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What should field service companies focus on in 2016? Tom Bowe,  Industry Director, Enterprise Service Management, IFS, provides his expert insight

The holiday season is upon us, and beyond that, just around the corner, lies another year. You may already be suffering from a bombardment of messaging around “predictions for field service in 2016” or “top trends for field service in 2016.”

Truth be told, it is an exciting time to be in field service.

The world is changing rapidly, the profile of your average consumer is ever evolving, and technology is changing the service landscape along with expectations, the market, and more.

Trends like augmented reality, IoT, wearable technology, and 3D printing are poised to change the entire approach to field service, rocking the fundamental structures and foundations of service delivery that have taken years to develop.

So how does an organisation brace for all this and navigate through the messaging to begin the path to a successful 2016?

 

We have sifted through all the messaging this year for you; surveys, industry articles, field service forums, and customer feedback, and boiled it down to four tips to help you achieve service delivery excellence next year.

Consider using these tips as a beacon to help you achieve customer delight while gaining market share and maximising service margin in 2016.

Establish a Baseline

Whether you are lacking in the analytics department or you have analytics coming out of your ears, the end of the year is a good time to conduct an audit of your service processes. Map out your service lifecycle and pinpoint where your strengths and weaknesses are. Here are some things that are always good to evaluate at the end of the year:

• Employees: Which of your customer facing employees are consistently performing above average? Are they being incentivised to continue their good work? What about those below average? Is there something in place to help them improve?
• Processes: Which parts of your service operations are working well and which aren’t? Are the process issues manual or software related? Where are there holes in your automation or lags in efficiency?
• Systems: How solid are your integrations? Is data being lost or corrupted between systems? Is everything talking to each other the way it should?

If evaluating your current operations and establishing a baseline is harder than you would like it to be, consider investing in enterprise operational intelligence software. The ability to visualise your entire operation and use real-time analytics to directly impact processes and solve issues will help drive intelligent decision making in 2016.

Go Back to the Basics

New field service trends like IoT have the potential to completely eliminate reactive service and save millions in operational costs, but if you don’t have efficient processes in place before adopting these trends, their potential will never be achieved.

It’s no good to have a piece of equipment out in the field triggering an urgent request for service if you don’t have the means to get the right technician, with the right skills and the right equipment there in a timely fashion.

Start with the Customer

Steve Jobs famously said, “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology.”

Listening to your customers is more important than ever. Customer surveys and other forms of communication with your customer base are vital to helping you deliver the best customer service possible.

Let them tell you what they want and adjust your service delivery standards accordingly. It’s always important to remember that the escalator of service is always moving.

What might have been customer delight (unbelievable service) last year may be considered basic now. Keeping up with customer expectation and the scale of service will help you deliver continued service excellence.

Pick a Uniquely Inspired Future Path

Perhaps the most important tip that we can offer is don’t get swept up in the hype. Every service organisation is on a unique path with unique offerings and ultimately unique goals.

Service delivery excellence is best achieved when a balance is found between listening to your customers, keeping up with changing technology and its effect on the market, and operating your service centre as a profit centre.

Predictions and top trends for 2016 are only good on paper if they don’t fit your organisation’s vision. Don’t let that hold your innovation hostage…let your desire to provide your customers with unique, inspiring experience carve your path to service excellence in 2016.

Good luck and season’s greetings from IFS.

 

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We all know the old adage ‘the customer is always right’ and in all honesty we’ve all questioned the truth in that statement at least once in our lives, but how do we ensure that we stay in control when that customer problem becomes a problem customer?  Bill Pollock, President, Strategies for Growth has some suggestions.

Not all customers are “problems”, but as long as their equipment is down, they are experiencing a “problem”. In fact, most customers realize that their equipment will go down from time to time, and most interpret this as nothing more than an inconvenient “fact of life”.

However, particularly when the customer feels they have not received good customer service and support in the past, or if the machine has undergone a succession of similar types of failures one after the other, there is an increasing chance that even a “good customer” can turn into a “problem customer”.

Sometimes it’s your fault, sometimes it’s someone else’s fault within the organisation, and sometimes it’s the customer’s fault – however, when all is said and done, it will be the field technician who is the one who will have to deal with it.

Typically, the best way to distinguish between a “customer problem” and a “problem customer “is to observe the way in which the customer is handling the situation.

For example, if the customer remains cool, calm, and collected throughout all of its discussions with you regarding a specific service event – regardless of how many discussions you are forced to have – then, you may consider the problem to be more equipment-focused then customer-focused.

However, if you and your company are doing everything possible to get the equipment up and running, get the replacement parts to the customer site as soon as possible, or get a quick “fix” to a software glitch, and the customer is becoming increasingly less cool, calm, and collected, then you may soon be dealing more with a “problem customer” than with a “customer problem”.

 

We’ve all heard the expression, “The customer is always right”. Well, that is not always true.

The general rule of thumb is, “The more ‘right’ the customer is, the more likely you are to be dealing with a ‘customer problem’; however, the less ‘right’ the customer is, the more likely you are to be dealing with a ‘problem customer’”.

In some situations, it may not be entirely clear which is the case. The one thing that is clear, however, is that in either case you will still need to treat the customer in exactly the same way – that is, assuming they are “right”, and treating them accordingly.

However, dealing with an irate customer takes the situation to an entirely new level! We’ve all had them – irate customers! And, the bad news is, we will continue to have them for the duration!

However, there are two ways in which to experience irate customers; either directly as result of a specific event or situation (i.e., a failure in the middle of a key production run, a repeat failure, a self-inflicted failure, or any other number of product- and/or time-related reasons), or because we have made them irate (i.e., treated them poorly, didn’t respond quickly enough, looked like we weren’t paying attention to them, etc).

In most cases, the former types of situations are largely out of our control; however in virtually every case, the latter are entirely preventable. Of course, the best way to avoid having to deal with an irate customer is to do everything in our power to accommodate them – within reason!

But, that does not always work and, accordingly, there will generally be times when we will need to do some immediate – and intense – “damage
control”.

The main focus of any damage control on the part of the field technician would be primarily to:

• Address the situation directly, and attempt to resolve it quickly, completely and satisfactorily;
• Explain the reality of the situation objectively and calmly to the customer;
• Provide any relevant data or documentation that proves your case, if requested;
• Be prepared to correct any misinformation or misperceptions on the customer’s part to avoid any further miscommunication; and
• Explain concisely and accurately why a specific situation may have occurred, what positive actions you will be taking to correct it, and when they could reasonably expect the problem to be resolved to their satisfaction.

In the services profession, you will probably always be running into some customers who, for one reason or another, simply like to be “irate”. This is a fact of business life, and you should be prepared to deal with it as best you can.

However, by continually embracing and utilising a “Listen, Observe, Think, Speak” (i.e., LOTS) approach in all of your customer interactions, you can successfully reduce these types of instances in most cases.

 

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The very nature of their jobs means that field service employees are lone workers and safety risks are not confined to hazardous workplaces. FSN Editor Sharon Clancy looks at some of the strategies for making ensuring your employees stay safe.

Many service employees are working alone or in environments that make them vulnerable. The potential safety risks are present not just in hazardous workplaces such as oil installations or construction sites; workers can be at risk working unsocial hours in office building or on emergency call outs to domestic properties, too, for example.

Safety policies and guidelines should reflect the specific risks of mobile workers, demonstrate that steps have been taken to minimise those risks and that management systems are in place to monitor compliance with safety rules.

For mobile service technicians, those risks include driving their vehicles between jobs. “If people in your company use vehicles for work, then you have a legal responsibility to ensure their safety, points out Giles Margerison, UK sales director, TomTom Telematics. “The law is really clear if someone is driving for business purposes, regardless of who provides the vehicle – whether it’s their own vehicle, hire, rented, leased, bought, or bought by the company. Once you have given someone an instruction for work, whether it’s just popping down the shops for a pint of milk or to an appointment or a job or a site, you are responsible for their safety and their behaviour.”

Duty of Care: legal obligations
Employer's  legal obligation on Duty-of-Care and Health and Safety will vary from country-to-country. In the UK, for example, the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act introduced in addition to corporate liability the concept of personal liability of directors and board members for any proven negligence, part of an EU-wide initiative to improve worker safety.

Other legislation such as the EU Working Time Directive also impacts on duty-of-care obligations.

 

For service organisations there are two key areas of duty of care: one is lone worker protection; the other is risk management of inappropriate of employee behaviour.

Lone worker monitoring
Any mobile application or device by default offers more protection to the mobile worker than a paper system where there is no contact with the office between jobs or even all day. Mobile workers equipped with telephones can also be tracked using cell ID.

In difficult or hostile environments managers need confirmation at regular intervals that the employee is safe and well. Some lone-worker systems are linked to 24-hour monitoring centres - individuals who find themselves in a dangerous situation simply press a red alert button on their device. This additional protection for lone workers can be a user buy-in when selling a technology switch to mobile workers, especially in heavily-unionised sectors.

In less dangerous situations, the risk assessment may be that compliance can be demonstrated by tracking personnel around a site, setting up pre-set intervals when a response is required. The interval can be set automatically and varied between locations and tasks.

In some systems the worker is sent an SMS message requiring a response confirming everything is OK or arrival. The latest technology even removes the onus on the employee to confirm they are safe. Instead, RFID and NFC technology utilised for proof-of-attendance and compliance with service-level agreements can also be used for duty-of-care monitoring.

 

"It's considered more reliable because the monitoring process starts automatically when the worker arrives on site or at a particular area of the site or building - there's no need for them to send a message to confirm this ," comments Paul Ridden, managing director for Skillweb. "Alarms can be raised if a worker fails to arrive at or leave a customer site or complete a task. Specific safety compliance information for that task or site can be incorporated in the RFID tags. "

Risk management
Service organisations employ engineers and technicians, not drivers. However, that does not mean that you can ignore their behaviour at the wheel when driving between jobs. Potentially unsafe driving behaviour should be part of a risk assessment strategy.

Meeting your Duty of Care does not need to be a burden, points out, Margerison. . “It just requires processes to be in place that monitors aspects of your mobile workforce, giving you the data you need so you can foresee any issues."This is not as hard as it sounds with modern fleet management and telematics systems, and you might also be surprised by the bottom line benefits it could bring to your business, he goes on. “The use of technology really helps because we can manage driver behaviour. Other methods can be used, of course, but technology makes that really very simple, and gives you the right data when you need it.

Telematics captures data on vehicle speeds, distances and driving time, as well as hazardous behaviour such as harsh braking and acceleration. Fed back into the service management software, team leaders can build a picture of each driver's behaviour, trends within a group of workers and persistence offenders, all without increasing administration costs.

 

Basic driver behaviour telematics data such as speed and harsh deceleration can even be captured from a mobile device with a GPS and an accelerometer or with a plug-in device - there's no need for a vehicle installation.
The result is a safer, more efficient workforce and a significantly reduced risk profile. Margerison points out that the ability to demonstrate driver improvements to an insurer could also mean a reversal of the current trend of higher  premium costs.

Keep it simple
Skillweb’s Paul Ridden thinks awareness of risks to mobile workers still has some way to go to penetrate those lower-skilled service jobs typically found in facilities management companies. “With the introduction of the Living Wage, those workers are going to cost more, so ensuring, they are as productive as possible, will be key to maintaining profit levels.”

Technology costs have also been a barrier, but smartphones make deploying mobile apps to these workers affordable. Simple apps can help them complete the tasks in the right order and safely. You can prove where they are but you can also use it to monitor their safety. Are cleaners using hazardous chemicals in a safe manner. Using appropriate safety equipment can mean something as simple as using rubber gloves when using cleaning chemicals.”
Monitoring the safety of these employees can have other benefits, he points out Monitoring that only trained employees are allowed to use equipment such as motorised floor polishers correctly, also helps you keep tabs on asset utilisation, he points point.

Geoff Ball, MD of Matrix Telematics said: “The definition of a lone worker has changed dramatically. From social workers to delivery drivers, postmen to pest control; lone workers make up almost a quarter of the UK’s working population, but the nature of their job leaves them open to a unique set of risks that employers need to be aware of.

“While most lone workers will hopefully never experience any problems, to have the peace of mind that there’s someone just at the other end of the line should they need it is a big reassurance for employees and a sensible precaution for employers to take.”

Lone worker monitoring doesn’t have to be complicated, says Ridden.“Even proactively status checks can be done without it seeming intrusive or Big Brother. You can send a message, and all the worker does is to tap in a pin number to confirm they are OK. Workers do appreciate that it is for their safety. From the manager’s viewpoint, its more reliable than waiting for a remote worker to call in at hourly intervals to confirm they are OK and its documented evidence that health and safety policies have been adhered to.

 

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Effectively managing the peaks and valleys in field service demand is one of the greatest challenges facing managers and executives across a broad array of market segments says Michael Blumberg, President & CEO of Blumberg Advisory Group, Inc.  Here, we publish the first part of extracts from his White Paper, "The Variable Workforce Model",  on how the momentum for freelance service technicians is building and potential solutions for managing them.

The Field Service Dilemma

Typically, temporary or contingent labour was utilised to support periods of peak demand: when there was a spike in new product sales or when brought about by seasonal issues. For example, a surge in installations or refreshes resulting from new product purchases required that the service organisation employ additional field service engineers (FSEs) to complete the installations in a timely manner.

However, relying on a temporary workforce to handle emergency maintenance was historically viewed as anathema to service executives within companies that sell equipment. This was because the FSEs were typically viewed as an extension of the sales team and thus vital to keeping the equipment operating and the customer happy. The conventional wisdom was that if equipment failed to operate properly then the customer would become irate, blame the manufacturer or reseller, and stop buying their products.

FSEs were considered to uniquely possess the specialised knowledge and skills required to resolve emergency issues. These skills took years to acquire and were difficult to replicate. How could emergency service be trusted to temporary employees with limited knowledge or experience with the product?  As a result, peaks in demand for emergency service were typically handled by asking FSEs to work overtime hours.

Setting the groundwork for the variable workforce

In the mid-1980s a number of service networks were created among like-minded service providers (e.g.  resellers, OEMs, etc.) to provide FSE coverage in geographic areas where their partners lacked specific skills sets: the beginning of the managed service provider concept.  Another driving force behind the decision to use contingent labour was the fact that the economics of hiring full-time personnel were not favourable. With margins declining, it was difficult for service providers to justify hiring additional personnel. Turning toward a network of vendors, subcontractors, and service companies to fill peaks in demand became a viable solution for many service providers.

 

In the 1990s outsourcing of non-core activities became popular with a number of prominent original equipment manufacturers such as Cisco, NetApp, IBM, and HP who outsourced non-strategic field service functions to Third Party Maintenance companies.

The recessions of 2001 and 2008 led to layoffs and hiring freezes across a wide array of industries. Service providers could not risk having situations where field service engineers were not available to support customers’ requests. Rather than keep non-essential workers on the payroll, companies realised they could reduce operating expenses and lower overhead costs by hiring field service engineers on a per call basis; as consultants or freelancers.

The freelance model has now become main stream within the field service industry. It gives service providers the ability to manage field service delivery through a variable workforce model. Maintaining a field service workforce on a full-time basis represents a short-term, fixed cost for service providers. With field service experiencing its own peaks and valleys in demand, a service provider can now convert a short-term fixed cost into a variable expense.

Options for building a variable workforce
[quote float="right"]Field service companies have a number of options available to them for obtaining variable field service labour.

Today, companies who support or maintain large sets of geographically dispersed technology and environments such as ATM machines in retail locations, Wi-Fi access points in coffee shops, or Internet of Things enabled technologies, have a number of options available to them for obtaining variable field service labour. These include: [ordered_list style="decimal"]

 

1. Implement Master Service Agreement (MSA) with one or more companies. This usually requires the OEM hand-off all on-site service requests to the Field Service Organisation who is responsible for managing their own workforce. While this is one of the simplest ways to obtain access to a contingent labour force, it is often the most expensive; particularly if the FSO is using its own workforce to perform the on-site request. This is because the FSO’s price per service call usually takes into account direct labour costs, plus parts, overhead, risk and profit.
   Furthermore, the FSO may not be able to provide their client with full visibility, accountability and control into the service delivery process. Basically, the client is alerted to when a call is dispatched and when it is completed, not to what occurs in between.
2. Manage subcontractors on their own. Another option is for a company to build its own variable workforce through a “Direct-To-Tech” approach. This requires that a company hire independent contractors either directly or through a staffing company, or they can reclassify existing full time FSEs as independents. Reclassification could create problems from a legal and financial perspective.[quote float="left"]The Direct-To-Tech model can be very successful but only if the nature of the work is truly independent contracting, not a second class worker.

    

   More importantly, setting up and managing a variable workforce labour pool requires an investment in mobile communication and collaboration technology, as well as new processes, procedures, and training for both management and dispatch staff.
   Companies who don’t approach this challenge strategically often end up with ad hoc systems and processes that are cumbersome and unscalable. All too often, companies end up blaming the subcontracted or freelance workforce when the real root cause of the issue is a lack of robust and scalable systems that lead to mismanagement.
3. Adopt a “Sharing Economy” model. Companies who are willing and able to manage teams of individual workers can turn to a sharing economy model. In this scenario, a company would use an Internet platform, provided by a 3rd party technology vendor, to recruit, on-board, train, dispatch, manage, and pay individual contractors. There are substantial cost savings to a company who is willing to pursue this course of action. Improvements in service quality and productivity are also possible .Freelance contractors are typically more engaged and motivated since their income is directly proportional to the quality of work performed and number of assignments they accept. More importantly, it avoids the risk of misclassifying workers. Freelancers who make themselves available through this type of labour model have made the decision to become a small business. In their work as independent contractors they have the ability to decide how many companies they contract with and which types of jobs they select, how and when they go about performing their work and how to best use their own tools and equipment.
   [/ordered_list]

All things being equal, we believe the sharing economy model offers the optimal solution for obtaining access to a variable workforce. This is provided the company using this model is prepared to engage in the necessary leg work required to manage teams of independent contractors through a Freelance Management System (FMS) platform.

 

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Watch out for Part 2 of this White Paper. Download the version here

 

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When it comes to assessing the link between productivity and technology should the figures governments are concerned about be re-evaluated, asks Professor Andy Neely of the Cambridge Service Alliance.

There’s been much debate in recent months about the productivity paradox - put simply there’s a long standing concern that technology, particularly information technology, does not seem to deliver the productivity gains that might be expected.

This concern has resurfaced in the UK, with the Government raising questions about why the UK’s productivity has not grown as much as other countries. In fact, George Osborne recently called the UK’s low productivity growth “the challenge of our time”.

The same topic came up in a recent email discussion with colleagues from ISSIP - the International Society for Service Innovation Professionals, this time prompted by an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Silicon Valley Doesn’t Believe US Productivity is Down”.  In essence the Wall Street Journal argument was that developments in technology are not captured in the Government’s productivity figures - apps that help people find restaurants more quickly or hail cabs from their phones clearly improve the efficiency with which we can do things.

Doing more with less is a classic definition of productivity - so these apps must be improving productivity,  argues the Wall Street Journal (and those it quotes - including Hal Varian, Google’s Chief Economist).

While I accept the argument that apps and associated technologies allow us to do more with less, I think there’s a need to unpack the relationship between these developments and measures of productivity more carefully.

Traditionally governments have measured labour productivity in terms of GDP per hour worked. As technology replaces labour, GDP stays the same or increases, while labour hours go down - hence productivity increases.

 

However, there’s an interesting new phenomenon which complicates the picture.

Take, for example, Uber. I’m a fan of Uber - the app is great. It’s convenient. I’ve never had a bad service from an Uber driver. I love the fact that I can rate drivers and they can rate customers at the end of journeys. I love the fact that the cost of the ride gets charged to my credit card and the receipt automatically emailed to me. But I also love Uber because it is cheaper - I pay less for a Uber car than I do for a black cab in London. Better service, pleasant drivers, and lower prices - what’s not to like?

Other firms have similar business models – think Amazon or Airbnb. Still others provide me a service for free – Google and TripAdvisor -  and don’t charge me for the information they provide, instead making their money through third parties.

When talking about productivity - or the lack of productivity - we need to think about the economic impact of these cheaper and/or free services.

Lower prices to consumers must mean lower GDP. The efficiency gains are there, but they are not being captured in productivity gains because the benefits are being passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices, rather than captured in the official GDP statistics.

Maybe a more nuanced discussion about productivity is needed where we look at both sides of the equation:  increases in value and hence GDP, and increases in efficiency reflected in lower costs to consumers.

 

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In this the final part of our serialisation of The Service Manager Handbook (2015 edition) published by Advanced Field Service we look at four key areas for constant consideration as you push your field service operation, and the wider business to grow and flourish...

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Download the full 40 page ebook for free by simply clicking here and completing the brief registration form

 

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Your business strategy

Do a regular SWOT analysis

Ring-fence time away from day-to-day firefighting to analyse your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This analysis becomes the building block of your business strategy and the foundation for your organisation’s goals.

It’s impossible to be all things to all people. Know what you do well and focus on being the very best in that field.

Challenge the norm and diversify

If you always do things in the same way, you’ll always get the same results. To remain dynamic and resilient to change, ‘think outside the box’ and look for ways to innovate.

 

Diversification, such as selling complementary products or services, could prove an excellent strategy to grow your business, presenting you with multiple income streams that can often fill any gaps during your low season and create opportunities to increase your top-line growth.

Develop your products and services

What do your customers value most? How could you incentivise them to buy more? Gathering regular client feedback will prove crucial in ensuring you invest your time and money in the areas that matter most.

Watch the competition

By keeping a watchful eye on your rivals you can become alert to emerging threats or spot new opportunities for your business. Do you have a strong enough proposition to stand out from the crowd?

Plan for growth

How could you increase your sales to new and existing clients? How will growth impact your business: both now, next year, and five years from now? Are your systems truly scalable and able to handle exponential growth?

Your customers

Model the ideal client

Focus on those jobs, contracts and clients that are most profitable. It’s worth stepping back and analysing your customer base to identify clients who are already profitable and those who could become more profitable – and even consider ‘sacking’ the customers who drain your resources.

 

Ask for referrals

Your customers can be powerful influencers in helping to attract new, like-minded customers. If you’re doing a great job and the customer’s happy, ask if they would be happy to act as a case study or reference site.

Uncover the value you deliver

Encourage major customers to regard you as strategic partners. Make sure they understand the value that you bring to their business. Offering customers a web-based portal gives them the ability to create jobs, view history, access contract agreements and run interactive reports on their KPIs.

Regular communication will keep your customers firmly in the loop a and cement your status as a preferred service partner.

Your team

Build a high performance team

Happy engineers and call-handling staff are more likely to create a good impression with the customer. Employees are more likely to stay with an organisation if there is room for growth and advancement.

Commitment from the top is infectious. Value engineers’ on-the-ground insight into customer needs and openly recognise and reward success to motivate your team.

Help your team to thrive

Your field service team must be allowed to evolve. Look out for opportunities for members to cross-train and expand their skills.

 

This will also build a more resilient, adaptable workforce. Some companies worry that if they develop their employees, this will make them attractive to competitors. However, if you gain a reputation for being genuinely interested in your team, you’re more likely to retain the long-term loyalty of your employees.

Your systems

Consign paperwork to the bin

Automation is absolutely crucial for any growing business that needs to scale up its customer base without increasing headcount. The latest mobile, reporting and document management software will help to eliminate manual intervention, freeing your team to do what they do best.

Mobilise your workforce

Give your field team complete visibility of every job and status change. Field service mobile solutions allow engineers to view account information, download technical documents, record time-sheets and expenses, send proactive alerts, view planned work and close jobs on site.

Turn data into insight

By regularly reviewing your KPIs over a period of time, trends and patterns should become more apparent to identify opportunities and risks. The latest business intelligence tools give organisations the power to identify new opportunities and capitalise on emerging trends.

Make cash control a priority

Employ best practice cash control practices to optimise your cash flow: release cash through better stock management, rather than locking it up in extra spares and parts ‘just in case’. Bill customers promptly and accurately to further shorten the billing cycle and address any late payment issues.

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Download the full 40 page ebook for free by simply clicking here and completing the brief registration form

 

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Sister show to Field Service USA, Field Service Fall brings three days of industry education to the East Coast of the USA. Field Service News Editor-in-Chief Kris Oldland flew over to see what the latest hot buttons for the US service industry were…

Held in Buckhead, the upmarket business region of Atlanta Field Service Fall lived up to it’s billing as one of the key US events in the field service calendar by bringing together some 200 plus senior members of the field service industry across the three day event.

As always with industry events focussing on field service operations the delegates came from a range of disparate industries including healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications and more, yet despite coming from seemingly different universes, the same pain points were discussed, the same opportunities for improvement of service delivery discovered and the same challenges of implementing such opportunities and overcoming these pain points were at the heart of the conversations.

Kristina Hill, IFS Marketing Manager Enterprise Service Manager commented “As always the WBR field service events bring a great crowd of multiple different verticals together to brainstorm and share thought leadership and discuss pain points”

“It brings all sorts of companies together” Hill added “but as different as they are and as different as they run process wise, they are also very similar in their pain points and the issues they face. It’s great to see people working on new initiatives and adopting new technology”

This sentiment was echoed by John Callen Support Solutions Manager, NCR who was attending for his seventh time at a WBR Field Service Event.

“Every time I come here I get take aways from each presenter or each conversation I have, that makes me just that little bit better in my role” Callen stated, going on to say “I’ve got about twenty things with stars on them so I can’t possibly implement them all but I’m going to review again tonight and go from there.”

 

Indeed there was a real sense of community across the three days in Atlanta. Something that event producers WBR are keen to maintain and build upon.

Jonathan Massoud, Divisional Director & Market Analyst, of conference organiser WBR commented “The feedback that we got was that it is good to bring the community together and here is where they can get help to develop standards that they typically can’t get elsewhere, that they can’t get through benchmarking or through competitors so they can come together here, meet and increase their own community.”

It was this opportunity to discuss challenges amongst his peers that attracted Arnold Benavidez, Field service engineering Manager, Metso Recycling to attend for the first time also.

“One of the reasons I came to this event was to get different perspectives on how other field service organisations are managing their field service activities for their businesses. “ Benavidez commented, “What processes, technologies and strategies are they implementing that have been proven and been successful in the organisations.”

“Quite often I think we try to manage the chaos in our service organisations and we tend to have tunnel vision in just managing our way through that chaos. I wanted to come through this event to broaden my perspective and really get a good observation of what are the other possibilities that could improve my organisation and our overall business.”

 

The conference agenda itself was well balanced with a strong blend of forward looking presentations, case studies detailing how some of the more progressive companies within the industry have made improvements to their own service operations and general insight and opinion from a number of senior figures within the service industry.

One of the topics that dominated a lot of the presentations as well as conversations in the break out sessions was that of IoT.

As Massoud explained “One of the things we are hearing about now is the digitization of service in terms of the Internet of Things – what does that mean? Last year we talked about that and people were unsure of how to move forward, now it seems that each of the verticals now have things in place that are addressing that and we are seeing things move forward.”

“For example some organisations are putting in mobile boxes when the product goes out so they can pull data off it and that is just one example of how IoT is effecting the development of their products and their service and that’s come out this week.“

Callen also highlighted IoT as one of the big topics of the conference saying “I think a lot of the themes that I’ve heard this time around is around the Internet of Things, the way things are pushing forward it makes you think how I can implement this to solve problems of my own?”

 

“You’ve got to worry about the cost but you’ve also got to worry about the cost of fixing the problem,” he added

However, the talk wasn’t all about tech. The continuing drive towards improving customer experience was another frequently heard topic of conversation.

“The real focus still, which is nice to hear, is in delighting the customers” Hill commented “As customer demand grows and increases and the technology that is out there from a customer perspective makes that demand higher, I think that field service organisations are realising that they have to keep up and then they have to deliver in a way that is going to put the customer first. “

“That’s still a big trend and one of the things that was a big conversation topic is that the customer has to come first and then let the processes be driven by that.” She added.

Expanding further on the topic Massoud added “Customer experience has been top of the line for the last couple of years now in the research we are doing.

What we are seeing now is how companies using technology to improve the customer experience.”

“The shift towards having the field tech be more of a consultant in the field, soft skills developing, really jumped out again. I think it is something that the industry has been struggling with for a while but now they are starting to put some things in place and some training in place where they are making headway with technicians. So knowledge bases we’re hearing about all the way up to augmented reality type solutions, which also tie into knowledge management and knowledge sharing in the field.”

 

And in fact the absolute star turn of the three days was provided by Augmented Reality solution Help Lightning.

Developed in part by neurosurgeon Bart Guthrie, Help Lightning uses augmented reality to deliver remote guidance. The impact for field service of augmented reality is massive, potentially slashing a phenomenal amount of outgoing costs by allowing experienced engineers to guide local onsite engineers on how to make a fix themselves, instead of having to get the experienced engineer onsite.

A simple, yet highly effective app, with slick delivery and seemingly robust connectivity (the product is capable of working across 3G networks despite being video based) Help Lightning was certainly the star of the show garnering a lot interest.

 

And with an engaging presentation by Guthrie supported by a constantly busy booth in the demonstration zone of the event, Help Lightning certainly won a number of fans across the three days including Marty Jost, Director of Technical Services, Hach who commented “The biggest thing for me was seeing the Help Lightning application. It’s simple enough that I want to go back and demo it for my people.”

Benavidez was also a fan of the augmented reality app stating “I was really impressed with some of the technology, specifically with Help Lightning, we’re coming currently on a second year of a down market in our industry due to the price of steel and a lot of people are looking at services to bring in revenue to make up for the difference, but selling services is difficult, as our customers tend to want to take care of those type of things on their own, so I think after seeing this technology from Help Lightning this may provide the opportunity to assist our customers who don’t want to pay the premium price of having a highly skilled technician on site but perhaps would be interested in having our technician guide their electrical or mechanical contractors on site to help facilitate some minor repairs.”

Indeed if the general consensus of the attendees of Field Service Fall are a good yardstick to go by then the team at Help Lightning, and Augmented Reality vendors in general could well become the hot ticket in Field Service in the very near future as the technology promises very obvious benefits for customers and field service providers alike.

“I think our customers could really go for that kind of opportunity because we are helping them be more self-sufficient and ultimately that is what they want to do.” Benavidez explained “I felt really confident when I saw that opportunity. I think it is definitely something I’m going to try.” He added.

However whilst IoT, Big Data and Augmented Reality are truly exciting topics quite rightly discussed frequently both in the trade press and at industry events such as this, it is also important not to overlook the fundamental technology such as scheduling and parts management tools that can help us get the right engineer to the right job at the right time, and getting them there with the right tools to do the job first time.

What always fascinates me personally about field service as a topic for conversation is that often whilst we have a natural tendency to focus on how we can harness the latest technology to streamline and improve the productivity of our operations, yet there still remain fundamental basics that we must implement if we are to meet the expectations our customers demand.

Therefore it was interesting to see that the problem of parts and inventory management was a pain point that continued to surface during the breakout sessions across the three days.

 

Whilst many of the conversations would have been driven by a series of roundtables hosted by Aberdeen’s Aly Pinder, the fact that this was an area that resonated with many was a clear indicator of the importance of getting the basics right.

As Deb Geiger, VP Global Marketing Astea commented;

“I think there is always an underlying commonality in terms of everybody is trying to optimise be more efficient and reducing those costs but also not at the risk of sacrificing, customer satisfaction. “

“People talk about speed and quick resolution, but you can show up quickly and not fix it first time. So its always weighing the different factors and ensuring that the piece of equipment is getting fixed first time and that the customer is satisfied. I think everybody is looking to continually optimise, look at their processes – how can they improve how do they optimise their workforce, some are having to do more work with less resources how do they make that happen without overtaxing the technicians.”

Of course what events such as Field Service Fall do is provide an opportunity not only for discovery, and peer networking but also for benchmarking how your organisation is performing in terms of delivering service.

As Callen wryly put it “Every one of us is in the same circus we just have different clowns working for us. My problems are the same things as the guy that has the printing press, as the guy that has the medical devices.”

 

“Operational wise and personal wise this is a great opportunity to benchmark progress. I’ve seen a lot of the same folks year after year. It’s good to see old friends. Here I’ve got friends that I talk to every year, what did you guys do with this, what did you guys do with that? We talk about problems and situations. And it genuinely helps us see where we are in terms of our own development”

This is something that Massoud is equally aware of and very much proud to be part of adding “It’s an opportunity that is unique for this space and you can’t go at it alone.”

‘A lot of guys tell us that when they first come here I’m coming back - it’s good to be part of this community”

In that case I guess I’ll see you all next year then.

 

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Registration for field service fall 2016 is now open click here for more info

 

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Aberdeen's Aly Pinder explores the all pervasive nature of the modern mobile...

When was the last time you woke up from a night’s slumber and didn’t first check your smart phone or tablet for an update on what you missed over night? What’s the weather? Is there traffic? Do I have a 9am meeting I am already late for?

This attachment to mobile technology is not just a trend for millennials and their younger co-hort. From toddlers to grandmas to the field service technicians, mobility is becoming a way of life.

But with this level of ubiquity comes some missteps by service organisations as they look to drive value in these investments. In order to avoid a technology journey which will lack the impact that top performers achieve, service organisations should keep a few best practices in mind:

• Make technology simple for your techs. The fastest way to achieve zero to low ROI on a technology investment is to have technicians who decide to work around the solution because they are not on board for this IT initiative. Technicians should be involved in the identification, selection, and deployment of the tools they will have to use as a part of their daily activities. Being forced to use a tool because the home office said it will drive productivity is not a guarantee of adoption. Technology is no longer a foreign subject for the field, but no one likes to be forced into change.
• Open a window from the customer, to the field, all the way to the back office. Often times the discussion around paper forms and a move to mobile tools surrounds around cost savings, efficiency gains, and the ability to increase turns of the wrench. These are all benefits, but the value of mobility goes well beyond these tangible and low-hanging fruit KPI. Mobility provides a view into the field and each customer interaction. And as organisations continue to jockey with competitors and third party service providers, it is imperative that the service organisation have real time insight into the service experience so adjustments can be made to ensure the customer experience is continuously improved.
• Mobility must be an on-going journey, not a one-time IT investment. Too often, IT roadmaps are not created for the service team but instead are reserved the rest of the enterprise. But as service, assets, and customer relationships become more and more complex, it is important that technology for the service team is an area which receives constant attention, investment, and re-evaluation. This doesn’t mean that this has to be a cost drain, on the contrary if service technology initiatives follow a clear strategic vision it will avoid the pitfalls of long drawn out implementations which show no ROI.
• Find the tools that work for your team. Mobile technology is an aspect of field service which most mirrors the consumer world when it comes to excitement and ‘cool’ factor. Many service organisations are evaluating and investing in the latest technology around tablets, smart phones, and wearables. But much like the consumer space, if you haven’t identified a clear need, business value, and implementation strategy to maximise the technology’s use this will be a waste. I can’t count the number of devices I have hidden away in a closet in my house because after a short period of excitement the tool didn’t actually improve my daily life. Don’t let this happen for your service organisation or your field service technicians.

Mobile technology is rapidly evolving and it is a very exciting time to be involved in field service as organisations are investing in the latest tools to help their technicians.

But organisations must remain focused on a clear strategic vision which maximizes the value of mobility while also ensuring that this is part of an on-going improvement model. If this approach is taken, organisations will find that not only will their field teams have the tools that help them navigate the 21^st century but they will also be able to deliver exceptional service to customers.

 

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The world of manufacturing is going through a seismic change with parallels being drawn to the industrial revolution. And as the trend of servitization takes seed the role of the field service engineer takes centre stage and is more important than ever before. Nick Frank, Principal Consultant of Frank Partners explains...

‘I am still making order out of the chaos of reinvention’ said novelist John Le Carre as he penned another cold war spy thriller.

Many would say the same is true of manufacturing today. Gone are the days when a manufacturer simply made the product, delivered it to the customer, sometimes supplied some parts & services, and then moved onto the next sale. In today’s unpredictable world, this model is fast becoming unsustainable.

Accelerated by the chaos of the financial crisis and propelled by the industrial internet, many businesses are moving beyond this traditional notion of manufacturing. No longer do they just ‘make stuff’, they provide services such as financing, maintenance programmes, lifecycle consulting or even outcome orientated service contracts. Complex equipment manufacturers are leading the way in evolving ever more strategic relationships with their clients, as they deliver their technology as a service outcome rather than stand-alone product.

 

Why is this important? It’s not just that product transaction orientated business models are being replaced by those centered on relationships, outcomes and service. But that to achieve this re-invention, manufacturing must overcome a severe skills shortage! Without people and skills, all the advances in technology and thinking will stagnate. Companies need to attract a completely new talent pool into their industry. One that is technically and socially more diverse and which has many of the marketing, customer experience and media skills found in the FMCG and financial sectors.

If manufacturing is re-inventing itself, so must the services back-office. Much has been written around how IoT and analytics will change the nature of field service in terms of efficiency, transparency and customer relationship management. All this is true, but more profoundly as the product/service boundary blurs towards solutions, so the idea of field service as an entity must fundamentally change. Rather than being perceived as a ‘bolt on’ entity fixing customer problems, field service must be integrated into the business. As this happens it too must broaden its skills set, outlook and relationships, especially in the areas engineering, sales and other service back-office operations.

As connectivity and data become more available in real time, so increasingly problems can be solved centrally. As service thinking becomes more embedded in manufacturing businesses, so even self-healing technologies may be introduced into product design. One can see that this will require a completely different approach as to how service organisations are perceived and managed. It is logical that in order to provide seamless outcomes and experiences to the customer, organisations will become much more integrated, between, centralised technical support, the machine itself, local support, 3^rd parties and parts and sales/relationship management. Exactly how this happens will depend on the business models being supported.

For example in the Asia-Pacific market a leading supplier of industrial robots see their mix of Field /Central services swinging from 60/40% to 40/60% as they increasingly integrate remote services into their solutions. There are companies in the defence industry who have their service team located in situ on warships where they are contracted to provide availability. These are perhaps the more extreme examples of the moment, but one can clearly see that there is a link between the technologies, the contractual relationship with the customer, and the organisation of the service organisation.

 

We we will also see field service and centralised support organisation being closer to the sales teams. Just look at the emphasis we have seen in recent years on the Trusted Advisor roles and the discussions of how field service as one of the major customer touch-points, has a significant impact on customer experience. Trying to balance relationship skills with technical problem solving is a real challenge for the industry.

The bottom line is that as manufacturing re-invents itself, so field service as an integral part of most service offerings will become a significant part of the companies growth strategy. How this will happen is difficult to tell, because we are still in the early stages of a manufacturing revolution. However, this re-invention of manufacturing is exciting from two perspectives. It means that a more diverse and broader skills set must be attracted into industry. And secondly that field service itself will need to adapt to evolving product technologies and business models bringing new challenges and opportunities for its people.

To be part of this re-invention process, Service Leaders can follow a simple 3 point plan:

1. Undertake a strategic re-evaluation of the customer /industry supply chain to identify how services can contribute to sustainable business growth.
2. Experiment with and adopt connectivity technologies to discover the cost and business model benefits
3. Constantly look at how other businesses are adapting. This Outside-In perspective will speed up your adoption of innovation and can be gained in many ways. You can achieve this through not only reading publications such as Field Service News, but by joining networks such as that offered by ‘The Manufacturer’ to explore the role of Manufacturing Services in industry (MSTLN.com), the Service Community (www.service-community.uk) or the servitization courses for industry by the Aston Business School, UK.

 

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