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In this new article for Field Service News, Marc Tatarsky, SVP of Marketing at FieldAware, discusses what organizations in the field service sector should expect as the world gradually reopens for business.

As we enter just past the halfway point of 2021, it feels as though the trials and tribulations of the last 24 months are finally working their way into the rearview mirror. While the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t entirely behind us, much of the world is indeed getting back to a new normal of operating, and the global economy is kicking back in. With the global vaccination rate reaching over a majority of the population in many countries (well over 50% and rising), summer vacations are starting to kick in. Airlines are adding flights, global business events are beginning to go back on the calendar, and many businesses are re-evaluating their office policies.

There is no doubt that the ramifications of COVID-19 are still being felt. Some of the effects of a paused global supply chain are still creeping up in many unanticipated areas – chip manufacturing shortages, surging lumber prices, and even a national chicken wing shortage in the US. But as the dust begins to settle and we analyze some of the lasting repercussions from our survival responses to COVID-19, several unique business model implications have risen to the top. For example, within the service management sector, one lasting transformation has been the consumerization of the end-to-end service experience.

THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE PANDEMIC WILL STILL AFFECT THE FIELD SERVICE SECTOR AS COMPANIES QUICKLY TRY TO ADAPT TO THE "NEW NORMAL"

Something interesting happened when the service industry was forced to deal with the global pandemic. A blurring of B2B and B2C customer experience (CX) expectations occurred. New biosecurity requirements forced many field service organizations to adopt new processes and technology quickly. They needed to fulfill requirements to be accountable for the timing and biosecurity of their dispatched resources. In addition, businesses and employees of all levels were exposed to the art of the possible in their personal customer experiences regarding home deliveries, food services, and other remotely delivered services. The patience for working with an organization that doesn’t take a 360-degree view of customer experience is waning.

Businesses expect the same level of service and data continuity for their business interactions as they do with their consumer interactions. Consumer industry giants like Amazon, Uber, and Netflix are leading the way. Raising the bar of expectations for what customer satisfaction and customer experience can be for all businesses resulting in elevated expectations for understanding past and future service history à la Netflix and point-to-point transparency and status monitoring à la Uber as well as a true 360-degree buyer experience à la Amazon. Businesses expect their B2B interactions to incorporate many of these consumer experiences and have increasing demands for a truly transparent customer experience.

 

"One of the most critical elements of any modern field service management system is interconnectivity and data transparency across various systems of record."

 

Field service organizations raced to adopt new processes and technologies to accommodate expanded service delivery requirements as part of their required response to COVID protocols. However, many of these efforts were rushed into production, leaving the overall customer experience somewhat flat. Now that the new normal operations are stabilizing, advanced service organizations are taking a closer look at their execution models and identifying necessary enhancements and optimizations to deliver the customer experience anticipated. They know the patience for adapting to and getting the workflows right has shortened, and B2B expectations have risen.

One of the most critical elements of any modern field service management system is interconnectivity and data transparency across various systems of record. With the rising consumerism of the service experience, customer data, history, and the workflows associated with field activities must be thoroughly interconnected and transparent. It is not sufficient to have a closed-loop field service workflow. The workflows must interact and leverage data and insights across the organization to enable a seamless 360-degree customer experience.

While this sounds intuitive, many single-vendor solutions lack the functionality or easy connectivity to accomplish this task without significant customization and professional services investment. A best-of-breed approach can often offer better ROI and additional functional advantages by providing unconflicted integration, improved specialized usability, and scale. This flexibility and robust field service-specific capabilities help meet the changing needs and requirements of the service organization – now and in the future.
Many field service segments are bracing for a surge in demand and must be agile to respond. For example, infrastructure service organizations such as renewable energy must not only contend with macro demand pressures created by a global sustainability push but, in the US, a looming federal infrastructure mandate. As both sides of the aisle start to come together to work through the pressing infrastructure challenges in the US, it appears a significant, albeit slimmed down, infrastructure bill is gaining support. This new federal legislation, combined with the global focus on sustainability and reduced carbon emissions, has set the stage for the next wave of demand in a segment that had raised customer experience expectations accelerated by COVID-19 activities. This surge in demand and hyper-focus may create a new mini “crisis” in the supporting field service management activities. Leading vendors in the segments impacted by this surge (and similar surges) will need to closely evaluate their service delivery model to ensure they can deliver on the rising expectations and capitalize on the boom in demand.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digitaltransformation
• Read more exclusive articles by Marc Tatarsky on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/marctatartsky
• Read more News and Features from FieldAware @ /www.fieldservicenews.com/fieldaware
• Learn more about FieldAware @ www.fieldaware.com
• Connect with Marc Tatarsky on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/marctatarsky/

 

FieldAware’s Marc Tatarsky outlines three key areas of focus service organisations should be aware of when approaching digitalisation...

Concluding our series our experts, Bill Pollock, Strategies for Growth, Marc Tatarsky at FieldAware, and Richard Pratley from SimPRO, identify potential areas of concern for service companies to look out for in 2019.

In The Big Discussion we bring together three industry experts and put four key questions for them to answer to give us a balanced view of the major trends impacting the field service sector. This week, the panel end our series by picking out areas of concern for the sector that could surface in 2019. 

What is the biggest area of concern that field service companies should address in the next 12 months?

BILL POLLOCK, PRESIDENT, STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH
The biggest area of concern for field service companies in the next 12 months will be, if they’re already somewhat behind the technology curve (or with respect to the competitive landscape), what do they need to do today to ensure that they will not fall further behind? And, it’s not just a matter of technology either; many FSOs will need to alter their corporate philosophy and mentality as well.

Technology goes hand-in-hand with the personnel that use it, so attention must also be given to how the organisation goes about replacing, and/or supplementing, its existing field force with new hires or the use of outside, third-party “feet on the street” support.
The services world is evolving so quickly, that any missteps along the way can be devastating – so every step, every move counts.

There will also be no time for any intra-mural infighting – only for collaboration and inter-departmental cooperation. Equipment will keep on breaking, and end-of-lifecycles are getting increasingly shorter. As such, there will always be the need for services organisations to deliver their support! However, only those that have the technological and corporate wherewithal to continually improve the way in which they deliver their services will rise to the top of the competitive order – and stay there!


MARC TATARSKY, SVP MARKETING, FIELD AWARE
The phrase ‘doing more with less’ is common in field service and that can be in relation to numerous resources and assets.
The workforce is a key element in this equation and can preoccupy a great deal of management time. There are concerns over an aging workforce in field service, a high turnover of workers and a shrinking pool of talent as demand increases.

Technology plays a critical role in any succession and resource planning. This may be empowering the workforce with automation to streamline operations, bring in best practice and increase productivity without the need to increase numbers. Using technology differently or embracing emerging technologies to enable remote expert capabilities, so a more experienced worker assists others.

Also attracting new workers, especially millennials, for whom, the latest technology is a big part of everyday life. The technology has to be right for both worker and the organisation to get maximum benefit

RICHARD PRATLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR UK, SIMPRO
Technology is changing at a rapid pace. The technology we use today is very different from that we used five years ago so businesses will always have the challenge of how they can ensure the systems and technology they use are still current. Taking a long term view of the business requirement is vital.

Many businesses consider an off-the-shelf solution won’t fit the unique needs of the business. But think again! Overtly customised solutions can lead to restrictions with software updates and integrations with other systems in the future - not to mention a great deal of ongoing expense and time that should be spent on running the business.

Cloud-based software providers frequently release new updates (that are included in the licence fee) to help businesses stay ahead of tech trends. By ensuring the systems you use now are fit for-purpose, you’ll be able to keep up with future technological developments.

You can read the first instalment of The Big Discussion here, the second here and the third here. 

In the third of our four-part series, our industry experts Bill Pollock, Strategies for Growth, Marc Tatarsky at FieldAware, and Richard Pratley from SimPRO, identify key areas of focus for field service managers in 2019.

In The Big Discussion we bring together three industry experts and put four key questions for them to answer to give us a balanced view of the major trends impacting the field service sector. This week, the panel pick out trends for field service managers to look out for in 2019, including AI, data integration and connectivity.

What do you think should be the key areas of focus for field service managers across the next twelve months?

BILL POLLOCK, PRESIDENT, STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH
The next most important areas of focus for field service managers in the coming 12 months will likely be among the following three items:

(1) embracing the “new” technologies to support an expanded and enhanced capability to deliver their respective service offerings. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning have been around for more than 50 years, but are still relatively new to the services segment – but, it’s time to build them into your service operations!

(2) Changing the way in which you deliver – and price – your service offerings. Traditional break/fix service is essentially “dead”. Long live predictive diagnostics and predictive maintenance! Have you spoken to any chat bots lately? Well, you will!

(3) Re-engineering the way you measure performance metrics, or KPIs. MeanTime Between Failures (MTBF) and Mean-Time-to-Repair (MTTR) will not mean anything in an environment where services are being performed remotely on an ongoing basis. It will be time to replace some of the old “tried and true” KPIs with new ones that can measure systemic productivity, rather than merely individual field technician productivity. It’s time to rethink the entire service delivery process – and adjust to it!

MARC TATARSKY, SVP MARKETING, FIELD AWARE
Integration capability tops software selection criteria consistently for field service leaders. Even those who have been hesitant to integrate in the past, can now see that integration capabilities are far more advanced. Working with the right FSM software creates rapid time to value and ensures minimal risk.

Essentially the integration of FSM solutions into existing business systems of record means there is no disruption to ERP, CRM and accounting systems. Ultimately the real value is delivered through synchronized workflows, enhanced reporting and extending results beyond the current systems. Data integration yields actionable outcomes and connectivity to the wider business.

Field service has long been seen as simply a business cost, but leaders now recognise that integration can elevate their service operation, transforming it to a value-driving organisation that delivers broader business results. The evolution of field service through integration should be a focus to unlock this business value.

RICHARD PRATLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR UK, SIMPRO
We continue to see businesses turning to software and technology to improve the efficiency of their workforce and to support customer service.

Smart connected products and IoT technology is transforming field service operations and we’ll see more adoption of this over the next twelve months. The predictive model not only reduces the cost of reactive maintenance but it addresses any issues before they become critical. For the customer, they won’t ever need to worry about needing to deal with a broken asset ever again.

We already have a number of customers running trials of our IoT technology. Not only are they winning new contracts off the back of it but it’s helping to increase the lifetime value of their existing customers.


The final part of The Big Discussion. You can read the first instalment here, and the second here. 

In the second of our four-part series, our industry experts Bill Pollock, Strategies for Growth, Marc Tatarsky at FieldAware, and Richard Pratley from SimPRO, tackle the area of IoT and its role in field service.

In The Big Discussion we bring together three industry experts and put four key questions for them to answer to give us a balanced view of the major trends impacting the field service sector. This week, the panel look at the impact of IoT in field service and whether it will become a necessity for firms to embrace if they are to keep ahead of the service curve.

IoT has become an increasingly key discussion amongst field service companies in recent years - do you think it will soon be essential for field service companies to embrace IoT?

BILL POLLOCK, PRESIDENT, STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH
I believe it is already essential for field service companies to embrace the IoT. That ship has already sailed – and those FSOs that run their services operations on an IoT platform are already beginning to see the return on their investment.

The enormous amount – and wealth – of data that is now being generated through the use of an IoT platform is turning many of the traditional ways of thinking upside-down. For example, it has created an environment where the “old” (i.e., last year’s) way of measuring performance is becoming almost instantly outdated. For example, last year, an FSO might have been assessing its service delivery performance on the basis of asset uptime or SLA compliance, etc. However, this year, they may need to gauge their performance via an entirely “new” set of KPIs!

Measuring your performance in providing “power by the hour” or “airplanes in the air” is quite a bit different than measuring on the basis of the number of monthly site visits, PM calls and asset uptime.


MARC TATARSKY, SVP MARKETING, FIELD AWARE
Undoubtedly, IoT has the potential to revolutionise field service in terms of moving to a predictive model of service, increasing efficiency, reducing cost while improving customer service. But any move to IoT is dependent on various operational factors. These include the prevalence of assets and existing IoT sensors, the ability to add IoT sensors to new sources to collect meaningful data and the technology maturity of the organisation and the FSM platform.

These factors can be dictated by numerous elements – company size, the industry and type of clients they serve, the complexity of the work, the value of assets and equipment they supply and service, and their leadership.

It is important for organisations to establish where they need to be in their operational and technological maturity to help the business thrive. For some companies transformative technologies, like IoT, are a key element of their planning and for others they may not figure at all.

RICHARD PRATLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR UK, SIMPRO
IoT is fast become an essential service offering that customers will ultimately demand of their service providers and it  helps meet the requirement to deliver more for less for customers particularly for those installing and maintaining high-value assets!

When connecting these ‘Things’ to the Internet, using the live operational data and machine learning to analyse performance, it opens up the possibility of variable-based services based on machine condition and utilisation, rather than prescriptive frequency based visits and reactive calls.

This proactive approach can help lower TCO and increase uptime for customers and asset owners, whilst lowering the cost of operation and providing differentiation for the Service Provider. If you want to stay relevant in a competitive evolving market, now is the time to be considering how this technology can be incorporated into your own processes and service offerings.


The third part of The Big Discussion will be published next week. You can read the first instalment here.

In the first of a four-part series, we bring together three industry experts and put four key questions for them to answer to give us a balanced view of the major trends impacting the field service sector. With responses from Bill Pollock, Strategies for Growth, Marc Tatarsky at FieldAware, and Richard Pratley from SimPRO, we look forward to what we can expect across the next twelve months.

2018 was a year in which we saw a number of significant changes move from the fringes of discussion within our industry to becoming an established part of mainstream discussion and in some cases fundamental parts of common place strategy within the field service sector.

The Internet of Things (IoT) for example, has become a staple part of field service delivery with many organisation having already adopted some layer of IoT technology which they are utilising within service delivery and the majority of those who have yet to take their first steps into connected field service are actively planning to do so in the not too distant future.

And as is often the case with technology in field service, the emergence of IoT in our sector, much as mobile did before it, has resulted in seismic changes into the processes and work-flows that underpin how we define service excellence. For example, we have seen servitization become an increasingly popular over-arching strategy for many manufacturers as they shift towards more customer-centric, service-focussed revenue strategies.

Even amongst those organisations who have yet to commit to a fully servitized business model, there are many who are shifting towards adopting a pro-active approach to service delivery, with increasing operational efficiencies and greater customer satisfaction two of the major benefits being heralded by such developments - which are again enabled and empowered by IoT.

Yet, at the same time other technologies that should be having positive impacts on field service delivery, in particular Augmented Reality (AR), have yet to evolve as rapidly, seemingly stagnating in the early adopter phase. Perhaps, 2019 may be the year we see AR finally emerge from its embryonic potential to also becoming a fully established part of the field service sector?

Or maybe, there will be other key breakthroughs, whether they be technologies, or strategies, that will shape the future of field serviceTo get a flavour of what we may expect across the next twelve months we’ve brought together a panel of experts to get their opinions on what to expect in 2019. We begin this series, however, by taking stock from last year.

Across the last twelve months what do you think has been the biggest shift in how we approach field service delivery?

BILL POLLOCK, PRESIDENT, STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH
The last 12 months have been quite a bit more active among global Field Services Organisations (FSOs) with respect to their acquisition and implementation of new technologies. For example, after having spent a number of years more as a perennial line item on an organisation’s “wish list”, Augmented Reality (AR) has gained a much wider acceptance, and is presently in use by more than twice as many FSOs as just a year earlier. In fact, the trend lines for AR adoption are have begun to increase at an accelerating rate.

We are now also seeing the further incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning into existing FSM systems.
As a result, many FSOs have already begun the transformation from the traditional break/fix model to the use of predictive diagnostics and AI-powered chatbots to facilitate and expedite.

MARC TATARSKY, SVP MARKETING, FIELD AWARE
We are seeing a convergence of technology capabilities changing how field service operations are being enabled. One of the key drivers of this convergence is analytics and a data platform that is empowering organisations to take insights from various new technologies (IoT, AR eg) and existing data within other Systems of Record to provide context and the ability to make “new” business decisions.

Field service organisations, due to the complexity of the operations, have always embraced technology and were early adopters of analytics. We are seeing an evolution of analytics in field service, moving from a need to turn data into information, to meaningful business insight and then to decision-making capabilities.
Over the past twelve months we are now experiencing a shift to a more strategic approach to business intelligence. Field service leaders are applying analytics to drive value-adding initiatives into the wider business, with customising service and product innovation, for example.

RICHARD PRATLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR UK, SIMPRO
There are a number of external pressures that are aggregating together forcing business to make a shift and change about how they are approaching field service delivery.

All businesses are looking to do more for less thanks to a skilled labour shortage, pricing pressures on services, travel and resource and compliance cost increases and customer demand for value.

During the last twelve months, we’ve seen more field service businesses looking to streamline and automate their operations to enable them to scale up their workforce without adding in more resources.

The second part of the big discussion will be published next week, when the panel answer questions on IoT.

Marc Tatarsky, SVP Marketing, FieldAware offers us an excellent case study of how Meadows Service Group are overcoming the challenges their field service operation were facing...

Those working in facilities and property management today must tackle some seemingly overwhelming challenges that are facing the industry. From managing multiple sites and varied programmes while maintaining service levels and meeting customer expectations. There is compliance with strict regulatory standards to manage while juggling responsibilities around maintaining often ageing assets and infrastructure and facing pressure to cut costs and complete more work with fewer resources.

FieldAware has recently released a new customer case study for Facilities and Property Management, which looks at some of these challenges, how they are being effectively managed and the benefits that are being achieved.

The case study highlights how FieldAware helped Meadows Service Group – a subsidiary of Meadows Office Interiors – to drive revenue growth and deliver their service promise.

 

About the Meadows Service Group...

Founded five decades ago, Meadows Office Interiors – a market-leading contract furniture dealer – creates innovative workspaces that are strategically designed to help customers improve business performance, increase collaboration, realise cost efficiencies and build brand recognition. Recognising a customer need that extends beyond furniture delivery and installation, Meadows Office Interiors created Meadows Service Group to offer ongoing support to their customer base, ultimately maximising the lifetime and integrity of customers’ valuable furniture assets through furniture maintenance programmes, inventory control, asset management and more.

 

Keeping pace with business growth

Meadows Office Interiors has always had a strong focus on their customer-centric service and delivering exceptional value to their clients. Over the years, Meadows had operated well using manual processes to manage its operations, but the business was expanding rapidly and it soon becomes clear that more streamlined ways of working had to be introduced to keep pace with their growth.

“When we launched Meadows Service Group we started out with what now looks like fairly basic processes in the office,” explains Ethan Bajrak, Director of Enterprise Solutions with Meadows Service Group.

“But with the speed of growth we experienced, we quickly realised we had to be more strategic in the way we worked to effectively manage the operational side of the business, which was becoming more and more challenging. We needed to gain the maximum benefit for our clients and our teams, but the processes we used were not visible to everyone and were manually updated outside of our CRM and ERP systems. There was lots of room for error. With the business expanding, we were in real danger of our service levels slipping and missing opportunities. We knew we couldn’t carry on operating that way.”

 

Driving efficiency

The company needed better efficiency and control of the workflow, the crews, and their tools. But their existing CRM /ERP system, NetSuite, was very important to them so they wanted to leverage its use and not change their processes too drastically.

“Our first step was to see what could be done within NetSuite,” explains Ethan. “The next was to look for products that were tightly integrated with the platform. We also worked with our NetSuite integration partner to get their recommendations for products their other customers had proven success with. FieldAware checked all those boxes.”

 

Reaping the benefits

Meadows has been delighted with the improved day-to-day operational management they have seen and through driving the revenue growth of the Meadows Service Group. The company has increased visibility and control as they have been able to standardise their processes and capture all jobs accurately.

They have been able to minimise downtime, while also improving productivity. Everyone has a FieldAware portlet in NetSuite so they can see everything in real-time. Everyone can now see what’s on tap for all the resources, including employees, vehicles and special tools.

On-time arrivals at job sites have increased and a big part of this is that technicians can plan their day in advance and save time by not calling back and forth to the dispatcher to determine where they should report next. The company has much better tracking of technician’s time spent on each job which, in turn, allows them to bill faster and more accurately to clients.

“Meadows Service Group is a newer revenue stream for the company,” commented Ethan “and FieldAware is helping us manage the growth of this division while effectively delivering our service promise to Meadows’ clients.”

 

Translating into true ROI

So as the business continues to expand, the challenges can continue to be addressed and managed.

“Teams have an increased level of confidence in our service team and customers are pleased with the level of communication and timely response. Because of the real-time sign-offs in the field, and the additional documentation provided for each job, the customer invoice payment cycle is faster, which helps our accounting team.”

“Our technicians are more productive because they are equipped with all the information they need. We can handle more jobs and are seeing less errors and repeat trips, which translates into true ROI,” concludes Ethan.

For more information on FieldAware visit www.fieldaware.com

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