Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News is joined on the Field Service News Digital Symposium by Martin Summerhayes, Head of Digital Transformation Services at MDB Service Consulting.

Martin has over 30 years of experience in the service industry in the UK working for organisations such as HP, the Metropolitan Police and Fujitsu, and he focuses on leading key clients to a successful transition of services into new, agile, ways of working.

During the conversation, the two discuss a wide range of topics related to the acceleration of digital adoption during the pandemic and what this means for the future of service organisations.

In this excerpt from that conversation, Martin and Kris explain why now might be the right time for service organisations to reevaluate the KPIs that indicate success within their field of operations.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about the impact of COVID-19 in the Field Service industry @ www.fieldservicenews.com/covid-19
• Read articles by Martin Summerhayes on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/martin-summerhayes
• Follow Martin Summerhayes on Twitter @ twitter.com/martinsummerhay
• Connect with Martin Summerhayes on LinkedIn @ linkedin.com/in/martin-summerhayes

How you define success when it comes to your managed print services (MPS) program will vary depending on your strategic plan and your overall objectives. Here, Laryssa Alexander, president field service division, ECI Solutions, runs through the must-track KPIs and how they should be used.

For any business, an increase in revenue and a growing workforce or operation, are all key indicators of success. But how do you measure how you got there, what did you do right and of course what can you improve going forward to gain a better outcome and move the bar higher?

Success in Field Service Management

How you define success when it comes to your managed print services (MPS) program will vary depending on your strategic plan and the overall objectives of your business. The metrics you track and measure to indicate your success, will also differ based on your business priorities.

Having clear key performance indicators (KPIs) set right across your team, from your helpdesk and customer support, to financial sales and marketing, gives you a benchmark to hit. Even if KPIs are just words and numbers on paper, in reality they offer data-driven insights about the day-to-day operation of your business. This can make planning more effective and help you create a well-defined strategy that helps your business grow.

So where do you start when thinking about what KPIs to set your business? Here are five KPIs you should be tracking to measure success.

Machines in field (MIF)

For any field service business, having a fix on the number of devices you’re monitoring is integral to your operation - and there are a number of ways to track them.

For an overview of your print program, you can track how many devices you are monitoring across all customers. If you want to know how many print devices you are monitoring on a customer level, you can find out the average MIF per customer. You can even take it a step further and look at what percentage of customer’s total devices you have under contract. Every layer adds extra detail and with having access to this level of data, it can help you to determine your marketing, sales and other business processes.

Delving into your MIF data will give you an insight into your customer habits and show you where you can grow. Are your customers using your devices more often, is there room to upsell or should you be focusing on acquiring new business? By tracking device data you are able to show the real time usability of your devices.

Early Toner Cartridge Replacements

For any business, cutting costs, while increasing revenue is a win win. So your customers are always looking at ways they can streamline any business expense. Your MPS business can help them do just that. You can save them up to 30 percent on print-related expenses, making it an ideal solution for customers looking to reduce spend.

One of the metrics you can measure to increase your customers’ profitability are toner levels. Many businesses will often order new toner cartridges when they think they’re low, wasting ink that's left in their current cartridge.

"SaaS solutions are typically more scalable and affordable than their enterprise counterparts because they are subscription-based..."

Regularly tracking and mitigating early toner cartridge replacements for your customers can help reduce unnecessary shipping and distribution costs, increase revenue yield on pages printed, and save your customers money on supplies.

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

As more and more data moves to the cloud, businesses are adding software-as-a-service (SaaS) options to their offerings to provide customers with greater flexibility. SaaS solutions are typically more scalable and affordable than their enterprise counterparts because they are subscription-based.

Many MPS businesses offer both. SaaS services arm providers with the ability to forecast revenue on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis. MRR is the focal point of a SaaS business model and a key KPI that you can monitor to identify growth opportunities. This helps your finance team to create more accurate forecasts and budgets for the next fiscal year. 

Support Ticket Close Rate

Once you have built a quality product or solution, the next step is to support your customers when they begin using it. It is a standard practice to have customers sign a service level agreement so both the provider and the user are aware of their roles and responsibilities, and these expectations are clearly communicated. A good measure of how successful your team is executing your service level agreement is your support ticket close rate.

How many tickets are you closing on a weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly basis? This metric will help you determine how responsive your technical support team is, address any internal process or communication issues, and help you craft SLAs that better reflect your business capabilities. Another KPI to keep in mind if your offering is service-orientated is your resolution time. Like your ticket close rate, this will tell you how effective your support team is at responding to and resolving customer challenges.

Customer Satisfaction

Regardless of what industry you work in, customer satisfaction is a good benchmark to use when trying to gauge your success. It’s a truth universally acknowledged in the world of business that a happy customer is more likely to be a repeat customer and to recommend your products and services to others.

Regularly conducting customer satisfaction surveys provides you with valuable insights into what customers think of your business, your team, and your product or service. If done correctly, you can also data mine customer satisfaction surveys for ideas on your product roadmap, the features and functionality of your offerings, and potential competitive advantages. If you listen to your customers and take their feedback under consideration, you are more likely to drive future customer satisfaction and, in turn, future growth.

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Further Reading: 

• Read more about MPS in field service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/mps
• REad more about KPI strategies in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=KPIs
• Follow Laryssa Alexander on LinkedIn here. 
• Find out more about ECI here. 

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

 

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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". 

 

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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 

 

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 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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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. 

In recent years, the sector has moved from a service operation that is a cost-centre, to one that can impact customer service.
Service outfits, recognising this shift, are now building in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to keep pace with a change that
can ultimately bring profit. Mark Glover tracks the evolving nature of KPIs in field service affirms their importance to a firm’s strategy...

Employers stifle groans and share knowing looks when a project manager starts listing KPIs. Touted in boardrooms and meeting rooms, they do however drive a business forward. They serve as signposts along a journey, ensuring that important milestones are met, completed and contribute to the end goal.

It’s a complex process to streamline but one that can bear much fruit. But is there a magic formula?

Type in ‘field Service KPIs’ to Google and your browser gets filled with an array of subjective suggestions. This is not surprising, as KPIs can be as far-reaching as a business requires. Efficiency, for example, incorporates time, such as the time it takes to complete a task, what billable time was used-up and what overtime was given to a job.

However, drilling down too much into one KPI can create issues. Martin Summerhayes, Fujitsu’s Head of Delivery Strategy and Service thinks defining a KPI is essential, something that comes from taking a long view of your service strategy. Failure to do so, he offers, could risk negative outcomes. “If you don’t look at the end-to-end,” he says, if you don’t look at the value chain that you want to achieve, if you’re not looking at the outcomes that you want to achieve and if you’re not looking at the total cost to serve then inefficiency is what you’re going to get.”

To illustrate his point, Summerhayes gives an example of the engineer told by his Manager to attend four jobs per-day.

The first he attends but without the correct parts and after explaining the situation to the customer, he leaves. He fits the parts at site two but the fault remains so raises another ticket, unable to do more, he makes a swift exit. He needs to call his branch manager (who isn’t there) after inspecting the issue at the third job, so the fault can’t be dealt with, he again explains this to the customer and departs. Finally, at job number four he fixes the part and completes the job. “

You get what you measure,” Summerhayes says, explaining the issue. “Four jobs have been done, but they haven’t been completed. The engineer hasn’t been told what to do with those four jobs. As the engineer is not being asked to completer the job, a whole load of waste is created. Of those four jobs, only one has been completed. The others will be swept back, picked up by a different engineer. You start to build complete inefficiency into the process, just purely by one measure and not being clear.”

And here lies the danger of loose KPIs. It may be tempting to create them to the nth degree but unless you create the right ones in line with the outcomes you want to achieve then you could end up pushing the wrong behaviour completely. “You need to be aware of the consequences,” Summerhayes warns. “You might measure the metric you think is right, but it will actually drive the wrong behaviour and it could even drive the wrong culture.”

Other broad KPIs, as well as time, include service delivery and the aforementiond efficiency; yet customer service – a key focus in modern field service - feeds into all the above: processes, service delivery and efficiency. In fact, one could argue it sits over the top of all KPIs being fed by those beneath it. Field service management requires a balance between time and cost savings while creating better customer service.

But how can you measure this ambiguous metric? Summerhayes says it consists of many elements. “The right people, with the right training and the right skills and the right motivation will drive employee satisfaction, employee engagement, employee loyalty and employee motivation,” he conveys. 

But within that, there needs to be a further question. How does an organisation create a positive employee culture? Does it come down simply to managing your team correctly and should you differentiate KPIs between your team and management?

In a podcast recording for Field Service News, Co- Founder and Managing Partner at Si2 Partners, Nick Frank identified that separate KPIs were extremely useful, particularly when relaying an employees’ worth to the company back to that employee. “It’s important to find the measure that motivates your staff and they can actually do something about,” he said. “If they’ve taken action, they can actually see how they’re impacting how the business is working. You should see that Managers and engineers, for example, are two different sets of stakeholders, so you should separate out the management metrics from the team metrics.”

I think Nick hits on an important point here, one that relates on human level and the impact we have in the world we operate in; which in this instance is the world of work. If you’re an engineer who is part of a large organisation, who checks-in once a month for the firm’s monthly meeting and reliant on mobile connectivity to keep in touch with colleagues, then it can be difficult to feel part of the company’s bigger picture. Having someone explain to you – through KPIs – that your excellent fix-rates are positively impacting the firm’s bottom line can only be motivating.

Service KPIs, therefore, should drive profits through loyal employees and satisfied customers. The latter achieved by acknowledging three aspects that customers expect today: access to support; overall solution time and being kept informed throughout the service experience.

Satisfied customers in turn creates customer loyalty which in turn creates revenue. Acquiring a new client is three times more expensive than retaining a current one. The focus should be on customer retention not customer acquisition. Keeping clients satisfied means adhering to KPIs that put them at the core. It means being creative with your data and having the courage to look at results a different way. If your measurements are showing positive numbers - for example, an 85% first-time fix rate - then turning the metric upside can really disrupt how you look at your services. Once flipped, analysing the 15% of jobs that didn’t meet customer expectation can lead to more insightful analysis of your service performance. It’s easy to remain in a KPI comfort zone.

Measuring what you don’t want to measure can sometimes return results that you didn’t expect but once acted on, can make all the difference in an era where the customer has, and will always come first.

The field service sector is heading into the final stages of a transition from an operationally focussed, cost-based discipline to a service-centric, revenue generating one and it is a change we must embrace writes John Hunt from Astea.

In my role as Managing Director EMEA with Astea I speak to a lot of field service professionals. As is the nature of our industry, these folks come from companies of all shapes and sizes and from many different industries – which can lead to many varying, often highly nuanced views as to what ‘service excellence’ is. 

For some of our customers ‘speed of response times’ may be key, for others it’s ‘first-time-fix rates’, for others still it may be ‘effective time’.

However, looking back on the conversations I’ve had across the last twelve months, there is one constant challenge pervasive amongst field service organisations. Indeed, I’d go as far as saying that across the board, service leaders are facing a new reality that can be summed up in one word - change.

Ours is Not a Sector That Stays Still For Long
The field service industry is not and never has been, one for ever standing still too long.  Remember, ours is the industry that was sending data back from the field long before the likes of Apple and Samsung had put the internet in everyone’s pocket and the best-in-class companies in our sector today are often those who innovated their way out of the global financial crisis in 2008 by placing their service offerings at the heart of their solutions.

So it is through a lens of confidence and anticipation that I look now at our industry once more going through widespread change.
We are witnessing significant change in many core areas of field service at the moment, including changes in our workforce structures to include more short-term labor. Even the very role of the field service engineers themselves is rapidly evolving as more emphasis is being placed on quality customer interactions that lead to higher customer satisfaction and hopefully, higher shareof-wallet.

The service engineer has historically been the relationship managers since they have the most one-on-one time with the customer. Now companies are putting formal training in place to ensure technicians have the right customer service skills and the right mind-set for being the brand ambassadors. And field service technology is helping companies make this shift by adding checklists that can guide technician behaviour through things like upselling and cross-selling initiatives.

"I look now at our industry once more going through widespread change..."

As I mentioned at the top, different companies will prioritise different KPIs according to their own internal goals and targets. Yet, one thing that we at Astea are seeing across all service related industries, is the ever-increasing importance of customer satisfaction. This is where field service organisations can find a real competitive advantage.

In a world of digitalisation, Artificial Intelligence and automation, the field service call represents something that is becoming a rare and hugely valuable commodity – genuine face-to-face interaction with customers. In today’s service economy, this is an opportunity that cannot be overlooked.

One KPI To Rule Them All?
Customer Satisfaction is increasingly becoming the KPI for field service organisations, and it is not just for the more abstract concepts within business strategy such as brand perception either – there are very clear, tangible economic reasons why field service companies should realign their KPIs more towards CSAT as opposed to more traditional operational KPIs such as First-time-fix or mean-time-to-repair. For example, for those working in business to consumer verticals, I would point to research published in the Harvard Business Review that revealed that consumers who receive the highest standards of service spend 140% more than those who receive the poorest service, whilst data from

American Express revealed 86% of consumers will pay more for better service. The bottom line is that better service means better revenue opportunities.  However, a focus on CSAT KPIs isn’t just for B2C companies, it is just as vital in B2B sectors also. For a start, the lines for service in both segments are continuously blurring as the bar for high quality service continues to be raised in all sectors. But once again, there is also a wealth of data to support the argument for focussing on CSAT for B2B organisations. For example, research by Bain and Company shows that just a 5% increase in customer retention will typically see profit increases of anywhere between 25% and 95%.

Besides guiding technician behaviour, there are other ways that field service management (FSM) platforms can help companies prioritise CSAT, including self-service web portals and mobile apps where customers have more visibility and control over their service relationship. Other ways FSM platforms can help is giving companies the ability to communicate with customers in modern ways that are more often seen in B2C relationships. For example, automated workflows can easily be set up to send text messages or email alerts letting customers know about a change in a service order status.

It’s clear that we are entering an era of new opportunities. Of course, in such times the challenges can be daunting and discussions of how to move forward are often complex. This is why I’m looking forward to hosting a series of round tables at this year’s Field Service Summit in Warwick, where I intend to dig deeper into the changes the field service sector is heading through and how we can embrace them.

John Hunt is Managing Director EMEA at Astea