As we enter the final few working days days of 2015 it's a good time to reflect on what we did well this year and of course what we can do better next year...

However whilst the world is certainly a better place financially than it was a few years ago we still live in an age of austerity. More and more companies have quite rightly moved their service departments to their own P&L as the shift from cost centre to profit centre becomes more common for a service division.

However, whether your field service operation is a necessary cost or a profitable division of your business, the ability to achieve more next year than you did this year with the same level of resource is one that can push your organisation to a better market share, greater profits and of courser internally will do your career as a field service management professional no harm at all either!

Fortunately many of the arguments for adopting certain technologies within field service industries are based on a robust return on investment (R.o.I) basis that will ultimately pay for itself and deliver ongoing savings in efficiency - often within a 12 month timeframe.

Driver behaviour apps offer reduced maintenance costs of your fleet vehicles for example, rugged devices are regularly bought because whilst they may be more expensive in the short term over the course of their lifetime the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is in fact much lower than that of alternative consumer devices.

 

Then of course there is optimised scheduling where not only will you see reduced fuel costs but also achieve higher job completion across a day so potentially not only reducing costs but simulataneously improving customer service also.

However, as with many things in life which sound a bit too good to be true, such claims of operational improvements and cost savings can sometimes be met with cynicism. Indeed, optimised scheduling may not deliver huge benefits for all companies, those with a relatively simple work process or a small team for example may not see the same benefits as those with larger workforces or a more complex set of jobs being allocated.

The simple truth is there is no simple answer as to the type of company that will get the best gains from optimised scheduling.

However, what is well documented is that most companies will see some performance gains and many of those who implement optimised scheduling will see highly significant gains such as PHS who saved £2M in a year in fuel savings alone. 

So in order to help our readers identify whether optimised scheduling would benefit their organisation, Field Service News has teamed up with specialist service management provider IFS to offer a free, no obligation Field Service Healthcheck that will identify exactly what efficiencies your business could make through adopting an optimised scheduler.

Simply click the link below to access the registration page.

Once there complete the brief form and instructions will be sent to you on how to undertake your free field service health-check and a scheduling expert from IFS will analyse your current workload and identify exactly how and where you could make improvements within three days of receiving your completed form.

So why sit in the dark about how much optimised scheduling could benefit your company. Find out for free right now...

 

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Click here to access the free field service healthcheck now... 

 

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In the above video you'll find the Q&A session from our most recent webinar run in partnership with service management software specialists IFS where Field Service News Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland spoke with scheduling expert Daryl Dudey of IFS.

 

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If you'd like to download the full webinar you can do so by clicking the button below:

Click Here to Download Webinar

By downloading the webinar you consent to the T&C's outlined here 

 

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If you'd like to take part in the free field service health check discussed above then click here!

 

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What should field service companies focus on in 2016? Tom Bowe,  Industry Director, Enterprise Service Management, IFS, provides his expert insight

The holiday season is upon us, and beyond that, just around the corner, lies another year. You may already be suffering from a bombardment of messaging around “predictions for field service in 2016” or “top trends for field service in 2016.”

Truth be told, it is an exciting time to be in field service.

The world is changing rapidly, the profile of your average consumer is ever evolving, and technology is changing the service landscape along with expectations, the market, and more.

Trends like augmented reality, IoT, wearable technology, and 3D printing are poised to change the entire approach to field service, rocking the fundamental structures and foundations of service delivery that have taken years to develop.

So how does an organisation brace for all this and navigate through the messaging to begin the path to a successful 2016?

 

We have sifted through all the messaging this year for you; surveys, industry articles, field service forums, and customer feedback, and boiled it down to four tips to help you achieve service delivery excellence next year.

Consider using these tips as a beacon to help you achieve customer delight while gaining market share and maximising service margin in 2016.

Establish a Baseline

Whether you are lacking in the analytics department or you have analytics coming out of your ears, the end of the year is a good time to conduct an audit of your service processes. Map out your service lifecycle and pinpoint where your strengths and weaknesses are. Here are some things that are always good to evaluate at the end of the year:

• Employees: Which of your customer facing employees are consistently performing above average? Are they being incentivised to continue their good work? What about those below average? Is there something in place to help them improve?
• Processes: Which parts of your service operations are working well and which aren’t? Are the process issues manual or software related? Where are there holes in your automation or lags in efficiency?
• Systems: How solid are your integrations? Is data being lost or corrupted between systems? Is everything talking to each other the way it should?

If evaluating your current operations and establishing a baseline is harder than you would like it to be, consider investing in enterprise operational intelligence software. The ability to visualise your entire operation and use real-time analytics to directly impact processes and solve issues will help drive intelligent decision making in 2016.

Go Back to the Basics

New field service trends like IoT have the potential to completely eliminate reactive service and save millions in operational costs, but if you don’t have efficient processes in place before adopting these trends, their potential will never be achieved.

It’s no good to have a piece of equipment out in the field triggering an urgent request for service if you don’t have the means to get the right technician, with the right skills and the right equipment there in a timely fashion.

Start with the Customer

Steve Jobs famously said, “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology.”

Listening to your customers is more important than ever. Customer surveys and other forms of communication with your customer base are vital to helping you deliver the best customer service possible.

Let them tell you what they want and adjust your service delivery standards accordingly. It’s always important to remember that the escalator of service is always moving.

What might have been customer delight (unbelievable service) last year may be considered basic now. Keeping up with customer expectation and the scale of service will help you deliver continued service excellence.

Pick a Uniquely Inspired Future Path

Perhaps the most important tip that we can offer is don’t get swept up in the hype. Every service organisation is on a unique path with unique offerings and ultimately unique goals.

Service delivery excellence is best achieved when a balance is found between listening to your customers, keeping up with changing technology and its effect on the market, and operating your service centre as a profit centre.

Predictions and top trends for 2016 are only good on paper if they don’t fit your organisation’s vision. Don’t let that hold your innovation hostage…let your desire to provide your customers with unique, inspiring experience carve your path to service excellence in 2016.

Good luck and season’s greetings from IFS.

 

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In Part One of this feature, Brendan Viggers, head of product and sales support at IFS Aerospace & Defence Centre of Excellence, explained the potential of  Wearables and Context Aware technology to transform various maintenance and servicing tasks in the Aerospace and Defence sector. In Part Two, he explains why  Context Aware apps will be critical in delivering ROI and user satisfaction in wearables.

With device development enabling us to monitor activity in more detail, user context-awareness is being included in consumer devices to an ever-increasing degree. Imagine what could be achieved if technologies like cameras and the Kinect - a motion-sensing input device by Microsoft for the Xbox One video game console - were included in appliances and devices in your base maintenance facility or field location.

Recognising where people are and what they do will enable designers to create attentive applications that look at what is going on and react appropriately. For example, teleporting - sometimes called “follow- me” computing - is a tool available today to dynamically map the user interface onto the resources of the surrounding computer and communication facilities in office complexes.

In a maintenance environment, this could be adapted so that relevant applications can 'follow' a worker moving around maintenance locations or even different equipment and process bays in an aircraft, and be available as required. The maintenance station will recognise which member of your maintenance team is going to use it based on identity tag or even body profile, and pre-select that person’s authorised maintenance or repair task schedules. If directly linked to equipment health monitors, it could automatically add high priority preventative maintenance tasks to a repair schedule being undertaken in the same location.

 

So What?

CCS Insight predict that there will be up to 100million smartphone companions such as smartwatches by 2017. Research from Business Insider Intelligence indicates the global wearables market will grow at an annual compound rate of 35 percent over the next five years.

The advance of wearable technology seems unstoppable, but it isn't a new revolution - witness the use of emergency buttons to call for help after a fall. Its deployment has simply taken off over the past few years. We all understand that wearable blood glucose, heart rate, blood pressure monitors can help people stay healthier for longer. In Aerospace and Defence, future wearable technology must be demonstrably useful - both needed and wanted. To be wanted, we have got to have valuable applications that will benefit wearables and be contextually aware - only then can we truly demonstrate a real return on investment that warrants change and adoption of the technology.

Empowerment and the future with wearables

The key to this is not so much wearables, but the context aware applications that are accessed by or loaded onto them. Making applications more social and user friendly through context-aware wearable technology will surely be the way forward. Mobile applications, as a front end to powerful enterprise platforms, can be developed and made context aware in very short order.

Our experience shows that it is possible to develop and deliver mobile applications specific to a user’s requirements often in weeks rather than the traditional ERP software application that takes months or even years to deploy. In the forward space these apps must be optimised with functionality for the engineer depending on the operational environment. Overloading an engineer with full IS solution functionality doesn't make sense.

Mobile apps offer a solution to the problem of gaining essential feedback of operational information without inundating the engineer - they must be task-specific, in a recognisable format, optimised for specific equipment, easy to customise and devoid of superfluous overhead. The ability to add operational data relating to flight, crew and vehicle in real-time adds real value to ERP.

IFS is currently deploying a range of mobile apps, the next step would be to port mobile apps on to a wearable device that is sufficiently context aware so automatically records when and where a fault is logged – saving valuable time by negating the need for the engineer to 'down tools' in order to log on to a laptop or handheld device to gain access to back-office information.

Innovative wearable technology has matured over the past decades from 'fall monitors' to truly interactive, context aware support tools. We can give operators direct support at their fingertips, in their ears or in front of their eyes, and also intimately understand the challenges they are facing. The development of hardware and sensors to 'socialise' the technology is about to take off, but these are really just delivery and input points for information that allows context-tailored applications to link users to powerful enterprise processes.

The immediate benefits of delivering powerful computer support directly to users, and capturing contextual information to improve enterprise-level knowledge offers exciting opportunities in the immediate future to streamline MRO activity and allow supply chains to get ahead of the game.

IFS is at the forefront of integrating innovative wearable and context aware technology with an agile Aerospace and Defence ERP application which streamlines support and, critically, reduces costly operational downtime. The result is aircraft spend more time in the air with maintenance support tailored to suit any environment, at any time.

 

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The Aerospace and Defence sector has a deserved reputation for being early adopters of new technology solutions for  servicing and maintenance. True to form, ground breaking developments in Wearables and Context Aware technology are expected to  streamline  maintenance operations in the sector and empower the supply chain.  In Part One of this two-part feature, Brendan Viggers, product and sales support at IFS Aerospace & Defence Centre of Excellence, explains the potential.

Aerospace and Defence support, whether that is maintenance, engineering, supply or transportation, is complicated by the challenges of distance from the home base, environmental and operating pressures, and even cultural constraints in deployed operating areas. Maintenance in the field is very different from at the depot or base.

Maintenance activity requires, as a basic minimum, the right information and technical support with the right functionality to support operations, so it is a no-brainer that this needs to be tailored for the environment where the maintenance is taking place. For many years vendors have deployed solutions forwards that are manifestly complex, full enterprise solutions on mobile devices.

But in-field maintenance bears little or no similarity to that back at base, the environment is unique and often extreme. Time pressure is often increased for field engineers who have to meet tight turn-round schedules, and have the right technical documentation and direction to hand, dependent on the task and time. In unique, and often restrictive, maintenance environments full enterprise solution functionality can become a hindrance to field engineers - tailored functionality for the specific environment is critical to meeting operational deadlines.

The need for tailored information and functionality

Speedy resolution of unusual problems can be massively enhanced if equipment and those in support can understand the multiple contexts the field engineer is encountering. These include 'user' context such as the user’s profile, location, people nearby, even the current social situation; 'physical' context such as lighting, noise levels, traffic conditions and temperature; and 'time' context such as time of a day, week, month, and season of the year at the deployed location; and finally an 'operational' context to monitor elements such as spare part availability and the maintenance task at hand.

This is where wearables and context aware technology enter the fray. According to recent Forrester research, 68 percent of global technology and business decision makers say that wearables are a priority for their firm, with 51 percent calling it a moderate, high or critical priority.

 

Wearables can sense the user's physical environment much more completely than previously possible, and in many more situations. This makes them excellent platforms for applications where the computer is working even when you aren't giving explicit commands. Future developments will introduce increased use of solutions that will automatically tailor their presentation and operation through recognition of the maintenance environment it is in.

Context Aware and Wearables in action - Civil Aviation

In the base environment, there are opportunities for application of the technology across production, quality assurance, safety, warehousing and logistics - for example, wearables can increase worker agility. Supporting the location of faulty wires or equipment on a grounded aircraft, and notifying workers about hazards such as the presence of other activities being conducted on the aircraft, are areas that could be addressed right now. Boeing is currently experimenting with augmented reality for aircraft maintenance, a hands-free device instructs workers where to find a product in the inventory.

This could be extended to giving mechanics virtual 'sight' of components hidden behind other systems or structures relative to their personal location - allowing them to remove, fit or adjust a component that they cannot physically see.

The instant effect on maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO)

Wearables with augmented reality have the potential to automatically identify the spare part required by a field engineer. Information on the appearance, known context and maintenance task required can then be fed through to the engineer's wearable device negating the need to barcode scan or consult technology documents in difficult maintenance environments - such as a dark submarine bilge or the underbelly of an aircraft - where movement is limited. It also removes the requirement for the intimate support of a base supply chain and logistician. This comes with the added bonus of not having to trek kilometres across an airfield to access catalogues in a maintenance hangar or planning office.

With context aware and wearable technology cross-matching bar codes, stock or part numbers - or even better integrating with electronic technical documents - the engineer can ensure that the right item is demanded or fitted, with the benefit of reducing time consuming document and database searches that introduce a greater opportunity for error. Increased autonomy thanks to wearables and context aware computing means the maintenance engineer spends less time 'downing tools' to consult collateral material, improving overall MRO efficiency.

Expertise on demand

Wearables can also be used for maintenance, repairs and over-the-shoulder coaching for remote engineers. Cargo and maintenance personal from a major airline have trialled the use of an optical head-mounted display (OHMD) to help inspect aircraft on the tarmac. They capture video and photos and send them to a central office where technical safety professionals assess an aircraft’s condition.

IFS is working with XM Reality to bring forward a remote expert to assist in complex maintenance to broaden the capabilities of maintenance engineers on the ground - 'augmenting' flight-line workers' skills. IFS believes adding cognitive applications and voice-controlled intelligent agents similar to Siri to wearable devices would further augment such workers' skills, helping them identify and act on specific problems with more autonomy.

Look out for Part Two of this feature which takes a closer look at the role Context-Aware mobile apps will have in achieving wider deployment of wearables.

 

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IFS, the global enterprise applications company, has announced a number of updates to its ERP enterprise software suite IFS Applications 9. New features include  in-memory capabilities,  enhanced visualisation of manufacturing processes, extended support for rental management and improved group consolidation functionality.

Part of the in-memory solution is IFS In-Memory Advisor, which helps customers apply in-memory technology to the areas of IFS Applications where it will yield maximum effect, or if so desired, run the entire application in-memory. By using in-memory, users can run analytical queries hundreds or even thousands of times faster than before. With compression ratios of three to ten times, even terabyte-sized databases are possible to run in-memory.

The release also includes significant updates to the manufacturing component, such as enhancements that let users action production issues directly from the IFS Manufacturing Visualizer. In addition, the visualiser has been equipped with new charts to optimise production planning. The IFS Quality Management module also includes several improvements such as acceptance sampling.

IFS’s rental management capability contains numerous new and improved features as well as major usability enhancements. The solution now allows users to associate specific work orders with external or internal equipment rentals.

The IFS Financials component has been updated with extended support for group consolidation, including advanced analysis of consolidated balances using IFS Business Analytics.

IFS is also launching a new support model based on quarterly updates of IFS Applications. Thanks to the new layered application architecture of IFS Applications 9, updates can be implemented quicker and easier than in previous versions. The result is that customers can benefit from the very latest product enhancements faster and at a lower cost.

“Following the successful launch of IFS Applications 9 earlier this year, we are very excited to release this first update, which includes both new and enhanced features,” IFS CTO Dan Matthews said. “Along with the feature updates, we are also happy to reveal a new update delivery system. This takes us a major step closer to our vision of providing our customers with ‘evergreen’ business applications, allowing them to enjoy the benefits of our latest and greatest software at a significantly lower cost.”

 

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As our focus begins to shift towards next year planning it is important that we are able to assess and interpret the data we have gathered across the year, but your data is only as good as its application,  writes Tom Bowe, IFS

It’s that time of year again, preparing budgets and setting goals for next year, even though it probably seems like just yesterday you were doing so for 2015.

Soon, if you haven’t already, you will be gathering data from this year like volumes and revenues. To plan what’s next for your field service organisation in 2016. If you have an integrated or best-of-breed field service solution, ideally the data you have collected from the field, and your customers, will help you navigate your decisions.

But does all your research and planning apply to the real world? Do you need to do complicated calculations to attempt to understand capacity, resourcing and demand?

2015 saw another year of field service growth, with more organisations applying IoT practices and other technological advances to help cut costs, increase efficencies, and ensure customer satisfaction. More data than ever before was being fed from the customer and the field to back-end systems. But your data is only as good as its application.[quote float="left"]By its very nature a forecast intrinsically contains some degree of error

 

What if you could know, as close to real life as possible, what resources you would need, and where, to meet your 2016 field service KPIs? What if you were given visibility into the success of your predetermined KPIs, and suggestions for improvement? Imagine having an interactive tool at your fingertips that would allow you to run multiple real-life field service scenarios simultaneously. Imagine that same tool being able to store all your results and present them in a printable dashboard that you could take to management.

Such a tool does exist, and we call it the WISE (what-if scenario explorer). This easy-to-navigate forecasting and planning tool forecasts your resources based on your predicted demand; new contracts, possible acquisitions, and shifts in business. It allows you to drill down into the resulting schedules to see what the real-time schedule would look like.

So why does this all matter? Field service is an ever-shifting and highly demanding industry. It ebbs and flows with seasonal changes, shifts in demand, and multiple other factors so if there is so much potential change then why bother?

By its very nature a forecast is always wrong – it intrinsically contains some degree of error because it is based on many factors including past performance, future unknowns, confidence levels and statistical extrapolation and correlations of this data.

The skill therefore is to build a forecast that’s as close to being accurate and believable as possible thus minimising the margin of error. With any forecasting errors minimised, the impact on your KPIs becomes more predictable.

Here are some of the Key Performance Indicators that can be positively affected by scenario planning and forecasting: [ordered_list style="decimal"]

1. Headcount: (Having the right number of people, when and where they are needed)
   Run real-life scenarios by feeding the WISE your organisation’s data and see whether you should add or reallocate resources. If you need t o add resources to meet demand, the WISE will show you where regionally you should be hiring. It also provides territory balancing to ensure your service areas have proper coverage.
2. Response time:  (Planning to respond reliably within the SLA or appointment window)
   The WISE will predict your response times to service calls and will also calculate the number of SLAs you will meet with your current resources. It will then make suggestions to help you increase your SLA hit rate.
3. Customer Satisfaction:  (Directly correlated to #1 and #2)Scenario planning and forecasting provides territory balancing to ensure your service areas have proper coverage. Not only will you be able to more easily achieve your SLAs but you will also be able to provide new customers with reliable first time service.
4. Operating Costs: (Reducing overtime and travel costs)With a forecasting tool that can not only tell you the outcome of your current operations but help you determine what organisational changes are needed to meet your demands; you have the ability to reduce your upcoming costs. By automatically seeing where your technicians should be located based on demand, you can ensure your technicians aren’t travelling unnecessary distances.

A scenario planning tool can be used to help establish goals and expectations for the fiscal year, but it can also be used for short term planning as well. It can help your organisation understand how to best manage new important contracts, proactively plan for changes in seasonal demand, and more.

When you start budgeting for 2016, rather than wonder why you are bothering, instead, reverse the mentality and question “why not? Using WISE could have a notable impact on your service delivery metrics and bottom line. WISE will show you where regionally you should be hiring. It also provides territory balancing to ensure your service areas have proper coverage.

 

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The great and the good of the service management industry came together at this years Service Management Expo held in London's Exel and Field Service News was at the hear of the action hosting the Field Service Solutions Zone.

Here we bring you a selection of the speakers from Day Two including: Daryl Dudey, IFS, Martin Summerhayes, Fujitsu and Mike Gosling of Cubic Transportation Systems

 

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Enterprise applications company IFS has announced that Kanes Foods one of the UK’s leading suppliers of fresh prepared foods, has chosen IFS Applications 9 to replace its legacy ERP systems.

Founded in 1990, Kanes Foods now has an annual turnover in excess of £100m and supplies over 3.2 million packs of fresh produce to the UK’s leading supermarkets every week. In order to support its rapid growth, Kanes Foods needs to update its current landscape of disparate systems with one, fully integrated ERP solution.

“With IFS Applications 9 we will have a system that supports the business through the entire supply chain – from procurement, raw material handling, production and final shipment to our customers,” commented Mark Harris, Production Director at Kanes Foods. “In addition, IFS Applications 9 will allow us to replace a number of stand-alone systems, such as quality management, plant maintenance, payroll, HR and time & attendance giving complete visibility across the business.”

 

Kanes Foods operate in a fresh produce environment, with much of the product arriving, being processed and dispatched within the same day; as a result speed and accuracy of data capture is imperative. That is why the deployment of a number of IFS mobile solutions will be critical to the implementation project. Kanes Foods will use IFS Warehouse Data Collection for the reporting of all movement of goods throughout the process. In addition, IFS’s mobile solution will be utilised by over 100 maintenance and quality technicians – to allow real time reporting on the shop floor.

Paul Massey, Managing Director of IFS Europe West, said “we are excited to welcome Kanes Foods into our growing list of food customers. It is encouraging to hear that the breadth of the IFS solution, along with our ability to deploy functionality to a mobile workforce, were key factors in the company’s decision to work with IFS. We look forward to a long and successful partnership.”

 

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