Field Service News Research identifies trends amongst field service organisations and the Internet of Things when it comes to the KPIs...

A recent Field Service News Research has taken a deep look into how field service companies are continuing face up to the challenge of harnessing the vast amounts of data they are accessing each day... 

The Growing Dual Challenges of Data in Field Service... 

In a recent article for Field Service News Research, Kris Oldland explored some of the key findings their current research into the use of KPIs amongst field service organisations has revealed when it comes to analysing,  interpreting and reacting to data...

"In today’s connected world, there is just simply so much data being created that we are very much in danger of being overwhelmed and consumed by it unless we are not careful." Oldland wrote. 

"Paralysis by analysis can be a genuine issue that can stifle innovation. In a customer-orientated world, the ability to adapt quickly is becoming a crucial aspect of modern business. Yet, at the same time, so is the increasingly hackneyed phrase ‘data is the new gold’."

"The ability to be able to monitor, measure and then dissect each aspect of our operation - whether it be internally within our teams and operations or externally with regards to our customer interactions, can offer us the ability to leverage vast amounts of untapped insight into our businesses that can literally open up new revenue streams, or at least maximise to the fullest potential those we already have in place," he continues.

Some of the headline findings within the research which Oldland explored within the article include: 

• 67% of field service companies are now using IoT to provide data from assets in the field.
• 72% of these companies are using data from connected assets to predict failure and schedule maintenance around this data
• 54% of these companies can interpret data from assets in the field when providing triage
• 23% of these companies factor this data into the way they analyse field service KPIs

To find out more and also discover the impact of servitization on the KPIs field service companies are measuring check out the latest analysis from Field Service News Research visit https://research.fieldservicenews.com/drownin-in-data-or-gold

Field Service News research reveals a trend for increasing the numbers of service related KPIs... 

A recent Field Service News Research has revealed that while those measuring more KPIs than the average are currently in the minority, the data suggests they are perhaps slightly ahead of the curve. Indeed, just under half of the respondent companies (44%) stated that they had increased the number of field service related KPIs that they were tracking - but the crucial question is why?

The rapid evolution of field service management

As one respondent explained during a follow up interview around the research findings, “The simple fact is that from within a field service operations perspective, we have moved relatively quickly from occupying a space where customer satisfaction was something that was a by-product of what we were generally measured upon, an after-thought to an extent, to become a primary measure of the success of not just the field service operation but also the wider business itself.”

This insight reveals two things. Firstly, it highlights just how profound the broad shift we have seen in field service of the operation being primarily positioned as a cost centre to becoming a profit centre within its own P&L has been.

The findings of the research are both revealing and insightful and could provide a useful benchmark for any field service management professional who is trying to understand how best to monitor their field service operations. As Peter Drucker famously once said "you cannot manage what you do not measure". 

To find out more and also discover the impact of servitization on the KPIs field service companies are measuring check out the latest analysis from Field Service News Research visit https://research.fieldservicenews.com/why-the-numbers-of-kpis-field-service-companies-monitor-are-changing

In the first part of a new series of features in which we will explore the latest exclusive field service research findings, we explore how KPIs are changing in a world of servitization, IoT and changing demographics... 

The shifting sands of Field Service Management

In a new series of articles by Field Service News Research, the current use of Key Performance Indicators used by field service organisations is assessed and the current trends within this area are identified. 

The independent research carried out by Field Service News in late 2019 sits agains a backdrop of a rapidly changing world in which field service organisations operate with major industrial trends such as servitization taking hold and new emergent technologies such as the Internet of Things and Augmented Reality shifting the way field service organisations are approaching the mission critical role of field service. 

The Average State of Play in Field Service Today

In the first part of this research analysis we discuss the critical headline finding of the research, which was that the data revealed that the most common practice amongst field service companies is to measure between 4 and 7 KPIs. However, the data does also show that we are beginning to see a trend in this number increasing. 

The research also reveals that move from field service being a cost-centre within an organisation to becoming a profit centre is now almost entirely complete, and this too has, of course, had an impact on the metrics field service companies are actively measuring.

The fact that just under a fifth of companies now identify a KPI based around profit as the most critical KPI they measure for their business is another signifier of this.

However, perhaps more crucially, we see the shift in importance from field service KPIs being purely operationally focussed to being far more focused on delivering customer satisfaction. Indeed, the shift towards a customer-centric approach to service is undoubtedly beginning to take hold.

Click here to check out part one of this research analysis in our dedicated Field Service News Research channel 

 Want to know more? If you want to find out more about this research there is a full research report available for field service subscribers. Simply click the link below to access the full report now! 

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A few years back Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos declared on US National TV that he would be investing in Prime Air a delivery network that would utilise drones to deliver packages to their customers. At the time many cynically argued that it was a fanciful notion designed to gain Amazon 16 minutes of prime-time coverage and nothing more. But is the idea really so far-fetched? Could delivery drones prove to be an answer to traffic congestion when delivering spare parts in urban areas?

Mark Glover takes a look to see what’s on the horizon.

We can only manage what we measure as the old adage goes. But in  dynamically evolving environment such as we find our selves in today the question as to what exactly it is we should be measuring in order to manage our field service operations may be up for some debate.