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Marne Martin, CEO of ServicePower, takes a lens to the recent spate of merger and acquisition activity amongst field service management solution providers and explores why it seems everyone is moving towards a fully integrated platform approach...

With a high velocity of M & A activity recently in the field service sector, many solution providers claim to be moving towards a “fully integrated platform” solution...

But just what does that mean and why would that be preferable to traditional best of breed solutions that tend to focus on specific functionality within field service management?

There’s a simple answer really.

It’s the customer. The customer is number one.

Customer satisfaction is the key to increasing profitability for organisations offering field based services. The analysts acknowledged this fact some time ago, and the industry has finally come around to acceptance.

 

To simplify service delivery and maximise profit, field service organisations must now consider customer satisfaction and the customer experience to be as or more important as the goal than the traditionally expected outputs from a mobile workforce management or field service management deployment.

To that end, field service organisations are looking to solution providers to offer truly end-to-end service and mobile workforce management functionality in a single cloud based platform, which addresses more than simply scheduling and mobility.

Service providers are looking for integrated self-entitlement and real time consumer communications, contract management, hybrid workforce management inclusive of optimisation and contract dispatching, warranty claim management, mobile dispatching for both employed and contracted labour, and integrated business intelligence, which increase productivity and reduce costs, while improving the customer experience and creating new ways to grow revenue from each customer.

Within the industry, solution providers have traditionally fallen into two categories. They were either a mile high and an inch deep, or a mile deep and an inch wide.

 

Mile wide solutions tend to offer more functionality to cover the spectrum from entitlement to scheduling, but failed to develop real expertise in must-have features like real time optimisation or hybrid workforce management.

So, though they offered more, they offered less, in terms of quality schedules, productivity and intelligent hybrid workforce dispatching.

Mile deep solutions tend to specialise, becoming expert in one or more functionalities, like enterprise mobility or schedule optimisation, but don’t offer end-to-end process support, like intelligent consumer portals, entitlement or warranty claims management.

As service providers realise that to grow, they need to simplify service delivery and offer more valuable services to customer to build loyalty, NPS and ultimately, more revenues long term, a single vendor solution which supports end-to-end process becomes very important.

Customers have driven service providers to offer more, and the service providers are driving solution providers, like ServicePower, to offer more, and offer best in breed functionality for the entire service process.

ServicePower realised this back in 2004.

Working with long term client, GE Appliances, we realised that offering mobile workforce software which only provided schedule and route optimisation, albeit the best optimisation on the market, wasn’t enough.

We began to develop additional functionality to provide mobile dispatching, asset tracking and most importantly SaaS hybrid workforce management. The industry realised that the best way to control service costs, while maintaining customer satisfaction was to integrate contractors within their labor models.

We also realised that managing contractors was very different than managing employees, so added functionality to intelligently select employees or contractors, dynamically selecting the best contractor based on ranking and rules logic.

We’ve also realised that ERPs, and many CRMs in fact, don’t provide the depth of service and maintenance contract management or entitlement logic needed when managing warranty reserves.

 

So, we’ve added that functionality, as well asset and inventory management.

Even more recently, we added an intelligent consumer portal which allows consumers to schedule jobs with our client’s hybrid workforces, increasing the number of digital touch points, creating a seamless, satisfying self-service experience, which increases the lifetime value of each customer by as much as 6 times.

So, are best of breed dead mobile workforce management providers dead? No. Best of breed means something different now than it did just two years ago.

To be best of breed, providers must offer end-to-end field service management capability that’s a mile high and a mile deep, to ensure every single part of the process is digital, optimised, and fast and offers more than the customer expected.

 

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Within the last twelve months we have seen a sudden rush of Merger and Acquisition activities within the field service sector with many major brands including ServiceMax, ClickSoftware and most recently ServicePower all being acquired. So why has the field service sector suddenly become such a hotbed for investment and what does it mean for the innovation in our industry?

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News reports...

I’ve referred to field service as a sector at times as a ghost sector because despite field service impacting almost everyone, and it crossing across almost all verticals outside those who work within our horizontal sector the role of field service management and certainly the tools that those in this field use are relatively unknown.

Yet, it seems that over the last few years someone, somewhere has certainly started paying attention.

Of course, the growing trend within global manufacturing circles towards embracing servitization has put service front and centre whilst various projected estimates of the value of the Global FSM market ranging from $5BN to $25BN will of course be flagged up on the radars of money men, and it certainly seems that the field service sector has come under more of a spot light than it has in its recent past.

“This is occurring for several reasons,” explains Michael Blumberg, President of the Blumberg Advisory Group, when I asked him why it seemed Field Service Management providers had recently become hot targets for prospective investment.”

“First, field service businesses tend to be less susceptible to changes in the economy. During an economic down turn, new equipment sales decline but customers still purchase field services to extend the life of their equipment. In an upturn, companies continue to require field services to support investments in new technology.”

 

“Second, field service businesses often generate a recurring revenue stream (e.g., service contracts) which is also something that is very attractive to investors and also field service providers often hold a defensible market position because of their long-term relationship with customers and unique capabilities.”

“When a company acquires a field service provider they also acquire its customer base which provides a captive market for cross-selling and up-selling additional products and services.”

“Finally and most importantly, field service is usually a basic offering and building block in delivering a subscription based, product-service model (think Servitization) to customers.”

With so many key reasons why field service solution providers are an attractive proposition isn’t the recent run of acquisitions somewhat overdue?

Bill Pollock, President of Strategies for GrowthSM, certainly thinks so.

“It should have happened years ago!” He proclaims when I put this question to him.

“However, the acquiring organisations seemed to have other priorities in mind with respect to broadening and strengthening their existing offerings, and tailoring them to a more narrowing-defined market space.”

“For example, CRM vendors tended to focus more on expanding the functionality of their respective CRM platforms, while ERP vendors tended to do the same with theirs. Remember, there were days, way back when – when a Field Service Management (FSM) solution provided only the functionality required to run a services operation – but not a services business (i.e., no accounts payable/billable or accounting functionality; no reverse logistics; no human resources; etc.). In those days past, a services business would also need to acquire ancillary software packages (e.g., anyone remember Peachtree Software?) in order to manage the entire services business.”

 

“It’s a bit different today. As more and more software providers expand their offerings to run the entire business, they now market themselves as offering a “new” type of platform for doing so.”

“In general, it will be those organisations that move into (or buy into) the field services arena – for all the right reasons – that are most likely to be successful. That is, if a field service functionality makes sense as a logical extension of their existing offerings, then they will be more likely to succeed.

However, those that attempt to “ram their way” into what is already a fast growing and vibrant market sector, some without even having a complete FSM offering, will find themselves “busted” in the eyes of their targeted market base.”

Meanwhile, Sara Mueller, Field Service Portfolio Director, Worldwide Business Research believes that the fact that service has increasingly become a key battleground for competing companies is another key reason why the FSM sector as a whole is gaining more and more attention.

“Since many products have become largely commoditised, service is the competitive differentiator for organisations.” She begins.

“Therefore they are willing to invest in making service better. Technology is dramatically shifting the performance of service organisations, allowing them to grow exponentially, provide a more seamless experience that results in higher customer satisfaction, and even generate much higher profitability.”

 

“While technicians are an integral part of field service, technology solutions are necessary to minimise human error, capture the knowledge of and account for the retiring baby boomer generation of head technicians, even to keep technicians safer on the job.”

Mueller’s point however does perhaps reveal a potential double-edged sword.

Innovation in technology and service delivery have become wonderfully entangled within the last decade - which is why many companies have been able to move towards outcome based contracts, and why service is beginning to outgrow the ‘aftermarket’ tag and become a key revenue stream now being discussed much more seriously amongst the C-Suite.

This is of course a fundamental reason why our FSM solution providers have become such attractive investment options. However, could the very innovation that put the sector on the map dry up when independent, entrepreneurial tech companies get swallowed up by larger organisations?

Pollock certainly doesn’t think that we need to worry about the level of technology available to field service organisations failing to meet requirements at any point in the near future however.

“The currently available technology, coupled with newer technology that always seems to be lurking “just around the corner”, is already sufficient to meet (and exceed) all of the FSO’s requirements for managing their field service operations – and then some! It’s already here!” He comments.

“As such, the global services market is not likely to experience a plateau in terms of recognition, adoption and/or deployment of these new technological advances anytime soon. In fact, as the proliferation of technology appears to be eclipsing adoption by the marketplace, there is no plateau in sight. There is still a “mountain of growth” ready to be conquered!”

 

“This accelerating growth is likely to bring more FSM provider suitors to the forefront rather than less. For example, three or four years ago, how many field service managers thought that Microsoft would acquire itself into the fray? Many industry analysts missed the signs that Oracle was about to acquire TOA Technologies. However, with several major players already having acquired, licensed and/or organically entered the field services market, the question arises: Who will be next?

On the demand side, where has Apple been? What about SAP? What about any of the large, global, systems integrators? On the supply side, what, if anything, will ultimately happen with ClickSoftware? What about the “tried and true” historical vendors, like Astea? And what about all of those Venture Capital and investment firms that seem to be gobbling up one FSM vendor after another?”

Indeed, Mueller’s view also supports the assertion that the current technology is certainly sufficient to meet the growing needs of service delivery.

“The field service management technology today can accomplish remarkable results and drive business transformation. But service organisations are at widely varying degrees of adoption and sophistication, and are looking for more diversity in solution offerings in order to find the right choice for their priorities and budgets.”

However, she also sees the innovation at the heart of our industry as a key driver for continued technological innovation as well adding, “Just as customer needs keep evolving, FSM solutions will need to do so as well.”

And this latter point is also echoed by Blumberg.

“Sure, it is possible that innovation may become less of a priority as FSM vendors become part of larger software companies. However, there will always be lean, nimble, start-up companies focused on FSM that drive innovation and fill any void created by M & A.” He asserts.

 

“I’ve been a consultant to the Field Service Industry for over 25 year and have experienced several M & A cycles, and this is exactly what has happened. It is also very unlikely that innovation will plateau even within larger software companies who have acquired FSM solutions. To quote management guru Peter Drucker, business has only two functions… innovation and marketing.

This a basic tenant of business. Without innovation, companies lose their relevancy and competitive edge.”

So whilst the consensus is that the current M&A cycle won’t lead to any halt in the ongoing development of technology to support field service, one message does seem to be coming out of each of the field service providers acquired and that is reference to the future of FSM solutions being part of wider platforms.

But how far will the FSM platform go? Will we ultimately see FSM become as integral to business systems as ERP and CRM?

Mueller for one believes that this is where the future lies.

“It can be as integral to business as ERP and CRM systems.” She comments

“Given that service is a competitive differentiator for these organisations, FSM platforms are essential to provide the level of service now being expected from customers. The experience a customer receives through field service is often how they will shape their opinion of the product and whether they will buy again. Field service is the front line of the organisation and FSM ensures the experience with field service is ideal.”

Pollock, however, disagrees.

“For the time being, FSM will likely remain subservient, in most cases, to CRM and ERP,” he comments.

 

“The difference between an FSM solution and an FSM platform is that the former is essentially used to run the services operations, while the latter is used to run the entire business. As far as marketing and market positioning go, doesn’t “platform” sound more important than “solution”, anyway?”

“CRM-based solution providers have long touted their products as full “platforms” that may be used to run an entire business; ERP-based solution providers have essentially marketed their offerings in the same manner. By incorporating an FSM solution into their respective offerings, they can now all claim (and, probably, rightfully so) that their offerings represent a complete (or near-complete) platform upon which future services functionalities can be built – whether strictly in support of field service operations, or any other business activity.”

“However, it is not necessarily a “slam-dunk” that FSM will become as integral to business systems as ERP and CRM, as not all businesses have field service offerings – while all have (or should have) an ERP and/or ERP capability.

Further, as remote and predictive diagnostics, powered by the Internet of Things (IoT) and Augmented Reality (AR), make further footholds in the general services arena, running a field service operation may become more important, while become less cumbersome to run (and, as such, more likely to be outsourced, possibly, to a third party).” Pollock concludes.

“FSM software is already an integral part of business systems among those companies that operate Field Service as either a strategic line of business or a profit centre. And there’s the rub, many companies that service products do not have requirements for FSM functionality.” comments Blumberg.

“For example, some provide only depot repair or outsource their service requirements to 3rd parties. Nevertheless, I find it interesting that there are no fully integrated, end to end FSM platforms on the market today that include the complete array of functionality for managing a Field Service Organisations (FSO).”

 

“If an FSO wants to implement such as solution, they often must deploy multiple enterprise systems and point solutions from different vendors. In addition, FSM functionality usually needs to interface with other enterprise system platforms such as CRM, ERP, and most recently IoT to obtain critical data to complete the service transactions,” he adds before summarising.

“On the other hand, I certainly see a need in the market for standalone, functional robust FSM platforms. In fact, I have been advising both private equity groups (PE) and software developers for the last 20 years to make investments that achieve this outcome. Unfortunately, given market dynamics, capital requirements, and technology considerations, it unlikely that PE or software developers will invest the necessary resources to create such a platform.”

“Therefore, it is likely that FSM functionality will continue to remain an add -on purchase to existing enterprise systems.”

 

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Kris Oldland speaks exclusively to Marne Martin, CEO ServicePower on the recent sale of the business to Diversis and ask her what does this mean for the future direction of her company...

KO: It’s been a real period of innovation and growth for you over the last couple of years, with the launch of NexusTM plus the investment on patents such as the work you’ve done in quantum annealing. So what was it that attracted Diversis to invest in you - was it a case of they just wanted access to the growing field service sector or was it more about being in line with the direction in which you were already headed?

MM: Firstly, it was an interesting financial opportunity for them because there is a disconnect between the valuations in the US for companies that are innovating and growing, those that have a national presence, versus what we were seeing on the A market - so there was a financial rationale.

But the real thing that they ultimately believe in, is in companies that have great products, companies that have core differentiators in their market.

They’d been interested in field service for some time - as you know it’s a hot sector and when they saw the use case of what we’d been able to do with Nexus and the wider service management tools...  plus also quantum annealing and taking that towards predictive maintenance, and then spare parts forecasting in the future and thinking about the journey we’ve been on in starting our intelligent customer portal as well... it was really just too good for them to pass up. 

They’ve been really passionate about investing in us, and in pushing us to continue to develop truly great products and as such they’ve brought in operational technical advisors as well as some other consultants, who are helping us to look further and have more functions in the next generation UX/user experiences and then tying the platform functions together more seamlessly, so the user experience is better and more automated.

KO: Of course, the one question that has to be asked with any acquisition is will it be a case of business as usual under a different name, or will there be a changing of the guard in terms of personnel and direction?

MM: I told them when we were doing our due diligence, I felt that we were 75% and we were really looking for someone to get us to 100% of where we saw the opportunity in the sector not just for the current but in the future.

[quote float="left"]I felt that we were 75% and we were really looking for someone to get us to 100% of where we saw the opportunity in the sector not just for the current but in the future.

There will be perhaps some refinement, we are no longer going to be focussing generally on the smaller end of the market from now on, at least not in the US - we are refining the focus towards the mid-market and enterprise space, but that is already pretty much where we were anyway.

 

With Nexus, we’re going to be rolling that functionality out to the core product and we will be transitioning the branding so rather than have all these product names we are going to have modular functionality that are all basically connected to the Nexus mobility and Service Management platform.

So all of the new UIs will be coded in that look and feel, we’ll tie in the mobile with the angular JS front end and we will still have the robust back-end. We are making it more seamless but also more configurable. The message from Diversis is yes it’s still business as usual but they are helping us to accelerate our own trajectories.

KO: Is the recent amount of investment we have seen in the industry - with yourselves, ServiceMax, ClickSoftware and IFS all having been acquired within a period of 18 months an indication of how important service is becoming in the wider world of global commerce?

MM: Absolutely. I think there are two things, firstly there is a lot of money floating around - the only way people make money is by investing, so you do have a lot of money in private equity that they are trying to put to work and that definitely is a factor here.

[quote float="right"]Field service really is the engine for growth in a business.... If you look at CRM and ERP players they are not really doing that much true innovation

It used to be that a lot of the larger endowments or high-net worth family funds might invest in public equity but because valuations have been somewhat volatile, many of those type of investors have actually become backers of private equity funds. That gives more money to PE investors plus the expectation that they are actually going to invest. So that’s one half of the story... 

 

But the second half is that field service really is the engine for growth in a business.

If you look at CRM and ERP players they are not really doing that much true innovation and that’s where if you had the ability to drive return on investment in terms of productivity plus additional revenue in the service arm and you start looking at what we call the e-commerce opportunity - how you can actually build customer prioritisation into your service model?

 

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Who are the most influential people in the global field service sector that you need to pay attention to in 2017?

The Field Service News #FSN20 is our list of the individuals we believe will be key influencers in our industry across the next twelve months. Those included in the list have been selected by our own panel of industry insiders, who were given the simple criteria of identifying people who will have a significant impact on field service thinking.

However, more than just an annual list of 20 individuals the #FSN20 has grown since it’s launch to become a true celebration of excellence and innovation within our industry.

There are some familiar names and some new faces on this years list and as always we don’t expect everyone to agree with our selection – at it’s heart the #FSN20 was conceived as a tool to get everyone in our industry thinking about who it is that they have come across in the global field service sector that has made them think, who has made them question the accepted paradigms, who has inspired them to do just one little thing more in their own day to day role.

The #FSN20 is not just about the list our panel has put together. It is about fostering discussion that celebrates the unsung heroes of the field service sector. So look out for the online version of this list as well to take part in the debate.

But for now, ladies and gentleman and without further a do, in no particular order, we are pleased to introduce the #FSN20 of 2017…

 

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Click here to see page one of the 2017 #FSN20

 

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Nick Frank, Founder and Managing Partner Si2 Partners

Having worked as an international consultant for over 6 years, Nick founded Si2 Partners last year bringing a new approach to consultancy by offering services on demand.

Nick’s focus is on service strategy development, servitization business models, ecosystems, innovation management, service operations and service business development. He works with companies in a diverse range of industries including engineering, high volume manufacturing, equipment manufacturers and technology. A regular columnist in the trade press and a excellent speaker often to be found at industry conferences, Nick also plays a pivotal role in organising the conference sessions for the UK not-for-profit group The Service Community.

 

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Michael Blumberg, President of Blumberg Advisory Group, Inc

Michael Blumberg is the President of Blumberg Advisory Group and is a recognised expert in Field Service and Reverse Logistics in High-Technology industry.

Michael’s thought leadership, service system planning and strategy formulation are cited as having helped many organisations increase profits and he is a prolific author publishing a number of well received projects including white papers and educational video projects.

 

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Aly Pinder, Director of Member Research & Communities, The Service Council

In previous editions we had a rule that we would only include one person per organisation within the #FSN20. However, ever since Aly moved from the Aberdeen Group to The Service Council, we knew we would have to repeal the rule, as both Aly and Sumair are industry heavy weights in terms of analysis of our industry.

In his new role he will be looking to further enhance the already well established research projects undertaken by The Service Community and his addition to their team makes The Service Council one of the most important groups in the entire global field service sector.

 

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Tom Heiser, CEO, ClickSoftware

It may perhaps be unfair to comment that when Heiser took the reigns of the field service management software stalwarts ClickSoftware the company was perhaps at it’s weakest point in some years, indeed they remain a leading provider of field service management solutions at the forefront of the industry.

Yet, based on the sheer level of dominance that they once held and in light of the ever increasing quality of the competition in the field service management space, Heiser had little time to find his feet in the world of field service if he was to ensure the ClickSoftware brand remained as synonymous with delivering service excellence as it had to date - particularly in the natural uncertainty that an acquisition by a private equity firm can potentially cause. 

However, having seemingly spent little more than a few hours in his own office for the first six months as he flew around the world meeting analysts, influencers and customers alike Heiser certainly appears to have not only established a firm grasp of the industry at large but also where the future for field service management technology lies and under his guidance the outlook for the iconic ClickSoftware brand appears to be on a very positive footing once more...

 

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Marne Martin, CEO, ServicePower

With their next generation platform Nexus now firmly established within the market place ServicePower have re established themselves as a key company within the FSM solutions sector under the vision of Martin.

However, it is her focus on R&D that really continues to drive Service Power to the forefront of their sector. With a number of patents including a one focussed on quantum annealing that will see them developing cutting edge technology for the foreseeable future. Martin is also a very highly respected speaker on the international field service circuit

 

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Jim Baston, President of BBA Consulting Group Inc

Baston of BBA Consulting is the proponent of Proactive Service, and is a master when it comes to understanding the delicate relationship between service and sales and how companies can maximize that relationship to enhance profits. Author, Speaker and Consultant Baston is an intelligent and experienced leader within his field whilst being a true gentleman and pleasure to talk to, to boot.

 

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Kevin Jones Managing Director Computer Product Solutions, Panasonic Europe

Panasonic remain the undisputed leaders in the rugged space with the ToughPad and Toughbook brands synonymous with rugged computing. The Panasonic ToughBook20 is the worlds first fully rugged detachable and could just be the most perfect device for field service to date being both a tablet and a laptop.

Jones has spent a decade with Panasonic and has total responsibility for the entire ToughBook / ToughPad Products and Solutions in Europe, including Sales, Marketing, Engineering and Operations whilst also sitting concurrently on the board of Panasonic Manufacturing.

 

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Dave Yarnold, CEO, ServiceMax

Within less than a decade Yarnold has taken ServiceMax from start-up to being purchased by GE late last year for close to a Billion Dollars.

However, the meteoric rise of ServiceMax wasn’t solely about the technology. Yarnold has a true passion for the service and that passion has filtered down and shone through at all levels of the organisation, which was perhaps the secret source that put them at the top of the sector - having been recognised as the leading FSM solution provider in the most recent magic quadrant report.

Now as part of GE Digital, Yarnold has even bigger visions of how ServiceMax can play a role in building an operating system for the entire industrial sector of which service will be a key component.

Big ambitions?

Yes. But Yarnold is a man that could possibly just do it.

 

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Click here to see page three of the 2017 #FSN20

 

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Marne Martin, CEO, ServicePower discusses the growing shift towards outcome based services and explains why it is key for field service organisations...

Mobile workforce management software is today a “must have”, not a “nice to have”, part of a company’s technology stack.

Organisations managing mobile or remote workers must ensure a consistent customer experience and grow revenue while still maximising the productivity of staff. They must do this while also managing supply and fluctuating demand, meeting SLAs, controlling costs, and ensuring consistent well branded service delivery. Technology is the best tool to use to achieve those objectives.

So if we know what the company needs, what does the customer expect? We know that customers expect better ‘outcomes’ for the monies they spend on service delivery. It’s not about just appearing on time and repairing the product or equipment any more.

What are outcome based services?

Outcome-based services acknowledge customers in a much different way than traditional break fix services. Customers have wants and needs, surely, but they also now require that more tailored or improved outcomes be driven by those wants and needs. They are no longer looking at just the specific qualities of a product or service, but at the ways in which each can use your services to meet their own goals.

Business outcomes are increasingly becoming a real selling point that differentiate one company from another. Focusing your service offerings more on business outcomes edge out the competition, build customer loyalty and longevity, and improve the lifetime value of each and every customer.

Outcome based service is not a new concept. Why is it top of mind now?

The simple answer is technology. Technology facilitates offering outcome based services in a way manual processes never could. Technologies like that enable hybrid workforces, optimise by customer priority, IoT, M2M and even a truly mobile workforce management software facilitate outcome based services like no other technology which have emerged in the last few decades.

 

These can be used by field service organisations to deliver proactive services, based on data and information which improves the overall experience for the customer by helping them use the products better, or more efficiently.

Solid commercials can also be built around the offering, including providing customers more opportunity to purchase complementary things they might need.

Outcomes based service delivery takes that proactive service model, facilitated by IoT/M2M and MWFM and layers on additional services to make that customer more sticky, long term, and it can even increase revenue or profits along the way.

How does a mobile workforce organisation transition to an “outcomes-based” approach to field services delivery? 

Offering outcome based services is the next generation revenue model in field service. The field service industry has long been a hot bed of technology and process innovation, especially as metrics have shifted to a customer centric model. In that customer centric model, customer satisfaction, retention, and / or additional in-brand purchases are the outcome desired.

Even more attention is being focused on relating payment structures to outcomes and paying based on up-time, not just meeting a maintenance schedule or a break-fix SLA.

Use technology to make the shift in a cohesive way. Software can be used to identify a product which requires maintenance to prevent a future failure, or to indicate, often before the customer is aware, when a product like a boiler in a manufacturing facility is about to fail.

Field managers can plan labour capacity based on failure data and maintenance requirements more accurately to reduce time to repair, meeting or exceeding contracted response times.

 

Since service organisations can predict future failures, and schedule and optimise teams into future schedules, remote workers can be proactively, intelligently deployed for repairs, reducing schedule costs while preventing total operational standstills that impact the customer’s productivity. Imagine the benefit of preventing a total line shut down at a plant because your team was deployed prior to a total seizure of a machine.

Maintenance schedules can be also created which improve equipment ‘up time’ and even proactively address upgrade opportunities which offer additional revenue.

Mobile workers deployed with devices outfitted with real time, integrated mobile dispatching software can access information to address the immediate needs, but also to tap into additional information, such as training and product usage guides, ‘how to’ guides, that add additional benefits, providing that new outcome for each customer, resulting in not only reducing the field service organisation’s own costs, but ultimately in improved customer satisfaction, increased sales of future service and maintenance contracts, accessories or replacement products at end of life.

Outcome based services facilitated by technologies like mobile workforce management software which provide analytics, capacity planning, mobile dispatch, and optimised routing to plan staff, create maintenance plans, mobile on site process, facilitate on site collaboration and provide customers with information and data, help field based organisations reduce the complexity of operating products like industrial boilers or elevators, and help customers reduce the operational complexity of product operation, while maximise usage of the products.

Why are outcomes-based approach so important for field based organisations?

The most important benefits of offering outcomes based services are loyalty and improved future revenues, as well as reduced operating costs. Think ‘customer for life’.

Outcome based services reduce the complexity of operating products, while providing value added services for your customers which increase the usage of products. That proactive approach improves the customer experience which leads to increased customer revenue in the future.

Outcome based approaches teach the customer organisation, as well as the field service teams, to value ‘up-time’ rather than focusing on ‘downtime’ which requires repair, minimising the time an asset is down or a customer is inconvenienced.

 

The technology exists right now to move to a proactive, outcome based service model. The most successful companies are the early adopters that use their mobile workforce management solutions to deliver the technology which supports this evolution. Don’t delay -- make the leap sooner, rather than later, before your loyal customers become loyal to another organisation

 

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ServicePower, a market leader in mobile workforce management software, announced recently that the acquisition by Diversis Capital and subsequent delisting from the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange has been completed.  Diversis will provide ServicePower with financial investment and business expertise to help it achieve long term growth and promote the ongoing successes of its partners, employees and customers, building upon the Company’s successful 2016 performance which featured double-digit revenue growth and EBITDA profitability.

Through the deployment of its transformational technology used by some of the largest companies in manufacturing, insurance, security, utilities and telecom, ServicePower helps any field based business with high-value assets or high job volume to grow revenues, add additional lines of service, and improve customer satisfaction resulting in rapid return on investment.  ServicePower is the leader in working with customers to optimise the use of employed and extended workforces, allowing its customers to embrace the latest technology and business process innovations, including enabling “Uber-like” capabilities.

“We are increasingly working in a world where customer service is paramount,” said Ron Nayot, Managing Partner at Diversis. “When we looked at where the best potential investment for Diversis would be, ServicePower was the clear choice.  We believe market demand will continue to increase for the Company’s mobile workforce solutions and the business transformation it enables.  Diversis is excited to partner with ServicePower to invest in its next phase of growth.”

 

“We really want to push the boundaries of what is possible so that our clients can deliver personalized services in the field that are remarkable, that make them stand out from the crowd in the eye of their customers,” said Marne Martin, CEO of ServicePower. “As a private company with the backing of a well-respected investment firm like Diversis, we can move faster and push harder than ever on the roll out of our industry-best artificial intelligence engine for scheduling, leadership in extended workforce management, and focused development for the core markets we serve.  We are in a much better position to deliver on our considerable ambitions with both the financial and business guidance Diversis provides.  We anticipate great success and continued growth.”

 

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Marne Martin, CEO, ServicePower talks us through a variety of different scheduling solutions and how they can turbo charge service delivery...

When I think of a ‘turbo boost’, a few images pop into my head. From Superman to a luxury car that eats up the track, a turbo boost ‘supercharges’ an action, with apparent ease, whether that’s saving the innocents or posting the fastest lap times.

In relation to mobile workforce management, a turbo boost to scheduling operations can be just what’s required to achieve the next level performance to drive customer satisfaction, retention and future sales and that turbo boost can only be found in true optimisation that places the power of cognitive computing and big data at your fingertips.

The automation, calculation speed, and schedule quality inherent in true artificial intelligence (AI) based optimisation engines maximises the productivity and efficiency of mobile workforces, while reducing costs and ultimately improving the customer experience.

 

Despite stories from the industry about prolonged deployments, platforms which require heavy development and customisation, engines which can’t process large volumes of work without failing or batching unprocessed job, real AI based schedule optimisation can boost your operation, and it does so with ease.

What does Scheduling Mean?

Mobile workforce management solutions (MWFM), have at their core typically ‘scheduling’, functionality which is used to manage mobile workers and at its most basic includes job scheduling, job dispatch and mobility software.

There are generally 3 kinds of scheduling solutions available which offer varying degrees of benefits, from white board / no optimisation solutions to the real, intra-day AI optimisation that enable your business to be much more productive and scalable.

Types of Scheduling

Basic Scheduling

Basic scheduling software requires building and managing a schedule manually. It’s labourintensive, doesn’t consider travel time, and doesn’t apply any computer logic to scheduling decisions, exception handling or schedule changes.

Most of these vendors offer something similar to Microsoft Outlook with drag-and-schedule functionality. Basic scheduling isn’t scalable, and doesn’t support any kind of complexity or manage large volumes of work well.

There is no turbo boost in this option; it’s more like a bicycle.

Automated, Rules-Based Scheduling

Larger volumes and complexity can’t be handled by basic scheduling. It’s too much and too hard for manual processes. It’s inefficient, costly and inaccurate.

Software which offers simple computer logic is the next option. Vendors often call these rules based computer programs ‘optimised scheduling’, but they aren’t.

Some of them do automatically build a schedule using technician skills, availability, and service level agreements, so these are a better option than basic manual scheduling. However, if these packages can’t use a simple rule based on the skill, availability, and SLA, they can’t schedule the jobs.

These really only fill white spaces. Filling a white spot on a schedule is not optimisation.

There’s no real turbo boost here either. This is like a scooter; there’s some power, but you’re not going very far or very fast.

Artificial Intelligence based Intelligent Scheduling

True route and schedule optimisation, such as ServiceScheduling from ServicePower, uses artificial intelligence algorithms, like Simulated Annealing, and our latest algorithm, Quantum Annealing, to intelligently schedule jobs using hard and soft rules in conjunction with configurable parameters to minimise overall costs, maximise service delivery margins, and reduce response times.

Real schedule optimisation packages select the best mobile worker for each job based on skills, geography, and existing jobs, while also considering required response time, and other configured parameters. They continuously reshuffle the schedule to create the most efficient, least costly version possible, all the while automatically accounting for schedule changes and exceptions.

 

Scheduling optimisation isn’t about manually scheduling jobs, or filling white space based on some basic, hard rules. Real-time or intraday schedule optimisation is about intelligent automation and is absolutely necessary for complex field service operations.

ServiceScheduling, and our Optimisation on DemandTM product, have been proven by our customers to yield:

[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• 15-50% productivity improvement of mobile workers based on intelligently, continuously optimising the schedule for decreased response times to customers
• Up to 45% increase in SLA compliance because the optimisation algorithms can account for required response time in the scheduling decision in real time
• Between 25-50% increase in mobile worker efficiency, including decreased cycle time and reduced travel time yielding improved customer satisfaction and service delivery margins

• Ability to process IoT alerts without manual intervention [/unordered_list]

   

What’s more important to understand about real algorithm based schedule optimisation?

It’s intelligent!

The algorithms give your team the power of ‘big data analytics’. It’s using your data, creating schedules and learning throughout the process, continuously re-crunching the data, continuously re-optimising, continuously improving the schedules, productivity and efficiency, without your team spending hours manually analysing and manually decided how the data impacts your operations.

Artificial intelligence based schedule optimisation is the turbo boost that your organisation needs to get around that curve fastest, at the least cost, to win, for your customer!

See Through the Smoke Though 

Given the obvious benefits to artificial intelligence based schedule optimisation, like ServiceScheduling, why aren’t all organisations, no matter the size or complexity, using the technology?

Good question...

There are several misconceptions worth addressing. Schedule Optimisation is hard to implement. No, schedule optimisation is not hard to implement. It can absolutely be deployed on time and on budget and maintain a long term return on investment.

What’s critical is working with a vendor that understands your operations, as well as what it takes to manage a mobile workforce themselves.

Development is required to support you unique business requirements.

Development is expensive and take a long time. The software should be configurable; it shouldn’t require development to deploy and it absolutely shouldn’t require IT resources to maintain basic changes in the business going forward.

Cloud first.

The software should be available in the cloud, to reduce costs and streamline security, or on premise if your security and privacy policies dictate an on premise deployment.

No software is future proof.

Software should support the evolution of your business. It needs to seamlessly and intelligently support scheduling and dispatching of any mobile worker, employed or contracted. It should support full mobilisation of processes, even those that differ by job or customer.

 

It should integrate the latest technologies like the Internet of Things (IOT) and M2M, to support new business opportunities such as proactive or outcomes based service offerings. ServicePower combined out entire platform in one easy to deploy, easy to pay for model, ServicePower Unity, for exactly this reason. It enables your team to use functionality as and when it’s needed by the business.

It’s hard to change vendors.

It doesn’t matter if you already use software to manage your mobile workforce. Safe passage programs exist, and schedule optimisation should be capable of being used in a plug and play model, to provide that turbo boost missing from existing software systems such as ServiceMax, Salesforce,  MS Dynamics or SAP.

ServiceScheduling and Optimisation on DemandTM can be used in conjunction with these software packages to improve the schedule  optimisation (or lack thereof) of what your team has already deployed.

A complete change out isn’t required.

ServicePower has architected its platform so that it can be deployed alongside industry standard CRM and ERP packages, improving the schedules generated such that you, too, can supercharge your field operations.

As an example, one of our clients, already on another FSM platform, was able to generate a 24% increase in productivity and a 29% return on investment by implementing ServiceScheduling. Our team at ServicePower has worked tirelessly to create a mobile workforce management software platform which ‘turbo boosts’ our client’s mobile workforce operations- maximising productivity and customer satisfaction, and achieving real ROI, easily, and quickly. It produces real results regardless of what other software our product must work in conjunction with to achieve those ]results.

We guarantee it.

 

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Marne Martin, CEO ServicePower explains the benefits of an integrated dedicated and freelance workforce and why scheduling them shouldn’t be a chore...

Service is going through an exciting change as businesses are finding more productive ways to satisfy the needs of their customers, while also improving their bottom line. We aren’t talking about “just” overflow or managing seasonality, we are talking about executing on a strategy that can fundamentally change how and the speed at which you provide service to your customers. As business moves forward, more and more companies have come to realise the benefits of a labour model that can really harness both productivity and customer experience advances.

In the past, technology, work flows and field service management techniques weren’t particularly reliable at managing a labour model that wasn’t either a dedicated workforce or a freelance workforce. But times are changing.

 

The capabilities of software that can handle the complexities of using both a dedicated and extended workforce are here. Having done this now effectively for more than a decade for many of the best known enterprises, here is our advice on such “hybrid” labor models, ensuring the highest productivity and customer satisfaction levels.

Let’s consider the reasons many organisations deploy a labour model utilising both a dedicated and extended workforce.

Availability

Customers want service now. An extended workforce enables expectations to be met when demand is high, and also buffers cost when demand is low. Using a mix of labour resources with appropriate credentialing and training expands your capabilities at a lower cost while also getting service to your customers sooner.

Cycle time management

Using cycle time calculations from business intelligence applications, businesses may distribute work to the mobile resources with the lowest cost or most desired cycle time metrics, both of which may fluctuate between employed and contracted resources, given current conditions, to meet customer demand. Cost can also be factored into this understanding that time is money.

Quality control

Organisations which deliver field based services may manage job distribution based upon quality of service metrics. Maximise your customer experience by ranking well liked technicians higher so that if they have capacity, they get the job.

Seasonality

Being able to simultaneously search and book employed or contracted mobile workers enables you to manage your workforce consistently, while also meeting KPIs during demand fluctuation.

Catastrophic events

Catastrophes are happening at a higher rate than ever before. It’s critical in those catastrophic situations for feet to hit the ground immediately to provide care and services, for instance to insurance policy holders. If you are a business that handles catastrophes, if you don’t have an extended workforce and also one that is tied into your core technology solutions, you should.

Extraordinary territories

The cost of expanding the reach of service where there isn’t significant and steady job density is high. To decrease costs and improve productivity,it’s best to schedule and route mobile workers to jobs in the closest proximity to each other, to the mobile worker’s start and stop locations, and within the areas they know best. If jobs are infrequent, the cost of credentialing and training a freelancer may well be more efficient.

Infrequent or out of the ordinary jobs

The same can be said for ‘out of the ordinary’ jobs. Consider smart home system installation or customer product education visits commonly associated with outcome based services. Both type of job requires special skills. Do you employ uniquely skilled individuals and wait for work to come in, or contract a scalable workforce able to provide these services as needed? Clearly the latter is the best choice for many businesses.

Cost control

Similar to quality or cycle time control, using business intel to derive job cost by labour channel enables organisations to evaluate the least costly mobile worker for a job, depending on skills, travel, and salary for instance. The least costly resource may be a contractor rather than an employee.

We suspect one or more of these scenarios apply to your business.

Intelligent, integrated dispatching

Mobile workforce management software traditionally, especially within the field service industry, meant scheduling. There are several flavours of scheduling, however folding contractors into the mix requires more than attempting to plug them into those existing scheduling solutions.

Utilising an aggregated dispatching software platform provides those same jobs sources with the ability to send their work alongside other aggregated work, improving operational efficiencies and reducing costs, for every member of the service delivery chain.

Adding an integrated platform with a robust, intelligent and real time scheduling algorithm to intelligently and quickly determine the best routing scenarios, while also having the ability to ‘reoptimise’ the schedule, moving the jobs in time as well as between employees and contractors based on real time conditions, is a major plus.

ServicePower has been instrumental in the deployment of integrated, mixed labour strategies since 2004 including the configurable options through our broker product to fully automate the intelligent and dynamic scheduling of either employees or contractors through a robust, fully configurable rules engine, enabling our clients to seamlessly provide the best, fastest and least costly services within their industries.

 

ServicePower Unity takes that one step farther by providing our entire mobile workforce management platform via a SaaS deployment, for one low cost. We’ve taken the ability to dispatch any field resource and made it simple to deploy and easy to pay for whether your labour force are dedicated or freelancers

Scheduling mobile workers to meet customer demand is far less complex when you have a partner that understands the needs of your business and technology that supports an integrated dedicated and extended workforce.

ServicePower processes more than three million job interactions a day with proven ability to drive customer experience whether your technicians are your employees or freelancers. Let us help you to make it easier for your teams to evolve your workforce strategy and customer experience.

 

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Despite different operating models, companies from all over the globe can benefit from an aggregated approach to field service mangement writes Marne Martin, CEO ServicePower

We know that differences exist country to country, industry to industry, company to company.  One of the benefits of working with some of the largest brands in the world is that you get a great feel for the latest trends and best practices.  You also get a front row seat in watching academic strategy and real world operations collide.

A great example of this is corporate moves toward global applications and business management platforms.  Sure, the philosophies and strategies behind the initiatives are sound but they can sure conflict with reality….big time.

Take the US and UK as an example.  Both are English speaking nations with many similarities in culture, religion, music and brands.  However, pick a service and industry – managing OE warranty or extended service contract fulfilment for white goods.

 

The US relies predominately on independent service contractors, requiring at least 1,500 a 5 hour difference across time zones. This requires greater network management and field leadership, and call centre coverage and software to manage a wide range of brands, products, skills, selection, and status updates. It also requires a robust claims adjudication software that is highly efficient at preventing fraud and overpayments but easy enough to manage efficiently and pay claims quickly.

The UK is vastly different. With 1 time zone, it requires only 50-200 contractors, and fewer when manufacturers employ technicians.

Improved response time and greater efficiencies have pushed the industry to adopt what ServicePower calls a ‘mixed labour model’ wherein ‘job sources’ like manufacturers, service contract administrators, retailers, and even insurance companies, utilise some percentage of contracted labour, in addition to employed labour, to deliver upon customer commitments.

In a perfect world, those job sources deploy technology to manage the contractors, intelligently determine if an employed field resource or a contracted resources is the best option (based on parameters), dynamically dispatch the highest ranked contractor, secure job updates, adjudicate claims for services provided and finally, pay the independent contractors, and get feedback from the customer.  This model varies by industry and local parameters, but can work to drive value for both customers and field service organisations the world over.

In North America, those job sources, let’s call them manufacturers for simplicity’s sake, have consolidated all jobs which require independent contractor delivery onto aggregated software platforms, like our own ServiceOperations. Aggregation onto a common platform leads itself to additional economics of scale and advantages to drive the customer response times and productivity measures that enable a field service operation to be efficient.  This is much more than a mobile dispatch platform.

In that aggregation model, the job sources dictate that all contractors performing work on their behalf are first credentialed, and then invited to set up profiles- the who, what, where and when they can deliver services, then receive and manage work orders and finally file claims on a single software platform.

 

This dramatically streamlines contractor and warranty management. For the contractors, this aggregated approach also increases adoption and reduces overhead costs because a high volume of their daily workload comes from a single platform, which in many cases is integrated with the field service management software they use to manage their own operations.

ServicePower has even gone so far as to offer an end-to-end, cloud based field service management software, NEXUS FS^TM, already integrated with ServiceOperations, to further streamline contractor operations. We also provide Optimization on Demand^TM, enabling contractors to maximize the productivity of their field representatives, much like large enterprises do with our ServiceScheduling product, on demand, rather than in real time.   So the effect is very much a ‘push’ to the platform from the party responsible for paying for the service.

In the UK, the model is slightly different.

Those same manufacturers, that meet their obligations in the UK generally through the retailer or service contract/extended cover providers, typically have a high percentage of employees to perform ‘branded service’. So, whereas in the US, the manufacturers have forced aggregation onto the marketplace, pushing work to contractors, in the UK, the manufacturers are on the receiving end of work from multiple job sources, in multiple different ways.  However, manufacturers suffer from the same inefficiencies and increased overheads based on dealing with faxes, emails and numerous home-grown dispatching systems, as the third party contractors suffered from in the US till the early 2000s.

 

Regardless of the differences in each country’s model, this same fundamental aggregation model has immense value to the UK market, perhaps ever more related to filling capacity in employee bases. Consolidation on to innovative platforms that are easy to use has real value for continued growth in adoption by the field service industry.  For job sources dispatching service on a particular branded white good, the manufacturers have begun to dictate that all work orders come through a single platform, ServiceOperations.  And this can be expanded to other product segments, whether home health care equipment, IOT sensors, electric car rechargers- you name it.

The aggregation model works because a single integrated software enables the manufacturer (or retailer or third party administrator) to receive, confirm acceptance, provide status updates and in cases where they require supplemental contractor coverage, dispatch work to their own preferred independent contractors, paying for services rendered.

This model is a very much a push to the aggregation platform from the party responsible to the consumer, and not necessarily the obligor.

The true benefit of an aggregated dispatching model is the ability to aggregate work orders or jobs from a variety of sources, improving operational efficiencies and reducing costs, for every member of the service delivery chain, from the job source, the retailer or extended cover provider in the middle, to the consumer at the end.

 

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