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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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Stephen Wilson, Chief Marketing Officer, eBECS, provides an outline for optimising field service operations in the new digital age...

In any business, increasing efficiency while minimising costs is absolutely critical, and failing to recognise new opportunities can result in declining profits. This is especially true when existing systems do not accurately track resources and information. So how do you tell if your Field Service processes are doing the job, and when to re-evaluate to see if they can be optimised?

There is a great underutilisation of technology in Field Service that can be solved with an integrated Field Service solution. Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service, properly implemented, can have considerable positive impacts on the bottom line, reducing pain points for the field service technicians, customers, and the business overall.

To help businesses understand the value of an integrated solution they first need to recognise the pain points of the three parties involved, and how those pain points are costing them money.

Optimisation of Route Management

When a field service technician is sent out to a location, their fuel costs and driving time are taken into consideration in the overall expense.

The further a field technician has to drive, the higher the cost. So how does Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service solve this? By accurately mapping out each service call, dispatched technicians can service more customers in a shorter period of time, with less travel in between each location for complete route optimisation.

 

This also reduces the time a customer must wait. A report by Forrester Research, Inc. noted that customers felt the most important thing a business could do to provide good service was to value the customer’s time. The less time a customer has to wait, the better experience they will have with the business. Increasing customer loyalty has high impact on the business’s overall profitability.

Improving Resource Utilisation

Each time a field service technician is sent out for a job it costs the business over £800. If that field service agent does not have the right equipment or skills to complete the job, another technician is sent. An integrated Field Service solution ensures that all the information required to complete the job is stored in the system. This enables the business to send the right technician to the location, with the right equipment, reducing the need for a second visit by over 26%.

Real-time visibility and scheduling

Do you know where and at what stage in the service call your technicians are at any given time? And why is this important?

Providing realtime data is essential to any business looking to increase efficiencies. By knowing how long technicians require to complete certain jobs, a Field Service solution can significantly improve scheduling functions. Customers can get updates on when they can expect the technician to be arriving for their service call, and if there are any unexpected delays in the schedule.

 

Overall, proper scheduling helps regulate workloads for technicians, as only service calls that can be handled within a technician’s regular work day are scheduled. This not only reduces overtime, but reduces the number of technicians who find themselves with excessive amounts of downtime and wasted hours between service calls.

Connecting business resources

Poor resource management is one of the biggest leaks in profits. By connecting service requests to work orders and right-parts-monitoring, inventory management improves. The business then has accurate data on all inventory and the specific parts required for each service call. This ties back to the overall goal of reducing second service calls as it ensures that parts are in-stock before a technician is sent.

Business reporting

How does a business forecast with no visibility?

Accurate reporting is essential to understanding both profits and expenses. With an integrated Field Service solution, detailed reports can be generated and used to make key business decisions, including required expansions. These reports include service call time reporting,  analytics on hours used for provisioning and other tasks not allocated to a service call, and parts used for service calls.

Employee engagement

Employee job satisfaction is a key component in a business’s profitability. It can be directly linked to a customer’s experience, increasing efficiency, and reducing errors.

When employees are provided the proper tools and resources to complete their jobs by way of an integrated solution, user adoption is high and coincides with an increase in revenue generated per employee. The right Field Service solution provides technicians with vital information about each service call, real-time guidance, and cross-team collaboration.

 

Using Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service can have a significant positive effect on your overall business, from providing customers with better service, increasing job satisfaction for employees, providing analytics that can be linked to business decisions, to reducing wasted resources. To learn more on how to optimise your  Field Service business, visit https://ebecs.wistia.com/projects/f0me5yp2eq

 

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Manuel Grenacher, CEO, Coresystems outlines a clear plan for smooth software implementation...

Software implementations fail across various industries and markets, but mostly for human reasons rather than software catastrophes.

According to research firm, Gartner, 55% to 75% of all ERP projects fail to meet objectives.

Panorama Consulting worked with independent research company Mint Jutras, and found that more companies in 2015, 21% to be exact, are defining software implementations as failures, up from 16% in previous years. Field service businesses bring their own challenges in levels of complexity, remote access, and skills, but these are manageable with the right planning and partners. Here are my five tips for successful implementation of field service software.

1. Setting Objectives Is Key

It’s easy to get fixated on features when choosing a new software solution. However, there’s more to implementing a new system than that. Features and functions are obviously important, but you should choose software and a delivery partner that understands your field service business and what you’re trying to achieve. While choosing a software solution, think of the end-to-end process and the people that will have to use the software to do their jobs and how information will be accessed and used throughout that process.

Data entered by the admin team needs to be in the right format and accessible to technicians remotely.

 

Set objectives before starting to compare systems so you know what you’re trying to achieve. What ROI is the Finance Director looking for? How will you measure the degree of success or failure?

Think holistically about the whole field service business, including the people. Take a baseline measurement before you start for comparison purposes, e.g. average number of site visits per day, time taken per visit, call backs, technician upsells, direct online access by customers, cost per visit.

2. Getting Acceptance and Trust From Your Staff

A new software solution can succeed or fail depending on how your staff reacts to it. They after all are the most important part of the business and the software is only there to make them more productive, so take care of them before everything else. Identify everyone affected by the roll out: sales, admin, technicians, accountants, line management, etc. Plan ahead and maybe even get their input during software selection. Plan in detail how the software will accomplish the business processes, especially the interaction between the new system and humans.

Offering training pre- and post-implementation is vital, plus having ongoing support.

3. Ensure Security of Data 

Just because a new software system is based in the cloud, that doesn’t make it immune to problems. The implementation should be treated the same way as it would be for a traditional IT system. It’s very important to be just as rigorous with project management, objectives, data migration, phased rollout, testing, etc. A cloud implementation will bring many benefits and cost savings, but it also has its own challenges around access, compliance, and security.

The main servers and networking infrastructure will be looked after in a secure data centre, but technicians need remote access on-site. Their tools, such as mobile devices, should be tested and given as many means of data connectivity as possible at fast speeds with significant amounts of storage for downloading manuals, catalogs, video, etc.

 

The new system shouldn’t bypass your company’s compliance rules, or the industry rules in regulated regimes such as some utilities. When it comes to security, it is still your responsibility to ensure personal and confidential data is kept secure so be responsible when specifying requirements for data connectivity, VPN tunneling, encryption (including on mobile devices), rewalls, etc.

4. Pick A Project Management Team

Strong project management skills are vital during this phase, which will mean choosing a supplier and delivery partner that understands your business. Plan out the whole end-to-end field service deployment with them and keep staff and customers in the loop. Still, you should stay flexible enough to take on unexpected changes without risking derailing the whole project.

Don’t expect staff to be able to do their day jobs and run the implementation, too. You’ll need to assign dedicated people to set up the product information, customer site details, report structures, etc. These people may come from the delivery partner, but you’ll still need to assign time for internal experts to pass on information and perform testing.

Don’t be afraid to make carefully considered changes to the plan. For instance, if a big new customer comes on board half way through with new service requirements, decide whether to delay working with the customer or delay the whole project. Either decision can be right, but you should have a process ready to help you make the decision, understand the consequences, and communicate your decision.

 

Getting the features right is one thing, but installing the new system will take time, and it will probably be disruptive to ongoing operations and cause anxiety among a affected staff. All of these disruptions have to be planned for and managed properly so they don’t spin out of control and take the project down.

5. Implement Step by Step

It’s usually much better to adopt a phased approach to implementing a new software system rather than expecting to do it all in one big bang.

Keep the phases manageable by dividing the rollout into controllable chunks. These chunks could be based on regional teams, functional steps, the business model, or all of the above. A good way to start might be to choose a team that performs well and is fairly close to HQ. Spend time getting them up and running smoothly, iron out any wrinkles, and be sure to understand their worries and objections because you’ll see those worries again at every other site.

 

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With a view towards the looming new year the team at Bizness Apps have put together this fantastic infographic outlining some of the key trends in mobile to look out for in 2017...

 

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Sterilizer specialist ESTS is about to usher in a new era of fast, paperless servicing, courtesy of Tesseract’s field service software.

ESTS is the brains behind Logiclave, a leading brand of sterilization devices, including autoclaves, steam sterilizers and washer disinfectors. ESTS designs and manufactures the devices for hospitals, universities, pharmaceutical companies and the biotechnology sector, and makes sure all are properly and regularly maintained under service contracts.

At present, ESTS uses a basic software system to manage its service activities. However, it’s simply a diary and a database, lacking any intuitive call control or dispatch functions, asset management tools or mobile working solutions. The company also uses a separate software system for stock control.

“Our processes are quite labour-intensive,” says David Hawtin, Director at ESTS. “Our engineers have to handwrite service sheets and post or hand-deliver them to the office. Then our admin team has to process them and submit paper invoices to our accounts department. Engineers are dispatched by email or telephone. And with parts, engineers call our storeman and he orders them in. Tesseract is going to transform all of this.”

 

Tesseract’s service management software will provide ESTS with automatic dispatch, stock control, automated invoicing, asset management and, most importantly, a mobile field service solution for the engineers. This will eliminate numerous manual processes and the need for copious paperwork.

ESTS remembered Tesseract after seeing a demonstration of the software at a trade show a few years ago. Hawtin explains, “We saw a demonstration of two systems, but decided to go with Tesseract for two reasons. Tesseract offered a cloud-based version, and the system worked on both android and iOS devices. The other system lacked these features.”

ESTS will soon be implementing the cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) version of Tesseract’s Service Centre 5.1 (SC5.1). Hawtin says, “The fact that Tesseract offers a SaaS version of SC5.1 made it more accessible to us. It means we don’t need to upgrade our server to implement it, and it’s less of a burden on us because Tesseract maintains it in-house.”

 

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FieldAware, the leader in made-for-mobile, cloud-based field service automation solutions today announced it has been positioned on the November 2016 Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management by Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and advisory company.

The Field Service Management (FSM) Magic Quadrant recognizes companies based on criteria which includes their ability to execute and the completeness of their vision.

“We are delighted to be recognized in Gartner’s FSM Magic Quadrant for the first time,” said Steve Mason, CRO of FieldAware. “We believe we have focused on bringing a new, dynamic edge to field service, so to be recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant is fantastic.

 

“Our goal is to simplify field service management. We want businesses to get the most value out of our solution, quickly, without having to worry about lengthy implementation and adoption. Our mobility and integration capabilities have been instrumental in our momentum and we believe that Gartner’s recognition is further proof of our approach.”

To find out more on how FieldAware is simplifying field service with innovative field service solutions – join one of our 30-minute webinars by clicking here

To access the 2016 FSM Magic Quadrant click here

 

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The public sector needs to take a long overdue look at the benefits of field service technology is delivering in the private sector writes Laraine Geddes, Marketing Manager, Kirona...

Kirona When thinking about field service, typically private sector examples spring to mind, such as electricians, plumbers, or other types of contractors performing work in our home or place of business.

We typically don’t think of field workers being associated with government, yet this is a vital component of public service.

Organisations, whether public or private, are leveraging field service technology to improve their customer experience by making the journey less about how they interact with customers and more about the relevancy and context of why customers need to communicate with them.

The objectives of field service work in the private sector are the same as the objectives of public sector field service. Ever present is the need to reduce wastage while at the same time improve real-time visibility and communication between the field based employees and their headquarters, and field based employees and their customers.

It’s imperative for field service technology to allow real-time communication; otherwise important decisions could be made based on older, non-relevant information. At the same time, customers need to be kept informed throughout the lifecycle of a field service interaction.

Kirona have enabled public sector organisations such as North Lanarkshire Council save in excess of £1.5m since implementing Kirona’s field service automation solutions across its Housing Property Services and Home Support Services. Together with the impressive cost savings the council has improved the service for patients receiving care at home vie the Home Support Team, as well as their social housing tenants.

Another example of field service technology enabling impressive savings is South Gloucestershire Council. The council serves a community with a population of approximately 270,000 in the South West of England.

As with many public sector organisations in recent years, the local authority has faced the significant challenge of maintaining service levels whilst undergoing spending cuts.

Seeking to make cost efficiencies the council implemented Kirona’s Job Manager mobile worker solution to 90 of its Street Care team. Job Manager enables the council to reduce paperwork, reduce drive time and phone calls, and automate job allocation and increase real-time job visibility.

The council has reduced Street Care costs by £500k per year and response time now averages 3 days compared to 7 day prior to implementing Kirona’s software.

 

Now, compare these outcomes to those of Carpetright, the leading flooring retailer.

Carpetright introduced dynamic scheduling and field service automation to its team of 320 Home Estimators.

Service improved with customers being able to book convenient appointment slots, estimators travel time reduced to reach customer appointments and estimated sales increased by 34%.

These examples show how field service software solutions in both the private and the public sector are being used to increase productivity, reduce costs, and significantly improve customer satisfaction.

However according to techUK adoption of field service technology for public services is being held back due to lack of skills despite civil servants agreeing technology is critical.

“Technology has a key role in helping the government deliver more for less and it’s great to see such widespread acknowledgement of the benefits technology has to offer,” said Julian David, CEO of techUK.

With the creation of the Crown Commercial Service G-Cloud Digital Marketplace, adoption of field service technology is set to increase.

The G Cloud framework simplifies procurement for public sector organisations, with organisations such as Kirona being selected as approved suppliers, thus speeding up the procurement process for many organisations within the public sector.

Field service technology can enable public sector organisations meet the challenge of delivering services with reduced budgets, and keep apace with today’s customer-centric approach to business, which sectors such as retail have traditionally championed. All hail the customer is king!

For more information on G-Cloud or the technology employed by North Lanarkshire Council, South Gloucestershire Council and Carpetright, take a look at Kirona.com

 

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The Field Service Management software industry is fiercely competitive and one that in the last few years has been in almost constant flux as new technologies continue to push the boundaries of what is possible.

Yet, across the last decade there has been one company that has risen from a humble start-up to globally recognised industry leader. That company is ServiceMax, and the man that has led that incredible rise to prominence is CEO Dave Yarnold. Kris Oldland, FSN Editor-in-Chief, spoke exclusively with him as he stopped by the ServiceMax London HQ on whistle-stop tour of Europe...

The ServiceMax story really is an incredibly compelling one - while stories of start-ups that become market leaders are not completely unique, they are few and far between and in the competitive world of field service management systems, their rapid rise to prominence within the last decade is out their on it’s own in terms of success.

Indeed, there are some really great service management providers out there that have a built solid businesses serving their small corner of what is in reality a huge market. Companies that are happy to feed off the crumbs (and make a very profitable living in doing so) that fall down from the big table where the traditionally established players such as ClickSoftware or Astea fight for elbow room with software heavyweights such as Microsoft and Oracle.

But this was never going to be the path that Dave Yarnold, CEO and co-founder of ServiceMax was going to choose.

Even back in the inception days in what Yarnold affectionately refers back to as the ‘beige palace’, a nondescript office tucked away in Silicon Valley, there was a distinct vision - and perhaps a key reason for their success was that, that vision wasn’t just to be another software provider trying to serve the field service sector but instead to form a company that intrinsically understood what good service was and then build tools to help engender that within their clients.

“We looked at what everybody was doing around service and we thought everyone was missing the point in two respects,” Yarnold begins “One was that everybody was focussed on consumer call centres and basically reducing the amount of touch that companies were going to have with their customers, so all the technology was geared towards efficiency and reducing interaction.”

 

“We also felt that all the technology was geared to taking cost out and what we stumbled on early on was an interesting trend that anybody who was building products were experiencing much faster growth in the services side of the business than the product side.”

“The global economy has slowed down - especially since the last great recession, so that means you’re not selling as much product but there is certainly enough opportunities to get value out of the infrastructure, customer base and install base that you have. So we focussed on helping companies to grow their service business as opposed to squeeze their technicians for more productivity - which is still where most of the technology in our space is focussed.” He adds.

It is a valid point that Yarnold makes, as the economy crashed on a global scale, suddenly service became fore and centre as very simply there were no more margins left to cut. Competing on price in many industries was just no longer an option.

However, with the economy on (slightly) more stable footing these days, the shift to service centric businesses is less about a necessary differentiator and more about building more profitable and sustainable, longer term relationships. A case in point being Sony’s Professional Service’s division, who have developed a servitized business model, using ServiceMax as their FSM system. But was this shift to services something that Yarnold had always envisaged?

“A great analogue to answer that question is to look at the software industry.” He replies. “I remember back in the year 2000 when Salesforce emerged and the idea of Cloud computing and Software as a Service as a business model was nowhere to be seen. The reason why it became the primary mode of delivering software was because it was what customers wanted. They wanted a balanced relationship , a long relationship, a relationship where they felt like they weren’t entering into an agreement knowing the supplier was getting all of the profit up front on day one.

Think about the imbalance in that type of relationship and of course outcome based services makes a ton of sense to customers. It’s far more balanced, it’s what customers want. The fact that the software industry has gone through this complete disruption, and all the leaders in the sector have now embraced this model - that’s not lost on manufacturing companies. Most heads of manufacturing businesses today will be looking at what software businesses have become, they look at the multiples that recurring revenue streams produce and they want that to.”

 

“You look at the long-term, recession proof benefits of that business model and the lock in that that brings, it’s a really attractive proposition.”

Of course mention of Salesforce, brings us to the elephant in the room.

While Yarnold and his co-founders vision was certainly a driving force for the success of ServiceMax, it is undeniable that they also rode the slipstream of Salesforce’s own phenomenal growth. Now with Salesforce entering the market themselves with Field Service Lightning, does this represent a significant threat to ServiceMax’s continued growth?

“It’s not like it was a surprise to us, it took them a while but they realised that this [field service] is a pretty big market,” Yarnold begins bullishly.

“For us, it’s interesting being the only guys in the market that believe in the business model of servitization and where this is all going. I see even in the direction of their [Salesforce’s] product that it’s the old cost reduction approach. It’s a scheduling centric app that is leveraging technology that ClickSoftware built on their platform - which is all around schedule optimisation.”

“Yes, it’s part of our suite also, but our product is built around assets and contracts and relationships and the business processes that drive a service business. It’s not just geared towards squeezing an extra few percentage out of the engineers. That’s part of the overall RoI of running a service business, but it’s only part of it. Basically, I think it’s interesting what they [Salesforce] are doing, but it is also old school in my opinion, it’s still cost based, which is kind of boring to people who run service businesses.”

 

One for is for certain though, if an original vision and harnessing the growing momentum of Salesforce were the initial keys to success, the ‘special sauce’ that has allowed ServiceMax to truly flourish has been there intelligent acquisition of talent in key roles that truly understand the industry. Yet, it’s clear that the passion for service stems from the very top.

“At the core of it, if you go back to the three of us when we started, we just care about this. We think it’s vital. From a standpoint of what we as consumers expect from a service relationship. When we really start to dig into it, it’s not just software, it’s an important part of business, an important part of the relationship that we all expect and take for granted, and there’s this army of people making it all happen.”

“So the follow on from that is if we are going to try and enable all this, then we’ve got to try and find people who’ve experienced it - people like Dave Hart (a former Service Director and customer now working in a global customer transformation role with ServiceMax) who live eat and breath this stuff and have built there career around it.”

Having spent an hour in Yarnold’s company the one thing that is clear is that ServiceMax isn’t just a software company. They are a company which already deeply understands field service, yet is continuously learning more about the sector each day and that I would venture is the true key to their success.

 

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Kris Oldland talks exclusively to Steve Mason, Chief Revenue Officer with FieldAware about the changing landscape of FSM software...

FieldAware is a brand that has been slowly building a presence as a rising star amongst field service management (FSM) software providers for the last few years now. However, across the last twelve months or so they seem to be distinctly focussing on pulling together a team with an enviable background and history within the sector - perhaps readying for a major assault on the market?

The addition of Tabitha Taylor-Higginson and Caroline Pennington (both from Trimble Field Service Management) has added a depth of industry knowledge and understanding of best-practice, go-to-market strategies on the communications side of the business, whilst new Chief Revenue Officer Steve Mason, has an eight year record with industry stalwarts ClickSoftware to his name - holding a variety of titles ranging from Vice President of Sales for the EMEA region to Vice President of Russia, CIS and Mobility - in short he is not only a man who has experience in successfully working with top-tier enterprise account sales, but also a strong knowledge of product development within FSM systems.

In short, it seems that within the last twelve months things have stepped up a gear for FieldAware in terms of how they intend to approach the market going forward.

“There has been a lot of momentum that has been building over time, but now it is beginning to become more visible as things are all coming together around the product, around the marketing and around our go-to-market strategy,” begins Mason as we touch on the subject.

“We are becoming more visible in the market, but in a controlled way. From the board’s perspective it has been building up the momentum and now they are bringing in key personnel that will drive the company into the next market environment.”

Controlled seems to be the key word here. There seems to have been a very clear plan from the senior team at FieldAware to get the product right, before then building the team that can firmly establish the company as a key player within the FSM software community.

Indeed, as Mason explains there was a lot of behind the scenes work in developing the product in order to be able to integrate easily with others that had to be completed before FieldAware could really begin to move forward into the enterprise.

“Whilst the company were operating primarily in the small to medium sector, we invested heavily in developing a mobile led, innovative solution that was built on an enterprise approach architecture. We wanted the ability to have a field force management solution, where we could have custom objects associated at multiple levels, so the application could through configuration be quickly tuned to the needs of different customers in different verticals.”

“To then expose that flexibility to all of the communications channels - so out through the API, into the integration layer out to the mobile and then out to the web, as you can appreciate it takes time to build that kind of product, but it was where we saw future.”

However, listening to Mason speak it is not just care and attention that FieldAware have put into the development of their product - he is keen to outline how they have taken a very different approach than some of the more traditional vendors in the market have done in the past.

“Our focus has been to develop a mobile application that is very intuitive and easy to use - everything we do is about intuitiveness and being thumb friendly. Successful solutions are always easily adopted because they’re so easy to use.”

“Our approach has been to really focus on empowering the people in the field, the field service technicians that are working directly with their customers and can therefore have the biggest impact on a brand when service is being delivered. By making sure that they have an application that is simple to use but also offers access to rich data that is embedded within the service call (so they don’t have to be reliant on syncing up, it’s all there for them, they can just go ahead and use it) the aim is that it all leads to them being able to deliver better service.”

 

“So we’ve really been focussing in from that perspective. We’ve been taking into consideration how millennials think when they are in the field and how do the older members of the workforce think whilst they are in the field too.

It’s a different approach from the traditional world of big optimisations that are focussed on macro management of a workforce and then driving that work out. In fact, it’s a very different approach.”

Indeed, this shift in thinking is perhaps mirrored in a number of different corners of the industry.

Whereas before the focus has been, both from a technology and a management point of view, about ensuring field service teams are working as efficiently as possible - i.e. on task such as processing the workload and optimising the work schedule, now with customer service rising to the forefront of most conversations about company wide KPIs, the focus is very much on empowering the field service engineer with the tools at his disposal to be able to delight customers on each and every visit.

“The workforce has changed,” comments Mason “even the way that people work and the relationships that there is between the field and those in the office, there is now an inherent trust. If someone has a smartphone then they are visible wherever they are.”

“So companies no longer need all the old tools that were there to micro manage, now it’s about empowerment and working in a trusted sense within the organisation. It is now effectively one department, rather than being field and back office - today everybody is mobile.”

“The whole culture has changed and you need a different approach. That is where we’ve been coming from, we’ve seen this change and been building forward towards it. Now we are becoming more visible in the market because more and more organisations are looking to take that approach and work with organisations who will empower their field force. Also through an open architecture we are also able to extend their previous investments in legacy systems whether those be on-premise or in the Cloud,” Mason continues.

 

“It is a changing market. It is rapidly changing mainly because customer service remains the critical differentiator for many organisations.” He concludes.

Indeed the landscape is ever changing (see Bill Pollock’s feature on page 22) and FieldAware find themselves in the interesting place of being able to compete with other FSM software vendors such as ClickSoftware or ServiceMax but also at the same time offering a solution that can also fully compliment such competitor systems due to their focus on integration.

But perhaps the greatest shift field service companies are having to deal with currently isn’t the ever evolving vendor landscape but more the shift within their own workforces - as Baby Boomers move on and Millennials take their place. But what role can technology play in alleviating the pain points of what is such a distinct changing of the guard?

“I would say that how a solution sits with Millennials in terms of functionality and usability should be one of the top priorities for field service directors because if you look at the Gartner view in terms of digitising the enterprise, they see adoption as the biggest barrier to success,” Mason comments.

“Applications like ours enable companies to effectively digitise the last mile - i.e. get all the work instructions, all the processes out to the workforce. They can use it online or offline depending on their connectivity, but is has to be intuitive.’

“It has to be intuitive for the traditional workers because they need to adopt it quickly, and it has to be an engaging tool for Millennials who want to work differently with modern, refreshing looking apps.”

“Adoption rates are critical for any digitisation strategies - so usability, whether it be for Millennials or Baby Boomers should be very high in the selection process.”

Of course one trusted route to speeding up adoption which we have discussed a number of times in various Field Service News articles is getting the involvement of some of the field service technicians in the selection process of any given new tool they will be using.

This is a trend that Mason admits he has seen growing in recent years with more and more field service organisations involving a selection of service technicians to give their insight into any potential new solution.

“We’re seeing a growing trend where the selection process will include some members of the field team,” Mason agrees. “What this does do is enable both us and the customer to accelerate the time to value because it allows the customer to see how the tool will work within their wider system, but also allows us to better understand the challenges we’ll have to work through in the project.” He concludes.

It is a sensible route and one that is quite indicative of the customer-centric approach that Mason and the team at FieldAware are taking. The question now remains can they build their own acceleration when it comes to gaining a significant role within the FSM landscape? The product is certainly up to par, and with the recent senior talent acquisitions, such as Mason, the team is shaping up very nicely too now.

So could 2017 potentially be FieldAware’s year? They are certainly getting them selves in the right place at the right time...

 

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