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New study links high customer satisfaction with service providers who fix it on the first visit

Field service organisations need to become more efficient, develop better time-saving approaches and fix a problem on the first visit in order to meet customer expectations, according to a new study commissioned by Trimble Field Service Management

The study, which surveyed 2,000 adults in the UK, revealed that over half (52 per cent) considered fixing the problem on the first visit to be the leading factor in determining their satisfaction. Yet, one in four participants reported that a return visit was required. The most common reason for a return visit was that the technician lacked the appropriate tools or parts (40 per cent), while the technician lacking the appropriate skills was also revealed as a top factor (27 per cent).

"Clearly, operating a skilled and efficient mobile workforce is critical to meeting customer expectations. To achieve that, organisations need real-time access to information about the performance of workers in the field," said John Cameron, general manager of Trimble's Field Service Management Division.

 

"Technology is available that provides technicians with the visibility they need to get to the right place at the right time with the information they need to do their job correctly the first time," Cameron added. "Customer expectations are only going to increase, so having the infrastructure in place to meet and exceed these expectations is critical to keeping customers happy."

Respondents also are not happy with wait times. More than 50 per cent considered 1-3 hours an acceptable appointment window, yet few had experienced this, with 32 per cent reporting wait times between 4-9 hours. 40 per cent of consumers claimed their biggest frustration with using a service provider was long appointment slots.

The independent study was conducted by OnePoll, a worldwide market research agency. For a summary of the report, visit: http://www.pages05.net/trimblefieldservice/Consumer_Research_Results/

 

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In the first part of this exclusive research project run in partnership with Advanced Field Service, we looked at the types of mobile devices being used in the field and why it seems that the days of pen and paper are becoming increasingly numbered. In the second of this four part series we look at whether there is a future for wearables in field service, are devices being used rugged or consumer and has BYOD worked?

Now in the third part of this series we turn our attention to the feedback our field service engineers are providing...

There is also a white paper accompanying this series, with even further insights, which you can download here

Engineers reaction to mobile devices in general

We asked our respondents “Do you think your your field engineers have appreciated a move to using a mobile device?”

The results showed that in the main there is a strong acceptance from field engineers that using a digital device as part of their role is a benefit. In fact over a third of respondents (37%) stated that they had “absolutely taken to mobile” while the largest response to this question was “we have mostly had a positive response from our mobile workers” which was stated by just under half (44%) of respondents.

Just under a fifth of companies (17%) stated they had received a mix of positive and negative feedback from their field workers, whilst less than 1% admitted they had “some success but getting widespread adoption is tough”.

 

Delving deeper into the reasons for positive feedback from the engineers we saw that the largest reason for engineers responding to the implementation of a mobile devices was that it “makes their work-flow easier” with 57% of companies stating this to be the case. The second largest reason cited was that a mobile device “enhanced their productivity” which just under a third of companies (31%) cited whilst 13% of companies reported increased first time fix rates as a result of using digital devices.

 

One respondent summarised the dual benefits of the approach for both engineers and company alike stating: “The engineers have appreciated the move from a rugged PDA to an Android device because it offers them more advantages; web, apps, email, etc. From a business perspective we got them access to industry apps (fault code analysis, parts availability, etc.) as well as improving the acceptance of the company solution”

Involving engineers in the selection process

Given the importance of quick user adoption, we wanted to see how involved field engineers were in the selecting the devices they would be using. We asked our respondents “Did you have any input from your field engineers in selecting both the devices and apps they use in the field?”

Whilst it is an approach recommended by many hardware, software and change management experts to help improve swift user adoption rates, it is not one that is adopted by the majority of companies when selecting the tools their field service engineers will be using. In fact almost two thirds (61%) of companies admitted that they don’t involve their engineers in the decision making process.

 

This is a significant finding because of those companies that did involve their field workers in the selection process the overwhelming majority (93%) felt that doing so had aided adoption of the solution they had chosen. When we consider that the aim of implementing any new solution, whether it be hardware or software, is generally to improve the efficiency of a field service unit then the sooner the new solution reaches widespread adoption the better.

 

Indeed it would seem that whilst the majority of respondents failed to take advantage of their engineers insight during the selection process, there may actually be a growing groundswell to see this happening more frequently as almost half of those who didn’t take input from their field engineers admitted that in hindsight they think this would have likely helped speed up the adoption of the new solution. “The engineers have appreciated the move from a rugged PDA to an Android device because it offers them more advantages; web, apps, email, etc.”

The decision making unit

So engineers input aside, who is involved in the decision making unit when it comes to selecting a new field service mobility solution? Having put that question to our respondents our research would certainly back the assertion that the single decision maker seems to be somewhat of a myth, or at least a very rare scenario.

The most common role to be involved within the decision making unit (DMU) is IT Director with 64% of companies stating that their IT Director would be involved in the decision making process. This was followed by MD/CEO (58%), Field Service Director (53%) and Field Service Manager (45%). Meanwhile 20% of companies have procurement involved within the DMU also. Perhaps contradictory to these statistics is how a company will approach the early selection process.

The most common approach for this initial phase of selecting a new field service solution is when the “field service director/manager identified the need for a mobile solution and made recommendations to the board.” Which was how 35% of companies began their search for a new system. The second most common means of instigating this process is when “the board decides to implement a mobile solution and tasks the IT manager & Field Service Manager together to identify the right solution” which was what was reported by exactly a quarter of companies.

Other options that were board driven were for the board to task the “Field Service Manager/ Director to identify the solution” (13%) and the board task the “IT Director to identify the right solution” (8%) whilst amongst 17% of companies it was the ‘IT Director identified the need and advised the board”

Choosing a solution

When it comes to selecting a solution the most common approach is to view three different solutions which exactly a third of companies opted to do.

However, just under a quarter (23%) of companies will leave no stone unturned and look at five or more solutions when making their decision.

 

A similar amount (22%) will look at just two solutions whilst a tenth of companies made their decision based solely on looking at one solution. In terms of the frequency of updating a field service solution the consensus is very much that every three years is the optimal time between updates with just under half (47%) of companies stating they believe this to be the case. The second most common thought is two years (30%) whilst all other options were 10% or below.

But how does compare to the reality?

Well, whilst a similar majority (42%) refresh their solutions every three years it would also seem that many companies keep their existing assets longer than they would like.

 

In fact 41% of companies state they will wait four years or more to refresh their field service solution, whilst 27% admit they will wait five years or more between system upgrades. The research would also indicate that the largest reason for companies taking longer to refresh their solution would be simply down to cost which 50% of companies stated was the biggest challenge in updating their system.

 

Compared to this ‘finding the time’ to arrange an implementation was a minor worry for most with just 12% of companies stating that this is their primary concern. What is interesting is that 34% of companies see worries around integration being their biggest challenge. Of course the irony here being that the longer you ‘sweat’ an asset the greater the chance of the technology becoming tougher to integrate with the latest emerging tech.

 

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As we draw closer to our next webinar we begin a new series looking at one of the key topics - the growing danger that field service is facing a real talent shortage within the next decade...

To register for the webinar that will accompany this series click here...

It’s a major challenge being faced in many industries but the statistics for field service companies, across all corners of the globe, are particularly bleak.

One such statistic is that 40% of Field Workers are over 40 years of age. That’s nearly half of our workforce that will need replacing within a twenty-year period.

Let’s consider another.

60% of companies are currently report that they are understaffed in their technical and highly skilled positions. This is also in an area where demand is predicted to grow twice as swiftly as other professions by the year 2025.

Whichever way we look at it we are under increasing pressure to meet a growing demand to acquire and retain new additions to our mobile workforces and this theme is at the heart of our forthcoming webinar with ServiceMax.

Indeed it is a topic that has come to the attention of the team at ServiceMax a number of times particularly in their customer focussed workshops and seminars.

Explaining further Randy Reynolds, VP Product Marketing, ServiceMax commented “We didn’t realise just what a critical area this was in the field service space” He began before explaining that it was in fact at a round table at last years MaxLive event in Paris that the dawning reality of the problem really struck home.

“What was interesting is that this is a conversation I was hearing a lot of” Reynolds continued before expanding further.

“Perhaps the first thing that I noticed a lot of our customers saying was that there are significant changes in the requirements to fill field service positions.”

 

“Historically they would be looking to hire people with very strong technical knowledge, very product related knowledge but now because the role of the field service technician is evolving, companies are looking for what we could consider softer skills.”

“Field Service companies are now looking for people that can interact with customers and deal with different situations that are out in the field.” Reynolds added “So rather than going out and looking for people with great vocational skills, many companies now feel that they can teach those skills on the job.  What they truly need is people who can relate to and really understand the customer, people who fundamentally understand the service equation side of the role.”

So if we return to our opening thoughts around the challenges we face in terms of replacing an ageing workforce, not only is their mounting pressure for us to seek out talent, there is also a need for us to reinvent the profile of our workers simultaneously.

Challenging times indeed.

Another of Reynolds colleagues at ServiceMax who has been doing a lot of work in this area is Patrice Eberline, ‎Vice President, Global Customer Transformation, ServiceMax.

However Eberline, who has a wide background in professional management working across implementation, training, change management and deployment and adoption across a career spanning nearly twenty years, sees the current situation not only as a challenge but also an opportunity to truly ignite transformation for ‘future year staffing.’

Eberline, who is giving the lead presentation in our next webinar being hosted on the 20^th May at 4pm BST, admits that traditionally as an industry field service has been in a fortunate position when it comes to staffing.

“We’ve been lucky in field service in that traditionally we have had low turnover and high company loyalty.” She says “Folks come and work in field service and they make a career out of it. We really haven’t had employee churn as an issue to worry about in field service - however this is changing. “ She warns.

 

The problem, Eberline asserts runs far deeper than the challenge of replacing lost man hours. The underlying issue, which is even more worrying, is the loss of knowledge that goes with each and every individual that retires or moves on.

Knowledge that all too often isn’t documented either Eberline points out.

“I recently had a technician come into my home” she explains anecdotally “but being a little bit of a geek I’d spent ages looking all over the web for a solution to my problem.  Honestly I didn’t feel like there was much to be done but getting an engineer out was the next step before buying a replacement.”

“However, literally within 5 to 10 minutes of arriving the engineer had developed a work around that wasn’t listed anywhere in any documentation.  That fixed my problem and gave me some additional life on my device and promptly left me feeling wonderful about this – so this stuff is really important.” She concludes.

Indeed it is this threat of potential knowledge leakage that is perhaps the greatest danger of the ageing workforce crisis that field service companies face.

This knowledge, sometimes referred to as tribal knowledge, in that it is knowledge that is accrued through the years spent on the job, is starting to leave our businesses as the workforce reaches retirement age. So we need to capture this knowledge and find a way of releasing it quickly.

This is where we really need to embrace the technologies available, and systems such as ServiceMax are key to enabling product sharing platforms such as that implemented by Elekta in recent times.

As we see industry wide moves towards platform based approaches, driven largely by the success of Cloud based offerings such as Salesforce then the ability to not only document product knowledge but to have that knowledge as widely accessible as possible, integrating with numerous business areas such as field service software, CRM even accounting software can be hugely advantageous.

And as we look to the next generation of potential workers, the so-called millennial generation, this trait of open knowledge sharing is actually inherent to their makeup. This is a generation raised on social collaboration, so knowledge sharing should be second nature for them.

 

So perhaps the future is not as bleak as first it seems?

We need to make the transition away from tribal knowledge to social collaboration and we need to start doing it swiftly. But the technology is available and the next generation of field workers should have all the skills required to be able to adopt such an approach swiftly.

The challenge is going to be in making the transition from a to b as smooth as possible.

This most certainly will be easier said than done, however the work being done by Eberline and her peers will undoubtedly  help us in defining our own specific road map and this is something we shall be exploring in further features in this series as we lead up to the webinar on 20^th May.

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New infographic from ServiceMax shows how the benefits of going on the offence...

Over the past 50 years, manufacturers have focused on efficiently making good products in order to maximise their returns at the moment of sale. However, in a globally competitive market, many products are now commoditised and margins are getting squeezed, diminishing the leverage from such production-centric approaches.

That’s where a service-centric business model comes into its own. Servitization transforms companies from production to service provider, shifting them to delivering advanced services, such as selection, consumables, monitoring, repair, maintenance, disposal, as well as the opportunity to increase service revenues even further by supporting existing third party or competitive products. This creates an ongoing relationship with the customer that effectively locks out competitors.

As a business model, servitisation isn’t a new phenomenon – the origin of the term dates back to the 1960s. However, against the back drop of a global recession, product commoditisation, shrinking product margins, and major technology advances in end-to-end service delivery, servitization is providing companies with an effective hedge against market downturns, and higher barriers of entry for competitors.

As a result, service is shifting from the spotlight to the limelight, becoming a powerful offensive business strategy for top line growth and competitive advantage.

 

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As the Internet of Things, Big Data, and Cloud computing all become commonly heard phrases within Field Service we must start to consider the very real question of cyber-security with ever greater attention. But what does Cyber security look like in 2015?

One of the significant themes that came through from the victims of high profile cyber attacks in the last year was that they all had heavy investment in IT security, regular testing programmes and almost certainly long lists of accreditations. However, event his was not enough to keep them safe from groups of attackers and the resultant losses and associated fines for such detected breaches.

This year the cyber security landscape will once again continue to develop swiftly as attacks likely become even more frequent and sophisticated and from more corners of the world than ever before. The one thing that will remain the same however is that investing in the wrong defences will again result in an openness to cyber attack and the potential of real damage.

Cyber threat actors are commonly split into three groups: nation states, cyber criminals and cyber activists or hacktivists. As 2015 evolves these threat factors look set to continue to advance their capabilities.

Often nation states – who see cyber attacks as being a cheap, effective and most importantly plausibly deniable espionage tool – can be the dark hand behind theft of proprietary or sensitive data for the benefit of one of their home-grown enterprises.

Cyber criminals, motivated by financial gain, have traditionally targeted a company’s customer base, stealing personal details or credit card information to use in fraud or to sell.

Cyber activists, motivated by a range of factors – including most simply personal amusement, but also factors such as, anti-capitalist sentiment, environmental concerns, religion and nationalism – base their activities on disrupting operations or generating embarrassment.

An ever-changing landscape

It is also predicted that many global political developments will also have their impact on shaping the cyber threat environment across 2015 and beyond.

Countries that not too long ago would have been clumsy and naive when it comes to their cyber capabilities have now established sophisticated capabilities by nurturing their local home-grown hacktivist groups.

Meanwhile new hubs of cyber criminal activity will emerge and will set their focus on new targets. Driven by the disparity between the rich nations and the poor on an international level, plus the growing access of IT and as such rapidly developing IT skills of members of the latter.

All of this is also becoming easier and being better facilitated by new ways of communicating, such as cyber criminals' and activists' use of the Dark Web to buy and sell hacking tools and techniques, using anonymous currency such as Bitcoin.

 

Another trend that we will likely see continue on from 2014 is the gradual blurring of the lines of the roles and loyalties of these threat actors. Last year we shad the emergence of criminals acting with a degree of impunity contingent on targeting politically expedient victims, or hacktivist groups becoming involved in attacks in support of government agenda.

As sophisticated tools and techniques become more widespread, and the distinctions between the threat actors become more blurred, the long-term outlook for cyber threats is concerning. The constraining factor previously was that the people with the intent to conduct widespread and high-impact cyber attacks – the activists and the criminals – did not have the capability. This may not remain the case for much longer.

How best to defend your organisation

Very simply throwing more money at the problem is no longer a viable solution.

With finite resources, it is just simply impossible to protect every asset against every possible threat.

The key is to understand which threat actors are likely to be targeting your organisation, what are your key assets and how do you protect those.

Modern Cyber defence needs to be intelligence-led, risk-based and prioritised – it is no longer just a compliance exercise.

There are five mistakes that organisations cannot afford to make during 2015:

1. Taking a broad sweep approach: You cannot fail to build your cyber defences around a granular understanding of threat. In 2015 all cyber-defence programs should be intelligence led. This includes collecting operational and strategic information that helps you understand the specific nature of the threat. It may also be necessary across your supply chain, as vulnerabilities in subcontractors or suppliers often affect a larger organisation (or vice-versa) – attackers will always focus on the weakest link.
2. Spending too much time, effort and money on prevention and not enough on detection. Companies need to just accept that breaches will be inevitable in todays world and spend time developing and testing response plans, moving form different types of attacks to highlight which plans are most important.
3. Treating cyber security as an IT issue rather than a business risk. Many organisations accept that cyber security is a business risk, rather than an IT-specific issue – but not many act on this by integrating cyber security risk management with wider business risk management processes.
4. Not identifying and protecting your most important assets. Companies need to focus their budgets on prioritising protection. Many tend to be excessively targeted on delivering company-wide compliance, yet don’t effectively protect their key assets.
5. Final many companies simply do not have the technical defences to deal with sophisticated and persistent threats. Across 2015, an increasingly broad group of highly capable actors will target critical assets across a wide range of organisations.

 

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Capita plc has recently announced that it has acquired Sigma Seven Limited for an undisclosed sum.

Sigma Seven Ltd offers a specialist geospatial solution that allows users anywhere to access company files, organise their work, plan tasks and record data directly on to high-quality digital maps.

This helps organisations get the most from their data, map and enterprise systems, enabling field and office staff to work together more efficiently. Sigma Seven’s clients include UK utility companies such as Scottish Power, UK Power Networks, Wales & West Utilities and Southern Water.

Since its acquisition of AMT-SYBEX in May 2014, Capita has strengthened its presence in the utilities and transport sectors providing mobile technology and Big Data software solutions. AMT-SYBEX has also been a partner of Sigma Seven and the combined product offering will represent an enhanced and highly complementary solution set that will now be available to clients.

 

Capita chief executive, Andy Parker, said: “The acquisition of Sigma Seven will provide further scale and depth to the range of solutions that Capita can offer utilities, construction & engineering, environment and government sectors. On integration, significant synergy benefits such as complementary products, an overlap in client base and prospective clients, will more strongly position Capita in the market when providing new and improved, tailored solutions.”

Sigma Seven has 33 employees based in Edinburgh.

Echo Managed Services, the specialist provider of outsourced end-to-end customer contact services, has strengthened its collections division with the acquisition of Sheffield-based Grosvenor Services Group. Grosvenor is one of the UK’s leading debt collection agencies, specialising in field-based collections within the utilities sector.

Combining Grosvenor’s field based skills with Echo’s comprehensive multi-site contact centre resource and office based collections expertise will further strengthen Echo’s end-to-end customer contact proposition, with the company offering comprehensive customer journey support, from initial sign-up through to ongoing debt recovery where necessary. The acquisition of Grosvenor Services Group follows Echo’s 2011 purchase of London based Inter-Credit International – one of the UK’s longest established debt recovery agencies with over 40 years’ experience and speciality in office based collections.

“Acquiring Grosvenor Services Group is a great strategic move for Echo as we have complementary skills and expertise, particularly in key sectors such as utilities and the public sector that are central to Echo’s expansion plans,” commented Steve Wrench, Operations Director at Echo. “Echo already bills and collects many millions of pounds for utility and public sector clients each year, and the addition of Grosvenor’s proven debt recovery and debtor tracing solutions – backed by its strong field-based collections resource – will further strengthen our operation.”

 

Echo’s Managing Director, Nigel Baker added: “We have an on-going commitment to provide our clients with a best practice approach to collections - one that not only delivers better results for our clients but also ensures full compliance with key industry regulatory and governance requirements. With the specialist skills and expertise that the Grosvenor team brings, we look forward to further strengthening Echo’s collections capability.”

Echo’s leading edge collections strategy is based on a powerful data-driven approach that focuses on helping organisations to choose the right solution for the right customer at the right time. Echo is focused on ensuring that it consistently delivers on collections targets for its clients, while always treating their customers fairly with empathy and understanding. Following the acquisition, Grosvenor’s Sheffield-based operation becomes Echo’s seventh site.

 

Commenting on the acquisition, Lloyd Birkhead, MD of Grosvenor Services Group Ltd said: “at Grosvenor we’ve built a reputation over the last 17 years for providing our customers, particularly those in the utilities sector, with a high quality debt recovery service. I’m therefore delighted that in Echo Managed Services we move forward with a complementary business partner that will build on our success by integrating Grosvenor and our services into its end-to-end customer contact proposition.”

Assistance for the acquisition was provided by FDYL LLP and Ironmonger Curtis LLP.

 

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Whilst technology can play a big part in improving the efficiency of a field service operation, nothing is as important as ensuring your field service managers are fully armed to do their job. With this in mind we have teamed up with specialist field service training organisation SGSA to bring this series that looks at some of the key concepts that make a good field service manager great. 

The topics included in this series, written by SGSA’s Senior Consultant Steve Brand, are based around the content of SGSA’s 4 and half day, university standard training course for field service managers and Field Service News readers are eligible for a discounted attendance. Further details, a discount code and links to registration are all included at the bottom of the page…

Management is the intervention of getting work done through others, so the success of the field service manager is directly linked to the performance of his team. When the team is meeting its goals, the manager receives the credit. The analogy with the manager of a football team is very apt. When the team lifts the trophy at the end of the match, the manager receives the greatest accolade even though he never set foot on the pitch.

Conversely, when the team is plummeting through the league, the chairman sacks the manager not the team. The previous concepts in this series support this analogy. Concept #1 is to Close the Knowing Doing Gap; in football, the strategy is defined in the changing room but if the tactics are not put into action on the pitch then the match will be lost. Concept #2 is to Put the Whole Team’s Brain to Work; the different talents of everyone on the team are needed for success: forwards, mid-field, defenders and goalkeeper, all working together. Concept #3 is Fair Process; the players actually play the game so their input on how they can win is crucial. Concept #4 is Build a Values System; the manager defines how the team is expected to work together. Concept #5 is People Development; training of the players is the responsibility of the manager. Concept #6 is Empowerment; the manager provides feedback during the match but doesn’t run alongside the players telling them who to pass the ball to next.

You can catch up on the early parts of this series here. Read part one here, part two here and part three here

For the last of our series of four articles, we are providing two more powerful management tips to help Field Service Managers improve working relationships with their engineers and increase productivity.

Concept #7: Manage Behaviours not Metrics

Managers need to compare and increase engineer productivity so they frequently set goals on activity metrics. Activities, for example, the number of service calls made per engineer per day, are easier to count than the results of that activity, for example, an increase in customer loyalty. Technology also allows activities to be easily and accurately reported, whereas it is still ineffective at measuring value creation.

A problem with setting goals on activities (‘input’) rather than value (‘output’) is that it is often simple for field service engineers to manipulate their activity numbers. For example, an engineer being measured on service calls could ignore rather than replace a worn part on a unit being serviced so that he is called out again. Hence, focusing on activity metrics can actually lead to unwanted behaviours being introduced into the operation. The result could be that engineers are commended for meeting their goals when the reality is that they are very busy doing the wrong things to make their numbers look good.

The alternative is for managers to focus on the behaviours that result in added value for the customer, for example, picking up service calls quickly, arriving on time for appointments, setting realistic expectations, explaining the solution, cleaning up properly after the job, etc. The challenge for managers is finding the time to make sure that all of these things actually happen rather than reply on a report alleging that they are happening.

 

An ongoing field service training program is the most effective method of ensuring that engineers know, develop and perform the best practice behaviours for field service. The program consists of two stages: first, teaching all engineers and subsequent new hires the tips and techniques that ensure customer satisfaction and high productivity; and second, providing regular feedback on how many and how well they do each best practice in the field. Ideally, but depending on the size of the team, each engineer should be assessed on his handling of service calls for half a day per month. This means being observed on the job by a manager, team leader, mentor or experienced colleague, and given a score and constructive feedback on how to improve. This isn’t a cheap program but the return on investment is substantial.

In summary, ensuring that engineers adhere to field service best practices is a key responsibility of the manager and one that generates more satisfied and loyal customers, which is obviously good for business. Setting goals on engineer activities will ensure that they are keeping busy but, by itself, can never be effective in ensuring that they are on their best behaviour. And, to continue our earlier analogy, a football manager doesn’t sit in his office waiting to be told the final score, he stands on the side line watching and assessing each player in action.

Concept #8: Eliminate Self-Interest Behaviour

It is human nature to try and make the most out of whatever situation we find ourselves in. Given the choice, most employees would prefer not having to work, but they have to if they want to put a roof over their heads. So, given that employees have the constraint of having to go to work, they will strive to make going to work as enjoyable as possible for them personally. There is nothing wrong with this, in fact, making work enjoyable should be encouraged the manager, but not if the actions or behaviours taken to make themselves happy has a negative impact on the customer, the company or their colleagues.

Self-interest behaviour, or maximizing personal happiness at the expense of others, can manifest itself in many ways; tardiness, laziness, cutting corners, poor documentation and manipulating metrics are amongst the most common. Another problem with self-interest behaviour that is not eliminated by the manager is that it can creep, both in terms of the degree of the behaviour and to other members of the team. If the manager has not said anything about me being ten minutes late every few days then perhaps I can get away with fifteen minutes? And if I see someone else isn’t completing their site reports then it must be ok for me not to do mine.

 

The key to eliminating self-interest behaviour is to let the engineer know that you have seen it as soon as you see it. State the facts casually the next time you see the engineer alone and give him a chance to respond, for example, “I notice that you’ve been late a couple of times this week. Is everything ok?”

In most cases, just letting the engineer know that you’ve seen the behaviour will be enough to stop it. If the self-interest behaviour continues then the second step is to repeat the statement and remind the engineer of the goal. Words such as “I notice that you’re still coming in late. You know that we need everyone here on time to ensure that we meet service levels. Is there anything that I should know?” There is a third and fourth step to resolving poor work behaviours before taking the official route of a Performance Improvement Plan, but 80% or more issues are resolved after the engineer has been subtly told twice that his behaviour is unacceptable.

Speed is of the essence in eliminating self-interest behaviour. Delaying the conversation until the next performance review or one-to-one meeting allows time for the behaviour to get worse and can also make the behaviour seem more serious, especially if it is included in the meeting documentation. The football manager speaks to the team about what they are doing wrong at half-time, not the end of the season.

 

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Could you or your colleagues benefit from attending the next SGSA Field Service Manager Course?

The Field Service Manager program is dynamic and interactive, with students frequently working in small groups, presenting findings and working on the course case study.

The program is four and a half days of course content and university-level instruction and learning that is focused on managing a field service operation.

If you want to see more information or register for the course you can do so by clicking here

PLUS! Field Service News subscribers receive a 10% discount on the course fee when quoting reference FSN0407.

 

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With the growing reliance on digital business processes in most companies today, the IT department has more responsibility than ever. But, according to new research, businesses are disrupted within the first few minutes of an IT outage and poor communications management means finding the right person to investigate the issue can take as long as, or longer than resolving it.

Forty-five percent of IT professionals reported their business is impacted if IT is down just 15 minutes or less, and 17 percent said disruption occurs the instant an IT outage develops, according to new research from Dimensional Research. The “Business Impact of IT Incident Communications: A Global Survey of IT Professionals” report was commissioned by xMatters, inc., a leader in communication-enabled business processes.

However, 60 percent of respondents said it takes that same 15 minutes or more just to identify the right individual to respond to an issue. Nearly half of the IT professionals surveyed said it takes as long as or longer to identify the person as it does to resolve the problem.

Showing strong agreement that improved IT alerting systems benefit the business, 91 percent of those surveyed said poor incident communication increases downtime. Eighty-seven percent indicated that guaranteed alert delivery would accelerate issue resolution, and 85 percent said issue resolution would be accelerated by a response system that initiates steps with a single click on a mobile device.

[quote float="left"]Eighty percent of respondents said loss of digital data would have a more significant effect on the business than loss of buildings, vehicles or goods.

Eighty percent of respondents said loss of digital data would have a more significant effect on the business than loss of buildings, vehicles or goods. That illustrates the extreme importance of IT responsiveness to issues, yet a surprising 41 percent of the IT pros said they have ignored IT alerts and communications.

 

According to the report, part of the challenge with IT alerts and notifications is that often those notified had personal events that may compromise their responsiveness. A dynamic and automated system that could be updated based on team availability could generate better response by IT professionals, leading to better accountability and faster resolutions and minimised business impact.

In recent years, IT’s role has expanded from basic system support to enabling the business to facilitating online business, while supporting employees’ numerous devices.

The IT professionals indicated they are willing to do more. Ninety percent said IT can offer more strategic services to the business; 74 percent indicated IT expertise should be leveraged for other automated systems; and 77 percent acknowledged that the business thinks IT is too slow in resolving key issues.

The report concluded, “Businesses trust IT to keep critical systems running smoothly while securing highly valued data. But, when issues arise business stakeholders overwhelmingly feel that IT isn’t resolving them fast enough. Fast issue remediation will require that the right people be contacted efficiently based on availability and expertise.  This may indicate that the communications management alerting systems that have served IT in the past may simply not be able to support IT’s growing role and that a new solution is required.”

The survey polled over 300 IT professionals from the United States, Europe and Mexico. Participant companies came from a mix of sizes – from large enterprises with over 10,000 employees to medium-sized businesses with 1,000 employees – and from a variety of industries, including technology, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and more.

 

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