In this exclusive Field Service News Documentary video series published in partnership with HSO, we look at three key cases that can convince your board to invest in the systems that can drive your field service operations forward and to the standards expected of modern field service delivery.

 

 

In the final instalment of this series Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News talks to Shilen Khimani, HSO about how the various areas discussed in this video series can be brought together to put a cohesive argument for investment in upgrading or replacing your field service management systems to your board.

 

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In this exclusive Field Service News Documentary video series in partnership with HSO, we look at three key cases that can convince your board to invest in the systems that can drive your field service operations forward and to the standards expected of modern field service delivery.

 

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Want to know more? There is a full documentary that dives deeper into this whole topic, which is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers...

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This Premium Content is Sponsored by:

 

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, HSO who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.

As part of our series run in partnership with Localz exploring how field service companies can hardness the 'grown-up gig economy' we outline the benefits of a blended field workforce that marries internal and third party.

 

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now! 

 

 

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The Benefits of the Blended Workforce in Field Service

The notion of a blended workforce (i.e. one that ‘blends’ internal resources with 3rd-party, or gig-economy workers) is one which is increasing in popularity, as field service organisations seek the benefits of a flexible labour force that can allow them to meet customer demands whilst reducing unnecessary financial risk.

Early adopters of such an approach have found that the use the gig economy can provide an excellent solution when it comes to meeting variable demand, responding quickly and effectively to their customer service requirements and simultaneously reducing their exposure to overhead costs.

By tapping into a third-party market of service engineers who already possess the required skill-sets, and leveraging technologies such as IoT, knowledge banks and Augmented Reality (AR) to ‘dial-in’ the job-specific expertise when needed, field service companies can tap into a contingent labour pool that meets around 80% of their daily repair and maintenance tasks.

The blended workforce also provides many other benefits:

• Skill diversity: Many companies benefit from widening their engineers’ skill sets to develop and establish new service offerings.
• Flexibility to scale with seasonal or variable demand: organizations that face significant swings in demand across varying seasons, like those in the HVAC sector, can scale up or down quickly with contingent labour.
• Business efficiency: By using contingent labour to ‘fill gaps’ in a service schedule, organizations can retain efficient service delivery and maximize core workforce utilization.
• Geographical coverage: 3rd-party labour markets can offer service organizations the ability to enter into new territories without the traditional excessive overlay.
• Customer satisfaction: A contingent labour force can enable service organizations to react and remedy issues in a timelier manner, particularly in peak seasons when the internal workforce is stretched thin.

There are potential problems, however.

As previously mentioned, customer expectations are higher than ever and the threshold for service excellence continues to increase.

Therefore, and underlying level of technology that allows the field service representative, whether they be internal or third party workers is crucial to ensure that the customer experience remains consistent and in line with their expectations. One of the most crucial aspects of this is the customer communication channels used - particularly on the day of service.

 

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now! 

 

 

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In this exclusive Field Service News Documentary published in partnership with HSO, we look at three key cases that can convince your board to invest in the systems that can drive your field service operations forward and to the standards expected of modern field service delivery.

 

---

Want to know more? There is a full documentary that dives deeper into this whole topic, which is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers...

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This Premium Content is Sponsored by:

 

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, HSO who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.

In the first part of our series run in partnership with Localz exploring how field service companies can hardness the 'grown-up gig economy' we outline why the field service sector needs to embrace the gig economy...

 

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now! 

 

 

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The growing pool of field service gig workers

The pressure on field service companies is perhaps greater than it ever has been. As we, as a society embrace an everything now culture, where on-demand is the new norm, time has become perhaps the single greatest commodity of all.

Companies like Deliveroo, Uber and Amazon have changed the benchmark when it comes to what is possible - both in terms of operational efficiency and customer convenience. This has led to a surge in customer expectations.

We now demand the services we use are intuitive, convenient and affordable. 

And while this was a phenomena that emerged within the Business to Consumer (B2C) world, it is one that has seeped into the Business to Business (B2B) realm as well as lines between the two continually become blurred.

The reality of course, that field service is a complex beast with many, many moving parts. It is obviously, harder to get a skilled engineer to a job than it is to get a taxi driver. There are simply less of them available, especially if you only have the limited pool of your own internal resources. Yet, the customer cares little for the reasons why you cannot meet their demands.Only that you can’t.

It is of course, an unfair expectation, some may even go as far as to call it unrealistic even, but in the world of the experience economy, where service standards and rapid responses are becoming increasingly linked with our top-line revenue streams, it is one that we as service providers have to face up to. It is one we have to adapt to. What makes this more challenging is the simultaneous increase in internal expectations of field service delivery.

 

"Beyond the headlines of millennials on bikes, there is an increasingly mature pool of experienced gig-economy workers who are ready and able to fill in the gaps in your existing field workforce..."

 

With the rise of digital transformation projects, improvements can be made across the whole service delivery cycle. Indeed, technology is undoubtedly an enabler in allowing field service organisations streamline their processes.

However, while modern field service management systems can help drive efficiencies in all manner of aspects of field service, the fact remains that field service is by its very definition an inherently people centric sector.

We have yet to be able to replace the most dexterous tool at our disposal, a pair of human hands, with industrial automation - and it is unlikely we ever will.

And so it is to the gig-economy, savvy field service companies are turning. Beyond the headlines of millennials on bikes, there is an increasingly mature pool of experienced gig-economy workers who are ready and able to fill in the gaps in your existing field workforce.

They are not a replacement for your existing team but an addition. With freelancer and internal employee working side by side in what is termed the blended workforce.

 

Would You Like to Know More? There is a Field Service News white paper on this topic available exclusively to fieldservicenews.com subscriber. Click the button below to access it now! 

 

 

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NEW! If you would prefer to access our full premium content library without having to submit data to our sponsors you can opt for a paid subscription for as little as £15/month find out more @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/subscription-tiers

 

In this exclusive Field Service News series published in partnership with HSO, we look at three key cases that can convince your board to invest in the systems that can drive your field service operations forward and to the standards expected of modern field service delivery.

 

---

Want to know more? There is a full documentary that dives deeper into this whole topic, which is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers...

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This Premium Content is Sponsored by:

 

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, HSO who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.

In this exclusive Field Service News video series published in partnership with HSO, we look at three key cases that can convince your board to invest in the systems that can drive your field service operations forward and to the standards expected of modern field service delivery.

 

 

---

Want to know more? There is a full documentary that dives deeper into this whole topic, which is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers...

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This Premium Content is Sponsored by:

 

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, HSO who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.

In this exclusive Field Service News video series published in partnership with HSO, we look at three key cases that can convince your board to invest in the systems that can drive your field service operations forward and to the standards expected of modern field service delivery.

 

---

Want to know more? There is a full documentary that dives deeper into this whole topic, which is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers...

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This Premium Content is Sponsored by:

 

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, HSO who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.

The balance between achieving high levels of customer experience and delivering operational excellence that will drive service revenues forwards is a finely nuanced one. In this first excerpt from a video presentation run in partnership with Outsystems we heard from Rachel Brennan, who spoke about the importance of getting this balance correct. Now in the second excerpt from this presentation Phil Bartholow gives a tour of the Outsystems platform to show us how their customers are using the tools to improve their own service delivery