In our latest research project we’ve teamed up with rugged tablet manufacturer Xplore Technologies to find out what are the tools field service companies are investing in to ensure that they are giving their field service engineers every chance to...
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May 12, 2016 • Features • Hardware • research • Research • Xplore Technologies • hardware • rugged
In our latest research project we’ve teamed up with rugged tablet manufacturer Xplore Technologies to find out what are the tools field service companies are investing in to ensure that they are giving their field service engineers every chance to ensure they are delivering service excellence.
In part one of this series we looked at the merging lines between rugged and consumer manufacturers and the rising trend for field service engineers to use more than one digital device when out in the field.
In part two we looked at the choices being made when selecting either rugged or consumer devices as well as the importance of Operating Systems in device selection.
Now in this the concluding part of this series we explore the need and desire for connectivity options in the devices being allocated to field service engineers.
There is also an exclusive research report available for download that contains even further insight and analysis of these research findings. Download your copy of the findings here
Connectivity and Data Capture
A key factor in what was driving the decisions around which devices field service companies were selecting for their field engineers was the various options for both connectivity and data capture.
Perhaps it is no surprise given the growing importance of Cloud computing and the prevalence of connected devices that in terms of connectivity, the most desired technology within a device was Wi-Fi capabilities which was cited by 87% of companies as being a key technology that was ideally required in a device deemed to be suitable for field engineers.
Similarly the inclusion of 4G mobile internet was also stated as ideally needed in a field service device by over two thirds (69%) of our respondents.
"An indication of how much we have moved already to a wireless world is how these figures stack up against the desire to have a wired Ethernet connection which was cited as being ideal by just under a quarter (24%) of companies
Additional evidence to support this desire to move towards wire-free technology is also indicated in the fact that Bluetooth was desired by almost three quarters (73%) of companies as well. This is significantly higher than older, wired methods of connectivity such as RS232 which just over a fifth (21%) of companies desired or even USB which just half (47%) of companies stated they felt was an ideal inclusion.
However, when we look at data input requirements it is the well established, tried and tested technologies that remained the most sought after.
The ability for a device to capture photographic or video data remains the most important means of data input for most field service companies with well over three quarters (79%) stating that they would ideally expect this in a device.
"The ability for a device to capture photographic or video data remains the most important means of data input for most field service companies with well over three quarters (79%) stating that they would ideally expect this in a device"
What is interesting is that amongst those companies who opted for consumer devices (which of course are unlikely to have such features embedded within them) the desire to have barcode reading capability actually increased slightly to 71% of respondents.
Again, this perhaps indicates that whilst a number of companies are lured in simply by the initial lower cost per unit of consumer devices perhaps there are wider considerations such as how fit for purpose a device is, that should be considered alongside the initial cost.
In terms of manual data input, it is interesting to note that although laptops remain the most popular device for field engineers overall, the assumption that this is based on the requirements of a physical keyboard is proven to be somewhat flawed by our findings.
Indeed, there were almost three times as many companies who stated that they felt an on-screen keyboard was desired rather than those who stated they felt a physical keyboard was ideal.
"Over two fifths of companies (42%) backed an on-screen keyboard whilst just 15% identified physical keyboards as their preference"
Another indication of the changing nature of how we interact with our hardware is also highlighted that handwriting recognition software was also desired by two times as many companies (32%) than a physical keyboard.
Perhaps one of the most curious findings of the research is that yet again we see NFC/RFID overlooked by field service industries as the technology - which could have such an effective impact within a number of elements of a field service engineers workflow, from checking the service history of an asset in the field being repaired through to ensuring accurate parts inventory, was only cited by 13% as being required in an ideal field service device.
Similarly, voice recognition software, which in an industry where the ability to work hands free is a major factor, one would think would be a significant tool for data input in any given field service focused device, was also relatively shunned with just over a tenth (11%) of companies stating they saw this as being an ideal inclusion within a field service device.
The benefits of mobile computing
Finally, one area where it would seem there is certainly a growing consensus is in the way field service engineers appreciate working on a mobile device.
We asked our respondents: “Do you think your field workers have appreciated a move to using a mobile device?” And the response was overwhelmingly positive. In fact over two thirds (69%) stating their field service engineers had provided mostly positive responses and 35% going further and stating their engineers had ‘absolutely taken to going mobile’.
"69% stated their field service engineers had provided mostly positive responses and 35% going further and stating their engineers had absolutely taken to going mobile"
A similar amount of companies (41%) also stated that their engineers felt that the adoption of mobile devices as part of their field service toolkit also allowed them to be more productive and to get their work done more swiftly.
So whilst their are many decisions to be made for field service companies in terms of device selection - rugged or consumer, tablet or laptop, even one or more devices, the one thing is abundantly clear for the 5% of respondents who are still using pen and paper.
A move to a digital device will inevitably be embraced by their engineers whilst delivering clear R.o.I
Want to know more? Download the exclusive research report for further analysis and insight from these research findings
Look out for the next part of this series where we look at the importance of connectivity in device selection...
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May 05, 2016 • Features • Hardware • Research • Xplore Technologies • hardware • rugged
In our latest research project we’ve teamed up with rugged tablet manufacturer Xplore Technologies to find out what are the tools field service companies are investing in to ensure that they are giving their field service engineers every chance to...
In our latest research project we’ve teamed up with rugged tablet manufacturer Xplore Technologies to find out what are the tools field service companies are investing in to ensure that they are giving their field service engineers every chance to ensure they are delivering service excellence.
In part one of this series we looked at the merging lines between rugged and consumer manufacturers and the rising trend for field service engineers to use more than one digital device when out in the field.
Now in this the second part of this series we look at the reasons companies select either consumer or rugged devices and the importance of Operating Systems upon device selection...
There is also an exclusive research report available for download that contains even further insight and analysis of these research findings. Download your copy of the findings here
Consumer versus Rugged
This of course leads us on to perhaps the biggest question within the discussion around which tools are best suited for field service deployment - rugged or consumer.
In last years findings we saw that the market was largely dominated by consumer grade products with over two thirds (67%) of companies opting for consumer products over their ruggedized cousins.
Whilst this year’s survey does show a slightly greater leaning towards the rugged sector the shift is generally minimal with 59% of this years respondents still identifying that they are deploying consumer grade devices. This is in comparison to 16% who are deploying rugged devices and 20% who provide their field service engineers with a mix of both rugged and consumer devices.
59% of this years respondents identified that they are deploying consumer grade devices. This is in comparison to 16% who are deploying rugged devices and 20% who provide their field service engineers with a mix of both rugged and consumer devices"
Well in terms of consumer devices being selected, the key over-riding factor as touched on a little earlier is simply the cost per unit.
In total well over two thirds (70%) of those companies who opted for consumer devices had done so because of the lower cost per unit.
The second most common reason cited was the faster potential user adoption via user familiarity, which was cited by just under a quarter (24%) of those respondents providing consumer devices.
Interestingly this figure rises to two thirds (33%) when we look at those companies that provide their field service engineers with mobile phones.
What is really interesting, however, is when we compare these findings with those who provide their engineers with rugged devices.
Essentially, we see the primary drivers for device selection completely reversed.
"In total well over two thirds (70%) of those companies who opted for consumer devices had done so because of the lower cost per unit"
Also important to this group was the durability and longevity of the device which was identified by around a fifth of respondents (22%).
This set of results is particularly interesting when viewed in the context of the common TCO (total cost of ownership) argument put forward by rugged OEMs and their distributors.
The argument being that across the general accepted lifespan of an asset a rugged device will generally end up costing a lot less than its consumer counterpart (when factoring in breakages, downtime, lower reliability rates, etc etc).
Given the majority of companies still opt for consumer devices because the lower cost per unit there could be considerable savings made if companies began to adopt a more pragmatic and longer term approach to device selection perhaps?
"Given the majority of companies still opt for consumer devices because the lower cost per unit there could be considerable savings made if companies began to adopt a more pragmatic and longer term approach to device selection perhaps?"
When we consider the mission-critical nature of field service, the need for reliability is of course likely to be anticipated.
However, given the TCO argument as well, it is perhaps surprising that in both this year’s and last year’s research, consumer products have remained so dominant.
Perhaps there is a need for further education amongst the industry on this topic?
The importance of OS
Of course one other factor that could play a part on the selection of devices is the operating system (OS) requirements of a field service management application that a company may have already in place.
Indeed: one respondent stated that his reason for selecting a consumer device was for ‘compliance with the field service management solution’.
Whilst many if not most dedicated field service management apps will be either device agnostic or available in a variety of native formats, this may not be the case if a company has developed their own system perhaps.
Certainly in the wider world of enterprise mobility, where the iPhone remains king having wrestled the crown from Research in Motion’s Blackberry some years ago, iOS is the de-facto choice for native designed apps.
However, whilst this is certainly a plausible theory the reality is that within the niche world of field service the Apple brand is far less powerful with in fact just 7% of our respondents stating their engineers use iOS.
Of course given the inclusion of laptops and tablets as key tools for field service engineers Windows operating systems fare well within our industry with 35% of companies stating this is their OS of choice, whilst Android’s dominance in the consumer markets is almost echoed amongst our respondents also with an impressive 42% of field service engineers using the Google owned OS.
"Nearly nine out of ten (86%) of companies saying that the availability of an OS on a device is at least one consideration for them"
In fact, it is a fundamental part of the decision making process for almost all companies, it seems, with nearly nine out of ten (86%) of companies saying that the availability of an OS on a device is at least one consideration for them.
However, further to that, over half (52%) of field service companies in our survey group stated that it was very important and they ‘decided our choice of device based on the OS it supports.’
Want to know more? Download the exclusive research report for further analysis and insight from these research findings
Look out for the next part of this series where we look at the importance of connectivity in device selection...
By downloding the report you are consenting to the T&Cs listed here
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Apr 28, 2016 • Features • Hardware • Research • Xplore Technologies • hardware • rugged
In our latest research project we’ve teamed up with rugged tablet manufacturer Xplore Technologies to find out what are the tools field service companies are investing in to ensure that they are giving their field service engineers every chance to...
In our latest research project we’ve teamed up with rugged tablet manufacturer Xplore Technologies to find out what are the tools field service companies are investing in to ensure that they are giving their field service engineers every chance to ensure they are delivering service excellence...
There is also an exclusive research report available for download that contains even further insight and analysis of these research findings. Download your copy of the findings here
As technologies such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality dominate the headlines in field service it is perhaps a bit too easy to forget just how recently field service operations were being revolutionised by the emergence of mobile computing.
The improvements that come with the digitization of a field engineer’s workflow are well documented from more efficient processes, greater customer service delivery to even simple straightforward cost savings via the sheer volume of paper forms no longer being used.
Yet whilst for some companies the move to a modern mobility solution happened over a decade ago and they are now exploring their third, fourth or even fifth iteration of mobile hardware, there also still some companies that have yet to move away from pen and paper.
At the same time, the options for field service companies looking to invest in a mobile computing solution for their service engineers, whether it be for the first time or an upgrade of their existing system, are ever more complex.
Rugged manufacturers have become aware for the growing desire from their client base for more consumer looking designs in the rugged space and as such products like the Motion R12 have begun to emerge which combine the sleek, cleaner lines of a consumer tablet in a rugged device that can fully withstand the rigours of the field.
At the same time rugged manufacturers have become aware for the growing desire from their client base for more consumer looking designs in the rugged space and as such products like the Motion R12 have begun to emerge which combine the sleek, cleaner lines of a consumer tablet in a rugged device that can fully withstand the rigours of the field.
However, rugged versus consumer is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the many, many factors to be considered when selecting the right device for your field service engineers.
What about form factor? Has the rugged handheld that was all prevalent not so long ago been surpassed by the smart phone?
Are tablets, which can bring the mobility of a smart phone to the table, but with greater processing power (on a par with high end laptops in some aspects) becoming the go to tools?
And of course then there are the considerations around peripherals - is a keyboard required for large amounts of manual data entry perhaps? How about vehicle docking? Or even carry straps and cases?
To find out more about the latest trends within the industry we decided to return to this topic (having explored it some 12 months previously to see what trends were emerging or evolving when it comes to the devices being selected by field service organisations for their engineers and technicians.
With additional expert input into the survey design provided by rugged specialists and partners with us on this project Xplore Technologies, the survey took in the responses of around 150 field service professionals from a wide range of industry verticals including manufacturing, telcos, engineering, HVAC, and many more.
There was also a wide representation of companies of differing sizes with some respondents having as few as 10 or less engineers in their workforce whilst many had over 800 or more engineers in their teams.
Dual digitality
One of the key findings of the 2015 study was that many companies are now providing their field service engineers with more than one digital device for use in the field.
However, when reviewing the questions from the previous study we felt that perhaps the meaning of this question could have been slightly ambiguous, so in this year’s study we wanted to refine this notion further by including the response “Multiple digital devices – e.g. smart phone and laptop etc used equally for field work simultaneously” as an option to the question “Which devices are your field engineers currently using as their primary device for field work?”
And it seems that this digital duality that we uncovered last year remains very much a key trend for field service organisations with one in five companies now providing their field service engineer with at least two devices to undertake their work in the field.
However, one of the perhaps most interesting findings of this year’s survey was the amount of companies who are providing their engineers and technicians with laptops as a primary device for work in the field.
Whilst the response group across the two surveys was different - meaning that direct year on year analysis is always at risk of being slightly skewed - both surveys had a sizeable enough response set to provide a fairly reliable snapshot of the industry sentiment to allow for some meaningful comparison.
With this in mind it was interesting to note that amongst this year’s respondents laptops were the most prevalent of devices being given to field service engineers with a third (33%) of companies seeing them as the best device for their field service engineers compared to a fifth (20%) of companies opting for smart phones whilst 15% opted for tablets.
In comparison to last year this would indicate that despite the claims in some analysts’ quarters of tablets emerging to eventually replace the laptop, the laptop remains a regular tool amongst field service engineers.
One reason for this could be simply a cost decision as when we look deeper into the research findings we see that of those companies that provided their field service engineers with laptops the majority (61%) had opted for consumer based devices. This is compared to just 11% who were providing their engineers with rugged laptops.
When we look at those respondents who indicated that they are providing their field service engineers with tablets we saw a much greater parity between those who were providing their engineers with rugged devices versus those providing consumer grade products.
However, when we look at those respondents who indicated that they are providing their field service engineers with tablets we saw a much greater parity between those who were providing their engineers with rugged devices versus those providing consumer grade products.
In fact the split between the two was exactly even with 40% of respondents opting for rugged and 40% opting for consumer whilst 20% provided as mix of both rugged and consumer.
Indeed, when we look at the data from only those respondents who provided their field service engineers with rugged devices a completely different picture emerges entirely.
Amongst this respondent group the most common device deployed amongst field engineers was the tablet by some margin with just under half of companies (44%) selecting them as the right tool for their field engineers.
In comparison rugged laptops and rugged PDAs/Handheld computers were the next commonly used devices with a just over a fifth (22%) of companies opting to implement these devices, whilst 11% of companies provided two or more rugged devices.
What is clear from this initial view of the data is that whilst the laptop and smart phone are regularly deployed as mobile computing tools for field service engineers, amongst those companies who see the need for and benefits of ruggedised tools for their engineers it is the tablet that has become the dominant form factor.
Want to know more? Download the exclusive research report for further analysis and insight from these research findings
Look out for the next part of this series where we look at the whether consumer or rugged devices are ruling the roost plus the importance of operating systems when it comes to device selection....
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Feb 09, 2016 • Features • Management • research • Research
Research sits at the heart of Field Service News and every quarter we publish an exclusive research report identifying the latest trends to be emerging within our industry. Here we look at some of the key findings of our research reports from across...
Research sits at the heart of Field Service News and every quarter we publish an exclusive research report identifying the latest trends to be emerging within our industry. Here we look at some of the key findings of our research reports from across the last year...
Mobility tools in field service
Working in partnership with Advanced Field Service we explored what types of mobility tools are being used by field service companies.
What types of hardware are most commonly being selected for our field engineers? What software is being used out in the field?
How are companies selecting the right solution for their engineers?
What type of feedback are those engineers giving? And what actual benefits are being delivered through digital mobility solutions?
In total 122 field service professionals responded to our survey which ran across February and March with respondents from companies with mobile workforces ranging from less than ten field engineers through to over 801 engineers and with an even number of representatives across the spectrum with no obvious spikes, the research offered insight into trends across field service as a whole.
Types of devices being used in the field
It is perhaps no surprise by now that most companies are using some form of digital device.
We have been going through a digital revolution across the last decade and no industry has felt the impact of this change as keenly as field service.
Indeed out in the wider world of industry the emergence of Enterprise Mobility as a definable, and eminently sizeable industry that will ultimately dwarf the size of the field technology sector considerably, has now firmly taken root.
Research indicates that the majority of companies are using a mix of differing digital devices, with 46% stating this is the case.
In fact our research indicates that the majority of companies are using a mix of differing digital devices, with 46% stating this is the case.
This would make sense as many field service organisations are now in their second, third or even fourth generation of digital device being rolled out to their field engineers.
However, when it comes to those companies that have rolled out just one device to their mobile workforce the results revealed some further insight into the trends now appearing amongst field service companies.
One of the biggest trends that is backed up by the evidence of this research, is the dramatic rise to prominence of smartphones as a genuine mobile productivity tool being utilised in the workplace.
It is of course not a surprising result given the widespread adoption of smartphones in both the consumer and business worlds but our research does confirm that smart-phones are the most popular device being used by field service companies when only they opt to provide one device to their engineers.
Of course every action has a reaction, and the rapid growth of smartphones as a tool for field service engineers has resulted in an equally rapid decline in the use of PDAs. In fact now just 5% of companies are using these devices – the smallest percentage of any device being used within the field.
One myth however that the research helps debunk is that Tablet computing his having a similar impact on the laptop sector as smartphones are having on PDAs.
Whilst it seemed at one point that the trend for tablet computing would see the laptop being edged out of both the consumer and rugged markets it appears the rumours of the death of the laptop have been greatly exaggerated.
In fact our research outlines that in terms of the devices being used on there own, both tablets and laptops have an equal share of the market at 14%.
However, we should also consider the fact that of those companies who provide more than one device to their engineers, a large proportion of companies are likely to offer a laptop as one of those devices, largely due to the fact that having a built in keyboard makes any significant manual input much easier.
So whilst it is likely that ultimately the traditional laptop will become replaced by the convertible or even the detachable laptop, the keyboard remains an important part of the field engineers mobile technology kit.
The last few days of pen and paper
What the research presents clearly is that the masses in field service have moved towards the new digital dawn. There are of course in any industry sector, laggards that remain behind the trend.
However, when it comes to the application of mobile technology amongst field engineers this group (i.e. those using no digital medium) now stands at just a nominal 3%.
Of those companies still using pen and paper 100% stated they are considering moving to a digital mobile platform within the next twelve months.
Of those companies still using pen and paper 100% stated they are considering moving to a digital mobile platform within the next twelve months.
The reasons for this are of course clear, as are the benefits of moving to any digital medium, including increasing productivity and streamlining a field engineers work-flow.
The fact is that those companies still relying on pen and paper are in danger of falling significantly behind their competition.
In fact of those companies still using pen and paper 100% of the respondents admitted that they felt they were at a disadvantage, with 50% stating that they felt that disadvantage was significantly impacting their ability to remain competitive.
Cloud as a FSM platform
Our next project, which was undertaken in collaboration with ClickSoftware explored trends amongst field service companies involving use of the Cloud for Field Service Management Systems .
The research was conducted online across July and August this year. The respondents were a mix of Operations, IT and Business Leaders working within organisations that had a field service operation.
Again company sizes ranged from SMBs with under 10 field workers to the enterprise level companies with over 800 field workers. In total 150 respondents answered the survey with respondents coming from a number of different verticals including Manufacturing, Engineering, IT solutions, construction, fire and security, healthcare and more.
As with our 2014 survey on this topic after the question ‘Is your current field service solution on premise or in the Cloud?’ The survey split into two in order to give us insight from those currently using the Cloud and those that are still on premise.
This enabled us to better ascertain the benefits being seen by those using the Cloud alongside the reservations of those who are not.
Mid-sized movement
The headline statistic to come out of the research was that indeed there has been a slight shift towards more companies using the Cloud than before.
In fact there has been a swing of 3% in favour of those using the cloud with 26% of companies now having their field service management solution in the Cloud versus 74% who are using on-premise.
26% of companies now have their field service management solution in the Cloud versus 74% who are using on-premise.
However, a logical continuation of that thinking is that we would find those companies with larger field worker numbers more likely to remain on premise than those smaller companies for the simple reason that they are more likely to have invested in the expensive infrastructure to run an on premise solution and would therefore potentially be more tied to their existing system – making a switch to a new solution harder work.
Yet when we drill down into the data and separate the companies out into three groups – those with less than 50 engineers, those with between 50 and 500 engineers and those with more than 500 engineers we find that in fact this doesn’t hold true.
Actually whilst the trends amongst the largest companies very closely mirror the respondents as a whole (25% Cloud vs. 75% On premise) it is amongst the smaller and mid sized companies that we see the biggest variance.
Interestingly smaller companies, who are generally viewed as being the most likely to be attracted to the Cloud due to the more affordable Software as a Service subscription model that most Cloud vendors offer, were the group that were most reluctant to have their field service operations on the Cloud – with just 17% doing so.
Meanwhile the mid tier companies (i.e. those with between 50 and 500 engineers) were the group that had the most Cloud based systems with 37% of these companies using the Cloud.
When we look at the same demographic in our previous research this is an increase of 21% of companies, so whilst on premise still remains the way the majority of run their field service management systems, a shift to the Cloud, amongst this demographic at least, is clear.
Still the question remains why are we seeing more acceptance towards the Cloud within these mid sized companies than amongst their smaller counterparts? (If we accept the earlier premise that those larger companies may take longer to adapt due to greater change management challenges.)
One possible answer could be found in the make up of the decision-making units of those smaller companies. Of those companies with less than 50 engineers that are not using the Cloud, only 15% of companies had input from their IT director or equivalent whilst of those mid sized companies that have adopted the Cloud 71% involved their IT Director or equivalent in the selection of a field service solution.
Could it be that amongst smaller companies it is a case that without the input of a technology specialist, some of the headline fears around the usage of Cloud persist.
The question remains why are we seeing more acceptance towards the Cloud within these mid sized companies than amongst their smaller counterparts?
One question within the survey that could certainly give us further insight into this assertion was ‘Which of the following sums up your perception of the Cloud in business’ which had the following four options:
[unordered_list style="bullet"]
- I believe it is the future of enterprise computing
- I see its benefits but still have some concerns
- I wouldn’t trust placing sensitive data in the Cloud but would use for general applications
- I think we should keep everything on premise, there is too much risk in the Cloud.[/unordered_list]
Given the fact that there was a fairly even balance between the two groups of company sizes, the varying responses certainly indicated a more cautious outlook towards the Cloud from the smaller companies than their mid sized counterparts.
Within the group of companies with between 50 and 500 field service engineers 58% felt that Cloud was” the future of enterprise computing”, with a further 32% stating that they “saw benefits of the Cloud whilst having some concerns.”
Interestingly not a single respondent from this group stated “we should be keeping everything on premise, there is too much risk in the Cloud.”
When we compare this to the responses of those companies with less than 50 engineers we see the confidence in the Cloud significantly reduce with only 38% stating they “believe the Cloud is the future of enterprise computing” whilst 20% “wouldn’t trust placing sensitive data in the Cloud but would use it for general applications” and “5% stating they think “we should be keeping everything on premise, there is too much risk in the Cloud.”
IoT and Field Service
Another key technology within our industry is of course IoT and this was at the heart of a research project undertaken with ServiceMax and PTC.
The research was conducted across a period of 6 weeks during August and September this year.
Again well 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.)
Once more we also 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.
The largest group of respondents by a long way (44%) stated they “operate a proactive strategy where possible but are still mostly reactive.”
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.
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.
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 “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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Jan 26, 2016 • Features • Kirona • research • Research • Bill Pollock • field service • field service management
Are UK field service companies keeping pace with the rest of the world? In Parts One, Two and Three, of this exclusive four-part benchmarking report for Field Service News, Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst, Strategies for...
Are UK field service companies keeping pace with the rest of the world? In Parts One, Two and Three, of this exclusive four-part benchmarking report for Field Service News, Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst, Strategies for Growth SM, revealed the comparative performances of US and UK/European field service organisations, the key drivers influencing strategy for UK/Europe companies and KPI focus.
Here, in Part Four, he reports on attitudes and trends regarding Cloud and On-Premise solutions. The publication of this research was sponsored by Kirona.
Download the full report! Click here to download it now!
By providing customers with the right mix of Web-enabled self-help capabilities, the leading UK/Europe organisations have essentially been able to run their respective services operations more effectively, while also increasing existing levels of satisfaction by allowing customers to become part of their own “support team”.
Self-help support capabilities, such as the ability to order parts, or view current work order status, saves customers – and FSOs – significant time in that an entire series of potential two-way vendor-customer status update calls can be avoided.
In addition, customers can create their own service tickets online, gain direct access to self-service resolution scenarios, receive real-time status update alerts, and track the shipping status of outstanding service parts orders themselves. Basically, the more power the customer has to perform any of these activities itself, the quicker service orders can be created, the quicker potential time-related problems can be identified and resolved, and the happier the customers will be with the services they are receiving from the provider.
By making the customer an integral part of the service delivery team, UK/Europe service organisations can continue to benefit from reduced time- and cost-related factors
Growth in Cloud solutions
However, the greatest impact on the future of Field Service Management is most likely to come as a result of the growing acceptance of Cloud-based technology, as reflected in one particular series of questions included in SFG℠’s 2015 FSM survey questionnaire. Respondents were first divided into three (3) categories: those with existing FSM solutions already in place, those planning to implement in the next 12 months, and those considering an FSM implementation or upgrade in more than one year.
The results strongly suggest that we are currently in the midst of a fast-paced global sea change in the way FSM solutions are being marketed, sold and deployed.
Among those UK/Europe organisations currently planning an FSM implementation in the next 12 months (or considering doing so in the next 24 months), a Cloud-based solution is preferred by 29% of respondents, compared to only 14% citing a preference for Premise-based – a roughly 2:1 ratio in favour of Cloud.
However, more than half (57%) still remain undecided at this time (compared to only 26% for the general survey population). Still, Cloud-based FSM solutions appear to be the dominant preference. In less than three years since SFG℠’s previous FSM Benchmark Survey was conducted, this represents a sea-change from a market that has historically gone Premise-based for a majority of its FSM software solution needs.
UK/Europe Field Services Organisations are driven to meet customer demands for quicker response...
Key Survey Takeaways
Based on the UK/Europe results of SFG℠’s 2015 Field Service Management Benchmark Survey, the key takeaways are: [ordered_list style="decimal"]
- UK/Europe Field Services Organisations (FSOs) are driven to meet customer demands for quicker response; improve workforce utilisation, productivity and efficiencies; meet customer demand for improved asset availability, and increase service revenues
- A majority of UK/Europe FSOs are adding, expanding and/or refining the metrics, or KPIs, they use to measure service performance.
- Over the next 12 months, more than three-quarters (79%) of UK/Europe FSOs will have invested in mobile tools to support their field technicians, and more than 53% will have integrated new technologies into existing field service operations.
- UK/Europe Field Technicians are increasingly being provided with enhanced access to real-time data and information to support them in the field.
- UK/Europe FSOs are providing customers with expanded Web-enabled self-help capabilities (i.e., to order parts, track the status of open calls, and create service tickets, etc.).
- More than half of UK/Europe FSOs are not currently attaining their customer satisfaction or SLA compliance goals; and one-in-four are not achieving at least 20% services profitability (although services profitability, as a whole, appears to be improving).
- Existing UK/Europe FSM platforms are reported as reflecting a more than 2:1 Premise-based over Cloud-based ratio; however, planned FSM implementations in the next 12 to 24 months are reported as more than 2:1 Cloud-based, or SaaS.
Historically, the primary factors cited as driving the UK/Europe – and global - services community to improve its operational efficiencies and service delivery performance have essentially been customer-driven; that is, with a focus primarily on meeting – and, even, exceeding – customer expectations for response time, first-time fix rate, mean-time-to-repair and the like.
However, the economic downturn of the past decade changed the way services organisations think by shifting their focus to ongoing rounds of cost cutting and downsizing (i.e., the denominator of the bottom line). However, this was quickly followed by a shift to the numerator, best represented by an all-out effort to increase service revenues, or turnover.
In 2016 and beyond, the focus will likely be even stronger on the customer in terms of striving to meet (and exceed) their demands, preferences and expectations – or “back to the basics”. UK/Europe FSOs will continue to plan to accomplish this mainly by developing and/or improving the KPIs they use to monitor their improved performance over time, investing in new tools to support both field technicians and customers, and integrating new technologies into their existing FSM or Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) systems.
Download the full report! Click here to download it now!
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Jan 19, 2016 • Features • Podcast • research • Research • resources • ClickSoftware • cloud
Welcome to the latest edition of the Field Service Podcast.
This month Field Service News Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland and Tim Faulkner of ClickSoftware discuss the findings of the latest Field Service News research which assessed the use of the Cloud in field service management systems.
Click here to download the full version of this podcast
Click here to download the research report discussed in this podcast
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Jan 19, 2016 • Features • Kirona • research • Research • Bill Pollock • field service • field service management
Are UK field service companies keeping pace with the rest of the world? In Part One and Part Two of this exclusive four-part benchmarking report for Field Service News, Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst, Strategies for Growth SM
Are UK field service companies keeping pace with the rest of the world? In Part One and Part Two of this exclusive four-part benchmarking report for Field Service News, Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst, Strategies for Growth SM, revealed the comparative performances of US and UK/European field service organisations and the key drivers influencing strategy for UK/Europe companies. Here, in Part Three, he reports on KPI performance and what technologies companies plan to invest in from 2016 onwards. The publication of this research is sponsored by Kirona.
Download the full report! Click here to download it now!
At 49%, the cited current investments in mobile tools to support field technicians by UK/Europe services organisations is much higher than the overall survey base (44%), yet current plans for integrating new technologies are still reported as significantly lower (i.e., only 20% in the UK/ Europe, compared with 34% for the global survey base).
However, plans for new technology integration over the next 12 months are significantly high at 33%, suggesting that the adoption of new services technologies in the UK/Europe may be roughly only one year behind that reflected by the general survey population (which is comprised of roughly 75% of respondents from the Americas).
Planned strategic actions by UK/Europe services organisations over the next 12-month period reflect a more dynamic, rather than static, approach to the field services marketplace.
51% of respondents plan to develop and/or improve their use of field service KPIs, or metrics, in the next 12 months
Automating existing manual field service processes and activities (40%) is also cited as a top planned strategic action.
Additional top planned strategic actions, cited by at least one-quarter (25%) of UK/ Europe respondents, include integrating new technologies into existing field service operations (33%), investing in mobile tools to support field technicians (30%) and providing enterprise-wide access to important field-collected data (26%).
Other key planned actions will be taken in areas relating to increasing customer involvement in Web-based service processes (23%); providing additional training to field technicians and dispatchers (19%); outsourcing some, or all, field service activities to partners and vendors (14%); and hiring additional field service technicians and/or dispatchers (11%).
What these data primarily show is that the UK/ Europe field services community recognises the need to take specific strategic actions to enhance and improve existing service operations, and that these actions begin first and foremost with the need to develop and/or improve the use of service metrics and KPIs in measuring and monitoring their service delivery performance.
In addition, it shows that UK/Europe FSOs also recognize the need to invest in the right mobile tools and technologies to empower their resources both in the field, and in the back office, to improve existing processes, meet the growing needs of customers, and make greater contributions to the bottom line.
Use of KPIs
The survey findings reveal that there are basically seven service performance metrics, or KPIs, presently being used by a majority of UK/Europe FSOs. They include:
- 78% Customer Satisfaction
- 75% Total Service Revenue
- 68% Total Service Cost
- 53% Field Technician Utilisation
- 53% Percent of Total Revenue under SLA/ Contract
- 51% Service Revenue, as a Percent of Total Company Revenues
- 51% Service Revenue, per Field Technician
However, there are also an additional seven KPIs that are used by just under one-half of UK/ Europe FSOs to help them measure performance, including On-Site Response Time (49%), First Time Fix Rate (49%), Service Level Agreement (SLA) Compliance (49%), Field Technician Productivity (47%), Mean-Time-to-Repair (MTTR) (47%), Service Contract Attach Rate (47%) and Service Contract Renewal Rate (47%).
50% of all UK/Europe services organisations presently use up to 14 KPIs to measure service performance
The survey findings also show that UK/Europe services organisations aspiring to attain Best Practices do not merely look at specific outcomes, such as improving the bottom line, or increasing customer satisfaction; they also look at ways in which to identify the root causes of major problems and leverage process improvement opportunities through the implementation of effective tools and technologies to support their resources both in the field and in the front and back offices that support them.
For example, a majority of UK/Europe FSOs currently support their field technicians with a variety of online capabilities, including the ability to initiate service orders (83%), ability to track and update the current status of work orders (77%), access to product schematics/ documentation (57%) and ability to provide customers with an Estimated Time for Arrival (ETA) (55%).
Other capabilities planned in the next 12 months by at least one-third (33%) of UK/Europe services organisations in support of their field technicians include: [unordered_list style="bullet"]
- 38% Access to problem resolution scenarios
- 35% Access to customer/asset service history
[/unordered_list]
Whether it is access to data and information that represents the past (i.e., customer/ asset history), the present (i.e., current status of work orders), or the future (i.e., providing customers with an ETA), the leading UK/Europe FSOs clearly appear to recognize the importance of real-time data and information access.
However, the key to success for many services organisations is that they are also providing their customers with a comparable set of online tools to make both their – and their field technician’s – lives much easier.
Download the full report! Click here to download it now!
Do UK/Europe FSOs prefer Cloud or On-Premise solutions? Find out in Part 4 coming soon...
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Jan 12, 2016 • Features • Kirona • Research • Bill Pollock • field service • field service management • Strategies for Growth
Are UK field service companies keeping pace with the rest of the world? In Part One of this exclusive four-part benchmarking report for Field Service News, Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst, Strategies for Growth SM, revealed...
Are UK field service companies keeping pace with the rest of the world? In Part One of this exclusive four-part benchmarking report for Field Service News, Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst, Strategies for Growth SM, revealed comparative performances and some of the differences between US and UK/European field service organisations. Here, in Part Two, he reports what UK and European service companies say are the key drivers influencing strategy. The publication of this research is sponsored by Kirona.
Download the full report! Click here to download it now!
The key drivers that most influence UK/Europe organisations to improve the overall performance of their field service operations are similar to those cited by the overall respondent base, although, with a higher degree of intensity, and in a slightly different order – i.e., one that places somewhat more emphasis on customer demand and workforce utilisation, productivity and efficiency.
Nonetheless, the UK/Europe respondents have clearly identified the specific drivers that are pushing them to aspire to the attainment of higher levels of performance. For example, customer demand for quicker response time is cited by more than half of the respondent base (i.e., 56%) as the top driver their organisation currently focuses on with respect to optimising field service performance.
The need to improve workforce utilisation and productivity, and need to improve service process efficiencies are the next most highly cited at 47% of respondents, respectively.
It is clear that the main focus of UK/Europe services organisations remains squarely on the customer.
They have already recognised that a focus on the customer must be first and foremost with respect to driving their service operations, and that they could neither attain – nor maintain – a strong competitive status in the services community without having focused first on their customer’s needs and requirements; and, next, on improving the internal services operations necessary to meet their expectations.
As such, the common threads that tie all of these drivers together among UK/Europe services organisations may be best categorised into three groupings essentially comprising:
- Customer demand for quicker response and improved asset availability;
- Field technician utilisation, productivity and efficiency improvement; and
- An internal mandate to drive service revenues – and profits.
We also believe that it is a mistake to dwell only on the “top” factors that are driving the market – and the organisation.
There are several other factors respondents also cite as just “bubbling under the surface” with respect to their potential impact on the overall well-being of the organisation
- 22% Competitive pressures / need for market differentiation
- 14% Customer demand for more accurate service call scheduling
- 12% Escalating field service operations costs
- 8% Need to reduce dispatch-related errors
It is noted that UK/Europe organisations are far less likely to be driven by competitive pressures/ need for differentiation than the overall survey universe (i.e., only 22% for the UK/Europe, compared to 33% for the overall respondent base).
Also, while only 8% (i.e., or roughly 1-in-12) UK/ Europe respondents cite the need to reduce dispatch-related problems as a key factor, this driver is apparently still an important consideration to a significant number of organisations.
Another key influencing factor revealed through the analysis is that only 62% of the UK/Europe services organisations surveyed have experienced some improvement in year-over-year field technician productivity (i.e., measured in terms of average calls completed per day), compared to 67% among the overall respondents). Nearly as many (i.e., 61%) have experienced improvements in service revenue, per field technician during the same period.
A similar percentage (i.e., 60%) have also experienced improvements in their year-over-year service profitability.
In fact, these year-over-year increases have helped UK/Europe services organisations to attain a mean average of 35% service profitability in the most recent reporting period, only slightly lower than the 38% attained among the overall respondent base.
Customer satisfaction
At a mean average of 82%, UK services organisations are also currently falling somewhat below the global survey population with respect to attaining desired levels of customer satisfaction (i.e., 85%).
At a mean average of 82%, UK services organisations are also currently falling somewhat below the 85% of the global survey population with respect to attaining desired levels of customer satisfaction
Based both on the survey findings and SFGSM’s ongoing follow-up research, it is not surprising that the UK/Europe field services community recognises that it will need to increase its investments in mobile tools and new technologies to compete effectively in an expanding global marketplace.
In addition, it also recognises the importance of building an effective Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), or metrics, program to measure the impact that its strategic actions, technology investments and resource acquisitions will actually have on the organisation’s performance moving forward.
Perhaps one of the most encouraging signs for the future success of UK/Europe services organisations is that nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents cite the development/improvement of the KPIs and metrics they use to measure, monitor and track their field service performance over time as their top strategic priority.
This figure is substantially higher than the 52% cited by the overall survey population – and even higher than the 52% cited by Best Practices organisations.
Download the full report! Click here to download it now!
Watch out for Part 3 , where Bill Pollock reports on KPI performance and what technologies companies plan to invest in from 2016 onwards.
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Jan 05, 2016 • Features • future of field service • Kirona • research • Research • Bill Pollock • field service • field service management • Strategies for Growth
Are UK field service companies keeping pace with the rest of the world? In this exclusive four-part report for Field Service News, Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst, Strategies for Growth SM, explores how UK companies compare...
Are UK field service companies keeping pace with the rest of the world? In this exclusive four-part report for Field Service News, Bill Pollock, President & Principal Consulting Analyst, Strategies for Growth SM, explores how UK companies compare with their global counterparts.
Download the full report! Click here to download it now!
Each year, Strategies For Growth (SFGSM) conducts a series of Benchmark Surveys among its global outreach community. The content of this report is derived exclusively from the UK/Europe responses to our 2015 Field Service Management (FSM) Benchmark Survey and, thereby, represents a geographically-specific universe base from which to identify key FSM usage patterns and trends. The research coverage was sponsored by Kirona.
For example UK/Europe survey respondents identify the following as the top factors, or challenges, currently driving their desire to optimise field service performance (compared to the overall global results):
- 56% Customer demand for quicker response time (up from 52% overall)
- 47% Need to improve workforce utilisation & productivity (up from 43% overall)
- 47% Need to improve service process efficiencies (up from 40% overall)
- 41% Customer demand for improved asset availability (up from 35% overall)
Thus, the data clearly reflects that UK/Europe Field Service Organisations (FSOs) appear to place somewhat more emphasis on each of these key market drivers, focusing on customer demand and workforce utilisation, productivity and efficiency, than their worldwide respondent counterparts.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that they are also planning to invest more in mobile tools in support of their respective field forces than other global geographies represented in the overall survey universe.
However, in order to effectively address these key challenges – and strive to attain Best Practices status – UK/Europe respondents then cite the following as the top strategic actions they are currently taking:
- 64% Develop / improve metrics, or KPIs, used to measure field service performance (up from 52% overall)
- 49% Invest in mobile tools to provide field technicians with real-time access to required data and information in the field (up from 42% overall)
- 35% Integrate new technologies into existing field service operations (i.e., iPads, Tablets or other devices, etc. (up from 34% overall)
Improving the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used to measure performance is cited as a top strategic action by 64% of UK/ Europe respondents, compared to only 52% overall.
In fact, the percentage of UK/Europe FSOs currently developing/improving their respective KPIs, at 64%, is higher than the 62% cited by the survey’s Best Practices respondents (i.e., those attaining at least 90% Customer Satisfaction and 30% Services Profitability).
The remainder of this report provides insight into each of these and other related areas that may be influencing your organisation’s quest to attain Best Practices, as well as highlighting those resources that the leading UK/Europe organisations already have in place – or are planning to implement in the next 12 months.
Field service as profit centres
The survey results reveal that 65% of UK/Europe respondent organisations currently operate service as an independent profit centre (or as a pure, third-party service company), similar to the 66% reflected among the overall survey respondents, but far fewer than the 81% cited among Best Practices organisations.
Even so, there are still more than a third (35%) that operate as cost centres in support of product sales.
While there appears to be some consistency or continuity in these percentages from other surveys conducted by SFG℠ over the past few years, this nearly 2:1 ratio strongly validates the fact that profit centres now represent the dominant business model within the UK/Europe services community and, based on responses from other questions in the survey, this trend is likely to grow even stronger over time.
It is noted, however, that the percentage of organisations running service as an independent profit centre varies – sometimes significantly – by size of organisation (based on annual revenue or turnover).
The percentage of organisations running service as an independent profit centre varies – sometimes significantly – by size of organisation.
Not surprisingly, organisations reporting total annual service profits of greater than 30% come in at 76% – one of the highest levels charted among all of the segments covered in the survey.
As such, they are not only operating service as a profit centre – they’re actually making a significant profit by doing so!
Bespoke or out-of-the-box
More importantly, the UK/Europe respondent base clearly confirms that the predominant mode of Field Service Management (FSM) solutions currently being deployed is mainly off-the-shelf, either with some customisation (53%; compared with only 37% overall), or basically right out-of-the-box with no customisation (2%; compared with 6% overall), comprising more than half (55%) of the respondent base in total.
This figure is 9% higher than that cited by global Best Practices organisations (i.e., 46%)
Roughly one-quarter of UK/Europe respondents are either using home-grown, or internally-developed automated systems (15%), or bespoke solutions developed by a systems integrator (9%).
As such, UK/Europe organisations are far less likely to deploy a bespoke solution either internally, or by a systems integrator, compared with the overall survey respondents, but are far more likely to deploy an off-the-shelf solution and, then, have the specific types of customisation they require built-in to tailor it to their organisation’s requirements.
However, the most perplexing statistic may be the fact that nearly one-in-four UK/Europe organisations (22%) are still running their field service operations basically via a series of manual processes (and spreadsheets) – higher than the 18% attributable to the overall respondent base!
Download the full report! Click here to download it now!
Watch out for Part 2 , where Bill Pollock reveals the key drivers for European and UK field service organisations.
Field Service News is published by 1927 Media Ltd, an independent publisher whose sole focus is on the field service sector. As such our entire resources are focused on helping drive the field service sector forwards and aiming to best serve our industry through honest, incisive and innovative media coverage of the global field service sector.
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