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Numerous research from varying sources, including our own studies, have revealed that there is increasingly becoming two separate types of field service organisation. Those that have embraced field service management technology and those that have not. We spoke exclusively to Jonathan Best, SVP & GM Europe with Kony to get his insight on this divide...

As we catch up for a morning coffee in an upmarket cafe in the centre of Amsterdam it is interesting to cast our minds back to the last time we met, some months further back in London. At that point, Best and his team at Kony were just beginning to step into the world of field service and much of the reasoning, whilst based on solid suppositions, remained largely untested in the real world.

Now, however, many of those suppositions are being proven to be true, which is always a gratifying, but more importantly it confirms to Best, that they are on the right path.

Pretty much the entire underlying premise of Kony’s approach to developing field service management tools is that there are two distinct types of field service companies.

 

The haves and the have nots. Those with FSM technology and those without.

And whilst the latter are traditionally the low hanging fruit for any FSM system provider, it is the first group who are likely to benefit most from the approach Kony are taking.

“The thing that has been interesting for us is that talking to our product guys their view was that we would produce this set of components and we would see an increase in the number of people who implemented them as is. We’ve seen a few examples like that but typically they tend to be quite simplistic cases - typically companies that haven’t got any technology supporting their field service people at all,” Best begins.

“The much more common cases are where we find organisations who have already got some type of field service technology and what they’re interested in is how they can either augment or replace those existing systems with something more refined to their needs.”

“To put things very, very simplistically there are two types of field service company, those who have no technology at all - who are still using pen and paper etc. They are very interesting to talk to as they are very open minded, but still they don’t know what they don’t know.”

“Then there are those who are already using some technology with their field service operations but are finding it sub-optimal in some way.”

“Who I have yet to meet is somebody who has said we have all the technology we need perfectly at the fingertips of our field service technicians. I’m not saying that they don’t exist but from where I’m sitting I don’t think there seem to be too many of them,” he adds

 

In many senses, it feels that the approach Kony are taking is putting the onus of design back on field service organisations themselves. For those who have been around the block a few times this can have significant benefits, empowering them to iron out the imperfections of other tools that have been utilised in the past.

However, for those who have yet to spend time with another solution to identify what those imperfections would look like in their own business, such a solution may be a overly complicated. No so much running before they can walk exactly, more like buying a baby an expensive set of Nike running shoes.

“For those companies who don’t have any technology the challenge for them is should they go and buy an off the shelf FSM solution, which they can take out of the box, plug it in, set themselves up and it is going to give them a capability that they didn’t have,” Best explains.

“And they can typically do that faster and quicker than they could if they took a tool set approach - like what we offer, and then build things up themselves.”

“The people who like our approach are the ones who want to step iteratively into something or those who look at the quite formulaic approach to traditional field service solutions and find it sub-optimal.”

 

“If you can go into a shop and buy exactly what you want, or you can buy the bits to build something that can do exactly what you want - most people will buy the product not the components. Nobody goes into a shop and buys the parts to make a microwave oven, when you can just go out and buy one and it will do what you want a microwave oven to do,” Best quips.

“But the kinds of organisations who are interested in having some sort of approach to field service that isn’t supported by the typical solutions, these are the ones interested in building something themselves and that’s where the tool set we provide can often help them. The advantage being that what they end up with then is built bespoke to their needs, and is designed specifically to enhance their own unique workflows.”

 

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Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief talks exclusively to Tom De Vroy, Senior Product Evangelist, Field Service Management with IFS at the Field Service Medical conference to find out why they were involved within the Field Service Medical sector, what unique challenges he saw for field service management in the healthcare and medical sector and what key points he took away from the three day conference held in San Diego a few weeks ago.

at Field Service Medical held at Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego.

We also take a sneak peak at what to expect at this year's Field Service USA event being held in Palm Springs this April

 

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Thinking of attending Field Service USA this year? Field Service News subscribers are entitled to a 25% discount! 

Field service professionals can subscribe now for free here and then simply email the subscriber benefits team on subscriber.benefits@fieldservicenews.com to get your discount code!

 

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In 2015, Espresso Service Ltd woke up and smelled ‘connected’ coffee. By implementing Tesseract’s cloud-based service management software, it entered the realm of the smart coffeemaker and the Internet of Things, bolstering its USPs and improving its service to customers.

Backed by over 25 years in the coffee industry, Espresso Service manages and maintains all types and brands of coffee machines. It does this via a nationwide network of engineers who really know their beans.

Before Tesseract, the company’s service management system was based around a less flexible, server-based, non-specialised bolt-on to an accountancy package. This was no longer up to task, so Espresso Service looked to the cloud.

Head in the cloud

Espresso Service opted for a software-as-a-service system, aka SaaS. In other words, a system that is hosted in the cloud and accessible via the internet. The company wanted to avoid the hefty capital costs involved with installing software on its servers, and instead pay an ongoing subscription fee. It also wanted access to software that was maintained by the provider and always kept up to date. This led it to Tesseract.

Daniel Sewell, Chief Operating Officer for Espresso Service, explains, “In the end, the choice was down to two companies. Tesseract came out on top for three main reasons. Firstly, the system is web-based, which means our engineers can access it anywhere. Secondly, we get free upgrades and any platform developments for one customer are shared to all. The third reason is Kevin McNally, one of Tesseract’s managers. As opposed to a typical salesman just interested in a deal, Kevin was thoroughly genuine and showed a real and keen interest in our business. He still does.”

 

The Internet of (Coffee) Things

The Tesseract system is able to communicate directly with some of the coffee machines Espresso Service is contracted to maintain. These machines contain a modem with a SIM card, feeding data to the Tesseract system by means of the internet. This could be asset history or maintenance alerts, i.e. the machine has run out of milk or coffee, or needs a repair.

This telemetry prompts Espresso Service to take action and, if necessary, schedule a maintenance visit — without its customers having to do anything. Daniel Sewell says, “On average 5,000 pieces of information a day are transmitted to the Tesseract system. This ability to monitor equipment remotely through Tesseract has not just revolutionised the way Espresso Service operates; it’s also improved the performance of our customers. Their need to keep coffee flowing and minimise equipment downtime is served by us providing them with a more responsive service.”

The perfect blend

Espresso Service utilises the full suite of services offered by Tesseract’s flagship product, Service Centre 5.1 (SC5.1), including Call Control, Customer Assets, Parts Centre, Remote Engineer Access and Remote Customer Access.

While SC5.1 is an out-of-the-box platform, Tesseract does its best to tailor and adapt it. In this case, it has created an interface with Espresso Service’s accounting software, as well as between Parts Centre and the company’s stock partner. This enables Espresso Service to have full visibility and control of the movement of stock even though a separate company manages it.

Tesseract and Espresso Service also worked together to enhance SC5.1’s stock-take functionality, streamlining what used to be a manual process. In due course, Espresso Service will incorporate Tesseract’s Diary Assist, an automated scheduling service capable of saving companies 3-4 hours a day of manual manipulation by assigning calls to engineers.

 

What’s clear is that Tesseract and Espresso Service represent a strong, thriving partnership, one that has continued to flourish in the short time since implementation. Daniel Sewell explains, “Tesseract has given us a new USP. When we approach sales prospects, we proclaim the virtues of the Tesseract system, and how much it will make their lives easier and service better. We also recommend the platform to other companies in our industry. In particular, we partnered with an ROI firm to found a company called Espresso Service Ireland Technical Ltd, and got them set up on the Tesseract system. That’s how much we believe in it.”

 

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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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Dan Dillon, Vice President of Marketing, Mobile Reach explores the key criteria for industry benchmark Gartner when it comes to field service and mobile applications...

In the 2016 Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, Gartner identifies four key drivers of mobile app adoption for field service organisations:

• Improved technician utilisation
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Increased dispatcher efficiency
• Increased service profitability

Mobile apps that enable these performance improvements are among the most important requirements a field service organisation can have when choosing a mobility solution. But not all mobile field workforce enablement tools are the same, so how does one know what to select?

A new white paper published by Mobile Reach includes a set of critical capabilities for enabling field technicians with mobile apps to help ensure your implementation drives exceptional results.

Best-in-class mobile solutions are designed for the unique tasks your field service technicians fulfill, and the apps function effectively under the constraints of your specific environment. There are several critical capabilities for strategic mobility in field service management. At a more granular level, strategic mobile apps:

• Are flexible to mould to your organisation’s field processes. To accomplish this, a mobile platform with a rapid application development tool is a necessity. This gives the field service organisation the ability to easily configure the apps to match field workflows.
• Connect directly into the enterprise service platform, ERP and/or CRM system. Many solutions use separate staging databases or plugins that require additional administration and support costs. Selecting a mobile platform that connects directly into your service platform or ERP system prevents the need for additional development resources and reduces potential points of failure.
• Need to operate offline. Offline capability gives field techs the ability to do their jobs even in remote locations with spotty or no network connectivity. Techs can continue to work and capture data regarding work time, asset status, or any other condition. Once the tech receives an approved network connection, data is synched with the back-end service platform or ERP system.
• Must support various modes of data capture and necessary peripheral devices — Bluetooth barcode scanners, RFID-enabled devices and signature capture pads to name a few.
• Operate on all mobile operating systems that your organisation currently supports or is expected to support in the foreseeable future — iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile.
• Support all peripheral devices that your organisation currently supports or is expected to support — smartphones, tablets, ruggedized barcode scanners, and Bluetooth-enabled devices like handheld barcodes scanners for inventory management.

There are a range of use cases that leading field service organisations solve for with strategic mobile apps that go well beyond standard work order management.

Field service managers can use GPS coordinates to track field techs and view technicians on a map for dispatch efficiency. Mobile apps can also be used to route field techs to a job site with a map and turn-by-turn directions.

 

Once at the job site, field technicians and engineers can receive push notifications and alerts from the service team informing them of new needs, tasks or other relevant information. To help mitigate the complexity of work, field techs should be able to use apps to collaborate with other field techs and the service team in real time.

In terms of work orders, field techs need to be able to record time on a job, and track when individual tasks and jobs are completed. Perhaps most importantly, technicians need to have the ability to create and manage change requests out in the field. The “Field Service 2016: The Technician’s Perspective” report showed that just 22 percent of technicians have the ability to capture customer requests via mobile apps, while 77 percent of technicians say that solving customer problems is the aspect of their work they enjoy most.

Field service organisations aiming to improve upon technician utilisation, customer satisfaction, dispatcher efficiency and service profitability should consider these critical capabilities for mobile apps. Those that do not are likely to miss out on a significant opportunity to increase their competitive advantage in the marketplace.

A full analysis of how strategic mobility for field service management drives long-term business value is available in this free white paper, “Mobile Field Workforce Enablement Drives Business Value.”

 

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Geerings, one of the South East of England's leading providers of MPS and print management services, is upgrading its service management capability with the installation of 2serv. 

Developed by Purpose Software, this market-leading software solution will provide the Geerings management team with faster access to real-time information to enable data-driven decision-making and streamline billing processes.

According to Jon Killengray, Service Manager at Geerings:  “We selected 2serv after an extensive review of available solutions as we wanted to work with a company that really understands the needs of resellers in this market sector and is able to deliver the highest level of service and support.  Purpose Software also offered us the ability to install the software on a subscription basis allowing us to pay for the system as we use it without major up-front capital expenditure.”

The new service management system will enable Geerings to achieve considerable time-savings across the business. In particular, it will streamline and enhance the billing process by tightly integrating with Sage200.  This will provide a single point of access and eliminate the need for manual batch transfers, making invoices immediately available in Sage after being created in 2serv.

 

Further savings will be achieved by enhancing the toner management process including the automatic checking that consumables have achieved the correct usage.  2serv also provides rapid access to informative management reports that can be run at a press of a button without impacting on overall system performance.  These reports present up-to-the-minute data in formats that are easier to interpret for better decision-making.

“Purpose Software is providing us with a service management system that will deliver lightning speed performance no matter what we throw at it, unlike the previous system which often struggled during the generation of complex reports,” continued Jon Killengray.  “The 2serv system is fully future-proofed providing us with access to all enhancements, as they are released as part of the subscription programme, ensuring that it will continue to meet the evolving needs of the business.”

Geerings is also installing 2roam, a mobile application that empowers engineers equipped with tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices to access and update 2serv from any location.  It will increase the productivity of the company’s field service team by enabling them to make more efficient use of their time.

 

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Paul Whitelam, VP Product Marketing, ClickSoftware answers questions put to him by the audience of a Field Service News webinar on Cloud computing and it's role in field service management.

Questions include:

• How do you feel about transferring data between third party specialists and how moving to the Cloud may facilitate that?
• You mentioned briefly in the webinar the additional computation powers of the Cloud - would you be able to explain exactly how that works in details (but please use layman's terms)
• Is there any particular type of organisation moving to the Cloud?
• Security aside - is there any other reason why a company would not want to move to the Cloud? [/unordered_list]

The full webinar itself explored data from over three years worth of research into the topic of Cloud computing as a platform for field service management systems, with Whitelam and Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News discussing the key findings of the data and exploring the trends it reveals.

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To download a copy of the full webinar please click here

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For fourteen years technological giant SCCI Alphatrack has relied on Tesseract’s service management software to run a lean, fit and growing operation. Today periodic and reactive maintenance for over 195,000 customer sites falls within Tesseract’s remit.

SCCI Alphatrack is one of the leading providers of TV, media, security and life safety systems in the UK. These include multi-point TV systems, access control, CCTV, fire and smoke protection, emergency lighting and a wide array of internet access solutions. The company’s clientele ranges from Premier Inn and Center Parcs to Ladbrokes and HM Prison Service, along with numerous housing authorities, developers and financial institutions.

Pre-2003, SCCI Alphatrack used a cumbersome, manual and paper-heavy system to run its operations. In order to move forward, the company sought out a streamlined system that could take care of everything — customer records, call control, scheduling, engineer reporting and invoicing — and found Tesseract.

An all-encompassing system — with some helpful integrations

Since 2003, SCCI Alphatrack has managed installations and maintenance work using Tesseract’s all-encompassing suite of services including Customer Assets, Call Control, Remote Engineer Access and Parts Centre. The system enables customer, contract and site data to be compiled and managed; materials to be distributed to engineers in the field and stock to be replenished; and engineers to log in remotely and generate service reports. More recently, SCCI Alphatrack has incorporated Tesseract’s Remote Customer Access module, enabling customers to log in, report faults and track progress and response times.

SCCI Alphatrack uses non-Tesseract systems for accounting, customer relationship management and time recording. Tesseract has provided various interfaces so that its software can communicate with and feed data to these systems. This has eradicated several error-prone manual processes and allowed the company to run a seamless operation.

 

Richard Spencer, IT Consultant for SCCI Alphatrack, says, “With over 195,000 sites to look after, managing our data and service work would be a real challenge if it wasn’t for Tesseract.”

Health and safety management

One of the priorities for SCCI Alphatrack is the health and safety of its engineers who are often working at height or in dangerous areas. Therefore, managing and maintaining the vehicles and equipment they use is of the utmost importance. Originally, equipment inspections were paper-based processes. Last year, SCCI Alphatrack decided to bring its inspections activities under the same umbrella as its service work: Tesseract.

“Our inspections management has now gone completely paperless,” says Richard Spencer. “Before, there was scope for error or records going missing. We are now treating our kit and vehicle inspections like any other planned maintenance work we do for our customers. We schedule inspections so that they appear in engineers’ diaries and can be actioned. This creates a central electronic record and helps us keep our equipment safe and in proper working order.”

SCCI Alphatrack also monitors health and safety by way of Tesseract’s Checklist System. This is a custom-built list of questions that an engineer will need to answer before he or she can proceed with a job, e.g. are you signed in; are you working at height; have you got the right equipment; does your equipment need inspecting; and so on. The client sets the questions and the Tesseract system configures them to respond dynamically to the user, so that how a question is answered determines what question comes next. The Checklist System is designed to enable service organisations to adhere to their health and safety obligations.

A flexible and secure system

SCCI Alphatrack has experienced powerful efficiency gains since implementing Tesseract, which is why their partnership remains so strong fourteen years on.

Richard Spencer explains, “Tesseract has been a key part of our business process. By replacing our manual and paper-based procedures, it has enabled us to grow the business without taking on additional staff. From our customers’ point of view, they can rest easy knowing that we have a flexible and secure system in place to manage their information safely.”

 

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Manitowoc Foodservice UK have been relying on the service management software supplied by Tesseract for 20 years. Now they have decided to further automate their systems with one of Tesseract’s most useful tools – Diary Assist.

With customers like Debenhams, Wetherspoons and the Ministry of Defence, Manitowoc are the world leaders in manufacturing, supplying and maintaining cutting edge kitchen equipment, as well as designing and refitting kitchens.

From ovens, grills, fryers and steamers, to ice machines, refrigerators and beer coolers, Manitowoc produce equipment for numerous renowned and award-winning catering industry brands. These include Garland, Frymaster, Convotherm and Merrychef – the world’s number one designer and supplier of pioneering accelerated cooking systems.

More than 80,000 Merrychef ovens are in use around the world. Frymaster, another of Manitowoc’s leading brands, is a familiar name in catering establishments worldwide, with sales and service capabilities in over 100 countries. Manitowoc employ a consistent commitment to research and development and innovation-led strategies and boast highly advanced manufacturing facilities.

 

With keen eyes for revolutionary technology and efficiency and smooth operation in even the busiest kitchens, Manitowoc are not only concerned with food facilities, but with food itself. Their global team of development chefs can help venues compile creative, innovative menus to suit their customer base and achieve greater success, drawing on their immeasurable experience of the catering industry.

It’s this desire to make their customers’ establishments better and more efficient that sets Manitowoc apart from other food service companies.

No room for error

Manitowoc’s high status and market-leading position mean they cannot afford to let any of their customers down. This is why, 20 years ago, they turned to Tesseract for help in the revolution and modernisation of their service management.

For all of their kitchen installations, Manitowoc have a committed team of engineers who carry out planned and reactive maintenance. Manitowoc use Tesseract to log calls from customers when a piece of equipment incurs a fault, as well as assigning jobs to the engineers, invoicing, parts ordering and reporting. Service requests are transmitted to engineers’ tablet devices using Tesseract’s Remote Engineer Access technology.

Engineers close down jobs on their tablets, at which point the information is transmitted back to Manitowoc instantaneously. Finally, all of Manitowoc’s service activities can be monitored using Tesseract’s fully customisable Crystal Reports, which allow Manitowoc to design and schedule any report they want at any time of day or night. This makes for much better ownership of data.

 

However, choosing which engineers to deploy for both planned maintenance work and reactive tasks was always done manually. Now, in order to further automate their systems, improve efficiency and save huge amounts of time, Manitowoc have integrated Tesseract’s Diary Assist software for both planned and reactive maintenance tasks.

Before the integration of Diary Assist

Manitowoc used to rely totally on a manual system for scheduling engineers for reactive jobs and diarising them for planned maintenance tasks. They used mapping software such as AA Route Planner and the now discontinued Microsoft MapPoint and would assign particular engineers based on location, skill set and fair division of work.

Manitowoc’s manual process for deployment not only took a lot of time, much more than an automated process would, but it also introduced a human element to the decision-making that wasn’t always consistent.

“Before Diary Assist, the deployment of our engineers relied on human intervention and scheduling typically consumed 3 – 4 hours a day,” says Manitowoc. “We had staff trying to ensure that the division of work was fair according to engineers’ skill set and geographical location. A side effect of this was that sometimes it would be unfair and inconsistent.”

How has Diary Assist changed things for Manitowoc?

Diary Assist is a dynamic, centrally hosted web service for call optimisation. It’s designed to handle both planned appointments and reactive service calls and is capable of scheduling 200 hundred calls in just 20 minutes.

The software allocates jobs to engineers based on their skill sets, availability, travel time, work time and shift patterns, as well as call response time and customer site cover times. Manitowoc used to have staff making evaluative decisions about which engineers were most appropriate to allocate; now an automated program does it for them.

Manitowoc says, “We are already seeing the long-term benefits of using Diary Assist. The service provides consistent logic to our scheduling process and saves us 3 – 4 hours a day of manual manipulation, whilst eliminating the potential for human error.”

 

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