ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘internet-of-things’ CATEGORY

Paul Whitelam at ClickSoftware, explains why the future if field service will be heavily based on the Internet of Things.

---

 

Want to know more? A white paper from ClickSoftware on this topic is available to Field Service News subscribers only - but if you are a Field Service Professional you may qualify for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription!

Field Service Professional? Click here to apply for a complimentary industry subscription to Field Service News and get the white paper "Preparing for the Connected Customer" sent directly to your inbox now

 

---

 

Be social and share 

Paul Whitelam, VP of Product Marketing, ClickSoftware asks if IoT sensors, Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning will help the UK water industry avoid a looming crisis...

One would be forgiven for assuming a nation surrounded by water, with a storied history of naval exploration and an advanced privatised water management sector, would be exempt from facing a water or wastewater crisis.

But many experts agree that the current population boom and climate scenario are forcing the industrial, national, and regional water and wastewater situations towards crisis in the United Kingdom.

What do these mounting challenges mean for the field service management organisations? How can they innovate to meet and overcome each challenge while satisfying end consumers? In the following paragraphs, we discuss how water and wastewater service organisations can get ahead of the looming crisis.

Population boom, climate change, water scarcity combine to create the perfect storm

Ofwat, a government water management program overseeing England and Wales, recently published a report outlining many key challenges in these region. They city population growth and climate changes were identified as the key drivers of change, while growing pressure to address water scarcity, environmental quality, and resilience of systems in the face of rising consumer expectations as the  major hurdles. Key among these, you will find:

• The UK population is forecasted to grow 20% over the next 20 years
• Rising environmental standards may drive up costs
• Technology to manage new customer expectations is lacking
• Major climate change has left specific regions at risk
• Water scarcity poses immediate threat to supply
• Customer expectations for service sector and water continue to rise

In reality, many of these challenges intersect.

This report cites that a full 60% of Thames Water’s customers are concerned about the environment. In addition, 85% of Wessex Water’s customers feel protecting rivers, lakes, and estuaries was critical.

The reality is more dire than consumers may realise. Given the uneven population distribution across the country, freshwater resources are often pulled from areas that are already under pressure, while new regions have been identified that previously threatened just years ago.

As the report cites, “Water catchments across Wales, south-west and northern England are predicted to experience significant unmet demand under many of the scenario combinations that the Environment Agency has considered.”

Can water management and field service teams get ahead of this looming crisis, or will consumers simply have to cut back on consumption altogether as the population booms?

3 ways UK service organisations can innovate to overcome crisis

Luckily, the field service industry is experiencing a renaissance in service technology that could solve current and future water problems. The Internet-of-Things, artificial intelligence, and predictive maintenance technology could each provide innovative solutions for both meeting growing demand, and minimising environmental impact.

1. Invest in and inform customers of water reduction faucets, shower heads, high efficiency washing machines and emerging technology

To be fair, this first recommendation is more about customer satisfaction, not just technology, but the fastest way to avert a water and wastewater crisis is the simplest; reduce the amount of water usage in businesses, factories, and homes.

This will require service organisations convincing customers that these new faucets, shower heads, and high efficiency machines will both save them money through reduced water usage, and save the environment. And if that doesn’t work? A healthy bit of policy should do the trick.

With the number of consumers who have expressed care for environmental issues, couldn’t a bit of a nudge from service providers push many over the edge to adopting more efficient technology?

With even a 10% increase in the number of homes, businesses, and facilities equipped with smarter end using devices, we could improve our water usage future in short order.

2. Enable IoT sensors on industrial water facilities and natural resource hubs

The Internet-of-Things promises to bring advanced real-time diagnostic capabilities to equipment, that for decades has required a human to perform a diagnostic task. By embedding internet-enabled sensors on all the equipment that cleans, processes, transports and delivers water, we could improve the efficiency of the entire water lifecycle by significant margins.

Would this require an up-front investment? Most certainly, but privatised water and wastewater organisations and service companies would certainly be keen on efficiency gains, especially if margins could move up incrementally.

Using IoT sensors for advanced real-time diagnostics could allow organisations to get predictive about water usage, resource allocation, and more. With the right application of IoT technology, equipment and processing, diagnostics could stand to become more efficient than ever.

3. Use AI and machine learning for ultimate efficiency gains

While seemingly intimidating at the outset, artificial intelligence and machine learning technology are in fact well within reach for organisations willing to embrace a healthy technical challenge. How about the payoff? Datasets that take a team of data scientists several weeks to interpret can now be crunched by AI algorithms in seconds.

Upon gaining results, future-oriented field service organisations will soon apply machine learning models that are ready-built for various service scenarios.

Think of machine learning algorithms as software with a brain. First, you develop an algorithmic model. Let’s use flooding—a common water crisis scenario—as an example. By first coding your software to understand all the steps a human would take in a flood scenario, and second enabling artificial intelligence algorithms to process information in real-time, you can effectively combine real-time flood data and your algorithm to unlock an immediate decision tree.

The software acts upon data in an instant, making airtight decisions and optimising your entire field service chain the same way your dispatch, or service executives would—given the parameters of your programmed scenario. But the main difference between AI software managing a service chain, and a human being? Software will make fewer mistakes.

As the UK continues to seek a resolution to current and future water scenarios, a healthy balance of policy, innovation, and customer support will be required.

 

---

 

Be social and share

Commercialisation of narrowband IoT technology is widening growth opportunities, finds Frost & Sullivan’s Digital Transformation team...

Growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) market, as evinced by increasing launches, investments and partnerships, will accelerate in 2017 with the commercialisation of narrowband IoT (NB-IoT).

This cellular communications technology uses licensed spectrum and offers a standardised low-power, wide-area network (LPWAN) that can capture previously untapped segments of the market. Further, machine learning and block chain technologies are being integrated with different industries, such as financial services and energy.

In Europe, IoT connections are set to exceed 9 billion by 2021. Dedicated venture funds for IoT development will help create an ecosystem that is conducive to the growth of startups in the region.

 

“IoT applications integrate the consumer into the wider connected system to reflect a truly intelligent society,” said Digital Transformation Research Analyst Yiru Zhong.

“Significant funding in the last 18 months suggests that the IoT market is poised for another shift. The next evolution will be from using data to react to events, to using sentient tools and cognition or ‘predictive computing. IoT 2.0 will thus eventually enable self-healing events in a connected system.”

European Internet of Things Market Outlook, 2017, new research from Frost & Sullivan’s Connected Industries Growth Partnership Service, summarises the IoT landscape in 2016 in terms of adoption, applications and key market players, and forecasts development areas. The study examines enterprise attitudes to IoT adoption and offers eight market predictions for IoT in 2017 and beyond.

For complimentary access to more information on this analysis and to register for a Growth Strategy Dialogue, a free interactive briefing with Frost & Sullivan’s thought leaders, click here: https://goo.gl/VYvpGF

 

Five emerging growth areas for IoT identified by the research are:

“Q3 2016 witnessed a surge of large industry participants coming together to establish partnerships for promotion of the IoT ecosystem,” noted Zhong.

With it's impact on the field service industry rapidly shifting from huge potential to huge reality such conversations around IoT 2.0 and it's alliance to sentient tools is a vital focus for the evolution of our industry.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

Kieran Notter, Director, Global Customer Transformation, ServiceMax from GE Digital, takes a fresh look at some perennial problems...

Field service management hit the headlines in 2016 as automation, the Internet of Things and servitization reshaped the way we service and maintain capital assets.

These trends have now trickled down to the supply chain, providing a fresh approach to age old headaches. In this article, we look at five areas of friction in the supply chain and how combining field service management with assets is solving them.

The Inventory Tug of War

CFOs will always push for lower inventory levels to free up cash flow and reduce the risk of obsolescence. Yet Service Directors want higher inventory to increase First-Time Fix rates, reduce internal costs, improve productivity and raise customer satisfaction.

The supply chain is between a rock and a hard place trying to balance between two opposing arguments. So what’s the solution? In a word, knowledge.

Knowing the assets and installed base – from the basic location knowledge all the way to IoT (smart connected products) – gives the supply chain a much better chance to meet the demands of both sides. It caters for greater availability but with less inventory, thus freeing up cash. By using the data that’s attached to the asset, it’s location, it’s preventative maintenance plan, and its productivity provides an alert when a part is about to break.

 

Expensive, Unplanned Freight Costs

Knowing the frequency of parts that fail, and the correct intervals for preventative maintenance visits reduces freight costs with fewer ‘emergency’ shipments. However, the biggest saving here is actually in reducing the parcel count itself. If you know what parts you are going to need and when, you can consolidate shipments, sending them direct to the technician in advance.

At a basic level, just knowing where your assets are means you can position the inventory in more strategic locations to reduce costs and increase availability.

Product Lifecycle – The Delayed Curve

A supply chain is expected to cover the assets through their lifecycle. However, if you cannot see if the install base is growing or shrinking, you can’t align inventory accordingly.

That means it’s on a delayed curve which will either result in back orders for new product ranges as the planning tries to catch up or obsolete stock for products as they come to the end of their lifecycle, and usage slows down as planning has not reacted quickly enough.

Addressing this issue also means you get insight into the true profitability of a contract or product.

Likewise, knowing the top 20 required shipments rather than just focusing on the 200 makes a huge difference to how a supply chain can react and prioritise their efforts and resources. This also gives a much more focused supply to the field service organisation and the customers with the most need.

Back Orders After The Fault Is Fixed

When parts are ordered direct to the fault on the machine, a small change in process and practice can pay huge dividend – cancel back orders once the fault has been fixed. This may not work for all businesses but it will work for many.

In most cases, back orders are left for the supply chain to fulfil, even though the technician has fixed the issue with a borrowed unit from a colleague or fixing the part rather than the assembly ordered. If the original back order is left, the other technician who lent the part is now second in line to get it returned, which has a knock-on effect with a ‘not required’ demand outweighing a potential ‘urgent’ order.

Also, if the original back order is shipped to the customer and the customer’s machine is up and running, then parts are often lost. One company who introduced this practice (less customer fit parts) reduced their back orders by 52%.

IoT (Internet of Things) – The Holy Grail of Condition-Based Service

Many companies are now firmly into the IoT realm and benefitting from the data that is being provided.

From smart sensors telling them what parts need replacement before an issue arises to optimum intervals between preventative maintenance.

Using this voice of the product alongside customer demand means you can plan your inventory to not only be available before a fault arises, but also plan the consumables and after sales items to a level that has not been seen before.

This moves you into the servitization market with confidence and a predictable profit margin.

Both the supply chain and field service benefit hugely from analytical information, real time data feeds, and expected, predictable outcomes supplied by IoT and its communications. You only need to look at industry verticals benefitting from this already, such as jet engines, fleet management, HVAC and medical devices to name a few.

 

Without asset knowledge, you are essentially working as a ‘demand’ chain and within the limitations of technicians’ ad hoc tasks to manage any intelligent levels of inventory at your locations.

You will always be behind the curve.

Some companies with high volume and low SKU’s can manage with this model, but all businesses will benefit from more real time data and the ability to not just pre-empt future requirements, but act on them.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

In part one of this series, looking at the big trends we will see in Field Service this year we looked at way the business trend of servitization is set to become more commonplace this year.

 Now in the second part of this series Kris Oldland looks at the impact the Internet of Things and Augmented Reality might have in field service...

The Internet of Things has arrived and has two feet firmly in the field service industry

OK so this is a bit of a cheat given that in my intro I pointed out that this was the one I got right in 2015.

However, last year I mentioned it would start to become commonplace.

This time around I’m going to go all in and state that across 2016 we will see IoT implementation become a commonplace strategy for field service companies in all corners of the globe.

Perhaps one of the big myths that was firmly debunked on our pages last year was that IoT was sole domain of the largest companies only.

 

Yes we will have read the case studies and white papers by the likes of GE, Schneider and Phillips and yes the stuff these big guys are doing with IoT is really, pretty damn impressive.

However, there are also now a growing number of examples of smaller to medium sized companies who have harnessed IoT in order to improve the service they are delivering to their customers (and even to have moved towards a servitized business model in some instances.)

This was highlighted perfectly by leading service consultant Nick Frank in a presentation he gave during a Field Service News webinar last year.

Frank gave a number of examples of SME’s utilising IoT, often with fairly simple, and dare I say it relatively lo-tech solutions, that were as much about thinking about the service these companies were delivering and how ‘outside-the-box’ thinking could improve that service.

In fact it was a core facet in all of the companies Frank referred to in the webinar, and indeed also those companies he often refers to in his regular column for Field Service News, that they intrinsically understood what good service looked like for their customers, and they viewed the emergence of IoT as an enabler and facilitator in delivering and enhancing that service.

Of course, for some companies innovation sits within their DNA so adopting new technologies and approaches is nothing to be feared.

However, this isn’t necessarily the case for all companies, so it is perhaps the recent launch of ‘Connected Field Service’ by ServiceMax, that finally connects the IoT dots for the rest of the pack.

It was perhaps inevitable ever since ServiceMax and PTC got into bed together in May last year that we would see a fully IoT enabled, Field Service solution merge as the fruits of this union.

But when ServiceMax capitalised on the growing emergence of Salesforce as a business platform, they were a young, wet-behind-the-ears business,that slipped under their competitors radar before it was too late and suddenly everyone was trying to play catch-up.

 

You can be sure that they won’t be given as much grace a second time around and almost certainly other significant field service management software providers like ClickSoftware, IFS et al will soon be in the IoT game as well.

Indeed ServicePower are also rumoured to have an agreement in place with PTC so watch this space.

For field service companies though, whether they are blue chips, the smaller innovators that Frank has highlighted so well, or anything in between the ability to enhance service offerings through IoT are becoming both more accessible and more easily understood.

Indeed in our own exclusive research from October last year over half (55%) of our respondents stated they thought “IoT will become a fundamental part of field service operations in the future” whilst a further 21% went further stating that “IoT is critical to any field service organisation’s strategy”.

Augmented Reality will replace IoT as the new kid on the block everyone is talking about...

OK so if IoT is moving from the exciting cool tech everyone is talking about to the big ticket everyone is investing in, then Augmented Reality (AR) is the tech whose impact upon field service is still being outlined and explained somewhat.

However, once people grasp the concept, and the relativeease of implementation of the technology, and the quite frankly huge potential for AR to wipe significant cost lines from a field service P&L then they are almost instantly converted.

The thing is with AR that like IoT it has the potential to not just optimise the levels of productivity companies get from their service operations like mobile computing and the Cloud have done. It has the potential to completely change the way field service companies approach their service operations, and to do so for the better.

 

However, unlike IoT there isn’t the potential barrier of retrofitting hundreds, thousands or potentially millions of assets in the field.

In fact one AR provider that impressed me and everyone else that saw there demonstration at Field Service East last September (Help Lightning) offer their app as a download from the App store.

So what exactly is AR and why do I think it will have such an incredible impact?

Very simply AR is the overlaying of digital information onto the reality we see before us.

In field service, this has huge potential.

Often the largest single cost for any field service company is the cost of getting a highly skilled engineer, to fix that critical issue, for a key client ASAP. There is the cost of travel, accommodation not to mention the dead time lost whilst he is in between jobs.

AR allows us to get the experience of that engineer on-site without him being there. In fact we can utilize a less experienced engineer who is closer to the job, locally out sourced staff or even the customer themselves to undertake the physical maintenance whilst under the direct guidance of our experienced engineer who can be based in a centralized location, or even at home.

 

Through the use of AR our remote engineer can not only see exactly what the on site engineer is seeing and talk them through the repair, he can at any point freeze the image being captured by the on site engineers device and show his less experience colleague exactly what to do with hand gestures or even on screen annotations shown in real-time.

So instead of explaining over the phone ‘the dial near the mid-centre of the asset, turn it clockwise by about 20 degrees’ he can physically point to the correct dial and show how much it should be turned and this will be seen by the on site engineer on his device.

Studies have shown that the human brain is almost 20 times more receptive to being shown something via hand gestures than spoken word and this is at it’s core the power that AR provides.

And by replacing the need to ‘fly experience in’ with the ability to ‘dial it in’ field service companies could make potentially huge savings very quickly leading to a whole rethink about how we deploy our most experienced engineers.

This also leads us onto the other big area where AR could be deployed within field service, namely training.

As millennials become more and more a part of the field service landscape, the need for digitizing our knowledge banks becomes more pressing, and whilst AR can be used as a standalone training tool, for those companies utilising it actively in the field it is a simple case to record each interaction - thus building a digital knowledge library as a by-product of every AR based service call.

Given the benefits, low-cost implementation and potentially instant R.o.I surely AR will rapidly move from exciting new concept to industry staple and I think we will begin to see that traction this year.

 

---

 

Look out for the part three of this series when smart glasses and rugged computing take centre stage…

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

The Internet of Things is enabling ABB Robotics to transforms its customer service offering, explains Magnus Sävenäs, VP Customer Service, Head of Global Field Service & Training at ABB Robotics.

The ABB Robotics division comprises of robot applications and automation systems across numerous industry sectors, including automotive, foundry, packing, metal and plastics manufacturing.

Over 250,000 robots have been sold worldwide. The majority (35%) are used in machine tending and materials handling, 35% in welding, 8% in painting and 22% in other processes.

The Robotics division has sales and service operations in 53 countries in more than 100 locations and employs 5,500 people.

The company’s motto is “easy to buy, easy to service”, but with such a diverse spread of industries and with customers ranging from large organisations with large “fleets” of robots to small SMEs, providing excellent customer service is challenging to say the least - each customer requires a specific service model, explains Sävenäs.

The robots are often employed in mission-critical operations such as manufacturing, so uptime is critical. No production plants are identical and neither are their service requirements. So service agreements are fully flexible, where customers can make their own choices from a variety of available services.

The company recognised it needed to change from being a cost-based reactive division into a value-based proactive one and that the Internet of Things would be a key enabler.

 

The service operation is now a data-driven business, with five key components: installed products database, service organisation, remote service, customer access to information, and knowledge management.

Product database

Each robot has a “birth certificate” and “medical journal” of all equipment during the entire lifecycle up to “disposal / replacement”. it includes a physical map of all equipment by product group, customer account and location, keeping track of warranty status repairs and changes, updated on-line at every service visit.

Service Management

Maintenance services from ABB Robotics includes preventive maintenance, remote condition monitoring, life cycle assessment, inspection and diagnostics.

In operations where equipment failure impacts severely on operations, Total Time To Fix performance is a critical KPI. For the Robotics service with its global customer base, this was particularly challenging and depended on several elements: initial diagnosis, parts identification, travel time and repair time.

The new service strategy has transformed that Total Time To Fix performance, and there are several key elements:

 

Remote Service

1. Troubleshooting
   Wireless connectivity tools allow ABB to provide a virtual dedicated troubleshooting expert within 5 minutes – an expert on-demand, remote support assistance in the event of a specific problem or failure. The service technician is transformed from a repair guy in the van to a process consultant/technician who can guide the customer remotely through any fault issues.That increases productivity for ABB Robotics and deliveries enhanced support to the customer because uptime is increased.
2. Condition monitoring
   Remote Service is also used to monitor the health of robots 24/7 to increase robot uptime and productivity while reducing the cost of ownership. The robot system is continuously monitored and an automatic alert is generated when the robot condition changes or a problem arises.Regular system health checks and reports are provided utilising secure emote connections. During scheduled sessions, data is downloaded and measured against established performance benchmarks. Based on the findings, maintenance recommendations can be provided.Conditioned-based, predictive and remote monitoring has improved Mean Time Before Failure and reduced Mean Time to Repair statistics.
3. Maintenance scheduling
   Remote Service can generate a maintenance schedule on the basis of actual usage to help reduce maintenance costs.Up to 50% of unplanned stops can be prevented, while robot systems can be brought back into production remotely, avoiding valuable production losses.

Knowledge management

ABB Robotics was previously heavily reliant on the experience, knowledge and skills of its technicians. The company’s Smart Service Information (SSI) platform means no individual is now expected to carry all the information.

Technicians can quickly search all documentation, and there are 3D animated maintenance procedures called ABB Siminstructions. The Smart Device for Service (S4S) is a “Two Pair Of Eyes” solution for problem resolution

Self-serving customers

Customers have a single point of access for all service information and contacts via the “my ABB” self-service portal. It’s an easy-to-use, service deliver eBusiness channel.

Customers can view a physical map of their equipment, their equipment status, service needs, parts and so on. They can view status and health of myRobot fleet; interrogate the system with queries such as “Show me equipment close to running out of warranty”,  “Show me equipment in the later part of the life cycle (due for upgrade) and ”Show me event log of robots”.

Internet of Things, Services and People – IoTSP

There’s lots of discussion in service management about the Internet of Things and Big Data. ABB has been developing a broader strategy which it calls the Internet of Things, Services and People – IoTSP.

Interconnecting things, services and people via the Internet improves data analysis, boosts productivity, enhances reliability, saves energy and costs, generates new revenue opportunities through innovative business models

 

For over a decade ABB has been working to develop and enhance process control systems, communications solutions, sensors and software for the IoTSP. These technologies enable our customers in industries, utilities and infrastructure to analyse their data more intelligently, optimize their operations, boost their productivity, and their flexibility.

ABB is advancing the IoTSP by helping customers develop their existing technologies, while keeping sight of our enduring commitment to safety, reliability, cyber security and data privacy.

The Internet is enabling a revolution in industry is connecting intelligent machines and the collective data generated from a growing number of electronic sensors. We are ‘seeing, hearing, and feeling’ our industrial processes like never before and this empowers the decisions we make to optimise performance.

This revolution allows us to operate machines more safely, with greater efficiency, and with lower environmental impact, not just individually, but as complete systems, working in harmony to enhance power and productivity for a better world.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

ServicePower Technologies Plc has joined the ThingWorx partner program as a certified partner. ThingWorx is a leading rapid application development platform for the Internet of Things.  ServicePower will use the platform to build applications that help its customers reduce costs, improve services and ultimately achieve competitive advantage.

By developing new applications that connect machines using IoT and integrating them into its workforce management, enterprise mobility, and analytics technology, ServicePower will enable its clients to optimise performance by uniting their workforces with assets in the field.

Using sensors in assets in the field coupled with new applications developed on ThingWorx, clients will be able to detect problems as they occur and, using ServicePower’s workforce optimisation solutions, mobilise their repair crews before there is a disruption to services.

ServicePower will offer the new IoT applications through the ThingWorx Marketplace, as well as directly through its global sales channels. Joining the ThingWorx ecosystem underlines the growing momentum of ServicePower’s partner strategy and its aim to use scalable and innovative technology. Specifically it builds upon other recent IoT partnerships with Bosch Software Innovations and Concirrus.

Marne Martin, CEO of ServicePower commented. “ServicePower already supplies the most innovative and complete service management platform on the market. We work with companies that operate assets in the field such as utility and cable providers, facilities managers and contractors; they can all now benefit from a step-change in technology that will deliver unprecedented levels of asset visibility. Valuable asset information extracted using ThingWorx can be fed into ServicePower’s existing service management platform so that our clients can deploy resources faster and where they are most needed. This technology will enable them to transform their operations and maybe even entire sectors.”

 

---

 

Be social and share this news

The Internet of Things is predicted to have a huge impact on customer service. In this article,  Paul White, CEO mplsystems, identifies the top three changes he expects to occur.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical objects embedded with electronics, software and connectivity that are able to be controlled remotely with the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

Gartner have predicted that three years from now, 5% of customer service cases will be autonomously initiated by connected devices as more objects connect to the internet. This is supported by Nicola Millard, Head of Futures and Insight at BT, who recently commented at mplsystems’ customer conference, “I think a lot of the technologies we are starting to see like the Internet of Things could be used more proactively with the contact centre so it becomes more in charge of demand rather than just responding passively to it.”

The IoT introduces opportunities, but how will it really change to the day to day running of the contact centre and the role of the agent?

1. The contact centre will start delivering proactive rather than reactive customer service

Our number one prediction for the Internet of Things is that it will transform the contact centre from a reactive inbound customer service centre to a proactive outbound service. This will be achieved by devices being able to self-diagnose problems and immediately alert the contact centre of the issue, often before the customer realises. The integrated system will automatically trigger an outbound call to be delivered to the agent desktop who will then offer proactive customer service, rather than waiting for the product to fail and the customer make an inbound enquiry.

For example, washing machines will be able to self-diagnose problems and notify the manufacturer when a part needs replacing, the contact centre is then able to make a call to the customer to notify them and fix the device before a more serious problem can occur, significantly improving the customer experience.

 

Alternatively, products that needs refills, such as drinks dispensers, will be able to send a notification straight to a field based workers mobile device, who can then add this to their list of jobs and deliver with their boot stock. This means that they will never need to alert the contact centre, alleviating the number of calls and requests they are having to deal with.

2. The role of the contact centre agent will become more specialised and they will be better prepared

As a result of devices detecting and alerting the contact centre of problems, the contact centres agents will transition from receiving high levels of inbound, reactive customer requests to delivering an outbound proactive service. This will result in the agent’s role transitioning from a generic customer service role to a specialist in a specific product or problem type. Agents are going to need to know about the faults that are being alerted in the contact centre as they will often be more informed about the issue than the customer and will need to convey this information. At the point of engagement, they will not just be aware of the issue but will have remedies in place and may even have started applying them to resolve the problem. From a business perspective, the level of customer service is greatly increased, agents are more knowledgeable and productive and the business should experience cost savings through a more streamlined, proactive way of working.

3. Masses of new data will help to improve the customer experience

The Internet of Things will bring with it a whole new explosion of data that, if managed correctly, can be of enormous value to the contact centre and customer experience delivery. Contact centres will be able to gain more control of customer service by the Internet of Things providing them with new streams of information that is integrated in to their existing infrastructure. Customers will not have to wait in long queues, go through time-consuming security questions or try to explain complex faults, as agents are presented with all the information they need from multiple sources of data.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature

As we head full steam into 2015 predictions of industry trends that will shape the field service industries come thick and fast. Here we look at what our regular columnist's John Cameron of Trimble Field Service Management's will be important in the following twelve months... 

With so many advanced tools now available to fine-tune operations, field service organisations have reached an unprecedented transformative stage. By leveraging technology trends such as the Internet of Things, advanced analytics and smartphone and tablet integration, leading field service businesses are reinventing themselves as predictive, rather than reactive, operations. This may mean better-equipping technicians with intelligent apps that deliver real-time data and deploy analytics capabilities to make strategic decisions, or enhancing security and IT infrastructure.

Here are eight trends that may impact how you make those changes:

 

1. Robust and Flexible Platforms

Companies are looking to solution providers to deliver platforms globally as the foundation for innovation. Providers have to be ready to add, extend and integrate technologies as needed, giving them the agility to adapt and innovate. These platforms need to be cloud-based and flexible, allowing them to configure and manipulate modules and functionality as they see fit. Customers want a single provider to deliver all the functionality and modularity they require. They want to focus on empowering field workers and driving service excellence. To achieve that, they need robust, flexible platforms backed by a reliable provider.

2. Increased Focus on Security

The increase in cybercrime, such as the recent breach against Sony Pictures, is a critical reminder of how important it is to secure company data. As more organisations add everything from switches to entire power grids to the Internet of Things, we’ll see a greater demand for

advanced security applications and a corresponding increase in financial commitment to protect against future attacks. Security involves not only protecting and safeguarding network entry but also ensuring that every mobile device is fortified. That means equipping every tablet, smartphone and laptop with the pertinent, updated tools and protocols, and educating users on the importance of adhering to security policies.

 

3. Embedded Analytics

The ability to analyse and act on the vast amount of data collected from the field continues to trend in the evolution of field services technology. Deploying workforce management solutions with sophisticated analytics tools will enable managers to improve operations with real-time visibility into their operations. Data gathered from smarter mobile apps and equipment sensors will provide insights on performance, tasks, service quality, and new products that will enable field service managers to not only keep up with the competition but to step ahead.

4. Greater Integration

As telematics and workforce management solutions become more integrated with mobile devices, the opportunities to increase efficiency and productivity are growing exponentially. Field service managers can make real-time decisions remotely by accessing vehicle tracking, scheduling and routing on their mobile devices, allowing them to mitigate reckless driving incidents, control vehicle wear and tear and

decrease maintenance costs, all from a handheld. Mobile apps will continue to provide critical information such as daily tasks, customer histories, billing, and the locations of nearby teammates on demand for field service technicians. This access to real-time information empowers the technician to make strategic decisions, recruit help from teammates, and complete jobs on-time the first time, resulting in lower operational costs and higher customer satisfaction.

 

5. The Internet of Everything

By 2020, Gartner, Inc. predicts 26-billion devices other than smartphones, tablets and computers to be connected via the Internet of Things. For field service organisations, connecting equipment with technicians’ mobile devices and the back office in real time is a necessity. Information captured in the field provides diagnostics and performance metrics that mitigate certain issues as well as tracks patterns and trends for long-range planning. The goal is to ensure an intelligent and preventive—not reactive—approach.

6. Enhanced Network Reliability

The daily accumulation of data from internal files, mobile solutions, cloud-based apps and email can strain networks and storage systems. As organisations invest in mobile and management solutions to optimise operations, they no longer can ignore the underlying infrastructure. Hybrid clouds, virtualised servers and scalable, high-capacity storage give e networks the agility they need to stay flexible, efficient and productive. Neglecting these areas can impact performance, impede productivity and escalate IT costs.

7. An Evolving Workforce

As the field service  industry evolves a major trend has been the emergence of young, tech-savvy and collaborative workers.  According to Aberdeen Group, approximately one-fifth of the current workforce is under 30. This new pool of workers has grown up fully connected and will enable service 

  to continue their evolution in mobility and help them transform service and the relationship with customers. 62 per cent of top performing field service organisations have incorporated a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy as a result of a more tech-savvy workforce and 43 per cent are more likely to give technicians access to social media and collaborative tools to facilitate knowledge transfer.

 

8) Mobility as a Game-changer

Mobility will continue as a key enabler in addressing the competitive issues faced by field service organisations today.  The right mobile architecture can solve many of the tactical challenges of these organisations:  latent customer needs, increased competition, unmitigated churn and worker productivity. However, simply investing in mobile technology does not ensure improvement in key performance. To be successful with any deployment, organisations must choose the best field service solution and adopt the implementation best suited for their operation.

 

Be social and share this feature