Field Service News Editor-in-Chief Kris Oldland looks asks whether too many field service companies are taking the easier short term options that will ultimately lead to greater costs in the longer term...

 

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Is x,y or z fit for purpose? It’s a question that we should be asking ourselves on a regular basis but unfortunately human nature tends to prefer a make do and muddle through attitude rather than face the tougher option of re-evaluating our choices...

Of course this isn’t always true, if it were there would be no innovation in the world and as anyone who reads this column regularly can attest innovation is one thing that gets me excited.

And in fairness in our industry it is all around us, my only fear is that perhaps such examples of smart out of the box thinking are sometimes the exception rather than the rule.

A point in case is to be found within our latest research project where our findings point to so many companies taking the easy options when it comes to device selection for their field service engineers.

In their defence they will likely point to the fact that it was the cheaper option, but all to the often what appears to be the cheapest option up front can ultimately be a more costly choice further down the line. Indeed the Total Cost of Ownership argument that many rugged manufacturers or distributors will put forward is based around facts and figures that support this exact notion.

However, for me the issue is not thinking the choice through in terms of how these devices will genuinely fit into an engineer’s workflow. For example of the 59% of companies that opted for consumer devices to empower there engineers in the field, 71% stated that ideally the devices for field service should have barcode scanning capability.

Now whilst I know the camera on a consumer tablet or smart phone is capable of handling barcodes, but it’s a cumbersome process whereas so many industrial devices are designed to incorporate this functionality with a dedicated button to make our engineers lives easier.

 

Basically one product is fit for purpose and the other is not.

Yet the overwhelming majority of companies opt for the device that isn’t fit for purpose because of an initial lower cost per unit. It is a short-sighted approach that leads to potential efficiency improvements being missed, which in turn could see potential additional profits melt away.

OK I may be being a bit melodramatic but I’m sure you get the point.

Considering what is fit for purpose and taking the time to make considered decisions - whether it be around hardware, software or even processes is, in my humble opinion at least, the key to long term success.

In fact this issue is full of examples who questioned if what was the accepted norm was in fact actually fit for purpose or not.

Take Dr. Bart Guthrie, neurosurgeon and founder of Help Lightning to begin with. Ultimately it was his acceptance that the standard means of communicating remotely in the medical sector, i.e. the telephone, wasn’t really fit for purpose anymore that led to the creation of mobile merged reality and Help Lightning which is shaping up to be a significant game changer in both the clinical and field service sectors alike.

Then there is Kony.

A mobile app development platform who have identified the fact that the functionality of many traditional FSM solutions is constrictive and in the context of a digital mobile worlds not fit for purpose.

Or how about IFS’s Tom Bowe.

In our interview he makes a great point about beginning to define new processes today in preparation for the oncoming sea change that will be mass adoption of the Internet of Things.

Very simply Bowe argues that the SLAs currently in place and the processes to support those SLAs will soon no longer be fit for purpose as ultimately technology will make them obsolete.

It is only by challenging ourselves and our decision that we can continuously improve. And the question ‘is it fit for purpose’ is therefore a handy one to keep tucked in our head to help us achieve that.

 

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Field service is going through a period of incredible change currently with service taking centre stage in industry, driven on by innovations in technology and strategy. However, at it’s heart field service remains and always will remain fundamentally a people industry. In keeping with this ethos Field Service News is pleased to present the second edition of the FSN20 celebrating those who are leading our industry forwards.

Put together by a committee of industry experts, the #FSN20 is based on those we believe will have a significant impact on the industry in the coming year. Some are analysts, some are vendors and some are service directors but all are pushing the industry forward.

So in no particular order, ladies and gentleman,  Field Service News proudly presents...

Bill Pollock, President and Principal, Consulting Analyst, Strategies for GrowthSM

Pollock not only has a long and distinguished career as an analyst specialising within field service, but continues to be one of the most prolific authors in the industry today.

With a resume that takes in Aberdeen, The Service Council and his current organisation Strategies for GrowthSM Pollock has provided consulting services to over 250 clients across a career spanning over 30 years which as taken him all across the globe.

These engagements have involved strategic services planning, market research/surveys, customer satisfaction measurement and tracking, competitive market analyses and business intelligence gathering, vertical market assessments, operations assessments, business process evaluation/re-engineering, and the development of strategic recommendations for improving service performance and customer satisfaction.

 

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Jonathan Massoud, Divisional Director & Market Analyst Field Service, WBR

As producers of Field Service USA, Field Service Medical and Field Service Europe and their sister events, WBR are a key provider of information within the field service industry on both sides of the Atlantic. In his role as Divisional Director Massoud is directly involved with each of the events and responsible for delivering industry leading content to keep field service professionals up to date with the key trends with in the industry.

Massoud is also responsible for overseeing WBR’s research and a respected analyst within the sector.

 

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Martin Summerhayes, Head of Delivery Strategy and Service Improvement, Fujitsu.

When it comes to field service, there are very few with a record and career to match Summerhayes. Having worked his way up from service engineer to overseeing service delivery for technology giant Fujitsu, Summerhayes’ background also includes developing the service offering for Hewlett Packard which would go on to be a billion dollar revenue stream.

Summerhayes is also a well respected industry speaker as well as an integral member of the Service Community, a UK group which acts a knowledge sharing hub for field service professionals within the UK.

 

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Sumair Dutta, Customer Satisfaction Officer, The Service Council™

Sumair Dutta is the Chief Customer Officer for  The Service Council™ (TSC). In his role at TSC, Sumair is responsible for new member acquisition, member engagement, community expansion, as well as the development and expansion of TSC’s Smarter Services oriented research agenda and portfolio.

These research tools provide service executives the ability to benchmark their operations and also provide guided insight to improve service organisation performance.

Dutta also plays a key role in building out TSC’s community platform focused on becoming the single source of information and networking for service executives globally and is a prolific author on the matter of field service.

 

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Tom Bowe, Director for Enterprise Service Management, IFS

With the launch of IFS Applications 9 last year, the Swedish ERP provider became a major alternative option for enterprise level organisations and with key partnerships with the likes of Accenture and Microsoft announced they are primed to increase their market share beyond their core strength of mid-sized organisations and challenge the dominance of the likes of Oracle and SAP at the top table.

With a suite of well respected service management tools further enhanced with the roll out of Apps 9, field service remains a prime sector for IFS and in his role of Director for Enterprise Service Management, Bowe has a crucial role within both IFS and the wider industry as a whole.

 

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Professor Tim Baines, Director at The Aston Centre for Servitization Research and Practice 

The trend of Servitization is gaining more and more momentum each passing year and its potential impact on how companies approach field service could be absolutely massive. The increase in awareness is in no small part down to Baines and his team at the Aston Centre for Servitization Research and Practice, part of Aston University.

A regular speaker in the global field service calender, as well as hosting the annual Aston Spring Servitization Conference which brings industry and academia together, Baines is widely regarded to being one of the most forthright authorities on the subject of Servitization.

 

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Laurent Othacéhé, CEO, CognitoiQ

Othacéhé has been dubbed the Godfather of scheduling for his work with pioneering scheduling company 360 Scheduling, who developed what was widely perceived to be the leading scheduling engine of its time.

After spending time with Swedish ERP and Service Management software provider IFS following their acquisition of 360 Othacéhé joined CognitoiQ as Sales and Marketing director, before being promoted to CEO.

Given his track record and standing in the industry Othacéhé is certainly more than just a figurehead and is a an incredibly hands on CEO with an in-depth knowledge of both products and strategies making CognitoiQ a company set to thrive under his highly focused leadership.

 

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Thomas Igou, Content Director, Copperburg

With a strong heritage in producing conferences within the manufacturing industry, Copperburg were able to build upon this base and have firmly established themselves and their events as key highlights within the European event calender for the field service industries.

Igou has played a key role in this success having headed up Copperberg’s portfolio of manufacturing events for the past 5 years, developing it from a Nordic Aftermarket event to a series of conferences across Europe within the world of Services. Events like the Aftermarket Business Platform or the Field Service Forum have become a true gathering of the most brilliant minds in the field service industry and continuously pushing the boundaries of the traditional events.

Thomas also has a keen interest in technologies and how they can positively disrupt and impact rigid business models in the industrial sector.

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Hilbrand Rustema, Managing Director, Noventum Service Management

 

From small beginnings in a two-man office in Holland to a service management consultancy spanning three continents. With over 200 successful projects and a proven track record of improving growth and profitability Noventum have become a leading consultancy within the field service industry and Rustema has been a driving force in that development.

He is also co-author of key service book “Service Economics” and the 2016 publication “The Service Revolution of the Manufacturing Industry – Moving from reactive to proactive service business enabled by IoT”. Often seen giving presentations at industry events around the world and having been at the heart of evolving service thinking across the continent for many years, Rustema remains at the forefront of the sector today.

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John Harris, General Manager, Engineering, Panasonic

Panasonic remain the dominant force within rugged computing with a sizeable market-share. However, the company refuses to rest on it’s laurels and with the launch of the Toughbook 20 the technology giant has created the worlds first fully rugged detachable laptop. Combining the benefits of both tablet and laptop yet designed to meet the needs of even the most testing field environment the Toughbook 20 is a perfect fit for many field service companies.

Not only is Harris heavily involved in the development of products such as the Toughbook 20 but he is also a key link between Panasonic’s R&D team and their customer base. Approachable, and prepared to both listen to and act upon feedback Harris, is a crucial figure in Panasonic’s ongoing success.

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Nick Frank, Managing Partner, Frank Partners

With a background as a service manager before moving into consultancy including working with service management specialists Noventum before launching Frank Partners, Frank has a track strong record of developing service businesses within high value technology companies through various General Manager and Director level roles for industry-leading multinationals, such as Xerox, Textron and Husky Injection Moulding Systems.

He is a well respected industry author and frequent speaker at field service conferences across Europe. His mission is to support companies who want to leverage services to win in industrial markets through his expertise in strategy, new business models, ecosystems, innovation, service operations, service sales and transformation management.

Nick’s continues his passion for innovation through his new venture Si2 partners, which aims to provide new ways for managers to transform their service business through On-Demand Advisory and Support.

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John Cooper, Head of IT and Workflow Solutions, Sony Professional Solutions

With a pan European team of around 110 field engineers working alongside other members of the wider Sony workforce and various third parties, Cooper’s responsibilities are essentially across the entirety of the non-consumer portfolio of the tech giant, which is becoming an important part of the company's wider business strategies and plans.

However, despite the challenge of managing a pan European team across four divisions each with their own differing needs, Cooper has shown himself to be a forward thinking service executive, implementing and harnessing the latest technologies, to enable Sony to move towards a servitized or outcome based solutions model, entrenching them within the core business of many of their key clients.

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Bart Guthrie, Neurosurgeon and Co-Founder, Help Lightning

If 2015 was the year that the Internet of Things (IoT) moved from exciting concept to becoming a technology that is beginning to genuinely reshape the field service industry, then 2016 is set to be the year we see Augmented Reality (AR) similarly emerge. And like IoT, AR is not just a technology that can improve efficiency and productivity in Field Service, but one that can change the entire way companies will address delivering service in the field. Already we are seeing a number of companies beginning to offer AR tools for field service companies and at the vanguard of these is US based Help Lightning, the brain child of neurosurgeon Bart Guthrie.

Guthrie himself is a charismatic and confident figurehead for the company and the technology itself is certainly one of the slickest AR tools to hit the market to date. More are sure to follow, however, Help Lightning have a significant head start over most of the competition, and Guthrie is sure to be a sought out figure in the conference calendar this year as AR continues to gain attention across the industry.

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Professor Howard Lightfoot, Senior Research Fellow - Service Operations, Cranfield University

As well as being a co-author (WIth Baines) of seminal servitization book ‘Made to Serve’, Lightfoot is also heavily involved in the study of and advancement of Augmented Reality within through-life-services via his current role with Cranfield University.

Lightfoot is also a highly respected speaker in the international field service calendar as well as being at the forefront of training the next generation of field workers and developing the tools to engage with millennials.

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Marne Martin, CEO, ServicePower

ServicePower had been quietly going about their business in terms of product development for some time prior to the launch of their brand new service management solution Nexus FS towards the end of last year.

With a strategy that involves strong investment in research and development alongside the acquisition of well selected companies ServicePower were in a strong position to launch their new solution, which has also had plenty of attention placed on its User Interface.

Having got their ducks neatly lined up in a row, ServicePower are set for an aggressive growth strategy for this year and Martin, who is both vibrant and easy going yet with clear focus and determination, has a strong vision of the path she wants the company to take.

An engaging speaker, Martin is often asked to give presentations at key field service events and we can expect to see even more of here this year as the sales and marketing plans begin to catch up with the impressive product development and ServicePower will be a name all service directors should be aware of by the end of 2016

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Andy Neely, Professor Andy Neely, Director, Cambridge Service Alliance

Another of the key figures within the growing movement of servitization which could have a massive impact on the operation of field service. Having held appointments at Cranfield University, London Business School, Cambridge University, Neely is widely recognised for his work on the servitization of manufacturing, as well as his work on performance measurement and management and his organisation The Cambridge Service Alliance continues to work with leading companies such as IBM and BAE on research into ways to provide, implement and employ complex new service systems.

He’s also recently been appointed as the new head of Cambridge University’s Institute for Manufacturing (IfM).

Neely is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading authorities on organisational performance measurement and management. He has authored over 100 books and articles, including “Measuring Business Performance”, published by the Economist and “The Performance Prism”, published by the Financial Times.

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Tony Chapman, Customer Services Director, Siemens

Siemens are another company who could potentially have had a number of inclusions on the list this year as they continue to lead the way in a number of aspects in terms of service delivery.

Their approach to engaging with the next generation of field service engineers was celebrated by our inclusion of Martin Hotass in last year's #FSN20, whilst their approach to developing an open Cloud infrastructure alongside an aim to have all their assets in the field connected by 2020 is an admirable example of a company moving towards a more proactive approach to service.

Given the wide range of forward thinking from Siemens though we felt that their representative should have a broad knowledge to reflect the wider organisation and in Chapman they have an excellent operations director, with a clear understanding of what good service looks like, whilst have a detailed knowledge of the challenges of IT within a field service environment.

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Phillip Sassower, CEO, Xplore Technologies.

Xplore Technologies acquisition of fellow Texan rugged tablet manufacturers last year was probably one of the biggest surprises in the rugged sector for quite some time. For a start Motion were very much the larger of the two companies, yet a supply problem from a specialist OEM saw Motion slip into financial difficulties and Xplore were there to step in and take advantage of the situation and by doing so establishing themselves as the second largest manufacturer of rugged tablets behind only Panasonic.

And whilst it was a move that took everyone by surprise it was also one that made absolute sense. With Xplore’s area of expertise being in the ultra rugged space and Motion’s being more focused on healthcare and general field operations, bringing the two product lines together has given Xplore Technologies an impressive array of tablets that can satisfy almost all field service requirements.

We are anticipating a big year for Xplore as they seek to capitalise on this acquisition, and credit should go to Sassower for acting quickly to secure the greater prize. With tablets becoming the leading form factor amongst field service companies, anticipate hearing more from Sassower and Xplore as the year progresses.

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Aly Pinder, Research Analyst, Aberdeen Group

Aberdeen Group’s Aly Pinder has to be one of the most respected and busiest people in the field service industry. A prolific author, Pinder’s work can be found across the industry (including regularly on fieldservicenews.com) and his analysis is always insightful, detailed yet also easily digested.

His work often draws on the detailed research that his organisation Aberdeen Group deliver which adds further weight to his well constructed points and observations on how field service is evolving.

In last year’s list we also stated Pinder was one of the nicest guys in the industry. However, a year on we have learnt that,that mild mannered demeanour is just a bluff for what is a cold, calculating and very good poker player!

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Dave Yarnold, CEO, ServiceMax 

The ServiceMax story is one of the biggest success stories within field service. Having gone from start-up to leading field service management software provider within less than a decade picking up blue chip clients such as Sony, Schneider Electric and Phillips along the way.

Having aligned themselves closely to the Salesforce platform, ServiceMax blazed a trail delivering a SaaS platform that was as accessible for family run SMEs  as it was corporate giants and with the recent release of Connected Field Service, a result of their close partnership with IoT specialists PTC, they are set once more to lead the way by delivering the industry's first IoT-enabled field service platform.

Aside from the technology the other factor key to their success has been in their talent acquisition, with a depth of knowledge and experience combined with an inherent desire to understand their customer base (every member of the ServiceMax team including Yarnold has to spend three days ‘ride-along’ with customers each year) throughout the team.

Indeed there were a number of members of the ServiceMax family that were considered for this years #FSN20 including VPs of Global Transformation Dave Hart and Patrice Eberline. However, with a rule of one entrant per company we decided it had to be the man at the top.

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So who do you think we've left out and why? Tell us in the comments section below! 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  Field Service News (sponsored by Solarvista)
Title BYOD and Field Service
Download: Click here to Download the white paper

By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis

What are the key benefits and major challenges of implementing a Bring Your Own Device strategy for field service organisations

Overview

If we cast our minds back just a few years, the talk amongst the enterprise was very much centred upon the new emerging trend of Bring Your own Device (BYOD).

With the phrase being first coined by Intel in 2009 before quickly rising to prominence across the next few years, largely driven by organisations such as Unisys and Citrix who saw the early potential benefits of the trend.

However, the explosion of companies officially adopting BYOD policies never quite materialised in Europe as it was predicted it would and in certain circles there are even whispers that the trend may even be slowing down somewhat in what is perceived to be the BYOD heartland of the USA.

In this white paper we will review once more the case for and against BYOD reflecting on the further learnings we have seen in the last few years in terms of both challenges and successes of applications that have been documented, as well as exploring whether in the realm of field service, an inherently mobile-led environment, is BYOD is an option with merits.

 

Topics in the white paper include:

The attractions of BYOD

The rise in popularity of BYOD can be attributed to a combination of driving factors including the consumerisation of technology, the evolution of the Cloud Computing as a reliable platform in the enterprise and also a gradual shift in attitudes to the work/life balance (itself the result of the impact of technology in our working lives alongside the growing influence of Generation Y employees within the workforce.)

Significant benefits that can be drawn from a successful implementation of BYOD within the workplace which include:

• Personal choice
• Better work/life balance
• Improved efficiency
• No cost for equipment
• Decreased support and training costs

The challenges of BYOD

Whilst the benefits of BYOD initially leap out and are in the most part fairly obvious, in reality the actual implementation of a BYOD policy within the enterprise is wrought with complex challenges such as:

• Security
• Increased support and training costs
• Establishing BYOD policies around device usage

Overcoming these challenges and introduction of CYOD

Of course whilst the threat of cyber security increases, so to do the relevant solutions to overcome these risks. Let us be clear, despite the above issues BYOD is certainly not impossible to implement. It does however, require a lot more additional consideration than perhaps was deemed necessary in the early part of this decade when the hype around BYOD was at its highest.

 

One potential suggested solution to meet the challenges of BYOD is to move towards a Choose Your Own Device but is this really the magic bullet to get the best of both worlds?

BYOD, fit for purpose and the field service environment

Of course there is then the big question for field service companies – are the consumer devices selected by the employees necessarily fit for purpose?

In mission-critical environments such as field service, reliable real-time communications are key for optimum performance, and for proactive management of service-level agreements and compliance with key performance indicators.

Mobile field service workers need real-time access to their business applications and data, whether it is receiving the next job, navigation to an address, accessing a product or customer database and so on.

The perennial question of consumer vs. rugged is perhaps of even greater relevance when field service companies are considering BYOD policies.

 

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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.

 

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Click here to download the full version of this podcast

 

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Click here to download the research report discussed in this podcast

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Field Service Insight UK is a brand new industry event that will be held on the 9th March 2016 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, hosted by mplsystems.

The day will consist of a unique mix of presentations, interactive talks, customer case studies and networking opportunities for professionals in the field service management sector.

Unlike many other shows and conferences in the industry, Field Service Insight UK is a smaller, focused event designed to address key topics and trends via a mix of industry professionals, field service organisations and topical experts. With a compact agenda over a 4 hour time frame the event has been put together to allow busy professionals to attend without having to dedicate a full working day.

Paul White, CEO, mplsystems comments “The field service industry is rapidly changing and introducing more and more advanced tools and technologies to improve operations than ever before. It is therefore important for organisations to understand the industry, what is changing and how other businesses are successfully implementing field service solutions to improve performance and remain competitive. Field Service Insight UK has been designed to address key topics and trends, such as the Internet of Things, Servitisation and best practice project implementation that will provide the audience with a range of knowledge from some of the best speakers in the industry.”

 

This new industry event is targeted at those in senior level positions who manage the field service delivery, operations or technology within their organisation. The presentations and case studies at this event will suit those individuals in organisations with 20+ field based workers who are looking at ways to improve service delivery and want to know more about how new technologies are changing the way we work.

Speakers will include Dave Ormston, IT Success Specialist from leading IT Consultancy LOCS, Paul Gresty, Managing Director of Ecomaster and a case study session from Rob Burgess, European Service Manager from leading casino equipment manufacturer, TCSJOHNHUXLEY.

Nick Frank, Founding Member of the Steering Committee at Manufacturing Services Thought Leadership Network (MSTLN) who will be hosting an interactive session on Servitisation and the Internet of Things in the field service sector. This will be followed by Paul White, CEO mplsystems, discussing the latest technology solutions for field service drawing on key customer project implementations including Cofely, the Metric Group and Gamestec.

 

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For more information or to register go to: mplsystems

 

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Field Service Europe returned to Amsterdam this autumn. Field Service News was keen to find out what delegates liked about the event and what their key take-aways were. Active technology, IoT progress, mobile device management, task-based scheduling and a shift to customer-focused services were among the hot topics and there was growing recognition that European service organisations face different challenges compared with their their US counterparts.

Here are some of the conversations we had….

Marne Martin, CEO, ServicePower

FSN: Why did you decide to come to Field Service Europe?
The greater Europe and EMEA region is an important one for ServicePower, so definitely being able to meet with customers that cover all these territories is a fantastic opportunity.

I think also it was wonderful to see many of the presentations and companies at various stages of their maturation in field service. We the more mature end with Airbus and what they were doing with IoT but also that there are still companies that don’t understand the difference between scheduling, manual or drag and drop, versus the real power of optimisation.

FSN: Do you find that the European challenges are slightly different to those faced by US based organisations?
I think it’s different. In the US you have larger field forces so the complexity of the size has driven them into optimisation in advance of some of the European companies. However, the European companies have the same pain points in service and now they are also having to effectively do more with less - the new regulations that count travel time to and from a job as working time actually increases demand for productivity-enhancing technology.

There is a difference between more passive service management technology like a GPS or some other regular solutions that are just monitoring and giving analytics versus a more active solution that actually can drive cycle times, jobs per day, making sure your working within SLAs, the priority of jobs etc.

 

I think it is really important that we talk about active technology, technology that you can continue earning a return on investment on. Again the drivers for technology purchases are a little bit different between regions but the pain points in field service are pretty much the same.

Alec Pinto, Associate Director Field Service Central, QIAGEN

FSN: Why did you decide to come to Field Service Europe?
Firstly it was the opportunity to meet with our peers and learn new ideas and see what other companies are doing so we can benchmark against what they are doing and find out what the next steps are for us to grow our service offering.

I normally come away with 20 or 25 ideas for what we can put into place for the next three years, so from a mid-term goal perspective it’s always useful. I’m also with Peak service: we are always looking for new partners so these opportunities are the second big reason we are here. In summary, it’s networking and business opportunities.

FSN: Have there been any significant key take aways for you this year?
What GE healthcare is doing is amazingly good. They’ve got some really good ideas: the concept of categorising the tasks that you do not the engineers ties in well with what we are looking to do - identifying tasks by complexity and grouping them, creating training plans, regional plans and dispatch plans based around that. The idea is something we’ve been playing with, but how to make it concrete is something that just clicked with us this time.

That’s one big thing. What is also interesting is that the internet of things is not really taking off like people think it is. That’s a big realisation. Obviously there is the pressure that we need to get into the Internet of Things but when you see where the market is going it’s not something that will become real in the next three years.

 

Paul Rogers, Support Engineer Instrumentation Products, Pall Corporation

FS News: Why did you attend FS Europe?
Within our corporation we have a dedicated support team that is now a separate entity in itself. My boss and colleagues in the USA have already attended the Palm Springs session. They thought it would be a good idea for me to come to this conference with a fresh pair of eyes. I guess what we’ll do when I get back is have a round table discussion.

I will then need to see which direction we are already moving in and probably reach out to some of these technology partners and see what is available in terms of compatible systems, look at some of the things that look quite exciting, some of the technology offerings, the use of smartphones and our engineers having something simplistic to improve their workflow.

At the moment,  I guess our support is complex - it needs to move into newer technologies. This is a great place to start and a way forward for our company. We’re doing a very good job at what we do at the moment but we have to work very hard to do that. What we are doing now is moving things up.

In terms of eureka moments what a lot of it will come down to is if things could be implemented in a machine’s design with embedded sensors reporting back so we are able to tailor an instrument’s servicing based on its usage.
Things like that we can maybe start feeding back to the design teams – things that they may or may not be aware and that they may or may not have even thought about. Exciting times are ahead and that was one Eureka moment I guess.

The other ones were just seeing the level of complexity that some of these providers can offer. If you want to go to that level it’s there.

Oleg Huber, Director of Sales, Coresystems

FSN: Why did you decide to come to Field Service Europe?
it was a natural decision for us to be here again this year - we were here a year ago , two years ago, so we know the community already. We know we meet the right people here, we’ve done business here.

FSN: Has there been a difference in the conversations you are having this year compared to previous years?
The delegates are better informed. When people were talking about Internet of Things or M2M communication or service automation two or three years ago mostly we were looking to tell them this is what it is all about; now it is more of a future based discussion.

At the moment they are really in the process of evaluating. A bit down-to-the earth again because after evaluating a year ago they realise, OK, we are not really there yet, so we need to first fix a couple of things internally before we can go to the Internet of Things or such fancy strategic things. But people are much better educated, I think.

FSN: Do you find on the whole companies are looking to upgrade legacy systems or are there still many companies with no FSM system at all?
A system is always in place whether it is paper-based or automated: they have a system they work somehow. Many companies are working either in spreadsheets or even paper and they come to us and they ask for best practice ; what are your unique selling points; why should we talk to you instead. The demand is there and they really want to see how we can help them move forward.

Jonathan Massoud, Divisional Director & Market Analyst, for WBR, organisers of FS Europe

FSN: What have been the big trends at this year’s Field Service Europe Conference?
In terms of the European market, last year conversations were very much about how to offer services and what to offer for services, how to get it down, present it, package it, market it.

At the end of 2015 a lot of the topics have been about refining that value proposition: putting yourself in your customers’ shoes, taking a step back and working towards a ‘what’s good for the customer is good for the company’ type of approach. Shifting towards that sort of mindset and having the technicians follow suit and recognise that is definitely a step along the path for European manufacturers.

An ongoing issue is a move from what can you market to how do we go from free to fee offerings of services and getting customers to pay for them. .

Other themes his year were around the path towards preventative services. Last year, companies were not talking about the technologies embedded into certain products. This year there have been advances in putting IoT into the thought process and companies looking at connected devices.

FS News: You've just hosted Field Service East in the US . Would you say that the delegates here, who are mainly European, have more pain points?
[quote float="right"]The different regions within Europe is the main differentiator between the US and the European manufacturers.

It’s a big deal for global manufacturers but not so much for those just based in the USA. Training around this is also a big issue for European manufacturers.

 

It’s not just that they have customers that vary with preferences, characteristics, what they expect and their customer demands but their own field workforces are also pretty diverse. European manufacturers struggle to get their own technicians to flex their soft skills to their regional customers as well.

You can even see it with the attendees here versus the attendees in the States - their personas are completely different. Our European constituents are very aware of personal boundaries, for example I’m French you’re German, we’re going to conduct business like this, I expect this it’s my nature. We don’t get that in the US.

In the European market a lot of these guys do business based around their relationships. That makes the community that we are trying to build here even more important. That’s how these guys build their relationships, it’s how they build their levels of trust.

FSN: Has there been any one technology showcased at this year’s conference that leapt out as one to keep our eyes on this year?
Device management has been big. Mobile device management has been one of the things that has been presented here.

Whilst Internet of things has been more of a loftier conversation, practicality and the technologies that were presented on mobile device management, having apps built for customers, creating a service app for your organisation that has been a big differentiator for some of the companies that we have seen presenting here and a big take away.

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  Advanced Field Service
Title A guide to delivering service excellence
Download: Click here to Download the white paper here

By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis

To satisfy direct customers or retain the business of contract customers, field service companies must provide professional service time after time.

Overview

This guide outlines how you can deliver winning service at a profit by strategically deploying today’s field service technology including the following sections...

Provide a professional response

Whether you operate in the business-to-business or consumer/domestic markets, you’ll need to consistently meet basic criteria, such as responding within the set timeframe or appointment window.

A field service solution helps you to deploy your engineers with maximum efficiency and equip them with everything they need to know to do a proficient job, from the customer’s contact details to inspection sheets. Technology gives you the option to send the customer the engineer’s estimated time of arrival by SMS or email.

Live capture of onsite data

The information engineers enter remotely through their PDAs feeds back to your call control centre and back-office reporting and billing systems. Customers can be sent up-to-date compliance certification within minutes after the job is completed.

From the information captured onsite, you can shorten the time to invoice, where applicable. Sending an invoice promptly while the job is still fresh in the customer’s mind avoids queries and delays further down the line. While not strictly speaking a customer service issue, having fast efficient billing processes reinforces your image as a professional service provider and helps to speed up payments and improve cash flow.

 

Collect customer feedback

Rating product suppliers and service providers has become a way of life. Customers are accustomed to completing online surveys and logging their opinions on review sites.

Without bombarding customers with survey requests, you can collect their feedback using standard forms on the engineer’s PDA or schedule a survey to be emailed to them after the job is complete.

Improve customer satisfaction through self-service

In a highly competitive market, customers will always expect you to add more value to your basic service.

It sounds a contradictory statement but enabling your contract customers to access information about their service history online improves their perception of the service they receive, without adding to the workload of your service administrators. Customers can download their certifications, view weekly and monthly statistics, the progress of any jobs, invoices…a whole wealth of information.

Rather than having to navigate spreadsheets and other documents, a graphical dashboard can give them an at-a-glance view. This information can be made available to customers on their tablet devices and branded with your corporate identity.

Conclusions

Your delivery of service excellence is reinforced by how you handle information: sending information out to your field-based teams, capturing information from your engineers and flowing it into your back-office systems, sharing information with customers…

Modern field service technology makes all this possible in a way that would be unthinkable using manual systems or older technology. Mobile devices and web technology add another layer of agility by making location no object in being able to collect and publish this information

 

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 Click here to Download the white paper here

 

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In the above video you'll find the Q&A session from our most recent webinar run in partnership with service management software specialists IFS where Field Service News Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland spoke with scheduling expert Daryl Dudey of IFS.

 

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If you'd like to download the full webinar you can do so by clicking the button below:

Click Here to Download Webinar

By downloading the webinar you consent to the T&C's outlined here 

 

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If you'd like to take part in the free field service health check discussed above then click here!

 

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

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

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

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Actual implementations

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

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

 

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

Main reasons for adopting IoT

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

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

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

 

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

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

Barriers to adoption

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

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

 

Tied heavily to this of course is connectivity.

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

 

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