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Findings from end-user evaluation reveal Enterprise Resource Planning can deliver value benefits beyond operational efficiencies.

New, qualitative research from analyst firm IDC has finally dispelled the misperception that enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems only deliver value in the form of operational efficiencies, with respondents to an independent study citing benefits such as better sales team performance, the ability to bid for more business, improved net promoter scores (NPS), winning more deals and keeping customers for longer.

 

While some enterprise software buyers still struggle with justifying large projects like an ERP selection and implementation, worrying about the risks, costs, and disruption, many have now realised that there are these significant benefits to be had, and by working with a trusted partner they can reduce time-to-value and realise these benefits much sooner than they thought. Indeed, the IDC study found that the average amortisation period for IFS Enterprise Software was just 15 months – less than half the industry average.

 

IFS recognises that enterprise software and ERP project owners because they have a lot of weight on their shoulders to show the benefits of such enormous projects – and do so quickly. And while most vendors resort to a simplified return on investment (ROI) calculation, IFS is now adopting a radically different approach to demonstrating value. By listening to customers and getting closer to their businesses early in the sales cycles, they are now able to produce a more holistic and detailed business case during the evaluation phase based on the customer’s long-term goals. This can then be used to measure success once the project is complete.

The end-user evaluation also shows that for the average customer IFS Enterprise Solutions deliver net productivity increases of over 18% and adds over $25m in revenue each year. In IFS’ view, this paper sets the standard to which the rest of the enterprise software industry should be held to. 

According to research from IDC 30% of manufacturers will soon provide personalized dashboards for customers by 2023 which could lead to a new era of customer satisfaction: customer collaboration. Aly Pinder explores the potential of this evolution. 

What role does the customer play in their own service experience? If we were to think back a few years or decades the answer would be minimal. Historically, the service organization or manufacturer held the keys to a customer’s happiness and satisfaction.

Show up, preferably on time, with the answer to resolve the issue was the main goal. If the issue were resolved the customer was happy and vice versa. But as most of the world is now accustomed to on-demand experiences and collaborative interactions with peers, manufacturers, and technology platforms this model is changing. IDC predicts that resulting from demand for hyper-customized customer experiences, 30% of manufacturers will provide personalized dashboards for customers to schedule service, learn about products, and collaborate by 2023. Customers now can create their own experiences and in turn their level of satisfaction with their expected outcomes.

This isn’t to say that the manufacturer is completely absolved of responsibility to have knowledgeable technicians, reliable products, and efficient processes to support a quality service experience, but a good service experience is evolving and has become inclusive of customers, partners, and other stakeholders. Customers can and will continue to play a bigger role in the experiences they create for themselves and the impact they will have on quality service. From their level of engagement to the access they allow manufacturers to use the data that is created customers will only become more relevant for the future of service excellence. Below are a few ways I see customers impacting the service experience in 2019 and beyond.

Customers are invested in your success but have options
Engaging customers in their own experiences with service is not only a way to balance risk and the cost of service, but ensuring customers have a reason to stay with you. Competition for service has never been higher, no longer is the manufacturer the sole provider of service for a customer. Third parties are nothing new, but they have become more viable in their ability to deliver quality, timely service on a variety of products and equipment types. Therefore, manufacturers must innovate the ways in which they build bonds with customers going beyond the suggestion that “you bought it from us, so you must sign a service contract”.

"Customers can and will continue to play a bigger role in the experiences they create for themselves..."

A personalized dashboard which integrates with suggested new services or products, creates a community of user-driven content, and boosts the customer’s performance in KPI that matter to them is one way to create longer lasting customer partnerships.

Expectations change and manufacturers need to evolve at faster pace
Not much is more frustrating than providing feedback in a survey and seemingly having that information go into a blackhole not used by the those who administered the survey. Customers are very willing to give manufacturers feedback as we have seen an influx of customer advisory forums, social interactions, and other channels of insight. But too often this is used as a marketing tool and not as a path to tailor future products, service, and experiences because of this intelligence.

As customers provide manufacturers with insight into what they value and how they want to be interacted with, it is imperative that this information leads to improvements as this is the customer taking the time to involve themselves in their own service experience.

Connected products must enable intelligence and customized experiences
The number of connected products and devices will only continue to grow, but unfortunately, we still lag well behind the promise of this future. Data from connected products too often is just stored in the cloud used by just a few when the ability for this insight to trigger new and valuable experiences is plentiful.

Customers through their usage and behaviour data have provided manufacturers and service organizations with a treasure trove of insights that must be leveraged to enhance on-going experiences.

Customers shouldn’t just be an open wallet or an email address. As much as customers of the future are a wealth of data points they also have a growing willingness to be a part of the experiences that are delivered to them. Not engaging them in a true partnership of shared experiences, shared benefits, and shared goals is a missed opportunity that won’t be sustainable in our shared futures.

Aly Pinder is Program Director at IDC.

Aly Pinder looks at three ways in which manufacturers must consider leveraging augmented service tools...

The way we work, learn, and communicate have all taken a drastic turn from just a couple decades ago. When was the last time you saw a teenager or even a current college student read a physical newspaper, write a note in a notebook or on piece of paper, or look up a definition in a dictionary (not an online one)?

I imagine like me, you probably can’t remember the last time. This transformation has wide ranging implications, the least of which is the collapse of the encyclopedia industry. But this is not another article on why millennials need to be coddled, or how Gen Z is bad for the economy.

I don’t think any generation, ones before or after me, are the problem. But the way in which their behaviours impact the world around us must be addressed and used to help us all evolve.

 

"Manufacturers must take a few steps to turn knowledge into a shared resource  and not just a repository of work instructions..."

 

This is where manufacturers and service leaders come in. For manufacturers, the implications of a changing economy and digital world are even more real as it is becoming more apparent that to fill a growing gap in labor the tools, training, incentives, and motivations of work will need to be transformed as well. Not only do manufacturers need to do more for the customer, it increasingly is coming from more junior workers who need to get up to speed fast.

This convergence is where I believe augmented service tools can play a big role in democratizing knowledge across a varied set of employees and levels of tenure. But to get there, manufacturers must take a few steps to turn knowledge into a shared resource  and not just a repository of work instructions. 

With this in mind there are three things I believe manufacturers should consider.

 

Peer-to-Peer vs. Top Down.

Are you more likely to listen to your boss or your colleague?

The answer may be a bit different depending on whether you work in an office or out in the field. Many manufacturers I’ve spoken with talk about the level of engagement they find when they empower their field teams to work together to share best practices, whether in a newsletter, during beginning of day meetings, or via a video. Insights are more powerful when they come from a peer that is going through the same challenges you are.

Therefore, I believe user-generated content from field service technicians will help speed the adoption of video training tools and knowledge sharing.

But it is up to the manufacturer and service leadership to provide the tools, security, and platform for this technology to work and be accessible to the right people.

 

Amplify Investments in Innovation and Collaboration.

It is probably not prudent to predict industrial manufacturers or an oil & gas company to rival Google or Apple as the next great innovative companies of this generation.

However, there is a lot of innovation happening today within manufacturers that doesn’t often get reported to the outside public. If manufacturers want to draw the talent of the future they must not only have the tools the next wave of workers want to use, but they must also highlight in recruiting and marketing materials the innovative technologies that are used daily to get work done. This may help differentiate from the throng of manufacturers that are trying to procure talent. And why not promote innovation to those you want to bring in as employees in the same ways you woo customers.

 

AR / VR should play a role in the field.

I am not as bullish as my peers regarding the future pervasiveness of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) tools in field service. I do, however, think there are several use cases and environments where this technology makes sense.

 

"What it most important though, is that manufacturers evaluate their infrastructure, environment, and workforce capability to maximise the value of this technology..."

 

What it most important though, is that manufacturers evaluate their infrastructure, environment, and workforce capability to maximise the value of this technology. AR and VR tools do have the ability to help bridge the gap between an ageing workforce that may need to move to a back-office role and a less tenured technician who needs real-time assistance while on a job.

The talent pool or lack thereof is forcing manufacturers to re-think how they recruit, where they recruit, and what tools they need to navigate this environment.

As much as we have all discussed this topic for years and almost a decade now, manufacturers must take this moment to understand the worker of the future. It is imperative that manufactures provide the tools to augment their work environment to bring them in and keep them on the team.

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Aly Pinder is Program Director for IDC

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Aly Pinder outlines how the growing trend for connected products is set to revolutionise the way we approach service...

What is the value of a connected product or asset? Some might argue, connected products allow a manufacturer to capture a wealth of product data which can be used to make better products in the future.

Others might state, connected products open a window into customer usage data which can help manufacturers and sales teams target customers more effectively driving increased revenues.

These are two important use cases and show some of the promise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected products.

But I think there is an even more impactful area of value from the ability to connect to products – field service.

Now you may be thinking, of course, it’s all of field service, as you peruse the articles of Field Service News. But even if I am preaching to the choir, the impact that connected products can have on the ability for manufacturers to transform the way they deliver field service and customer support is not necessarily a given.

However, as more products and assets are connected I believe there is a real opportunity to see great leaps in field service and the transformation of the way manufacturers interact with the end customer.

Three opportunities, in particular, jump out as big wins for the future of field service as a result of data captured from connected products and equipment:

 

Finally, predict and not react

The journey from reactive field service to proactive and predictive persists for many manufacturers. I don’t think this is necessarily a battle which will ever reach a state of 100% predictive service, and nor should it.

But I do think there is a great opportunity to take the volumes of data being captured in real-time to make smarter decisions in field service which can lead to a different balance of reactive, proactive, and predictive support.

Also, data gleaned from connected products can help make reactive service calls more valuable and efficient as a technician should have the answers to the issue without having to guess or lean on gut-feel.

 

Service without a truck roll.

As noted in recent IDC research, by 2020, 50% of global OEMs with connected service offerings will have incorporated augmented service execution and/or remote management thus improving service margins by up to 30%.

The ability to resolve issues remotely or to utilize a centralized expert to help a customer solve a problem can be transformative for field service. This type of model could help service leaders allocate their seasoned technicians to the most complex problems as opposed to just an issue within their geographic footprint.

Connected products enable a manufacturer to know what is wrong in advance of a response and ensure the right response is the one scheduled for a scarce set of resources.

 

Focus on the value of the human interaction.

When we think about the negatives associated with the rise of the machines (i.e., Terminator), we often miss something.

This should be an opportunity not a threat.

Connected products which ‘talk’ to each other provides an opening for field technicians to focus on the humans while they are on site as opposed to spending time looking for information, turning wrenches, or filling out paperwork.

Obviously, this will mean manufacturers and service leaders will need to train their technicians on a new set of skills and activities. But as the workforce and economies evolve, the skill of interaction will be in more demand and provide more value in the customer relationship.

And manufacturers which leverage connected product data to have their field teams focus on the customer will succeed.

The promise and value gained from connected products is more than just additional data points.

As manufacturers look to transform their organizations and teams, connected products should be the catalyst for a journey of new ways of delivering value to customers and not the end result of a technology investment.

Field service should be the aspect of the business which sees the biggest gains from connected products and equipment.

The possibilities are endless, and I look forward to seeing where manufacturers take this technology as it extends beyond IT and engineering to the field.

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Aly Pinder is Program Director - Service Innovation & Connected Products, IDC Manufacturing Insights

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A new study from IDC and LogMeIn has revealed that fast and effective support will be a competitive differentiator for companies looking to win-over digitally transformed customers and employees.

According to the study “Support Services as a Competitive Differentiator”, nearly 67% of consumers said that customer satisfaction was more important than price when doing business with a company, yet nearly 30% of companies still say that reducing the cost of support is more important than customer satisfaction.  With the rules of customer and employee engagement changing, this disconnect is setting companies up for a negative long-term impact.

Increasing Customer Expectations

Today’s connected world demands that support and service teams take a greater role in driving customer engagement and loyalty.  Digitalization, including the adoption of mainstream social platforms and the use of online forums, is acting as an accelerator on this shift.  This is turning customer support improvement into an urgent imperative and making business practices increasingly transparent.

According to the study, customers rank better communication and fast problem resolution among their top priorities for customer support.  While an overwhelming 89% of respondents believe that having a support agent they can communicate with is the most important aspect of a support experience, companies are challenged to meet this goal due to the various nuances of each user and individual devices.  In fact, almost one-third of respondents said that support took a long time to resolve their issue while 24% said the problem was never resolved.  With 64%, of consumers reporting that good support experience result in advocacy and additional purchases from the company and 60% reporting that they share bad experiences as well, residual impacts of customer support satisfaction have impacts far beyond a single engagement.

“Today’s digital disruption signals the need for a fresh support strategy.  Service teams are being called upon to fulfil a greater purpose and are in a prime position to create success stories that can lead to better brand awareness, improve sales conversions, and ultimately, repeat business,” said Jennifer Cooke, Research Director, IDC.  “As the research shows, the degree to which support is effective is now a competitive differentiator and companies need to approach it in a more proactive and predictive way or risk damaging relationships with customers, employees and partners.”

Expectations for Internal IT Are Also on the Rise

Negative support experience has a widespread impact on a company beyond just lost customers and revenue.  Internal IT teams are under similar pressures from their end-users.   In nearly all the topics surveyed, employee experiences and expectations of their internal IT teams matched those consumers have of customer support underscoring the importance of efficient support across the board.  In addition, faulty internal IT support is costing companies in productivity of employees.  When users don't receive effective support, 52% said that they waste time because they can't perform their jobs. In addition to not doing their jobs, 45% of the time they pull another colleague away from their own jobs and ask for help. The net impact is a dramatic decrease in productivity.

Developing an Effective Support Strategy

Companies are facing a variety of hurdles when it comes to developing a modern and effective support strategy.  These challenges range from decreasing or stagnant budgets for support tools (41%) and lack of executive support (20%) to inability to scale with current tools and technologies (42%). Even for those that have made some changes to their internal processes or invested in technologies (50% of respondents), only 25% have been able to drive strong relationships due to the lack of adaptability and intelligence capabilities.

The survey did find that technologies like remote support are helping alleviate some of the pain customers associate with support today.  Nearly 75% of organisations reported using remote support solutions within their environment and 85% of end users saying these technologies helped resolve their issues more quickly than other methods of support.  As companies look to continue to mature their support organisations, they will need to look adopt these technologies as well as ones that will enable emerging artificial intelligence and automation to help meet the needs of changing users, devices and geographic locations.

“Customer service inextricably linked with the overall success of a company,” said Dave Campbell, Vice President, Customer Engagement and Support at LogMeIn.  “This becomes even more apparent when discussing customer support specifically.  In today’s competitive landscape, support organisations are being viewed two ways – as a competitive advantage or a detriment to success.  As a result, finding the right balance of people, process and technology will be key for companies to mature their support strategy to a point where it will create long term loyalty, customer advocacy, and business growth.”

Methodology

In August 2017, IDC conducted two surveys to better understand how existing support technologies were meeting the needs of a changing user base. One survey focused on the end-user experience, and the other survey examined enterprise and service provider support programs and the tools they used, with the goal of assessing the current state of support, identifying areas of success, and uncovering areas that needed improvement. The 1,400 survey respondents were from a broad mix of industries, company sizes, professional roles, and geographic regions.

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