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"Bill Pollock, President Strategies for GrowthSM takes a look at some of the findings of their 2017 Field Service Management Benchmark Survey to explore the degree to which UK Field Service Organisations are  investing in new technologies and analytics…”

Each year, Strategies For Growth^SM (SFG^SM) conducts a series of Benchmark Surveys directed to the global services community. The preliminary results of the 2017 Field Service Management (FSM) Benchmark Survey clearly reflect that UK/Europe Field Service Organisations (FSOs) are continuing their focus on addressing the top market drivers that impact their geographic marketplace – and in many cases, at a significantly higher rate than their global respondent counterparts!

For example, UK/Europe FSOs currently place their greatest emphasis on dealing with such key market drivers as:

1. Customer demand for quicker response time;
2. Internal mandate to drive increased service revenues;
3. Need to improve workforce utilisation and productivity; and
4. Need to improve service process efficiencies.[/ordered_list]

In fact, the 2017 results clearly show the increased importance of making process improvements compared to just one year earlier when process efficiencies did not even place among the top three market drivers. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that UK/Europe FSOs are continuing to invest more in new technologies – most notably, the Internet of Things, or IoT, and mobile tools – in support of their respective field forces.

Susannah Richardson, Account Director, mplsystems, concurs with these findings stating that, “We’ve seen our customers increasingly asking about what further functionality they can add into mobile applications to improve effectiveness of their field force.It’s no longer simply about field technicians being at the right place at the right time with the right parts, but also about them being empowered to excel in the service that they offer and to provide additional services.”

 

“We’re also seeing organisations looking at ways to better manage the planning of their workforce in real-time. Typically planners spend lots of time managing exceptions, such as: emergency jobs; customer changes or job overruns and delays; even if they have scheduling in place, too often these are not flexible enough to handle live situations. We are seeing lots of interest in our new scheduling algorithms to handle real-time changes and IoT feeds (AESOP) and so improve efficiency in both planning teams and the field workforce.”

However, one of the greatest differences reflected in the UK/Europe survey results is in the percent of services organisations that are currently developing and/or improving the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) they use to measure service performance; (i.e., cited as a top strategic action by 65% of UK/Europe respondents, compared to only 47% overall.

Richardson agrees that, “Business analytics are a large part of all of our customers’ field services and business operations, which is why it is such an integral component of our solution offerings. Traditional measures don’t offer service performance, as they are operationally focused and don’t reflect customer experience. However, now we’re seeing our clients using our analytic tools to develop their own dashboards as they have become increasingly focused around KPIs specific to the service and experience that they are delivering to their customers.”

Another key factor that may be used to explain the heightened focus of UK/Europe FSOs for stepping up to improve their lot is that they continue to lag slightly behind their global counterparts with respect to service profitability (mean average of 35%, or slightly lower than the 38% attained among the overall respondent base, both in 2015/16 and 2017 surveys).

In addition, at a mean average of 81%, UK/Europe FSOs are also currently falling somewhat below the global survey population with respect to attaining desired levels of customer satisfaction (i.e., 83%). However, the research also strongly suggests that the market recognises the importance of stepping up to the challenge of improving their performance for these two key metrics.

Based on these survey findings, and other corroborating research, it is not surprising that the UK/Europe field services community also recognises that it will need to increase its investments in mobile tools and new technologies to compete effectively in an expanding global marketplace. In addition, it also understands the importance of building an effective Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), or metrics, program to measure the impact that its strategic actions, technology investments and resource acquisitions will actually have on the organisation’s performance moving forward.

 

While UK/Europe services organisations cite current investments in mobile tools to support field technicians as somewhat lower (27%) than the overall survey base (40%), future plans (i.e., over the next 12 months) for integrating new technologies are reported virtually at par with the rest of the world (i.e., 35% in the UK/Europe, compared with 37% for the global survey base). Accordingly, these data suggest that the adoption of new technologies in the UK/Europe may be roughly only one year behind that reflected by the general survey population (which is mainly comprised of respondents from the Americas).

Planned strategic actions by UK/Europe services organisations through 2017 reflect an even more dynamic, rather than static, approach to the field services marketplace. For example, 54% of respondents plan to develop and/or improve their use of field service KPIs, or metrics; and just as many plan to improve planning and forecasting activities with respect to field operations (54%).

What these data primarily show is that the UK/Europe field services community recognises the need to take specific strategic actions to enhance and improve existing service processes and operations, and that these actions begin first and foremost with the need to develop and/or improve the use of service metrics and KPIs.

These actions are then complemented by the need to invest in the right mobile tools and technologies to empower their resources both in the field, and in the back office;, to improve existing processes; to meet the growing needs of customers; and make greater contributions to the organisation’s bottom line.

 

However, the greatest impact on the future of Field Service Management is most likely to come as a result of the growing acceptance of Cloud-based technology. Among those UK/Europe organisations currently planning an FSM implementation in the next 12 months (or considering doing so in the next 12 to 24 months), a Cloud-based solution is preferred by 40% of respondents, compared to only 20% citing a preference for Premise-based – basically, a 2:1 ratio in favour of Cloud.

However, roughly two-out-of-five respondents (40%) remain undecided at this time (compared to only 33% for the general survey population). Still, Cloud-based FSM solutions appear to be the dominant preference, regardless of global geography.

In 2017 and beyond, the focus will likely be even stronger on the customer in terms of striving to meet (and exceed) their demands, preferences and expectations – or “back to the basics”. UK/Europe FSOs will continue to plan to accomplish this mainly by improving the processes they use for delivering their services; the KPIs they use to monitor their improved performance over time; investing in new tools to support both field technicians and customers; and integrating new technologies into their existing FSM or Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) systems.

 

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Richardson and the team will be attending Field Service Management Expo next week where mplsystems will be unveiling a new genetic algorithm based scheduling tool, to find out more visit them on stand N650 and for those unavailable to attend you ca contact Richardson directly at susannah.richardson@mplsystems.co.uk

 

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Award-winning providers of field service management software, mplsystems, will be exhibiting at the recently rebranded Field Service Management Expo this June on stand N650.

From their intelligent real-time scheduling, parts management and mobile app software, to their service management CRM and contact centre solutions, many top manufacturing and service companies across Europe, have successfully trusted them to transform their efficiency and customer experience.

Recognising that the customer needs to be the focal point of every field service business, mplsystems’ software places customer experience at the centre of its functionality. Via self-service and multi-channel communications, the customer is kept informed and can interact through their channel of choice. With an intelligent scheduling engine, companies are also able to respond to customers more quickly with precise time slots, without sacrificing workforce efficiency.

New technology launch

mplsystems will also be using the expo as the platform to launch their pioneering AESOP scheduling module.

Using the latest genetic algorithms to provide real-time scheduling, this software will ensure that businesses can be responsive to customer requests in real-time, whilst managing changes and delays without compromising on workforce efficiency. This grant funded development builds on mplsystems’ leading dynamic scheduling engine. See how you can better manage the complexity of your field service operations at Stand N650!

 

Presentations and discussions

Throughout the course of the Expo, their CEO, Paul White, will be delivering a talk session on Minimising Downtime, IoT & Proactive Maintenance. Todays’ customers have heightened expectations, in that they expect responsive service and are much less accepting of any unnecessary downtime. This session addresses how organisations can look to adapt from a reactive to proactive and preventative maintenance model. White will also discuss how unforeseen delays, overruns and changes can be best managed in real-time, without adversely impacting service delivery.

Jon Meredith, mplsystems’ Business Development Director, will be delivering a talk session on Delivering Customer Experience in Field Service. Digital connectivity has changed the way customers perceive field service and has raised their expectations of responsiveness, communications and First-Time-Fix rates.

This session will explore how organisations are using self-service and other communication tools to improve Customer Communications. Meredith will also discuss responsiveness to customer requests and how organisations can better manage changes, delays, overruns and precise time slots in real-time, without compromising workforce efficiency.

 

mplsystems will also be taking part in one of the discussion panels during the Expo this year, exploring the topic of the Ageing Workforce. Panellists; Paul White, CEO at mplsystems; Hans van den Heuvel, Operations Director at Canon Europe and Tom Mills, Business & Field Manager at Concept Resourcing, will evaluate the impact of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to capture and disseminate knowledge, while tracking the evolution of the field service engineer.

Join mplsystems, Field Service News and a number of other key providers to the field service sector on 20 – 22 June at London Excel, to discover the latest field service technology that can transform your scheduling, service efficiency and customer journey, whilst enjoying a packed three days of thought provoking service management discussions.

 

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mplsystems activity overview

• mplsystems | Stand N650
• Talk Session | Minimising Downtime, IoT & Proactive Maintenance | Field Service Theatre | Tuesday 20^th June | 14:10 – 14:40 | Paul White, CEO, mplsystems
• Talk Session | Delivering Customer Experience in Field Service | Field Service Theatre | Wednesday 21^st June | 13:40 – 14:10 | Jon Meredith, Business Development Director, mplsystems
• Panel Discussion | Ageing Workforce | Wednesday 21^st June | 11:00 – 11:30 | Paul White, CEO, mplsystems, Hans van den Heuvel, Operations Director, Canon Europe, Tom Mills, Business & Field Manager, Concept Resourcing[/unordered_list]

 

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mplsystems, providers of contact centre and field service technologies, have recently announced their inclusion in Gartner’s 04 May 2016 “Magic Quadrant” - for the CRM Customer Engagement Centre.

This positioning follows their inclusion as a Visionary in Gartner’s 15 October 2015 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) Western Europe, making them one of two vendors to appear in both Magic Quadrants.

This is the second consecutive year that mplsystems have been recognised in the Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center by Vice President and Gartner Analyst, Michael Maoz and Research Director Brian Manusama.

As stated in the report, “This Magic Quadrant examines the global market for customer service and support applications designed to engage customers through whichever channel they are using when they require assistance.”

"We are extremely honoured to be included in Gartner’s CRM Customer Engagement Center Magic Quadrant 2016; we believe it is a reflection of our pioneering technology, which allows agents to deliver an exceptional experience, regardless of whether the customer contacts the company via phone, social media, website or mobile device.” comments Paul White, CEO of mplsystems.

“We feel our inclusion in both of these reports provides validation of our unique capability to create true Omni Channel solutions - bringing together CRM and multimedia, alongside automation and complex business process management.”

 

Gartner evaluated a number of vendors for the 2016 report, performing more than 150 online surveys and 50 telephone interviews with vendor references, as well as conducting over 1000 inquiries with Gartner clients, further evaluating the products.

The report states that; “at the heart of a CEC is a case management and problem resolution system. It requires a strong ability to create, split, federate, join, assign and escalate cases, if it is not to be of merely marginal benefit to a CRM initiative.

The functionalities evaluated in this Magic Quadrant include those for knowledge-enabled service resolution, social media/community management and offer management. Also evaluated, are interaction assistance tools and service analytics dashboards.” Gartner also reflected that, “to support customers, some interactions will remain human-assisted, while far more will be automated and some will require customer self-service through search tools or social media channels.”

mplsystems’ vision is to transform consumer experience and agent efficiency in the service center, by bringing together all multimedia communications with contextual customer data in a single unified agent desktop.

The software guides agents through complex business processes whilst removing the need to hand actions off to the back office for processing.

Alongside this, their innovative self-service module filters out simple interactions for automation as it seamlessly routes the remaining transactions for agent assistance. What makes mplsystems really unique is their ability to offer not only these customer service solutions, but also cloud contact centre and field service technology as part of a truly end-to-end Omni-Channel solution.

About the Magic Quadrant
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Field Service Insight UK is a brand new industry event that will be held on the 9th March 2016 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, hosted by mplsystems.

The day will consist of a unique mix of presentations, interactive talks, customer case studies and networking opportunities for professionals in the field service management sector.

Unlike many other shows and conferences in the industry, Field Service Insight UK is a smaller, focused event designed to address key topics and trends via a mix of industry professionals, field service organisations and topical experts. With a compact agenda over a 4 hour time frame the event has been put together to allow busy professionals to attend without having to dedicate a full working day.

Paul White, CEO, mplsystems comments “The field service industry is rapidly changing and introducing more and more advanced tools and technologies to improve operations than ever before. It is therefore important for organisations to understand the industry, what is changing and how other businesses are successfully implementing field service solutions to improve performance and remain competitive. Field Service Insight UK has been designed to address key topics and trends, such as the Internet of Things, Servitisation and best practice project implementation that will provide the audience with a range of knowledge from some of the best speakers in the industry.”

 

This new industry event is targeted at those in senior level positions who manage the field service delivery, operations or technology within their organisation. The presentations and case studies at this event will suit those individuals in organisations with 20+ field based workers who are looking at ways to improve service delivery and want to know more about how new technologies are changing the way we work.

Speakers will include Dave Ormston, IT Success Specialist from leading IT Consultancy LOCS, Paul Gresty, Managing Director of Ecomaster and a case study session from Rob Burgess, European Service Manager from leading casino equipment manufacturer, TCSJOHNHUXLEY.

Nick Frank, Founding Member of the Steering Committee at Manufacturing Services Thought Leadership Network (MSTLN) who will be hosting an interactive session on Servitisation and the Internet of Things in the field service sector. This will be followed by Paul White, CEO mplsystems, discussing the latest technology solutions for field service drawing on key customer project implementations including Cofely, the Metric Group and Gamestec.

 

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For more information or to register go to: mplsystems

 

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The Internet of Things is predicted to have a huge impact on customer service. In this article,  Paul White, CEO mplsystems, identifies the top three changes he expects to occur.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical objects embedded with electronics, software and connectivity that are able to be controlled remotely with the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

Gartner have predicted that three years from now, 5% of customer service cases will be autonomously initiated by connected devices as more objects connect to the internet. This is supported by Nicola Millard, Head of Futures and Insight at BT, who recently commented at mplsystems’ customer conference, “I think a lot of the technologies we are starting to see like the Internet of Things could be used more proactively with the contact centre so it becomes more in charge of demand rather than just responding passively to it.”

The IoT introduces opportunities, but how will it really change to the day to day running of the contact centre and the role of the agent?

1. The contact centre will start delivering proactive rather than reactive customer service

Our number one prediction for the Internet of Things is that it will transform the contact centre from a reactive inbound customer service centre to a proactive outbound service. This will be achieved by devices being able to self-diagnose problems and immediately alert the contact centre of the issue, often before the customer realises. The integrated system will automatically trigger an outbound call to be delivered to the agent desktop who will then offer proactive customer service, rather than waiting for the product to fail and the customer make an inbound enquiry.

For example, washing machines will be able to self-diagnose problems and notify the manufacturer when a part needs replacing, the contact centre is then able to make a call to the customer to notify them and fix the device before a more serious problem can occur, significantly improving the customer experience.

 

Alternatively, products that needs refills, such as drinks dispensers, will be able to send a notification straight to a field based workers mobile device, who can then add this to their list of jobs and deliver with their boot stock. This means that they will never need to alert the contact centre, alleviating the number of calls and requests they are having to deal with.

2. The role of the contact centre agent will become more specialised and they will be better prepared

As a result of devices detecting and alerting the contact centre of problems, the contact centres agents will transition from receiving high levels of inbound, reactive customer requests to delivering an outbound proactive service. This will result in the agent’s role transitioning from a generic customer service role to a specialist in a specific product or problem type. Agents are going to need to know about the faults that are being alerted in the contact centre as they will often be more informed about the issue than the customer and will need to convey this information. At the point of engagement, they will not just be aware of the issue but will have remedies in place and may even have started applying them to resolve the problem. From a business perspective, the level of customer service is greatly increased, agents are more knowledgeable and productive and the business should experience cost savings through a more streamlined, proactive way of working.

3. Masses of new data will help to improve the customer experience

The Internet of Things will bring with it a whole new explosion of data that, if managed correctly, can be of enormous value to the contact centre and customer experience delivery. Contact centres will be able to gain more control of customer service by the Internet of Things providing them with new streams of information that is integrated in to their existing infrastructure. Customers will not have to wait in long queues, go through time-consuming security questions or try to explain complex faults, as agents are presented with all the information they need from multiple sources of data.

 

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Service Management Expo 2015 saw a number of excellent debates including a panel discussion that focused on the challenge of replacing an ageing workforce. As the millenials take over the work place, moderator Kris Oldand asked the panel just what will the changing face of field service look like?

The challenge for service companies was not so much the age of their current workforce but the aptitude and willingness to learn new skills, said Andy Beer, European Service director, Pitney Bowes. "As technology changes, the engineer's role may change from being field-based to carrying out remote diagnosis on a Help Desk. Regardless, they still need an underlying skill set and it's important those skills sets are up-to-date. Do they have the aptitude to learn and adapt?"

In field service, solutions are knowledge-based, pointed out Susannah Richardson, Marketing Director at mplsystems. "What is important is to get that knowledge documented - and your ageing, very experienced workforce can often be the best source for that. See it as an opportunity to get that valuable knowledge out of one engineer’s head and into the wider workforce. Once you've secured that knowledge, your service levels won’t drop if key staff leave or retire."

Formal, documented knowledge can also improve customer service, she added. "Once available, it can be used by the Help Desk engineers for remote diagnostics and repair, or even to guide customers on fixing problems themselves via a help area on your own website."

It is important that during the process of documenting knowledge, experienced engineers do not feel threatened, said Beer. "The solution is to show them you appreciate that knowledge and involve them in the process - such as sending them the final document for approval."

How important is technology in attracting tomorrow's engineers?

The consensus on the panel was that technology would play a key role in attracting the Millennials who will be the next generation of field service workers. As Professor Howard Lightfoot of Cranfield University School of Management said: "Young people don't think about technology, they just use it. They access everything digitally, including training and education."

 

Service companies need to remember that Millennials would also form a large part of their customer based in future said Lightfoot. "They'll expect a different sort of service and engineers will need training in soft skills. Managing clients and client behaviour, coping with complaints on a face-to-face basis will become an important part of the skill set."

A service sector that used modern technology would help attract the next generation and get buy-in from existing engineers when work processes were changing. "Giving engineers an iPad to work with wins hearts and minds," said Beer. "We found giving them permission to use the device in their personal lives made them excited and got them thoroughly engaged in the changes we were making in the business."

The sharing generation

Service companies could also benefit if they grasped the fact that the millennial generation, whether customers or engineers, are used to social media and sharing of information, remarked Richardson. "In the workplace, millennials will want to be part of a social community that shares information, interacts and is collaborative.  This generation are more likely to communicate via Instant Messaging than make a voice call. Millennial customers wouldn't be phased by requesting a service via an app, not via a call to the help desk. "

It might also drive earlier resolution of a problem, she added. "Technology enables a three-way web chat, for example, with the customer calling the help desk who then brings in a field-based engineer to discuss the problem."

Trusted advisor or sales person?

The panel was asked whether a new generation of engineers would be less resistant than older workers to the idea of leveraging their position as “trusted advisor” to become a “trusted sales advisor". All were adamant that while this might be appealing for service companies, there were also inherent risks.

"There is potentially a lot to be gained, but if the field engineer starts to act in a more overt sales fashion, there is also the risk of losing that trusted advisor status with the customer," commented Beer. "Field engineers see themselves as trusted advisers and fixers. Many will resist the ideal of becoming sales representatives and customers, indeed, can see through overt sales tactics. "

Richardson however, thought some engineers would welcome a sales/upselling role. "Incentivising engineers for sales rewards them monetarily, but can also be attractive from a career development point of view."

Technology for training

"Skills training needs to accept that there is a wide spectrum of workers, from those who are scared of a mouse to those comfortable with a smartphone,” remarked Professor Lightfoot. "Training is no longer just talking to people, it’s more interactive these days,” he added.

 

Baby steps and the gamification concept was the way forward, thought the panel with Dan Lancaster, Field Service Specialist with Telogis, advising "Set questions in a dynamic format. The process can be heavy at the start but you soon reach the point where you can get them to filling in questionnaires to test their skills levels."

Ageing workforce: crisis or opportunity?

Having already identified the need to interact with Millennial workers, each of the panel members were asked whether they considered if an ageing workforce represented a crisis (all that knowledge disappearing from the company) or an opportunity (with all those young people with a new outlook, enthusiastic about embracing the technology) that is going to be essential for service delivery over the next couple of decades.

"There are over 1 billion mobile devices out there: your workforce will be using them anyway, so tap into that mindset," urged Lightfoot.

"Technology is delivering the opportunity to document a vast amount of knowledge and get it out there to the wider workforce and customers," pointed out Richardson.

Finally, Lancaster added: "Younger people expect to be engaged in what they are doing, at work or play. So engage them. It's a fantastic opportunity to look at your operation in a different way."

So, in conclusion, our panel unanimously agreed that any potential crisis in terms of loss of expertise as older workers retired could be overcome and that service companies should explore the different aptitudes and mindset of a younger generation to drive process change and transform customer service strategies.

The face of field service is changing, but as with anything change can be both frightening and exciting at the same time. The trick is to walk the line in the middle so you are prepared for the pitfalls and ready to embrace the opportunities. Is your company up to the challenge?

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: mplsystems
Title: Seven Key Steps to Achieving Customer Service Excellence in the Service Industry
Download: Click here to download this white paper
By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis:

Over the last few years we have seen major change in nature of our customers; they are now expecting, and demanding, much more from customer service. In fact, nearly 70% of customers will leave a business if they don’t receive the customer service they expect.

Customers are now demanding quicker response times, more visibility, more control and much more knowledge when speaking to the customer service team.

This white paper analyses what factors influence customer perception of the quality of service delivered, how we measure it and ways service business can improve service delivery.

Overview:

Topics within the white paper include:

1. Successfully measuring service quality to continually improve customer service

Increasingly businesses are adopting analytics to gain deeper insight into operational performance and customer behaviour to improve the customer experience. However it is reported that only 20% of organisations believe they have the technology and skills to gather the necessary insights to effectively measure performance.

Big Data is a buzz word making its rounds across a variety of industries and the field service sector is no exception. Over the last 10 years, field service organisations have become overwhelmed by the relentless flow of information coming in from multiple sources, in various formats and through an array of tools.

The major challenge businesses are facing is not only how to make sense of the massive amounts of data they collect, but knowing what they need to be measuring in order to improve the customer experience, as well as operational efficiencies.

2. Providing a Consistent Level of Customer Experience Across all Channels

Traditionally the service industry has primarily used the telephone as the main channel for customers to find out the status of their service request. However today’s customers have 24:7 access to an array of channels through their mobile devices and expect to able to contact a business through their channel of choice.

A more consistent, cross-channel customer service can be created by having a solution that can manage multimedia in a single universal queue (including voice, email, click-to-chat, fax, SMS, web and social media), rather than service desk agents having to deal with piecemeal technology and legacy systems that are disparate and complex.

All these channels can be placed on the agent’s desktop allowing them to see all required customer details, despite the channel they chose to contact them via.

3. Equip all Customer facing personnel with full, consistent, up to date knowledge

Knowledge is the key to providing high levels of a personalised customer experience and it is important to share this knowledge across the business and not keep it siloed within departments. Although many companies are trying to establish ways of effectively achieving knowledge share, it is common to face difficulties in keeping this knowledge up-to-date and making available to the right person at the right time.

It is important for businesses to understand that knowledge sharing needs to go beyond the confinements of the office walls and extend out to the mobile workforce who depend on knowledge sharing just as much with those in the office.

As customer facing employees and those who go out to fix problems and meet customers, it is essential for them to be able to access the information they need, when they need it.

4. Client Self Service and visibility of service status

The customer’s ability to arrange service calls or get status updates with a company is an important element of how a service organisation is viewed by its customers.

Online portals are currently the most used self-service channel within the service industry, however the functionality of these portals is still quite limited and often do not provide the customer with the control they require. One of the main problems that is limiting self-service portals is the lack of integration with existing business technology such as scheduling systems and field service engineer’s mobile device technology.

Organisations need to ensure that when implementing self-service portals, they are integrating them to all necessary back office systems to allow customers to not only access basic information such as billing, service requests or appointment booking but also allow them to make payments, amend or cancel appointments or have real-time updates of their service delivery without human interaction.

5. Motivate and train your technicians to go beyond basic repair

The field based engineers of your organisation are not just the ones who fix, prevent or manage customer requirements, they become the face of the business and one of the only employees from your business that the customers sees.

With this in mind, it is important to ensure the business is getting the most out of their remote workforce by training them in not only providing the best repair and maintenance service, but also by improving their soft skills in order to successfully communicate, listen and train customers on the products and maintenance best practice.

6. Increase help desk productivity with technical training and automation

Whilst training your engineers to carry out additional tasks such as quoting and ordering, it is also important to ensure that those on the service desk are also doing as much as they can to help improve the customer experience.

The traditional role of the service desk is to log customer requests and schedule them for the next available or most skilled engineer to go out and visit the customer. However, what if the service desk could provide some level of expertise in trying to find out more about the service request to better inform and equip the engineers and on some occasions even help solve the customers problem remotely, over the phone?

7. Stay one step ahead of the customer with proactive maintenance

The amount of reactive service requests coming in to an organisation can cause complexity for scheduling as well as effecting engineer availability, parts ordering and the amount of time it takes for the problem to be fixed.

To avoid the amount of reactive jobs being received, businesses should implement a strategy to track performance of components and analyse common faults in order to predict when maintenance will be needed.

The internet of things will also have a huge impact on service delivery and although still somewhat in its infancy, will soon be able to transform the industry

 

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As self-service technology experiences rapid growth in industries such as retail and financial services, research reveals that the field service industry have been somewhat slower to adopt writes Paul White of mplsystems. 

Given that the role of the consumer has largely changed over recent years due to the consumerisation of technology, customers are now expecting to be able to have more visibility and control when it comes to interacting with a business.

Within the field service industry there is a growing focus on improving communication between the service desk and field engineer teams.

However, businesses are slowly realising that technology can also be used to improve communications with clients, offering a low effort experience that not only increases visibility and loyalty but generates cost savings.

Research carried out by mplsystems and Field Service News reveals that the number of organisations implementing self-service technology for their customers is slowly growing, with 40% of organisations offering some element of self-service technology to their customers.

However, it is clear that although there is a trend for self-service arising in the industry, many online portals and self-service technologies are still very limited in functionality with only 6.7% of respondents providing their clients with total self-service functionality.

It is clear that customer self-service technology is starting to make an impact in the field service industry, however the functionality of these solutions are still quite restricted and often do not provide the customer with the control they require.

Businesses need to make sure, when implementing self-service technology that they are integrated with other key business systems. This will provide the customer with all the tools they need to be able to action, amend and view their service requests, profile and billing.”

Therefore the key to successfully implementing customer self-service portals it to ensure they integrate with existing systems such as ERP, scheduling and engineers mobile technology. Without this integration, customers are unable to access the information they need and often continue to use the service desk to perform updates, changes and requests.

The portal needs to be able to provide the customer with the same level of service as the over the telephone, otherwise, as recent research by Software Advice concludes, introducing an online portal can do more damage than benefit if implemented incorrectly.

It is suggested that, despite the current popularity of online self-service portals, mobile app technology will rapidly become one of the most popular self-service solutions in the industry.

Research suggests that over 50% of smartphone users chose apps over phoning a contact centre and this will continue to rise as the influence of generation Y and the proliferation and innovation of mobile devices continues. However, only 5% of organisations currently offer their customers mobile apps as a communication channel into the service desk.

Nicola Millard, Head of Customer Insight and Futures at BT Technology, comments “It is predicted that by 2020 web chat and messaging via mobile devices will account for 40% of customer interaction with the service centre, whilst channels such as phone and email drop to 38% and 4%. Businesses need to prepare themselves for this channel transition by equipping themselves with the right technology.”

It is clear that the value of mobile app technology can be significantly increased when messaging capability is included. As traditional browser based web chat extends to messaging on mobile devices, it becomes possible to bring field engineers, the service desk and customers together in a virtual world, despite location or device.

When clients are speaking to a service desk agent and need further assistance, the agent can quickly open up a 3-way chat session with the appropriate expert or field service engineer from any location. Often client issues can be resolved in this way without the field service professional actually needing to visit the client site, proving cost effective and efficient for both the business and the customer.

After an award winning construction & property maintenance company implemented an integrated customer online portal, they experienced 100% business growth by being able to take on more business without having to increase resource and by providing differentiation when tendering for new business contracts.

The online portal now manages 75% of the businesses reactive job requests, significantly reducing the workload on the service desk whilst providing instant access for customers to report problems.

It is clear that the field service industry can gain many benefits from introducing self-service technology and with research suggesting that customers will continue to demand more control and visibility, implementing this solution is becoming essential to remain competitive.

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To find out more about customer self-service in the industry download mplsystems white paper: “Meeting customer demand: Evaluation of the top 3 customer self-service technologies for field service.”

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: mplsystems
Title: Meeting Customer Demand: Evaluation of the Top Three Customer Self-Service Technologies for Field Service
About: This white paper will explore the transitioning role of the customer in field service and how the proliferation and popularity of smartphone devices has created a demand for self-service technology in both B2B and B2C markets. It will discuss the different self-service technologies available and suggest how best to implement these solutions to ensure businesses are achieving a true end-to-end field service management solution.
Download: Download the white paper by clicking here   

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Overview:

Within the field service industry there is a growing focus on improving communication between the service desk and field engineer teams.

However, businesses are slowly realising that this type of technology can also be used to improve communications with clients, offering a low effort experience that not only increases visibility and loyalty but generates cost savings

Current use of self-service technology

The customer’s ability to arrange service calls or get status updates with a company is an important element of how a service organisation is viewed by its customers.

Given that the role of the consumer has largely changed over recent years due to the consumerisation of technology, customers are now expecting to be able to have more visibility and control when it comes to interacting with a business, especially with online self-service.

Taking Customer Self-Service Portals to the next level

As customers are given more visibility and control in other areas of business through online channels, they are expecting this control in all areas of life. Research carried out by US based consultancy, Software Advice, reported that whilst access to an online portal for self-service tasks such as scheduling and bill paying had the second-strongest positive impact on respondents’ likelihood to hire a field service company the data also indicated that an online portal could have the most negative impact in customers eyes.

It is clear that out of all the customer self-service technologies available, online portals are currently the most used within the industry, however the functionality of these portals is still quite limited and often do not provide the customer with the control they require.

 

One of the main problems that is limiting self-service portals providing the tools the customer needs is the lack of integration with existing business technology such as scheduling systems and field service engineer’s mobile device technology. This means that whilst the portal may provide the customer with basic information such as billing, service requests or appointment booking, they are often unable to make payments through the app, amend or cancel appointments or have real-time updates of their service delivery without human interaction.

Web Chat and Messaging

In a recent interview, Nicola Millard, BT’s Head of Customer Insight and Futures, references how web chat is set to become the dominant customer contact channel of the future. She comments, “Firstly, web chat is an immediate channel, like the phone, you can have a conversation. Secondly, the ability to manage multiple chat sessions means that the economics of chat is positive, assuming the volume is there. Thirdly, chat can be blended with other channels for example email and social media.”

However, whilst this channel is already being successfully implemented across many industry sectors, the field service industry has been somewhat slower in the uptake of web chat. Field service organisations have traditionally struggled to unite two key elements – the technical expertise of their field-based engineers with the availability of their service desks. Not surprisingly, engineers are always busy – either travelling to a customer location or already engaged onsite.

However, as the traditional browser based web chat extends to messaging on mobile devices, it becomes possible to bring field engineers, the service desk and customers together in a virtual world, despite location or device.

Business Clients Mobile Apps

Whilst mobile apps are helping transform operational efficiency for field workers, the extension of this technology to customers is still very limited.

 

Only 5% of organisations currently offer their customers mobile apps as a communication channel into the service desk. However, it is reported that over 50% of smartphone users chose apps over phoning a contact centre and this will continue to rise as the influence of generation Y and the proliferation and innovation of mobile devices continues. Mobile apps are a key technology in field service, but this mostly focuses around apps for engineers who are out in the field and need access to information from the service desk. But if we are able to provide engineers with integrated apps and scheduling capabilities, then why not offer this to business clients as a simple, quick way to check service requests, book appointments or access billing capabilities?

Integration and Interaction

There has been much talk around integration of field service management solutions to create a true end-to-end approach to the customer life cycle allowing full visibility across different areas of the company. However, when adding new technologies, such as customer self-service, businesses often overlook the importance of fully integrating this new technology with existing business systems.

On many occasions, businesses will introduce a third party supplier and then face multiple problems when trying to get each system to speak to each other. In the 2014 Field Service Software research report, it was confirmed that over a fifth of businesses were working with five or more providers to implement their field service technology.

Download the white paper by clicking here    

 

 

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