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As we continue our series discussing our recent research into IoT and Field Service sponsored by ServiceMax and PTC we look at why there is such a strong undercurrent in favour of IoT…

Missed the earlier parts of this series? Find part one here and part two here

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

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Belief in the power of IoT

Given then the fact that the majority of our respondents believe that IoT will be the most important technology to impact the way field service companies operate within the next five years, just how critical do companies feel that IoT will be?

Again our respondents showed a significantly positive approach to the importance of IoT when we asked them “What are your thoughts of the Internet of Things and how it can be implemented in Field Service?”

Over half (55%) of our respondents stated they thought “IoT will become a fundamental part of field service operations in the future” whilst a further 21% went further stating that “IoT is critical to any field service organisation’s strategy”.

 

The same amount of respondents (21%) stated that they felt that whilst ‘IoT is an interesting technology and I can see potential applications for it I don’t think it is ready yet.”

This means that 97% of respondents felt that they could at the very least see the potential of the Internet of Things in a field service environment compared to just 3% who stated ‘I don’t see it playing a part in our field service operations’.

Such figures indicate a truly overwhelming belief that IoT is indeed set to lie at the heart of field service as our industry continues to evolve.

Does size matter?

Of course one of the biggest challenges any emerging technology faces in terms of gaining traction and widespread adoption is whether it is accessible for companies of all sizes.

Often it is the case that when a significant new technology arrives it is cost prohibitive for those smaller companies (and often even mid-sized companies as well) to adopt. In field service this has often been negated by the fact that as well as delivering the opportunity to deliver better service for customers, very often technology in field service management can yield significant cost savings as well.

It has long been a key argument for the implementation of dynamic scheduling, tablets and smart phones and telematics for example that x implementation will have paid for itself within y months.

Of course similar arguments can be put forward for the introduction of IoT but for companies that would be looking to retrofit their assets in the field, such an implementation could have a potentially large initial outlay. So has this impacted on whether field service companies believe that IoT is a technology that could work for companies of all sizes?

We asked our respondents “do you think that IoT is more suited to larger companies or accessible to companies of all sizes?” And it seems that on the whole such challenges are not considered sizeable enough to be prohibitive for smaller companies with almost three quarters of respondents stating they ‘don’t think size matters when implementing IoT’.

 

What is particularly interesting is that when we drill down further into the data to look at responses from those representing companies with 50 engineers or less, this figure remains high at almost two thirds (65%) and in fact the number of respondents from this group who state IoT is ‘more suited to larger companies’ remains almost the same as the group as a whole (15% of respondents when looking just at smaller companies vs. 16% of the group as a whole) with a larger percentage of respondents stating they ‘don’t know’.

So it would appear that even amongst those companies with smaller field service teams, the majority believe that IoT could be suited to their business, again further reinforcing the belief that IoT will be part of the field service landscape across companies of all sizes.

When will IoT be common place?

So it seems that there is a general agreement amongst field service companies that the Internet of Things will become a staple part of field service operations. However, where opinions remain somewhat divided is when we will start to see this happen on a pervasive scale.

 

We asked our respondents “when do you think IoT will become common place within field service operations?” And the results were both varied and relatively evenly spread.

The most popular response was that in fact ‘it is already beginning to happen’ which just under a third (30%) of respondents stated. However, the second most common answer was within the next five years which just under a quarter of respondents (24%) stated. “Within the next three years” and “within the next two years” were the next highest answers with 19% and 18% opting for these responses respectively, whilst 5% felt it would happen within the next twelve months.

Of course varying factors such as industry verticals, company sizes and more will impact when we actually see a widespread adoption of IoT so perhaps such differing opinions may be expected here but what is clear is that again the majority do expect to see IoT become common place in field service. In fact just 3% of our respondents stated they ‘don’t think it will happen at all’.

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In the first part of this series exploring our research into IoT in Field Service sponsored by ServiceMax and PTC we explored the growing number of companies moving away from the traditional break-fix approach towards a preventative approach.

However, our findings indicated that whilst this attitude is widespread, achieving a move away from break fix models is harder to achieve than simply updating policies.In fact responses to our research would certainly strengthen the case for Internet of Things being rapidly accepted and adopted amongst field service companies who can see the benefits of proactive maintenance but are unable to deliver it.

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

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The tech being used today

So as we begin to form a picture of our respondent companies we can see that on the main they have moved towards a proactive

approach that IoT could quite certainly improve and on the whole they are either regularly investing in technology to improve their field service operations or are open to doing so.

I mentioned in the beginning of this report that technologies such as Big Data, Enterprise Mobility and Cloud Computing have evolved together at a similar time to become highly complimentary and the core of what many modern field service management solutions are today.

 

Our next question was included to see what types of technology our industry has already adopted and once again, as has been seen in previous Field Service News research projects there seems to be two clear and distinct groups within field service - the Haves and Have-Nots.

For while over half of all companies (51%) are now utilising Field Service Management Software, with nearly a third (31%) utilising Dynamic Scheduling tools, and just over a fifth (21%) using telematics to manage their field engineers, still almost two fifths (37%) are using paper based systems.

However, the one clear area where companies have made investments in is within mobile computing devices with over two thirds (67%) of companies already utilising some form of mobile computing device for their engineers whether it is a PDA, Smart Phone, Tablet or Laptop.

 

So returning to a perspective of whether as a whole field service companies are ready to turn to a new technology such as the Internet of Things, then it would seem that for many the bedrock of technology required to allow them to truly capitalise on such an implementation is in place.

However there is still a large section of the industry that could be viewed as technologically immature, so whilst the implementation of IoT isn’t necessarily dependant on other technologies, one would imagine that the likelihood of a company investing in an IoT strategy without having already implemented a field service management solution is probably relatively slim.

Yet as the technology continues to evolve, as partnerships such as that of ServiceMax and PTC working together continue to evolve and as disparate platforms become ever more integrated then we will certainly start to see field service management platforms that are built to incorporate IoT become more prevalent, which may give those companies that are currently viewed as laggards a potential quantum leap forward in the way they are utilising technology to deliver service.

Sensor based monitoring

Of course perhaps the most important question when assessing whether field service companies are ready for undertaking an IoT strategy is whether or not they believe they have a product line and install base that opens themselves to sensor based monitoring.

The majority of respondents which was just over two fifths (42%) believe that they do have a product line which would be suitable for sensor based monitoring. This would suggest that there is indeed already a large potential market for IoT amongst field service companies.

However it is also interesting to note that of those companies that didn’t feel they had products that opened themselves up to sensor based monitoring, there were more companies who were not sure if their install base was suitable (26%) as opposed to those who simply stated their product line didn’t open itself up to sensor based monitoring (23%).

[quote float ="left"]The majority of respondents which was just over two fifths (42%) believe that they do have a product line which would be suitable for sensor based monitoring

This opens up an interesting question as to whether there is still a requirement for further education of what is required for Internet of Things to be successfully implemented. How much is possible via retrofitting for example or is IoT wholly reliant on new product development?

 

Such questions certainly provide opportunities for vendors and consultants to help educate those companies who are uncertain about whether the Internet of Things could be of value to them. However, if we bring together the results of the above questions, the opportunity for IoT to become an integral part in the way many field service companies operate is certainly apparent.

So having established that there are a sizeable number of field service companies that could potentially be suited to implementing an IoT strategy, the next big question is of course what is the general perception of IoT amongst these companies – do they see the potential match themselves or will IoT fail to live up to the significant hype surrounding it today?

To help us understand how big the appetite for IoT was amongst field service companies we asked our respondents “which of the following technologies do you think will have the biggest impact on field service operations within the next five years?”Giving them the options of ‘IoT’, ‘Big Data’, ‘Smart Glasses’, ‘Augmented Reality’, ‘Connected Vehicles’ or ‘Other’.

Here there was a clear winner and it was indeed IoT which 45% of our respondents stated would have the biggest impact. In fact this was more than double the second most popular option which was Big Data (19%) closely followed by Connected Vehicles (cited by 15%). Interestingly Augmented Reality, which like IoT could also have a significant impact on field service beyond simply improving efficiencies was only cited by 10% of our respondents as being the technology most likely to have the largest impact on field service, perhaps due to the relative immaturity of the technology on display to date.

It was also interesting to see that despite some very interesting potential applications being produced that again could lead to huge potential savings for field service companies, that smart glasses registered with only 3% of our respondents. A large factor here being the perceived failure of Google Glass perhaps?

 

Interestingly of those respondents that added additional comments within the ‘other’ section there were a number of respondents who admitted that they remain unsure as to what technology will have the most impact with one respondent commenting “I’m not convinced that the industry yet knows what the next big thing will be. Our industry is still coming to terms with the improvements in smart phones and understanding the tangible benefits that can be gleaned from modern apps and lowering data costs.”

This adds some interesting further insight into the fact that whilst for some field service and technology are becoming increasingly entwined, for many companies in the market there is still a cautious approach to allowing technology to redefine the way we do business.

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In this the first part of a new series Kris Oldland, Field Service News Editor-in-Chief explores our exclusive research into IoT and Field Service undertaken by Field Service News and sponsored by ServiceMax and PTC...

 

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

 

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We are seemingly blessed to be living in a time of such incredible advancement. Technological trends such as Big Data, Enterprise Mobility and Cloud Computing have all pushed businesses forward and often we see these three coming together in the latest field service management systems, where data is easily collected, interpreted and distributed across a business eco-system.

Such systems give engineers instant access to knowledge bases, managers continuous overviews of the performance of their teams and most importantly of all, customers an ever improving customer experience. However whilst the opportunity for improving business processes these technologies present is clear, when it comes to potential for real, genuine industrial revolution, there is another emergent technology that promises to be king and that is the Internet of Things.

Whilst the massive hype that surrounded Big Data meant that the early projects we are seeing today are perhaps a slight anti-climax, (BI on steroids - which is undeniably useful in business but just not quite the life changing scenarios that were being bandied about back in 2013) with IoT almost the opposite is true.

There seems to be less confusion around IoT, which given it’s much more tangible nature makes sense, but have we grasped the magnitude of how big an impact it could truly have on field service industries? To try and understand a little more about the general attitude to and application of IoT amongst field service companies, Field Service News has partnered with ServiceMax and PTC on this research project looking to ascertain just how ready we are in field service for IoT.

About the research

The research was conducted across a period of 6 weeks during August and September this year. Over 100 field service professionals contributed to the research with respondents from both the operational side of business (field service directors/managers etc) as well as senior IT representatives (CIO/CTO etc.) participating alongside business leaders (MD,CEO etc.)

We had a variety of company sizes ranging from those with less than 10 field workers through to those with over 800 field workers, with a fairly even split across these groups so there was fair representation of opinions from companies of differing sizes.

Also whilst there was a slight UK bias in respondents, there were also respondents from India, Ireland, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany and the USA so there was a mix of nationalities amongst the respondents as well. Before we began looking at the appetite for IoT amongst our respondents we first wanted to see if companies were actually well placed to benefit from adopting an IoT strategy.

 

To do this we needed to assess where the companies in our group were in terms of their approach to technology in general as well as how they approached their own service delivery.

Of course with the introduction of any new technology there will always be laggards and there will always be bleeding edge adopters and if there was a bias amongst our respondent group either way this should be taken into account when exploring other responses and trends identified within the research. Therefore the first question we asked our respondents was “How regularly does your company invest in new technology initiatives to improve field service operations and performance” and we gave our respondents the choices of every year, every two years, every three years, every five years or other.

It would seem our group was on average representing a slightly forward looking set of companies with 35% stating they would invest in new technology an annual basis. Meanwhile 13% stated they did so every two years, 17% every three years and 16% five years. A number of respondents also commented that their company’s investment in technology was slightly less strategic and on more of an ad-hoc basis although members of this group also stated ‘recently the investment in new technology is being increased’

Predictive or reactive?

The next question we asked in this initial section was whether our respondents were working for a company that is either adopting a pro-active or reactive model in terms of their field service planning.

Again this will be a good indicator of how ready field service companies are to adopt IoT as one of the significant factors in why IoT is predicted to be such have such a major impact, particularly in field service, is that it can be the key for companies moving away from the traditional break-fix delivery of service to a more efficient preventative maintenance approach to delivering field service.

 

Indeed it seems that the majority of field service companies do see the benefits of moving towards delivering service in a proactive rather than reactive manner, in theory at least. Whilst the same amount of companies (6%) stated they were either “Fully pro-active with a mix of predictive and preventive maintenance, enabled by remote monitoring and M2M diagnostics” or “We are mostly pro-active using both predictive and preventive maintenance strategies but still have a small percentage of reactive calls.” The largest group of respondents by a long way (44%) stated they “operate a proactive strategy where possible but are still mostly reactive.”

Meanwhile almost a third of companies (31%) state that their “service is half proactive and half reactive” whilst only a small fraction of companies (4%) were operating on a wholly reactive strategy. This would suggest that the perceived wisdom that field service companies should be moving away from the traditional break-fix reactive approach to a more proactive approach, which is better for service providers and their customers alike, is being adopted by the industry at large.

It also indicates that whilst this attitude is widespread, achieving a move away from break-fix models is harder to achieve than simply updating policies. In fact responses to this question would certainly strengthen the case for Internet of Things being rapidly accepted and adopted amongst field service companies who can see the benefits of proactive maintenance but are unable to deliver it.  

 

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

 

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As we approach the half way point of our current research project being run in partnership with ServiceMax and PTC that is looking at how those in field service feel around the Internet of Things and it's likely impact on the field service industries Field Service News Editor-in-Chief takes a look at the findings so far and what are the initial emerging trends...

 

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Reactive vs. Proactive

There has been a lot of discussion for quite some time around the need for field service companies to move towards a more pro-active model of working, moving towards a more preventative maintenance model instead of the traditional reactive break-fix -approach which has been adopted by service companies for decades.

By moving to a more preventative approach field service companies can of course begin to schedule in jobs to allow for optimum efficiency in terms of routing and planning. However, a regular planned maintenance schedule may mean a lot of wasted hours visiting sites where a device is perhaps underused and maintenance is unnecessary.

Therefore one of the big potential drivers of the Internet of Things in field service management is the ability to remotely monitor device performance and automate service requests from the device itself as soon as it begins operating outside of optimum parameters (but still within normal operating parameters so the device is showing the first signs of potential failure but is still functioning OK). This would allow for a much more effective planned maintenance approach delivering service far more efficiently.

 

To assess if this type of approach would be suitable in field service we first of all asked our respondents if they were working on a reactive basis or preventative or a mix of both. Our findings so far show that a mixture of both reactive and preventative call-outs is very much the way most companies operate with 36% of companies stating they “operate a proactive strategy where possible but are still mostly reactive” whilst the same amount state their “service is half proactive and half reactive”.

This would certainly suggest that one of the big drivers of utilising IoT in field service management is definitely, i.e. the trend towards preventative maintenance model of service delivery is already clearly identified as a means of improving efficiency within service delivery and so the potential introduction of IoT tools to improve this would likely be well received.

Underlying technology

In terms of field service management the Internet of Things is very much being talked about as the next big technology however for it to be utilised as effectively as possible it could be argued that it is imperative to have other underlying technologies in place. For example in the earlier section we looked at how moving to a preventative maintenance model could be really enhanced by IoT and we saw that indeed many companies are adopting this approach.

This would of course be further enhanced by dedicated field service management software to help ensure that those attending each job have the requisite qualifications for the device they are attending etc.

 

In fact the research supports the notion that IoT is part of a vanguard of new technologies being seen as the next generation of field service management tools which will be complimentary to and in addition to those technologies many companies having already invested in such as mobile computing, field service management solutions and telematics solutions which were being used by 63%, 51% and 25% respectively.

Views around IoT

Indeed the interim results of this research certainly seem to show a great deal of confidence in the Internet of Things as a field service management tool.

In fact 44% of companies think that the Internet of Things “will have the biggest impact on field service operations within the next five years?” whilst just half (49%) believe that “IoT will become a fundamental part of field service operations in the future.”

What is particularly interesting however is that having asked “When do you think IoT will become common place within field service operations” over two thirds of respondents (34%) said they felt it already is beginning to happen and also debunking the myth that IoT in field service management is the realm of only the largest enterprise companies, 68% of our respondents felt that the benefits of IoT could be felt by companies of all sizes.

Meanwhile almost a third of companies were planning an IoT strategy whilst a further 32% had either implemented or were implementing an IoT field service management strategy.

 

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