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Is investing in service execution solutions enough to improve first-time fix rates and achieve high levels of equipment uptime? Chris Mitchell from PTC explains more...

Improved asset uptime, first time fix rates, repeat visit avoidance; all are undoubtedly some of today’s OEM’s most relevant metrics and challenges: revenues from service offerings, whether it be PBL contracts or more traditional service models, are too significant to be ignored.

Not least through industrial applications of the IoT we see an abundance of applications and use cases relating to operating and servicing equipment, whether in the field or in the factory. The way we can now easily connect to assets and operate, monitor and diagnose them remotely is simply fantastic.

Many also focus on applications of augmented reality to not only improve the way equipment is maintained in established markets, but also how it can be maintained in emerging markets, where experience and training is simply lacking.

The trap many OEMs fall into, however, is the notion that investing into the improvement of such service execution challenges is sufficient.

Improving asset uptime in this way has certainly never been easier to accomplish -  all the enabling technology is here today! Adopting these new technologies to improve the service experience are essential. However, there is a huge aspect to servicing assets, which is still widely ignored: Spare parts inventories are not optimised – so the right part is too often not available at the right time, place and cost: Companies’ investment in their spare parts inventories are simply too high.

Balance sheets are laden with huge amounts of cash that are tied up in incorrect inventories and need to be freed up to be spent in other areas of the business or to simply improve operating margins. Bills for expediting shipments and cannibalising production inventory are largely too high.

The challenge is that unlike production inventory planning, spare parts demand, and therefore inventory, is much more difficult to predict. Too often historical demand is used to forecast but, in most cases with low levels of accuracy.

Not often enough is spare part demand forecasted by employing causal factors, where forecasts are calculated based on your equipment usage rates and average values for casuals, such as meantime between failure rates. OEMs would now able to use real-time usage data and predicted failures of the asset to further improve forecasts and therefore optimising parts availability further.


"Too often historical demand is used to forecast but, in most cases with low levels of accuracy..."


Regrettably the required information is often not provided by other parts of the organisation, the negative consequences of which are not addressed in the organisation. Levels of equipment uptime and part availability are far lower than they should be. Brand loyalty suffers, customers buy parts (and equipment) elsewhere and revenues are impacted.

So how do we solve the conundrum of keeping inventories low whilst exceeding customer expectations in terms of equipment uptime and part availability?

The approach needs to be all encompassing if you really want to offer first class service to your customers at the lowest possible cost and should incorporate the following:

1. Improve parts availability by improving forecasting, inventory optimisation and supply planning - this will drive immense value within a few months of implementing and will drastically reduce inventories, equipment downtime and improve first time fix rates. You now have a parts supply chain, which perfectly supports an optimised service and repair network.

2. Automate field service operations by ways of a connected optimisation solution wherever possible, by leveraging exception monitoring and failure prediction from connected assets - let the asset tell you it’s failing rather than the customer when it’s too late - this will further reduce downtime and speed up repair time frames.

3. Enable the field technician (or customer) in the most effective way, by leveraging digital service content delivery through phones, tablets or VR, AR or MR headsets, leveraging augmented and virtual reality technologies. This will speed up repair or maintenance steps and ensures technicians operate effectively and based on the most up to date information available, information that is delivered from downstream CAD and PLM solutions.

4. Ensure service contracts and parts are priced correctly. This way you ensure sales are profitable and customers return to you time and time again for repeat business. This is also the ultimate way to combat the threat from copy pars.

There are many more applications of the above technologies, not least training and enablement, but hopefully it becomes clear that implementing one technology without the other will only unlock some of the value.

So in summary: the key to an optimised field service operation is not just the use of best of breed execution tools such as AR, Field Service Management and Service Parts information. The technician visit can only be successful first time if the correct spare part is made available, i.e. if the demand for the spare part has been predicted as accurately as possible and has been made available to the technician!

Chris Mitchell is Director Business Transformation - Servigistics Business Unit at PTC.

Manufacturing and service companies are facing a looming skills crisis—but industrial AR can help...

PTC's Servigistics platform will integrate with IFS' Field Service Management, Applications and Maintenix solutions.


IFS the global enterprise company have announced a partnership with computer software and services company PTC that they say will reduce asset downtime and improve service part availability.

The partnership will see IFS' three field service platforms - IFS Applications, IFS Field Service Management and IFS Maintenix - incorporate PTC's service-parts optimisation solution Servigistics.

Commenting on the agreement, Aly Pinder, IFS' Program Director of Service Innovation and Connected Products said: " The collaboration between PTC and IFS connects two critical aspects of service – field execution and service parts management. To remain competitive and deliver enhanced service experiences, it is crucial to have the right service part available for a service technician to fix an issue promptly and during the first visit."

Leslie Paulson, Servigistics Business Unit's General Manager was equally positive. “We are excited to partner with IFS to integrate our solutions and pursue new frontiers of innovation in connected service delivery,” she said. “Having the right part in the right place at the right time has never been more important. We’re pleased to be working with IFS to enable companies to differentiate their service and maintenance operations.”

Pricing details have not been yet been revealed, but according to MRO-Network.com, IFS have said this will depend on specific customers' needs. 

After a series of great workshop sessions on day 1 at Field Service USA the format across the next few days moves to a more traditional focus of presentations, panel discussions and case studies.

The agenda is jam-packed with a number of insightful sessions on all of the key challenges and trends within our industry, but Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News highlights his three key picks of the day's must-see sessions...

 

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Vision from the C-Suite

• When: 8.30 - 9.00
• Where: Desert Salon 8
• What's it all about: This fireside chat style interview with Frank Bibens, President, Global Services Vertiv aims to shed some light on the major initiaives of the C-Suite at Vertiv a company that has service as a top priority. With a focus on how service plays into competitive tactics through to macro-level business trends this session should present plenty of ideas to shape your future service and business strategy.

 

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Establishing the right technology to enable the wide use of digital services

• When: 10.40 to 11.00
• Where: Desert Salon 8
• What's it all about: Decisions on hardware, data structures, integrated services and services that will enable digitalization for customers while actually making your field service team more efficient are critical to industry leadership and even survival in some cases. Scott Day, EVP Product and Business Strategy Thyssenkrupp, will share how one of the most advanced companies in the field service arena have enabled their own digital services program

 

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Panel: Building a cohesive service parts logistics program that puts the right part in the right place at the right time

• When: 15:30 to 16.10
• Where: Springs Salon G
• What's it all about: Getting the right engineer to the right job at the right time has been a mantra for many a field service organisation for some time now but it's all a moot point if you cannot get them the parts they need to do the job. The fact that this panel session has five senior industry figures debating the topic adds testament that this is an important topic that has been somewhat overlooked for far too long. Panelists include: Stephen Abate, Service Director Americas, Edwards Vacuum, Blake Bolton, Director Global Logistics and Aftermarket Services, ViaSat, Steven Caldwell, VP Product Management PTC, Mike Ross, Diretor of Product Strategy, Baxter Planning Systems and Jorge Torres Harware Services Director, Global Strategic Programs. Global Services Operations, Ericsson.

 

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Augmented Reality (AR) allows field technicians to “see” how to make a repair, rather than having to “read” about how to do it writes Bill Pollock, President, Strategies for GrowthSM...

It seems that for forever, field technicians have been forced to carry around hundreds of pages of paper in their cars or vans detailing and explaining repair processes, service guidelines and product schematics, etc.

Then, once at the customer site, they still need to flip through those hundreds of pages to find exactly what they are looking for in order to perform the onsite repair – particularly when it involves dealing with a piece of equipment that they may not have seen in years – if ever!

We’ve all heard the expression “Seeing is believing!” But, what really should stand out fairly clearly is that the fact that the phrase does not say, “Reading is believing!” This is the main premise that supports the applicability of Augmented Reality (AR) for the field services segment, in that it is more helpful for the field technician to “see” how to repair a piece of equipment, rather than having to “read up” on how to repair the equipment.

 

Further, while the former can take place in real time, the latter may often require several minutes – or more – of looking up chapters or indices, finding the appropriate pages, writing down notes, and otherwise “wasting” time – at least from the perspectives of both the technician and the customer!

Some companies, like PTC, had long been aware of these concerns. In PTC’s case, they made the move earlier in the year to acquire Vuforia, “a mobile vision platform that enables applications, or ‘apps’, ‘to see and connect the physical world with digital experiences that demand attention, drive engagement, and deliver value’.”

In fact, it is through the use of this AR technology that Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) providers can now empower their customers to leverage two of the most disruptive of transformational technology trends – the Internet of Things (IoT) and Augmented Reality (AR) – to deliver a new class of products that merge the digital and physical worlds.

The benefits to the field force can be substantial as, by adopting an AR-based strategy, Field Service Organizations (FSOs) can:

• Completely eliminate the maintenance, repair and service manuals in their present, cumbersome, print copy (or, even, digital) form;
• Streamline (and/or eliminate) formal, individual, maintenance and repair training for service technicians; and
• Introduce new IoT- and AR-based Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) business models.

In a 2016 Fortune article, the magazine reported that, “More and more we see products that are part physical and part digital – and we see new models wanting to be part physical and part digital. The idea of being able to project a digital experience onto a physical product to figure out how to service it or show operating metrics … is a killer idea.”

One of the examples cited suggested, “imagine pointing your smartphone at your car and being able to see visual warnings that your wiper fluid was running low or your tire pressure was sub-optimal on a rear tire. That’s possible as information gathered by the car’s sensors can be pushed to the Cloud, then retrieved and shown in a visual format on the phone. That same format could also offer simple to follow directions on how to fix the problems”.

 

In other words, not only does “Seeing is believing” hold true for those field technicians supported by an AR platform, but if “a picture is worth a thousand words”, then being able to “see” how to repair the equipment via Augmented Reality must expand upon that equation by another thousand-fold!

AR doesn’t create a “new” virtual reality; but, rather, it enhances the perceptual reality that the viewer is able to visualise while looking at a piece of equipment. This is exactly how AR will be able to assist FSOs in an SLM environment; that is, to provide the field technician (who may not ever have been called upon to service a particular piece of equipment) to still be able to perform the repair by “overlaying” an enhanced (again, augmented) reality – in 3D motion – over and above what he or she would otherwise be able to visualise, in order to make a quick, clean and complete fix.

The ability to “see” this Augmented Reality – in 3D motion – with accompanying instructive text, metrics and repair parameters overlaid and easily articulated will undoubtedly provide, at the very least, an extra measure of comfort to the technician, as well as access to a readily available tutorial for performing the repair as quickly, accurately and safely as possible.

 

However, merely talking about Augmented Reality – rather than actually seeing it in action – is like trying to tell a Southerner how cold the Northern Winters are – in words. It’s just not possible! That’s why AR is best understood by actually seeing a demonstration of it in action.

 

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PTC has introduced two new smart, IoT-based connected service solutions: Remote Service and Connected Service Parts Management. Both solutions leverage the company's ThingWorx  IoT platform to help organisations transform the way they execute service for connected products,  optimising decisions for better service delivery.

They are integral components of PTC’s  roadmap for organisations adopting a strategy for smart, connected service.

It helps them redefine their service models to generate unprecedented value for their customers and organisation. The service journey entails three steps:[ordered_list style="decimal"]

1. Understand – Make smarter decisions by analysing service and product data in real-time
2. Advance – Differentiate your service offering by improving and expediting the way products are serviced
3. Outperform – Completely redefine value for customers and the service organization with new offerings and business models.

[/ordered_list]"Many organisations struggle to transform their service environment and desire to take advantage of IoT and the value that can be gained from the data streaming from connected equipment and devices,” says Steve Morandi, senior vice president, Service Lifecycle Management, PTC. “PTC’s connected service solutions help organisations successfully navigate this transformation by optimising their existing service models and creating new value-added offerings. With Remote Service and Connected Service Parts Management solutions, organisations can analyse service and product data in real-time, differentiate service offerings, and improve the way products are serviced.”

Remote Service enables service and support technicians to remotely identify, diagnose, and resolve issues, while continuously monitoring key performance parameters in connected equipment. Remote Service helps service organisations avoid equipment downtime and unscheduled service events enabling organizations to reduce service costs and improve customer service.

Connected Service Parts Management enables service organizations to utilise data directly from connected assets to more accurately forecast and plan service parts demand. Leveraging the power of the ThingWorx IoT platform,  Connected Service Parts Management captures asset location and performance information and feeds that data to the Service Parts Management solution. By collecting, transforming, and organizing data reported directly by equipment in the field, organisations are able to improve service levels and increase equipment availability. 

These smart connected service solutions help companies improve their service revenue and profitability, competitive advantage, and product reliability.

"In delivering better solutions and outcomes to customers, connectivity is a must for service organisations," said Sumair Dutta, chief customer officer, The Service Council. "A connected infrastructure can make a service business more predictive in its service relationships, more efficient in its reactive service delivery, and more responsive in the development of new services that are needed by customers."

 

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Service management software specialist ServiceMax has launched  Connected Field Service,  a complete Internet of Things (IoT) solution for the field service industry. Connected Field Service (CFS) is said to be the first product to seamlessly integrate IoT machine data with a field service delivery system, providing service professionals and technicians with real-time proactive information about field assets, delivered via the cloud to their mobile devices.

As manufacturers and service providers continue to emphasize the need for proactivity in field service, the solution will be the essential framework for delivering more intelligent and agile service, transforming how technicians operate in the field while improving the quality of service they’re able to provide.

Connected Field Service leverages the PTC ThingWorx IoT platform, enables smart machines to initiate service requests, introduces new tools for remote service, and displays real-time machine data to service professionals and, when combined with additional PTC Service Lifecycle Management solutions, provides technicians with connected diagnostics and contextual repair procedures via mobile devices.

As part of the offering, ServiceMax is also announcing the availability of ProductIQ, a new feature in the ServiceMax Mobile suite for iPad and Laptops.  This provides users with a simple and clear mobile window into smart device details and records in-field activities. By transforming service delivery with real-time machine data and intelligent service tools, manufacturers can better guarantee asset performance and uptime, allowing them to sell services, and not products, in-line with the outcome-based model.

“We wanted to leverage the power of IoT to strengthen our platform for delivering flawless field service to our customers,” said Dave Yarnold, CEO of ServiceMax, “Connected Field Service lets you know immediately when something has failed or is about to fail, and automatically dispatches the necessary technician with the right knowledge and the right parts to repair the machine and eliminate unplanned downtime. The real-time window gives our customers the opportunity to drive higher customer satisfaction, opens up new opportunities for outcome-based service offerings, and ultimately drives profitable service.”

“Together, PTC and ServiceMax are enabling manufacturers and service organizations to create new value for their customers through enhanced service offerings and the sale of outcomes,” said Jim Heppelmann, President and CEO of PTC. “Connected Field Service leverages our complementary technology offerings and a shared vision for the transformation of service made possible by the Internet of Things, bringing an array of new capabilities to technicians in the field and powering increased efficiency and profitability at multiple stages of the service lifecycle.”

Connected Field Service recognizes that the trajectory of the field service industry needs to match that of the manufacturing industry. As manufacturers are more inclined to sell outcomes not products, the technicians delivering these outcomes need to move from a reactive servicing to a proactive and predictive model. The CFS solution offers service professionals and technicians predictive insights into the products they are servicing, underscoring ServiceMax’s ongoing commitment to deliver the most advanced capabilities to its customers.

“In our line of work, asset uptime is crucial. The ability to create real time reports straight from the machine and deliver to our technicians is very powerful,” said Daniel Kingham, Program Director at medical equipment company Elekta. “This feature alone will differentiate us from our competitors, delivering proactive and highly productive service to our customers around the globe. Ultimately, Connected Field Service allows us to transform our business and create loyal customers.”

"With so much new technology available in IoT point solutions, one of the main challenges our members are seeing is how to make sense of it all and put it to use," said John Ragsdale, VP of Technology Research, Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA). "The Connected Field Service solution from ServiceMax and PTC is the first solution we have seen that addresses this problem head-on. They have delivered the first pre-integrated suite that can provide a seamless view of real-time machine data, right in the context of where it is needed most -- the delivery of service in the field."

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 IoT will change field service from reactive to proactive: one of three key take-aways from the Servicemax's inaugural MaxLive Europe event in Paris. Marc Ambasna-Jones reports.

Customer events are always a mixed bag given the nature of the crowd. You can never please everyone but they are also a good indicator of how well a company is actually doing beyond its sheen of marketing.

Pacing the specially erected stage in the Salon Opera ballroom at Le Grand Paris hotel, ServiceMax CEO Dave Yarnold told the 270 people gathered about his dream.  When he first came to Europe to pursue a few leads in the early days of the company, he hoped that one day ServiceMax would host an event just like this in a grand setting and full of customers.

Dream achieved, the company now has another goal, to turn the service software industry into a billion dollar global market with ServiceMax at its head. Ambitious? Yes of course. Achievable?

Perhaps. The numbers came thick and fast – the third largest Salesforce.com ISV, 150 new customers in the last 12 months, 300 per cent year on year growth, 90 plus parent consultants and so on. In its own words, ServiceMax is “evolving from a reactive, to a proactive, to a predictive business.”

In a nutshell, this sums up the demands of the rapidly changing service profession.  New technologies are forcing change again but this time at unprecedented levels.

 

This event was about showcasing that change. It was an attempt to lay out a plan, to identify the future and reinforce the idea that the changes will be for the better.

We took three things from the event:

The Internet of Things is more than just a buzzword

Kevin Ashton is often credited with being the father of  the term "Internet of Things"  term after writing it on a presentation in 1999 while working at Procter and Gamble.  He had this idea that the company should put RFID tags onto its products to improve product tracking and create real time stock management.

However, Ashton does not claim to be the ‘father of IoT’. Rather, the term ‘IoT’, he says, was created by someone on Twitter, who had shortened the internet of things into an easily manageable hashtag.

His views on the future clearly captured the imagination and raised a few eyebrows too. His suggesting that by the next century more than half the world will be vegetarian prompted muttering in the audience but he wasn’t here to talk about food...

What did he think of IoT and its impact on the service industry?

“Well the irony in the service sector is that the best service person is the one you never need to see,” says Ashton.
“Fewer resources wasted on needless service and less downtime for someone using a piece of equipment because service can be done pro- actively,” he adds, suggesting that this is what ServiceMax is enabling by adopting an IoT approach to service.

Ashton predicts that in the age of IoT, software as a service will shift to ‘service as software’, with service becoming increasingly interrelated with software in new ways. According to Ashton, this phenomenon will generate both predictive and self-diagnosing service.

 

So what does ServiceMax CEO Dave Yarnold think?

“Field service is now the first industry to benefit from the disruption of IoT,” he says confidently, “transforming from under-funded afterthought to under pinning new business models, revenue creation, and influencing product design.”

New global research from Field Service News, commissioned by ServiceMax and IoT partner PTC, found that forty-five per cent of field service management professionals believe the IoT will likely have the biggest impact on field service by 2020 -- more than big data, smart glasses, augmented reality or any other technology.

More than half of field service professionals surveyed say they are already implementing or planning to implement an IoT-based strategy, and seventy-four per cent do not think the size of a company matters when implementing IoT field service strategies in their organisations.

The service model is being flipped on its head

“Moving forward, we will begin to see service outcomes designed into products at the R&D level, as well as the ability for equipment and devices to become capable of recommending companion products to customers for cross sell and upsell opportunities,” says Yarnold.

One of the customer examples Yarnold was most excited about was the one from Timo Okkonen of inspection, testing, certification consultancy services firm Inspecta.

Okkonen spoke brightly about “influencing everything for our kids.” The company’s vision, he says “is to save the planet through improved maintenance and service.”

It’s this idea that excites Yarnold because this customer is using his software to not just manage service engineers but actually helping to re-shape the company’s entire approach to business.

It’s a view shared by Jerome Piche, global customer service VP at medial diagnostics company bioMerieux in France. “How can we be more efficient to increase the first time fix?” He asked. “We are organised in silos but this is a way in which we can break the silos and have a more end-to-end view.”

Piche was referring to the idea that the mobilisation of the software and the ability to manage and analyse service data more efficiently is changing the game.

ServiceMax describes this as a transformation, where service is now starting to influence decision making and opening up new opportunities for businesses to increase efficiencies.

In fact the company believes in it so much it wrote an e-book called Diamonds in the Rough: Unleashing the Power of Field Service Transformation. Not your average bedtime tome but certainly something to get those transformational juices flowing.

People and skills are changing fast

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the US, there will be 800,000 additional service workers in the US by 2022.

It seems that despite technology, the service industry is growing and we will need more techs than ever before.
But is this right? Is the industry really going to support a huge growth in personnel at a time when automation technology is starting to have such an impact on service efficiency?

If anything the role of the service professional is going to change more rapidly. The pressures to change will only increase with technology advancements.

 

“How do we stop the technicians talking in ‘techlish’ and ensure service permeates through a business? How do we make it sexy to them because I think it’s the sexiest business in the world,” says  ServiceMax CTO Hari Subramanian.

John Cooper, head of service for Sony Professional Solutions Europe supported the idea that attitudes towards service professionals have changed and professionals themselves need to evolve to meet the new demands and expectations of customers.

“We were seen as a necessary evil in the service department,” says Cooper.

“We just took care of things. There was a lack of visibility but now with ServiceMax we can have visibility and prove we add value.” It is this justification of the role that fits with the general theme of the event – transformation through technology and using the data to increase an understanding of customer service requirements while reducing waste So should service people evolve into a sales role also? Should they really upsell the customer?

There was a certain degree of egg shell treading but the consensus is that service techs do have to evolve and embrace the idea of soft selling.

While Dave Hart, ServiceMax’s VP of global customer transformation urges caution for, quite rightly, concerns around undermining the service tech’s credibility and trusted status, he does concede that perhaps there needs to be a change, an evolution in roles as field sales team numbers dwindle across industries.

“In this new economy service is the difference,” said the introductory video, highlighting the change that is coming.
Technology and in particular IoT and data analytics are impacting all industries and you have hundreds if not thousands of businesses jumping on the train to try and capitalise, to forge niches, conquer markets.

ServiceMax is no different although in Field Service they have a head start on some of their peers. The industry, though, is surely in for a rollercoaster ride.

 

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In this final part of our series exploring the findings of our research into field service and the potential impact of IoT we look at the key reasons driving adoption of IoT forwards….

If you missed out on the earlier features in this series you can find them at part one, part two and part three respectively

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Want to know more? Click here to download the full research report

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Actual implementations

In fact we can look further within our data to help us better identify when we will see field service companies embracing IoT on a widespread level by looking at how many companies have indeed already implemented an IoT strategy and how many are currently planning to do so.

Indeed over two thirds (67%) of companies are at the very least ‘actively planning an IoT strategy’, with 15% of companies actually ‘having an IoT based system in place’ and 14% currently in ‘the process of implementing an IoT strategy or solution.’

 

This would indicate that whilst those who stated that they felt IoT was already becoming widespread may be slightly optimistic, in reality we are perhaps three to five years away from IoT becoming a truly common place tool within field service management with only just under a third of companies (32%) not currently planning to use an IoT strategy or solution as part of their field service operations.

Main reasons for adopting IoT

So what are the key drivers for what is seemingly a large appetite amongst field service companies to adopt and develop their own IoT strategies?

In fact there were three key reasons that were cited by our respondents that stood out in our findings. The largest of these was to ‘Improve customer loyalty by improving the service levels we deliver to our customers’ which 68% of our respondents identified as being a major reason for adopting an IoT strategy.

This was closely followed by ‘increasing the efficiency of a field service division’ and ‘reducing costs by moving to a more preventative service model’ which were cited by 62% and 59% respectively. Indeed these three options could be identified as the holy trinity of drivers for investment in field service technology and are quite rightly identified as key drivers regardless of the technology.

 

However, the next group of responses which again were all identified by similar amounts of respondents are perhaps much more   specific to IoT. These were ‘increasing market share by delivering proactive service before the competition’ (43%),’IoT enabling companies to change our business strategy to a servitized, outcome based solutions model’ (42%) and ‘Increasing profits by moving to a more service oriented business model.’

With a high proportion of our respondents backing each of these statements we are also seeing perhaps further evidence of the growing movement towards servitization which is of course often heavily reliant on remote monitoring that comes via the Internet of Things.

Barriers to adoption

Of course we must also explore the barriers to adopting IoT as well and here it seems clear that there are again three major concerns for field service companies looking to develop an IoT strategy.

The first is the perennial fear of twenty first century technology, security. Much like the Cloud there is a worry about being so heavily reliant on the internet especially as it becomes fully ingrained within business critical tools and 46% of respondents stated this was a major barrier to implementing an IoT strategy.

 

Tied heavily to this of course is connectivity.

Whilst for some companies fears around the security of connected devices is a worry, for many others, especially those operating in rural areas actually connecting devices to the Internet in the first place is also a significant challenge and this was flagged up by 56% of respondents.

Finally there is of course the question of the customer. Again security worries remain and 55% of companies believe that their ‘customers would be reluctant to have their devices connected sharing data.’

Conclusion

However, as mobile broadband continues to improve at a rapid pace, connectivity issues will surely subside and whilst the perception of the IoT being a security threat remains, online security is also continuously improving with the likes of Amazon Web Services and recent PTC acquisition Axeda continuing to reinforce online security.

So given that these major fears are likely to fade with time and that there is already a significant groundswell of approval for the use of IoT in field service it seems that it is now perhaps a matter of time before we stop talking about IoT as the future of field service and start seeing it as an integral element within field service operations.

Indeed, the big question for most field service companies is no longer if you will move to IoT but when and what will happen to those who get left behind?

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Want to know more? Click here to download the full research report

 

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