ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘software-and-apps’ CATEGORY

PTC's Servigistics platform will integrate with IFS' Field Service Management, Applications and Maintenix solutions.


IFS the global enterprise company have announced a partnership with computer software and services company PTC that they say will reduce asset downtime and improve service part availability.

The partnership will see IFS' three field service platforms - IFS Applications, IFS Field Service Management and IFS Maintenix - incorporate PTC's service-parts optimisation solution Servigistics.

Commenting on the agreement, Aly Pinder, IFS' Program Director of Service Innovation and Connected Products said: " The collaboration between PTC and IFS connects two critical aspects of service – field execution and service parts management. To remain competitive and deliver enhanced service experiences, it is crucial to have the right service part available for a service technician to fix an issue promptly and during the first visit."

Leslie Paulson, Servigistics Business Unit's General Manager was equally positive. “We are excited to partner with IFS to integrate our solutions and pursue new frontiers of innovation in connected service delivery,” she said. “Having the right part in the right place at the right time has never been more important. We’re pleased to be working with IFS to enable companies to differentiate their service and maintenance operations.”

Pricing details have not been yet been revealed, but according to MRO-Network.com, IFS have said this will depend on specific customers' needs. 

Ericsson has been selected by Swiss telecommunications service provider Swisscom for its security manager solution.

 

The Security Manager software will offer security automation, visibility and control for Swisscom's Security Operation Center, addressing the increasing security management needs of the service provider.

The new deal includes automation of security compliance management and basic security analytics.

Philippe Vuilleumier, Head of Group Security, Swisscom, said: “Continuing our strong partnership and collaboration with Ericsson, we are deploying Ericsson Security Manager in our datacenter in Switzerland while simultaneously developing the solution further through progressive and agile collaboration. Ericsson Security Manager is improving the security baseline automation and security analytics in our Security Operations Center, strengthening our activities to protect our own critical infrastructure.”

Åsa Tamsons, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Technologies & New Businesses, Ericsson, says: “Security is a cornerstone of Swisscom’s business. Ericsson Security Manager will transform the security management of Swisscom’s mobile network and in the future support new use cases in the telecommunications industry, while addressing the ever-increasing security requirements.”

Renowned property maintenance provider Axis Europe is in the throes of a digital transformation. At the heart of that transformation is new scheduling and route  optimisation software from Fast Lean Smart (FLS), set to bring all-new levels of
productivity and customer engagement to Axis’ service operation in conjunction with Dynamics 365.


Established in 1986, Axis utilise 500 field operatives to provide strategic repair, maintenance and improvement services for premier UK building owners across all property sectors, including social housing, schools, commercial offices and heritage properties. Its work, partnerships and interactions are shaped by a set of core values that make it “big enough to deliver, small enough to care” as per its strapline.

A strong commitment to providing top-quality service to customers in an increasingly service driven and complex landscape is what heralded Axis’ decision to digitally transform. The company currently uses multiple service management solutions and a scheduling system dominated by manual intervention, which it sought to integrate and streamline. FLS has now become central to that process.

“We needed a user-friendly scheduling system that could really increase the productivity of our field operatives whilst reducing travel and back office admin costs,” says Russell Measor, Head of Data and Delivery at Axis. “We also needed a system that could integrate well with Microsoft Dynamics 365, which we are implementing as our new CRM platform. With that in mind, our
Dynamics implementation partner recommended two software providers — FLS was one of them.”

Axis evaluated the two providers and FLS’s real-time scheduler and route optimiser, FLS VISITOUR, came out on top for several reasons. Russell explains, “The main reason we chose FLS was the speed and high performance of VISITOUR and the fact that we can tweak its  algorithms to fit our needs. With speed profiles and real-time traffic data, VISITOUR can plan
routes in ways that are most efficient and most productive for our operatives. And real-time tracking is going to increase our engagement with customers and reduce our no-access rates. It will enable us to provide them with operatives’ exact, up-to-the-minute locations, making them less likely to pop out when an operative is round the corner.”

One of the ways that FLS approaches a sale is by proving its performance capabilities with customised scheduling tests, which many other providers don’t offer. Russell says, “We were blown away by the results of the scheduling tests. Rescheduling our appointments using VISITOUR demonstrated a significant reduction in mileage and driving hours. More importantly it showed that with VISITOUR our engineers can achieve one or more additional jobs per day.”

Although these figures were powerfully persuasive on their own, the ultimate reason Axis decided to invest in FLS VISITOUR was a much simpler, more human one. “We thought that the team at FLS were more down-to-earth than other providers,” says Russell. “They were less salesy and gave us a more tailored service. We didn’t just feel like another sale. We felt that
they actually cared about our business.”

Axis is hoping for great things once FLS VISITOUR has been implemented. Russell explains the overall benefits that his teams are looking forward to: “A business with complex planning and in-day scheduling challenges like Axis needs to react in real time and FLS will let us do this. In doing so, we will provide a faster response and better service to our customers. We’re particularly looking forward to the increased productivity, increased assurance as to our ability to meet SLAs, and lower back office costs thanks to greater levels of automation.”

More information can be found at www.fastleansmart.com.

Employees are putting their businesses at risk of cyber-attacks by refusing to obey the rules when it comes to the apps they use in the workplace, according to a report from Maintel.

Workers have confessed to using unapproved apps in the office, including Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat to communicate with colleagues as well as friends and family. For example, four in ten employees (41%) admit to using Instagram for more than two hours each day, despite the app being banned in almost half of UK organisations.  

The majority of employees are well aware that certain apps are not approved for workplace use, but this hasn’t stopped them breaking the rules. In fact, the research found that usage is on the rise, with use of WhatsApp, Snapchat and Instagram increasing significantly over the past three years – 30%, 27% and 33% respectively. 

Staff told us that apps like WhatsApp offer ease of use (84 per cent), speed of response (44 per cent) and informality (35 per cent) in the workplace. This highlights that businesses need to implement more apps that meet their workers needs. But, while employees may be continuing to break the rules, using these unapproved apps is a danger for many businesses. The risks of using undocumented, unsecure apps should be obvious enough – especially in light of GDPR. 

Maintel CTO Rufus Grig said: “If this research tells us one thing, it’s that whilst organisations can go ahead and prohibit the use of as many tools as they like, this will never be enough to actually make this vision a reality. Businesses need to recognise that employees are still using these tools in the knowledge they are unauthorised, and make a conscious effort to understand why. Employers need to ensure the communication needs of a multi-generational workforce are catered for. To do this, it’s clear we need to invest more time into making sure that approved tools offer the best user experience possible, or in those words, offering platforms that are motivating, compelling and easy to use in the workplace”.

You can see the report here.

BigChange acquires two companies: Labyrinth Logistics Consulting and Trace Systems to gain world-class software and consulting expertise with strategic acquisitions whilst strengthening their team and service offering; adds over 100 organisations to customer base

BigChange, the mobile workforce technology company, today announced that it has gained valuable new software and consulting capabilities, as well as over 100 new customers, with the acquisition of two UK-based businesses.

BigChange has acquired Labyrinth Logistics Consulting, an award-winning supply chain and logistics consultancy based in Royal Leamington Spa. Labyrinth provides logistics strategy, compliance and procurement consultancy, alongside a self-audit software application called SilkThread^®, to major transport, logistics, FMCG, and retail organisations in the UK. 

Its directors, Ruth Waring and Jo Godsmark, will join BigChange’s leadership team and spearhead a new consulting arm called BigChange Advisory Plus 

BigChange has also acquired Trace Systems, an established provider of fleet, garage and workshop management software. Trace works with fleet operators across the UK, including plant hire and haulage companies, local authorities and the emergency services. 

The acquisition of Trace, which is based in Coventry, provides BigChange with a world-class asset and stock management capabilities that will be integrated into BigChange’s JobWatch platform. Trace’s founder, Bill Davies, will work as an advisor to BigChange.

Speaking on the acquisitions Martin Port, founder and CEO of BigChange, commented: “We are delighted to complete the acquisitions of Labyrinth and Trace. These businesses are the first that BigChange has acquired since it was launched in 2013 and provide us with more fantastic people, world-class technology, amazing new customers and multi-million revenue boost. They represent a significant milestone for our business and a major boost to our scale up plans.”

Ruth Waring, Managing Director of Labyrinth Logistics Consulting, also commented, saying: “We are very excited to be part of BigChange. It is a strong, growing business that complements our offering very well indeed. As part of BigChange, we can develop a more comprehensive consultancy offering and take it to many more organisations around the world.”

Whilst Bill Davies, Founder of Trace Systems, commented: “Having built a business over 30 years we see the sale of Trace Systems to BigChange as the next chapter in our development.  It will allow us to transform our fleet, garage and workshop software to take full advantage of the latest cloud and mobile technology pioneered by BigChange. This will provide fantastic opportunities for our existing and future customers.”

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KPMG and Blacks Solicitors advised BigChange

For both acquisitions, BigChange was advised by Graham Pearce, Head of Technology at KPMG,  Nigel Hoyle & Richard Parr Partners at Blacks Solicitors in Leeds. Graham Pearce, Head of Technology at KPMG, comments: “I’m thrilled to have helped BigChange cement its position as a leading vendor, adding these exciting capabilities to its portfolio. With these two acquisitions, BigChange will continue to be at the forefront of technology in the UK and the rest of the world.”

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SECOM PLC, the global provider of tailored Security solutions, has achieved a 25 per cent productivity improvement, in just six months, by using Aeromark’s real-time, automated Service Management Platform as part of its strategic investment to optimise its entire service operation.Aeromark’s market leading software now handles every aspect of SECOM’s service business from taking the initial service call, dynamic scheduling of the best Engineer, stock management and sourcing the parts, all the way through to invoicing.  Productivity in the field has increased and by eliminating unnecessary manual tasks, more than one million pieces of paper have been removed from the business along with 15 million associated manual touch points.

Paul Weaver, Operations Director at SECOM said “Aeromark’s service management software has dramatically increased the efficiency of our business, improving productivity in the field by 25 per cent. Our processes have been optimised all the way from the initial customer call to final certification and invoice. This has improved the management of our customer’s assets, their maintenance and the efficiency of our 400 field-based Service Engineers and Sub-contractors”

Aeromark’s SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) based service management software combines Asset and Contract management, Dynamic Scheduling, Mobile Application, GPS tracking, Supply Chain Management; Stock Control; Financial reports, Document Management and statutory compliance in a single, seamlessly integrated system.

“We are already seeing the benefits for ourselves and our customers. Aeromark and our internal team have worked extremely well together and delivered the project efficiently and on time which has enabled us to progress quicker than expected. Our partnership has worked exceptionally well, and I look forward to the next phase” said Paul Weaver.

“We are delighted that Secom have achieved results over and above the outcomes they were predicting. They have embraced our technology and excelled in working with us to form a true technology partnership.” Roger Marks, MD Aeromark

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FLS, FAST LEAN SMART, a leader in field force appointment, schedule and route optimisation solutions, is pleased to announce the results of its 2018 UK customer satisfaction survey undertaken in December 2018.

Jeremy Squire, FLS UK Managing Director comments “FLS is proud of our reputation for customers achieving excellent benefits from our scheduling solutions, however I believe it equally important for ongoing success that customers are also delighted with the support received and feeling of partnership we enjoy together.”

In this survey, every live user that is supported by FLS UK, ranging from Aqualisa with 50 engineers through to Royal Mail PFS with 500, answered the following questions:

• Question 1: On a scale of zero to ten, how likely are you to recommend FLS VISITOUR to a friend who has a similar scheduling requirement? Average Score 9.2, NPS=90
• Question 2: How do you rate the service you receive from FLS support? Average Score 9.4
• Question 3: How would you rate FLS for the partnership we have established together? Average Score 9.4

 Best in class

Jeremy Squire reflects “This is another year with very high rating for FLS performance and I believe at the pinnacle of our field. The best innovation combined with the best service means FLS scheduling software users are fully equipped to achieve the best results!”

 

Service as a differentiator 

“Good ratings lead to business success in many industries and I am sure it is no coincidence our UK recurring revenue has increased by more than 50% for the third year running. This was helped significantly by recommendation from these customers and the providers of CRM and service management software that we plug into, for example Dynamics 365. FLS is experiencing exciting growth but the results and satisfaction of existing customers will always remain at the heart of our business strategy.” reassures Jeremy.

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Asolvi, a European leader in field service management solutions, has purchased Purpose Software Ltd, Asolvi's third acquisition in as many years.

Purpose Software is the UK's top supplier of service management software for managed print services (MPS) providers. Together Asolvi and Purpose Software will have more than 900 customers across 30+ countries.

“Following the acquisitions of Tesseract and WS Software in 2016 and 2017 respectively, we are proud to welcome Purpose Software into our growing family,” says Pål M. Rødseth, CEO of Asolvi. “Purpose Software has the leading position in the document management space in the UK while Asolvi occupies a similar position in the Nordics and Continental Europe. We both offer software that generates enormous efficiency and productivity gains for providers of managed print and document services. Having known Michael Burke, CEO of Purpose Software, for years, we all agreed that the two organisations would be much stronger together. We saw an opportunity to pool our resources and knowledge of this industry, empowering the creation of new and improved solutions for MPS providers in the future." 

Purpose Software CEO Michael Burke says, "We are delighted to join Asolvi. We have got to know Asolvi as a competent and dedicated company in the service management space and I am confident that bringing the companies together will benefit our customers going forward. Being part of a larger software group will add strength to the product development that is needed to be a service management solution provider for the future, and I look forward to working closely with the Asolvi team to achieve this." 

The consecutive acquisitions of Tesseract, WS Software and Purpose Software are in line with Asolvi's strategy to become the leading provider of field service management systems for SMEs in Europe. The company has now added Purpose Software's 2Serv and CBS solutions to its broadening product suite, which already includes the world-renowned Evatic, Tesseract and WinServ solutions.Asolvi is a private company owned by the founders, management and Viking Venture.

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Simon Fahie, Managing Director - Global Technologies, at ByBox reflects on a busy final quarter for the year, what the big challenges for 2019 will be and how we can overcome them...

Judging by the packed conference halls I’ve seen across the world this quarter, I think it’s fair to say that Winter 2018 is ‘events season’ for the global field service industry.

I was among the thousands of professionals who travelled to attend flagship conferences – all connected by a ‘need to know’ the latest developments within our sector.

But, as I heard tales of pioneering innovations and technologies at, for example, exhibitions in the USA, and a user group event in the UK, I was struck that the processes behind our work are just as important as the technology which supports it.

Hearing about the increasing pressures and challenges affecting the field service supply chain, and the different ways organisations are seeking to address them, triggered a train of thought in my mind around the power of lean thinking.

The principles of Lean are clear. It’s a systematic way of checking every process to find and extinguish waste. By eradicating unnecessary spend, time and resources, organisations can focus on adding value to customers.

And this one methodology is so effective, it can be used equally well within a wide range of businesses, from office cleaning, to automotive manufacturing, or the delivery of complex highway schemes. All three of these tasks have been analysed, broken down into steps, designed and redesigned to be as Lean as possible.

For decades, service companies have seen the value in similarly systematically removing unnecessary delays, materials, labour and costs from their processes. And yet, as the events began to wrap up, it became obvious to me that Lean thinking could have played a part in the case studies I had presented, and the networking conversations I had enjoyed.

I heard over and over again that the pain points are there. For example, getting the right service part to the right place at the right time is so important that, ironically, some businesses seem wary of making strategic changes. We heard stories about excessive inventory or significant costs related to same-day distribution being left unchallenged because ‘it works’. We know from analysis carried out recently for one organisation that 65% of items sent to site using same-day transport were returned by the engineer as good stock.

It doesn’t take much effort to start finding waste in that process, but what are the seven types of waste in Lean, and how might field service industries start finding some waste to eliminate?

Based on my experience at 2018 field service events, here are some examples, and how our customers are going about eliminating them:

 

Transport: Unnecessary movement of people or parts between processes

We saw one company save 640,000 miles of driving by delivering parts to app lockers at service sites, instead of using dispersed forward stocking locations. (FSLs)

 

Inventory: Excess raw material or finished parts 

Another firm had more than £1 million-worth of duplicated stock sitting in repair engineers’ vans.

The company cut spend significantly, by storing items specifically required by each location in secure on-site lockers

 

Waiting: People or parts waiting for the next step of a process

45 minutes per day, per engineer – that was the average waiting time saved by one organisation when it replaced PUDO collections with public locker collections.

 

Motions: Unnecessary movement of people or parts within a process

In our experience, the most advanced firms enable engineers to order parts for direct delivery, using a mobile app. This eliminates the unnecessary and inefficient movement of thousands of parts to and from warehouses, and can even enable firms to remove entire FSLs from their supply chains.

 

Rework: Correction or repetition of a process 

Forward-thinking firms also use mobile apps to assign condition codes for parts which need to be returned. This allows items to be directly routed to repairers, rather than return to the warehouse for evaluation. We’ve seen this contribute to a 40% reduction in total inventory for some firms, as well as a reduction in processing resources.

 

Overproduction: producing sooner or in greater quantities than customer demand

We saw one corporation reduce duplicate inventory by consolidating a UK stock-holding into a European warehouse. Delivery lead times and customer service levels were maintained by exploiting scheduled flights, and pre-8am distribution to lockers.

 

Over processing: Processing beyond standard required

Implementing a dedicated delivery point at a secure site reduced same-day transportation costs by 80% for one customer. In this use case same-day delivery was only used to ensure early next day availability.

 

It’s important to remember that the benefits of Lean thinking go above and beyond reducing waste, and into adding value to customers. For example, eliminating unnecessary movements often reduces overall lead-times -which in turn reduces risks to SLA compliance. And reducing transportation waste further supports carbon reduction targets.

I don’t pretend to be an expert in Lean thinking, however, as we seek to meet ever tighter service level requirements while simultaneously reducing costs these examples serve as reminders that there is plenty of waste to find if we go looking for it.

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Simon Fahie is Managing Director, Global Technologies for ByBox

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