EIT Digital-supported innovation activity Last Mile Autonomous Delivery (LMAD) has developed a software platform to operate multiple types of autonomous delivery robots (ADRs).After operating the solution at Nokia's Paris-Saclay campus in France, the LMAD startup, which has been incorporated to commercialise the solution, has recently successfully operated it in Finland.

In August, a pilot was run at Aalto University Campus, a parkland-style area at the core of Espoo’s Otaniemi district home to several high-tech companies, the school’s buildings and a student village with more than 4,000 residents.

The local K-Market Otaniemi grocery store offered its customers the option of ordering their groceries online and having them delivered by means of LMAD’s autonomous vehicle. In times of a pandemic, this option perfectly met the safety needs of the customers.

“I believe that the more options the customers have, the better. With the robot, we have been giving customers one additional option to receive the goods for themselves, without as much human interaction as there might be when doing the traditional delivery,” the owner of K-Market Otaniemi, Aleksi Tapani, says.

 

HOME DELIVERIES WITHOUT HUMAN INTERACTIONS TO MEET THE SAFETY NEEDS OF CUSTOMERS

Home deliveries are set to grow, as more and more people become aware of how time-consuming going to a physical store can be, and how much easier it is to order some goods online and wait for them at home.

Meeting customers’ expectations, however, does not play out in terms of margins, as part of the cost of the delivery is absorbed by merchants.

“The question is how to make last-mile delivery profitable. Automatization and robotics can be part of the solution, that's why I was keen on getting in this pilot and seeing what it would bring,” Tapani says.

The experiment was successful, so much that K-Market Otaniemi decided to take part in the next LMAD operation, which will take place in October.

In addition to that, LMAD will be deploying a full delivery service at Nokia’s campus in the outskirts of Paris by the end of the year, another test drive of the platform in Finland in November with additional new pilots being planned elsewhere, to test the platform with robots made by various manufacturers.

“So far, we have been using robots made by our partner GIM Robotics, but we will soon operate an ADR produced by the French manufacturer TwinswHeel, which is also part of our partner team, and possibly another manufacturer next year. LMAD is an open, flexible platform, that can work with several providers. This is something which differentiates us from potential competitors,” LMAD’s CEO, Jean-Philippe Bellaiche, says.

 

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Further Reading:

• Watch a video of the robot delivering at Aalto Campus @ www.youtube.com/6iN5vqUW52A
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Find out more about LMAD @ https://www.lmad.eu/
• Read more about EIT Digital @ www.eitdigital.eu

 

Tweddle Group today launched its new Integrated Diagnostic Explorer software—or IDEx—to enable faster, more accurate diagnostics for a wide range of industries.

Tweddle Group's Chief Executive Officer Pat Aubrynsaid IDEx will serve a dual purpose. "We designed IDEx with two goals in mind," Aubry said. "We wanted to make diagnostics easier and more accurate for technicians. And we wanted to make it easier for manufacturers to create and publish good diagnostic information."

Traditional diagnosis relies on rigid diagnostic trees and procedures, but real-world diagnosis is far more nuanced. IDEx uses sophisticated AI algorithms to help technicians quickly get to the root cause of even the most complex cases.

IDEX helps technicians isolate the root case quickly and accurately

"We spent a lot of time with technicians in the field. Then we asked ourselves, 'What would the diagnostic process look like if we could change the status quo and design it from scratch?' That line of questioning led to IDEx," said Tweddle Group Director of Product Development Justin Dickow. "IDEx thrives on complex issues. Our diagnostics engine adapts the troubleshooting steps in real-time, to help get you to the root cause as fast as possible."

Manufacturers will no longer need to write detailed, step-by-step diagnostic procedures. "Today, these procedures are costly and time-consuming to author, and the results are often inaccurate," Justin said. "IDEx will reduce the cost and effort of developing and distributing diagnostic information. It will also reduce the time spent on diagnostics and minimize errors in repair."

 

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Further Reading:

• Register for a free limited release of IDEx @ www.idex.ai
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Tweddle Group @ www.tweddle.com
• Follow Tweddle Group on Twitter @ twitter.com/TweddleGroup

 

In Cognito iQ’s annual customer satisfaction survey for 2019, 100% of their customers that responded to our survey rated Cognito iQ from Good to Excellent in every category.

Cognito iQ’s customers depend on their software to keep their field service and last mile delivery networks operational and efficient on a daily basis, meaning their satisfaction is a critical benchmark.

Customers were asked to rate Cognito IQ's performance from Poor to Excellent in several categories; Reliability of solution, how the solution supports your business needs, customer service professionalism and knowledge, business understanding and the quality of the professional services team.

100% rating good and above is an excellent indicator of cognito iq's business performace

‘Scoring 100% rating good and above is an excellent indicator of our business performance’ commented Laurent Othacehe, CEO. ‘Our customer support teams enable our customers to quickly react to new working practices and remain flexible in order to meet their growing customer satisfaction demands’.

“Not only have we achieved these great results, in addition 100% of our customers said they would recommend us. Moving forward our aim is to not just maintain but improve these scores, in exactly the same way we enable our customers to achieve continuous improvement.’

 

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Further Reading:

• Learn more about Cognito iQ  @ www.cognitoiq.com
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Cognito iQ on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/cognito-iq
• Follow Cognito iQ on Twitter @ twitter.com/Cognito_iQ

 

Warranty claims is a $50 billion industry that organizations have overlooked during the digital transformation process. With little insight into how much money is wasted, two to four percent of a company’s revenues vanish into a black hole of fraud or discrepancies. Today, these expenditures are considered the cost of doing business for product manufacturers, but they don’t have to be.

To reign in unnecessary costs while also bringing data-driven processes to warranty claims (and beyond), Aquant created Intelligent Warranty Audit. The AI-driven product enables organizations to leverage large amounts of warranty data, reducing service costs through faster, more accurate claims processing.

Aquant’s AI-driven platform categorizes and prioritizes disparate data, helping warranty managers quickly process or reject high-risk claims. In addition, Aquant’s technology bridges the data gap that exists between the warranty management process and other departments across the organization. With this new digital thread, organizations can fill in a missing part of the transformation puzzle to bolster positive service outcomes and drive innovation in product engineering, sales, and marketing. 

AI-POWERED TECHNOLOGY ANALYZES HIDDEN WARRANTY DATA TO LOWER CLAIM COSTS AND IMPROVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

With Intelligent Warranty Audit, organizations will:

• Reduce warranty waste and processing times 
• Encourage service best practices among their network of providers to deliver exceptional customer experiences
• Drive a closed loop of innovation to feed intelligence back into the rest of the organization

“It’s time to liberate warranty departments from the inefficiencies of manual processes and bring them into the 21st century as a key component of digital transformations,” said Assaf Melochna, President and co-founder of Aquant. “Today, leaders accept a wide range of inconsistencies because it hasn’t been cost-effective for claims managers to scale the process. Intelligent Warranty Audit adds ROI by guiding claims managers through the cases that have the biggest impact on the bottom line while providing a clear framework on why a claim falls outside normal parameters.”

Intelligent Warranty Audit infuses teams with accuracy and speed thanks to AI and natural language processing. The technology analyzes data from multiple sources to quickly identify and alert warranty managers to high-risk claims for review by analyzing:

• Asset service history
• Service provider performance
• Customer behavioral trends
• Anomalies in cost, service, or other criteria 

“Enhanced digital tools such as AI are critical beyond simply improving day-to-day operations for warranty departments. Manufacturers and service organizations should view the warranty management process as another opportunity to deliver value to customers,” notes Aly Pinder, program director Service Innovation and Connected Products IDC. “When warranty management departments are included in larger transformation projects, that data becomes another key change agent in the move to deliver exceptional service in the new experience economy.”

 

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Further Reading:

• Learn more about Warranty + AI  @ www.aquant.io/events/idc-webinar/
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Aquant on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/aquant
• Read more about Intelligent Warranty Audit @ www.aquant.io/platform/intelligent-warranty-audit/
• Learn more about Aquant @ www.aquant.io

 

Gunish Chawla and Daniele Pe, Senior Principals and Irish Manipis, Senior Business Analyst at Delta Partners have published a deep and far-reaching exploration of exactly how Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are set to become key platforms in the future.

We are already seeing an increasing number of forward-thinking field service organisations adopting such platforms so this detailed report provides some excellent, well-resourced context about the future of a technology set to play a very big part in the future of field service management...

The relevance of AR and VR in re-shaping user experiences and the implications on the telecom industry.

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have the potential to become the next big platforms after PC, web, and mobile. Isolated applications of AR and VR have been around for a while, but the technologies to unlock their potential have only recently become available. We expect AR and VR to fundamentally transform how consumers interact in the physical world and how enterprises run their operations.

Augmented and Virtual Reality: Distinct but complementary technologies

In a nutshell, AR overlays digital imagery onto the real world, while VR immerses a user in an imagined or replicated world (see figure 1 below).

Fundamentally, AR and VR create a new way of interaction using gestures and graphics that are highly intuitive to humans. VR creates an illusory “sense of presence” in an imaginary world created through a computer-generated simulation. For instance, this allows users to experience travelling, shopping, creating, talking or interacting with people remotely in a completely different way. In contrast, AR allows people to access digital information in their real-world environments, thereby allowing “simultaneous existence” in both physical and digital worlds. Both AR and VR are transformative in nature and likely to co-exist as immersive platforms.

A whole new realm of opportunities

We are still at the beginning of the AR and VR revolution, but there is no doubt that they have the potential to revolutionise multiple industries over the next five to ten years, transforming the way we interact with the surrounding world, unlocking new experiences, increasing productivity and efficiency (see figure 2.)

From the use cases, one can infer that AR and VR will create a shift that is comparable, if not greater, than that of the smartphone and underlying platforms.

This potential has been recognised by major technology giants and OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer).

Facebook made an early bet in 2014 when it acquired Oculus for $2.1bn and since then it has acquired over ten other AR/VR players. Other technology giants have followed suitFacebook made an early bet in 2014 when it acquired Oculus for $2.1bn and since then it has acquired over ten other AR/VR players. Other technology giants have followed suit – Google launched Google Cardboard, Google Glass and backed Magic Leap; Microsoft launched HoloLens and Apple acquired AR software maker Metaio. Samsung has multiple projects coming from its in-house C-lab incubator such as Monitorless (PC-viewing glasses), Vuildus (VR home furnishing), Relúmῐno (smart aid for the visually impaired) and TraVRer (360-degree travel video platform).

While technology giants and OEMs have been leading the charge, telecom operators have been slow to react, but, in recent years, we see operators in developed markets beginning to dip their toes in the water. For example, Telefonica launched start-up incubator Wayra currently supporting eight VR and four AR start-ups. SK telecom has developed 360-degree VR live broadcasting capabilities and BT is trying to revolutionise the sports experience through VR enabled football match telecast.

For AR and VR to become the next big platforms, challenges must be overcome

While significant progress has been made in this space over the past few years and the ecosystem today has hundreds of companies, thousands of employees and over $4.5 billion invested, with expectations to become an $80-100 billion industry by 2025, AR and VR today are still emerging technologies.

For AR and VR to fully materialise and provide the impact described above, significant hurdles need to be overcome.

These can be grouped into four main categories:

1. Bulky and expensive devices: Despite the emergence of lower cost hardware options such as Google Cardboard ($15) and Google Daydream ($99), the majority of AR and VR equipment is very costly, e.g. HTC Vibe ($799), Oculus Rift ($600) and Google Glass ($1,500). In addition to the hefty price tags, the current AR and VR equipment is bulky and cumbersome (e.g. presence of wires). Though it may be suitable for static experiences (e.g. watching a movie), it will be a challenge in an immersive environment that requires freedom of movement and authenticity as functionality (e.g. employees in the manufacturing industry, who deal with dangerous machinery, and cannot be exposed to potential hazards).
2. Scarcity of “killer” content and applications: Without a wide variety of popular applications, it will be hard for AR and VR to reach mainstream success. Although there are many applications on the gaming and video front, AR and VR have yet to find their “superstar app” – i.e. the use case that makes the technology fundamental for both consumers and enterprises.
3. Limited penetration of technically ready smartphones and devices: Technical issues such as smartphone battery life and graphical capabilities hinder the adoption of AR and VR. To have the best AR and VR experience, devices need to have superior image display and audio capabilities (at least 2560x1440 resolutions), powerful processors (e.g. 820 Snapdragon), large memory space and adequate battery life. Today less than 10% of 2.8+ billion smartphones worldwide are compatible with Samsung Gear and Google Daydream.
4. Insufficient network speed and latency: Fully immersive 360-degree experiences require at least 25Mbit/s for streaming and can go up to 80-100Mbit/s for HD TV. With a global average of 7.2 Mbit/s, only about 12% of global connections satisfy these requirements. In addition, low latency is critical to delivering the best AR and VR experience because even small delays can have a disorientating effect. For instance, when a user turns and the landscape does not move simultaneously, the user may experience motion sickness. VR requires less than 1ms latency and currently, the global average latency is 36ms on fixed and 81ms on mobile.

The case of Pokémon Go (free-to-play, location-based AR game) clearly illustrates the situation. When Pokémon Go was released in July 2016, it exceeded 100m downloads within a month of its release, becoming the most downloaded mobile gaming app of 2016. It single-handedly proved how profitable and widespread AR could be, generating over a billion dollars in revenue for developer Niantic.

This was achieved with a game that was “simple” enough to work with smartphones without the need of any additional device and the content was a “killer hit” as demonstrated by the take-up. Despite the success, key issues emerged in terms of device capabilities and network. Pokémon Go requires the smartphone device to have long battery life, GPS sensor and compass.

Users without these functionalities would drain their batteries within a few hours or have to settle for a pared down version of the game which detracted from their enjoyment and experience. On top of device capability issues, Pokémon Go also experienced issues on mobile networks. Despite only taking up roughly 0.1% of the overall traffic, the game accounted for >1% of all sessions on the network.

This ten times differential was the result of communication sessions opening with Niantic servers every time an event happened in the game. Driven by the massive uptake, the cumulative effect from both bandwidth and sessions negatively impacted networks, especially when the game drove large groups of players towards specific geographical areas.

What role can telecom operators play in the AR and VR ecosystem?

As mentioned, telecom operators are yet to make a credible play in this space. However, we believe that they can play a fundamental role in helping overcome some of the challenges illustrated and thereby enable earlier materialisation of the AR and VR promise. This is where operators’ typical strengths such as network infrastructure deployment or devices distribution capabilities come into play.  But beyond helping drive these new technologies, we believe AR and VR have the power to transform the role of operators in the ecosystem.

If we believe that AR and VR will be the next big platforms, we should be able to imagine a world where we no longer look at our phones, but rather look up to visualise the content in front of our eyesIf we believe that AR and VR will be the next big platforms, we should be able to imagine a world where we no longer look at our phones, but rather look up to visualise the content in front of our eyes, and interact with the device through machine-learning enabled voice or visual recognition. In this scenario, the role of the smartphone would be significantly diminished.

This would provide a fresh opportunity for operators. Operators have missed the opportunity to play a significant role in the smartphone ecosystem - in terms of capturing a share of a customer’s mind and interaction time, and therefore monetising it. However, if the role of the smartphone diminishes, and new platforms take over, then opportunities arise for operators to play a pivotal role in the digital ecosystem beyond connectivity. This is where the roles of ‘open enablement platform’ and ‘application and content provider’ become relevant for operators.

Pragmatically, we have categorised the role of operators in the AR / VR ecosystem in four groups based on the level of involvement of the operator and the expected transformational results:  1) Device distributor, 2) Connectivity provider, 3) Open enablement platform, and 4) Application and content provider.

• As a ‘Device distributor’, operators would resell devices to end-users, and make them more accessible by subsidising, leasing or financing them as operators have been doing for smartphones.
• As a ‘Connectivity provider’, operators would need to ensure that last mile networks have intelligent traffic management solutions, high quality compression algorithms, low-latency and high bandwidth capabilities to offer users immersive experiences that are realistic, engaging and entertaining. As such, 5G technology will be critical in helping overcome network limitations. Similarly, the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), an initiative launched by Facebook in collaboration with operators, infrastructure providers and system integrators, focused on tackling the engineering challenges of delivering high-resolution video and virtual reality, will play a key role in enabling AR and VR take-up. However, driving these network transformation projects will require large investments on top of ongoing CAPEX requirements. Operators need to determine whether they can successfully and sustainably monetise this investment, which poses the following key questions:
  • Will the surge in data usage from AR and VR applications be enough to justify the effort? Could operators monetise the quality of service demanded by AR and VR through specific tariffs or network boost add-ons?
  • Can an AR and VR ready network be leveraged as a tool to boost differentiation, hence customer acquisition and retention, therefore driving the operators’ revenue share in the market?
• In an ‘Open enablement platform’ role, operators position themselves as the ‘glue’ that brings together different players in the AR/VR ecosystem: end-users, developers, devices manufacturers and content creators, effectively allowing different players within the ecosystem to develop solutions, ensuring interoperability and widespread adoption. This enablement platform will not only have typical network functionalities such as QoS management (deploying bandwidth intelligently based on pre-defined rules and parameters), robust content delivery network, and compression algorithms (to reduce network strain), but also a developer portal with tools such as APIs (to connect the different ecosystem providers and enable the longer tail of developers), dedicated SDKs, ready-to-use ‘basic’ AR/VR algorithms, billing capabilities and an analytics layer.
• As an ‘Application and content provider’, operators would collaborate with industry players to deliver AR and VR specific applications and content (e.g. video, gaming, shopping, manufacturing, etc.), where AR and VR will support specific use cases. This will help operators explore new revenue streams directly through app/content-based revenue models, and revenue sharing with app/content developers but also indirectly through improved positioning (meaning better customer acquisition and retention), and higher customer engagement (translating in a share of wallet and data usage boost). Korea Telecom (KT) is an example of an operator that is going down this path. For the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, KT plans to release a whole suite of AR and VR applications. These include Sync View (viewers watch the games through athlete’s lens), Interactive Time Slice (100 camera angles and screens), 360 VR Live (panoramic view of the games) and Omni Point View (all around view of the games). Along similar lines, BT is planning to drive its ambition to revolutionise sports watching to a new level by delivering fully-immersive, interactive VR content, which will place people right at the heart of the action.

In summary

While AR and VR are still emerging technologies, their mainstream adoption will increase dramatically as hardware costs fall, device functionality gets more sophisticated, more ‘killer’ content is developed, and network speed and latency improve. While it’s true that in the short-term, AR and VR will remain relatively niche, the mid to long-term potential could be transformational.

Operators can adopt a passive approach, where no specific step is taken in the advancement of the AR and VR industry beyond the ongoing modernisation of the network (e.g. 5G deployment), which naturally supports the materialisation of the AR and VR promise. This is unlikely to result in significant monetisation potential, and could further decrease operator relevance in the ecosystem, pushing operators further towards being pure connectivity providers.

Digitally-minded ambitious operators can champion and drive the AR/VR space by positioning themselves deeper in the value chain as a ‘platform enabler’ and/or ‘application and content provider’ Alternatively, digitally-minded ambitious operators can champion and drive the AR/VR space by positioning themselves deeper in the value chain as a ‘platform enabler’ and/or ‘application and content provider’. This implies early investment in the required network capabilities, a build-up of additional competencies on top of the connectivity layer and collaboration with technology players that are pushing the boundaries of the industry to develop end-user solutions. Operators that choose this path and do it right can leverage the novelty factor to reposition themselves within the ecosystem of tech and device players and in the eyes of the end user.

The telecom industry track record suggests this is a long shot for operators. Over the last decade, they have generally been poor at innovation and have time and again missed the opportunity to leverage their unique assets to position themselves strongly in the digital space. Nevertheless, there is intention from many leading operators to make a serious play within the digital space – AR and VR could well be the foundation to spearhead this transformation.

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With a strong Wi-Fi signal and your trusty smartphone, it’s easy to stay connected on land,  but how do communications  change when you’re in the middle of the ocean or orbiting in space?

They’re both extreme field service scenarios, but which is better for communication? Global Navigation Solutions has been investigating who can connect better — crew or astronauts?

Life at sea

The Maritime Labour Convention 2006 advises that ship operators should give crews “reasonable access to ship-to-shore telephone communications, and email and Internet facilities, where available, with any charges for the use of these services being reasonable in amount”. But just how closely are operators following these guidelines?

Between April and August 2015, the 2015 Crew Connectivity Survey was carried out to establish what crew communications at sea are really like.

On average, respondents spent over 7 months per year at sea. A mission to the International Space Station (ISS) lasts around six months. Despite being in the earth’s atmosphere, it seems crews are often less connected than astronauts in orbit .

While 58% of respondents said they had access to crew communications always or most of the time — this is up 2% on 2014’s results. However, 35% of respondents only have access sometimes. 7% have never had access while on-board. While this may seem a small percentage, it equates to 103,000 global seafarers who have no way of contacting loved ones — up 25,000 since 2014.

 

Across all sectors, of those surveyed:[unordered_list style="bullet"]

• 79% had access to satellite telephone,  the  most widely available communication method.
• Only 43% had internet access.
• 42% had access to text-only emails.
• 28% had access to onboard GSM.
• 24% had access to SMS messaging.

On land, we can stay connected almost anywhere, with the exception of mountain peaks and remote locations. At sea, it’s a very different story.

• [unordered_list style="bullet"]
  • 47% can access crew communications on the ship’s bridge
  • Just 36% of respondents can access crew communications privately in their cabin
  • 35% can access crew communications in a communal area
  • 29% can access crew communications in an on-board office
  • 13% can access crew communications in the engine control room

When these services are available, only 18 % there were no limiting factors; 59% said the services are too expensive, 27% 27% said too many people were trying to use them and 26% said they don’t get regular use.

Clearly, cost is a major drawback for many crew members.  Just over half (53%) has free access to text-only email, 49% has free Internet access and email with attachments, 41% could have video chats, 24% could access free SMS messaging, while on-board GSM for voice calls was available to only 12% and satellite phones to 7%.

In port

Where crew communications are limited on-board, there is potential to stay in touch with family and friends when the ship is in port. However, 72% never or rarely go ashore during port calls and just 6% are able to go ashore on every port call

Of those who do go ashore, 28% use crew welfare facilities while in port and 34% used internet/Wi-Fi services, 6% used the telephone and 4% purchased local SIM cards.

Is rank a factor?

Of the 3,057 total respondents from over 30 countries, 59% of were officers and 41% were ratings. 32% of officers always have access to crew communications. Just 27% of ratings always have access.

So, how effective has the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 been? On the whole, the majority believe crew communications has improved. However, 39% said it had not improved since it was introduced and 3% said it had even got worse.

Life in Space

“But even with all the technology that we have today -- satellites, buoys, underwater vehicles and ship tracks -- we have better maps of the surface of Mars and the moon than we do the bottom of the ocean. “ — Gene Feldman

Over the years, our knowledge and exploration of space has grown. As technology has advanced, it’s being used to make the lives of astronauts more comfortable during explorations.

 

The Intergalactic Internet

In 2010, NASA enhanced the quality of life of astronauts with the release of a special software update that allowed them personal access to the internet.

Expedition 22’s Flight Engineer, T.J. Creamer was the first to use the intergalactic internet, posting the following tweet: "Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station - the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s"

Speed

While the internet may ease the isolation of space, it doesn’t offer the quickest connection, as a result of the distance signals have to travel. In 2015, astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted while in space: “We have a slow internet connection. Worse than what dial-up was like. Using it to answer your question right now.”

When an astronaut in space clicks an Internetlink, the request travels 22,000 miles to a network of geosynchronous satellites. This is passed to a receiver on the Earth before being passed back to the astronaut’s laptop or tablet.

Accessing the Internet

According to NASA spokesman, David Steitz, astronauts have laptops on board, including one in their personal sleeping quarters. They are also given tablet computers so they can video chat with family and friends at home.

Phone

Astronauts can make phone calls from space too, although the technology is a lot more complicated than a standard landline.

Astronauts can call friends and family using the Softphone, specialist software found on laptops. By using Internet Protocol (IP), signals are routed from space to Earth. Astronauts can dial numbers through the computer’s keypad and speak through a headset.

It means astronauts can dial any number and speak to anyone they wish and it’s more private than previous communication methods, which included Mission Control. However, the space station can block or go out of range of the phone call signals and because of the distance, there is often a lag in conversations.[quote float="left"]While the internet may ease the isolation of space, it doesn’t offer the quickest connection, as a result of the distance signals have to travel

 

Life at sea vs life in space: the verdict

So, who has the better deal in terms of communication: crew or astronauts?

Availability: astronauts have access to emails, social media, video calling and phone calls, while communications services for crews differ by ship operator.

Cost: Astronauts have free communication, while costs for crews differ between ship operators.

Privacy: Astronauts have personal laptops in their sleeping quarters while only a small proportion of crew members can access communication services privately in their cabin.

The results seem definitive - despite being 400km away from Earth, ISS astronauts are better connected than sailors who travel the 361 million square km of our planet’s oceans.

 

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Colin Brown, Managing Director, Tesseract takes a look at the difference between functionality and technology and why technologies must learn to adapt and evolve if they are to continue to thrive...

In all product development, especially where technology is involved, there is always a compromise between functionality and technology. And once a product has been developed, this compromise is even more apparent; the technology moves on but the product becomes frozen in time.

This can be seen with consumer household appliances, like televisions and radios, reducing their power usage, becoming smaller, lighter and even internet enabled. Cars, which are now more fuel efficient and have built-in wifi, are another good example.

Companies are forced to upgrade their products to use the latest technology at great expense or they will be left behind and commercially restricted. Here are some prime examples:

[unordered_list style ="bullet"]

• Kodak refused to move to a new technology, digital, which enabled pictures to be moved and edited electronically. They had made all their money from traditional film and could not come up with a digital plan.
• Word Perfect, the green screen word processor who did not move to windows until it was too late, allowing Microsoft Word to become the new standard for word processing software. With Word for Windows, true character sets could be displayed, black font on white background, on a PC using the new graphical user interface (gui), something Word Perfect using Dos found impossible. The new Windows GUI was pixel based and not character based so the display possibilities were infinite.
• Microsoft has stuck to Windows and Office being client based software (which makes most of Microsoft's profit) as opposed to web/browser based (almost a Kodak moment). Although, at last, they have released an iPad version of the Office suite.[/unordered_list]

These are just a few examples of technology that is in market demand overtaking product functionality. All of these examples are from companies who invented their products, were ground breaking at their inception but became frozen in time.

It is understandably hard for companies to keep pace with technology. Key personnel, including decision makers, feel comfortable with their existing product. They may have been involved in its creation, and have no understanding or intention of moving out of their comfort zone. I think Nokia and Blackberry are notable candidates;

Nokia at one time had over 70% of the world market of mobile phones, mainly due to their "easy to use" character based operating system and Blackberry was the business choice with its secure push email technology but both were overtaken by the Apple iPhone. Why? Because of its "easy to use GUI" (ring any bells?) and push email technology became widely available.

Companies/people seem to think that their importance is the functionality. At Tesseract, when we moved from green screen dos to windows, and used a different programming language, all of my developers left over a 6 month period.

Despite the fact they went on training courses for the new language. They must have felt their value was in their knowledge of the programming language or the existing technology rather than their knowledge of service management.

 

Life at the top is short lived. Sony, after setting the world alight with the walkman, have now become a dinosaur and are downsizing, even closing down their TV business. IBM, once the giant of the IT world and the size of their 6 nearest competitors combined, are no longer so significant...and it looks like Microsoft will follow.

Aside from companies not being willing to leave their comfort zone, another reason for not embracing technology is financial. They have honed their production, manufacturing and licensing and know the market very well.

Their business is a well oiled machine that produces results that can be forecasted to their shareholders (those bad guys). Moving to new technology is an expense risk so why bother? Just glue on some new bits onto the old product to make it look good. The problem is that when technology moves on, by the time it impacts on your business then it is already too late. The only answer is to buy one of the new guys.

The last pertinent reason for not moving with technology is a fear of failure. When a company first developed their product, they were brave in a brave new world and had nothing to lose. They fought their way to the top, beat the opposition and became very successful. Doing that a second time is very scary, they have a lot to lose. They are used to being number one and by moving to a new technology, they will have to fight with new guys on the block to regain that top position. It seems unnecessary when the business appears to be doing ok for the moment.

Apple has been rather smart in re-inventing themselves, effectively moving sideways. Although their products are technology-led, their breadth is quite amazing, each product built upon the previous. They are a modern day Sony, coming up with a new portable music device, the iPod, an accompanying online shop, a user friendly phone and a modern tablet. Although now with the loss of Steve Jobs, things have slowed down.

It does appear that in most cases, new technology is customer driven but not customer demanded, customers really don’t know what they want! They can advise on product evolution(focus groups, surveys etc.) but not revolution, digital cameras & iPhones are prime examples. New technology means a leap forward, an act of faith.

So this implies that product and service companies need to have young bright people who will either try to develop products or services to compete with their company’s current portfolio or look out there for badly executed products or services that can be improved on. Both of these processes must be continued infinitem.

The Internet of Things has certainly gained momentum recently but what does it mean to the Field Service Industry? Kris Oldland, Editor of Field Service News looks at how it could impact the industry and at a first generation of IoT field service software from Core Systems

Internet of things 101

According to the Gartner Hype Cycle for 2013, the Internet of Things was sat just below Big Data, nearing the peak of inflated expectations that emerging technologies inevitably go through. Indeed just as Big Data seemed to be the key item on the agenda in corporate offices around the world this time last year, so the Internet of Things is doing the rounds currently. So what exactly is it and what exactly does it mean to the Field Service industry at large.

Well the term Internet of Things (IoT) was first coined some 15 years ago having been proposed by British technology pioneer Kevin Ashton and largely does what it says on the tin. In a famous article for RFID Journal Ashcroft outlined the concept explaining:

“If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things—using data they gathered without any help from us—we would be able to track and count everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss and cost.”

The idea itself is fairly simple. If we give the ordinary items that surround us the ability to essentially communicate with the world without the need for human input, the world would run just that much smoother.

With RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) essentially the ability has existed for a while for such data transfer although other tracking technologies such as NFC (near field communications) digital watermarking, low powered Bluetooth, QR codes and their humbler, older cousin the barcode can also provide the same solution.

In reality there have been two key developments that have propelled the IoT into existence.

Firstly with the latest Internet protocol IPv6 there is now room for the Internet of Things to exist. Whilst it sounds crazy, the previous protocol IPv4 just isn’t big enough and we are running out of Internet. Given that an estimated 26 to 30 Billion devise will be connecting wirelessly to the IoT within the next six years, we need somewhere these devices can call their digital home, the newer larger protocol of Ipv6 is just that and has evolved a  somewhat symbiotic relationship with the IoT.

Secondly there is the rise in smart devices such as mobile phones. These can take the role of translator between ‘dumb’ devices and the internet. Whilst the hyperbole surrounding the IoT may seem futuristic, with domestic appliances being given intelligent capabilities, the reality is that the days of ‘smart fridges’ that keep in touch with your supermarket of choice to make sure you never run out of milk being in every home are still a little way off.

However, a simple QR code placed on the front of your current ‘dumb’ fridge could give it a digital life of it’s own via your smart phone. Access to user manuals, serial numbers, replacement parts and communicating with local service engineers are suddenly possible and an early stage in the IoT amongst the general populous is very quickly becoming reality.

Internet of Things and Field Service

It is along just these lines that Swiss company Core Systems have evolved their product to date.

Whilst offering many of the features you would expect from most modern Field Service software solutions, including some neat dashboards, plenty of employee data, inventory management etc, they have also included IoT functionality.

By including a QR code or other tagging device on their products, ‘Core Systems ‘ clients are able to to offer their customers a first generation IoT interface via the cloud based CoreSuite, CoreSystems’ field service platform. End users are thus able to use their smart phone as a bridge between the ‘dumb device’ and the service company.

This allows customers of the service company to use their phone to schedule a service visit, providing an additional channel of communication alongside more similar methods such as phone, email and webchat. Also the same interface provides the opportunity for increased customer maintenance by putting machine specific information in the hands of the customer, resulting in fewer service calls for basic issue resolution.

Similarly it is not just the customer who benefits from this bank of machine specific knowledge. Should an engineer be required to attend a site, he to is able to gain access to information relating to the faulty machine including its maintenance history, in a quick, efficient and simple manner.

In the not so distant future…

Admittedly beyond the IoT element CoreSuite doesn’t break the mould of many of the other cloud based field service management software systems that are available, this first iteration of IoT based field service management system undeniably offers companies the ability to add the wow factor to their approach to service.

However, it is perhaps the next few generations of this technology that will be truly intriguing to the field service industry. As manufacturers turn to developing smart devices from jumbo jet engines through to white goods, machine to machine diagnosis and preventative maintenance will become the accepted norm and so IoT based field service management systems will in turn become more in demand.

If this proves to be the case then Core Systems are well positioned to become a major player in the field service software industry and have made an early start down an exciting and promising path.

Want to know more? Visit this years Service Management Expo where Field Service News Editor Kris Oldland will be interviewing Core Systems CEO Phillip Emmenegger on the rise of IoT and its applications in Field Service, as part of the programme for the Field Service Solutions Theatre, hosted by Field Service News.

 

 

Across the last couple of years there have been a number of recurring themes coming out of varying research projects looking at the field service industry.

One fact that is highly apparent is that whilst the global economy has steadied herself somewhat following the worldwide downturn in 2008, the field service industry, like most other industries is still feeling the effects of the decline. One poll conducted by the Aberdeen Group highlighted the two biggest market pressures were reduced customer spending alongside increasing resource costs.

These factors sitting alongside each other are major drivers for the need for companies to rethink how they structure their profit and loss sheets and shifting the service division from a cost centre to a profit centre is in some cases a sensible move to make, in others it is absolutely essential to secure a long term stable future.

Another recurring theme is that in general service standards appear to be falling. One report run by TomTom and TNS highlighted that 87% of Europeans suffered field service operatives turning up late to an appointment. Another report, this time based on research conducted by Cognito identified that 67% of UK consumers believe service has deteriorated within the last three years.

Is this decline in standards the result of strained resources due to lack of financial support? Or is it the result of the ‘connected consumer’, where through social media and the vast array of communication tools readily available via the internet the consumer is not only fully empowered to voice there dissatisfaction, but also have expectation levels raised beyond any previous standards? Likelihood is it is a combination of both, however if monetising service is a target, then a field service organisation delivering anything less than excellent service is likely to struggle to make the transition smoothly.

Yet at the same time the tools to improve field service standards, raising efficiency, lowering costs and improving productivity are not only becoming more sophisticated than ever before. Due to the impact of Cloud computing and the Software as a Service model they are also more easily available for even the smallest companies. The days of service management systems being available only to those organisations that could afford the initial capital expenditure are no more. Today, technology that can enable and empower the mobile workforce is accessible on even the most modest budgets.

With this in mind it would seem fool hardy for any company to not explore investing in the technology available that can facilitate the move from cost centre to profit centre (although whilst technology is a key factor, there are of course other more strategic and cultural considerations to be implemented too of course.)

However, as with anything in life it is not always feasible (or even sensible) to try to undertake a huge redevelopment of your service department in one go. It is important that you understand where you are today, where you want to be and then plot a sensible and achievable roadmap of how you are to get from one to the other.

There are a number of stages between your field service solution evolving from out-dated manual processes that eat up your companies time and money, to a fully automated, efficient and streamlined field service solution, that allows you to position your staff resources into the most optimal positions to allow you to harness and secure new and on-going revenue streams.

Broadly these evolutionary stages are as follows:

• Stage One: Basic Automation
• Stage Two: Extended Automation
• Stage Three: Integration
• Stage Four: Optimisation
• Stage Five: Decision support and effectiveness.

Whilst each companies path will be unique to them, it is good to have an understanding of each of these stages, so you can use them as sign posts on your own road map.

To give you further insight into these stages, Field Service News has compiled the white paper “The 5 Stages of Field Service Evolution”. This white paper, which is sponsored by Solarvista details each of these key stages, what they entail and what the benefits you will see at each level are, as well as further analysis of the state of the field service industry today, and the importance of moving from cost centre to profit centre.

To download your free copy of this important resource simply click this link and complete the very brief registration form.