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Columbus, the global digital business services provider, has today announced the launch of a fully connected and mobile Field Service solution. Columbus has created an end-to-end intelligent Field Service solution that utilises the full Dynamics 365 platform.

This includes seamless integration between Dynamics 365 for Field Service and IoT sensor reporting, predictive maintenance and advanced business intelligence to enable customers to make real-time, data-driven decisions on operations. Completing the field service scenario is Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, the mixed reality heads-up display technology delivered via HoloLens devices.

Columbus has drawn on over 25 years of manufacturing industry experience to develop the new solution, which enables medium and large enterprises to quickly adopt and leverage emerging technologies to take full advantage of digital disruption and develop a competitive advantage. The Columbus Field Service offering introduces greater operational visibility by connecting the entire service supply chain to deliver a personalised, customer-focused experience and reduce operational costs.

For organisations looking to tailor a field service solution around existing systems, Columbus also integrates out-of-the-box with Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations to optimise additional processes such as work orders and invoicing.

By consolidating data streams to provide businesses with a holistic view of operational performance, the solution helps boost scheduling efficiency, first-time fix rate, engineer punctuality, on-site productivity and engineer billable time, while enabling engineers to identify more opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell services and products.

Mary Hunter, Managing Director at Columbus UK commented “As customers become increasingly connected, businesses must evolve accordingly to maintain a high level of service and meet rising expectations. Columbus helps organisations such as Orangebox, Handicare, and Capital Solutions add value to their businesses and support a customer-centric experience. The new Columbus Field Service solution extends this ability even further to introduce greater business intelligence, end-to-end business process automation and drive cost efficiencies.”

Chris Mean, Chief Operating Officer at Columbus UK added “We are dedicated to supporting organisations throughout every step of their digitisation and servitisation journey, and the Columbus Field Service solution coupled with the extensive expertise of our consultants allows them to enhance and modernise their field service offering at any stage. Our new solution will provide organisations with the ability to harness the full potential of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 portfolio and extend their value stream accordingly.”

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Kris Oldland, talks to the ever effervescent Carsten Groth, Technology Solutions Professional with Microsoft Field Service, to discuss what field service will look like in the not so distant future...

There are some people who have a such a clear passion for what they do it is palpably infectious, you can literally see the effect they have on those around them.

I find such people are usually a joy to talk to and so when I caught up with Carsten Groth, a Technology Solution Professional working with Microsoft, for the first time in a year or so (at the industry conference Field Service Europe) it was a true joy to see that there was an almost childlike excitement in his eyes.

He had just given a presentation discussing how and what Microsoft are terming connected field service and it is clear that it is a topic that seems to truly capture Groth’s natural passion for technology and harness it into something resembling true exhilaration.

It’s what makes him such a great ambassador for his company and such an engaging speaker. However, with Microsoft’s own field service focussed offering rapidly evolving and spreading it’s technological wings he seems to have cranked the passion all the way up to 11.

“There are complicated processes that need to be rethought, it’s like working in a big think tank around where is field service heading in 2020?” Is his first response when I ask him what developments are being focussed on in Microsoft’s Field Service team.

However, Groth is quite right to be excited by the new IoT enabled world we will all soon be occupying.

We often talk about revolutions in business but truly have we truly seen a revolution in field service on a par with what the near future promises to deliver.

If we are honest our industry that hasn’t massively changed even with the rise of mobile computing. Yet, what we are now seeing is true evolution, field service 2.0.

Mobile just made field service better, faster, and more efficient. But what we are seeing now is a maelstrom of technologies coming together which will deliver genuine, industry defining transformation change. And that is a concept that Groth is fully on-board with.

 

“The way we see it and the way Microsoft has started to think of field service, is in terms of what are the new field service enablers,” he begins.

“To begin there are the classical elements, things like the dispatching and scheduling elements and then there are also some influential parts coming from the mobile side of that, turning the mobile experience into more task oriented, check list oriented and more efficient UI oriented functionalities.”

“But now we have augmented and virtual reality in the mix as well as cloud services and of course IoT and these are all enablers to all these field services as well.”

And it is these enablers that are changing every part of both service providers and their customers thinking around field service. Although the introduction of new technologies, which lead to new processes, will also bring with them new challenges as well.

“When you think about an on-site service for a washing machine, in the past it may have taken 60 minutes and as a customer I would be billed for 60 minutes worth of work,” Groth explains.

“But now I see that the field service engineer has far more capabilities enabled by technology so am I still willing to be charged for 60 minutes when he is now doing the same job within 15 in minutes. Obviously I am not”

“If I then see a field service engineer struggling with that same task which I have just looked up online, a task I now know should take less than 15 minutes. Am I going to think it is fair for his company to be charging me an hours work when he should only be spending a quarter of an hour working?”

“By having all these influential cards we see that the customer has more influence and more impact than they have ever had in the past,” Groth adds.

It is a very valid point and it is absolutely vital that field service organisations understand that whilst technology will undoubtedly revolutionise our industry for the better in the coming years, it will also create new challenges that we must be prepared to face.

So how does this not so distant future look to Groth and his colleagues at Microsoft?

“We are driving forward from the term connected field service because we are talking about connected things that have an influence on field service. We are talking about IoT but not only that - also for example, sentiments coming from omni-channels.”

“For example, in my generation if I got stuck in an elevator then the first thing I would do would be to push the assistance button. But the generation following mine may be more inclined to pull out their phone and tell the world they are stuck in an elevator made by x,y or z. They’ll probably do this even before they think of pressing the emergency button to get rescued!”

“OK, so it may be a somewhat extreme example but it is also a perfect example of negative sentiment that we can also assimilate and utilise as a tool to improve service delivery,” Groth adds.

 

Of course this type of thinking wouldn’t be at all possible without Cloud computing and the all encompassing, pervasive connectivity that it can deliver. Is this why we suddenly see Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, stepping heavily into the field service sector, once more? Is the future a world of integrated platforms with FSM systems being an integral part of a much wider operational ecosystem?

“I do think we’ll see a movement where we will see the niche players who are offering very specialised FSM software, who are focussed on specific productivity sets, having to step out of their niche,” Groth replies.

“I think they will need to move towards a broader set of thinking as they will only be able to enable the use case scenario if they take into account more things. It’s a bit like building a house.”

“If you’re designing a house as an architect you need to be way more efficient than just designing the shell of the house. You need to have all these different parameters around how are we building the house.”

“I think this is where we see the movement inside field service. It’s not only about thinking ‘I want to enable my field service engineer to do things more efficiently and more productively’. We now must think ‘I want to enable all the kind of things for on-site service as well as customer satisfaction.’”

Of course, it is impossible to discuss the future of the field service sector without touching upon the topic of servitization.

 

Does Groth see the current focus on servitization as being driven by the technology available or is the opposite true - and it is in fact a desire to servitize our businesses that is leading us to seek out technology solutions more aggressively?

“The shift to servitization is one driver for technology but I think there are a lot of other influential parts enabled by technology. It is also based in part on a generational thing. The younger generation playing around with all sorts of technologies and asking why they can’t use these in their day to day business?”

“For instance, we’ve had customers requesting to use WhatsApp for their chat mechanism for field service. We asked why do you specifically want to use WhatsApp? We do offer a solution that offers the same capabilities but it was a generational step up with this product line. They knew how to use it and were familiar with it, they didn’t need training and could just get on with it.”

Regardless of the drivers which as Groth points out are in fact numerous, the fact is that technology is playing an ever increasing role in field service management, and now more than ever before it is beginning to shape how we work and importantly also how we interact with our customers.

“As I said, there is this enablement where we get more knowledge on the side of the customer,’ he reflects.

“We need to think how does connected field service, how do vendors like Microsoft, help our customers empower their own customers.”

“This is actually what Microsoft does with our entire partner ecosystem. It’s the way we are thinking. How do we empower users, not businesses to do more and be more productive.”

“We are thinking how do we step out of the box of FSM only and we need to think about IoT from the consumer side and business side. Changing the way companies think about doing business with field service operational software.”

 

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Contact information for Columbus:

 

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Services provided:

Columbus A/S configures and implements Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service

What We Do:

• Columbus helps you provide a customer-centric service with a focus on personalisation, key touch points and interactions.
• Columbus helps you optimise the entire service supply chain for increased automation, greater efficiencies, reduced costs and improved satisfaction.
• Columbus helps you leverage field service as a profit centre within your larger organisation for additional revenue streams and growth.
• Columbus helps you connect the dots between you and your end customer and everything in-between, closing the feedback loop.

How We Do It:

• By leveraging key functionality in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service and our expertise in PowerBI, Azure Services, IoT Hub and Mobility, we tailor a solution to fit the inspired service offering you want to provide your end customer.
• Our business process led approach ensures Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service will give you a rapid return on investment by aligning frontline productivity features with your organisation's processes and procedures.
• Our out-of-the-box integration to Microsoft Dynamics Finance and Operations gives you a holistic view of your organisation with a single source of the truth. As a partner on your servitisation journey, Columbus will consult on your service vision and execute it from proof of concept to delivery.
• Columbus uses its deep industry knowledge in manufacturing and distribution to ensure your field service solution becomes an effective extension of your organisation.
• With proven expertise in the Dynamics 365 applications, we ensure you maintain a single source of truth, whilst adopting and leveraging new technologies. Our end to end solutions enable you to action your insights to close the loop between your design, production, distribution, end service, and the customer.

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All about Columbus:

Re-imagine Field Service With An Entirely Customer Focused, Connected Service Supply Chain...

No matter where you are in your digital and servitization journey, Columbus will help you meet your top-line business objectives.

Our proven process uncovers your business potential through a combination of consulting, solution implementations and long-term services.

By marrying a thorough analysis of your business processes and operations to your business goals we are your one-stop-shop to a completely servitized business.

Our deep industry knowledge and innovative practices will ensure that your field service solution becomes an effective extension to your organization, aligned to your processes and your goals. As your partner, we will consult on your service vision and execute it all the way from proof of concept to delivery.

Automate and optimize the entire service supply chain for increased efficiencies, reduced costs and greater satisfaction

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service enables real-time data-driven decisions, helping you deliver an exceptional customer experience, keeping your business competitive and giving you the opportunity to open new revenue streams.

Automate and optimize the entire service supply chain for increased efficiencies, reduced costs and greater satisfaction. Action your insights to close the loop between your design, production, distribution, end service and the customer. Most importantly, maintain a single source of truth while adopting and leveraging new technologies.

Columbus has done the legwork to test and develop Industry X.0 technologies to ensure they are applicable and implementable based on industry environments and standards. Columbus helps organizations realize the benefits digitalization brings to the industry today, for a future-proof tomorrow.

Columbus is an international IT services company serving customers worldwide. We are experts in developing and providing digital business applications that help our customers in the digital transformation of their business. We are specialist within the industries retail, distribution, food and manufacturing.

We’ve proved this through more than 28 years of experience with more than 8,000 successful business cases. Columbus has offices and partners all around the world.

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Columbus Resources

GUIDE: Fitting Field Service Into Your Microsoft Solution Architecture