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The agreement expands the existing partnership that has driven significant productivity across GE; adds new capability to offer in the $1 trillion market for industrial service

GE Digital  yesterday announced it has acquired ServiceMax, a leader in cloud-based field service management (FSM) solutions, for $915 million.

The acquisition provides GE Digital with enhanced capabilities to advance its Industrial Internet vision, enabling customers to immediately gain more value from their assets and find greater efficiency in their field service processes.

Service has always been a core part of GE’s strategy and capability and was an early target for the company’s work in analytics and productivity. GE has invested in the build out of digital twins for industrial assets. In addition the company has accelerated productivity improvements through digitizing service processes.

The ServiceMax product offering was an essential element to driving GE internal productivity. With this acquisition GE plans to add analytics and insights into the ServiceMax logistics, workforce optimization and deployment models. GE estimates there is a market-wide opportunity to improve service productivity by $25 billion through the use of analytical tools.

ServiceMax’s platform provides a full suite of applications, including inventory and parts logistics, scheduling and workforce optimization, and work order management.

As a result of this transaction, customers will be able to access these offerings from a modern rapid application development cloud and field-ready mobile platform that combines the strength of GE’s deep domain expertise and advanced industrial portfolio with ServiceMax’s field service expertise. The company plans to leverage the Predix platform to further the development of additional industrial applications focused on service delivery.

“This acquisition builds upon our ongoing efforts to enhance our overall technology stack around the Predix platform and advance our Industrial Internet vision,” said Bill Ruh, CEO, GE Digital. “Improved productivity is critical for the Industrial Internet and digitizing field services is a cornerstone of a successful digital industrial strategy. This transaction, along with our previous acquisitions of Wurldtech and Meridium, is directly aligned with our strategy to drive growth both inorganically and organically by building the capabilities to support the digital industrial transformation through Predix, APM and the Digital Thread.”

 

The addition of ServiceMax’s complementary capabilities and highly-talented team better positions GE Digital to develop and accelerate the commercialization of Predix applications, delivering service products through a single, robust platform. This platform will address the service needs of enterprises across the entire service delivery process and provide the critical expertise and technologies needed to accelerate GE Digital’s existing services solution roadmaps. Coupled with the recent acquisition of Meridium, GE Digital will now provide a full suite of applications centered on driving comprehensive asset management for the Industrial Internet.

In addition, this transaction brings to GE Digital an immediate vertical customer base as well as significant recognition in the market and enhances GE Digital’s ability to commercialize its field services solutions. ServiceMax will have access to new verticals and will be able to utilize GE Digital’s scale and comprehensive Predix platform to enhance and strengthen their offerings for customers.

Dave Yarnold, CEO, ServiceMax, said, “The transaction will help position ServiceMax to reach its next phase of growth by having access to GE’s broad and advanced industrial portfolio, deep domain expertise and substantial customer footprint. We look forward to benefitting from GE’s experience, capabilities and resources as we expand into new markets while continuing to deliver the best tools to help customers maximize productivity and efficiency.”

 

Acquisitions are part of the GE Digital strategy to accelerate efforts in leading the Industrial Internet. The company will provide an update on their strategy and demonstrate progress at their flagship Minds and Machines event November 15-16 in San Francisco.

The acquisition of ServiceMax is expected to close in January, subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.

Morgan Stanley acted as exclusive financial advisor to ServiceMax with Gundersen Dettmer LLP serving as legal counsel for ServiceMax. King & Spalding, LLP served as legal counsel for GE Digital.

 

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Resource Type: Research report
Published by:  Field Service News and ServiceMax
Title: IoT, Servitization and Field Service (2016)

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Synopsis: 

In 2015 Field Service News and ServiceMax teamed up on a research report to look at the appetite for IoT as a mechanism for field service delivery, now one year on we return to the topic to see if the clear desire for IoT has translated into real-world application and ask just how key is IoT to the growing trend of servitization....

With responses from over 120 field service professionals, this exclusive independent research project undertaken byField Service News, in partnership with ServiceMax aimed to cut through the hyperbole and establish if IoT is truly set to become a standard tool within field service delivery.

In addition to this we focussed our research on the apparent symbiotic rise of IoT and Servitization to try to understand further just how closely these two important trends within the field service sector are linked and how emerging technology and strategy are intertwined...

Download this report to find out:

• Is the clear appetite for IoT in last year's research is translating into real-world implementations?
• What are the key reasons field service companies are adopting IoT?
• How important is IoT in the move to a servitized business?
• What are the key perceived barriers to adoption for IoT and can they be overcome?
• What is the recommended approach to IoT from those who have already adopted the technology?What cultural impact will IoT have amongst field service companies?

Overview: 

In 2015 Field Service News and leading FSM software provider ServiceMax teamed up on a research project to assess the appetite for IoT as a tool for improving field service delivery.

Now one year on we return to the topic to see if the clear desire for IoT based field service delivery has turned to reality and if so what impact is it having on the growing trend towards servitization as a business model...

When we looked at the potential of IoT in field service last year we were confronted by what can only be called a genuine phenomenon beginning to emerge. One that could potentially change the way companies approach field service delivery entirely.

Indeed, whilst field service technology has been evolving at great pace across the last decade, much of the developments that have arrived - such as enhancements in artificial intelligence driving ever more sophisticated scheduling engines or mobility tools enhancing field service technicians workflows and eliminating unnecessary paper based administration, have been focussed on improving efficiencies and boosting productivity.

 

IoT on the other hand has the potential to completely revolutionise the processes and methodologies of field service delivery, and in doing so shift the service model into a new paradigm where contracts involving tightly adhered to SLAs are replaced by guarantees of uptime.

In this brave new world of servitization, service is no longer the supporting player there just to add value to a product. Instead, the product is now the facilitator for companies to deliver advanced services.

And this is largely made possible by the IoT giving us the ability to monitor assets in the field and react to fluctuations outside of accepted working parameters, delivering proactive maintenance to ensure that the asset continues to deliver its set outcome.

The benefits of such an approach are a more consistent and reliable solution for the customer and a more profitable business which is closer engrained to customers for the service provider - a win-win if ever there was one.

But whilst the theory may sound great, how is this translating into reality?

This is what this year’s survey set out to understand. Building upon last year’s research project which was predominantly focussed solely on IoT this time we have widened our focus somewhat to understand not just if companies are now actively adopting IoT, but what is their motivation for doing so and just how closely is that

Further reading within the research report: 

• Overview of previous studies
• Year on year trends that have emerged
• Other technologies being employed by field service companies
• The cultural impact of IoT
• Servitization as a key driver for IoT adoption
• Best practice for IoT implementation
• Expert insight from Athani Krishna and Davw Hart, ServiceMax

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In 2015 Field Service News and leading FSM software provider ServiceMax teamed up on a research project to assess the appetite for IoT as a tool for improving field service delivery.

One year on we followed up with a fresh research project into the area to see what trends have emerged and now in a four part series we bring you the findings of this latest research. In part One of this series we explored the headline findings of this year’s research against the context of the previous year’s results. 

In part two we dug deeper into the study to explore what additional technologies are sitting amongst companies either planning to, or actively using IoT as a tool for field service delivery as well as what the cultural impacts of implementing IoT are and whether these are being considered by organisations.

In part three of this exclusive series we looked at the impact of servitization as a key driver for the adoption of IoT.

Now in the final part of this series we look at best practice for IoT implementation and some concluding thoughts on the research findings as well as hearing expert views on this research from Athani Krishna, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer and Dave Hart, Senior Vice President, Customer Success, ServiceMax...

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Best practice for IoT implementation:

Finally, let’s look at what we can learn from the group of respondents who have either actually already undertaken an implementation of an IoT solution as part of their field service management operations, or were currently actively in the process of doing so.

We asked respondents in this group to identify which steps they would take and in what order to make an IoT implementation as simple as possible whilst avoiding any common pitfalls.

The general consensus led to the following best practice steps:

• Research the concept - including attending trade-shows, reading relevant trade journals such as field service news etc
• Developing a business plan for how your service division will operate once IoT is implemented
• Identify relevant providers
• Seek professional advice (from either solution providers or consultants)
• Gain backing for the project from the executive board
• Select a solution provider
• Establish new business processes and role these out internally
• Connect assets in the field

What is particularly interesting about this set of findings is that the collected wisdom of those who have either gone through or are currently going through the implementation process is that there is a lot of work devising strategy and a sensible roadmap ahead of actually connecting assets out in the field.

Conclusions:

For those companies still not considering IoT there are some clear warnings here.

The general consensus is that those companies that fail to adopt IoT and adapt to a more proactive means of working are at risk of falling behind.

Indeed, even procrastination could be a risky game to play when we consider that there is a long suggested process in terms of best-practice implementations of which connecting assets (which could in itself be a considerable task depending on the size of your install base) sits right at the end of the road map.

And with 78% of field service professionals believing there will be significant competitive gains for those companies who become early adopters of IoT as a field service tool, with increased efficiency, customer satisfaction and profits being the three most anticipated benefits (each are expected by over 75% of respondents with 98% of respondents expecting increased efficiency) the rewards certainly appear to be widely accepted as both tangible and genuine.

 

IoT seems like a clear destination for field service operations. It seems it is now just a matter of who can get there first.

Expert View: Athani Krishna, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, ServiceMax

The Internet of Things as a concept is nothing new. I’d wager most people have been familiar with the novel applications of IoT since Cisco started championing the “Internet of Everything” ads several years ago. Nowadays, IoT is infusing itself into just about anything, from oil rigs and proton therapy machines to municipal trash cans and elevators.

But novelties aside, we’ve had a front-row seat to where IoT is truly proving its value – field service. And in this survey gauging the IoT appetite among largely UK-based manufacturing leaders, we’re seeing clear hunger.

It makes perfect sense – in a world where manufacturers face stagnant product-centric margins and pressures to grow their businesses, service is the natural next place to look. But we’re not talking about selling mere warranties and service plans – the stuff of yesterday. We’re talking about investing in IoT to remotely diagnose machine issues, guarantee uptimes and move to an outcomes-based selling model. That gives manufacturers more predictability in revenues and customers predictability in uptime of equipment.

This isn’t a future dream. Our customers such as Elekta, McKinley Equipment and Medivators have all demonstrated real business results using our Connected Field Service solution to unlock new revenue streams and improve customer satisfaction. These companies are moving their service operations from a reactive scenario, where technicians are dispatched once a customer calls, to one where the customer never even needs to call.

 

But what’s interesting is that while connectivity is the greatest benefit, it’s also one of the greatest hurdles. For companies, opening up systems for a connection to equipment vendors can pose security challenges. Networking & IoT technology companies understand these hurdles very well, and are working to make security better everyday. For this new reality of outcome-based services model to proliferate, companies need to understand that this is all a partnership.

As technology gets better, and early adopters embrace this new business model, I do expect this increasingly become industry standard – companies won’t see customers & vendors anymore; they will only see partners.

Expert View: Dave Hart, Senior Vice President, Customer Success, ServiceMax

Moving from a product-focused business to a service-centric operation can unlock growth potential like never before. But getting there indeed requires a cultural shift.

Just about half of those surveyed here admit that servitization - that is, delivering a service component as an added value when providing products – will have a disruptive influence on company culture. Now, understand there’s a spectrum when evolving service. Sometimes it’s limited to selling more warranties and contracts; that’s less what we’re talking about. What we’re talking about is leveraging IoT to get to an outcomes-based service model; indeed many of our customers have taken this approach or are starting to do. That’s where things get more complex.

From where I stand, having spent nearly three decades as both a field service technician as well as a service leader, the cultural impacts of infusing IoT are real and they are significant – and it’s likely, according to this survey, the impact will be greater than expected.

Think about it: an outcomes-based service model affects the finance team in the sense they need to plan for recurring revenue streams versus the days of on-premises software sold as a hard good once. Marketing and sales teams need to shift their focus from pitching product to selling the idea of service. Field service engineers themselves now can work with R&D teams more intimately to share specs on how products are performing – or not – in the field. And with IoT-laced infrastructures, it obviously has huge implications for IT departments as well.

 

All of this means the C-suite must be intimately involved in an outcomes-based approach. Migrating to this business model equates to effectively turning the organisation on its head, and that is a very difficult exercise that needs a holistic approach from the top.

Our customer IBA, which manufacturers proton therapy machines for cancer treatments, has noted it doesn’t necessarily expect its field engineers to become R&D professionals but that it envisions a reality where on-site technicians efficiently share product performance knowledge with those teams. That will require a shift in thinking and process.

At the end of the day, too, managers, directors and VP’s need to consult those actually performing the services – the field technicians. Thankfully, 80 percent of those surveyed said they are already consulting with their service engineers with regards to this transition. That’s a good first step.

Servitization is not necessarily and easy plug-and-play journey. Change is hard, but taking the right steps to align prior to implementation will save hurt down the road.

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In 2015 Field Service News and leading FSM software provider ServiceMax teamed up on a research project to assess the appetite for IoT as a tool for improving field service delivery.

One year on we followed up with a fresh research project into the area to see what trends have emerged and now in a four part series we bring you the findings of this latest research. In part One of this series we explored the headline findings of this year's research against the context of the previous year's results. 

In part two we dug deeper into the study to explore what additional technologies are sitting amongst companies either planning to, or actively using IoT as a tool for field service delivery as well as what the cultural impacts of implementing IoT are and whether these are being considered by organisations.

Now in the third part of this exclusive series we look at the impact of servitization as a key driver for the adoption of IoT...  

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Servitization as a key driver for IoT adoption:

Having established that companies are generally aware of the cultural impact that an IoT implementation could have within their organisation, is this also a key indicator that they are beginning to look towards IoT as an enabler that can help them move towards offering advanced services?

Amongst those field service companies that we spoke to, this does indeed seem to be the case within many organisations. Over half (55%) of companies stated that one of the key drivers for implementing an IoT element into their field service delivery structure was that it would ‘enable them to change business strategy to a servitized/outcome based solutions model.’

Yet, whilst this is an important end goal it appears that those implementing IoT are not just thinking of the long term strategic vision - there are short term benefits being targeted simultaneously.

Indeed, the most commonly cited reasons why companies were seeking to embed IoT within their field service delivery were ‘increasing efficiency of the field service division’, ‘to improve customer loyalty by improving the service levels we deliver to our customers’ and ‘reducing costs by moving towards a more preventative service model’. Each of these were cited by 87%, 75% and 73% of respondents respectively.

 

One reason why we may be seeing both short term and mid-long term drivers for the implementation of IoT is that the concept of servitization is a lot harder to comprehend than the more tangible benefits of how IoT can improve a companies bottom line by simply reducing the number of emergency truck-rolls, meaning service is delivered on a far more manageable, preventative planned maintenance (PPM) basis.

Evidence of this can also be seen when we asked our respondents of whether they felt they had to ‘sell’ the benefits of servitization into other departments. Almost two thirds (62%) of field service professionals felt that this was indeed the case.

Interestingly (although perhaps unsurprisingly) it appears that the greatest resistance towards the shift towards advanced services and servitized business models comes primarily from sales closely followed by product development.

 

Amongst those field service respondents surveyed 23% and 22% identified Sales and Product Design respectively as the business units that they felt they did not have sufficient buy-in from with regards to a move towards a servitized business model.

In contrast over two thirds of respondents felt that they did have buy-in from both operations (69%) and IT (66%) and perhaps most importantly almost two thirds (58%) of respondents also feel they have buy-in from their senior management.

Barriers to adoption of IoT as a field service tool:

Of course, whilst a significant amount of companies appear to be viewing both IoT and Servitization as attractive routes forward for service businesses in the early twenty first century, there are still those that feel that the technology isn’t right for their organisation.

So what are the key barriers holding such companies back from adopting IoT as part of their field service delivery mechanisms?

 

Amongst the various answers put forward there were four that clearly stood out as concerns greater than most. These were costs, the sheer volume of assets that would need retro-fitting, security fears and connectivity issues.

All of these were fairly evenly placed in terms of the number of respondents identifying them as potential barriers to adoption with the sheer volume of assets and connectivity issues being the joint highest cited concerns (both being at 47%), closely followed by costs (45%) and then security fears (43%). The one other potential barrier that had just over a quarter (28%) of respondents selecting it was that the ‘technology still isn’t mature enough’.

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In 2015 Field Service News and leading FSM software provider ServiceMax teamed up on a research project to assess the appetite for IoT as a tool for improving field service delivery.

One year on we followed up with a fresh research project into the area to see what trends have emerged and now in a four part series we bring you the findings of this latest research. In part One of this series we explored the headline findings of this year's research against the context of the previous year's results. 

Now in part two we dig deeper into the study to explore what additional technologies are sitting amongst companies either planning to, or actively using IoT as a tool for field service delivery as well as what the cultural impacts of implementing IoT are and whether these are being considered by organisations... 

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Click here to download the full, exclusive research report now...

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Other technologies being employed:

However, deciding to implement an IoT strategy is one thing, but the process is of course far more complicated than just flipping a few switches.

In fact, in the last issue of Field Service News we ran an article which highlighted the fact that there is a clear need for an underlying technology set to be in place before field service organisations can realistically take advantage of IoT - regardless of their appetite.

So just how ready are field service companies, in terms of their technological maturity, to implement an IoT solution as part of their field service operations?

 

Well based on our respondent set it would seem that many organisations are indeed in prime position to take advantage of IoT.

We asked our respondents ‘does your company already utilise any of the following technologies in managing your field engineers?’ Providing them with a comprehensive list of the regular tools being used in field service operations.

Here we saw that on the main most companies had what we would consider a baseline of field service management technologies with 58% having an actual FSM system, 30% having a dedicated dynamic scheduling engine, and 29% using telematics systems.

It was also interesting to see a relatively large number of companies using more emerging tools such as knowledge bases and engineer to engineer communications tools, with 31% and 36% of field service companies using these respectively. On the other hand, Wearables and Augmented Reality appear to be technologies that sit very much in the realm of hype over substance at present, with just 6% and 1% of companies using such tools respectively.

Another point of note was that almost half of companies (49%) are using Cloud based systems. One could build a strong argument that one key reason for what seems like a rapid adoption of IoT is that the path has been paved by the Cloud - with initial fears around Cloud based security slowly diminishing, so are the perceptions around similar security based fears with IoT.

The one technology that has been most widely embraced by field service companies is of course mobile solutions, which over three quarters (77%) of field service companies are now using to manage their field workforce.

Indeed, the impact of mobile solutions in field service has been truly transformative, with those companies who have yet to make a switch to mobile widely acknowledged to be at a significant disadvantage commercially.

But will IoT have a similar impact on field service as the mobile revolution?

We asked our respondents ‘do you believe you have witnessed similar disruption to field service driven by technology as that which we are seeing currently by solutions such as IoT, Cloud and Big Data?’

 

Whilst 15% stated that the ‘changes we are seeing emerge are unparalleled’ at the moment 35% still feel that the impact of mobility i.e. ‘the shift from manual processes to a digital workflow had a greater impact’. However, for many it is simply too early to make the call with just shy of half (49%) of respondents stating that it is ‘too early to tell just how big the change will be.’

The cultural impact of IoT:

As mentioned previously, the adoption of IoT is currently heavily tied with/linked to the shift towards a more proactive approach to field service delivery. But this shift involves more than just the implementation of new technology, there are also significant cultural shifts that need to be taken into consideration.

To find out if field service organisations were taking the cultural impact of IoT into consideration we asked those who indicated that they have already implemented an IoT solution if they were prepared for it’s cultural impact, as well as those who were currently either in the planning or implementation stages if they were factoring in internal cultural changes within their change management planning.

Of those that had already implemented IoT into their field service operations in total over half of companies (58%) stated that they had planned for the impact on the culture within the organisation - although of this section almost two thirds (60%) felt that the change caused more disruption than they had anticipated.

Meanwhile, of those that are currently in the planning/implementation phase of an IoT project, over two thirds of companies haven’t made any allowance for the impact on organisational culture that such an implementation would have - with just under a fifth of these companies (19%) believing that there will be no impact at all.

At the other end of the scale, just over a tenth (12%) of companies planning/implementing an IoT project think that they have all the bases covered stating that they ‘will be fully prepared for the cultural impact IoT could have on their business’ whilst just under half of all respondents have considered the issue and pragmatically ‘expect the shift to be disruptive.’

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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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With the recent launch of ServiceMax Service Performance Metrics™ the Californian based field service software provider has created a new tool that sits between the worlds of consulting and technology. But what exactly is Service Performance Metrics and will this see a shift towards professional services for ServiceMax? To find out more Kris Oldland spoke exclusively to Rei Kasai...

KO: You’ve mentioned previously that you see ServiceMax very much as a field service company providing technology rather than a technology company providing a field service solution. How big of a differentiator is that amongst those other companies in the space?

RK: I think to be fair, it’s why we have been successful. Going back to comments from customers on why they choose us; they view us as experts, they view us as “You are field service”. It’s interesting seeing it that way because it’s not just the technology, that’s just one aspect of it and there are many great technology companies out there; but the big difference is, how do you apply those things into real-world business problems and solve them at scale?

And I think, if you look at what we’re doing, it’s not just taking these technologies but empowering them into these common practices and I think that’s what the big difference is.

 

We need to democratise this and make this knowledge more widely available, that’s our job as a company to bring this value set to everyone in our ecosystem. So we brought those best practices, from a measurement point of view and then put them into a product so our clients can take advantage of it.

These are common metrics, all interpreted in a different way, but we made it so that it could be available to anyone as a customer.

KO: So what makes this new development so exciting, because let’s face it, every FSM software company out there seems to be talking about analytics tools right now...

RK: They’re talking about the technology aspect.

But there’s two components of what we are doing; one is that if you cannot measure, you can’t improve. So we start with what should I measure? Well, we have an opinion on what you should be measuring and that is based on what the best-in-class companies are measuring and then we codify that as eight standard metrics within the technology.

How do I visualise that in a dashboard, how do I slice that data over time? That’s the technology aspect.

But to even come to an opinion on first time to fix, time to repair with a contract attached etc, you need to understand what you should be measuring.

In the second piece, we have what we call ‘catalyst’ and catalyst is what you can imagine as the packaging of process.

Service has not really changed from a procedure point of view over the last 20 years. How you execute that process has changed over a period of time because as technology evolves more and more and we get into the IoT era and age you keep on pushing that, but these are just extensions of how you use that to utilise the process, the base processes haven’t changed.

 

Some companies may or may not know what those processes should be and so going back to why they come to us, it’s like “Oh, you understand how service business should run. You understand how we run” and so we could even help them run better.

KO: Would you say that this is positioning ServiceMax essentially as a much as a consultancy as you are a technology company?

RK: No, we’re still a software company.

KO: But there’s something more here, isn’t there? 

RK: I ‘d say it’s really about capturing the knowledge of hundreds of years of domain experience by all these industry people that we’ve hired onto our team.

Because it’s one thing to consult a customer, to gauge and understand their problems and eventually come up with solutions to them but how do you enable that into the technology so you can scale this?

You may not be able to afford those expensive services but how do I democratise this for everyone in the ServiceMax family?

KO: Is this something that’s going to embed ServiceMax ever closer with your customer’s processes and the way they work - basically build more long-term relationships?

 

RK: Exactly. I think in the end, from a customer point of view, there’s a whole personal connection - but how do they drive value? How do they become the champion within the organisation? They become the leader and we enable them in that way.

KO: Is it applicable across all different verticals?

RK: I think at minimum it’s having the understanding and part of that is education, some customers may not know any better. So, how do we empower them with the knowledge to do something better for their business and then drive that?

I think that’s part of our major difference why people choose us.

KO: That’s an interesting point because obviously there’s a journey of continuous improvement for most companies so how easily does the solution evolve? Because obviously today’s best practice may not be tomorrow’s...

RK: Exactly. And that’s why I think, how do we make it flexible? Because we know that we want people to change as part of how we believe we can make the biggest advances.

We want people to change, so how does the technology allow that? We have to measure that change so we can improve it, it all circles back to if you can’t measure, you can’t improve.

But at the same time a measurement and also a solution, is a point in time of where that company was in their lifecycle. As it grows and we help companies go through that maturity, how do we enable our customers beyond this?

That is all part of our product strategy and as we add other elements and components into the solutions we will see it evolve further.

KO: Coming back to the Service Performance Metrics specifically as a tool, how much is it about the technology and algorithms and how much is about the insight from your customer transformation team?

RK: This is where we get into some of how we design products, in effect it’s about not coming up with technology and then trying to find use cases but instead everything is brimming out from the use cases.

I think that with some of the team we have on board, especially on the customer transformation team, they know exactly how businesses measure success and failure.

 

And so, with that foresight, it’s very easy to engineer those things because if you have that foresight to know where you want to go with it, it’s much easier to plan and much easier to execute and I think that has really helped us.

I think with the global customer transformation team and the engineering team being in close partnership has enabled us to deliver these analytics but that’s just the first stage. You have 96% contract attachment rate - great, so...what does that mean?

But the reality is it’s comparisons that will add value. 

So we also have a notion of time-based series analytics built in. It’s analytics of how you do in comparisons over a period of time as it relates to revenue, cost and time. Those are some of the metrics that we are able to measure.

KO: There’s a position I firmly believe in, which is that in field services the implementation of any service provider software should be viewed as a business investment rather than a technology investment.

RK: It is.

KO: So do you think products like Service Performance Metrics will help service directors make this distinction to their executive boards?

RK: Absolutely. Because it’s ‘How do I translate the business case into true requirements for a solution.’ But also keep in mind the day to day realities of executing the processes.

It’s not similar for many places and it’s too flippant to say, “make it simple,” and so I think it’s important that you’ve got to balance the two. And I think it’s important that when you get back to your observations, ask can we connect these two worlds in an easier way?

 

Having that point of view and the team understanding that as a goal, and as an outcome focused point of view -it changes the way that you implement.

You really don’t want to re-implement again in the near future so instead of looking at it from the point of view, of ‘I’ve got to get this solution live as fast as possible and just re-do what I have now, but with some automation’, understand that this is a time for change. And if you were to think of it in that way, what should you measure and act on? What are the key things that you need to measure to move the business forward? Then think about how you can implement the solution to achieve that.

I think that approach can really help. We see our most successful implementations driven this way especially compared to those companies who go ‘Here are 300 features, go implement them’.

 

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In his leader for issue 12 of Field Service News, Editor-in-Chief Kris Oldland discusses the number of field service solution providers companies flourishing in an industry that is going through seismic change and evolution... 

 

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Click here to download a digital version of Field Service News issue 12 now

 

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As the field service conference season enters full swing there have been plenty of solution providers banging the drum of late...

Indeed, the list of field service solution providers at Field Service USA held in Palm Springs a month ago was a certifiable who’s who of the industry, and alongside what was a truly fantastic three days of education, there were a number of big announcements from some of the industry’s key players.

ClickSoftware announced a new solution that takes advantage of some pretty slick artificial intelligence algorithms, Trimble Field Service Management introduced an entire new end-to-end FSM suite called Pulse whilst ServiceMax announced a very interesting tool called Service Performance Metrics that brings together analytics and best-practices in a highly innovative solution.

Then there were the new kids on the block such as Help Lightning, whose ‘mobile merged reality’ solution we’ve championed in Field Service News previously as a great use of an emerging technology that could have a truly disruptive impact on the industry.

Another honourable mention should also go to Co-Tap whose collaboration tool is perfectly set to help empower knowledge sharing and intra-engineer collaboration, a perfect tool for the emerging millennial workforce.

Not to be out done by their software counterparts, there has been plenty of innovation coming from the hardware side of the industry of late as well.

Getac have announced the launch of the next-gen S400, a fully rugged laptop that has the footprint of a regular business notebook, whilst the Toughbook 20 (which Field Service News first reported as being in development back in March last year) is the world’s first fully rugged detachable and has been picking up some very positive comments since it became available at the beginning of the year.

Another impressive looking piece of kit is Gen2Wave’s RP1600 which I got my hands on this month. The RP1600 sits in the relative embryonic niche between rugged smartphone and handheld computer - a form factor that I can certainly see evolving rapidly. You can find my review of the RP1600 on page 36.

 

And if new technology launches are the drums being banged, then it is also important to note that there have been a number of new band leaders coming to the fore lately too.

Perhaps the highest profile of these is the new CEO at industry stalwarts ClickSoftware. Following the sale of the company to Californian private equity firm Francisco Partners, Tom Heiser has been appointed and in his own words one of his first tasks is to start ‘banging the drum’ a bit more about the innovations his R&D team are developing.

Another new CEO on the block is Chris Proctor of OneServe who has had a meteoric rise through the Exeter based company within the last year. Proctor also sees the need to raise the bar in terms of shouting about the Exeter based companies successes, and is not afraid to call out his competitors (as he did back in Field Service News back in November last year).

In this issue we’ve exclusive interviews with both Proctor (page 18) and Heiser (page 40) as well as another new face to field service Rei Kasai who recently joined ServiceMax from SAP and spoke to us about what exactly Service Performance Metrics means (page 32).

Of course, we can’t talk about new developments from solution providers with out mentioning Microsoft who with their purchase of FieldOne and it’s subsequent recent re-brand to Field Service have arrived firmly back within the field service sector with all the swagger of the Rolling Stones announcing a new world tour.

Like the Rolling Stones, Microsoft having been around seemingly forever, yet they still have it in them to mix it with the very best. By incorporating FieldOne into their wider Dynamics platform, the software giant have put together a very attractive solution and I spoke to Carsten Groth about Microsoft’s plans for Field Service which you can read on page 50.

With so much development and innovation in the sector it is truly an exciting time, and such fierce competition amongst field service solution providers is not only indicative of the growing importance of service within industry, but also can only be a good thing for practitioners when it comes to finding the right solution for them.

Bang on.

 

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Click here to download a digital version of Field Service News issue 12 now

 

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Mark Homer, Vice President, Global Customer Transformation for ServiceMax explains why increased connectivity is an opportunity for service departments everywhere .

While the steel industry comes to terms with Tata Steel’s decision to quit the UK, it’s a stark reminder of the fragility of jobs particularly in traditional industries.

Add steelmaker to coal miner, milkman, and switchboard operator.

Change has always been rooted in technology and shifting global economies, and we are now on the verge of a new revolution.

 

Like most other revolutions before it, the proliferation of connected sensors on everything from televisions to turbines will create further change to jobs, increasing redundancies but also creating new roles and skills.

This internet of things (IoT) is not short on publicity and with good reason.

The numbers are somewhat mind blowing.

Research analyst Gartner has claimed that 6.4 billion connected things will be in use this year, an increase of 30 per cent from 2015.

The consumer market will account for the biggest growth although general and vertical industry use is also increasing.

A recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit on the rise and impact of the smart product economy found that 40 per cent of businesses plan to use smart products to automate customer service operations, while 46 per cent report that smart products are already bringing them information about their customers that was previously not possible or not cost effective to acquire.

From Cisco’s digital ceiling to Future Shape’s smart carpet, everything everywhere is a target for connectivity.

Companies have good reason to want everything connected.

Diagnostics through data analytics is big business, whether it’s pre-determining the life span of products and proactively triggering upgrade cycles or understanding how products are used better to improve new products in the hope they will continue to sell, data will become the backbone of the modern economy.

Think about it for a minute.

If companies know for certain the condition of a particular product, how would that impact the sales and service cycles?

Imagine knowing which part is about to fail and organising that part for the customer to avoid any downtime?

 

This would also improve the accuracy of the upgrade sales cycle, and also for that matter, what would the data be worth to insurance companies, especially in the areas of security and health?

By having a direct, always-on connection to customers’ products it is possible to see how this will change a few things for field service.

As keepers of that diagnostic data it puts service departments in a strong position, as long as they can retain control of that data through expert analysis combined with product knowledge.

This is where field service needs to re-invent itself or at least evolve.

The growth in connected devices will certainly change the working pattern. While the IoT will not remove the need for field service personnel it will demand different skills.

With more insight into customer products and the potential for remote analysis through virtual mapping and even drones, it’s possible to see how this change will materialise - more onscreen work, more data analytics, more up-selling and more recommendations for future product design.

Throw in the potential for localised robots to carry out low level maintenance tasks and suddenly field service in the future looks very different.

It’s not something to be feared, but rather embraced.

This is an opportunity for field service to be at the centre of the relationship between company and customer, the driving force for product innovation and the keepers of the keys to the new industrial revolution.

And that may mean a name change too.

Smart product analytical service, sales and innovation support agent anyone?

 

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