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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: Field Service News (sponsored by Exel Computer Systems)
Title: Poor Relations: why you maybe overlooking profit if you overlook your service CRM 
Download: Click here to download the white paper

By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis:

It’s been written many times, but the further we enter into the twenty first century the closer the relationship between business and technology becomes. For the largest enterprise level companies technology is driving innovation and efficiency in equal measure across all verticals.

At the other end of the spectrum technology is empowering small and medium sized businesses to thrive, with developments such as vastly increased mobile connectivity and the power and prevalence of the devices utilising it, enabling them to be on a truly level playing field with larger more established companies for the first time in history.

And for those companies with a field service division that link between technology and operations is perhaps even closer still.

Yet one area that is overlooked is Service CRM, an often neglected cousin of the traditional CRM that is a tool primarily for the sales division.

In this white paper we will look at why overlooking Service CRM is such a potentially dangerous mistake and why it is vital your Service CRM is fully integrated into your wider system infrastructure.

Overview:

Looking at some of the key technologies being used in field service this white paper helps clarify the role of a Service SCRM in bringing sales and service closer together and opening the doors to potential missing revenue streams. Sections in this white paper, written by Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Cheif, Field Service News include:

ERP: ERP forms the bedrock of most companies system infrastructure and will typically include a number of integrated applications that a company can use to store, manage and interpret data from a variety of differing business activities, such as production planning, manufacturing, marketing, sales, inventory management and payment processing.

It is this very ability to integrate such a breadth of organisational systems and tools that made ERP systems such a vital and important tool within the enterprise.

CRM: If an ERP system is what powers the back end operations of a company, allowing it to meet the demands of existing business with optimum efficiency, then it is CRM that allows the front facing, revenue generating salesforce to perform to their maximum potential.

As with ERP, the rise of CRM came to prominence in the nineties as companies began to fully embrace the importance of both collecting and utilising customer data, thanks in part to the technology emerging to be able to do so.

MOBILE: Without question the biggest single technology to push forward the efficiency productivity of field service engineers within the last decade, potentially ever, is the dramatic rise of the smart phone and mobile computing in general.

Within the last decade smartphones have become an ever present part of our lives.

 

In field service in particular they have revolutionised the way many companies work. Mobile apps can include a whole plethora of productivity tools, from job notifications, through to knowledge sharing and perhaps most importantly job completion tools that can dramatically reduce a field engineer’s time spent on administrative duties.

CLOUD & GREATER CONNECTIVITY: However the benefits of a modern field service solution in terms of improving efficiency and productivity of our mobile workforce are not solely the result of advances in mobile computing.

Another highly significant technology that has emerged as a key enabler within modern field service systems is that of Cloud computing.

Research by Field Service News revealed that whilst currently around a quarter of field service companies were using the Cloud for their field service operations, over half of those companies that were currently still using an on premise system indicated that their next iteration of field service software would indeed be Cloud based.

DATA, DATA EVERYWHERE: So, via mobile devices we are able to give engineers the ability to easily collect vast amounts of data that they have at their fingertips, data which otherwise may go no further than the engineer’s own heads.

Meanwhile, due to the aforementioned real-time data transfer to the back office we are able to take that data and instantly have access to it across the business for further interrogation leading to greater insight.

Whether it be data that helps Research & Development teams refine their product development by identifying common device faults, or data that helps sales teams easily identify new business opportunities, the data that our field engineers are able to capture when on site is absolutely vital to a companies ability to thrive in the modern business world.

THE SERVICE CRM: And it is when we look at systems that can play an instrumental part in the distribution of this data that the often overlooked and underused Service CRM can actually play a hugely significant role.

One which in turn can be the difference between a moderately well run organisation to being best-in-class with the profit margins and revenue growth to show for it.

 

“It’s all about joining up the processes” explained Simon Spriggs, of Exel Computer Systems in a recent Field Service News podcast “Historically, many processes such as the manufacturing process and the service process were divorced.”

“If you think about a joined up process it’s all about getting these process not just as lean as possible but also as efficient as possible and that’s where a modern field service solution can really drive a business forwards” he added.

Indeed Spriggs is a man with a long history working with field service solutions and for him Service CRM is an absolutely vital tool that we should not be overlooking and in the latter half of this white paper we bring you more from Spriggs on why Service CRM is such a key tool to any field service company.

 

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Click here and complete the brief registration form to access this exclusive field service news white paper now

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Click here to find out more about Exel Computer Systems in the Field Service News directory

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: NetMotion Wireless
Title: Service Mobility: The right technology for the right tech
Download: Click here to download this white paper

By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis:

Written by Aberdeen’s Aly Pinder, this white paper highlights the key trends in field service driving further interest in and adoption of mobility. This report will also take a look at what capabilities are necessary to successfully deploy mobile tools.

Overview:

Topics within the white paper include:

1. Mobile still has a strategic place in service

Many firms have identified the field service team as a channel to not only deliver service but also interact with the customer. The importance of the technician to the success of the organization has led to the search for weays to equip them with the right tools. These tools must help these valued resources excel at their jobs while also providing invaluable insight to the rest of the organisation.

2. Mobility must keep service ahead of customer expectations

Will customers ever ask for service to devolve or become slower?  Customers will always want more for their dollars, sometimes even if they are not actually paying for their service. In regards to field service, the top pressure facing service organisations that is leading them to focus on mobility is the customer demand for faster service.

3. Mobility is more than a device

Much of the buzz around mobility and deploying new technology is around flashy new devices that have ever more processing speed. But inherent to this buzz is the fact that any technology will eventually become obsolete. The true value in mobile tools is the ability for this technology to provide insight and intelligence to workers in real time.

4. From paper to productivity

The goal of improved service for the customer starts with some key leading indicators: worker utilisation and worker happiness. Leaders outperform Followers in many key metrics, not least of which is the proof that exceptional field service aided through  mobile devices works (see renewal of service contracts with customers.) Happy and productive employees will go that extra mile to not only do their jobs, but even more importantly, word hard to positively overwhelm the customer.

5. Successfully deploy the value of mobility

Heightened performance in KPI is not a by-product of plugging in mobile technology alone. Top performing organisations implement strategic internal capabilities to ensure that a mobile strategy is maximised by the field to resolve customer issues efficiently.

6. Excel at making mobility key to service excellence

In order for mobility to avoid the buzzword wasteland, organisations need to see a direct impact on what matters to the top and bottom line, profitability. The key link to profitability is delivering the level of service that customers are willing to pay for. This valuable service is not the historical view of service, which was reactive, now service must go above and beyond.

To reach this level of success service firms should follow a few best practices implemented by industry leaders:

• CSOs drive service initiatives in mobile strategy. The chief service officer within an organisation must ensure that a mobile strategy isn’t just a product spend from IT. There must be a clear strategy that understands the ramifications and opportunity of real-time insight into technicians, customers, products, vehicles and equipment. A senior leader also will understand that all things even mobility, must come back to the customer and in turn profitability.
• Build buy in from the front line. A strategy is only as good as the workers that embrace it. Many initiatives have failed as a result of not gaining buy-in from the stakeholders , who ultimately have to use the tools being implemented. Therefore it is integral that service organisations work with front-line employees in regard to the identification, selection and deployment of any mobile technology. If the technician is involved in building the mobile strategy, they are more likely to work to maximize the value of technology for the organisation.
• Make data a source of insight for learning, training, and improvement. Data stored in a knowledge base at headquarters is a waste of time money and effort. Top performing firms empower their organisation to enhance products and service through the data captured in the field. Customers might let you get away with failure once, but they expect the service organisation to continuously improve. In order to improve, the entire team needs to be tied into service excellence.

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: mplsystems
Title: Meeting Customer Demand: Evaluation of the Top Three Customer Self-Service Technologies for Field Service
About: This white paper will explore the transitioning role of the customer in field service and how the proliferation and popularity of smartphone devices has created a demand for self-service technology in both B2B and B2C markets. It will discuss the different self-service technologies available and suggest how best to implement these solutions to ensure businesses are achieving a true end-to-end field service management solution.
Download: Download the white paper by clicking here   

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Overview:

Within the field service industry there is a growing focus on improving communication between the service desk and field engineer teams.

However, businesses are slowly realising that this type of technology can also be used to improve communications with clients, offering a low effort experience that not only increases visibility and loyalty but generates cost savings

Current use of self-service technology

The customer’s ability to arrange service calls or get status updates with a company is an important element of how a service organisation is viewed by its customers.

Given that the role of the consumer has largely changed over recent years due to the consumerisation of technology, customers are now expecting to be able to have more visibility and control when it comes to interacting with a business, especially with online self-service.

Taking Customer Self-Service Portals to the next level

As customers are given more visibility and control in other areas of business through online channels, they are expecting this control in all areas of life. Research carried out by US based consultancy, Software Advice, reported that whilst access to an online portal for self-service tasks such as scheduling and bill paying had the second-strongest positive impact on respondents’ likelihood to hire a field service company the data also indicated that an online portal could have the most negative impact in customers eyes.

It is clear that out of all the customer self-service technologies available, online portals are currently the most used within the industry, however the functionality of these portals is still quite limited and often do not provide the customer with the control they require.

 

One of the main problems that is limiting self-service portals providing the tools the customer needs is the lack of integration with existing business technology such as scheduling systems and field service engineer’s mobile device technology. This means that whilst the portal may provide the customer with basic information such as billing, service requests or appointment booking, they are often unable to make payments through the app, amend or cancel appointments or have real-time updates of their service delivery without human interaction.

Web Chat and Messaging

In a recent interview, Nicola Millard, BT’s Head of Customer Insight and Futures, references how web chat is set to become the dominant customer contact channel of the future. She comments, “Firstly, web chat is an immediate channel, like the phone, you can have a conversation. Secondly, the ability to manage multiple chat sessions means that the economics of chat is positive, assuming the volume is there. Thirdly, chat can be blended with other channels for example email and social media.”

However, whilst this channel is already being successfully implemented across many industry sectors, the field service industry has been somewhat slower in the uptake of web chat. Field service organisations have traditionally struggled to unite two key elements – the technical expertise of their field-based engineers with the availability of their service desks. Not surprisingly, engineers are always busy – either travelling to a customer location or already engaged onsite.

However, as the traditional browser based web chat extends to messaging on mobile devices, it becomes possible to bring field engineers, the service desk and customers together in a virtual world, despite location or device.

Business Clients Mobile Apps

Whilst mobile apps are helping transform operational efficiency for field workers, the extension of this technology to customers is still very limited.

 

Only 5% of organisations currently offer their customers mobile apps as a communication channel into the service desk. However, it is reported that over 50% of smartphone users chose apps over phoning a contact centre and this will continue to rise as the influence of generation Y and the proliferation and innovation of mobile devices continues. Mobile apps are a key technology in field service, but this mostly focuses around apps for engineers who are out in the field and need access to information from the service desk. But if we are able to provide engineers with integrated apps and scheduling capabilities, then why not offer this to business clients as a simple, quick way to check service requests, book appointments or access billing capabilities?

Integration and Interaction

There has been much talk around integration of field service management solutions to create a true end-to-end approach to the customer life cycle allowing full visibility across different areas of the company. However, when adding new technologies, such as customer self-service, businesses often overlook the importance of fully integrating this new technology with existing business systems.

On many occasions, businesses will introduce a third party supplier and then face multiple problems when trying to get each system to speak to each other. In the 2014 Field Service Software research report, it was confirmed that over a fifth of businesses were working with five or more providers to implement their field service technology.

Download the white paper by clicking here    

 

 

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Resource Type: White Paper

Published by: Exel Computer Systems

Title: How do large Field Service companies gain competitive advantage?

About: Published by UK service management software and ERP provider Exel Computer Systems this white paper looks at some of the challenges that companies can face as their mobile workforce grows to significant size. Concisely written this white paper raises some interesting questions and provides some good advice both for companies with a large mobile workforce as well as those who foresee their organisation and thus their mobile workforce expanding in due course.

Download: Download the white paper by clicking here

Overview:

 Whilst many of the challenges for field service companies are shared regardless of company size or industry vertical, there are some challenges that appear specifically amongst those field service companies that operate with a larger mobile workforce.

 

Understanding these challenges and how to minimise their impact on your business operations is of course important for those field service managers and directors working for larger enterprises, however, it is also important for those managing smaller and medium businesses (particularly those with aspirations of growth) as the adoption of best practices now may mean your company can both potentially avoid such issues as you grow and also enable you to grow your organisation faster.

This white paper from Exel Computer Systems addresses some of these issues and offers some great insight into how to overcome them.

Topics include:

The need for clarity of data within larger field service organisation…

The larger the service team, the more data there is to be potentially collected and analysed by more people across the business. It is here that the often-overlooked area of reporting offers real competitive advantage.

The company which can quickly access its information in appropriate real-time, flexible formats, from multiple points across the business (from the board room to dispatch room) and, most importantly, which can also trust that information, has a real advantage over the company reliant on inflexible reports only accessible and understandable by a limited number of people within the organisation.

Not only is the former company able to be more responsive and agile at an individual job/asset level, it has the potential to be so at a strategic level by being able to analyse and spot any emerging trends and react accordingly. 

Maximising customer facing time

Another challenge facing large service teams centres around maximising customer facing time by intelligently scheduling the best use of each engineer.  [quote float="right"]As the size of the team increases, there is the potential to treat each engineer according to more generic rules which may work better some times and less well at others.

In smaller service teams, there are less engineers to manage and it is inherently easier to optimise their use. As the size of the team increases, there is the potential to treat each engineer according to more generic rules which may work better some times and less well at others.

 

When a company has an FSM system that provides the visibility and accuracy of data described above, each engineer can be treated on an individual basis by the user utilising the knowledge and data held within the system. Not only does this potentially increase the quantity of jobs achieved over a given time period, it also potentially increases the quality of customer service as the customer will invariably get a quicker response.

Greatly increased risk of stock obsolescence

There is also the not inconsiderable challenge of minimising mobile stock levels. A company of five mobile engineers requiring fully stocked vehicles compared to a fleet of 500 vehicles represents not just a vast difference in terms of tied up stock, it also represents a greatly increased risk of stock obsolescence. It is for this reason that companies with large field service teams are beginning to gain competitive advantage by building relationships with suppliers at a local level.

 

If successfully done, local suppliers can either work on an agile basis and replenish individual vehicles as and when required, or even arrange to deliver to a customer site to coincide with an engineer visit.

Improving diagnostics, remote repair and self repair

Companies with large service teams are beginning to gain competitive advantage by proactively encouraging customers to share what can often be mission critical data. One such example is in a service/repair context where customers can aid preliminary diagnostics by sending a picture or video of the asset/problem in question. In some cases, this is enough to enable a skilled service engineer to work remotely with the customer to resolve an issue much quicker than sending an engineer on-site. This can also be advantageous where different engineers have areas of specialist knowledge; an engineer on-site can instantly communicate with another engineer that may have more experience for advice and direction, again removing any unnecessary waiting.

 

For some companies where downtime of an asset can be measured in thousands or tens of thousands of pounds per minute, this is an advantage offering huge potential savings.
 

Download your copy of this white paper now!

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: Exel Computer Systems

Title: Five benefits of a modern field service management system
About:  Understanding what benefits a modern field service management system can provide is vital if you are going to be able to secure the investment required from senior management to take improve the productivity of your field service operation. The following is compiled from extracts of that white paper

Download: Download the white paper by clicking here

It has been stated often and by many well respected industry commentators that a modern field service management solution is an essential tool for field service companies to operate efficiently...

It is imperative that companies no longer view the costs of such a system as an expense but an investment that can yield both increased revenue and reduced operational costs that will ultimately pay for itself.

A key element to building a successful case for securing the funds for that investment is understanding the benefits that a modern field service management can bring. In this white paper published by UK field service management specialists Exel Computer Systems we see five of the key benefits of a modern field service management solution.

1. Stock Visibility

Establishing a healthy cash-flow can be a challenge for companies of all sizes and stature and for field service companies one of this challenge is often magnified by costs being tied up in inventory.

A modern field service management system can provide visibility across the mobile workforce, something which would simply be impossible with either a manual system or an older technology platform. A modern field service management system will also help you identify which items are fast or slow moving helping to further extend a ‘Lean’ approach to inventory management.

2. Job Scheduling

Effective job scheduling sits at the centre of the argument for almost all modern field service management systems but in practice these fall into two separate categories which should be understood when selecting the field service management system that is right for your business.

At one end of the scale there is the simple ‘Call Allocation’ model, which does precisely what you would expect in that it simply allows an operator to decide which engineer gets which job based on their own guestimates. As you can imagine this model is heavily reliant on skilled operators.

At the other end of the scale is ‘Intelligent’ or ‘Dynamic’ scheduling which constantly rearranges the schedule automatically based on prescribed rules and data. As opposed to the ‘Call Allocation’ model which is reliant on human expertise an ‘Intelligent’ scheduler is reliant on having lots of incoming data which can be a costly exercise in terms of both initial resource and finance if it is to operate correctly.

Finally there is a newer, third type of system that bridges the gap and is becoming increasingly popular which is referred to as ‘Assisted Scheduling’. This combines the other two systems in that it utilises rules based logic to provide a suggested schedule but is adaptable by the operator. Understanding which type of system will benefit your organisation the most is an important factor in choosing the best field service management system for your organisation.

3. Time to Invoice

Ten years ago a delay of between 6-8 weeks between an engineer visit and an invoice reaching the customer was common place. As with understanding inventory, such a delay can put unnecessary strain on the P&L. With a modern field service management system the ability to invoice on a same day basis, even when the engineer is still onsite is very much a reality.

4. Costing

Keeping a track on costs is an essential, vital and fundamental element of any business. However, for companies with a field service division it is perhaps less transparent and therefore harder to achieve.

When workload doesn’t always necessarily mean profit then it is absolutely critical that you are able to have real-time access to the visibility of your costs alongside effective business reporting to allow you to measure and then manage. This is again a key benefit of a modern field service management system.

5. Customer Relationship Management

Okay so if we are completely honest the cliché that ‘the customer is always right’ may not always ring true in one thing is for certain, knowing and understanding your customers is the most effective way of doing business with them. A modern field service management system combines all the widely accepted benefits of a CRM system with the unique information relating to each interaction for every customer, including interactions with the field service engineers.

The greatest advantage is that this information is also available to every member of your mobile workforce, allowing for greater service as well as ensuring service contracts are up to date so work isn’t given away for free!

Want to know more? Click here to download the white paper and get further information on each of these benefits.

 

Resource Type: White Paper
Title: 6 things you need to know when purchasing Service Lifecycle Management software
About: Based on independent research Michael Blumberg provides critical information for anyone who is preparing to purchase Service Lifecycle Management (or Service Management) software.
Download: Download the white paper by clicking here.

 

Synopsis:

As President of the Blumberg Advisory Group, Michael R Blumberg is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading consultants across field service, aftermarket services and reverse logistics. He is also a prolific commentator on industry and an accomplished author of many white papers. Field Service News is pleased to bring a selection of his white papers to you. The first of these is based on an exclusive research conducted by the Blumberg Advisory Group which was a yearlong market research study sponsored by the CSDP Corporation which looked at the experiences of hundreds of companies when purchasing Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) software.

As Jerry A Edinger, CEO of CSDP corporation comments “An ideal SLM solution puts terms and conditions of the contract at the heart of the system and builds on that system with solid experience in service delivery.” “There are many Niche players in the SLM space. Decades of  experience  and trusting your provider is key to everyone’s success. We treat all of our clients as a trusted partner.  By doing this,  it creates a Win-Win for everyone” In this white paper “6 things you need to know when purchasing Service Lifecycle Management software” Blumberg distils the knowledge found in this research into six key findings for organisations looking purchase enterprise standard service software. These are:

What to expect in the sales process?

Whilst you are almost certainly going to be doing a lot of research prior to even speaking with any software providers (like reading this feature and then downloading the white paper for further detail) when you do reach the point where you are contacting providers what can you expect? Well first of all most software provider’s will give you a top level demonstration of their software either during your initial call or soon after. Typically this is just meant to give you an idea of how the software works and a more detailed, a second demonstration, customised to your own specific company’s requirements will follow. Often the software provider will request that you fill out a demo prep form ahead of the next demonstration so they can tailor the demo to your needs.

What to look for in a Software Lifecycle Management software vendor?

The service management software market is a crowded niche, there are a number of software vendors available to you and understanding the different offerings can be a confusing if not overwhelming. In this section Blumberg looks at what were the common features that companies sought from software providers. The top three factors were software feature and functionality, technical competency of vendor, and vendor flexibility, with all of the respondents rating these factors as either the most important or second most important factor they considered when purchasing service software.

How important is price?

Interestingly price is far from the dominant factor when purchasing service software with only a quarter of companies indicating that price was the most important factor when purchasing SLM software.  In fact over half of respondents selected a software solution that was somewhere in the middle in terms of cost.

How important is the role of discounts in the buying decision?

As in many industries discounting is reasonably standard and common place when pricing software so there is often room for negotiation in the purchasing process. Blumberg reveals that 83% of those who purchased an enterprise software solution in the past 24 months received a discount and 89% of those planning to purchase in the next 24 months expect a discount. However, remember to be wary of software providers who drop their price too much without concession. The lower price may just come to haunt you when it comes to implementation.

CRM, ERP or best of breed service software?

For service lifecycle management software there are often three choices; buy your service software form your CRM provider, buy from your ERP provider or choose a best of breed service software provider. Whilst it may be easier to go with the CRM or ERP providers who you already know, best of breed providers specialise in service and their products are designed to contain all the functional requirements to support the full service lifecycle management process in an organisation.

What happens after the sale?

Perhaps the most important aspect of the white paper, understanding what you can expect after you have purchased the software is of course an essential piece of insight that will shape your decision on choosing the right vendor. It is important to understand exactly what the vendor’s expectation are of you during the implementation as well as understand the level of resources the vendor will commit to you during the implementation and for post implementation support. In this final section of the white paper Blumberg provides some excellent guidance on getting this detail correct. Buying any kind of software can be a daunting, this is magnified when it is for business and when it comes to mission critical software such as Service Lifecycle Management software the stakes are even higher. Understanding the buying process is an important element of getting the right product, at the right price, with the right level of implementation support that your company needs. Drawing on the insight of hundreds who have been through the process this white paper is therefore a great resource for those considering SLM software.

Download the white paper by clicking here.

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.