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Oftentimes field service directors and managers can see the importance of investment within a dedicated Field Service Management (FSM) ahead of their colleagues in the boardroom. In this series of articles Kevin McNally, Sales Director, Asolvi outlines how to build a case for investment to drive your field service operations forwards.

In the first instalment in this series, we looked at how FSM systems can deliver easy Return on Investment. Now we look at how investment in FSM solutions can help you achieve better staff retention.

 

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Is building a case for investment in FSM a key topic for you?! There is a full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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Not too long ago we lived in a world where things were expensive and labour was cheap. That dichotomy in most regions of the world has now pretty much been flipped upside down.

As it is, the most valuable asset in a field service organisation is widely perceived to be the field service engineers themselves.

Add into this the ageing workforce crisis that many organisations are facing, leading to dramatic increases in costs to replace those experienced engineers leaving the workplace across the next five to ten years, and the importance of good talent retention should definitely not be overlooked.

Neither should the positive impact that the implementation of an FSM solution that empowers your field service engineers.

Let’s now take a look of just a few of the ways that implementing a new FSM solution can help you keep your field workforce happy and staff turnover in this mission-critical operation low…

 

Offer A Better Work/Life Balance:

One of the key fundamentals of most FSM solutions is some form of scheduling solution. Often when we look at the benefits of scheduling we tend to focus on the business benefits. As mentioned above ROI is a clear selling point for investing in such a solution for example.

Yet, from the engineers’ perspective, a well-planned job schedule within their working day can be a huge positive. By utilising an FSM system you can factor in things like the engineer’s home so their work schedule across the day can bring them closer to home as they approach the final few jobs of the day.

When a field service engineer finishes their last job at 5 pm on a Friday the difference between being close to home or being stuck two hours away in rush hour traffic can have a huge impact on their work/life balance.

 

Keep Them Doing What They Signed Up For Not Endless Mountains Of Paperwork:

While there are invariably exceptions to every rule, in the main, there are some key attributes that field service managers share. They enjoy problem-solving the ability to work autonomously and solving technical or mechanical problems.

What they tend not to enjoy is the endless filing of reports and administrative tasks – which can be necessary for a business granted, but would certainly rank near the bottom of a list of tasks the majority of field service engineers relish most about their work.

Fixing stuff and solving problems is what field service engineers are paid to do and largely it is also what they excel at. Admin is not.

As the late, great Peter Drucker outlined, we are far better off focussing on what we are good at so we can become excellent in that field than trying to improve areas where we are weak – as no matter how much we focus on our weaknesses, we will only ever become average in these areas at best.

This is a major area of improvement to the engineers’ day to day enjoyment of his work that an FSM solution can bring. By automating many of the essential yet mundane admin tasks such as sending completion reports, tracking parts inventory in and out of their van stock, or even sending invoices – the engineer is able to focus on what they do and enjoy best.

 

Make The Engineers The First-Time-Fix Hero:

Our field service engineers are the frontline of our businesses and very often the most frequent face-to-face interaction that your customers’ may have with your organisation.

As such when things go wrong, it is your engineers who are in the firing line.

The flipside of this, of course, is that when things go right, they may as well walk out of your customer’s premises with a cape around there neck and their pants on outside there trousers – the standard uniform for every superhero who has just saved the day.

It is fairly self-evident which of these is the preferred scenario for the engineer, and a good FSM solution can help him achieve that more often in a number of ways.

For a start, an FSM solution can be harnessed to provide the engineer with all the relevant history and information available for the job he is about to undertake, including things like previous maintenance carried out, potential likely failures on the asset and even if this is a regular fault or if this is the first time service has been required on the asset.

 

 

"In addition to things like asset history, many FSM solutions can be integrated with knowledge banks, so should the issue fall outside of the engineer’s current experience, he can access detailed information on how best to tackle the problem..."

 

 

All of these pieces of information can not only allow the engineer to diagnose the issue swiftly but also to gain an understanding of how best to approach the customer – for example, if this is a regular fault that has already been repaired on numerous other occasions, then the customer may require a more delicate and empathetic approach compared to a customer who has had a more favourable previous experience with your organisation – who may be a prime target for potential upselling.

In addition to things like asset history, many FSM solutions can be integrated with knowledge banks, so should the issue fall outside of the engineer’s current experience, he can access detailed information on how best to tackle the problem.

Similarly, engineer-to-engineer communications are something we are beginning to see become included more often in FSM solutions, which can also give an engineer access to the knowledge of one of their peers who may have encountered the problem, they face before.

In fact, engineer-engineer communication can be vital in providing a support network for engineers so they don’t feel isolated and disenfranchised from the business.

Finally, you should remember that investment in tools for your engineers is an investment in your engineers – and when someone understands you are investing in them and that you do so because they are respected and valued within your organization, you will more often than not engendered much greater employee loyalty. In fact, every time you roll out a new aspect of an FSM solution you can reinforce this point simply by establishing change management champions from within your field workforce.

And if your engineers’ feel valued, you can guarantee your staff turnover will be below the average.

 

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Want to know more?! There is a full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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Sponsored by:

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

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Oftentimes field service directors and managers can see the importance of investment within a dedicated Field Service Management (FSM) ahead of their colleagues in the boardroom. In this series of articles Kevin McNally, Sales Director, Asolvi outlines how to build a case for investment to drive your field service operations forwards.

In the first instalment in this series, we looked at how FSM systems can deliver easy Return on Investment, in part two we explored how investment in FSM solutions can help you achieve better staff retention and in part three we explored how the implementation of an FSM solution can improve worker health and safety.

Now in the final part of this series, we look at the benefits an FSM system can bring to Customer Engagement as well as offer some concluding thoughts on the series...

 

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Is building a case for investment in FSM a key topic for you?! There is a full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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Sponsored by:

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

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Customer experience and customer engagement have become buzz phrases of recent times amongst senior executives within almost all organisations and the good news for field service professionals is that this shift of focus on service has meant an increased importance on ensuring field service management teams are able to deliver their service programs as efficiently, and effectively as possible.

Service indeed has now become the core differentiator within industry and field service is an excellent opportunity to make your service standards shine.

By investing in an FSM solution you're enabling your field service engineers to be true brand ambassadors of your organisation. By investing in an FSM solution you are giving them the tools they need to understand the specific needs of the customer they are visiting/history/asset history etc.

By investing in an FSM solution you are giving your field service engineers the tools to deliver the service excellence that will keep your customers loyal.

However, customer experience can also be enhanced through the implementation of FSM solutions in other ways than by empowering the field service engineer...

For example, many modern FSM systems also allow you to provide dashboards to your customers to offer greater visibility into how their assets are performing and how your service organisation is performing against any set SLAs.

Such transparency is very much valued in today’s digital economy where such metrics are becoming increasingly less of a USP and more of an expectation.

Indeed, many of the aspects of automation that an FSM can bring to your service delivery such as automating creation and delivery of work reports, messaging updates on engineer arrival times or even invoicing will improve both the efficiency of your service delivery and the levels of customer satisfaction you are able to achieve.

 

Conclusions: Avoiding a Competitive Disadvantage

For a long time, the key sales point for investing in an FSM solution was to gain competitive advantage.

However, we must now acknowledge that this is a maturing market and that maturation has been increased by the development of the Cloud-based systems.

So the question now is how much of a competitive disadvantage will you be in if you don’t implement a modern FSM solution – whether that be moving away from manual processes for the first time or upgrading to a new solution from a legacy product.

Investing in an FSM solution can improve your ability to meet health and safety requirements and protect your staff, make your customer’s happier, reduce field service employee turn over all while paying for itself within a relatively short time frame.

The question is no longer if you should invest in an FSM solution, but how to identify the right solution provider for you.

 

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Want to know more?! There is a full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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Sponsored by:

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

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Oftentimes field service directors and managers can see the importance of investment within a dedicated Field Service Management (FSM) ahead of their colleagues in the boardroom. In this series of articles Kevin McNally, Sales Director, Asolvi outlines how to build a case for investment to drive your field service operations forwards.

In the first instalment in this series, we looked at how FSM systems can deliver easy Return on Investment, in part two we explored how investment in FSM solutions can help you achieve better staff retention and now in part three we turn our attention to how the implementation of an FSM solution can improve worker health and safety.

 

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Is building a case for investment in FSM a key topic for you?! There is a full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

---

Sponsored by:

---

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

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Perhaps the easiest argument to put forward to an executive board when seeking approval for investment, aside from outlining a clear ROI, is when that investment will mean ensuring the working environments you place your employees in meets any necessary health and safety requirements.

Of course, in a field service scenario, it is not necessarily possible to control the environment in which your field workers will be undertaking their role.

Therefore, monitoring their safety and ensuring they follow all due protocols and procedures is of huge importance.

So let’s take a quick look at some ways in which FSM systems can help you keep your field service engineers and technicians safe.

 

Geo-Fencing And Lone Worker Support

One reason field service technicians and engineers are particularly vulnerable is simply the fact that they are often working alone - so should an accident happen it could go unnoticed for some time, delaying any necessary medical attention.

There are many lone worker solutions out there, but it is optimum if you can identify a solution that can integrate into your wider FSM system so it can take a data feed of where the engineer is scheduled to be at any given time.

In fact, once that data feed from your scheduling solution is in place, it is possible to establish geo-fencing to make sure that should your engineer either stray outside of where they are supposed to be, or should they fail to arrive where they are supposed to be within a parameter of acceptable margin, alerts can be triggered helping to avoid potential tragedies that can arise from lone worker scenarios.

Indeed, this is one of the key areas in which the importance of the easy flow of data across your field service eco-system can be most easily highlighted – as the benefits literally could mean the difference between life and death.

 

Smart Scheduling To Ensure Your Engineers Are Safe

The next item on the list is an obvious one, and one that any good dispatcher even working without an FSM solution will pride themselves on doing – however, by automating it we can remove the potential for human oversight and error.

Many FSM systems will allow you to set clear parameters against a job during set up so that should maintenance or repair need to be scheduled then unless those parameters (such as the job requiring specific qualifications or more than one technician being required) are met the job cannot be scheduled.

This relatively simple, yet highly effective inclusion within an FSM system can ensure that the right engineer(s), with the right qualifications, are sent to the job, helping to avoid any potential health and safety issues that could result from under qualified or undermanned service teams being sent out.

 

Guide Your Engineers When Onsite To Safe Processes Every Time

Even the most experienced engineers can make mistakes – and these are oftentimes the result of simple complacency – again something that can be overcome through the use of mobile tools often found within an FSM solution.

For example, by building a checklist on the engineer’s mobile device that is built into their workflow you can ensure essential steps aren’t overlooked.

It may seem like an obvious thing for the experienced engineer to be told to switch off a core valve or even mains power to an asset before undertaking maintenance, but it only takes one rushed moment of forgetfulness on a bad day to cause an accident that could potentially be fatal.

But your FSM solution could help avoid that entirely by only allowing the engineer to begin work on the asset once they have completed the H&S checks on their mobile device.

 

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Want to know more?! There is a full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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Sponsored by:

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

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Kevin McNally, Sales Director for Asolvi gives us a sneak preview of a forthcoming white paper that outlines how to build a case for investment in Field Service Management systems by outlining how Return On Investment is such a fundamental part of the equation...

 

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Is building a case for investment in FSM a key topic for you?! There is a full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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Sponsored by:

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

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Whilst, of course, each and every business has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, there are now certainly enough case studies available on this topic for us to be able to predict fairly confidently, that the implementation of a field service solution if done correctly, will likely  deliver considerable Return on Investment (ROI) within a relatively short time-frame.

In fact, perhaps the biggest challenge is exactly how to calculate the ROI that you are achieving as the benefits come in many different guises and various different aspects of the business!

For example, when implementing a Field Service Management (FSM) solution you can expect to see ROI come from various areas of business expense, including:

• Increasing the utilisation of your existing resources, both in the office and the field allowing you to achieve more without adding additional resources by taking advantage of tools that deliver improved scheduling and workforce planning.
• Warranty control, how often is your service just given away for free because it is uncertain to your engineer if the customer is under warranty – it happens more than you would imagine even in the biggest of businesses, especially if you don’t have a warranty management embedded in your FSM system.
• Reducing the costs of unnecessary second visits. By having greater visibility into the service call as well as parts availability field service companies can ensure the right engineers are being sent with the right tools to do the job first time around. Given that the truck roll is generally the biggest cost line on a field service P&L improving First-Time-Fix will likely deliver significant ROI all by itself.
• Greater transparency and detail within your parts management etc, It is not just with improving first time fix that parts management within an FSM can deliver ROI. Field Service operations are unique in that stock is by necessity in constant transit. Companies can have millions of pounds tied unnecessarily up in van or garage stock which can disappear into a reporting black-hole unless a fit-for-purpose solution is in place.
• Significant costs that might have seemed a necessary evil such as paper and ink can be eliminated through digitising admin in the field with mobile technology.

 

The Impact of the Cloud

Perhaps the most important development of recent years in terms of gaining ROI from an FSM solution is the shift to Cloud becoming the most prevalent means of deployment for such systems.

Indeed, the benefits of Cloud computing are numerous but in terms of the ROI equation, there are perhaps three big aspects to consider.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, the widespread adoption of Cloud has led to most FSM solutions now being offered on Software as a Service model, where the FSM solution provider charges a monthly fee on a per-user basis. One of the big impacts of this trend has been that smaller and medium-sized companies that previously would have found such systems cost prohibitive on a CAPEX basis, could now access the tools that enabled there larger competitors to deliver more efficient service.

However, as the cost of a FSM solution is spread out on a monthly basis, it also becomes far easier for the ROI of that investment to become visible on a P&L sheet that isn’t carrying the heavy initial burden of the outlay of a CAPEX investment.

 

"When a solution is deployed by Cloud there is far less drain on internal resources for the service provider as the FSM vendor now bears a much heavier share of the workload in terms of actual IT support etc..."

 

Secondly, when a solution is deployed by Cloud there is far less drain on internal resources for the service provider as the FSM vendor now bears a much heavier share of the workload in terms of actual IT support etc.

Additionally, unlike an on premise solution which could be vulnerable to unseen issues such as flood, fire or even malicious attack, a Cloud-based solution will allow a service organisation to continue operating even should the unthinkable happen – meaning no lost revenue that may be generated from field service related streams.

Finally, Cloud based FSM solutions are in general, significantly quicker to implement compared to more traditional on premise equivalents, meaning that the field service operation can feel the benefits sooner, and thus start seeing that ROI quicker as well.

It is important to remember however, that ROI is just one of many aspects that can be used to build a case for investment in a FSM solution and we shall be exploring this and others in a forthcoming white paper with fieldservicenews.com

 

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In this episode of The Field Service Podcast, Field Service News Editor-in-Chief talks to Kevin McNally, Sales Director for Asolvi about how technologies such as Cloud, Mobile, Artificial Intelligence and IoT have enabled smaller companies to not only meet the service standards of their larger peers but in some instances exceed those standards...

Did You Know? You can now subscribe to The Field Service Podcast on iTunes! Check it out here and subscribe to get the podcast straight to your phone, desktop or tablet as soon as they are released! 

Want to know more? Field Service News have published a white paper sponsored by Asolvi that explores this topic in further detail. This white paper is available exclusively for fieldservicenews.com subscribers.

If you are not yet a subscriber and are a field service professional you can apply for a complimentary subscription below (after reading our T&Cs here first) and we will send you a copy of the white paper as soon as we receive your application.

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

Note: Please do take the time to our T&Cs (available in plain English at fieldservicenews.com/subscribe) and note that this content is sponsored by Asolvi)
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Kevin McNally, Sales Director, Asolvi takes a look at how technologies such as Cloud and IoT are levelling the playing field and giving small and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to deliver service standards that meet and exceed those of the traditionally dominant enterprise-sized organisations...

Want to know more? The bad news is the full white paper is only available exclusively for fieldservicenews.com subscribers.

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

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

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

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

One thing is certain in today’s field service sector, that never before has service delivery been so empowered by the technology that now underpins field service management.

Cloud is, of course, one such technology and the introduction of the Software as a Service (SaaS) model that it gave life to has undoubtedly changed the way that smaller field service organisations can operate.

Cloud has given them access to SaaS-based Field Service Management (FSM) solutions that in the previous CAPEX world of the late twentieth and an early twenty-first century would have been simply too cost-prohibitive for them to access.

IoT, has the potential to go even further and not just enhance the way field service operations are undertaken, as Cloud and Mobile have done, but entirely revolutionise the fundamental ways in which we approach field service delivery.This is one very clear example of how technology has very much levelled the playing field for smaller field service companies.

Another key technology, IoT, has the potential to go even further and not just enhance the way field service operations are undertaken, as Cloud and Mobile have done, but entirely revolutionise the fundamental ways in which we approach field service delivery.

The long-standing break-fix methodology, which has been at the core of field service operations by necessity since the inception of field service itself, can be circumvented and replaced by proactive preventative maintenance.

In a world of IoT, the service provider is no longer dependent upon the customer to report a fault, the asset itself can identify that it needs maintenance and the service call can be arranged in advance of the failure.

IoT absolutely offers the keys to a far better future for field service - for both service provider and customer alike, but for smaller to medium-sized companies are we entering once again into an era of cost-prohibitive technology?

Has the playing field so neatly levelled off by the introduction of the Cloud, once again become skewed in favour of the enterprise-sized organisations?

The importance of Cloud:

As I alluded to in the introduction there is no denying that the emergence of Cloud computing has been a core driver in the ability for smaller field service companies to be able to compete with their larger competitors.

This development is mostly the result of the introduction of SaaS-based subscription-style licensing which makes access to such systems possible.

It seems like a long, long time ago that Tesseract, an Asolvi product became the first company in the world to offer their full FSM solution in the Cloud and on a SaaS model. Indeed, today almost all FSM providers now offer their solution in such a manner.

Many aspects of introducing an FSM solution can become more challenging the larger an organisation isThis means that the smaller companies can have access to tools like scheduling, stock and parts management and mobile work management applications for their field-based staff to access via a mobile device.

Yet, they also have the advantage of being more agile, more streamlined and less weighed down by legacy systems and processes that their larger peers undoubtedly face.

In fact, many aspects of introducing an FSM solution can become more challenging the larger an organisation is. For example, optimised scheduling engines need to be ‘taught’ the rules under which they are to operate – the larger the workforce and the more diverse the skill-sets within that workforce, the more ‘lessons’ that need to be fed into the scheduling system for it to operate as intended.

In terms of FSM solutions, the shift to the Cloud has absolutely changed the competitive dynamics within various industries in favour of those smaller companies who are savvy enough to embrace cloud-based FSM and unencumbered by challenges such as the above which larger companies may face.

Can IoT work for SMBs?

Earlier, I outlined the potential seismic disruption that IoT is set to have on field service delivery as a whole.

Yet, when we hear about those companies that are harnessing the power of IoT, invariably we often tend to look at examples of companies who all tend to sit within the largest bracket of organisations.

Rolls Royce, GE, Sony et al have often dominated the headlines in terms of the successful application of IoT platforms that have radically changed their approach to field service. So one could be forgiven for thinking that IoT is perhaps something only the largest organisations are capable of implementing – but is this necessarily the case?

The reality is that there are a growing number of SMB-sized field service organisation who have embraced IoT to become a truly disruptive force within their respective sectors.The reality is that there are a growing number of SMB-sized field service organisation who have embraced IoT to become a truly disruptive force within their respective sectors.

Take for example regional German IT and document management services provider IBS Bürosysteme (IBS).

By utilising a machine-to-machine solution called Evatic Consumable and Meter Management (ECMM) they have been able to boost productivity, dramatically eliminate washed toner and streamline their processing. They have done this by integrating ECMM with their fleet management solution and directly processing data from all of the printers within their fleet, generating consumable replacements and subsequent invoices automatically.

This provides a clear win-win scenario in that their customers’ are receiving an improved service and massively reduced downtime, whilst IBS are able to improve their own efficiencies both within the field service and consumables areas of their business.

However, for those companies that embrace IoT, the rewards can be even greater than mere efficiency and cost savings.

As an example of a smaller company truly utilising the power of IoT let’s take the example of Espresso Service – a third party service provider operating within the coffee sector.

They have taken an active approach to utilising IoT data from across the fleet of coffee machines that they service and in doing so have not only been able to improve their own service delivery but have subsequently been able to develop additional advanced services based on their ability to translate the data from the assets they serve into truly meaningful insights that help their customers better understand how the assets are being utilised.

This allows them to tailor their own marketing and business strategies to be closer in line to how their own customers wish to be served.

It is in examples such as this where we see the true impact that IoT can and will have on industries of all sorts.

IoT naturally paves the path towards preventative maintenance, thereby simultaneously reducing the cost of each truck roll whilst improving customer satisfactionFor whilst as we’ve discussed IoT naturally paves the path towards preventative maintenance, thereby simultaneously reducing the cost of each truck roll whilst improving customer satisfaction, it is within the data generated by connected assets that we will find the most valuable new revenue streams.

As seen with Espresso Service, being able to offer customers advanced services that are based around the insight from data collected within their assets, can open up potential new revenue streams while firmly embedding an organisation within their customer’s business ecosystem.

Yet, while the data is the tool that underpins such advanced services, it is an organisation’s ability to think beyond the bounds of the currently accepted status quo of what good service within their sector is, and to seek what the new normal should be and bring that forward to their client base, that is the critical genetic component of almost all disruptive companies.

This is certainly not a trait that belongs exclusively to enterprise companies.

Indeed, a strong argument could be made that it is the entrepreneurial environment that exists within many smaller organisations that can allow such ideas and concepts to be nurtured and ultimately flourish.

Another factor for consideration here is also that examples such as that of Espresso Service are largely reflective of an organisations ability to truly understand the market they serve and their customers needs within that market.

In today’s world where service has become a core differentiator, this can allow the SMBs to flourish should they embrace the current technology available to them.Again, here we see an advantage that many smaller companies may have over their larger peers in that the relationships they often have with their client base are that much more intimate – giving them perhaps better opportunity to really get under the skin of what their customers’ most challenging issues are and making them better placed to develop strategies and solutions that can solve the issues at hand.

The rapid development of technology we are seeing today means that smaller organisations are now able to access technology that can push their service standards on par and above those of the larger, traditionally dominant companies within their competitive sphere.

In today’s world where service has become a core differentiator, this can allow the SMBs to flourish should they embrace the current technology available to them.

Want to know more? The bad news is the full white paper is only available exclusively for fieldservicenews.com subscribers.

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

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

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

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

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Welcome to the relaunched and revamped Field Service Podcast hosted by Field Service News Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland.

In this episode, Kris is speaking to Kevin McNally, Sales Director for Asolvi about the importance of building a request for proposal when they are searching for a new field service management solution as well as sharing his insight into some of the key considerations that an organisation should have in mind when approaching building the actual RFP document.

Did You Know? You can now subscribe to The Field Service Podcast on iTunes! Check it out here and subscribe to get the podcast straight to your phone each week! 

Want to know more? Kevin and Kris have co-authored a white paper that expands on this topic which is available exclusively for Field Service News subscribers.

If you are not yet a subscriber and are a field service professional you can apply for a complimentary subscription below (after reading our T&Cs here first) and we will send you a copy of the white paper as soon as we receive your application.

 Click Here to apply for your subscription now!

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Kevin McNally, Asolvi gives us the inside track on what makes a strong RFP when looking for a new FSM solution, and the benefits the process can yield...

Want to Know More? There is a white paper that expands upon which is available to Field Service News subscribers. Not a subscriber? If you're a field service management professional click here to apply for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription

When building your initial RFP (i.e. the document you give to prospective solution providers that outlines your needs and objectives) for a field service management system, you are able to establish not only a firm understanding of what the challenges are that you are looking to resolve, but also a reasonably wide-ranging understanding of what is possible.

I recently co-authored a white paper with Kris Oldland, Field Service News that offers five fundamental points for consideration to help you ensure that your RFP gives you the very best chance of selecting a solution provider that will be able to work with you to deliver the right solution to help you improve efficiency in the mission-critical operations of field service.

The white paper looks at each of these in some depth but let’s take a quick look at each now.

Consideration #1: Don’t wait until you’ve completed your RFP to approach potential Field Service Management solution providers use them to develop and refine it from the outset...

Some companies like to come to the table with an understanding of what their needs are and will approach the market with a fully formalised RFP. Other companies may be less sure of what a solution can provide so they may engage with a number of providers at an earlier stage.

In today’s business world we are in the era of Everything as a Service, where business and system ecosystems and outcome based contracts require building deeper relationships - a strong argument can be made for the latter approach.

In fact, there are a number of reasons behind why this approach is becoming more and more popular and in the white paper we take a look at three of these which are:

1. You’ll never know what you don’t know you don’t know!
2. Get a feel as to if a potential provider is in it for the long-haul or the quick-buck
3. Strong relationships are built over time, but all have to begin somewhere

Consideration #2: It is crucial that you keep the fundamentals in place of what you require from a new field service management solution as you build the RFP...

As you begin to develop your RFP it is absolutely crucial that you keep the fundamentals required in mind when bringing together the roadmap for where you want your service operation to go and how you want your new solution to take you there.

Whilst the obvious starting place is to look at your current pain points, far too often companies can tend to put too much emphasis on various small problems rather than focus on the bigger picture

During this stage, you really need to be thinking macro rather than micro.

Consideration #3: Get a firm understanding of the key baseline technologies that you should be expecting from a modern FSM solution...

You’re looking for your FSM solution to become the link between your back office operations and your field workers. At its core this means that the functionality you need as a minimum requirement is to facilitate communication - whether that be between dispatcher and engineer, engineer to engineer or even the easy flow of data to and from the field and all other co-dependent business units.

Real-time information flow is therefore absolutely critical and something that you should be seeking from any modern FSM solution that you consider.

Consideration #4: Don’t make a decision from the top of an ivory tower - make sure you take in some feedback from the guys who will actually be using the system day in, day out...

It is important to get an understanding of your existing work-flows and how the end users in your team are going to be using a system. A natural default is to focus on how the engineers are going to utilise a system, but don’t fall into the common trap of glossing over how a new solution will impact on the way the back office support team works as well.

Those companies that tend to get the most out of a new FSM solution are often those that have built up a fuller picture of how they will be using the system throughout the process of building their RFP.

It is very often the case also that the companies that get this right have taken the time to listen to their end users both in the field and in the back office.

Consideration #5: Integration needs to be at the forefront of your thinking - will the FSM system play nicely with both legacy systems and even systems you may need in the future?

In one sense it almost feels that in today’s world where, as we’ve already alluded to, easy data flow should be at the top of your list for any prospective new FSM solution (or business system in general for that matter) that integration should be a bit of a gimme.

However, things aren’t quite as simple as that - it is still an important question to ask, just as it is important to understand that one integration to another can be hugely different.

There will be certain integrations that are a given - but there may well be some that fall outside of that group, so it is important that you understand the whole ecosystem of your business network across various different units of your organisation.

Want to Know More? There is a white paper that expands upon which is available to Field Service News subscribers. Not a subscriber? If you're a field service management professional click here to apply for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription

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When Planned Lighting Maintenance (PLM) decided that its field service management system needed to be as smart as its lighting solutions, Tesseract came to light the way. Now Tesseract’s Service Centre 5.1 is brightening PLM’s days with super-fast scheduling and dispatch, instantaneous invoicing, and an end to coffee-stained job sheets.

A big change before a big birthday

Established in 1968, PLM is a family business that designs, installs and maintains lighting solutions for commercial premises and leading UK retailers. This year, finding itself approaching the big 50 in an increasingly service-oriented economy, PLM realised it was time for a change. Specifically, an overhaul of its long-winded, labour-intensive service management system.

The software PLM had before Tesseract was very limited in what it could do. Over the years PLM built an intranet to try and fill in the gaps, but there was no automation and everything took a lot of time.

Tracey Hughes, Business Support Services Director for PLM, says, “Our intranet reduced some of the data entry, but increased the checks we had to do. And it was slow, manual processes every step of the way. Dispatchers had to select an appropriate engineer for a job by remembering who was doing what, and which engineers were allocated to which postcode. Engineers would have to phone the office to let us know what stock they’d used, and to request more. And the whole system was heavily reliant on paper — handwritten job sheets from engineers that were sometimes unreadable or covered in coffee stains!”

 

These manual processes became increasingly onerous as PLM tried to keep up with the demands of the modern customer and stay profitable. It was losing revenue because of paperwork-related delays, and had to employ more people each time it took on a new contract. The trigger was losing confidence in its financial reporting. PLM’s admin teams would be gathering information from two, three or four different places — normally a slew of human error-prone Excel spreadsheets — and would have to decide which source was accurate. They eventually lost faith in what the data was telling them.

PLM decided it needed something with more automation, more accuracy and more efficiency — and far less reliance on paper.

The search for a new solution

To investigate options, PLM’s IT manager went to the annual Field Service Management Expo in London and met with five different software providers. These five were whittled down to three, one of which was Tesseract. PLM received a series of presentations about Service Centre 5.1 from Tesseract’s, which were attended by a team of eight from PLM, including several of its engineers.

Hughes explains, “We really liked Kevin. His presentations were simple and easy to follow and we were impressed by how quickly he understood our business.

We then met with one of Tesseract’s clients, Artic Building Services. We were completely bowled over by how well they were doing and how much they’d grown thanks to Tesseract. They were very, very enthusiastic and literally all of their issues and problems prior to implementation were gone. We felt like they were exactly the same as us, but five years on.”

Convinced, PLM took a phased approach to implementing the full suite of software that Tesseract offers, including Call Control, Customer Assets, Parts Centre, Invoice Centre, and Remote Engineer Access (REA).

More control, more visibility, more time to spare

Tesseract’s service management software has provided PLM with an end-to-end workflow that is automated, integrated and optimised. As soon as a call is logged, the system sources the contact information for that customer and tells you what you can and can’t do. Then the information is transmitted automatically to the phone of the engineer who is closest to the customer’s site.

With REA, engineers can log in remotely using their smartphones, input service reports directly onto the system, and obtain electronic sign-off from customers in order to close down jobs. Use and replenishment of stock is also managed directly through the Tesseract system.

 

Hughes explains, “With Tesseract, there’s far less admin and data entry and we’ve managed to reduce the number of staff doing admin from seven to four. We have much better visibility of our engineers and their workloads, and can see what’s been completed and billed and what hasn’t without having to make a ton of phone calls. This lets us answer customer queries faster and easier because we’re able to see exactly what stage a job is at.”

Hughes adds, “We also have much faster turnaround on our invoicing. On the old system, it could take up to ten days because we had to wait for paperwork to come in from our engineers. Now that all the information we need is right there on the system, same-day invoicing is the new normal.”

 

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