Having undertaken a research project to assess the current appetite for the Cloud as a platform for field service management systems, Field Service News in partnership with ClickSoftware brought together a panel of senior field service executives to...
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Mar 23, 2016 • Features • Future of FIeld Service • research • cloud
Having undertaken a research project to assess the current appetite for the Cloud as a platform for field service management systems, Field Service News in partnership with ClickSoftware brought together a panel of senior field service executives to discuss the findings at the iconic Gherkin building in the heart of London’s business district...
There is also a more detailed briefing report available for download if you want to know more - Access the full Briefing report by clicking here
It was a typical British winters day: cold wet and grey. However when a selection of the field service industry’s senior executives came together to discuss the findings of a recent research report published by Field Service News in partnership with ClickSoftware the debate and discussion was lively, engaging and illuminating.
Held in the iconic 30 St Mary’s Axe, affectionately known by locals as the Gherkin, the backdrop to our conversations was the ever impressive London skyline, inspiring even with the cold, persistent rain beating down outside.
And perhaps what better place to discuss the Cloud than amongst the clouds?
The obvious starting point for the conversation was to identify who within the group was currently utilising a Cloud-based field service management solution and what had driven them to opt for the Cloud.
Keith Mackie, Director of UCC Coffee UK & Ireland was the first to offer us his thoughts.
“I’ve been with UCC Coffee for three years and when I arrived they had a solution that was partly Cloud-based but I changed it mainly because of the utility of the system itself.”
The Internet of Things is a big driver. What customers of ours want more and more is live data, how do we feed that data back to them?
“The decision for me was based around the ability to get data out of the system. For me that is one of the keys to any system.”
“The Internet of Things is a big driver. What our customers want more and more is live data. How do we feed that data back to them?”
It was clear that this challenge around accessing and delivering data wasn’t unique to Mackie and UCC Coffee. The conversation quickly turned to the importance of being able to get data from the field and feed it directly into both a field service management system as well as the wider ecosystem of ERPs and CRMs etc.
Mark Jones, Head of Technical Services, Roland DG, commented: “I think in terms of having the engineer turn up equipped with the right tools and parts and in terms of being able to maintain a high first time fix rate, then it’s extremely important. That would certainly be one of the benefits we would be seeking”
In terms of having the engineer turn up equipped with the right tools and parts and in terms of being able to maintain a high first time fix rate, then it’s extremely important.
“We’re not quite there yet, but in the next generation or generation after that of our product there will be that intelligence to take that information. That will also enable us to examine life-cycles of machinery.”
“Typically you see the bath tub curve: when your products launch you tend to get teething problems and you ramp up on calls and then as things mature and settle down you get a really good period where machines are reliable and ticking along smoothly. Then as you come to the end of the product life-cycle you start to see things ramp up again.”
“To be able to have that intelligent data, to measure that, would also provide a great tool for sales and marketing.”
The data highway
Jones’ point again reiterated the importance of data within the modern field service operation so the question was put to the group “Is it fair to make the assertion that the adoption of the Cloud, whether it be in FSM solutions or any others such as CRM and so on is hugely driven by the ease of access to data that it provides?”
John Cullen, VP Global Marketing Brand & Services, for mining and aggregates giant Metso, led the group in agreement that this is indeed the case.
If you can get information on the state of your equipment, then you can optimise your operations, you can know what services to deliver to your customers.
“As everyone has been saying: if you can get information on the state of your equipment, then you can optimise your operations, you can know what services to deliver to your customers.”
“One challenge I see as a concern is that, yes there is lots of data, but I think you can actually drown under the data. You can have access to anything but in the end what is it you want it for? What is the business process that you actually want to be applying this to? If you don’t have that view, I think you can take the wrong path. In the marketing side of my work. I see a similar thing: through analytics we can have lots of information but we can get blinded by, even paralysed by, the information.”
“The same thing can be true here; you have to have a view of what you want to use data for, then you select the right pieces of data. You start doing it in a structured way otherwise you end up with a system that doesn’t fulfil your needs.”
[quote float="right"]The question of how configurable is your system is for that very reason. I don’t want to be told what data I’m going to get, I want to choose what data I’m going to get.
Mackie then went on to add further to this point commenting: “There is the question of how configurable is your system is for that very reason. I don’t want to be told what data I’m going to get, I want to choose what data I’m going to get.”
“I might want to analyse it differently today than I do tomorrow depending on what I’m looking for. Am I looking for first time fix, parts usage, mean time between failure? All of those stats are important and you have to be able to configure them very easily.”
Again the consensus of the group was that this was very much a key desire for most companies. As Cullen stated: “Businesses evolve, they’re not static.”
Flexibility
This brought us again to another often celebrated benefit of Cloud computing: the fact that the Cloud is scalable and Cloud based solutions can grow or shrink with a business accordingly.
Paul Hingley, CMR Business Manager, Siemens, took the mantle stating that by 2020 all their products will have the functionality to send diagnostic data. “Where we are going as an organisation is making our service department more proactive and the Cloud we are developing is completely open” he explained.
The more that you open up the technology, and the diagnostics for the technology, then the more the data becomes relevant and has value.
“The more that you open up the technology, and the diagnostics for the technology, then the more the data becomes relevant and has value. The other problem we have is that some of the large Big Data companies are selling data but there is nothing behind it and that is the worry, because it gives Cloud a bad name.”
Security in the Cloud
Of course no conversation around the Cloud can be held without mentioning the ever present elephant in the room, security. With Hingley raising the topic of a giving Cloud a bad name the conversation was steered to perhaps the one question that has dogged the Cloud since its inception - is it secure?
One of the interesting findings of the research was the amount of people who admitted that breaches in consumer Cloud products such as Apple’s iCloud impacted their perception of the security of enterprise level Cloud solutions.
But what was the feeling of those in the room when it came to the security of the Cloud?
“If you were to ask us what would be at the top of our list of our priorities I would certainly say security.” stated Caroline Winwood, Customer Services Director at Dyson. "We take it very seriously at Dyson across everything from our intellectual property through to our customer information.”
“In my role, I inherited a system which is server based. One of the reasons was that our back office ran this way so integration was deemed easier but security was also very high on the list.”
The success of any software implementation lies in alignment between Operations and IT, both teams need to take on the shared responsibility for delivering a scalable platform that meets operational and reporting needs
“The success of any software implementation lies in alignment between Operations and IT. Both teams need to take on the shared responsibility for delivering a scalable platform that meets operational and reporting needs while ensuring that the fundamentals of security and on-going support are also taken care of,” Winwood added.
Indeed, Winwood’s point seems to be hugely pertinent in today’s landscape as the challenge for many companies is marrying this balance of the need for security often led by the IT department, especially for a company such as Dyson whose products sit at the top of their field in terms of the technology they deliver and the needs of the business in being able to deliver the levels of service also expected of a market leader.
However, Cullen’s Metso are one organisation that have embraced the Cloud across the business putting their trust within their Cloud provider to ensure their business data remains as secure as it would if they had remained with an on-premise solution. As a company we are actually embracing Cloud technology. Our complete storage and office environment has gone online with Microsoft, so we are trusting of Cloud security."
" Where we actually see an issue is with our customers and their machinery and the concerns that they have and those come on two levels. First is the commercial level: if you have a lot of data about their operations then you know exactly how they are doing in the market. You know if they are struggling or if they are doing well and a lot of companies feel uncomfortable about that.”
“Then the second area is when you are talking about the ability to get into the machinery and change settings. It has the ability to not only ruin a company commercially - for example, you could make their energy consumption go up - but also you could actually kill people as well by mis-settings. So the integrity and safety of their sites is an issue.”
Given the concerns being raised around security the question was put to Tim Faulkner, VP EMEA of ClickSoftware, of how he define the difference between the enterprise Cloud security against the Cloud in the consumer realm when speaking to his clients and prospective clients.
“Well there have been a number of interesting different points raised,” began Faulkner. “From a security perspective, if a company like Amazon Web Services has a breach it’s going to get into the news for sure because it’s a big company, it’s a clear target, so it’s newsworthy.”
For most companies it’s unaffordable to put in the same level of security that they should expect from a Cloud service vendor.
“But companies like Amazon or Azure, that’s their livelihood. They are investing a lot into the policies, the protocols and the procedures for maintaining security into the sites and the resilience of the systems. They can afford to invest so much more than a normal enterprise can in security measures and most of the breaches actually tend to be within a company's own data centre.”
“I think media has an impact on our perception but in this case the security of the Cloud versus the security of a normal company, versus the measures of a normal company and what they can afford to put in place, I don’t think the perception is really aligned with the reality that we have.”
“For most companies it’s unaffordable to put in the same level of security that they should expect from a Cloud service vendor.”
One company that perhaps do fall into the bracket of being large enough to be able to build their own levels of security that could match that of a Cloud vendor however is Belgian telecoms giant Proximus. “I think it is also about losing control, or at least the perception of losing control,” commented Marc Cornelis, WFM Lead, Proximus.
“In our company, hosting ClickSoftware and other applications in the Cloud, it’s like giving up all the data, all your core business data, into the Cloud, where you don’t have the perception of control."
"We have more than one data centre, and we are managing our own data centres and also for other customers. Our point is: why should we host our own data in a Cloud solution without having control of where the data is in the world?”
“We just don’t see why we should run an application like ClickSoftware, which is one of the core applications for Proximus, in a Cloud solution.”
Enabling process change
Of course one of the often cited reasons for slow adoption for the Cloud in certain areas including field service is the existence of legacy systems and the mindsets that often come embedded in such long-standing processes.
As Cornelis explained “It’s about change, it’s changing the environment; we have always been used to having everything hosted in the Proximus environment. We need to change, see how it works and then build up the confidence and build up the controls.”
Indeed, the Cloud has sometimes been referred to as a great leveller within enterprise as those companies unencumbered by such legacy infrastructure are able to embrace the technology and its benefits perhaps more easily than their larger more established competitors.
I could not imagine the cost of hosting all of our data on-site for a hundred thousand service calls. I think it is almost generational, people are so used to their information being hosted somewhere else.
“It’s something of a timing issue and also a generational issue as well, if I’m being honest,” commented Mackie.
“I could not imagine the cost of hosting all of our data on-site for a hundred thousand service calls. I think it is almost generational, people are so used to their information being hosted somewhere else.”
“If I was starting the business I work in now I wouldn’t even consider having an in-house solution, whereas for a multi-national that sense of control is more important but I think as things move on it’s a timing issue. I think as people become more comfortable with remote data access and using data that they don’t actually control then I almost think this problem will dissipate. I think we may be pushing at an open door.
In fact, there is evidence of such a swing in attitudes changing within the market already as Alistair Martin, Director of Product and Services, Unisys explained. “In fact we are seeing the opposite of what a lot of the conversation here is. We typically supply to some of the largest banks in the world through to the police force so very, very secure systems. But we are actually seeing that customers, because of demographics, because of a lack of skills, are becoming more open to look at Cloud solutions.”
“Applications as a Service is an area we are doing a lot of work in now, with customers coming to us now to actually run their applications somewhere out there. It’s a big change.”
The Cloud is gaining momentum as a valid platform for field service management solutions and wider enterprise applications.
As the rain continued to drench the London skyline, the consensus amongst our panel of leading field service experts was indeed very much in-line with the headline findings of our research.
The Cloud is gaining momentum as a valid platform for field service management solutions and wider enterprise applications. However, for those largest companies, legacy systems remain one challenge, whilst a need to overcome old ways of thinking around security and control are another.
What was interesting was that amongst our panel, every member understood the potential benefits of the Cloud, and that easy access to data was perhaps the biggest driver of all. But the lingering fears around security continue to cast a shadow for the Cloud for many and as such the journey to Cloud based computing still does seem to require an internal leap of faith, which is something each company can only achieve in their own time.
Want to know more? There is also a more detailed briefing report available for download if you want to know more - Access the full Briefing report by clicking here
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Mar 18, 2016 • Features • Future of FIeld Service • Service Power
Marne Martin CEO of ServicePower urges us to grasp the opportunity that technology affords us, but only to do so with a firm understanding of why we are doing so and how that technology can improve our service offerings...
Marne Martin CEO of ServicePower urges us to grasp the opportunity that technology affords us, but only to do so with a firm understanding of why we are doing so and how that technology can improve our service offerings...
I often hear from executives “We need big data”, “We need 3D printers”, “We need M2M”, don’t think like that.
In this article I want to inject a sense of urgency into the field service community to act now but also take the right approach towards digital technology, you’re not implementing it for the sake of it; you must implement it to do something truly noteworthy, something great.
The current state of play
We are at a pivotal time in not just field service, but the world’s future, I believe we entering the ‘Age of Digital Enlightenment’.
We have a raft of emerging digital technologies like IoT (Internet of Things), mobile, cloud and social collaboration that are resetting what we think of as possible.
You may have seen this shared on social media but it’s worth reiterating: Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate.
What does this mean for your business?
It is not a question of if service management will be disrupted, but when, it is inevitable. The mistake that taxi firms made with Uber is that they tried to fight it using traditional business and legal methods. Even now this continues to result in wasted energy and money, all the while Uber’s market share grows exponentially.
Without question your field service business is currently under threat from competitors that have grasped the enormity of what is happening and are plotting success based on enabling technologies.
What practical steps can you take?
A threat is also an opportunity; to outpace the competition you need to adopt a positive and proactive mindset for your business. You also have to be pragmatic, to achieve transformational changes your business needs to step out of its comfort zone and embrace new ways of thinking.
Like the first ‘Age of Enlightenment’ we need to use our powers of reason, analysis and individualism.
We need to challenge what business means and bring together disparate technologies so that we can enable new, better ways of working.
Easier said than done.
A good starting point would be to assemble a project team to analyse your business, the field sector you operate in and even other similar sectors to take a pulse of what is working ‘digitalwise’.
Their customers are willing to pay a premium for this service and see it as a valuable differentiator.
This transformation is not realised using just IoT, there are several digital technologies (cloud, mobile, analytics) working together, the key is not to look at one technology but consider the optimal digital mix to create a symphony.
A good starting point would be to assemble a project team to analyse your business, the field sector you operate in and even other similar sectors to take a pulse of what is working ‘digitalwise’.
Your team should posses a mix of skills:
[ordered_list style="decimal"]
- Creative – to push the envelope
- Technical – to understand what is possible
- Business– to decide what would deliver the greatest sustainable competitive advantage
[/ordered_list]
Above all else work with a field service vendor that understands digital, one that can give you a head start because it has existing experience and the three skills above.
Scheduling technology hasn’t really changed much in the last decade, until now...
Scheduling technology hasn’t really changed much in the last decade, until now.
The KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) initiative with Dr. Alan Crispin and Alex Syrichas from the Manchester Metropolitan University has developed a new algorithm with ServicePower for optimising the deployment of people and vehicles for field service companies that exploits “Quantum Annealing”.
It sounds hi-tech and it is. Previously Quantum Annealing was the preserve of the massive computing power of NASA and Google, now however ServicePower, via the cloud is enabling businesses of any size to channel its enormous power to optimise resources in the field.
It is the future, allowing real time modification to more easily and more quickly modify the parameters used in schedule optimisation to deliver unheard-of productivity and route efficiency.
It is not hyperbole to say that ServicePower is not just using technologies of the future, it is creating them.
So contact us so that together we can take stock of what you are doing, and what it is you hope to do.
We have dedicated many man-years to making the most of digital in field service, let’s talk about how this experience can help you decide what’s possible and the next move to make sure your company is destined for greatness.
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Mar 10, 2016 • Features • News • Future of FIeld Service • ClickSoftware • field service management • Managing the Mobile Workforce
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing today's field service organisations? Submit your view to ClickSoftware's Service is Hard contest and receive a free Amazon voucher.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing today's field service organisations? Submit your view to ClickSoftware's Service is Hard contest and receive a free Amazon voucher.
Delivering service is hard, acknowledges ClickSoftware. It is compiling a new book on the challenges facing the industry and would like input from Field Service News readers to help it identify and address the industry's biggest challenges and help make delivering service easier in future.
The company wants to combine its 20-years experience in field service with input from customers to create a book which will outline the most critical challenges in the sector market and present recommendations from experts, thought leaders and analysts on how to address these challenges.
All you have to do is to submit your challenges using the short form here by Tuesday 15th March 2016. (The form is in English but you can enter the details of your challenge in your own language.)
No challenge is too small, too simple or too complex.
Everyone who submits a challenge will receive:
- A free copy of the completed book (available in April 2016)
- An Amazon Gift Card worth £15.
If your challenge is selected to appear in the book, we will also:
- Acknowledge your contribution by mentioning you by name as a contributor.
- Send you a signed copy of the book (signed by Alec Berry, VP Consulting and Technical Services, ClickSoftware) thanking you for your support.
- Send you an additional £35 Amazon Gift Card.
Some examples of the challenges already identified include:
- Business Challenge: Service is hard….because we can’t meet our customers’ expectations while keeping operational costs down.
- Functional Challenge: Service is hard….because we lack accurate planning and reliable appointment booking.
- Technical Challenge: Service is hard…because it is difficult and complex to integrate the most advanced field service solutions with our legacy systems.
To submit your challenge, use this form. All challenges will be reviewed but may not all be included in the book.
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Mar 08, 2016 • News • Future of Feld Service • Future of FIeld Service • Events • Service Management
Technology, training and customer collaboration are the key topics for this year’s Field Service Summit taking place on 12 April, St Hugh’s College, Oxford.
Technology, training and customer collaboration are the key topics for this year’s Field Service Summit taking place on 12 April, St Hugh’s College, Oxford.
The one-day conference gathers over 90 senior field service directors from across the UK. They are meeting to explore how new technology and fast-changing customer expectations are shaking up field service management. With a pre-conference networking reception on the early evening of the 11th April, and a unique format enabling all delegates to meet with and talk to all speakers - the Field Service Summit ensures that busy executives maximise their learning opportunities, and minimise time spent out of the office.
Readers of Field Service News, responsible for managing a field service team, can receive a 25% discount off the standard price of a delegate pass,. Quote FSN25 when registering here.
Speaker Lineup
The Field Service Summit ditches slide decks and lets delegates sit in small groups to listen to and ask questions of our stellar lineup of speakers: Martin Summerhayes, Head of Strategy & Business Change, Fujitsu, John Cullen, Vice President, Global Marketing & Brand, Metso; Hans van den Heuvel, Operations Director, Services & Support EMEA, Canon Europe; Christian Nolte, Global Head of Field Service, Wincor Nixdorf; Sanjay Patel, Head of IS Strategy, Architecture & Commercial, UK Power Networks;Graeme Coyne, Manager, Siemens; Neil Taplin, Director of Operations, Arqiva; Coen Jeukens, Service Contract Director, Bosch; Professor Andy Neely, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge; Howard Lightfoot, Professor, Operations Excellence Institute, Cranfield UniversityStandard price tickets to attend the conference are £870+VAT. Please quote ‘FSN25’ to receive Promotional Offer price of £652.50+VAT for Field Service News readers. NB. This offer is only available to serving field service end users - not consultants or solutions providers.; Aly Pinder, Senior Research Analyst, Aberdeen Group; Bill Pollock, President, Strategies4Growth; Jan van Veen, Customer Centric Innovation for Sustainable Growth; James Rock, Managing Partner, DesignThinking; IFS; Astea; ClickSoftware; ServicePower; GreenRoad; FLS - Fast Lean Smart; MPL Systems
World Class Technologies On Show
The latest field service technologies will also be on show from world-class technology providers.
Readers of Field Service News, responsible for managing a field service team, can receive a 25% discount off the standard price of a delegate pass.
Standard price tickets to attend the conference are £870+VAT. Please quote ‘FSN25’ to receive Promotional Offer price of £652.50+VAT for Field Service News readers. This offer is only available to serving field service end users - not consultants or solutions providers.
Register here
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Mar 07, 2016 • Features • Dashboards • Future of FIeld Service • Knowledge Sharing • big data • trends for 2016
Welcome to the final part of this series on the key trends to have an impact on field service organisations in 2016
Welcome to the final part of this series on the key trends to have an impact on field service organisations in 2016
In previous features in this series we’ve touched on servitization in part one, IoT and AR in part two Smart Glasses and Rugged Computing in part three…, and optimised scheduling and connected vehicles in part four
Now as we bring this series to a close we look at to key tools field service managers should be implementing this year. Knowledge sharing platforms and easy reporting solutions…
Knowledge sharing projects will become high priority...
Another year gone and another year closer to an impending ageing workforce crisis for an awful lot of field service companies.
With the number of field service engineers in their mid forties and fifties there is a distinct danger that companies are facing a huge problem not just in the sheer numbers of field service engineers that will need replacing but also in the very real possibility that when these engineers leave, not only will their experience leave with them but also so will their knowledge.
With the number of field service engineers in their mid forties and fifties there is a distinct danger that companies are facing a huge problem not just in the sheer numbers of field service engineers that will need replacing but also in the very real possibility that when these engineers leave, not only will their experience leave with them but also so will their knowledge
The Baby Boomers for example are hoarders of knowledge, having worked long and hard to gain their experience they were it like a badge of honour and may not necessarily feel comfortable giving that experience away for free.
Millennials on the other hand are ‘Google Natives’, born into a world of social sharing and online collaboration, for them the first thing to do when faced with a challenge to which they don’t know the answer is not to research the topic in a book but to ask their social circle.
The challenge that many field service companies is getting their existing workforce to participate in knowledge sharing platforms, and ensuring that the platform they are building has a familiarity and strong UI that will engage the next generation of field service engineers as they come through.
Fortunately tools like AR can help overcome both challenges by recording remote engineers calls and strong them digitally.
However, regardless of how companies approach the implementation of developing a knowledge bank, it will be a high priority for the majority of field service organisations and those that don’t do so soon could be in a lot of hot water the longer they wait.
Easy reporting will become a key priority for field service companies
Finally we can’t have a top ten about business trends, without mentioning Big Data somewhere can we?
I often say that problem with Big Data for so many people is that it is very often a completely intangible concept.
However, the emergence of dashboards as a business tool in field service is essentially what Big Data is all about.
We can talk about the four V’s (veracity, volume, velocity and variety) or about things like Hadoop or MapR for ever but only a handful of folks really get it
All most of us want to know about Big Data is can it help me see ‘insert relevant business challenge of the day here’. And that’s exactly what many FSM software providers are now promising.
And in today’s world where service is a key differentiator, and where service excellence sits alongside productivity as the two leading KPIs for many field service companies, then the old adage of ‘you can’t manage what you can measure’ holds as much weight as ever.
So as with scheduling, those companies looking at a new FSM solution in 2016 should ensure that the tool they opt for has all the reporting capabilities they could possibly need as instant reporting and easy access to data becomes standard.
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Feb 29, 2016 • Features • connected vehicles • Future of FIeld Service • scheduling • trends for 2016 • User Interface
Welcome to the fourth part of this series exploring some of the big trends to expect in 2016 within the field service sector, written by Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News.
Welcome to the fourth part of this series exploring some of the big trends to expect in 2016 within the field service sector, written by Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News.
So far we’ve explored servitization in part one, IoT and AR in part two Smart Glasses and Rugged Computing in part three…
This time around we look at a stalwart of field service technology in optimised scheduling and why it is more important than ever, the growing importance of user interfaces and one of the most hotly anticipated topics in fleet management – the connected car and how it will change telematics forever…
Improved scheduling will become a huge part of the equation for those selecting FSM software this year...
For all of the excitement around technologies such as AR and Smart Glasses in being able to reduce the need for field service companies to send their engineers to the far flung corners of the globe, the truth remains that for the majority of field service companies, for the time being at least, the holy grail of operations remains the age old mantra of ‘getting the right engineer, to the right job, with the right parts on-time, every time.’
Such a competitive market place makes for an environment where innovation and product development is set to thrive.
With ServicePower having invested heavily in both R&D and the acquisition of intellectual property in this space and the recent roll-out of their new solution NexusTM, they are anticipated to take an aggressive approach to the market, whilst scheduling remains a core functionality of a number of significant players within the space including IFS, ClickSoftware and Astea.
Such a competitive market place makes for an environment where innovation and product development is set to thrive.
For field service companies seeking to either update their solutions or take the plunge and invest for the first time in a solution then having a variety of options is of course a major bonus and given the potential savings that dynamic scheduling engines can deliver, the refinement of such tools, making them more effective and easier to implement, is great news.
Connected vehicles and Telematics-as a-Service will challenge the traditional fleet technology sector
With the advent of the connected vehicle, the telematics industry was in danger of cannibalising itself as specialist providers began working with OEMs to provide in built systems.
On the one hand this was perhaps no bad thing and just the natural evolution of the sector.
Indeed there have been some exciting collaborations spearheaded by companies such as Telogis, who through a number of shrewd partnerships with the likes of Volvo and Ford have seen their technology placed at the heart of many next-generation commercial vehicles.
On the face of it such agreements are win-win-win.
With the advent of the connected vehicle, the telematics industry was in danger of cannibalising itself as specialist providers began working with OEMs to provide in built systems.
But the flip side of course is that such partnerships also limit the choices available to those companies that either want to explore their options further or have existing systems that they don’t want to move away from.
Another approach to building a telematics solution was unveiled by Dutch Telematics giant TomTom at their developers' conference in Amsterdam last year when they unveiled the .connect platform.
With three separate APIs encouraging as much integration as possible the development of the .connect platform was a masterstroke by a company that had already reinvented themselves once in the face of a declining routing and tracking market as it placed them as a telematics platform firmly at the centre of a suite of 3rd party apps that the field service company could select to define a telematics solution that was bespoke to their own specific needs.
Essentially by modelling their approach along the lines of Apple’s App Store, Google’s Play or Saleforce’s Appexchange, TomTom have paved the way for new thinking in the telematics space and have thrown down a gauntlet for the rest of the industry.
A seamless User Experience will become a prerequisite for field service companies and their clients alike
In September last year I spoke to Marne Martin, CEO of ServicePower shortly before the launch of their new FSM software Nexus FS.
They had clearly spent some significant time working on the User Interface (UI) in the face of the growing impact of consumerisation on business software. “The key is taking what we’ve done with some of the new technology, and then making sure we have integrated a great user experience throughout the other applications, modernising the UI, but not losing all the functionality that we have built over the last twenty years.” Martin commented and as we look ahead to what 2016 holds in store her words continue to ring true.
Consumerisation remains a vital trend, and one which FSM software providers will overlook at their peril.
But it’s not just about aesthetics, there is a very simple reason why field service companies should expect the apps they deploy for their field engineers to look as good and feel as intuitive as the apps they use in their personal lives.
To cut to the chase, the more instant familiarity an end user will feel with an app, the faster they will take to using it, which means the faster a company will fee the promised benefits of that apps deployment.
Indeed ServicePower are not alone in having put a significant amount of importance on the look and feel of their latest software.
One of the big bits of feedback from the IFS World Conference was that the company had spent a significant amount of time in ensuring their UI had a modern, elegant feel to it and that those efforts didn’t go unnoticed amongst the attendees.
It is not just within the apps used by field service engineers where UI is of growing importance.
However, it is not just within the apps used by field service engineers where UI is of growing importance.
Many field service companies are beginning to offer apps to their own customers also and whether these apps are communications channels, knowledge banks or even tools for monitoring assets within the field, increasingly digital interaction far outweighs human interaction for many companies and delivering a positive user experience through these mediums is as important to a companies relationships with their customers as face to face contact.
Look out for the final part of this series coming soon which will focus on why knowledge sharing and easy reporting are the two operations that all field service managers should be demanding in 2016.
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Feb 23, 2016 • Features • Augmented Reality • Future of FIeld Service • Mobile Merged REality • Help Lightning
We look at what Help Lightning are terming Mobile Merged Reality, An innovative mobile solution goes beyond augmented reality (AR) to redefine the future of help...
We look at what Help Lightning are terming Mobile Merged Reality, An innovative mobile solution goes beyond augmented reality (AR) to redefine the future of help...
I need to be able to...
This commonly heard phrase fuels new ideas, creative thinking and innovation which often start many successful companies. A prominent Neurosurgeon, Dr. Bart Guthrie, used this phrase in frustration as he found his task list growing ever longer and more complex.
He needed superpowers to be able to consult on cases, prep support staff, collaborate with other physicians in surgery and meet with patients — in other buildings, in homes, in offices across town, across the state, even in other countries, all on the same day, often in the same hour.
Given the expense and reimbursement issues in health care, he needed an innovation that wouldn’t cost an arm or a leg or require brain surgery to operate. As a result, instant, virtual presence was born. In fact, it was the genesis for a new product category for superior service and knowledge exchange called mobile merged reality. With over 15,000 users in 50 countries, Help Lightning’s patented technologies and processes made it the global leader in merged reality. Augmented reality technology combines live video or a user’s environment with computer-generated digital information in real time.
Merged reality goes beyond AR.
33% of service work orders require a second trip. Merged reality and virtual presence is able to help eliminate 18% of second trips that are required due to a lack of experience, alleviate 19% of second trips caused by limited access to information, and avoid 28% of second trips caused by wrong diagnoses.
You can proactively, efficiently and effectively attack hard costs that plague the efficiency and effectiveness of operations and customer interactions. Customers can experience a 7 to 15 times hard cost savings for every dollar invested.
Expert personnel can see a 10 to 20% increases in efficiency. According to the Aberdeen Group 33% of service work orders require a second trip. Merged reality and virtual presence is able to help eliminate 18% of second trips that are required due to a lack of experience, alleviate 19% of second trips caused by limited access to information, and avoid 28% of second trips caused by wrong diagnoses.
Quickly solve problems for customers, assist newly on-boarded personnel, eliminate wasteful trips and differentiate the way your products are sold, implemented and serviced. Technical, healthcare, manufacturing, and service experts can show a resolution, not just describe it, even when thousands of miles away. Visually collaborate, assist with issues, and resolve problems as though you were working side-byside with a colleague or customer. Download the app for any iOS or Android mobile device and start helping and sharing ideas instantly. No additional special equipment is needed to start a merged reality session.
The uses are endless; from live knowledge exchange to never before imagined consumer experiences. Giving better, faster help and care for customers, friends and colleagues is universal.
If you selected Receive Help, position your iPhone, iPad or Android device over something you’re working on, like a circuit. When the person you need help from reaches behind his or her device, you’ll instantly see the other person’s hand (or anything that is necessary to help) appear merged with your normal image view. Dr. Guthrie uses Help Lightning’s merged reality solution on a regular basis.
However, applications of merged reality and virtual presence are not limited to healthcare settings. The uses are endless; from live knowledge exchange to never before imagined consumer experiences. Giving better, faster help and care for customers, friends and colleagues is universal. By using ordinary smart phones and tablets, users add non-verbal, visual cues and critical human gestures to video calls for superior communication, collaboration and cognition.
Welcome to the future. Instant help anywhere in the world.
We call it Help Lightning.
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Feb 22, 2016 • Features • Future of FIeld Service • rugged hardware • smart glasses trends for 2016
Welcome to the third part of this series in which Field Service News Editor-in-Chief Kris Oldland takes a look at some of the key trends set to have an impact in 2016.
Welcome to the third part of this series in which Field Service News Editor-in-Chief Kris Oldland takes a look at some of the key trends set to have an impact in 2016.
In part one he looked at way the business trend of servitization is set to become more commonplace this year and in part two he looked at the impact IoT and AR might have.
Now in part three Smart Glasses and Rugged Computing take centre stage…
Smart Glasses will be reinvented from novelty consumer gadget to essential industrial tools
Lets be honest, when we think of Smart Glasses, nine times out of ten we think of Google’s ultimately ill-fated Glass product, which after emerging in a blaze of PR activity eventually limped out of a public beta trial amidst growing negative publicity, and the unfortunate nickname of Glasshole being afforded to those who had paid £1,500 for the privilege of beta testing the devices.
However, whilst the consumer world clearly wasn’t quite ready for advent of smart glasses, the world of enterprise and in particular field service has been waiting in the wings, ready to adopt the technology.
Indeed the rumours being discretely leaked from Google HQ is that the next iteration of Glass will be firmly focused on the more lucrative (and sensible) market of industry and enterprise.
However, the Californian computing giant shouldn’t bide their time too much in releasing Glass 2.0 (although it is heavily rumoured for a 2016 launch) as they are far removed from having a monopoly on the smart glasses market.
Dedicated Smart Glass manufacturers such as Pivothead and Vuzix have already stolen a march on them within the enterprise whilst there are interesting products from the likes of Sony in the market also.
So why does field service make for such an obvious target market for Smart Glasses?
Well the argument is essentially two-fold, firstly there is the same argument that we have just explored for AR.
Namely that by delivering a ‘see-what-i-see’ communication channel, field service companies are able to utilise Smart Glasses to replace the need for sending their expert engineers half way around the world.
As with AR Smart Glasses provide an effective means of delivering expertise to a less experienced on-site engineer digitally potentially reducing costs quite significantly.
Secondly there is the fact that Smart Glasses can enable an engineer to receive updates and access information via a truly hands free platform. This is of course beneficial for any field engineer, but for those engineers working in hazardous environments such as scaffolding for example, a potentially crucial breakthrough in health and safety terms.
And whilst as mentioned a number of companies have taken advantage of Google’s closure of the initial Glass beta program in gaining both market share and brand awareness, the fact remains that when Glass2.0 finally arrives it will shift the spotlight firmly back onto the potential of Smart Glasses once more.
Rugged computing will once again become the ‘go-to’ option for field service companies...
The impact of consumerisation on enterprise technology was probably not felt more keenly than by those companies specialising in the manufacture of ruggedised computers.
In field service in particular the arrival of firstly the iPhone followed quickly by the wider adoption of the Android had huge ramifications for the sales of rugged PDAs and handhelds computers.
Seemingly overnight the devices our engineers had relied on became aesthetically at least, that much more antiquated.
The arrival of the iPad and other consumer grade tablets had a similar effect on the industrial laptop sector as well.
With intuitive interfaces, powerful processing power (relatively speaking) and perhaps most importantly of all a high gloss ‘sexiness’ factor consumer devices were permeating many corners of field service in recent years.
However, the tide it seems is turning back in favour of devices fit for the more demanding rigours of industry.
Firstly, there are the horror stories beginning to emerge of significant challenges evolving from the deployment of consumer devices within the workplace.
One such example being of a major UK high street retailer who had deployed Apple devices to 3,000 of their front of house staff in an attempt to mobilise the sales workforce.
Whilst an effective deployment initially, all of the good work was soon undone when Apple rolled out an update to IoS, which resulted in a core app the retailer relied upon becoming non-functional.
Tablets such as the T800 by Getac or the R12 by Xplore for example are both elegant devices that could pass for a consumer unit despite maintaining high rugged specifications.
Then there is the fact that the rugged manufacturers themselves have cottoned onto the growing importance of consumerisation to their market (and indeed upon their clients buying decisions).
As a result of doing so have most major players in the space have firstly embraced the Android platform to enable those companies that wish to harness the familiarity of the OS to speed up adoption rates to do so and also secondly taken a more aesthetically pleasing approach to form factor for rugged devices.
Tablets such as the T800 by Getac or the R12 by Xplore for example are both elegant devices that could pass for a consumer unit despite maintaining high rugged specifications.
Add to this the fact that whilst Total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) remains one of the rugged manufacturers key arguments in favour of selecting a rugged device over it’s consumer counterpart, our own research revealed that of those companies that do opt for rugged devices do so for reliability reasons rather than cost, then there is a pretty compelling argument to be had with TCO becoming just a very nice bonus in the equation.
Very simply, across the whole life span of a unit deployed in the fiel, a rugged device will often cost a company less, and deliver far greater reliability in the field.
When we consider just how mission critical field service is both in terms of minimising the costs of adhering to SLAs as well as perhaps more importantly
retaining customers (studies show that it is six times more costly to win business than it is to retain it also) then for many field service companies, the option to invest in consumer technology over fit-for-purpose rugged equivalents just isn’t valid anymore.
Look out for the fourth part of this feature when we turn our attention to why optimised scheduling is more important than ever, why UI is becoming increasingly important and how the connected vehicle is changing telematics…
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Feb 15, 2016 • Features • Augmented Reality • Future of FIeld Service • Internet of Things • trends for 2016
In part one of this series, looking at the big trends we will see in Field Service this year we looked at way the business trend of servitization is set to become more commonplace this year.
In part one of this series, looking at the big trends we will see in Field Service this year we looked at way the business trend of servitization is set to become more commonplace this year.
Now in the second part of this series Kris Oldland looks at the impact the Internet of Things and Augmented Reality might have in field service...
The Internet of Things has arrived and has two feet firmly in the field service industry
OK so this is a bit of a cheat given that in my intro I pointed out that this was the one I got right in 2015.
However, last year I mentioned it would start to become commonplace.
This time around I’m going to go all in and state that across 2016 we will see IoT implementation become a commonplace strategy for field service companies in all corners of the globe.
It was perhaps inevitable ever since ServiceMax and PTC got into bed together in May last year that we would see a fully IoT enabled, Field Service solution merge as the fruits of this union.
Yes we will have read the case studies and white papers by the likes of GE, Schneider and Phillips and yes the stuff these big guys are doing with IoT is really, pretty damn impressive.
However, there are also now a growing number of examples of smaller to medium sized companies who have harnessed IoT in order to improve the service they are delivering to their customers (and even to have moved towards a servitized business model in some instances.)
This was highlighted perfectly by leading service consultant Nick Frank in a presentation he gave during a Field Service News webinar last year.
Frank gave a number of examples of SME’s utilising IoT, often with fairly simple, and dare I say it relatively lo-tech solutions, that were as much about thinking about the service these companies were delivering and how ‘outside-the-box’ thinking could improve that service.
In fact it was a core facet in all of the companies Frank referred to in the webinar, and indeed also those companies he often refers to in his regular column for Field Service News, that they intrinsically understood what good service looked like for their customers, and they viewed the emergence of IoT as an enabler and facilitator in delivering and enhancing that service.
Of course, for some companies innovation sits within their DNA so adopting new technologies and approaches is nothing to be feared.
However, this isn’t necessarily the case for all companies, so it is perhaps the recent launch of ‘Connected Field Service’ by ServiceMax, that finally connects the IoT dots for the rest of the pack.
It was perhaps inevitable ever since ServiceMax and PTC got into bed together in May last year that we would see a fully IoT enabled, Field Service solution merge as the fruits of this union.
in our own exclusive research from October last year over half (55%) of our respondents stated they thought “IoT will become a fundamental part of field service operations in the future” whilst a further 21% went further stating that “IoT is critical to any field service organisation’s strategy”.
You can be sure that they won’t be given as much grace a second time around and almost certainly other significant field service management software providers like ClickSoftware, IFS et al will soon be in the IoT game as well.
Indeed ServicePower are also rumoured to have an agreement in place with PTC so watch this space.
For field service companies though, whether they are blue chips, the smaller innovators that Frank has highlighted so well, or anything in between the ability to enhance service offerings through IoT are becoming both more accessible and more easily understood.
Indeed in our own exclusive research from October last year over half (55%) of our respondents stated they thought “IoT will become a fundamental part of field service operations in the future” whilst a further 21% went further stating that “IoT is critical to any field service organisation’s strategy”.
Augmented Reality will replace IoT as the new kid on the block everyone is talking about...
OK so if IoT is moving from the exciting cool tech everyone is talking about to the big ticket everyone is investing in, then Augmented Reality (AR) is the tech whose impact upon field service is still being outlined and explained somewhat.
However, once people grasp the concept, and the relativeease of implementation of the technology, and the quite frankly huge potential for AR to wipe significant cost lines from a field service P&L then they are almost instantly converted.
f IoT is moving from the exciting cool tech everyone is talking about to the big ticket everyone is investing in, then Augmented Reality (AR) is the tech whose impact upon field service is still being outlined and explained somewhat.
However, unlike IoT there isn’t the potential barrier of retrofitting hundreds, thousands or potentially millions of assets in the field.
In fact one AR provider that impressed me and everyone else that saw there demonstration at Field Service East last September (Help Lightning) offer their app as a download from the App store.
So what exactly is AR and why do I think it will have such an incredible impact?
Very simply AR is the overlaying of digital information onto the reality we see before us.
In field service, this has huge potential.
Often the largest single cost for any field service company is the cost of getting a highly skilled engineer, to fix that critical issue, for a key client ASAP. There is the cost of travel, accommodation not to mention the dead time lost whilst he is in between jobs.
AR allows us to get the experience of that engineer on-site without him being there. In fact we can utilize a less experienced engineer who is closer to the job, locally out sourced staff or even the customer themselves to undertake the physical maintenance whilst under the direct guidance of our experienced engineer who can be based in a centralized location, or even at home.
Through the use of AR our remote engineer can not only see exactly what the on site engineer is seeing and talk them through the repair, he can at any point freeze the image being captured by the on site engineers device and show his less experience colleague exactly what to do with hand gestures or even on screen annotations shown in real-time.
So instead of explaining over the phone ‘the dial near the mid-centre of the asset, turn it clockwise by about 20 degrees’ he can physically point to the correct dial and show how much it should be turned and this will be seen by the on site engineer on his device.
Studies have shown that the human brain is almost 20 times more receptive to being shown something via hand gestures than spoken word and this is at it’s core the power that AR provides.
And by replacing the need to ‘fly experience in’ with the ability to ‘dial it in’ field service companies could make potentially huge savings very quickly leading to a whole rethink about how we deploy our most experienced engineers.
This also leads us onto the other big area where AR could be deployed within field service, namely training.
As millennials become more and more a part of the field service landscape, the need for digitizing our knowledge banks becomes more pressing, and whilst AR can be used as a standalone training tool, for those companies utilising it actively in the field it is a simple case to record each interaction - thus building a digital knowledge library as a by-product of every AR based service call.
Given the benefits, low-cost implementation and potentially instant R.o.I surely AR will rapidly move from exciting new concept to industry staple and I think we will begin to see that traction this year.
Look out for the part three of this series when smart glasses and rugged computing take centre stage…
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