this is to leverage IoT data to ensure parts are pre-emptively replaced before they fail.

Manufacturers must reinvent their service organizations, adopting sophisticated solutions and new business processes to optimize service parts inventory levels and prices while maximizing product uptime, which not only leads to improvements in revenue, gross profits and operational efficiency but also the overall customer experience.

Mark Brewer: By 2020, around 25 percent of asset-intensive companies will adopt IoT and digital twins to optimize service.

Whilst this doesn’t seem tremendously high, with the general shift towards servitization and the demand from consumers to have an all-encompassing customer service experience, more and more organizations in industries like manufacturing and construction, and logistics companies, in general, will be utilizing IoT technologies to expand their service offerings.

IoT technologies have the potential to enable companies across all industries to measure aspects in a detail and quality that has never been possible before; empowering businesses with assets’ performance indicators.

Leveraging IoT solutions can help organizations measure essential key metrics, such as availability, reliability, maintainability, supportability, cost of ownership and end-result, allowing them to operate more like service industries.This enables companies to find the most profitable models - turning service into opportunity.

Leveraging IoT solutions can help organizations measure essential key metrics, such as availability, reliability, maintainability, supportability, cost of ownership and end-result, allowing them to operate more like service industries.

For example, previously, the manufacturer’s knowledge of a product stopped once it left the factory. But now, via the feedback made possible through IoT, manufacturers can start to learn the usage, behavior and performance of these products in the real world, and can even make engineering changes to improve them over time.

Another example is construction machine manufacturer Caterpillar. The company has been able to fit its equipment with smart sensors to measure tire pressure, temperature, oil levels, and so on. It is a win-win for customer and service organization alike; minimizing equipment downtime and enhancing product development and improving service efficiency.

The approach is said to have saved Caterpillar millions of dollars already.

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Augmented Reality ticks all the boxes of a technology that could have a truly transformational impact on field service delivery and offers a viable solution to many of the challenges of an ageing workforce. However, 2017 research by Field Service News revealed that adoption of AR is still lower than expected - so just what is holding everybody back?

It is long been a widely held belief here at Field Service News that Augmented Reality (AR) will one day play a hugely important role in field service delivery.

But how will that belief begin to materialize and perhaps, more importantly, why has it failed to do so in a significant manner as yet? Yes, there are a growing number of case studies of organizations who have implemented an AR solution but they still seem to be the exception rather than the rule and mass adoption of AR still seems a long way off - but why?

Is it a case that we are pushing at an open door and as we saw with Cloud adoption? Is it just a case of waiting for the rest of the sector to catch up?

Scott Montgomerie, CEO, Scope AR certainly seems to think so.

The potential for AR in field service is tremendous and as the technology continues to prove its worth within organisations who were early to adopt it, AR will only become more pervasive“The potential for AR in field service is tremendous and as the technology continues to prove its worth within organizations who were early to adopt it, AR will only become more pervasive,” he asserts.

“The technology is uniquely positioned to close the growing skills gap in the field service industry by delivering on-demand knowledge transfer and empowering workers to become experts at any given task with little to no training.”

“The efficiencies this creates in terms of a) ensuring a procedure is completed accurately every time by delivering best practices and verifying completed work, b) time savings gained with regard to reduced mean time to resolution and equipment downtime and, c) improved customer satisfaction, will soon propel AR into becoming a table-stakes technology that field service companies can’t afford to go without if they want to remain competitive.”

Evans Manolis, Senior Consultant at another of the pioneers of AR in Field Service, Help Lightning, also thinks that AR has huge potential in our sector.

“The potential is unlimited,” he asserts. “We are only now beginning to scratch the surface of the positive impact that Augmented Reality will have on the field service marketplace and the future of service delivery.”

When used correctly, AR can positively impact several Key Performance Indicators that most field service organizations measure.“When used correctly, AR can positively impact several Key Performance Indicators that most field service organizations measure. From significant reductions in truck rolls, to increased first-time fix rates, to improved time to resolution, to maximized product uptime and better overall customer experiences, AR’s potential is easy to envision. AR is the future of service delivery.”

So given this potential, just what is holding companies back from getting on-board the AR train? What exactly are the objections and hurdles (perceived or real) which are holding field service companies back from adopting AR?

“The biggest objection to AR adoption is actually a misconception,” comments Montgomerie.

“Fancy videos and energetic Innovation Teams want to show the future of AR in industry, which often jumps past the practical applications that can scale saving time and money today.”

“The future of AR will include everyone having AR wearables, which are still limited in availability and costly today. While practical applications of AR can be deployed in scale to support field teams on wearables where available, AR solutions can also support handhelds like smartphones and tablets for everyone else. Combine this with the fact that wearables will become readily available and increasingly affordable in the coming months, and AR is something for now, not just in the future.”

However, cost is also a consideration that is holding some companies back as Montgomorie explains.

The cost of hardware remains a barrier to entry for many organizations. Equipping an entire remote workforce or team of field service technicians with a wearable device requires a sizable capital expenditure, one that most enterprise companies don’t have.“The cost of hardware remains a barrier to entry for many organizations. Equipping an entire remote workforce or team of field service technicians with a wearable device requires a sizable capital expenditure, one that most enterprise companies don’t have.”

This is set to change rapidly though as an increase in demand drives competition up and costs down.

“The cost of even the most sophisticated AR devices on the market, such as the HoloLens, are becoming more affordable,” adds Montgomorie.

“That, coupled with big investments from the likes of Apple and Google to deliver platforms enabling AR to be accessed on nearly any smart device, are quickly reducing the hardware-related hurdles holding many companies back.”

For Manolis the question is more about a reluctance to adapt radically new service strategies more than the additional costs.

“A few years ago, the major objections centered on the technology. AR looked really cool and was cutting edge, but did it work?” He asks.

“Fast forward a few years and now few question whether AR works from a product standpoint. But the reality is that the use of AR is not a technology play.”

“The technology works. The successful deployment of a service strategy rooted in AR is really about service transformation, not technology.”

“It’s about effectively changing the way organizations deliver service. It is about breaking down walls of resistance within service teams and about driving successful buy-in from the service teams tasked with using the technology. It’s about the entire company and not just the service department. It’s about effectively communicating early successes and focusing on what is in it for the service team. Most service leaders we speak with see this (change management) as a hurdle,” he continues.

“At Help Lightning we realized these challenges and have started a Coaching and Consulting Practice, to help our customers successfully use AR to transform their service organization and that has been the game changer for our customers.”

Manolis’ point about the importance of understanding the sheer magnitude of impact AR will have on how an organization approaches service delivery is a hugely salient one and it leads us to consider how AR will fit into the ecosystem of technologies that field service organizations include within their workflows.

Could it be that ultimately AR will become an integrated element of the Field Service Management solution as mobile did previously?Could it be that ultimately AR will become an integrated element of the Field Service Management solution as mobile did previously?

Montgomerie certainly believes so.

“AR will inevitably become part of the tools that field technicians and remote workers use daily in order to do their job. AR is the next evolution in user interfaces and is revolutionizing the way we see and interact with data and information.”

“By allowing users to intuitively follow instructions or easily act upon insights by putting content when and where the worker needs it most - directly overlaid onto the real world - AR is delivering the on-demand knowledge transfer employees need to conduct complex tasks.”

“As the market matures, we expect to see fewer evaluations of how AR alone can drive value, but instead, the mindset will shift toward how it, integrated with other support tools, can impact a company’s bottom line collectively.”

Manolis also thinks that this will, without question be the case.

“Service delivery is changing rapidly. If you are delivering service today the same way you were 5 years ago, you are in trouble. And if you continue to deliver service that very same way, you will be extinct in another 5 years. Integration is a key element in the successful deployment of AR,” he states.

“Integrating AR technologies into service management software solutions like ServiceMax and SalesForce, is critically important,” he adds.

Of course, one additional theory as to why AR hasn’t yet set the world on fire is that in the minds of many field service executives it is intrinsically linked with the development of smartglasses - which themselves are struggling to overcome the stigma left by the widespread disappointment of Google Glass.

Is the widespread adoption of AR essentially actually tied to the adoption of smart glasses in reality?But is the widespread adoption of AR essentially actually tied to the adoption of smart glasses in reality?

Montgomorie doesn’t think this is necessarily the case.

“While smart glasses deliver the ideal hands-free experience to allow remote workers to more easily and efficiently repair or assemble a piece equipment, AR is successfully being deployed (and showing ROI) through the use of smartphones and tablets today. Considering that AR glasses are very limited in availability at this point, it is critical that adoption also includes handhelds so that an organization can support all employees today until glasses become more common,” he explains.

“With advances in hardware, we are expecting several new smart glasses to come to market in the next year or two, bringing down the price and solving many of the issues with the current crop of smart glasses, including field of view, battery life, durability and user experience.”

“It may be a few years after that, but within 3-5 years we expect many field service technicians to be equipped with smart glasses.”

Manolis also sees the future of AR not being dependent on smartglasses in the short term although he does see that changing in the future.

“The important word in the question is “essentially” and my answer to that is no,” he comments.

“We have many customers who have adopted and deployed our solution to their service organizations on a global basis and they’re not using Smart glass technology.”

“That being said, smart glasses will be the next wave of AR technology that we will see, but in my opinion, we are still 18-24 months away from that point. Today there are too many challenges to deploying smart glasses across large service organizations. They tend to overheat, battery life is short, field service techs tend to treat them roughly and they are prone to break, they are still expensive, and many service techs say they are hard to use. All of this will change as the technology improves over the next few years.”

With AR being such a quickly evolving market, FSOs should look for a technology solution that can be implemented today, but that is scalable enough to support devices or hardware platforms of the future,But what about those companies that want to move forward with AR in the here and now? Whilst it is still a sector in its infancy, there are an increasing number of companies offering AR solutions dedicated to the field service sector. So what should we be looking for in an AR provider?

“With AR being such a quickly evolving market, FSOs should look for a technology solution that can be implemented today, but that is scalable enough to support devices or hardware platforms of the future,” urges Montgomorie.

“In addition, it is important for FSO’s to identify a specific challenge with the vendor and ensure that this challenge can be solved. Just as important, FSOs need to remember that it does not need to be every challenge,” he adds.

“The first question a field service company should ask themselves is what is driving their interest in AR and what do they hope to accomplish through the use of AR? Once those answers have been given they should look for a company that fits their goals and objectives,” Manolis asserts.

“Then they should look at the product roadmap the company has laid out. They should be sure that the AR vendor they choose has a product that is easy to use. Frictionless and effortless for both internal and external customers. Finally, they should ask about what the AR provider can offer to help them through the process of service transformation and adaption of the AR solution.”

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Bill Pollock, President of Strategies for Growth explains why the future of the field service sector is going to be fully dependent on the emerging technologies that are driving ever greater connectivity...

Connected Field Service empowers Field Service Organizations (FSOs) with the ability to monitor equipment remotely, and transmit data into the business’ database in real-time.

The greatest manifestations of this increasingly pervasive technology may be best described in the following terms:

• Traditional Field Service Management (FSM) tools have long since taken their place in the everyday service operations of a large majority of FSOs
• Field technicians have been effectively repositioned as industry experts, equipped with data that helps improve productivity while delivering higher levels of customer service, and attaining enhanced levels of customer satisfaction
• Keeping up with the latest technology is an ongoing challenge for most FSOs – but one that is necessary to maintain their competitive position in an evolving competitive landscape
• Establishing a formal KPI program – with the flexibility to add new types of KPIs to address new ways of measuring connected field service performance – is becoming increasingly important.
• The more progressive companies have already begun to migrate toward newer, alternative business models, such as servitization or selling “power by the hour”.

As such, and by harnessing the power of the IoT combined with pervasive functionalities of a Cloud-based CRM platform, more and more FSOs have begun to shift away from the traditional “breakfix” repair model to a newer, “never-fail” service model. The combination of these new technologies with the adoption of alternative business models, are allowing companies to more effectively manage the entire business operations of the enterprise, rather than just its service operations – again, made possible through the advent and proliferation of connected field service.

Fast forward to today, we believe that the future of IoT-powered FSM solutions, particularly those built on a CRM platform, is quite bright.

Why? Because the value proposition is clear – and universal – across all segments and participants involved in the provider-customer services transaction:

• For services management – it provides a set of configurable tools, working in real time, that are necessary to make the critical decisions needed to run a successful services organization;
• For field service professionals – it provides immediate access to valuable data and information, and eliminates much of the cumbersome and repetitive paperwork required in the past;
• For the organization’s services customers – it provides the ability to initiate service requests and monitor call status directly via the Web (i.e., via a customer portal);
• For the parts/inventory organization – it sets the stage for controlled inventory and parts replenishment that helps keep costs down; and
• For the back office – it facilitates the streamlined flow of information between and among dispatch, finance, purchasing, parts/ inventory and all other relevant stakeholders within the organization.

The staggering amount of data that can be generated through a connected field service environment also brings to the table several new data-related capabilities for FSOs, including the ability to:

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

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