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Swedish enterprise mobility and ERP provider IFS recently announced the hiring of former ServicePower CEO, Marne Martin, as President of their Service Management Business Unit, part of a dual role she has taken on alongside being CEO of IFS subsidiary, WorkWave. Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News reflects on this appointment and why it is a good thing not just for IFS, but for the wider industry as a whole...

I have known Marne Martin for some time now, speaking to her once or twice a year either for interviews, or just catching up at various industry events we've both been speaking at.

When she was included in a previous edition of the #FSN20, our annual list of key industry leaders, it was me that put her forward to the committee. That was in part because I had always found her to be engaging and intelligent when speaking to her, as well as being passionate for the industry we operate within - but then again, these things for me at least should be a given for any CEO within the sector.

Marne, of course, had all of these traits in abundance, but what always made her stand apart from the many other excellent leaders we have in our sector, what made her seem just that little bit more dynamic and exciting to speak with and why I put her forward for the #FSN20 (something we take very seriously here at fieldservicenews.com) was her ability to see the trends that were just beyond most people's range of vision, those that were over the horizon.

 

"What Marne has demonstrated time and again is that she is able to go that one step further and identify what will be the challenges and opportunities around how any given technology will ultimately be utilised..."

 

Sure, we can all get a feel for what technologies are set to emerge - a quick look at Gartner's current year hype cycle will allow us to see what we can expect to come along in the next few years. It might not always work out as we anticipate (think about the early clamour around wearables and in particular Glass as an example of this), but most of us who pay attention to these things are fairly able to put together a reasonably accurate picture of the future.

What Marne has demonstrated time and again is that she is able to go that one step further and identify what will be the challenges and opportunities around how any given technology will ultimately be utilised - and such foresight, is a much rarer attribute.

For example, I remember Marne outlining to me the importance that Quantum Annealing would play within field service management systems - in particularly within dynamic scheduling, long before the topic was even close to being something that was discussed outside of high-tech computing circles.

Indeed, the last time we spoke at any great length we had a long and detailed conversation about how and why field service management systems would need to ultimately evolve from being an additional feature sold alongside an ERP or CRM system and become acknowledged as something of equal status and importance within the world of enterprise computing.

Essentially we agreed, FSM needed to be, and eventually would be recognised as a category within its own right. This is something that we are now absolutely beginning to see happen in certain pockets of the industry, including IFS - who have across the last couple of year's publically stated that FSM is a core priority within their wider portfolio - something that was reiterated at their World Conference in Atlanta earlier this year by new CEO Darren Roos.

 

"As far as benefitting our industry as a wider whole, there are few places I feel Marne could have such a big impact, as at IFS..."

 

So as you can imagine, when we heard Marne was stepping down from her role as CEO of ServicePower, I had an inkling that it would be more au revoir than goodbye, I just had a feeling in my gut that we would see her again soon enough somewhere familiar.

However, as far as benefitting our industry as a wider whole, there are few places I feel Marne could have such a big impact, as at IFS. They have shown that they have the ambition, vision and capability to push the industry forwards (indeed the newly launched FSM6 is an excellent solution utilising best of breed technology), but perhaps also they have shown that they have a strong commitment to FSM that will surely raise the bar further for the quality of solutions available to field service organisations.

After all, as John F Kennedy famously quoted a rising tide lifts all boats.

Also, we must consider that Marne is bringing in exceptional leadership experience, industry knowledge and vision into a team that is already full of excellent leaders and thinkers.

For example, the always impressive Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director Service Management who has established an excellent reputation both within the company and the industry since having joined from PTC almost two years ago. Another would be Stephen Jeff-Watts, who is responsible for IFS' product strategy for Enterprise Service Management and is another with a canny knack for understanding where the future lies within the sector. Then, of course, there is Paul White, former CEO of mplsystems who IFS acquired last year who brings a huge level of detail around the latest developments around omni-channel communications to the table, or Tom DeVroy, personally, someone I hold as one of the best author's contributing to publications including ourselves around.

Indeed, the list is long and Marne's appointment at the head of this group, is set to make IFS an even more formidable force within our industry on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond.

Finally, it is also interesting to note her dual role.

 

"Once such a precedent has been set by such a significant industry player as IFS, it is likely that we will see other companies follow suit..."

 

When IFS acquired WorkWave late last year, I wrote about how the acquisition essentially gave IFS full market penetration.

Traditionally, they have always served the mid-enterprise tier well, in recent year's we have seen them begin to open some more doors in the larger enterprise sector as well. However, the SME market has always been an area that has been somewhat underserved, yet could be potentially lucrative, as WorkWave has proven.

With Marne taking on dual responsibilities for Enterprise Service Management and WorkWave it seems that IFS may potentially be seeking to firmly organise a significant section of their business around their FSM  capabilities - exactly the type of shift in thinking that Marne and I had discussed a year ago and also something Darren Roos alluded to when I spoke to him recently as well.

Once such a precedent has been set by such a significant industry player as IFS, it is likely that we will see other companies follow suit - which will ultimately lead to further emphasis on the importance of field service within industry.

So from where I'm sitting, Marne's arrival at IFS is therefore potentially great news long-term for all in our industry - it certainly promises to be an exciting move and I for one wish her every success.

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Accomplished industry veteran to lead IFS’s Global Service Management initiatives as IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announces the appointment of field service industry veteran Marne Martin as President of IFS’s Service Management business unit and CEO of WorkWave.

The IFS Service Management business unit established under Marne will encompass the global IFS service management organization as well as WorkWave, acquired by IFS in September 2017, and have dedicated engineering, sales and marketing resources to address the unique needs of service management customers globally. Marne’s experience leading high-growth and expansion phases in both publicly and privately held companies will provide the leadership required to propel both brands into their next stages of growth and market expansion.

]As both President of IFS Service Management and CEO of WorkWave, Marne and her leadership team will continue to elevate the strategic importance of service management to the success of the overall IFS business. Marne will focus on ensuring the entire portfolio of IFS’s service management solutions provide customers with the business value they expect from a global industry leader in field service management (FSM).

“I am thrilled to be leading such a great organization and to be part of the overall IFS senior leadership team as we begin a new chapter in our company’s growth,” said Marne. “WorkWave continues to be an important asset to the overarching value proposition of IFS Service Management, and I look forward to working with the talented IFS and WorkWave teams to make sure IFS’s service management portfolio becomes even more customer-focused.”

With Marne’s appointment to its senior leadership team, IFS will be able to draw on her broad experience and proven track record to further increase the significance of the service business and grow its global market share.

IFS CEO Darren Roos said, “Marne’s domain experience will enable us to further develop the service management capability across the entire portfolio to deliver even more value to our customers. We remain completely focused on delivering solutions together with our partners that have an impact on the way our customers serve their customers.”

Prior to IFS, Marne served as CEO and led the executive leadership team at ServicePower Plc., a field service management software company, where she transformed its go-to-market strategy and shifted its focus to SaaS and managed services revenue, increasing pipeline every year during her tenure. Prior to that, she served as CFO of Norcon, Plc., a UK-based telecom and defense consulting firm, where she grew the company from a business largely dominant in only the Middle East to one diversified across the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Martin is a winner of a number of awards including 2016 CEO Gamechanger of the Year (FSM) from ACQ 5 Global Awards and 2015 Field Service CEO of the Year from Executive Awards.

 

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Tom Devroy, Product Evangelist for IFS Service Management products outlines the various options available to field service organisations looking to improve their service management delivery...

Want to know more? Tom DeVroy has written a white paper on this project which is available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscribers.

The good news is that if you are a field service practitioner then you may well qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner.

The even better news is we will send you a copy of this white paper when you apply as a welcome!

Click here to apply for your complimentary industry subscription to fieldservicenews.com and access the white paper now!

Note: Please do take the time to our T&Cs (available in plain English at fieldservicenews.com/subscribe) and note that this content is sponsored by IFS)

When Winston Churchill said, “He who fails to plan is planning to fail,” he wasn’t referring to field service businesses, but it still rings true. Field service organizations understand that efficient route planning is essential to being successful; smart routing is efficient and enables service technicians to become more productive by completing more jobs per day. However, they may be overlooking the added benefits of schedule optimization as an intrinsic part of the solution.

Any organization that needs to manage a mobile workforce—whether it’s for product delivery, service staff or service technicians—can benefit from planning software to simplify scheduling, manage workflows and improve the bottom line.

So what is it that businesses are trying to automate with scheduling and route planning? We ask this question frequently of field service organizations. There are a lot of products in the marketplace, and they all have a value proposition and price point, but each should also be expected to deliver a certain benefit for the cost.

The Essentials of Route Planning

Some businesses simply assign a certain number of jobs to a technician, usually based on geography, or customer visit frequency, and want software that will figure out a route for that technician to finish their assigned work.

This kind of routing software has been around for some time, and, in its simplest form, it’s something we all use frequently: it is navigation and turn-by-turn directions.

This kind of routing software has been around for some time, and, in its simplest form, it’s something we all use frequently: it is navigation and turn-by-turn directions.This basic form of simple route planning is built into almost every smart phone that has a global positioning system (GPS)-based navigation system.

More advanced navigation systems can interact with real-time traffic services to suggest the shortest journey from a time or mileage perspective. This is straightforward technology and quite inexpensive, as it’s usually included in your phone plan.

Service organizations don’t really have to invest much to receive the benefit of this type of simple route planning. However, this solution leaves a lot of decisions in the hands of the technician. This self-planning, self-scheduling method is very inefficient: who they choose to visit first and last can have a huge impact on productive time, drive time, overtime, fuel consumption, service level agreement (SLA) compliance, and customer satisfaction.

Ultimately, this solution will fail when jobs and SLAs are missed, or workloads become inefficient.

Optmizing Resources

Where field service organizations start to see a real payback is when they begin using scheduling software that includes travel calculations as part of the schedule.

The jobs assigned to the technician represent the demand, and the scheduling software manages the labor supply. The scheduling software determines the order and the resource, and considers workload balance, while the route planning software can create the best way to get from one location to the next.

This is a more intelligent, more encompassing planning method that produces a more reliable, scheduled plan. It also takes the subjectivity out of the hands of the technician and puts it back in the hands of management, but it only addresses productivity and cost saving at a cursory level.

Some planning software will take into consideration multiple variables to determine an optimized route.Some planning software will take into consideration multiple variables to determine an optimized route.

The trucking industry has used this kind of route planning software for some time. For instance, a trucker’s licensing and certifications could be considered for what type of equipment they can operate, how many hours they have driven on a given day, week, or month, and how much additional driving time they can be assigned. In this case, fuel consumption or total drive time can be factored into the optimum route as well. This can be fairly effective if the work that is planned throughout the day is static, or, in other words, is not subject to change.

Managing Complexity

In a service business, there can be a plethora of skill set considerations for each job. Perhaps a technician or subcontractor is not welcome at a particular customer site, or maybe the technician doesn’t have the right training on a given piece of equipment.

In simple terms, why send a journeyman to do the work of an apprentice? It is most advantageous for both the customer and the business to send the right resource for the job, based on all the available information at the time the job is assigned to the field, taking into consideration cost, location, capability, and customer expectations.

Many service businesses assign work based on a customer intimacy model; for instance, primary, secondary, tertiary technician (or subcontractor), but this model doesn’t always hold up. In other industries, particularly when the equipment is highly technical and often sold through distribution, the technician is the face of the company to the customer. Although this should be a consideration for who gets assigned to a job, it shouldn’t be the only one.

Dynamic Scheduling

The variability or dynamic nature of a service business manifests itself in other ways.

Besides calls sometimes taking longer than estimated, there are also unexpected traffic problems, emergency calls throughout the day, different prioritization of service work, other skills required to fix a given problem, customer commitments, unexpected fleet problems, and, finally, planned maintenance.

The variability or dynamic nature of a service business manifests itself in other ways.Whether guaranteed through a contract or mandated as an engineering change order, planned maintenance should be considered so that engineers are fully utilized. All of these variables should be balanced against optimum schedule efficiencies, like reduced total travel time, maximum productivity, minimized fuel expense, and least-cost resource assignment.

Having scheduling software that intelligently factors in the best way to assess these variables in a dynamic fashion is a differentiator to efficient service labor management.

Conclusion

The most important part of selecting a successful field service solution for your needs is to plan with your businesses goals in mind.

As you start to create a vision of where you want your service business to be, think about the long-term impact of all of the technology on your business from an operations standpoint. Lay out an implementation plan that will fold that technology into the organization as you are ready to absorb it. This paper just focused on planning and scheduling but other variables in the areas of technical support, contract administration, product management, service logistics and reverse logistics are equally important.

As it relates to moving your field people against customer demands, perhaps a simple route planning tool is where you want to start, but there may be a better way to significantly change and improve your service delivery by implementing solutions that allow you to get where you want to be. And that planning strategy is your best plan for success.

Want to know more? Tom DeVroy has written a white paper on this project which is available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscribers.

The good news is that if you are a field service practitioner then you may well qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner.

The even better news is we will send you a copy of this white paper when you apply as a welcome!

Click here to apply for your complimentary industry subscription to fieldservicenews.com and access the white paper now!

Note: Please do take the time to our T&Cs (available in plain English at fieldservicenews.com/subscribe) and note that this content is sponsored by IFS)

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Commerce has successfully transitioned from being based around commodities, then products and finally services. But that is not the end of the evolution as Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director, Service Management, IFS introduces the concept of the experience economy...

Commerce began with commodities.

Hundreds of years ago, we simply exchanged items for money in a single transaction. Take coffee, for example. You could buy a sack of beans, but you’d still have to put in a lot of work in to make a drink.

So, these transactions gradually became more constructive and based around specific buyer needs. Commodities became products. Coffee beans became coffee jars – ready-ground. All you had to do was add water. It was a better, faster and a more cost-effective solution.

As competition intensified, our service economy was born. Rather than getting your coffee from a jar, you went to a coffee shop where someone would not only make it for you but also ensure it tasted just right. Success was now about ensuring customer satisfaction.

But what’s next?

Welcome to the ‘Experience Economy’

Technology has transformed the way people interact. In the digital age, we expect to track orders, resolve issues and update information immediately. It’s a world of ‘connected customers’, and businesses must respond with exceptional, personalised service experiences. Customer engagement is king and servitization enables it.

Staying with the coffee analogy, consider Starbucks. Now, you’re not just buying a product or service, but an entire lifestyle. However brief your visit, you’re immersed in the Starbucks brand - from communications and messaging to products and services, and so on. It’s a rich, multi-sensorial, emotive world... and whether good or bad, you leave with a feeling. It is memorable.

And that’s the difference between the service and experience economies. Done well, this experience creates positive brand associations and is the ultimate driver of customer loyalty.

Mass customize a service and it becomes an experience – making you feel like “one in a million” (Starbucks puts your name on the cup!). It’s the next evolution for businesses, although some are already well on their way - like the medical devices industry.

MRI scanner manufacturers are under pressure to deliver high-quality, accurate scans every day.

With the stakes so high, these companies don’t just sell the machines, they also guarantee their ongoing service performance and overall user experience. It’s about the entire patient and hospital interaction, from start to finish.

It’s like staying in a hotel. These days, you probably wouldn’t only judge your stay based on your room, or how comfortable your bed is. More likely, you’d consider your entire accommodation experience - from the moment you make your reservation online to your final steps out of the door after checkout. Each influence and interaction along the way contributes either positively or negatively to your overall opinion.

Every touchpoint counts

This analogy may seem obvious - but it’s essential to doing business today. Most organisations have traditionally measured customer satisfaction to predict loyalty and future behaviour. However, consumers consider every individual touchpoint, rather than simply linear values like ‘Did I like the product?’ or ‘Did I get value for money?’ So, this metric may be less valid these days.

Sure, the product may be excellent and do exactly what they always wanted, but that is table stakes today.

What if the delivery lead time was too long, the support helpline is not promptly answered, or the returns process inefficient, then they may shop elsewhere next time.

Elevator manufacturers demonstrate this opportunity in action. Most products are similar in functionality and have become commoditised.

They use similar technology and parts so it’s difficult to differentiate between them on appearance or performance alone. To gain an advantage, they focus on overall experience. It’s no longer about being the fastest elevator or the most hi-tech: it’s about giving every user the best end-to-end experience, that fulfils their particular needs. Their focus today is not their customer (i.e. the hotel), but their customers’ customer – you and I.

If we look at this from the perspective of the IT industry, for service providers the mindset shift is from selling contracts to selling outcomes, such as user experiences and comprehensive service level agreements. In such a competitive environment with so many similar products and services on offer, this gives vendors a real opportunity to create difference and build success within their customer base.

So, how do you get to this position?

Many companies don’t yet have the right processes or infrastructure in place. Systems are not optimised and often disjointed which means ERP is either over-stretched or misused. IFS can help. Our end to end service lifecycle management solution is purpose-built and holistic, delivering customer engagement seamlessly, throughout the journey.

The experience economy is here to stay - and customer engagement aimed at delivering outcomes is its currency. To find out more about how to make the experience economy work for your business, visit IFSworld.com.

 

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Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News talks to Deputy CEO and COO of Polygon a company with over 3,500 field service engineers, about how his organisation has evolved over the last decade, the shift towards advanced services that has come from that evolution and how a close working relationship with Enterprise Service Management solution provider IFS has empowered their ability to develop and advanced services approach to field service delivery.

 

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With a new CEO taking the helm Swedish FSM and ERP providers, IFS enter a new era of their ongoing development. Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief was on hand at the IFS World Conference in Atlanta to see the developments first hand and caught up with FSN associate columnist Mark Brewer, Global Director of Field Service, to get the inside scoop...

The IFS World Conference is an event that never really fails to deliver at least one key highlight of interest. Memories of CTO, Dan Matthews bouncing around madly to Bruce Springsteen on the stage last time out in Gothenburg- he was demonstrating how IoT sensors work just in case you were wondering, is one such example of the unique way the Swedish company approach things.

Similarly, Ulf Stern, one of the companies original founders keeping customers, prospects and the press alike entertained playing some (pretty darned good) rock and roll with his band in a ‘Fish Cathedral’ later that evening is just another example of how the same core ethos remains in the company today as it did when they first started out some 35 years ago. Despite significant growth and development across the years, there all often overlooked secret-sauce that can allow a company to flourish, the uniqueness within their DNA - has always remained the same.

Who IFS are today is very much a different company to who they were then, just 18 months ago.Yet, who IFS are today is very much a different company to who they were then, just 18 months ago.

Firstly, there is the acquisition by - investment firm EQT. Which was in fact announced just days before the Gothenburg World Conference.

At the time the discussion had been highly positive - especially from a field service point of view as the message from EQT was clear - we are giving you the funds to go and do what you do better and faster - with field service being one of the top three areas IFS would be targeting for significant growth.

Given their stature in the market at the time as an already established major player within the field service industry, this was certainly an exciting announcement for those close to our sector.

Indeed, there have already been some significant acquisitions that Field Service News readers, especially those from the UK will be aware of which have followed after the acquisition.

The first of these was to bring IFS UK and Eire reseller Field Service Management in-house, which was a sensible and largely expected move.

The second, which saw mplsystems become part of the IFS family, however, was far more strategic.

mplsystems core strength lies is there omnichannel contact centre technology, essentially plugging a major gap in the IFS solutionAlthough, an FSM solution provider themselves, mplsystems core strength lies is there omnichannel contact centre technology, essentially plugging a major gap in the IFS solution and giving them a genuinely robust end to end service solution.

This is not to mention the US acquisition of WorkWave, an FSM solution that is dedicated to the SMB market - which instantly gave IFS access to a huge market, which many of the larger FSM solution providers struggle to penetrate.

So in fairness the record of EQT in terms of delivering on their promise has been mightily impressive and IFS have continued to grow in stature within the FSM sector as one of the true key players - an achievement all the more impressive given the attention our sector has had within the last few years with the lieks of GE, SAP, Microsoft and Salesforce all investing significantly in building a global presence.

My anticipation was therefore high when I spotted that the launch of FSM6 was to be given a major spotlight, being presented on the main stage as a key announcement on day 1.

Mark Brewer, Gloabl Director, Field Service, alongside Steve Jeff-Watts, Senior Advisor, IFS were the men tasked with giving that presentation.

“If you go back to the origins of IFS, we are an ERP company, but that can be something of an ambiguous term,” opened Brewer when I caught up with him.

We built a product that managed service, maintenance and projects. This means the intrinsic DNA of the business is actually service not manufacturing“ERP for most people is a product built for managing a manufacturing business. IFS did not ever take that approach. We built a product that managed service, maintennance and projects. This means the intrinsic DNA of the business is actually service not manufacturing.”

“Fast forward to today with the IFS FSM platform you’ve got a best in class service offering, there is an almost equivalent best-in-class service functionality in an ERP in Apps 10.”

“This means you can already have an existing ERP such as SAP or somethign similar which you are unable to swap out, we can layer that with best-in-class field service. However, if you also need solutions for your manufacturing, supply chain, financials etc then we can also give you all of this whilst encapsulating a best-in-class service solution within it.”

Customer experience is a huge part of the equation in service organisations now and we are moving into the experience economy “It is a unique position, where we can not only offer the stand alone FSM solution but the wider ESM (Enterprise Service Management) solution as well.”

“I also thought it was very telling that the announcement of our acquisition and mplsystems and our integration of their technology into IFS FSM was front and centre on the main stage during the opening key note sessions.”

“We call our solution IFS FSM but the truth is now that it is a full end-to-end lifecycle management solution. It is far more than just field service, it includes depot repair operations, reverse logistics, customer specific billing, deep contract and warranty capability.”

“Given that it goes all the way to the end, we were missing a piece at the front,  and mplsystems omni channel solution completes the picture. Customer experience is a huge part of the equation in service organisations now and we are moving into the experience economy so that customer journey needs to be consistent across the whole lifecycle.”

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IFS, a global enterprise applications company, has previewed major updates of its IFS Field Service Management™ (FSM) offering at the IFS World Conference in Atlanta today.

IFS Field Service Management 6 features a number of enhancements, including:

• New user experience (UX): With a completely re-engineered, fully responsive front end, IFS FSM 6 will run on any browser and on any device at any time. The new UX features user-centric and intuitive action patterns as well as stunning graphic designs including high-resolution charts and diagrams.
• Major performance boost in IFS Planning & Scheduling Optimization™ (PSO): The IFS PSO component of IFS Field Service Management yields a 50% improvement in processing performance on Microsoft Azure. In addition, the maximum number of activities per standard Dynamic Scheduling Engine (DSE) for dynamic responsive processing has been significantly increased.
• Next-generation configurability: Written in an all-new scripting language that empowers customers to configure data fields, workflows, and user behaviour, IFS FSM 6 eliminates the need for costly customizations, providing greater agility while evergreen service management capabilities ensure seamless updates.
• Key functional enhancements: Alongside these major new architectural changes, IFS FSM 6 introduces a multitude of significant new features and extensions to existing functionality in areas including increased scheduling optimization flexibility, warranty claims management, mobile synchronization, and UI improvements.
• Pay and deploy with even more flexibility: Customers can choose to deploy IFS FSM 6 as a true multi-tenant solution on the Microsoft Azure cloud, as a managed service in the cloud, or on-premise. This flexibility also offers customers choice in how they pay, from outright ownership to a monthly subscription.

“We are very excited to offer a preview of IFS Field Service Management 6, which leads the market in terms of usability, configurability, connectivity, and flexibility,” said Mark Brewer, IFS global industry director for service.

Choice is a good thing, and with IFS, the customer can decide what makes sense for their business.“With this major new release, we are further differentiating our value proposition but are continuing to provide customers with the ability to choose the functionality they need and deploy in the way they want—be it in the cloud or on-premise. Choice is a good thing, and with IFS, the customer can decide what makes sense for their business. Combine this flexibility with industry-leading functionality, leading AI and optimization technology and a new user experience and it is evident that IFS really does represent the most complete, connected field service solution on the market.”

One of the early adopters is Eickhoff, a leading manufacturer of machinery and gearing technology used in mining, wind turbines, and other industrial applications.

Commenting on IFS Field Service Management 6, Dietmar Schmitz, Head of Product Development Service at Eickhoff, said, “As a provider of mission-critical machinery, we see service as a core competency and competitive differentiator. Consequently, we needed a solution to manage our more than 6.5 million items in complex parts lists for over 15,000 custom units. IFS FSM 6 provides an engaging and effective way to make this possible.”

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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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