ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘management’ CATEGORY

The next event put together by non-profit knowledge sharing organisation The  Service Community is to be held on the 16th April at the Fujitsu's Stevenage office located at:

• 14 Cavendish Road,
• Stevenage,
• Hertfordshire,
• SG1 2DY

Continuing on from the excellent sessions that have been held at previous events the agenda is once again packed with key figures from industry and academia sharing their insights into what makes great service.

The days agenda is as follows:

• 12:00 Arrival, Coffees
• 12.30 Welcome and Introduction: Martin Summerhayes, Fujitsu
• 13:00 Presentation 1:  Dr. Veronica Martinez, Cambridge Service Alliance. "Outcome  Based Service"
• 13:45 Presentation 2: Alex Bill, "Advanced Services in the Power Generation Industry: competing through advanced services" 
• 14:30 Networking break
• 15:15 Presentation 3: Des Evans, Honorary Professor Aston Business School and Former CEO MAN Trucks. "Acheiving 'disruptive' growth in the UK Commercial Vehicle market with outcome based services"
• Presentation 4: Chris Farnarth, Allocate Software. "Customer success and outcome based software services" 

Attendance is free of charge and these events have proved to be highly engaging and thought provoking sessions in the past so attendance is highly recommended. To arrange your attendance email The Service Community on this link.

 

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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…

In the last article, we highlighted how many field service managers work their way up through the ranks and learn a management style through trial and error or from their managers and their managers’ manager.

In summary, management training is often informal.  And yet, John Maxwell, author of The 5 Levels of Leadership, identified that one of the five key reasons that employees choose to follow a leader is because the leader has helped them to progress their career.

Quite simply, managers should take a more formal approach to discussing career aspirations with field service engineers and to help them gain skills that will move them towards their personal career goals.  In return, employees show appreciation through greater loyalty to the leader and by working harder.

 

Just taking an interest and providing career guidance is a good start because it demonstrates to the engineers that we are interested in their success beyond them meeting our monthly targets.  Empowerment is also a form of career development.

Continuing our series of four articles, here are two more powerful management tips to help Field Service Managers improve working relationships with their engineers and increase productivity.

Concept #5: People Development

A key difference between training and development is who is ultimately responsible for making sure that both of these things happen.  Training is the responsibility of the field service manager.

The manager must provide training to the field service engineer so that the engineer is capable of doing the job that he is being paid for.  If the field service engineer has not been properly trained then he is unlikely to have the skills required to be able to do the job.  Without skill, there can be no performance.  On a side note, having the skills does not guarantee that the field service engineer will perform to his highest level.  For high performance, the field service manager needs to provide training and motivation.

Conversely, development is the responsibility of the field service engineer.  Only the engineer can know how he would like to see his career progress.  Hence, there is little benefit to be gained from a lengthy career discussion with a field service engineer who is content with his job and doesn’t see that it is in his interest to gain new skills.  For the rest of the team, the career development discussion gives the manager the opportunity to understand the aspirations of the field service engineer and to demonstrate his commitment to helping the engineer prepare for his next job.

 

Training and development plans are often updated and agreed by the field service manager and the engineer annually, typically in the final few minutes of the performance review meeting.  The recommendation is that the training and development discussions take place separately and within two weeks of the performance review meeting.

This gives the field service engineer time to consider the job skills that were highlighted in the review as needing improvement and what actions he thinks he could take to help him meet the required standard.

The training and development meeting should be conducted in two stages with the field service engineer clearly understanding the difference in the stages.  The first stage is the training discussion led by the manager.  The second stage is the career development discussion led by the field service engineer.  In some cases a career development discussion is inappropriate, for example, for a new hire who needs a large amount of training or an engineer who is subject to the performance improvement process.  In these cases, the manager will need to say that a discussion on career development should be delayed until the field engineer is competent in his current role or the unsatisfactory performance issues have been resolved.

Concept #6: Empowerment

Micro-management is widespread because many managers do not realise that they are micro-managing their employees.  Assigning tasks, giving directions on how things should be done and unnecessary checking of what has been done are common forms of micro-management.

With the exception of new hires and less experienced members of staff, field service managers should take the approach of setting the goals and letting the field service engineers decide for themselves on how best to achieve those goals.  Also, given that the engineers have more knowledge about the customer, machine, situation, etc., they are often in the best position to make the decisions.  The alternative is for the engineers to try and transfer their knowledge to the manager so that he can make the same decision as they would have done anyway!  The latter approach wastes time for the manager, engineer and customer.

 

It is important that managers understand the difference between delegation and empowerment and use language that reinforces a culture of empowerment.  Consider these statements: ‘Please call the customer, tell him the part is out of stock, apologise and re-schedule the appointment’, versus ‘Do what you have to do to make the customer satisfied and let me know if you need me to help’.

The first statement is an example of delegation, i.e., these are the tasks that I want you to do.  The second statement is an example of empowerment, i.e., I am giving you authority to take whatever actions you think are necessary.  Managers are often surprised as to how field service engineers rise to the occasion when they are trusted to get on with the job by themselves.

Some caution is required before empowering field services engineers and it is not necessary to give all engineers the same level of authority at the same time.  Managers need to consider the return on investment of empowerment in terms of time saved, customer satisfaction, employee motivation and so on, versus the cost of a poor decision.

A frequently made decision that if made badly once per year would cost the company £100 is worthy of empowerment.  A decision with a business cost of £10,000 in a worst case scenario is not.

A ‘top four’ factor of employee motivation is the level of responsibility that they are given and empowering field service engineers is equivalent to saying ‘I trust you’.  As mentioned in the previous article, as trust goes up, productivity increases and costs come down.  Hence, empowering employees is a win-win situation for the field service manager and the engineers in many ways.

 

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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 FSN0317

 

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While many IT experts are predicting further big things in IoT this year, Nick Frank suggests they are missing one more vital letter...

2014 saw an explosion in our societies understanding of the potential for connected devices.

Driven mainly by the SMARTphones and the ease of connection to the internet,just about everyone from your primary school kid to their grandmother is getting connected.

And is it my imagination, but utter the words Big Data, Analytics and IoT and they all seem to nod ‘sagely’? So with all this ‘wisdom’ in the world, it’s not surprising that in their struggle to differentiate, Service IT Solution providers have been falling over themselves to describe capabilities that manage knowledge, bring transparency and leverage big data.And in fairness this is not just talk.

The capabilities on offer are impressive, as Field Service, Parts Management, CRM technologies are increasingly integrated into seamless end to end solutions.

Indeed this trend is driving the next wave of consolidation in the industry. Led by PTC with their acquisition of Axeda and ThingWorx, solution providers are looking to develop the technology platforms to enable Remote Services.

Another example of the big bets being made is GE’s multi million dollar investment in their Predix platform for Machine to Machine (M2M) communications.The effect of this hype has been to dramatically raise the profile of the potential value connected technologies could have on industry.

But I am troubled by this jargon and thinking. In my mind these technologies and capabilities have no value if you do not do anything with the information they create. Yet we are all being told that if you don’t have an Internet of Things (IoT) strategy, you are dead!

But while working on a couple of projects in the area of Analytics and Remote Services, I had a Eureka moment.

It’s about the way we think!

Ok I admit, its probably blindingly obvious to the readers of FSN, but I believe that 2015 will increasingly become the

year of S.

And that is not because it’s now the ‘Chinese year of the Sheep’!

No, I believe we have it all wrong when we talk about IoT. It should be the iotS…

S for Service Thinking!

In simple terms ‘Service Thinking’ is the culture or even passionate belief that value is only created by applying your technical or business knowledge to improve whatever it is your customer is trying to achieve.

But to do this professionals will start to adopt new ways of thinking and I am afraid new jargon.

We will hear more of ‘Co- Creation’ & ‘Service Experience’. Metric will be biased towards outcomes rather than operational inputs. ‘Continuous improvement via learning’, which is a very much part of the service psyche, will enable companies to find new ways to ‘run, transform and innovate’ their business.

Indeed this type of thinking is not just limited to field service. Already most really profitable manufacturing companies have moved away from a product dominant focus to a Service Centric approach.

These companies focus on value creation in their customer’s business leveraging their technology and inherent know how to earn better than average margins.

Indeed this is a concept I will be promoting in 2015 together with the Servitisation guru Professor Tim Baines of Aston Business School, as part of the Manufacturing Services Thought Leadership network initiative to be launched later this year.

But it also dawned on me, that it is our imagination that is now the limiting factor.

Frankly the technology is out there to do more or less what ever you want. The big gap is our understanding of what these technologies can do for our business.

Indeed it is Service Thinking and Imagination, which companies must master if they are to reap the full rewards offered by these new technologies.

Already larger OEM’s are exploring these concepts in a very pragmatic way. We see them building infrastructure that sits between their Service Management System and their devices as they discover the benefits of remote services.

In the coming year, together with FSN, we will explore the progress they are making. So in 2015 if you want to stay ahead, don’t be a sheep…. Be a Service Thinker!

 

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In many cases, there may be great differences between a customer's wants and a customer's needs; but sometimes there may actually be only very little difference writes Bill Pollock, President for Strategies for Growth^SM

It all depends on the specific customer. However, the way in which you manage each customer relationship will ultimately make the greatest difference with respect to your prospects for gaining customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Typically, the more knowledgeable customers are about the equipment they are using, the more their wants and needs are likely to be the same; however, less knowledgeable customers may not really have a clear idea of the distinction between the two.

For example, a copying machine customer may want you to clean the equipment while you are on-site if they had been noticing black marks or spots on the copies coming out of the unit; when, in fact, the main reason for the black marks may have entirely been due to a worn-out roller or other part that needs to be replaced.

In a case like this, what the customer really “needed” was clean copies coming out of the machine; however, what they thought they “wanted” was simply for the machine to be cleaned. If you had listened only to the customer, you might have embarked on a faulty corrective action with respect to satisfying their needs. Remember, when it comes to repairing the machine, you are the expert - not the customer!

 

Similarly, a customer may want you to take the machine apart and put it back together again, or replace a part that is not really defective, simply as an exercise to ensure that the copier continues to run “smoothly”. However, what the customer may really need is a more effective preventive maintenance schedule for the equipment that would otherwise negate the need to actually have to take the machine apart or perform a parts swap, etc.

In this case, what the customer “wanted” was for you to take the machine apart and put it back together again; however, what they really “needed” was a machine that would not break down in the near future as they were preparing for a major copy run. Properly scheduled preventive maintenance would have accomplished this, making any further corrective actions entirely unnecessary.

The best way for you to understand the differences between customers' wants and needs is to help them to understand the differences in the first place. It all goes back to the “Listen, Observe, Think, Speak”, or LOTS, approach.

 

By listening to the symptoms that the customer is describing once you arrive on-site, and the problems that they tell you they have been experiencing until you got there, you will probably already be in a good position to surmise what is needed.

However, upon further observation with respect to the machine, you will undoubtedly have an even clearer picture. In fact, by this time, you should probably already have a good idea of exactly what the customer “needs”.

This would also be a good time to explain to the customer what the initial diagnosis is, what you plan to do about it, and the anticipated amount of time it will take for you to repair it. By providing this information early, you can avoid running into situations where the customer is telling you they “want” one thing and being forced to tell them they really “need” another.

In other words, the best way to avoid a "debate" about what is “wanted” vs. what is “needed” is to identify the problem and appropriate course of action as soon as possible, keep the customer informed on an as-needed (or as-requested) basis, and let them know what they “need” upfront, before they feel compelled to tell you what they “want”.

 

Of course, it may not always be this easy. There will always be situations where what you feel the customer needs is not what the customer wants.

This is where an ongoing educational process between you and your customers needs to take place.

This does not mean to say that the two of you need to sit down, read the equipment manuals together, compare notes, and enter into “philosophical” discussions about equipment maintenance; but, rather, that a series of ongoing, brief discussions should take place every time you are on-site to repair the equipment to ensure that the customer understands why the machine failed, what they could do to lessen the chances for failures in the future, what the recommended "fix" is, and why your way of addressing the situation is better than their way.

Sometimes, the solution may be as simple as upgrading to a newer unit.

Basically, what the customer really wants is a piece of equipment that is always up and running, ready to use, unlikely to fail, easy to repair, easy to manage, and easy to use. The details with respect to how each of these is accomplished should really be of no consequence to the customer – although they usually are!

Your role, over time, will be to make sure that you always communicate to the customer about what is “needed” to the point where they have full faith in your knowledge and experience, and are willing to defer to your judgment.

The more communications there are between you and your customers, the quicker they will get to the point where they will defer to your recommendations, and the quicker the distinction between their “wants” and their “needs” will disappear.

 

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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...

Field Service Managers often work their way up through the ranks and learn a management style through trial and error or from their managers and their managers’ manager.  Although ‘on-the-job’ training is useful when learning technical skills, it is a risky approach when training managers.  Managers need to be able to hit the ground running, i.e., they need to be competent managers as soon as they first have responsibility of leading other members of staff.  If not, new managers can unwittingly drive down employee productivity during the process of developing their management style.

Frederik Herzberg’s influential survey on employee motivation in 2003 found that the second greatest cause of employee dissatisfaction is how they are supervised.  Untrained managers are often oblivious to how their behaviours are driving down the motivation and commitment of good employees and can mistakenly believe that decreases in performance is an employee problem rather than a management problem.

Continuing our series of four articles, here are two more powerful management tips to help Field Service Managers improve working relationships with their engineers and increase productivity.

Concept #3: Use Fair Process

Employees want to be given the chance to speak their minds.  They need to know that their opinions are being considered and they have a degree of influence in what happens at work.

If managers want the team to be committed to the task then they have to use the three steps of fair process: the engagement of employees, the explanation of why the decision is what it is and clearly explaining what is expected from them as a result of that decision.  If employees are shown that the company’s decision making process has been considerate of their views then they are much more likely to give their full cooperation to a decision, even when they disagree with that decision.

The opposite is also true.  Without fair process, even a decision that benefits the engineers can be difficult to implement.  Fair process should be conducted at every level of the organisation; however, the reality is that managers are often asked to implement decisions that have been handed down to them without their input.

 

In such situations, and even when the rationale for such decisions is not understood, the management approach is to just pass the decision down to the engineers with the implicit command of Just Do It.  Managing staff in this way lowers trust and, as trust goes down, productivity decreases and costs increase (The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything, Stephen Covey, 2006).

But it doesn’t have to be this way.  The best practice is to get input into decisions from the engineers as early on in the process as possible.  Managers must find time to explain the business problem or other reason behind why a change is needed and then engage the team in finding the solution.  Even if the solution has already been decided, input should be sought from the engineers on how to implement the change with the least amount of impact on them personally.  Just as important, is providing feedback on how the decision was altered as a result of employee input.

If managers do not do this then employees are unlikely to volunteer their ideas the next time that they are asked.  Fair process does not need to be an onerous task; it can be achieved in one hour or one month depending on the size of the change being proposed.

Concept #4: Build a Values System

Given the huge number of correct and incorrect ways there are to behave at work, it would be an impossible and pointless task trying to teach them all to a team of field service engineers.

There is also the grey area of an acceptable behaviour in one company being considered unacceptable in another.  For example, going home when the last scheduled service call for the day has been completed may be acceptable in Company A.  However, in Company B, the field service engineer is expected to return to base until the end of the day.

The problem then arises when a new hire goes home after his last call because that’s what he’s always done.  He isn’t aware that his behaviour is unacceptable unless another field service engineer takes the time to helpfully explain ‘how it works here’.  In most cases employees know how to behave properly so repeatedly telling them what they should be doing makes the manager appear controlling and untrusting of employees’ intentions.

 

The values system provides a framework for the kinds of behaviour that are acceptable and unacceptable and also how people are expected to behave towards each other.

When implemented correctly it forms the base on which mutual trust can be established between managers and employees and also between the employees and each other.  The first key to building an effective values system is to keep it short and simple.

This allows it to be easily remembered and referred to.  An example of a simple but powerful value systems would be these guiding principles: Work Hard; Do What’s Right; Treat Others How They Want to Be Treated.  Everything that a field engineer does at work is likely to be a good, poor or indifferent example of one or more of these principles.

If someone is cherry-picking jobs then that isn’t working hard; if someone is consistently late then that that isn’t doing what’s right.  The manager’s responsibility is to lead by example and every time he sees a correct or incorrect behaviour, to inform the engineer which of the principles has been supported or violated. By acting in this way, field service engineers quickly learn what to do more and less of in a supportive manner and go on to use their common sense before making a decision about what they should or shouldn’t be doing.

 

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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 FSN0223.

Terms and conditions apply

 

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Strategies for Growth^SM  President and member of the #FSN20 Bill Pollock takes a look at what separates great customer service and good customer service....

Conceptually, the main difference between providing “good” customer service and delivering “great” customer service is that, in the former, you are probably only barely keeping your customers satisfied; while in the latter, you are not only keeping them satisfied – you are also keeping them loyal! This is a very important distinction – and one that many services providers do not always “get”.

For example, let’s say that, historically, your company – and you, as one of its personal “ambassadors” – have been working very hard to keep your customers happy.

You have striven to respond to all of their calls in a timely basis; you have arrived at their site within the contracted time in nearly all cases; you have carried the right parts with you to the service call (or have been able to obtain them as quickly as possible once the need has been identified); and you have followed up with a courtesy call whenever there has been time (and even when there has not).

 

While you may think that the sum of these activities, in and of itself, represents “superior” customer service on behalf of you and the company, some of your customers may think otherwise.

They are more likely to feel that all of these services are to be expected from their services providers – all of the time! In fact, you probably have more customers than not who think these activities constitute nothing more than “average” customer service and support, and not “great” support – and guess what? They might be right!

The companies that are generally acknowledged to be providers of “great”, rather than merely “good”, service are those that typically go the “extra mile” in the way they treat their customers.

This may include doing simple things like calling with an Estimated Time of Arrival (i.e., ETA) when they are approaching the limits of their normal on-site response times, or following-up after a service call to explain why an equipment failure may have occurred in the first place, and how to possibly avoid it from happening again in the future.

Thus, it may be that the only perceived difference between “good” and “great” customer service on the customer’s part is the way in which their service providers regularly communicate with them!

 

It is important to keep the customer “in the loop” at all times. If they are expecting you to arrive on-site to perform a repair, they also expect to know approximately when you will actually get there. If there is a problem with your arriving as scheduled, they’ll want to know as soon as possible when you will get there – they will not want any surprises!

It all becomes a matter of “ownership”; if the customer has to call you to find out where you are, when you’re going to be arriving on-site, or how long you think the machine will be down, the customer “owns” the service call.

However, if you can call the customer in advance with an ETA and, at the same time, provide him or her with some accompanying information, you “own” the call. And if you “own” the call, you also “own” the power to keep the customer informed, in line, and, ultimately, satisfied.

Service providers that merely offer “good” customer service are probably doing virtually all of the same things that those providing “great” customer service are doing. However, the single most important thing that distinguishes the “great” providers from the “good” providers, is that they also communicate better with their customers.

When the customer is happy because of you, they are more likely to stay happy with you.

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Anglian Water is the largest water and waste water company in England and Wales by geographic area, operating 1,257 water and waste water treatment works, with over 112,000km of pipework across 27,500km.  Anglian Water services more than 6 million domestic and business customers in the East of England and Hartlepool.

Anglian Water had an established ClickSoftware Scheduling system in place. With more than 15,000 jobs per day being deployed to 1,300 Field Engineers, it was essential that the schedules were as optimised as possible. To ensure they were getting the most out of the system they turned to Leadent Solutions a management consulting company specialising in mobile workforce management.

Anglian Water’s senior managers were aware that they were not optimising their schedules, often seeing ‘white space’ on the Gantt – effectively idle time for Field Engineers.  System changes introduced over a seven year period had added complexity to the system to the point that it really didn’t appear to be working well.

 

With the benefit of hindsight it was clear that necessary change management rigour had not always been applied. Perceived poor performance led the scheduling staff to mistrust the automated scheduling functionality. Analytics showed that this had led to 70% of jobs being manually scheduled, which accounted for approximately 300 hours per week.

Previous investigations had highlighted issues with data, processes, and Scheduler behaviours.  The Operations Management Team took this feedback on board but also wanted to understand the level of integrity of the system set-up and configuration. As a long-standing partner of Anglian Water we were asked to draw on our niche expertise, and asked to undertake an independent review of the system.

Leadent undertook a 6 week programme of work to review the scheduling system.  Before focusing on technical issues they:

• Worked with the Operations Management Team to understand business needs and goals
• Spent time with the Scheduling Team to better understand their viewpoint and working practices

Their Technical Consultants then completed a detailed review of the system set-up and configuration.  Issues were shared with Scheduling Team to validate initial findings.

The full technical review showed that over time the system set up and configuration had become:

• misaligned to business goals and processes
• overly complex, often with conflicting elements

It was clear why the system was not performing optimally, explaining in part why confidence levels in the Scheduling Tool had reached rock bottom.

Emma Newman, Managing Consultant at Leadent Solutions who led the review said “taking time to understand the current position at Anglian Water opened up a series of questions that prompted the team to really start to re-focus and re-address what good looked like ‘today’. Not what was, or what has been, but what is needed now in order to ensure their system continued to support the organisation as effectively as possible, and was properly aligned to future business initiatives and objectives.

Best practice and process adoption is born out of confidence and trust in the solutions that are in place, which was something that was starting to diminish at Anglian Water.

 

We were able to clearly identify the current position, and have understood where the Anglian team want and need to be. Recommendations on how to get there meant that we could help to re-focus their minds on best practice and make sure that the system configuration became relevant to their day to day workforce planning operations.”

Richard Cartwright, Technical Consultant at Leadent Solutions said “Conducting an overall assessment of configuration and technical set up will always unearth the opportunity to make an improvement of some kind. Taking a proper look under the bonnet and making sure workforce management configuration is working to drive the correct business objectives is vital in making sure you are getting the most out of the tool you have invested so heavily in.

If your business changes, the technology has to be re-assessed to make sure it is still working for you and not against you, and in some cases with Anglian, configuration had ended up in a position where it was definitely going against the grain in some areas of the business.”

During our time on site at Anglian Water, we were able to take time to ensure that employees involved in scheduling activities were trained in best practice techniques, as well as up-skilling the third party IT service provider to ensure on-going support was in place.

At the end of the six weeks, a comprehensive report was compiled and presented back to Anglian Water.  The report enabled the business to understand the systems and business processes that were in place, how this compared against others in their sector and industry best practice.  The report also gave clear and specific advice on the remedial action required to maximise their investment and support their on-going strategic goals.

The recommendations made in the report were completely endorsed by the Operations Management Team.   Working with the Scheduling Team and broader business, we were asked to make all necessary changes to the system set-up and configuration.

Ian Rule, Head of Anglian Water’s Operational Management Centre said of the review: “Leadent Solutions have demonstrated their extensive expertise in both scheduling systems and workforce management.  The in-depth review and improvement plan has shown us that they not only understand the complex technical aspects, but also the business – its needs and goals.  Their no-nonsense approach has ensured that we have been given the right information to make essential decisions.  They have delivered where others have failed.”

 

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Across December and January we asked our readers to nominate candidates for the inaugural #FSN20, a list of the twenty most influential people in field service. We received nominations from across the globe through social media, email and even a phone call or two directly into the news-desk.

Armed with a list of candidates, a Field Service News panel selected the final list of twenty based on the number of nominations, their impact on the industry (past, present and future) and their sphere of influence in both the physical and digital world.

After much long deliberation, heartful debate (read arguing) and enormous amounts of coffee we managed to whittle our list down to a final twenty which we pleased to present to you here the inaugural edition of the #FSN20. You may not agree with our selection and if you don’t tell us, tell your friends, tell your colleagues, hell tell the world - because at the heart of it that’s what this list is all about, getting people talking about excellence in field service and raising the profile of those leading us to a better future.

We will be announcing who made the list in alphabetical order in four sections across the next four days. So without further ado we are pleased to bring you the first five of the #FSN20

Colin Brown, Managing Director, Tesseract

Every generation or so a company will pioneer a new approach and then when they start to get some traction everyone else follow’s suit. Service Management Software company Tesseract under Brown’s long standing direction happen to have been that company twice, being the first company to launch a Service Management solution firstly for Windows and secondly in the Cloud.

If they head off in a new direction again I’d suggest paying attention.

Follow Colin @tesseractuk

 

 

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Professer Tim Baines, Aston University

Co-Author of “Made to Serve” and also Director of the Aston Centre for Servitization Research and Practice, Baines is one of the leading figureheads for the servitization movement, which could have an incredible impact on how field service operates for companies that adopt this approach.

An engaging and passionate speaker, with unbridled passion for his topic, Baines is one of the most significant figures in what is potentially one of the most significant industrial concepts in the twenty-first century.

Follow Tim @ProfTimBaines

 

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John Carroll, CEO, The Service Council

As founder of The Service Council Carroll’s impact on the field service industries stretches far beyond their home shores of the U.S. and right across the globe.

Having rapidly evolved from a good idea to a community spanning across 6 continents and representation in more than 30 countries, Carroll finds himself spearheading one of the most influential groups dedicated to field service in the world.

Follow John @tservicecouncil

 

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Alastair Clifford-Jones, Managing Director, Leadent Solutions

For perhaps too long Leadent Solutions have been one of the industry’s best secrets as Clifford-Jones has quietly built his managing consultancy with a team that, unlike some of his better known competitors, is populated with people who have worked in similar roles for their clients –so they inherently ‘get it’.

Therefore, it is not surprising that they are putting together an enviable track record of working with some big names and I think soon many more are set to follow.

Follow Alastair @LeadentSolution

 

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Sumair Dutta, CCO, The Service Council

In his previous role with Aberdeen Dutta headed up the organisation’s Customer Experience and Service Management Group and was a significant key figure in the launch of Aberdeen’s Chief Service Officer Summit Series.

Now in his role as Chief Customer Officer for The Service Council Dutta is one of the most widely seen commentators on the industry.

He also has field service’s best avatar.

Follow Sumair @suma1r

 

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See the rest of the list here:Part Two, Part Three,  Part Four. 

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With field service going through a period of continual evolution there are a growing number of events dedicated to the industry that give you the opportunity to here from vendors, industry leaders and your peers to help you stay abreast of the latest trends. Here we look at some of the key events across 2015…
 

26 February, 2015

Enterprise Mobile Technology 2015, Hilton at St George’s Park, Burton on Trent

This is a unique one-day event bringing together leading executives and key decision makers, partners and suppliers from the mobile services industries. The event is designed to provide a platform to discuss smarter technologies for a connected mobile workforce. You’ll hear from industry experts, explore new and emerging technologies and also have the opportunity to network with peers and colleagues. From discussions about the tablet productivity evolution to connectivity in the field and transforming mobile operations, this is a must-attend event. Click here for more information 
 

23 – 25 March 2015

Field Service Medical Europe, Conrad Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Across Europe, medical device manufacturers want to develop proactive customer service & a surefire way to keep pace with remote technology advancement. Until now, they had no way to share their ideas for the future in an open, collaborative environment. So the team behind Field Service Europe have created Europe’s most interactive forum for service & support executives – a 3 day meeting with the real leaders of the industry helping to transform their business in the digital age.

This event features practitioner only workshops, one-on-one speaker meetings, and is focused around networking to build career-long relationships. Also, as small and medium sized organisations face a unique set of challenges, there are separate sets of workshops for similar companies to collaborate and share their insights. Click here for more information

 

16 April

The Service Community. Venue TBA

“The Service Community is made up of people interested in finding out more about the service industry from its participants. The Service Community aims to provide opportunities to find out what practices have worked for others, and what hasn’t worked, and why; to move away from the theory of what could be done by examining what others do and evaluate successful practices. Meetings (no fee is charged) will aim to provide content which doesn’t appear to be readily available, and to stimulate and inform in a format that is easy to access and use, and relevant to the user.” – Steve Downton

Founded by the late Steve Downton, The Service Community is a non-profit organisation that seeks to drive service improvements and innovation through collaboration.

Run by service professionals for service professionals The Service Community runs a series of events across the year with expert presentations from some of the UKs leading service professionals  from a wide array of industries. Recent speakers include:

Mark Rawding, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Andy Beer, Pitney Bowes, Martin Gilday, Elekta, Martin Summerhayes, Fujitsu, Graham Coyne, Siemans

Attendance is free for all Service Professionals and each event is not only a fantastic opportunity to hear of best-practices from leading industry professionals but also to network with other service professionals across the day. Click here for more information
 

2 - 3 June 

Field Service Forum, Sheraton Hotel, Amsterdam

The 2nd Annual Edition will take place June 2nd-3rd, at the Sheraton Airport Amsterdam. The two-days interactive event will gather 150+ service professionals from cross-industry sectors and from all corners of Europe, and will feature case studies from organisations such as ABB, Siemens Wind Power, Nestle Nespresso, Pentair, Volvo Construction Equipment, and many more. Click here for more information

 

16-18 June

Service Management Expo Exel Centre, London

Service Management Expo returns to London’s ExCeL this summer, taking place from 16-18 June 2015, Europe’s only dedicated exhibition for the field service market will be co-located with Facilities Show as part of the Protection & Management Series.

Now in its 31st year, Service Management Expo is the annual industry event that brings together the latest information and the most up-to-date products and services for those working within service management, logistics, fleet management, operations and IT.

Service Management Expo will host the dedicated Field Service Solutions Theatre in partnership with Field Service News.  A full educational programme will run across the three days, mixing interviews with influential industry figures, best practice case studies and thought provoking panel debates.   The theatre will also host daily networking sessions allowing you to mingle with peers, discuss topical issues and catch up with old friends. Click here for more information
 

19 – 21 October

Field Service Europe, Movenpick Hotel Amsterdam

Field Service Europe is a forum for senior-level service executives from leading global organisations to share best practices on today’s most pressing issues including adopting a proactive and preventive approach to customer management, streamlining aftersales business to radically improve productivity, and utilising advanced remote diagnostics technology to increase efficiency and customer loyalty.

The peer-driven conference is packed with in-depth workshops and interactive roundtable discussions as well as unparalleled networking opportunities like the Women-in-Service Luncheon and VIP Think Tank. Click here for more information
 

21 to 23 October

Aftermarket Europe,  Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin, Noordwijk

The 9th edition will take place October 21st - 23rd in the Netherlands. It is the leading European event for senior aftermarket executives, attracting 200+ participants from global organisations. Over the course of three interactive days of content and networking, participants will be confronted with best practices and solutions to current challenges. Click here for more information

 
 

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