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In part one of this exclusive interview with ServiceMax COO Scott Berg we looked at the the similarities between widely differing industries, the rapid rise of ServiceMax and why the IoT hasn't quite got fully up to speed as yet.

Here in this second section of the interview we begin with the another key significant technology trend, Big Data and why it was the at the heart of the headlines coming out of the ServiceMax CIO summit a few months earlier.

As our conversation turns to this Berg begins nodding agreement.

“We think we are in quite a unique position to make Data actionable.” he says. A pretty bold claim.

He begins to expand further “These Data lakes and all the other terminology around Big Data, all this predictive stuff and data science is all great but somebodies got get it into the hands on a technician in order to benefit from it. To maybe direct their next step or predict their next move. There will always be people involved in the chain, so we think its really our unique place to play as we make Big Data actionable.”

 

“We have a configurable process, we have the mobile device, so if there is going to be any directing or leading or sharing and tapping into knowledge its probably going to be done on a disconnected mobile device under ground at the top of a scaffolding or something like. So our interest in it is trying to connect data science and Big Data into that actionable footprint that you can put in front of the technician.”

This focus on the end user leads us to another current topic of conversation in software circles – is customisation the root of all ills or an acceptable process to refine off the shelf solutions?

 

“I think the whole nature of customisation has changed” answers Berg as I put the question to him “As you know we are on the Salesforce.com platform, and I don’t think that customisation is necessarily a bad word because its so controlled and its such a configurable and extendable experience anyway.”

“We certainly do stress configuration to the extent that this year we’ve really tried to repackage our implementation and delivery offerings. For small businesses we have something called Express, which is an out of the box ‘trust me this is what you need’ solution. If you work with us in three weeks you’ll be live and it’ll look just like the demonstration.” He says

“So we’ve tried to get certainly more prescriptive about it but I do think that peoples notions of customisation are ERP. So obliterated unrecognisable sets of code that drop you off at the road map and that quite frankly it’s a large part of our success I think. Because there is so much of that in Siebel today, one of our big customers has three versions of Siebel all of them deprecated so their off support and they’re faced with this problem its unrecognisable, its un-upgradeable they may as well just go buy another solution.”

“I think that the Salesforce platform has really changed everything. The way that we have to operate in that platform as an independent software company on someone else’s cloud means everything has to go through vulnerability, security and compatibility automated checking. So anything your customer would do on top of that, or anything we would do for a customer, basically inherits that stability. I think that’s just a radically different technological model than traditional ERP”

 

Of course Salesforce.com ended up proving a lot of their far bigger competitors wrong and now it seems that this is a rush to catch them up. It’ll be interesting to see if in the future all companies will follow their route.

As Berg himself outlines “ I think you’ll see a lot of the vendors out their trying to follow Salesforce’s lead and trying to follow some of Salesforce’s approach and try to become that platform as a service provider. You see them all launching market places and trying to attract people. Microsoft have been making a lot of noise around this and trying to launch the Dynamics platform. “

“But as somebody who jumped into the Salesforce.com bandwagon early on and as someone who every year we periodically reassess our situation I can say that nobody has really built the breadth and depth of a business application platform that those guys have.”

It is obvious to all that the connection between Salesforce.com and ServiceMax is particularly close. But is it too close? How reliant is the continuing success of ServiceMax on the Saleforce platform I ask.

“Having been involved with several start-ups in the past I think that they [Salesforce] were extremely critical for us especially in the early days.” Responds Berg.

 

“If you think of what it would have taken for us to launch a data centre and secure it, to build all the platform capabilities and redundancy, also that some of our first 12 customers were in the Middle East and Europe and there we were with two founders selling everything themselves out of northern California… how could that be right?” he pauses leaving the question hang for just a second before continuing.

“All because of the global reach and the global acceptance level of the Salesforce.com platform. So yes it was very important early on.” He concludes.

However as Berg explains the relationship has changed overtime as ServiceMAx themselves have grown to stand on more of an equal footing.

“Overtime I think that the value of the relationship has shifted a bit.” Berg concedes “Salesforce has become much more of a platform, and we don’t tend to get as many outright business referrals from them as before.”

“And it is certainly a big credibility statement to pass our EU safe harbour framework certifications and things because we’re in it but we’ve expanded so much in our own intellectual property investments around the mobile devices, iPad, and frameworks for our configurable workflow that I think when you stack up all the functionality in our product today, its heavily tipped to us now.” He admits.

Look out for the final part of this exclusive interview coming next week... 

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ServiceMax have been one of the undoubted success stories in field service software of recent years. Kris Oldland, Field Service News Editor spoke to Their COO Scott Berg to find out about the journey they have been on and what happens next....

It was a cold early morning in Paris towards the tail end of last year when I met with Scott Berg. For me having flown in late the night before the famous Parisian coffee brought the welcome caffeine boost required to focus my sleep deprived brain.

However, when Berg entered the room, looking fresh in a crisp suit and bounding with a relaxed and jovial energy, it was clear that for him no such shot of espresso was required. Despite what had been a pretty hectic schedule he was clearly the type of guy that gets up raring to go every morning. And why shouldn’t he be, as COO of ServiceMax he was clearly in a good place.

It seems that almost every other company I speak to at the minute has recently moved to their field service management platform. If that sounds like an exaggeration here’s some interesting statistics to consider.

 

They have just finished their sixth year with a 100% year on year growth so and added 125 customers to their roster within the last twelve months. They operate in a highly competitive market and as far a I am aware at least, nobody is making that kind of progress and taking that kind of volume.

As Berg himself acknowledges “We’ve won more business in the last year than some of our competitors have done in the last 15.”

And these customers come in all shapes and sizes, from all verticals across every corner of the globe.

“The really fun thing for us is to see the variety of companies that we are working with.” Berg begins in an enthusiastic manner “We recently ran a Chief Service Officers summit, the first event that we had ever tried like that and there were 6 Global Heads of Service with the likes of Coca-Cola and Becton Dickinson and so on there. So on one hand we were working with these massive companies and then on the other hand there are companies like Service2 which is a husband and wife owned company that have gone from having five technicians to 10 since they employed ServiceMax -  so it’s a kinda cool thrill a minute kind of energy in the market right now” he adds.

This has always been one of the fascinating things about field service, there are so many parallel challenges across disparate industries and this is something Berg elaborates on further as we talk.

 

“That was completely the case yesterday, there was the Head of Professional Services for the Sony group, the man in charge of service for everything except their consumer brands.  So movie theatre camera systems and BBC News and all of the big news network type of things “ he explains “and he had the same talent acquisition issues as everybody else, he had the same political challenges internally of getting a seat at the boardroom table to enable him to pursue some initiatives, even though he was the only growing part of the business.

“All day it was the same story and it didn’t matter whether you were curing cancer or showing the latest movie at the cinema, it was basically the same sets of conversations we were having with people.”

And it is easy to imagine Berg being able to hold such conversations with these Global Heads of Service or equally with an owner of a small SME such as Service2 who are just taking the first steps in growing their business. He comes across as an approachable and enthusiastic but there is also an earnestness about him as well.

However, it’s easy enough to talk about all the good things ServiceMax have achieved but what about the things that they haven’t. Is there anywhere that Berg felt remained a work in progress for what is lets not forget still a relatively young organisation in it’s market segment.

“I think we’ve done a phenomenal job when it comes to capitalising on the mobility space” he begins “We’ve developed our Android platform and we’ve revamped our iOS solution which has been positive. It’s been somewhat of a surprise in how ready and willing the market is to take on these high-end portable devices. “

 

“One of the things that still perplexes me though is how slow the uptake on Internet of Things, and machine to machine communication." he continues.

“It’s funny, I use solar panels on my house and from my phone I can tell you if they’re working and then through my Nest thermostat I can turn the heating up and down from my phone also. Yet here are these massive, powerful, hi-tech intellectual property companies and they can’t figure out how to get an Ethernet connector jack plug into their devices?” he adds with a laugh.

The thing is he has a point. Widespread adoption of IoT in field service is behind where it should be based on the technology available. And to be fair to ServiceMax for those clients that are set to take advantage of M2M connectivity they are pretty much ready to go .

 

“We are very eager to jump on this [IoT]” he comments “We do have some customers like Elekta who have a full offering which we call IntelMax for machine to machine connectivity and Johnson Controls made huge investments in the area but it still strikes me how hard its been for industry. I have a little hundred dollar consumer device on the wall of my home that can do it and yet industry can’t?”

So is the ServiceMax product all set to go for Internet of Things?” I ask “Is it just a case of waiting for the market to catch up?”

“I think it is” Berg replies ‘”There are certainly relationships we are trying to build. We’re in discussions with people like Cisco and others to try and bridge that last mile of connectivity and we’ve explored some of the Apple iBeacon technology sensing people, locations and the physicality with the device.”

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Earlier this year Field Service News reported that Germany's leading pay TV company Sky Deutschland had been able to double their field service engineer productivity after implementing Fast Lean Smart's (FLS) FLS VISITOUR scheduling and FLS Mobile solutions.

Now in this exclusive interview with Lydia Otto, Director Field Service and Supply Chain, Sky Deutschland we look at this success story further including what attracted her to working with FLS in the first place and how the project has played out... 

Ms Otto, Sky is incredibly popular and, without doubt, the synonym for pay TV. How do you explain its huge popularity?

LO: Sky offers its customers first class entertainment whenever and wherever they want it. This includes award-winning series very soon after US transmission and only on Sky, access to the latest blockbuster films, high-quality kids channels and exclusive sports coverage, for instance all games in the Bundesliga and Champions League.

The multiple functions of the Sky+ hard drive receiver and the mobile service Sky Go allow our subscribers to become their own TV directors – both at home and when out. Moreover, as a leading innovation integrator we are always good for a surprise; tweaking and inventing products, online services and formats. Needless to say, our customer service also plays a key role.

In 2011, you decided to introduce a central scheduling system for your service engineers and, within this context, to implement the scheduling software FLS VISITOUR and the mobile solution FLS MOBILE. What were the actual reasons for this decision?

LO: While redefining the field service strategy in 2011 it became clear that we would have to expect an increase of orders in the short term. We wished to receive the “right” orders. In other words, to only be called out when the in-home service actually creates a real added value, prevents further calls to the customer service centre or stops customers from possibly terminating their contracts.

The expected increase in volume also meant that we needed an IT system for our scheduling activities. The key objectives were to standardise route planning, enhance productivity, increase back office efficiency, cut the time to process orders and reduce the amount of time engineers spend on the road.

 

What were the criteria used to select FLS VISITOUR, i.e. FLS as your software-partner of choice?

LO: Besides our demands for increased field service efficiency, the licence model appealed to us, since it ensures the scalability of our intentions for the coming years. Moreover, the tool was fully compatible with our corporate hardware, which meant no hardware had to be purchased and the software was implemented with very little effort on our part.

From your point of view, which demands had to be met by the appointment and route scheduling software? Have these demands changed over the past three years? If yes, how has FLS VISITOUR and FLS MOBILE helped you?

LO: The demands that had to be met were: Simultaneous use by various end users, optional interface to the customer management system, presentation of various order types (problem solving vs. installation), consideration of different working time models, output of a route plan with graphical representation and connection to mobile end devices.

[quote float="right"]The demands placed on scheduling software have not changed fundamentally, but they have become more detailed, e.g. adherence to the prioritisation of orders in the graphical representation or the mapping of service partners with available time

As a company, Sky continues to grow and this brings new challenges in terms of efficiency and productivity for our field service and customer service department. As such, the demands placed on scheduling software have not changed fundamentally, but they have become more detailed, e.g. adherence to the prioritisation of orders in the graphical representation or the mapping of service partners with available time. Transferring orders to service partners at the click of a mouse is also desired. The next two or three years will present us with a whole host of other interesting topics, e.g. real-time or GPS planning or interconnecting further partner networks.

 

How has Sky profited specifically by using FLS VISITOUR and FLS MOBILE? And which corporate figures illustrate this benefit most effectively?

LO: Since the beginning of 2011 all the relevant key figures for Sky’s field service have improved. We have seen a 72% increase in productivity, while reducing the processing time and journey times by 42% and 41% respectively. By the way, since introducing FLS, we have been able to process three times as many orders with the same number of back office staff.

According to a number of independent surveys, Sky delivers the best service. This is definitely something you can be proud of, while at the same time acting as an incentive to maintain this high level and to drive up customer satisfaction even further. What are the cornerstones of this excellent service and which goals need to be achieved in order for you to improve your service?

[quote float="left"]We must offer an exceptional service that goes beyond simple installation where subscribers receive real added value

LO:Sky has been continuously investing in customer service staff, technologies and processes for many years. Our aim, particularly in the area of in-home service, is not just to install receivers and to solve technical problems, but to seize the moment and turn it into a ‘wow’ effect. We must offer an exceptional service that goes beyond simple installation where subscribers receive real added value and discover everything they wish to know about the world of Sky from the comfort of their own living rooms. We carry out regular quality calls to seek direct feedback from customers. Satisfaction > 92% (Top 1&2) with the technical customer service shows we are on the right track to ensuring Sky customers have the best possible experience.

 

Meeting the individual needs of your customers and their service demands is a particular challenge you face in the battle to attract further subscribers and to reinforce your position in the market. How does Sky go about satisfying these needs and wants?

LO: Five years of Sky mean five years of continuous growth and 3.813 million subscribers by the end of the second quarter of 2014. As we see it, there is no such thing as ‘one big reason’ why someone should choose Sky. There are most probably hundreds of small considerations to take into account. But at the end of the day it boils down to three things: Provide your customers with the best and most exclusive programme and let them decide when and where they wish to view it. Invest in innovation and surprise the viewers and, of course, offer exceptional customer service.

How did your scheduling and in-home service staff react to the implementation of FLS VISITOUR and FLS MOBILE? How much convincing and change management did it take? Has introduction of the software led to greater staff satisfaction?

LO: In the long run, the introduction of the software delivers significant improvements for our field service division both office based dispatchers and field service engineers. [quote float="right"]as with all changes, a certain amount of convincing and change management was needed

However, as with all changes, a certain amount of convincing and change management was needed. Whereas previously it was in the hands of the field service engineers to schedule their own daily appointments, this is now the responsibility of the dispatchers. Initial obstacles were quickly overcome and all the other challenges, such as mobile device training or preparing the basic scheduling parameters, were dealt with relatively easily.

 

Adopting new corporate software usually involves an implementation project, which is often met with a fair amount of scepticism by companies and staff alike. How did you experience working with FLS as the project partner during the implementation phase? What are your expectations with regard to the level of support provided by a software developer after implementation?

LO: FLS is a partner that not only underpins the way we operate our business on a daily basis, but also with whom we can discuss individual development steps and continuously adapt the system to our needs. Furthermore, we perceive FLS as a project partner who, whenever necessary, provides us with support that actually goes beyond the contractual terms of service. We are extremely happy with the direct personal advice and support, as there is always a dedicated point of contact available.

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In part one of this exclusive two part interview Field Service News Editor, Kris Oldland talks to Martin Summerhayes of Fujitsu, about his spending over two decades as a pioneer in the field service industry... 

There are a number of key people who have been there and done it in field service. Professionals who have dedicated there lives to service, who have an inherent understanding of what it means to put the customer at the heart of the business strategy, and what it takes to develop a successful service division on an enterprise scale.

And then there is Martin Summerhayes.

A day before our interview I was able to witness Martin give a presentation at the recent Service Community event. In the half hour during which he spoke he gave the impression not only of a man that had a very firm understanding of the whole picture is in terms of service delivery, but also a man who had gained that understanding by paying attention to the minutiae of every aspect of the process.

However, after speaking to him one on one at some length a day later, it was clear that we had only just scratched the surface of Summerhayes’ depth of understanding of the industry in which he operates, as well as his passion for getting it right.

In terms of his entry into the world of field service Summerhayes, like many of his peers took a fairly straightforward path into the system. Having graduated from university in London in the late 80’s he joined HP as a field engineer on a graduate scheme working in their volume repair business.  As he puts it himself “You started as a man with a van and progressed from there”

Summerhayes himself ending up doing so rapidly and was soon not just progressing at HP, but was changing the way the business operated.

 

“My boss asked me to come up with some ideas for generating service revenue” he began as I asked him to describe his path from service engineer to service manager

“I came up with what I called the ten million dollar opportunity, which was literally sold up front. We offered a multi year extended warranty on the HP printers and PCs that we were selling in the UK, this would provide HP with an incremental ten million dollars worth of revenue. It was called the HP support pack business and when I left HP was generating over a billion dollars of revenue per anum.”

And perhaps here is a glimpse at what makes Summerhayes such a fascinating subject for interview or indeed just someone to have a conversation with. Whilst announcing what was a really quite an extraordinary achievement, he makes it sound as if  it was essentially a logical development that anybody else could have made

This of course isn’t true, to create a billion dollar business in any industry takes vision by the bucket load and to do it in a fledgling IT service industry even more so, but the touch of humility he shows when outlining his achievements, and an almost a blasé outlook on such a success, hints at an impression of a man who is almost certainly quite an inspiration to both his peers and his team alike.

In total Summerhayes spent nearly 20 years working with HP, having risen up the ranks from the “Man with a Van” to being at differing points responsible for 450 engineers, developing new programmes within the company to change their processes, to being heavily involved in overseeing the merger with Compaq (which actually also included absorbing Digital Equipment Corporation and Cabletron into the HP structure as well). Eventually he was asked to move to Texas as part of a management restructure, which Summerhayes declined and the HP chapter of his career came to an end.

He then took a decidedly left-field step in his career and took up a role with the Metropolitan Police Force. Spending two years with the ‘Met’ which he describes as “a mix of secret military, local government bureaucracy gone mad and IT” where the culture was one of “meetings, about meetings about meetings” Summerhayes eventually returned to the more familiar corporate environment with Fujitsu where he has been for the past six years.

Here in his roles as Head of Strategy and Business Development he now works directly with the firms fourteen largest accounts in the UK, working with them to establish margin and service improvement opportunities. (Last year alone he was able to deliver over two million pounds of margin improvements.)

Look out for part two of this feature coming soon where we look at Summerhayes' biggest frustrations in field service today as well as what makes him go home smiling after a long day... 

Towards the end of April this year specialist rugged computer manufacturer Getac launched perhaps one of the sleekest fully rugged devices yet to be seen in the T800. With heavyweight processing power, in a slim line 8.1-inch chassis yet still meeting the full militarised rugged standards it is an extremely impressive device for sure. But with the on-going consumerisation of business hardware what does the future of hold in store for rugged devices in the field service arena?

We spoke exclusively to Getac UK President Peter Molyneux and looked at how he saw the market for rugged devices evolving.

There are of course a number of considerations for companies when it comes to selecting what hardware is right for a their mobile workforce. One of the biggest of these considerations is how long a device will last.  With this in mind the first thing we asked Molyneux is what type of life span should we expect from devices today?

“Typically if you look at fully rugged notebooks customers will look for 5 years.” Molyneux states before pausing a moment. “I’ve actually seen some customers push their assets to seven years, which is quite an impressive return frankly. But generally in the tablet market at least, customers in utilities and field service are looking to hold onto their devices for three years.” He adds.

However, three years it would seem is a minimum expectation for Molyneux. “At Getac, we will uplift warranty to four or five years or even further – it’s one of the service models that we offer.” He comments revealing a subtle confidence and pride in his company’s offerings.

Of course there are a number of factors that will impact on the life of your hardware as Molynuex alludes to “It comes back to maybe your software requirements will change, although this is not always the case, especially in utilities sectors where they do tend to fix their software and operational performances rather than replace programs, but in field service, software is very key to delivery, so by purchasing the the very latest technology in terms of hardware, you are giving yourself the best opportunity for a long unit life span and I expect from that perspective you could push top end units past five years.”

An  extended life span sits at the heart of the argument for specialist rugged device manufacturers when faced with cheaper consumer devices such as Apple and Samsung who through domination of the consumer tablet and smart phone market have been able to establish a presence in the enterprise mobile computing sector. The total cost of ownership is often far better when opting for a specialised device and the cheaper option at the time may not prove to be the cheaper option in the long term.

 

As Molyneux explains “It does depend on the working environment and how the devices are treated but with better technology you have a better chance of extending the life of the unit. Clearly if you look now at customers now that are looking at the Smart phone market as an alternative then the lifecycle is perhaps 18 months maybe even just 12 months.”

Another consideration for selecting hardware for your mobile workforce is how its software will sit with your other back office systems. It is interesting to see that the T800 is back to being on a Microsoft OS after Getac’s previous tablet launch was on Google’s Android OS.

In fact the T800 is capable of supporting both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 although according to Molyneux the devices 8.1inch size makes it a perfect host for the latest iteration of Windows. So does Molyneux see Windows getting back on track in the enterprise mobile space via Windows 8.1 after WinMobile lost siginificant ground to both Android and Apples IoS?

“Starting from a device perspective, the new intel processors are windows 8 compliant which is an important factor” Molyneux starts “As for 8.1 as a business application in the B2B market… we work very closely with Microsoft in the UK and we have seen Microsoft getting very committed in the last 6 months by focussing resource and technical expertise in how to take your business from Win7 to Win 8”

Of course with Windows being so dominant in the office space, a strategic effort to aid companies to upgrade, aligned with the fact that Windows 8.1 is essentially comfortable across both desktop and tablet could see them start to reclaim lost market share in mobile devices.

Whilst the company became a little lost in their direction not so long ago, new  CEO Satya Nadella has ushered in a clearer focus for the Redmond giant of being a device and services focussed organisation and Molyneux believes we are already seeing the impact of this.

“I see their strategy as becoming quite cohesive now” he says before diving straight into one of the seemingly endless real life examples he is able to think back to at any given moment.

“I’ve been surprised how open government has been to windows 8 particularly in the police forces…” he begins  “one particular constabulary were using BitLocker in a single stack for their security compliance so there are certain features we are seeing in Windows 8 that allow the customers to move quickly.”

Look out for the concluding part of this feature where we discuss why Moloyneux thinks BYOD will never become a trend in field service

Following on from the launch of a 7inch Android tablet last year, Getac have now launched a fully rugged 8 inch tablet that runs Windows 8.1. Field Service News spoke exclusively with Peter Molyneux about the new launch and Getac’s approach to creating the new device. 

“Up until now Windows fully rugged tablets have been larger in size 10 inches plus” comments Peter Molyneux, President of Getac UK.

However, his company have just set a new precedent with the launch of their new tablet. The Getac T800 is slim, lightweight and a nicely compact 8.1 inches, making it small enough to fit into a pocket.  However, it is also fully ruggedized to military standards meeting both MIL-STD 810G and IP65 standards.

With tablet devices now very much in the mainstream thanks in large to the rise in popularity of firstly Apple’s iPad and then more recently a raft of Android based devices from numerous manufacturers, the consumerisation of technology is now a major factor for the field service industry. This is not lost on Getac.

“There is a strong influence to our design on the consumerisation of the markets…” says Molyneux “…the demand from the market is that they want a tablet computer that has really got the performance and interface they have gotten used to in the consumer market place.” He adds.

In fact the speed at which we as consumers have embraced tablet computing is often forgotten, so quickly have tablets become a staple part of life. Similarly the speed at which devices are developed can also seem breathtakingly fast.

“If you start from the beginning and move to mass production taking a rugged tablet to market will take about 15 to 18 months – you can do it faster, but that is a sensible timeframe” Molyneux states.

Keeping pace with the latest technology trends

Of course, such rapid development of technology does mean that yesterday’s cutting edge is looking outdated today. Something that Molyneux and his colleagues at Getac fully understand.

“We could put our V100 magnesium alloy tablet on the table and the customers would say that’s old tech, the perception is ‘we want something new’”

In fact the switch away from magnesium alloy to a plastic compound is one of the big factors in the T800’s more consumeresque feel. This in itself presents a challenge to manufacturers of rugged devices.

“When we brought our new products to market we had to change the material, magnesium alloy is very good for thermal management and is a very rugged material but we have had to change to a plastic compound. This means all the manufacturing processes have to change, the machines have to change, the tooling is different etc” Molyneux explains

Getac's competitive advantage

However, this is in fact where Getac have a particular advantage over their competitors.

“We are very fortunate as a company that within the Getac Corporation we have companies that specialise in designing and manufacturing enclosures of all material types, magnesium alloys, plastics etc. So because we have companies within our group that are experts in each field, we are able to design and bring the latest technologies and trends to our computer design” he continues.

Yet it doesn’t matter how robust a device is, if its performance levels are not sufficient, then there is little point in having the device at all.  Again the mass consumerisation of technology leads to greater expectations, and again this is something Getac factor highly into their thinking when developing a new product.

Molyneux points to the fact that perhaps five years ago rugged technology was generally behind consumer in terms of processing power by a couple of years at least. However, today, lower powered processors (Molyneux cites Intel in particular) have meant that rugged tablets and netbooks have been able to move forward to equal most systems, whilst also allowing for more slimline designs for fully rugged devices such as the T800

Indeed such advances in chip-ware have allowed Getac to build rugged devices that operate at the very top of the technology scale. Align this to the fact that the company manufactures all components itself, from motherboard to chassis (a holistic approach which enables them to factor ruggedity at each stage of the design) and you have a company capable of producing something as sophisticated, sleek and durable as the T800.

In fact it is part of Getac’s ethos to constantly deliver their customers with devices that are cutting edge technology.

“We are staying very much with the latest tech.” Molyneux enthuses “For the longest life and the best performance.  We have the opportunity to take new technology to the customers and we are quite unique in what we do in that we offer the very latest spec without compromising on offering full military standard ruggedity”

If you want to know more about the Getac's latest fully rugged tablet you can read our overview of the device here 

Getac will also be appearing at this year’s Service Management Expo and will be giving a presentation in the Field Service Solutions Theatre at the event which is hosted by Field Service News.

To get your free of charge, three day pass to this years Service Management Expo held in Excel London, simply click this link and enter the promotion code 'Field Service News'

 

 

Trimble Field Service Management are set to release a new report following on from a research project they have be conducting looking at how field service organisations need to transform their service delivery to remain competitive in today's market. Ahead of the release of the report Field Service News spoke exclusively with Trimble FSM Managing Director Mark Forrest. 

FSN: You report that customer service is widely regarded to be the number one priority for field service organisations. How are organisations adapting to meet this priority?

MF: The correlation between customer satisfaction, retention and profitability is proven and we know the most common customer complaint is when a technician does not resolve the problem first time. As a result, field service organisations have to strive to get it right first time to meet customer expectations. A return visit is not only significant in terms of time and cost but can also be damaging to the brand and reputation from a customer view point.

Recent studies show that over a quarter of dispatched jobs fail to be resolved first time, requiring two or more follow-up visits. Making sure you get the right people with the right skills with the right assets to the right place within a set time is therefore essential. Work management technologies can help with this. They incorporate technician knowledge, parts availability, and capacity into scheduling processes to ensure that the technician arriving on site is the person who can resolve the issue first time.

FSN: Your research found that 1 in 10 field service organisations still collect data from the field via paperwork and some collect no data at all. Is there a cost to field services of collecting data in this way? If so, what can be done to address it?

MF: To pick up on a finding like this was a real surprise considering, with the advancements in workforce management technologies, that some organisations are still relying on paperwork to manage their field service work and some are not collecting any management information at all. Not only are there immediate implications for, and restrictions on, the day-to-day management of the work in terms of efficiencies, scheduling and productivity, but if you don’t have a real-time understanding of what is happening, there is little scope to then apply this information and identify trends for longer term business planning.

With customer expectations at an all-time high, field service work has become increasingly mission-critical in terms of timing, skills and consequence. More organisations are beginning to recognise that they need to manage their work more efficiently and effectively and adopt intelligent scheduling which allocates the right technician to the right job. As a result we will see organisations move away from the traditional methods of data collection and look towards automated learning tools to accelerate this process.

FSN: The importance of measuring service performance and that you ‘cannot manage what you cannot measure’ is discussed in the report. What metrics should field service organisations use to measure service performance effectively?

MF: While some organisations aren’t collecting data at all, for those that do, time taken to complete a job, customer satisfaction and the number of jobs completed were the three main metrics used to measure field service performance. For most businesses, measuring and improving just three key metrics will offer meaningful and significant improvements so it’s fundamental that businesses chose the right three to keep an improvement project manageable and on track. The emergence of Performance Management Analytics (PMA) can help considerably in the measurement process. Such tools provide the visibility to analyse the productivity of a field service operation and showcase key metrics. These metrics can range from how often SLAs are met, total tasks completed, distance travelled and utilisation in terms of actual tasks completed against total time of the working day. This can be seen at an organisation, region, team or even individual level, allowing businesses to drill down to the areas of concern or opportunity and make the necessary changes.

FSN: The report states that the ability to make sense of ‘Big Data’ can make the difference between a business that is good enough and one that stands out from the pack. What hurdles do field service organisations face in tackling ‘Big Data’ and how can they overcome these?

MF: Due to the sheer scale of data being created in everything we do, field service organisations can be overwhelmed by the amount of information coming in from multiple sources, in various formats and through an array of tools. Our research found that around a third of field service managers believe that their organisation is ineffective at using the data they collect to make decisions and the main concern with using data from the field was the reliability of the information.

The key is to firstly use technology that you trust to provide you the data you need. The next step is cutting through the amount of data and identifying the trends and metrics that really make a difference to your operation. Starting with a benchmark is key so you can track improvements as you start to measure the impact of change. Using field service data correctly can give vital insight to field service managers in areas such as identifying the most productive performers and those which need training, determining how long job types take and predicting peaks and troughs in capacity based on previous trends.

FSN: You report that more than 90% of the change programmes rolled out by field service organisations in the last year improved their operations. What is the key to rolling out change well and how can other organisations achieve this?

MF: We’ve worked with a number of large organisations in the roll-out of very large programmes of change and organisations that implement change well, can be seen to do so because of the culture of their organisation, employee engagement and having the right processes and strategy in place. It is also of the utmost importance that change is driven by the Board of Directors and that they keep on top of it to ensure that all processes and people remained aligned with the set goals. I cannot stress enough the need to really engage the workforce in a technology roll-out. Organising workshops in order to educate them on a new technology is essential and will give them the opportunity to ask questions and understand the overall value attributed to change. Using a new technology can be daunting so providing that on-hand support after implementation is also, just as important.

FSN: What are the most important considerations when implementing new technology?

MF: Our research found that many field service managers still believe the most important factor in choosing new technology is ease of use. This was closely followed by integration into current systems. We know from the companies that we work with, that field service organisations are increasingly seeking modular, scalable and easy to integrate solutions that allow them to deliver on their business objectives and which they can easily roll out to employees, is easy to use and offers them an enhanced work experience.

Organisations that understand how to strategically leverage new and existing technologies stand to drive efficiencies, profits and improve their customer service. Some of the most important developments to look out for include integration of M2M, leveraging of mobile apps, profit-driven analytics and cloud-driven transformations.

FSN: You conclude your report with a section on ‘What the future holds for field service management’. In your opinion, what will be the most significant trend to shape the industry going forward?

MF: It is an exciting time for the field service industry as we’re seeing a different kind of field service worker emerge. Those entering the industry are more proficient with technology and tools and that is already having an impact on not only the increased adoption of mobility and apps but also the way in which we, as customers, are communicated with. Gamification is a developing step for this tech savvy workforce as it offers a more interactive, competitive environment for the mobile worker, increasing productivity. From a wider technology point of view I see M2M as having a significant effect on the industry with predictive and preventative maintenance growing to make up a significant proportion of service work; potentially with service companies taking the place of the customer as the instigator of a service visit, having been alerted to a potential issue by the machine or device they are going to fix – a huge step change for our industry.

Trimble are hosting a virtual summit on the Third of April which will be discussing this report and the industry at large and you can register for this event here 

In the third and final part of our exclusive interview with Telogis UK General Manager Sergio Barata, we find out what Sergio's thoughts are on the impact of smart phones on field service software and what he thinks is the next stage for the field service industry...

FSN: Given your such a fan of the iPhone, do you think that the consumerisation of mobile devices has led to a major shift in the design of the interfaces you and your competitors are designing?

SB: Telogis never really developed heavily in a Windows Mobile development - we just never felt it was right for us. Our belief was that these things would take care of themselves.

There were companies that would have 20 engineers just developing an environment [for Windows mobile]. We just felt that this was never a model we could get behind, however, we were always happy to partner and integrate and take a more open approach.

Now with the newer iOS and Android systems we can take advantage of the situation and have some pretty compelling technologies. Just downloading an application and updating it now is completely seamless whereas previously companies had to throw thousands of pounds at project management to get an update out to the field. So we are big believers in what’s happening with the mobile handsets and tablets. 

FSN: What is the biggest trend in solutions that you are seeing come to the market? What are your clients most commonly looking for today that they weren’t asking for two years ago?

SB: Today the market is asking for our platform. Two years ago we were pushing a platform and the benefits because we believed it was the right way forward, even though the market wasn’t necessarily asking for it. There were some organisations that were interested in that conversation - today we are finding that most of the market is asking for it.

One objection I have heard on a number of occasions is why would I deny the company the opportunity to have best of breed in all particular elements?

That’s an interesting discussion in that a large part of our platform, if you took it individually, is best of breed anyway. ABI Research last summer rated us as the most innovative telematics solution you can buy anywhere today. Even if we ranked third or fourth in each of those disciplines, it’s all about leveraging the data that each investment creates, rather than the sum of each of those pieces.

Now customers know what they are trying to achieve and ask us to present our platform. Often they may have a requirement for one of the elements, but it is now a very easy conversation to show the benefits of the whole holistic approach.

FSN: What do you think the next biggest technological advancement in field service will be?

SB: I think that bringing more Big Data to the field service individual, to the actual agent, is something we will see. I have seen it with driver behaviour for example. The traditional driver behaviour solution is that you put a unit in my vehicle, I drive and if I violate the rules then my line manager prints it out, confronts me and then hopefully I improve.

We have a solution called Telogis Coach, which has all of those same elements but does it in a very non-confrontational way.  It gets the driver to buy into the process through a portal on his phone, which just creates a different dynamic and environment for him to digest the information. I personally think treating agents in this way will engage them more positively.

People are ready for more information as long as it is done in a way that the employee can say, “okay this is positive, it’s not big-brother, they’re not policing me”. The trends towards more efficiency will probably add more benefits for the agents as well, whether profit sharing or incentives.

FSN: What is the biggest difference between when you started in the industry and today?

SB: I think the biggest difference between when I started and today is now we have new devices and tools to deliver the level of information required, which along with more platforms mean you can bring more and increasingly diverse data together and interpret it better. As a result we are seeing greater understanding both from agents working in the field and in the central offices alike, helping organisations work smarter and better.

Missed the first parts of this interview? Find part one here and part two here

Want to learn more about Telogis? Find more news, features, videos and resources in the Field Service News directory 

 

In part one of this exclusive interview with Telogis' Sergio Barata we learnt both about his personal background and the background of the company. In this second part of this three part series we discuss the growth of Telogis and the technology that makes Sergio tick.

FSN: With the launch of progression a few years ago Telogis stepped much more firmly into the field service software arena rather than solely fleet management. We have seen similar moves from other companies with a fleet technology background such as Trimble and TomTom, are the lines blurring between mobile workforce management and fleet management technologies?

SB:There is no doubt that telematics on its own is a pretty competitive space with a low barrier to entry. I think Trimble, TomTom, Telogis, companies like this, have taken that next step of investment in terms of R&D in trying to develop a more holistic approach. I do think that the companies that win will be those that offer true value to any organisation.

FSN: Since 2009 Telogis has been on the acquisitions trail with the purchase of Darby, Remote Dynamics, Integris, Onboard Advisor, Maptuit and Navtrak across just three years. How have the acquisitions of these companies shaped Telogis’ own development both as a company and also in terms of your product lines?

SB: We have been fairly aggressive in our acquisitions, having secured companies for either market share or for more depth in a particular segment of the market place. For instance we acquired Maptuit as a very dynamic navigation technology that we have integrated into the rest of our offering. We are always monitoring the UK market to see what makes sense.

FSN: One of these acquisitions, Onboard Advisor was a risk reduction product and you subsequently partnered with Travelers Insurance on their IntelliDrive fleet safety program. How important is technology in improving driver safety?

SB: The telematics driver-profiling element is essentially a tool for our largest customers, the enterprise fleets, to help bring in behavioural change that will increase opportunities to save on fuel and insurance costs.

We look for technology that allows us to engage the drivers directly in an innovative way to help manage and improve their driving behaviour; the idling, how they drive - sudden braking, acceleration, their speed. We then needed tools and dashboards to take that underlying data and the driver profiles to help large organisations change business practices to make improvements.

Certainly Onboard Advisor and the tie up with insurance telematics has been very important for us and our largest accounts, which have global fleets that deal with these issues and can now take advantage of this approach.

FSN: What was the first piece of technology that made a huge impression on you both personally and in a work environment?

SB: I think the biggest impression on me personally as well as the workplace, has been my iPhone.

Working in a technology led industry I got into smart phones and the Internet early. I’ve always been an early adopter but I don’t think anything has changed the way I think as when first picked up my iPhone. I had Nokia N70s, Blackberrys and so on, but nothing has been as complete, as easy to use and as seamless as the iPhone. 

 

Read part one of this interview here

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