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As humans, we communicate as readily as we breathe and eat. Whichever generation we are born into the desire to relate to the peer group we grow up with remains a constant. The difference lies in the communication technology at our disposal. in this the first part of a new series of excerpts from the latest white paper from IFS we take a look at how communication is changing and technology is evolving.

 

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Are improving your communication channels a key issue for you?! The full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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While a choice of voice and text has been available to all current generations, their accessibility and immediacy has been transformed over the last forty years: from landline to smartphone, from letter to instant messaging. Our preferences tend to be based on the dominant channel(s) within our peer group

 

Generation Z parents famously wonder why voice has become such an alien channel to their children. Millennials can still manage a weekend catch up call to parents but typically revert to texting amongst friends, even though workdays become all about email. Meanwhile, silver surfers boast an expanded repertoire of being natively comfortable with live voice and increasingly up to speed with family group messaging.

Naturally, this personal use cascades into our lives as consumers and employees. Retaining our choices is expected. We still want to communicate in ways that suit us. Adoption of these expectations is as common in B2B as in B2C markets. The technology has become ubiquitous.

The problem, of course, is that brands and employers keep finding themselves behind the curve as new channels pop up.

Take messaging for example. The absolute dominance of Tencent’s

WeChat within Chinese daily life is such that cash and credit cards are already in rapid decline. We now see the same payment system being offered to Western brands that recognise revenue growth from Chinese tourists requires a trusted and familiar payment interface.

In terms of ‘messaging as a platform’, enabling users to get most things done in their lives, from booking doctor’s appointments to paying bills, the West lags the critical mass of functionality that WeChat has already gained. As of 2018, we are still at the very beginning of monetising messaging as a trusted channel between customers and organisations.

 

Although business case logic makes us hope that the latest channels will replace existing ones, the evidence says otherwise...

 

From a customer service leadership perspective, this must seem like a never-ending road. Although old as an industry topic, web chat remains the next new channel for many organisations. Even those already up and running are still sourcing the best practices required to engage effectively. Besides chat, many have also had to deal with social media and now find themselves being told that messaging is the next iteration.

However, the story gets worse.

Although business case logic makes us hope that the latest channels will replace existing ones, the evidence says otherwise. It is an expanding, rather than declining set that most organisations deal with. As such, it is hard to imagine that a single channel will ever emerge as the ‘silver bullet’.

Email is often written off as a legacy channel yet OFCOM’s 2017 communications report shows it remained the single most popular channel for 16+ adults in the UK. What does that imply if you want to be a customer-centric organisation?

Voice might be declining as is often reported, and yes, there are those millennial orientated brands that don’t do voice because their customers don’t, but it remains the dominant live channel of choice by some margin. For many customers, it has unique qualities. It’s faster than text as a form of communication. It’s richer in terms of emotion. Text channels have to augment with emojis.

As the dominant channel, it also attracts negative press for the lack of sophisticated routing many organisations still subject their customers too. First contact resolution without bumps is not as common as it should be. Customers expect low effort outcomes. Even so, once the right person is found, live voice still fulfils many of the expectations customers have for what a service experience should be.

In truth, we live in a world of five generations of consumers and employees. The choice of communication channel is ours. We pick whichever works for us. And by the way, if you think letter writing is dead just ask any complaints team!

So what does this mean? Does it condemn organisations that want to do the right thing by their customers to every increasing cost? The answer depends on what generation of infrastructure you are using.

 

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Want to know more? The full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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 Sponsored by:

 

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

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Swedish enterprise mobility and ERP provider IFS recently announced the hiring of former ServicePower CEO, Marne Martin, as President of their Service Management Business Unit, part of a dual role she has taken on alongside being CEO of IFS subsidiary, WorkWave. Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News reflects on this appointment and why it is a good thing not just for IFS, but for the wider industry as a whole...

I have known Marne Martin for some time now, speaking to her once or twice a year either for interviews, or just catching up at various industry events we've both been speaking at.

When she was included in a previous edition of the #FSN20, our annual list of key industry leaders, it was me that put her forward to the committee. That was in part because I had always found her to be engaging and intelligent when speaking to her, as well as being passionate for the industry we operate within - but then again, these things for me at least should be a given for any CEO within the sector.

Marne, of course, had all of these traits in abundance, but what always made her stand apart from the many other excellent leaders we have in our sector, what made her seem just that little bit more dynamic and exciting to speak with and why I put her forward for the #FSN20 (something we take very seriously here at fieldservicenews.com) was her ability to see the trends that were just beyond most people's range of vision, those that were over the horizon.

"What Marne has demonstrated time and again is that she is able to go that one step further and identify what will be the challenges and opportunities around how any given technology will ultimately be utilised..."

Sure, we can all get a feel for what technologies are set to emerge - a quick look at Gartner's current year hype cycle will allow us to see what we can expect to come along in the next few years. It might not always work out as we anticipate (think about the early clamour around wearables and in particular Glass as an example of this), but most of us who pay attention to these things are fairly able to put together a reasonably accurate picture of the future.

What Marne has demonstrated time and again is that she is able to go that one step further and identify what will be the challenges and opportunities around how any given technology will ultimately be utilised - and such foresight, is a much rarer attribute.

For example, I remember Marne outlining to me the importance that Quantum Annealing would play within field service management systems - in particularly within dynamic scheduling, long before the topic was even close to being something that was discussed outside of high-tech computing circles.

Indeed, the last time we spoke at any great length we had a long and detailed conversation about how and why field service management systems would need to ultimately evolve from being an additional feature sold alongside an ERP or CRM system and become acknowledged as something of equal status and importance within the world of enterprise computing.

Essentially we agreed, FSM needed to be, and eventually would be recognised as a category within its own right. This is something that we are now absolutely beginning to see happen in certain pockets of the industry, including IFS - who have across the last couple of year's publically stated that FSM is a core priority within their wider portfolio - something that was reiterated at their World Conference in Atlanta earlier this year by new CEO Darren Roos.

"As far as benefitting our industry as a wider whole, there are few places I feel Marne could have such a big impact, as at IFS..."

So as you can imagine, when we heard Marne was stepping down from her role as CEO of ServicePower, I had an inkling that it would be more au revoir than goodbye, I just had a feeling in my gut that we would see her again soon enough somewhere familiar.

However, as far as benefitting our industry as a wider whole, there are few places I feel Marne could have such a big impact, as at IFS. They have shown that they have the ambition, vision and capability to push the industry forwards (indeed the newly launched FSM6 is an excellent solution utilising best of breed technology), but perhaps also they have shown that they have a strong commitment to FSM that will surely raise the bar further for the quality of solutions available to field service organisations.

After all, as John F Kennedy famously quoted a rising tide lifts all boats.

Also, we must consider that Marne is bringing in exceptional leadership experience, industry knowledge and vision into a team that is already full of excellent leaders and thinkers.

For example, the always impressive Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director Service Management who has established an excellent reputation both within the company and the industry since having joined from PTC almost two years ago. Another would be Stephen Jeff-Watts, who is responsible for IFS' product strategy for Enterprise Service Management and is another with a canny knack for understanding where the future lies within the sector. Then, of course, there is Paul White, former CEO of mplsystems who IFS acquired last year who brings a huge level of detail around the latest developments around omni-channel communications to the table, or Tom DeVroy, personally, someone I hold as one of the best author's contributing to publications including ourselves around.

Indeed, the list is long and Marne's appointment at the head of this group, is set to make IFS an even more formidable force within our industry on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond.

Finally, it is also interesting to note her dual role.

"Once such a precedent has been set by such a significant industry player as IFS, it is likely that we will see other companies follow suit..."

When IFS acquired WorkWave late last year, I wrote about how the acquisition essentially gave IFS full market penetration.

Traditionally, they have always served the mid-enterprise tier well, in recent year's we have seen them begin to open some more doors in the larger enterprise sector as well. However, the SME market has always been an area that has been somewhat underserved, yet could be potentially lucrative, as WorkWave has proven.

With Marne taking on dual responsibilities for Enterprise Service Management and WorkWave it seems that IFS may potentially be seeking to firmly organise a significant section of their business around their FSM  capabilities - exactly the type of shift in thinking that Marne and I had discussed a year ago and also something Darren Roos alluded to when I spoke to him recently as well.

Once such a precedent has been set by such a significant industry player as IFS, it is likely that we will see other companies follow suit - which will ultimately lead to further emphasis on the importance of field service within industry.

So from where I'm sitting, Marne's arrival at IFS is therefore potentially great news long-term for all in our industry - it certainly promises to be an exciting move and I for one wish her every success

 

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Swedish enterprise mobility and ERP provider IFS recently announced the hiring of former ServicePower CEO, Marne Martin, as President of their Service Management Business Unit, part of a dual role she has taken on alongside being CEO of IFS subsidiary, WorkWave. Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News reflects on this appointment and why it is a good thing not just for IFS, but for the wider industry as a whole...

I have known Marne Martin for some time now, speaking to her once or twice a year either for interviews, or just catching up at various industry events we've both been speaking at.

When she was included in a previous edition of the #FSN20, our annual list of key industry leaders, it was me that put her forward to the committee. That was in part because I had always found her to be engaging and intelligent when speaking to her, as well as being passionate for the industry we operate within - but then again, these things for me at least should be a given for any CEO within the sector.

Marne, of course, had all of these traits in abundance, but what always made her stand apart from the many other excellent leaders we have in our sector, what made her seem just that little bit more dynamic and exciting to speak with and why I put her forward for the #FSN20 (something we take very seriously here at fieldservicenews.com) was her ability to see the trends that were just beyond most people's range of vision, those that were over the horizon.

 

"What Marne has demonstrated time and again is that she is able to go that one step further and identify what will be the challenges and opportunities around how any given technology will ultimately be utilised..."

 

Sure, we can all get a feel for what technologies are set to emerge - a quick look at Gartner's current year hype cycle will allow us to see what we can expect to come along in the next few years. It might not always work out as we anticipate (think about the early clamour around wearables and in particular Glass as an example of this), but most of us who pay attention to these things are fairly able to put together a reasonably accurate picture of the future.

What Marne has demonstrated time and again is that she is able to go that one step further and identify what will be the challenges and opportunities around how any given technology will ultimately be utilised - and such foresight, is a much rarer attribute.

For example, I remember Marne outlining to me the importance that Quantum Annealing would play within field service management systems - in particularly within dynamic scheduling, long before the topic was even close to being something that was discussed outside of high-tech computing circles.

Indeed, the last time we spoke at any great length we had a long and detailed conversation about how and why field service management systems would need to ultimately evolve from being an additional feature sold alongside an ERP or CRM system and become acknowledged as something of equal status and importance within the world of enterprise computing.

Essentially we agreed, FSM needed to be, and eventually would be recognised as a category within its own right. This is something that we are now absolutely beginning to see happen in certain pockets of the industry, including IFS - who have across the last couple of year's publically stated that FSM is a core priority within their wider portfolio - something that was reiterated at their World Conference in Atlanta earlier this year by new CEO Darren Roos.

 

"As far as benefitting our industry as a wider whole, there are few places I feel Marne could have such a big impact, as at IFS..."

 

So as you can imagine, when we heard Marne was stepping down from her role as CEO of ServicePower, I had an inkling that it would be more au revoir than goodbye, I just had a feeling in my gut that we would see her again soon enough somewhere familiar.

However, as far as benefitting our industry as a wider whole, there are few places I feel Marne could have such a big impact, as at IFS. They have shown that they have the ambition, vision and capability to push the industry forwards (indeed the newly launched FSM6 is an excellent solution utilising best of breed technology), but perhaps also they have shown that they have a strong commitment to FSM that will surely raise the bar further for the quality of solutions available to field service organisations.

After all, as John F Kennedy famously quoted a rising tide lifts all boats.

Also, we must consider that Marne is bringing in exceptional leadership experience, industry knowledge and vision into a team that is already full of excellent leaders and thinkers.

For example, the always impressive Mark Brewer, Global Industry Director Service Management who has established an excellent reputation both within the company and the industry since having joined from PTC almost two years ago. Another would be Stephen Jeff-Watts, who is responsible for IFS' product strategy for Enterprise Service Management and is another with a canny knack for understanding where the future lies within the sector. Then, of course, there is Paul White, former CEO of mplsystems who IFS acquired last year who brings a huge level of detail around the latest developments around omni-channel communications to the table, or Tom DeVroy, personally, someone I hold as one of the best author's contributing to publications including ourselves around.

Indeed, the list is long and Marne's appointment at the head of this group, is set to make IFS an even more formidable force within our industry on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond.

Finally, it is also interesting to note her dual role.

 

"Once such a precedent has been set by such a significant industry player as IFS, it is likely that we will see other companies follow suit..."

 

When IFS acquired WorkWave late last year, I wrote about how the acquisition essentially gave IFS full market penetration.

Traditionally, they have always served the mid-enterprise tier well, in recent year's we have seen them begin to open some more doors in the larger enterprise sector as well. However, the SME market has always been an area that has been somewhat underserved, yet could be potentially lucrative, as WorkWave has proven.

With Marne taking on dual responsibilities for Enterprise Service Management and WorkWave it seems that IFS may potentially be seeking to firmly organise a significant section of their business around their FSM  capabilities - exactly the type of shift in thinking that Marne and I had discussed a year ago and also something Darren Roos alluded to when I spoke to him recently as well.

Once such a precedent has been set by such a significant industry player as IFS, it is likely that we will see other companies follow suit - which will ultimately lead to further emphasis on the importance of field service within industry.

So from where I'm sitting, Marne's arrival at IFS is therefore potentially great news long-term for all in our industry - it certainly promises to be an exciting move and I for one wish her every success.

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Paul White, Director, Customer Engagement Solutions, IFS explains that even with all the data in the world - the most important step to improving the customer experience is understanding what the customer wants...

Look around you.

Today’s marketplace is entirely driven by the customer. Uber, Amazon, Deliveroo and others have all found enormous success developing businesses based on delivering beyond customer expectation.

This paramount shift in business practice, once a simple supply and demand problem, has made the concept of customer service increasingly complex. The customer landscape has steadily evolved over the past sixty years since the rise of modern call centers but it has only been recently, since the rapid surge of consumer technology, that customer expectation has been so hard to measure, and meet.

A 2016 research report done by Forrester states that 72% of businesses say that improving the customer experience is their top priority. It is an obvious imperative for businesses that want to stay relevant, competitive and not end up a laggard.

But the first step to improving the customer experience is understanding what the customer wants. Even with all the data in the world out there today (cookies, surveys, inbound marketing), it isn’t that easy. Providing the customer with an unrivaled experience should infiltrate every part of your business. So what does your customer in 2017 what?

 

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Want to know more? IFS have published an excellent white paper based on their Digital Change Survey which is available to Field Service News subscribers...

If you are a field service professional you can apply for a complimentary industry practitioner subscription and we will send you a copy of this white paper along instantly.

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Real-time interaction

A Salesforce report on the connected customer states that 65% of consumers expect companies to interact with them in real-time. Instant gratification is widely available and with companies competing primarily on customer service alone, response time is an increasingly important differentiator.

An unrivalled experience

According to a Walker study, by the year 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Additionally, 86% of customers state they will spend more to get a better customer experience. This means a shifted focus from meeting customer demand to focusing on customer SUCCESS.

Fundamentally the ideals of servitization come into play here where you no longer sell a product or service, but rather the outcome of that product or service.

Mind reading

Ok, maybe not to that extreme. But consumers today want the businesses they interact with to know what they need. This can mean anything from proactive service (which removes the hassle of the customer having to escalate a problem) to intelligent upselling.

So you need a business that caters to the customer and provides them with an unparalleled experience. The connected customer drives the escalator of customer satisfaction and now demands input and acknowledgement throughout your sales and service lifecycle. This means you need processes and systems that support the customer as the bottom line.

What does that mean for the field service management systems that drive your service business and automate your operations?

For IFS it meant recognising the customer imperative service businesses cannot ignore. It meant understanding that empowering the service business to deliver a unique customer experience means delighting the connected customer. It meant recognising that the customer is the focal point of any service transaction.

So IFS made an acquisition that would enable them to provide the only complete connected field service management solution focused directly on customer interaction, from beginning to end.

mplsystems provides the omni-channel contact center and customer engagement support service businesses need to provide the optimum customer experience In fact, Aberdeen Group claims that companies with the strongest omni-channel customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers.

What does the future of field service management look like?

As digital transformation and customer expectation collide, we can expect a world that manifests immediate personalised touch points. AI will help service businesses understand the customer journey today, while preparing for tomorrow. IoT is already driving the shift from reactive service models to predictive ones.

Servitization is delivering on customers’ new expectation that their success be taken into consideration, by providing outcome based service offerings.

The most forward thinking businesses will be able to leverage new technologies and existing systems to create a customer experience and offering that is rich, insightful, and innovative.

It starts with the customer and its ends with them, and field service management processes and service businesses alike must embrace this.

 

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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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The field service industry continues to evolve at pace. New technologies are constantly emerging which have the potential to change the industry as we know it.

At the same time we are seeing a huge cultural shift with many seeking to realign their service division from cost centre to profit centre. To help us keep up with these changes Field Service News has put together a panel of five field service industry experts and asked them each to share their insight on the industry today. Second in the firing line is Paul White, CEO mplsystems

 

What is the biggest driver for change in field service today?

It’s all about customer expectations, today’s smart phone empowered customers expect immediate service when they want it - or they’ll switch. Delivering field service is no longer just about dispatching resources. Instead the focus is on delivering end-to-end customer service targets and reacting to changes in real time. However the reality for most organisations is still a proliferation of disconnected systems and processes that make it impossible to monitor and deliver true end-to-end service. Systems integration simply won’t fix this for most organisations, it will just result in inevitable manual data fill and mistakes – and an inability to deliver the reactivity and service that customers demand.

 

Which technology has had the biggest impact on the field service industry in the last 5 years?

The ability to deploy affordable field service apps on standard mobile consumer smart phones and tablets rather than expensive dedicated devices has had the biggest impact, enabling an entirely new generation of connected field service solutions. You can now equip field staff to support customer engagement activities, track on-site attendance and feed back into HR, monitor time in the field for improved financial management, as well as provide specialist telematics services - all via flexible smart phone apps. However, these will still require integration to avoid the kind of piecemeal approach that inevitably leads to efficiencies, with vital customer data getting stuck in individual departments.

 

What is the most important consideration when moving from cost centres to profit centres?

Turning field service from a cost centre into a profit centre demands an end-to-end approach that’s reactive to customer requests and strengthens loyalty by driving out errors. This then empowers those people who spend most time with your customers – your field service staff – to identify and action the right cross sell and upsell opportunities with your loyal customers. An engineer fixing the lighting, for example, may notice that an air conditioning system also needs work – so it’s important that they have the sales mechanisms in place to immediately recommend and action repairs.

 

Who is Paul White? 

Paul White joined mplsystems as Chief Executive Officer in May 2005. Paul has spent the last 20 years working in and around the Field Service and Contact Centre industry and is one of the industry pioneers in the creation of affordable service management and CRM and Customer Service contact centre solutions. Prior to joining mplsystems Paul was the founding CEO of BT Contact Central, which, over 4 years, grew into a global business across UK, Europe and Asia Pacific. Whilst at BT, Paul was responsible for designing some of the largest CRM and Customer Service solutions in Europe and had major roles in systems architecture, product management and sales.

 

To read this full panel debate and much more download a free digital copy of our quarterly magazine. Click here to register.