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Strategies For Growth SM have been powering insight into the field service industry for decades, here Bill Pollock, Principal Consulting Analyst at Pollock on Service looks at the latest emerging trends he expects to see as they begin their latest benchmarking study...

 

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We’ve all heard the expressions, “Everything old is new again”, and “Back to the basics”. However, while these expressions may still be somewhat reflective of the global services community, we have finally begun to see an uptick in the degree of market consolidation, as well as the impact of the many mergers, acquisitions and partnerships that seem to be re-defining the competitive landscape on a virtual daily basis.

For example, just a couple or few years ago, there was no real (i.e., dedicated) presence in the global services community by companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, PTC and Salesforce (although many services organisations, mainly among the smaller-sized companies, had already started using Microsoft Dynamics and/or Salesforce to, at least, piggy-back their Field Service Management (FSM) operations onto their existing CRM, ERP or Business Management platforms).

Other vendors, such as IFS, Oracle and SAP had, years earlier, embedded some form of FSM into their general offerings, but not everyone was necessarily buying.

Of course, there was always ClickSoftware and ServiceMax generally breaking out of the pack to gain some robust market share, leaving most of the tried-and-true traditional vendors as proud purveyors of their respective Best-of-Breed FSM solutions (e.g., Astea, Metrix, ServicePower, ViryaNet, Wennsoft and many others).

However, fast forward to today: Where are all of these vendors now? PTC acquired Servigistics (including MCA Solutions), ThingWorx, Axeda Systems and other technology firms; Oracle acquired TOA Technologies; IFS acquired Metrix; and Microsoft acquired FieldOne, all major software players “buying” their way into the FSM market through a series of blockbuster deals.

 

Salesforce, which had historically either been used (and/or mis-used) in its ability to manage field service operations, decided earlier this year to build its own Field Service Lightning module – but, built primarily on ClickSoftware’s Field Service Expert platform. ClickSoftware went private (i.e., after years of speculation that it would, one day, be acquired by SAP) and has lost some of its historical luster in the marketplace (i.e., in terms of “Who are they now – really!).

Another long-time vendor, ViryaNet, was acquired by Verisae (i.e., taking its name), and Wennsoft is now known as Key2Act. In other words, the FSM competitive landscape has probably changed more in the past two years than in the dozen years before, in terms of structure, presence, influence and use. However, we would be burying our collective heads in the sand if we thought that this recent spate of market consolidation is now over – it’s not – and there are likely to be further surprises in the short term, rather than in the longer-term future.

So, … what does the future hold for the global FSM marketplace?

Much will depend on how the market itself (i.e., the current and prospective FSM solution users) believes it should evolve. That’s why Strategies For Growth℠ has launched its 2016 Field Service Management Benchmark Tracking Survey after an approximate two-year hiatus.

The times have changed; the competitive landscape has changed; and user needs and requirements, perceptions, expectations and preferences for FSM solutions have changed.

 

In fact, it may be because of the latter that many of these mergers/acquisitions were “forced” to take place. In many cases (i.e., too many cases) the existing FSM solution providers did not, or could not, evolve as quickly as the market’s needs and, as a result, either lost their traction, their “mojo”, their market preference, or any combination thereof. It is frustrating to not be able to present some of the key preliminary findings from our current (i.e., 2016) FSM Survey – but that could likely influence the responses of some of the individuals who have not yet taken the survey.

So, … here’s our suggestion: First, take the survey by clicking this link, and we guarantee that you will, at the very least, learn something more about the global services community merely by reviewing the questions and answer sets, and thinking about what your top-of-head responses should be.

Second, after taking the survey, be sure to continue to watch our Blogsite, www.PollockOnService.com, for frequent updates and posts on key survey findings; Third, watch for our various published articles in Field Service News and other Field Service-related trade publications), and any other client-sponsored White Papers and Webcasts; and, Fourth, we will be happy to e-mail you a special, not otherwise published, Executive Summary, following the close of the survey later in the late October/early November timeframe.

In any case, we’ve got you covered – with the market data and information that you can use to compare the challenges, drivers, technology adoption and strategic actions taken by your organisation compared against all others. All it takes is about 15 minutes of your time, for timeless information about your field – Field Services.

 

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One year on from our investigation into the appetite for Cloud Computing as a platform for field service management systems, ClickSoftware and Field Service News return to the topic to see how trends have evolved within the last twelve months and to find out if our prediction of a gradual shift towards Cloud ultimately becoming the norm in field service is starting to come true...

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In 2015 Field Service News partnered with leading Field Service Management (FSM) software provider ClickSoftware on a research project, which aimed to take a measure of the feelings toward Cloud computing as a platform for productivity tools amongst field service professionals.

Now one year on both parties have returned to the topic to see if the trends we identified and the developments we predicted have materialised and to build an up-to-date picture of both the adoption and appetite for Cloud computing as a platform for Field Service Management systems.

In this white paper, co-published by Field Service News and ClickSoftware, we shall review the data from our latest research, providing year-on-year comparative analysis to identify what new trends have emerged and how attitudes towards the Cloud have evolved amongst senior management within the field service industry.

Previously identified trends:

To begin let’s briefly recap the findings of last year’s research (which was the second time we had focused on the use of Cloud within a field service context as a subject for our research.)

Whilst the headline findings of that project identified that a large majority of field service companies (74%) were still using on-premise solutions, there was clear evidence that a shift to Cloud was on the horizon.

There were two key findings that supported this hypothesis.

Firstly, there was the overwhelming evidence that the Cloud was proving to be a success amongst those companies that had made the move away from traditional on-premise solutions. In fact, when we asked those respondents who had made such a move ‘would you recommend a Cloud based field service management solution over an on-premise solution?’ 100% of them replied that they would.

However, the findings were perhaps even more telling when we turned to those companies that were still using on-premise solutions.

Amongst this group of respondents, we found that over two-thirds of companies (69%) admitted they would consider moving to the Cloud when they next upgraded their FSM solution.

Such findings led us to arrive at the hypothesis that eventually we would see a widespread move to the Cloud. It was our prediction that we would potentially see a complete pendulum shift, with up to 75% of companies using Cloud based FSM solutions within the next five years.

 

Last year’s research also identified that concerns around the security of the Cloud were the biggest potential barrier to adoption. In fact, 38% of respondents that were not using a Cloud based FSM solution stated that they felt that security was the greatest issue with Cloud.

Yet that same research also highlighted that this is generally not the case - security issues were less prevalent than both connectivity and integration issues amongst companies actually using a Cloud based FSM tools.

It was our assertion last year that there was a need for greater education and understanding of the security of the Cloud, particularly at the enterprise level amongst executives within the field service sector - so that perception and reality could become more closely aligned. Once this was achieved we would likely see the shift to Cloud becoming the most widely used platform for FSM systems gaining greater momentum.

So how have the opinions of field service professionals changed across the last twelve months?

Has there been the continued trend in the number of companies making the move away from on-premise FSM software to Cloud based equivalents that we predicted we would see? Has the perception of Cloud security improved amongst Field Service Management professionals? And has the appetite for Cloud based FSM systems gained any greater momentum?

Executive Summary: Key findings:

• Over a third of companies are now using Cloud based Field Service Management (FSM) systems
• The rate of adoption of Cloud based FSM systems has increased dramatically year-on-year with almost three times as many companies moving to the Cloud in 2015/2016 than did in 2014/2015
• The move to the Cloud appears to be directly aligned to the move away from legacy systems with over two thirds of companies that are still using on-premise FSM solutions working with FSM systems that are at least three years old
• Similarly, of those using Cloud based FSM solutions, a third have made the move within the last six months - which would suggest that not only is the rate of adoption of Cloud based FSM solutions increasing, but it is doing so at a quicker pace than in previous years
• This is further supported by the fact that over two thirds of companies that are currently using Cloud based FSM solutions would consider the Cloud for the next iteration of their FSM system
• The most common key driver for companies adopting Cloud based FSM solutions is that the Cloud offers greater flexibility. However, once implemented, increased functionality is the number one benefit felt by companies using Cloud based FSM systems
• Amongst those who have implemented Cloud based FSM systems, the move has been overwhelmingly positive with 100% of these companies stating they would recommend a Cloud based FSM system over an on-premise equivalent
• Finally, fears around the security of the Cloud, which was seen to be the biggest barrier to adoption in previous research are abating. Just 6% stated that they felt they wouldn’t trust placing sensitive data in the Cloud whilst over half of respondents felt that the Cloud was the future of enterprise computing.

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Click here to download the full research report now

 

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Read the next part of this research report where we will look drill deeper into the findings of this year's research... 

 

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As the importance of harnessing the latest technology to ensure service delivery is as efficient as possible grows, field service companies appear to be investing more frequently in technology than ever before as the latest research by Field Service News in partnership with ServiceMax appears to show. 

 

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Are you a field service professional? Take part in our research projects and you could win one of three £50 Amazon vouchers. Click here to particpate in our enter our latest research project now

 

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Almost a third of field service companies are now investing in technology on an annual basis now the early findings of the current research from Field Service News and ServiceMax reveals.

In fact, whilst 34% of companies are investing on an annual basis an additional 27% are investing in field service technology every two-years - meaning almost two thirds of field service companies surveyed appear to be investing in technology a lot faster than the perceived 3 to 5 year replacement cycle many industry experts cite.

The same survey, which is still running and available for field service professionals to participate in by clicking here, also highlights that over three quarters of field service professionals do not think their company is investing sufficiently enough in field service technology to deliver a competitive level of service, with 77% of our respondents stating they felt this was the case. 

It is perhaps no surprise that the technologies that are viewed as key for driving forward improved service delivery are Mobile, Cloud, IoT and Big Data. Each of which were identified by over half of respondents as having an impact within their own organisations.

Mobile technology remains the most prominent of these four,being cited by 71% of companies, which given it's longer standing and maturity within a field service environment is of little surprise. What is perhaps a bit more unexpected however is that 58% of companies state that IoT or connected assets are already having an impact in their field service organisations, when we think that the first dedicated field service systems including Connected Field Service by ServiceMax only started appearing earlier this year.

 

This is particularly interesting as the potential impact of IoT in Field Service could be literally game changing as companies begin to move away from traditional break fix and towards more predictive, servitized business models.

Indeed, the early results of this research certainly support this hypothesis with 63% of companies admitting they are preparing for the cultural impact that the introduction of IoT will have in their organisations, whilst a further 13% state that they have already prepared for the impact.

How does this align to your own organisation? Take part in our research and once the results are concluded you will receive a copy of an exclusive white paper detailing the findings of the report. Plus every research project we run includes a prize draw for our respondents with three £50 Amazon vouchers available for each project. We recently announced the last three lucky winners here - could you be next?

 

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Field Service News is pleased to announce the three winners of our latest research prize draw!

Congratulations to the following Field Service News readers:

• Martin Higgins,Retail Service Controller, William Hill
• Sorin Anghel, Service Detection Department Manager, Draeger Safety Romania
• Pieter Taljaard, Head of Field Service and Support, T-Systems South Africa

Our team will be in touch with these lucky three readers each of whom receives a £50 Amazon Voucher!

If you want to be included in our next research prize draw all you need to do is take a few minutes to complete our current survey on IoT, Servitization and Field Service.

The survey should take no more than a few minutes to complete and all those that complete the survey are given the opportunity to submit their details to enter into the prize draw (only applicable to Field Service Professionals, terms and conditions apply.)

If you want to take part then click the link below and complete our latest survey now!

 

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Click here to take part in our research on IoT, Servitization and Field Service and enter our latest prize draw now

 

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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.

 

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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

 

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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.

Perhaps 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.

Second to video/photo capture was the inclusion of a barcode scanner, which was desired by almost two thirds (65%) of our respondents.

 

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.

In fact 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’.

When we look at the reasons why we’ve seen such wide acceptance of mobile technology amongst field service engineers the single most commonly cited reason was that ‘it made their workflow easier’ which 45% of companies revealed their engineers benefited from.

 

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

 

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Look out for the next part of this series where we look at the importance of connectivity in device selection...

 

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The above infographic is based on the findings of the Strategies for GrowthSM 2015 benchmarking report. Click the image to see full screen version

 

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Want to know more? Download our webinar featuring an exclusive presentation of the findings of this benchmarking project from Bill Pollock plus how scheduling technology can help you achieve best-in-class service standards by Nick Shipton

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Having undertaken a research project to assess the current appetite for the Cloud as a platform for field service management systems, Field Service News in partnership with ClickSoftware brought together a panel of senior field service executives to discuss the findings at the iconic Gherkin building in the heart of London’s business district...

 

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There is also a more detailed briefing report available for download if you want to know more - Access the full Briefing report by clicking here

 

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It was a typical British winters day: cold wet and grey. However when a selection of the field service industry’s senior executives came together to discuss the findings of a recent research report published by Field Service News in partnership with ClickSoftware the debate and discussion was lively, engaging and illuminating.

Held in the iconic 30 St Mary’s Axe, affectionately known by locals as the Gherkin, the backdrop to our conversations was the ever impressive London skyline, inspiring even with the cold, persistent rain beating down outside.

And perhaps what better place to discuss the Cloud than amongst the clouds?

The obvious starting point for the conversation was to identify who within the group was currently utilising a Cloud-based field service management solution and what had driven them to opt for the Cloud.

Keith Mackie, Director of UCC Coffee UK & Ireland was the first to offer us his thoughts.

“I’ve been with UCC Coffee for three years and when I arrived they had a solution that was partly Cloud-based but I changed it mainly because of the utility of the system itself.”

 

 

“The decision for me was based around the ability to get data out of the system. For me that is one of the keys to any system.”

 

“The Internet of Things is a big driver. What our customers want more and more is live data. How do we feed that data back to them?”

It was clear that this challenge around accessing and delivering data wasn’t unique to Mackie and UCC Coffee. The conversation quickly turned to the importance of being able to get data from the field and feed it directly into both a field service management system as well as the wider ecosystem of ERPs and CRMs etc.

Mark Jones, Head of Technical Services, Roland DG, commented: “I think in terms of having the engineer turn up equipped with the right tools and parts and in terms of being able to maintain a high first time fix rate, then it’s extremely important. That would certainly be one of the benefits we would be seeking”

 

 

“We’re not quite there yet, but in the next generation or generation after that of our product there will be that intelligence to take that information. That will also enable us to examine life-cycles of machinery.”

 

“Typically you see the bath tub curve: when your products launch you tend to get teething problems and you ramp up on calls and then as things mature and settle down you get a really good period where machines are reliable and ticking along smoothly. Then as you come to the end of the product life-cycle you start to see things ramp up again.”

“To be able to have that intelligent data, to measure that, would also provide a great tool for sales and marketing.”

The data highway

Jones’ point again reiterated the importance of data within the modern field service operation so the question was put to the group “Is it fair to make the assertion that the adoption of the Cloud, whether it be in FSM solutions or any others such as CRM and so on is hugely driven by the ease of access to data that it provides?”

John Cullen, VP Global Marketing Brand & Services, for mining and aggregates giant Metso, led the group in agreement that this is indeed the case.

 

 

“As everyone has been saying: if you can get information on the state of your equipment, then you can optimise your operations, you can know what services to deliver to your customers.”

 

“One challenge I see as a concern is that, yes there is lots of data, but I think you can actually drown under the data. You can have access to anything but in the end what is it you want it for? What is the business process that you actually want to be applying this to? If you don’t have that view, I think you can take the wrong path. In the marketing side of my work. I see a similar thing: through analytics we can have lots of information but we can get blinded by,  even paralysed by, the information.”

“The same thing can be true here; you have to have a view of what you want to use data for, then you select the right pieces of data. You start doing it in a structured way otherwise you end up with a system that doesn’t fulfil your needs.”

[quote float="right"]The question of how configurable is your system is for that very reason. I don’t want to be told what data I’m going to get, I want to choose what data I’m going to get.

Mackie then went on to add further to this point commenting: “There is the question of how configurable is your system is for that very reason. I don’t want to be told what data I’m going to get, I want to choose what data I’m going to get.”

 

“I might want to analyse it differently today than I do tomorrow depending on what I’m looking for. Am I looking for first time fix, parts usage, mean time between failure? All of those stats are important and you have to be able to configure them very easily.”

Again the consensus of the group was that this was very much a key desire for most companies. As Cullen stated: “Businesses evolve, they’re not static.”

Flexibility

This brought us again to another often celebrated benefit of Cloud computing:  the fact that the Cloud is scalable and Cloud based solutions can grow or shrink with a business accordingly.

Paul Hingley, CMR Business Manager, Siemens, took the mantle stating that by 2020 all their products will have the functionality to send diagnostic data. “Where we are going as an organisation is making our service department more proactive and the Cloud we are developing is completely open” he explained.

 

“The more that you open up the technology, and the diagnostics for the technology, then the more the data becomes relevant and has value. The other problem we have is that some of the large Big Data companies are selling data but there is nothing behind it and that is the worry, because it gives Cloud a bad name.”

 

Security in the Cloud

Of course no conversation around the Cloud can be held without mentioning the ever present elephant in the room, security. With Hingley raising the topic of a giving Cloud a bad name the conversation was steered to perhaps the one question that has dogged the Cloud since its inception - is it secure?

One of the interesting findings of the research was the amount of people who admitted that breaches in consumer Cloud products such as Apple’s iCloud impacted their perception of the security of enterprise level Cloud solutions.

But what was the feeling of those in the room when it came to the security of the Cloud?

“If you were to ask us what would be at the top of our list of our priorities I would certainly say security.” stated Caroline Winwood, Customer Services Director at Dyson. "We take it very seriously at Dyson across everything from our intellectual property through to our customer information.”

“In my role, I inherited a system which is server based. One of the reasons was that our back office ran this way so integration was deemed easier but security was also very high on the list.”

 

“The success of any software implementation lies in alignment between Operations and IT.  Both teams need to take on the shared responsibility for delivering a scalable platform that meets operational and reporting needs while ensuring that the fundamentals of security and on-going support are also taken care of,” Winwood added.

 

Indeed, Winwood’s point seems to be hugely pertinent in today’s landscape as the challenge for many companies is marrying this balance of the need for security often led by the IT department, especially for a company such as Dyson whose products sit at the top of their field in terms of the technology they deliver and the needs of the business in being able to deliver the levels of service also expected of a market leader.

However, Cullen’s Metso are one organisation that have embraced the Cloud across the business putting their trust within their Cloud provider to ensure their business data remains as secure as it would if they had remained with an on-premise solution. As a company we are actually embracing Cloud technology. Our complete storage and office environment has gone online with Microsoft, so we are trusting of Cloud security."

" Where we actually see an issue is with our customers and their machinery and the concerns that they have and those come on two levels. First is the commercial level: if you have a lot of data about their operations then you know exactly how they are doing in the market. You know if they are struggling or if they are doing well and a lot of companies feel uncomfortable about that.”

“Then the second area is when you are talking about the ability to get into the machinery and change settings. It has the ability to not only ruin a company commercially - for example, you could make their energy consumption go up - but also you could actually kill people as well by mis-settings. So the integrity and safety of their sites is an issue.”

Given the concerns being raised around security the question was put to Tim Faulkner, VP EMEA of ClickSoftware, of how he define the difference between the enterprise Cloud security against the Cloud in the consumer realm when speaking to his clients and prospective clients.

“Well there have been a number of interesting different points raised,” began Faulkner. “From a security perspective, if a company like Amazon Web Services has a breach it’s going to get into the news for sure because it’s a big company, it’s a clear target, so it’s newsworthy.”

 

“But companies like Amazon or Azure, that’s their livelihood. They are investing a lot into the policies, the protocols and the procedures for maintaining security into the sites and the resilience of the systems. They can afford to invest so much more than a normal enterprise can in security measures and most of the breaches actually tend to be within a company's own data centre.”

 

“I think media has an impact on our perception but in this case the security of the Cloud versus the security of a normal company, versus the measures of a normal company and what they can afford to put in place, I don’t think the perception is really aligned with the reality that we have.”

“For most companies it’s unaffordable to put in the same level of security that they should expect from a Cloud service vendor.”

One company that perhaps do fall into the bracket of being large enough to be able to build their own levels of security that could match that of a Cloud vendor however is Belgian telecoms giant Proximus. “I think it is also about losing control, or at least the perception of losing control,” commented Marc Cornelis, WFM Lead, Proximus.

“In our company, hosting ClickSoftware and other applications in the Cloud, it’s like giving up all the data, all your core business data, into the Cloud, where you don’t have the perception of control."

"We have more than one data centre, and we are managing our own data centres and also for other customers. Our point is: why should we host our own data in a Cloud solution without having control of where the data is in the world?”

“We just don’t see why we should run an application like ClickSoftware, which is one of the core applications for Proximus, in a Cloud solution.”

Enabling process change

Of course one of the often cited reasons for slow adoption for the Cloud in certain areas including field service is the existence of legacy systems and the mindsets that often come embedded in such long-standing processes.

As Cornelis explained “It’s about change, it’s changing the environment; we have always been used to having everything hosted in the Proximus environment. We need to change, see how it works and then build up the confidence and build up the controls.”

Indeed, the Cloud has sometimes been referred to as a great leveller within enterprise as those companies unencumbered by such legacy infrastructure are able to embrace the technology and its benefits perhaps more easily than their larger more established competitors.

 

“It’s something of a timing issue and also a generational issue as well, if I’m being honest,” commented Mackie.

 

“I could not imagine the cost of hosting all of our data on-site for a hundred thousand service calls. I think it is almost generational, people are so used to their information being hosted somewhere else.”

“If I was starting the business I work in now I wouldn’t even consider having an in-house solution, whereas for a multi-national that sense of control is more important but I think as things move on it’s a timing issue. I think as people become more comfortable with remote data access and using data that they don’t actually control then I almost think this problem will dissipate. I think we may be pushing at an open door.

In fact, there is evidence of such a swing in attitudes changing within the market already as Alistair Martin, Director of Product and Services, Unisys explained. “In fact we are seeing the opposite of what a lot of the conversation here is. We typically supply to some of the largest banks in the world through to the police force so very, very secure systems. But we are actually seeing that customers, because of demographics, because of a lack of skills, are becoming more open to look at Cloud solutions.”

“Applications as a Service is an area we are doing a lot of work in now, with customers coming to us now to actually run their applications somewhere out there. It’s a big change.”

 

As the rain continued to drench the London skyline, the consensus amongst our panel of leading field service experts was indeed very much in-line with the headline findings of our research.

 

The Cloud is gaining momentum as a valid platform for field service management solutions and wider enterprise applications. However, for those largest companies, legacy systems remain one challenge, whilst a need to overcome old ways of thinking around security and control are another.

What was interesting was that amongst our panel, every member understood the potential benefits of the Cloud, and that easy access to data was perhaps the biggest driver of all. But the lingering fears around security continue to cast a shadow for the Cloud for many and as such the journey to Cloud based computing still does seem to require an internal leap of faith, which is something each company can only achieve in their own time.

 

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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.

However, the field service industry, which has more complex needs than its younger cousin of Enterprise Mobility, is also a far more mature market in general.

 

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%.

Not only the is the group now just a very small minority, but our research also indicates that this group is potentially set to disappear completely 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.

Whilst a small movement, given the timeframe this increase could indeed help support the argument that the Cloud is slowly becoming more prevalent and that the move to Cloud is very much tied to companies moving from their legacy systems to more modern next-gen equivalents.

 

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.

Whereas amongst those larger companies, who have a more developed IT department adding their insight, perhaps there is more understanding of both the true benefits and dangers of the Cloud?

 

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.

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.

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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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.

 

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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 – while increasing existing levels of customer satisfaction. Customer access to online service order data and information is clearly a “win-win” scenario for all parties.

 

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.

However, the availability of Cloud-based FSM and SLM solutions now allows smaller UK/Europe FSOs to acquire the same types of functionality previously only available to larger organisations, thereby allowing them – in many cases for the first time – to compete directly against the historical market leaders.

 

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"]

1. 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
2.  A majority of UK/Europe FSOs are adding, expanding and/or refining the metrics, or KPIs, they use to measure service performance.
3. 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.
4. UK/Europe Field Technicians are increasingly being provided with enhanced access to real-time data and information to support them in the field.
5. 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.).
6. 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).
7. 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.

 

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