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People at the heart of latest issue of Field Service News  writes Editor Kris Oldland in his March/April Leader...

Whilst it is of course quite natural for those of us working in field service us to focus on technology, it is revolutionising the way we work seemingly more and more every year, every now and then we need to take stock and assess the most valuable element in field service - the people.

Because that’s what it’s all about ultimately surely?

We talk about empowering our field service engineers, we talk up the importance of our engineers as the frontline of customer service - increasingly the only human touch-point our customers may have with our brand.

For all the good that remote connectivity, the Internet of Things and machine to machine diagnostics brings to field service, for all the efficiency savings, all the increased productivity, we will still need that human interaction - if we want to engender any form of customer loyalty, we really need it if we want to capture and retain those ever more slippery recurring revenues that field service managers are under ever increasing pressure to secure.

And as I looked across this issue of Field Service News almost everywhere I looked I could see a strong ‘people’ angle to almost all of our stories and features.

In the News section for example there is what to my mind is one of the best stories to have hit our desk here at Field Service News Towers since we launched. That is the story of how field service software provider Keytree are working with food charity Planet Zheroes help fight Food Poverty in the UK. Not only is it a great example of how their system can be put to use, but it’s also a story of triumph on a human level. Through the use of field service technology Keytree and Planet Zheroes are able to stop wastage from some of the country’s leading food organisations and make sure that there are less hungry mouths out there on the British Streets.

My heartfelt thanks and respect goes out to both companies for helping so many who need it. 

Also in the News section is our new comic strip Field Service Funnies and whilst I’m dishing out thank Thank You’s I should also tip my hat to the good folks at ServiceMax for sharing the cartoons with us.

They were actually the result of a competition towards the end of last year where genuine field engineer stories were converted into cartoons. Once again all about the people , but I have a feeling that as in this first example the cartoons may be quite focussed on the sometimes quite astounding stupidity that occurs amongst the general public (trust me I’m probably one of the worst offenders) but I’m really looking forward to seeing more in this series.

 [quote float="left"]In the News section for example there is what to my mind is one of the best stories to have hit our desk here at Field Service News Towers since we launched.

And as the theme of people continues we have coverage of the first two big events of the year so far. Firstly there was the Enterprise Mobile Technology Conference hosted by Panasonic. You can read our write up on page 32 and the event was a really fantastic start to the event calendar but what truly impressed me the most was that despite being a very, very big company, the Panasonic team were both accessible and genuinely interested in their clients thoughts and needs. Special mention should go to John Harris, General Manager Engineering for a fantastic session that could have veered dangerously close to being a sales pitch in the wrong hands but instead was an extremely valuable, and highly open discussion.

 

The other event I refer to is of course Field Service Medical Europe which was held in sunny Dublin just a few weeks ago. As you would expect from the team that host Field Service Europe the three day event was highly enjoyable and packed with excellent content. However, perhaps because of the more niche focus of this event compared to it’s older cousin, there were a few less in attendance but that simply resulted in each session moving more towards an open forum as the barriers of inhibitions were removed due to the more intimate nature of the group.

Finally we’re really pleased to bring you the results of our latest research project which we have run in partnership with Advanced Field Service.

This time around the focus of our research has been on the types of mobility tools being used by Field Service Engineers in 2015.

The research project itself is perhaps one of the broadest topics we tackled as we look at the types of device (i.e. laptop/tablet/smartphone etc), the grade of device (rugged vs. consumer) the operating systems, what we as field service professionals expect from apps, how often we think we should refresh our FSM solutions vs. how often we actually do it, we even explore who is involved in selecting the solutions and look at whether it is a good idea to involve our field service engineers in the selection process.

For me though the most interesting statistics are around our engineer’s satisfaction with their devices. In brief digital is definitely here... So say the people

 

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Want to know more? Then click here to get you hands on a free digital copy of Field Service News issue five now! 

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Enterprise technology expert, Keytree has developed an interactive tool for food charity Plan Zheroes, to help address food waste in the fight against UK food poverty.

Launched today, Plan Zheroes’ new platform acts as a social network where relationships are built between food businesses and charities to ensure communication is quick and simple and food reaches those in need, safely and conveniently.

When an organisation has surplus food to donate, they can now sign into a secure site, upload their information, and nearby charities will instantly receive a notification of the available food. Charities can then claim the food online, and a network of local volunteers and transporters can help transport the food where required.

The platform is designed in a highly scalable way to grow with the charity.  It offers a complex mapping feature and hosts communities within a website to help build relationships between food businesses, charities, local community groups and volunteers to speed up the process of regular food giving.

 

“The platform is fully responsive from desktop down to smartphone, with all functionality available across devices.  We decided to create a responsive web solution to keep ongoing costs for the charity down so maintenance is done across a single platform rather than a website,” said Ian Jones, Principal Consultant, Keytree.

 

“It also works on all devices through either an iOS or Android app. We are now considering working on a standalone app and the use of SMS functionality to enable those volunteers without smartphones to also take part in the process.”

Whilst 13 million people are living in poverty in the UK, 650,000 tonnes of perfectly good food is thrown away by food businesses. Plan Zheroes seeks to address this by inspiring food businesses to give their surplus food to those who need it so it will never go to waste.

Maria Ana Neves, Co-founder and CEO of Plan Zheroes said: “Keytree has included some unique and highly innovative functionality to address a very complicated collaboration structure. The user experience and user-centric design is ideal for those who will use the site. The team also unlocked valuable insights such as bringing volunteers and transporters into the map and transforming the new platform into a social network.”

“The launch of our new platform is the important next step on our journey to fight food poverty and the devastating effect it is having on people in the UK. It allows a better connection between local networks of businesses, charities, volunteers and transporters, making the process simpler, quicker and more intuitive. With Keytree’s offer of pro bono help we can now further expand the network to support even more people in need of food.”

The Plan Zheroes website can be found at www.planzheroes.org

Plan Zheroes currently works with a wide range of food businesses - including restaurants, catering companies, cafes, food shops, schools, supermarkets, hotels and food markets – all of which can now register on the Plan Zheroes website and forge links with charities and local community group. Plan Zheroes partners include Borough Market, Paul UK, Le Pain Quotidien, Gail’s bakery, the Langham Hotel, catering company Squid & Pear and Budgens. Charity partners include Red Cross UK, Look Ahead, the Marylebone Project, New Horizon and The Abbey Centre.

 

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