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While many IT experts are predicting further big things in IoT this year, Nick Frank suggests they are missing one more vital letter...

2014 saw an explosion in our societies understanding of the potential for connected devices.

Driven mainly by the SMARTphones and the ease of connection to the internet,just about everyone from your primary school kid to their grandmother is getting connected.

And is it my imagination, but utter the words Big Data, Analytics and IoT and they all seem to nod ‘sagely’? So with all this ‘wisdom’ in the world, it’s not surprising that in their struggle to differentiate, Service IT Solution providers have been falling over themselves to describe capabilities that manage knowledge, bring transparency and leverage big data.And in fairness this is not just talk.

The capabilities on offer are impressive, as Field Service, Parts Management, CRM technologies are increasingly integrated into seamless end to end solutions.

Indeed this trend is driving the next wave of consolidation in the industry. Led by PTC with their acquisition of Axeda and ThingWorx, solution providers are looking to develop the technology platforms to enable Remote Services.

Another example of the big bets being made is GE’s multi million dollar investment in their Predix platform for Machine to Machine (M2M) communications.The effect of this hype has been to dramatically raise the profile of the potential value connected technologies could have on industry.

But I am troubled by this jargon and thinking. In my mind these technologies and capabilities have no value if you do not do anything with the information they create. Yet we are all being told that if you don’t have an Internet of Things (IoT) strategy, you are dead!

But while working on a couple of projects in the area of Analytics and Remote Services, I had a Eureka moment.

It’s about the way we think!

Ok I admit, its probably blindingly obvious to the readers of FSN, but I believe that 2015 will increasingly become the

year of S.

And that is not because it’s now the ‘Chinese year of the Sheep’!

No, I believe we have it all wrong when we talk about IoT. It should be the iotS…

S for Service Thinking!

In simple terms ‘Service Thinking’ is the culture or even passionate belief that value is only created by applying your technical or business knowledge to improve whatever it is your customer is trying to achieve.

But to do this professionals will start to adopt new ways of thinking and I am afraid new jargon.

We will hear more of ‘Co- Creation’ & ‘Service Experience’. Metric will be biased towards outcomes rather than operational inputs. ‘Continuous improvement via learning’, which is a very much part of the service psyche, will enable companies to find new ways to ‘run, transform and innovate’ their business.

Indeed this type of thinking is not just limited to field service. Already most really profitable manufacturing companies have moved away from a product dominant focus to a Service Centric approach.

These companies focus on value creation in their customer’s business leveraging their technology and inherent know how to earn better than average margins.

Indeed this is a concept I will be promoting in 2015 together with the Servitisation guru Professor Tim Baines of Aston Business School, as part of the Manufacturing Services Thought Leadership network initiative to be launched later this year.

But it also dawned on me, that it is our imagination that is now the limiting factor.

Frankly the technology is out there to do more or less what ever you want. The big gap is our understanding of what these technologies can do for our business.

Indeed it is Service Thinking and Imagination, which companies must master if they are to reap the full rewards offered by these new technologies.

Already larger OEM’s are exploring these concepts in a very pragmatic way. We see them building infrastructure that sits between their Service Management System and their devices as they discover the benefits of remote services.

In the coming year, together with FSN, we will explore the progress they are making. So in 2015 if you want to stay ahead, don’t be a sheep…. Be a Service Thinker!

 

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The internet of things (IoT) is fast becoming a field service priority as the revelation that IoT can drastically increase customer satisfaction while reducing costs comes to fruition. IoT has the potential to eliminate unplanned downtime, more accurately meet SLAs, inform product development, and improve business decisions and forecasts when it comes to field service processes. IFS's Tom Bowe takes a look at the challenges being faced by companies looking to embrace this brave new world... 

Adopting IoT technology can change the dynamic of how your service organisation is run and provide vision into future possibilities and opportunities.  None of this is disputed; clearly the benefits of IoT are huge.  But field service organisations still face a myriad of challenges, particularly when it comes to meeting growing customer expectations with new market technology that disrupts internal processes, transfer of knowledge, and more.  How can field service organisations take the challenges of adopting IoT head-on, and achieve an infallible competitive edge?  Here are some suggestions.

Challenge: Lack of a Shared Infrastructure and Common Standards

IoT is actually a complex combination of hardware and software that constitutes a platform for developers and organisations, and the vertical nature of this platform contributes to the fragmentation of its infrastructure (Rachel Kalmar, Forbes 2014). With limited open source platforms, IoT devices are currently installed in their own platforms and ecosystems, which can run up costs and make IoT projects more technically complicated. Additionally the industry has yet to be standardised, including communication protocols and methods.  This makes integrations challenging and can hinder scalability as well.

Solution:

Implement technology that has developed IoT functionality but preferably has not tied itself to a specific platform or IoT vendor.  Solutions with open APIs will allow easy integration with sensors, etc. and will allow you to grow as the industry changes and develops.

Challenge: Data Control and Data Sharing

Large scale adoption of IOT technology is hindered by issues with data control. Decisions around who can access data, especially private data, must be made.  This can be a slippery slope which has yet to be addressed effectively.  With remote sensors and monitoring, there is a need for heightened sensitivity to data control.  This goes for data sharing as well. Since there are currently little to no compliance frameworks to address IoT’s unique issues, partner vetting needs to be even more critical and details about use of transmitted data will need to be clearly laid out.

Solution:

Don’t wait for standards to be fully defined and approved.  Develop your own “standard-inspired” approach by working with your technology vendors on a flexible, OS agnostic pattern and protocol that meets your most important (rev 1) requirements.  Make sure that data auditing is part of your software functionality, and align your IoT with existing company security and privacy demands.  Consider using the AllJoyn framework which is a developing open-source device agnostic IoT standard with the strongest community and downloadable SDK’s. And keep a watchful eye on the top IoT standard competitors including OIC, IIC, Thread (Google) and IEEE (P2413) for ideas, patterns and best practices.

Challenge: Security

The more devices that IoT connects, the greater the risk of malware and breaches.  Devices and sensors are also at risk of being physically comprised.  The latest debate of cloud security also applies here.

Solution:

Work with software vendors that have addressed IoT and cloud security.  Prepare your IT department to keep up with safety and security measures and explore your platform options before implementing.

Challenge: Implementation and Training

Another challenge that field service organisations potentially face in adopting IoT is in the implementation of sensors or other IoT technology.  Will this be a responsibility of your field technicians, or a third party?  Either way, re-education and new training will likely be needed.  This may lead to more upfront costs and internal adoption challenges.

Solution:

Use forecasting and planning software to predict the change in service demand before, during, and after the roll-out of an IoT initiative.  Explore what-if scenarios to see if your current field force can manage an IoT implementation effectively.

According to GE’s Global Innovation Barometer report, 67% of organisations agree that agility and speed in adapting and implementing emerging technologies into their organisation is essential to innovation (Ray Wang, 2014).  Being an early adopter of IoT, especially in field service, opens a world of opportunity in regards to new value creation, business models, and revenue streams.  It will allow your organisation to create new value for customers, bringing the concept of delighting them to a whole other level.

Face newcomer challenges head on, work with vendors that take an open and scalable approach to new technology, and work to make your field service technology nimble.  By doing this, and avoiding a rip and replace mindset, your organisation will be able to reap the intrinsic value of this new technology.

 

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The internet of things has massive potential to change the way companies operate and remote diagnostics can change the way field service organisations operate - benefits of cost reduction and improved customer service are the key promises of the technology but what about the security issues.

To find out more Kris Oldland, Editor of Field Service News caught up with John Pritchard, Managing Director at M.A.C Solutions a company specialising in the area, at a recent Service Community event.

 

We've already run a number of  features that have looked at the trends that might be emerging or appearing on the horizon service this year. However what about the trends that have already emerged that will move beyond concepts and firmly take root? Aberdeen's Aly Pinder, takes a brief look at the trends which won't fade away this year... 

Trends come and go in our lives, and field service is no exception. But not all trends are alike. The five field service trends below have and will continue to bring valuable change to service and I expect they will not fade into our dusty history books:

Gamification:

Game mechanics is not just about a consumer trend to ensure that companies can better track and market to customers. Gamification can be used in field service to create a new and very visible incentive structure to help technicians evolve with the changing service model. No longer is field service solely expected to meet a schedule, technicians must now work with customers to resolve issues, create value partnerships, and help drive future revenue opportunities.

Internet of Things:

This may have had the most buzz in 2014. IoT in field service has the opportunity to play a major role in transforming how organisations capture data, what types of performance data they can gather, how they can resolve issues in a predictive and proactive manner, and find the next solutions for future problems.

BYOD:

The bring your own device initiative has run up against some skepticism recently. Like all trends a clear strategy to maximize the value of BYOD is necessary prior to rolling this type of change out to the field. Organisations Aberdeen sampled which adopted some level of a BYOD strategy did not see a drop off in key metrics, and in many cases they actually achieved improvements.

Techs as Partners:

No longer is the OEM the only company that can provide service on a given piece of equipment. The service model has begun to require that companies not only provide customers with the option to get the closest technician, but sometimes if they like get the technician they want to work with.

Wearables:

Will all technicians be outfitted with augmented reality glasses in 2015? Probably not. But wearable technology will continue to evolve in cost, value, and practical improvement for the field. Each technology advancements struggles with what is flashy and what helps get the job done in the field. Wearables are no different.

 

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Technology and field service are now almost inherently intertwined such is the rapid evolution of field service industry. As we enter the New Year Field Service News continues to take a look at some of the key technologies that we believe will have a significant impact on the way field service will continue to evolve.

In the first part of this series we looked at wearables, NFC and the Cloud. Now we turn our attention to the Internet of Things, Big Data and Cyber Security…

The Internet of Things will start becoming an integral part of field service…

Ahh Gartner’s Hype-Cycle. The “peak of inflated expectations”, the “trough of despair” and the brilliant “plateau of productivity” – every-time I look at it I conjure up images of a Jules Verne –esque mysterious lost island where herds of wild analysts and ferrel consultants roam wild, free and happy. I may well be alone in this, but I’m certainly not alone in keeping an eye on where emerging tech is on the cycle.

They may not always get it right, but to be fair to the good folk at Gartner, their usually pretty close.

 

So it was with interest last August that I looked at the latest hype cycle and saw that Internet of Things had just superseded Big Data at the top of the tree where the “hyperbole has hit hyperdrive” (If anyone at Gartner’s paying attention you can have that one for free!). I found this particularly interesting for two reasons.

Firstly whilst it may like some kind of earth shattering tragedy for all those data scientists who were being treated like geek-royalty what seems like ten minutes ago, the reality is that Big Data slipping into the trough of despair just means that we are starting to think about it in grown up terms (see below) rather than the Chuck Norris of technology.

The second and perhaps most important part is that whilst according to Gartner IoT may now have officially the most over inflated expectations, the reality is that in field service at least it is already being actively used far more openly than Big Data was when it was on the same point of the Hype Cycle. In fact I would go as far as to say that this time Gartner have got it wrong and the Internet of Things is perhaps just past the top of the peak and starting to stare down into the trough.

 

Maybe it’s a distorted view in the field service industry, but I genuinely feel that whilst it may be a minority, there is a decent amount of companies that have implemented some form of IoT control or monitoring into their Field Service operations. In some corners it’s not even that new, heck, medical device manufacturer Elekta have been building connection into their devices for twenty odd years – they even used to ship their devices with 56K modems of their own back in the day.

As we roll into 2015, connected devices are booming, from thermostats to thermonuclear power generators, and the ability to remotely monitor, diagnose and even repair device faults is such a no brainer for field service companies that they cannot afford to miss the IoT revolution.

BigData in field service will get past those awkward teen years and get to work…

So back to Big Data then.

One of my favourite phrases I’ve heard about Big Data was from Dave Hart at ServiceMax when he said Big Data is like teenage sex, everyone’s talking about it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it but no one actually knows how to actually do it.

This I think is why Gartner may have their timings a bit backwards when it comes to Big Data and IoT.

 

For whilst I can see Big Data languishing within the ‘Trough’ as we mere mortals spend time still trying to define exactly what Big Data is (how many V’s are we up to now?) and reluctantly turning to those mystic shaman we call Data Scientists to try and get some sense out it all, I see IoT racing by to it’s own little place in the ‘plateau’.

Why? because IoT is pretty much results in tangible outcomes and combines two factors we are already comfortable with, that is ‘Internet’ and ‘Things’. And I’m not trying to be flippant when I say that either, it’s just IoT is that much easier to get.

So back to Big Data then (again?) where does this leave us in field service?

Well hopefully with a much more mature, sensible mindset because there is no denying the sheer power of Big Data to revolutionise a business and there is also no denying that as field service companies have access to huge, vast swathes of data – they perhaps more than any other industry segment could benefit from the true application of Big Data.

However, what Big Data is not is adding a new module to a field service management software with a few convertible dashboards and hey presto the board can tick off that pesky little box empty box on their to do list.

 

Let’s think about this for a moment, when in our lives has anything that is billed to be powerful enough to reshape the way we do business been as easy as buying a new module. This is where Big Data got lost to the hyperbole. In some quarters it was the magic bullet that would cure all evils. As we all know magic bullets don’t really work. However, hard-work combined with a clear strategy and intelligent implementation does.

Big Data is reliant on investment.

Investment in technology, investment in personel with new skill sets unique to the task and investment in time to devise and implement a Big Data strategy. However, once it is succesfully implemented that investment could yield a phenomenal return on investment both financially and also in our understanding of both our business and our customers.

I believe 2015 could be the year that field service companies will start to see through the hyperbole that just scratches the surface of Big Data and see it’s true game changing potential. However, for that to happen we need to treat it with the respect it deserves.

We need to re-adjust our thinking around risk management and cyber security…

Given the two points above this third point of the article is a bit of a given. So we won’t dwell to long here.

There are two simple facts here; Firstly Data is essentially becoming a new form of currency, and I’m not referring to crypto-currencies here but to the fact that the information available to be mined from data is inherently valuable.

Secondly,as we turn more and more of our functions across to the cloud including data storage, the more it will become a place of interest for twenty first century criminals.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the Cloud is any less secure than on premise data centres. It just means that we must realign our thinking to ensure we are protected.

According to Cloud Security experts Trend Micro the three key best security practices for 2015 are to:

• Develop and implement an overall risk management strategy
• Secure and regularly maintain web infrastructure
• Enforce stricter mobile device and data management policies

Lets take a quick look at each of these in turn…

Firstly, whilst it is of course recommended to turn to a cyber security specialist in devising your security strategies, a [quote float="left"]When it comes to risk management, much like insurance it can be disastrous if you cut corners and opt for the cheapest package. And often we only realise this when it’s too late.

quick, easy off the shelf solution is simply not going to cut the mustard. A robust cyber defence should be custom built to meet the requirements of your company. When it comes to risk management, much like insurance it can be disastrous if you cut corners and opt for the cheapest package. And often we only realise this when it’s too late.

 

With regards to point two, last years exposure to Shellshock and Heartbleed identified significant vulnerabilities and this should serve as a warning to companies that they need to keep software regularly updated and patched. Heuristic scanning and sandbox technologies are two of the key technologies that Trend Micro recommend here.

And as we look at the final point we also enter the world of HR as well as technology.

In field service in particular, where our workforce is becoming ever more reliant on mobile devices, we really need to consider the introduction of mobile safety policies to safeguard your data – even more so if you are operating a BYOD policy, whilst of course IT administrators must address mobile device management concerns to protect work related apps and data.

As mentioned above, today’s world of the internet, cloud and mobile is not necessarily any less secure than days gone by. It is just with new methods come new security concerns, so we must remain vigilant and I think 2015 will see us to further improve in this area once more.

Look out for the final part of this series where we complete our look at technology trends we believe we will see in field service across 2015.

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The Internet of Things is rapidly gaining momentum and is moving from hyperbole to reality. Gil Bouhnick, VP of Mobility at ClickSoftware looks at why IoT will become indispensable in the world of field service... perhaps sooner than we may think...

With the Internet of Things (IoT) virtually any object now can have the capability to either process, store or transmit data. From infrastructure to the human body, the connected world provides the opportunity to use sensors to generate information that can be monitored, analysed and acted upon. However, while the IoT is still finding its feet, there’s no denying the positive impact it can have moving forward – not just on businesses but for customers too.

For businesses, the potential is extensive and there are already many examples of connected devices that are set to revolutionise industries. The field service space is anticipated to be one of the early adopters, largely because it currently depends considerably on human mediation between machines, meters and managers.

 

With IoT the opportunities here are vast, ranging from devices that help the emergency services in search and rescue operations to energy companies using predictive technology and smart alerts to help identify problems as early as possible, even preventing them in some cases.

Machine-to-machine communication has been used in the field service industry for years. However, IoT has the capabilities to expand beyond this one-to-one level of communication, sending “smart alerts” to a whole network. For example, an alert may be triggered when a sensor exceeds its temperature threshold. Through this information, the sensor would be able to decide the next steps – whether this can be fixed remotely and if not, to allocate the most suitable worker for the job. The ‘smart’ alert would be able to advise what tools are needed for the job, the skills required, the estimated time it will take to fix and most importantly, how urgent it is.

Whereas smart alerts are essential for notifying workers to issues, the real value is predictive technology. With the IoT and cloud-based services, remote machines and equipment can send status updates, location information, and other condition-based, servicing data. This enables companies to locate machinery and figure out how to get to it with the correct replacement parts and the right technicians to resolve issues before failures occur.

 

An example of this is if a sensor identifies a crack in a waste-pipe and feeds this back to the control centre. By alerting that there are signs of erosion, a technician could get to the site and repair the pipe before it bursts. As well as this helping to prevent such issues occurring but it also cuts down the number of inspections that are needed meaning that workers can focus on more urgent repair work.

Not only does predictive technology benefit the business and technician, this also has a huge impact on the customer experience. For example, being able to lessen the number of power cuts or even keeping the customer updated on the progress of getting the power back on.

By identifying issues as early as possible and being able to allow resources to focus on more urgent areas can make a real difference to the overall experience. Customers have come to expect an instant response to potential issues and with the increased use of social media, a company’s reputation can suffer if they are not able to respond in an acceptable time, along with the consequences of missing any service level agreements in place. Pre-empting customer complaints is the next evolutionary stage in improving customer service and predictive, smart technology is one of the tools that can help businesses make that next step up and avoid potentially losing over a third of their customers due to poor service.

Driving the IoT, is the use of mobile and smart devices which have steadily become a key part of remote field service. The emergence of wearable technology has the tools capable of taking remote working, communication and convenience to a whole new level.

 

Combine that with IoT and status messages and updates can be sent directly between machines and the devices worn by technicians, all while they are on the move and keeping their hands free. No longer will technicians working in complex situations have to risk taking their phone out to read a new notification. Actions can now be sent straight to the wrist or smart glasses making them easier to read and act upon, increasing the experience for the worker.

While it is unclear what the scale of adoption of IoT will be, (Morgan Stanley has estimated the number of connected devices will reach 75 billion by 2020, whereas Gartner believes it will be much lower at 26 million), what we are seeing is significant investments in the technology. Take Germany for example, it has poured huge sums of money into what it calls ‘Smart Factories’ that are able to fetch and assemble components without further human inputs. At the same time, Google has paid $3.2 billion for Nest Labs which produces thermostats that can be remotely controlled by smartphones and other connected devices. Here in the UK, the roll-out of smart meters in homes is another step for IoT transitioning from theory to reality.

Whether it is changing how a field technician repairs something or how they work and communicate with people back at the office, the IoT is set to change how the person using devices and systems spend their day. It’s still early days for IoT but it seems to be only good news for the industry, bringing benefits for employees, businesses and the customer.

 

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Today, the ultimate goal of field service excellence is to respond quickly to customer needs, whatever they may be and it takes four criteria to meet this goal: Be on time, allow enough time to do the job, have the right skills and bring the right equipment. Trimble Field Service Management's General Manager John Cameron explains more...

For the mobile technician, an increased importance has been put on their role to the overall success of the organisation, as they are quite often the only interaction a customer will have with the business. This has led to the search for new ways to empower technicians and equip them with the right tools that allow them to excel at their jobs, through improved communication, collaboration, data sharing and integration.

 

Recent research from Aberdeen Group[1] found that 82 per cent of field service organisations identified mobility as a strategic initiative for the service operation in the next 12 months, as a tool to empower the field with real-time intelligence to make decisions and resolve issues to better serve the customer. Companies that understand how to strategically leverage mobility solutions stand to drive efficiencies, improve customer service and benefit from a more profitable bottom line.

 

With field-based work becoming increasingly complex and time-sensitive, more and more businesses are beginning to focus on the proliferation of mobile solutions, integrated with back-end field service solutions, to help manage field operations and provide the mobile workforce with the real-time knowledge needed to make better, more intelligent decisions while in the field.

The Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) has huge potential for the field service industry. It enables devices that are equipped with sensors, hardware and software to be networked together through the internet, where they can communicate with one another and send and receive data. Machine-to-machine (M2M) technology is already helping field service companies to find out about issues before they occur through this development but the IoT is said to go beyond M2M and represents the ‘next generation’ for field service, connecting not just with machines but with systems, people and other things.

For example, IoT allows field service companies to gain greater insight into the status and health of their assets remotely, enabling a smarter approach to proactive and preventive maintenance. Sensors can be integrated into their devices in the field which can yield a huge amount of data on diagnostics, measurements, temperature and overall conditions, all of which is instrumental in preventing equipment failure, scheduling maintenance and improving safety. The same principle applies for condition-based maintenance. Businesses will be able to become better at it as they will have access to more and better information in the first place.

Mobile apps

There are a number of different approaches a business can take in order to create a mobile application strategy, one of the most common being to develop them internally with mobile app development tools. At its core, mobile applications provide technicians with the ability to share, store and view job data while out in the field, offering them a virtual link to the back office that helps to inform and empower them.

 

Having full visibility of a field operation is a key success factor and mobile applications that can offer visibility into the status, location and performance of field assets (technicians, parts, equipment etc) help technicians considerably in getting to the right place at the right time with the information they need to do their job correctly the first time. A number of mobile applications on the market today also provide added value to the field worker by enabling them to easily locate and contact nearby co-workers if they need assistance on a job or require advice on solving a problem. By having the tools to work more collaboratively, resolution is more likely to be reached first-time, helping to increase worker productivity and effectiveness.

 

The plethora of information offered through mobile applications can include previous work history of jobs and upcoming work details. For example, if a technician is en-route to a customer, a quick look at service history on a mobile phone can inform them that the customer has complained multiple times to the helpdesk about a product/equipment failure. This is vital information that can help the technician approach the customer with more care, helping to maintain a good customer service. Furthermore, when a technician reviews and accepts a job within a mobile application, the mobile devices’ navigation tool can help them find the most efficient route. Helping to reduce fuel consumption and travel time. From a service perspective, the technician can then pull up the customer’s details and call them to confirm when they will be arriving on-site.

Mobility solutions: What to choose?

There are a multitude of mobile devices on the market today that help technicians get to the right place on time, fix the customer’s problem the first time, and move on to the next task. The problem field service organisations face is choosing the right technology for their field based workers.

Ruggedised devices continue to evolve as mobile technology improves and have proven successful in helping field workers to complete their daily tasks. Such devices can be used in the harshest of environments and enable scanning packages, diagnostics, checking customer records, invoicing and delivery confirmation, among other tasks.

As the lines between consumer and business technology continue to merge, non-rugged tablets and smartphones have also broken into the field service marketplace. Tablets tend to be larger than smartphones and therefore engineers may find it easier to view and input job details. At the same time, smartphones offer the portability factor.

The ‘Bring Your Own Device’ debate has received much coverage in the service sector and has arguably been dubbed as being the only way forward for businesses looking to compete effectively and offer the most efficient customer service and increased employee satisfaction.

 

Simply, ‘Bring Your Own Device’ refers to employees having the ability to connect their own technical devices, such as smartphones, laptops and tablets, to their company’s network instead of using a device owned by the company. Uptake of BYOD had been relatively slow in the field service industry but recent years have seen an influx of workers bringing their own personal devices into their work environment to use in their everyday jobs and the advantages, both to the organisation and the employee, are significant.

 

For the field service organisation, it creates new opportunities for the business by increasing the number of tech-savvy and mobile-application users in the workforce. For the employee, they have taken a personal choice to use the technology and are familiar with it. This in turn will lead to increased satisfaction and productivity whilst eliminating the need for technical support and training costs for the business.

Mobility solutions: Capturing the insight

When a field service organisation deploys a mobile strategy, the wealth of data captured around technician performance, customer data, vehicle location, work order status etc. is not enough to make intelligent business decisions. It is how that data is analysed and turned into usable information that is what will really make a difference. For this reason, data captured through mobile devices must be tied into other systems within the organisation’s technology infrastructure, if not it will get lost. Indeed, Aberdeen Group found the top strategic action for 62 per cent of best-in-class field service organisations to be to improve data integration between the field and back office systems[2].

Aberdeen Group’s research also found that best-in-class field service organisations are 49 per cent more likely than peers to integrate data from mobile devices with back-end systems, such as ERP and CRM[3]. This integration will then allow other departments, such as sales, marketing and engineering to benefit from the field insights captured and maximise its value.

 

For example, customer and equipment data has the ability to spark insights into new products, services and campaigns, which benefit the organisation in revenue opportunities. This interaction also helps customers get access to products and services that will help improve their productivity and business goals. Service is ultimately a partnership between the customer and the organisation and without the use of captured data, the opportunity to evolve will be lost.

 

Ultimately, having a mobility strategy in place allows for better empowerment, data sharing and collaboration out in the field. For the field worker, they are provided with the best possible support and are able, themselves, to make use of the real-time information and knowledge to make the right decisions while on the move. As a result, they are better positioned to resolve issues first-time and deliver the best service they can.

For more information on how to drive an agile, dynamic field service operation through the adoption of mobile solutions, download Aberdeen Group Senior Research Analyst Aly Pinder’s recent report, Empowering the Mobile Worker with Real-Time Insight and Data Integration, here.  The report provides insight into how top performers provide technicians with the right information in the field, integrate data captured in the field with back office systems (via mobile apps) and excel at delivering resolution and not just a response.

[1] Aberdeen Group, Empowering the mobile worker with real-time insight and data integration, 2014

[2] Aberdeen Group: Service Mobility: The right technology for the tech, 2014

[3] Aberdeen Group: Service Mobility: The right technology for the tech, 2014