Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  Oneserve
Title: The Oneserve Field Service Survey
Download: Click here to download the white paper

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

Synopsis

At the end of 2015 Oneserve conducted a comprehensive survey of c.15,000 organisations of various sizes across the UK. The aim was to understand:

1. How UK field service businesses prioritise their operational and strategic objectives
2. To what extent their field management software is successfully used to achieve them

Together the results highlighted a key issue: that many businesses are missing out on the potential value of field service software, and may need to re-assess their choices. The survey responses also threw up more questions around the causes of this missed potential, and what the future holds for field service management. This white paper evaluates these findings...

Overview

Drawing on a comprehensive and far reaching survey this white paper distills the research into a number of key findings including:

Key priorities for growth:

To understand the relationship field service software has to business success, Oneserve asked their respondents what their top priorities were for achieving business growth. The three key drivers were maximising efficiencies, utilising data and exceeding customer expectations.

The missed potential of field service software

Working smarter and for less cost is clearly of huge importance to field-based businesses. It is here that field service software holds the most value for organisations; driving both competitive advantage and revenue growth. Yet the survey revealed that many organisations are missing out on the potential business value that correctly used field service software can provide.

Untapped efficiencies

What does efficiency mean for field service delivery? Intelligent stock and asset management, high ‘first-fix’ rates and fast response times, preventative initiatives, and improved scheduling? Or, getting the right person with the right parts to the right place at the right time? A deceptively complex interplay between people, processes and technology. However,  3 out of 4 companies said they could do a lot better at maximising efficiencies.

Unused Data

All efficiencies and customer service improvements come from intelligent and proactive use of data. Leveraging the comprehensive data points that arise from an intuitive and well-integrated field service software solution should provide essential information on trends and inefficiencies, and allow crucial insight to improve processes.

Yet, despite spending large amounts of money on expensive software packages that should provide valuable information in an easy-to-use, relevant format, 80% of the survey respondents admitted they proactively use less than half of their available data.

 

What’s the issue?

The results from our survey appear to show a clear disconnect between the strategic objectives of businesses and the value they are extracting from their field service software.

Whether it’s missed opportunities for promoting efficiency, under-used data insights or compromised customer care, the potential benefits of a fully integrated field service solution are simply not being fully realised.

More control for less cost

The future of field service management lies in providing more control, with less cost. Allowing businesses to adjust their solution to fit their own specific requirements no longer requires a team of experienced coders or hugely expensive professional service days that are lucrative to the software providers but prohibitive to the customer.

The recent development of ‘low code’ software solutions that allow the client’s business to implement, configure, amend and evolve their solution themselves through easy-to-use application development dashboards now means more robust, flexible and intuitive options are available - a true ‘Software-as-a-Service’ offering that provides maximum value for minimum long term cost.

 

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For more detailed information on each of these topics and a more in-depth look at overcoming the challenges the survey presents click here to download the white paper now!

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Resource Type: eBook
Published by:  Telogis
Title: Shorten Service Windows and Provide Better Customer Service
Download: Click here to Download the full ebook

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

Synopsis

Almost all field service engineers have mobile phones, and 80 to 90 percent of them use smartphones. This puts convenient Internet access and a powerful computing device in the field. Smartphones equipped with advanced mobile/location intelligence apps help workers in the field be more efficient and shorten that window from event/customer request to resolution. This eBook covers some of the ways mobile technology is helping improve customer service satisfaction and  reduce costs.

Overview

All mobile service professionals work toward two main goals: making service more predictive and more proactive. The current business model relies heavily on break-fix occurrences, where a failure has occurred and the customer engagement is entirely reactive. By that time, the customer experience has started out negatively.

The not-too-distant future will bring us HVAC and other building components/appliances that talk directly to service providers who can address mechanical issues before they grow into bigger failures (much like heavy equipment and vehicle fleet managers do today). That level of proactivity is near as everything becomes more connected.

Sharing Information/Filing Resources:

Smartphones are for more than Facebook and Instagram – they enable real-time research and information sharing with colleagues and back-office personnel.

This could be as simple as a web search or communicating through the text messaging capabilities of the phone, or as advanced as the incorporation of a work order management app that provides access to important documents. This can include paperless forms, service agreements, customer profiles, instructional material, how-to videos or graphics, parts catalogues – anything that will make life a little easier for the field engineer.

Connecting to Other Mobile Workers

Knowing the location and status of other mobile workers (and their vehicles) in the field can significantly improve customer service. Mobile fleet management apps can relay information on what parts and tools are on a vehicle, and the skill-set of the driver. In the past, if a field engineer was missing a part or a tool, they would travel back to their shop or to the nearest supply store.

Now – with a connected workforce – that field engineer can pull up the real-time location and activity of colleagues in the area, locate the needed part or tool on one of their vehicles, and get back to work sooner.

[quote float="left"]In the past, if a field engineer was missing a part or a tool, they would travel back to their shop or to the nearest supply store. Now – with a connected workforce – that field engineer can pull up the real-time location and activity of colleagues in the area, locate the needed part or tool on one of their vehicles, and get back to work sooner.

 

Navigate and Route Better

Today’s professional navigation and routing applications take into account real-time feeds of traffic and weather information.

This can provide benefits as simple as avoiding major congestion or accidents and routing to the next job in the fastest way possible, or it can help the engineer reorder their day based on the weather.

Dynamic Job Planning/Delivery

We live in an ever-changing, decentralised work environment.

Work order management applications can deliver new plans and jobs directly to the field service engineer without requiring them to return to the office.

Progress

Much of customer service satisfaction is based on expediency. No one likes hearing that help will arrive in a window between noon and 5:00 PM.

Location-based fleet management technology can notify the back office when an engineer has left one job and is on their way to the next, which then allows them to notify the customer that an engineer is on their way and their ETA.

The Future

These are just a few ways that current mobile and location-based technologies help shorten the service window and help businesses provide better service to their customers.

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  Field Service News (sponsored by Exel Computer Systems)
Title: The helping hands of field service management
Download: Click here to download white paper

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

Synopsis

How to stay ahead of the ever-changing suite of Field Service Management (FSM) tools, including a focus on exactly what is the latest development of Assisted Scheduling?

Overview

The need for companies to employ some form of scheduling engine is clear, the benefits of adopting such an approach are thoroughly documented and clearly tangible. Introducing some level of automation will certainly deliver improvement in field service efficiency and productivity.

Indeed, the introduction of any level of optimisation within the dispatch role will inevitably lead to the reduction of fuel consumption costs that can make a compelling argument for implementation, for even the most cautious of financial directors.

The pile of case studies available to read extolling the benefits of scheduling are stacked high and readily available – each of them stuffed with positive examples and statistics to back up the claims FSM providers make, including how quickly companies have seen a return on their investment.

And of course the benefits of improved scheduling go far beyond the elements that are so clearly identified on a P&L. Customer satisfaction levels are often dramatically increased with the introduction of such tools.

The field service manager’s mantra is to get the right engineer to the right place at the right time, when this is achieved the customer of course feels the benefit of minimal interruption to their own workflow.

 

With customer satisfaction becoming one of the key differentiators between you and your competition in this current age of information, the investment in a good scheduling engine that can empower your team to deliver top tier service could appear to be ever more vital.

Imagine if every person within your team could effectively schedule a service call...

This white paper takes a look at the on-going evolution of field service scheduling systems from manual solutions through to fully dynamic and automated optimised solutions, exploring some of the benefits and challenges of each.

It also then takes a closer look at the latest type of solution appearing 'assisted scheduling' and assesses whether this approach found in a number of next-gen solutions bridges the gap between those scheduling engines which are sometimes seen as prohibitively complex and expensive and those that offer little in the way of true optimisation.

Do assisted scheduling solutions offer a perfect balance for smaller and mid-sized organisation between the efficiency improvements of a high end solution and the human intuition of an expert dispatch agent? Finally the white paper touches on some of the other factors within a wider field service management system that can enable companies to truly take advantage of their scheduling system- be it manual, assisted or fully dynamic.

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  Field Service News (sponsored by Solarvista)
Title BYOD and Field Service
Download: Click here to Download the white paper

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

Synopsis

What are the key benefits and major challenges of implementing a Bring Your Own Device strategy for field service organisations

Overview

If we cast our minds back just a few years, the talk amongst the enterprise was very much centred upon the new emerging trend of Bring Your own Device (BYOD).

With the phrase being first coined by Intel in 2009 before quickly rising to prominence across the next few years, largely driven by organisations such as Unisys and Citrix who saw the early potential benefits of the trend.

However, the explosion of companies officially adopting BYOD policies never quite materialised in Europe as it was predicted it would and in certain circles there are even whispers that the trend may even be slowing down somewhat in what is perceived to be the BYOD heartland of the USA.

In this white paper we will review once more the case for and against BYOD reflecting on the further learnings we have seen in the last few years in terms of both challenges and successes of applications that have been documented, as well as exploring whether in the realm of field service, an inherently mobile-led environment, is BYOD is an option with merits.

 

Topics in the white paper include:

The attractions of BYOD

The rise in popularity of BYOD can be attributed to a combination of driving factors including the consumerisation of technology, the evolution of the Cloud Computing as a reliable platform in the enterprise and also a gradual shift in attitudes to the work/life balance (itself the result of the impact of technology in our working lives alongside the growing influence of Generation Y employees within the workforce.)

Significant benefits that can be drawn from a successful implementation of BYOD within the workplace which include:

• Personal choice
• Better work/life balance
• Improved efficiency
• No cost for equipment
• Decreased support and training costs

The challenges of BYOD

Whilst the benefits of BYOD initially leap out and are in the most part fairly obvious, in reality the actual implementation of a BYOD policy within the enterprise is wrought with complex challenges such as:

• Security
• Increased support and training costs
• Establishing BYOD policies around device usage

Overcoming these challenges and introduction of CYOD

Of course whilst the threat of cyber security increases, so to do the relevant solutions to overcome these risks. Let us be clear, despite the above issues BYOD is certainly not impossible to implement. It does however, require a lot more additional consideration than perhaps was deemed necessary in the early part of this decade when the hype around BYOD was at its highest.

 

One potential suggested solution to meet the challenges of BYOD is to move towards a Choose Your Own Device but is this really the magic bullet to get the best of both worlds?

BYOD, fit for purpose and the field service environment

Of course there is then the big question for field service companies – are the consumer devices selected by the employees necessarily fit for purpose?

In mission-critical environments such as field service, reliable real-time communications are key for optimum performance, and for proactive management of service-level agreements and compliance with key performance indicators.

Mobile field service workers need real-time access to their business applications and data, whether it is receiving the next job, navigation to an address, accessing a product or customer database and so on.

The perennial question of consumer vs. rugged is perhaps of even greater relevance when field service companies are considering BYOD policies.

 

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  Advanced Field Service
Title A guide to delivering service excellence
Download: Click here to Download the white paper here

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

Synopsis

To satisfy direct customers or retain the business of contract customers, field service companies must provide professional service time after time.

Overview

This guide outlines how you can deliver winning service at a profit by strategically deploying today’s field service technology including the following sections...

Provide a professional response

Whether you operate in the business-to-business or consumer/domestic markets, you’ll need to consistently meet basic criteria, such as responding within the set timeframe or appointment window.

A field service solution helps you to deploy your engineers with maximum efficiency and equip them with everything they need to know to do a proficient job, from the customer’s contact details to inspection sheets. Technology gives you the option to send the customer the engineer’s estimated time of arrival by SMS or email.

Live capture of onsite data

The information engineers enter remotely through their PDAs feeds back to your call control centre and back-office reporting and billing systems. Customers can be sent up-to-date compliance certification within minutes after the job is completed.

From the information captured onsite, you can shorten the time to invoice, where applicable. Sending an invoice promptly while the job is still fresh in the customer’s mind avoids queries and delays further down the line. While not strictly speaking a customer service issue, having fast efficient billing processes reinforces your image as a professional service provider and helps to speed up payments and improve cash flow.

 

Collect customer feedback

Rating product suppliers and service providers has become a way of life. Customers are accustomed to completing online surveys and logging their opinions on review sites.

Without bombarding customers with survey requests, you can collect their feedback using standard forms on the engineer’s PDA or schedule a survey to be emailed to them after the job is complete.

Improve customer satisfaction through self-service

In a highly competitive market, customers will always expect you to add more value to your basic service.

It sounds a contradictory statement but enabling your contract customers to access information about their service history online improves their perception of the service they receive, without adding to the workload of your service administrators. Customers can download their certifications, view weekly and monthly statistics, the progress of any jobs, invoices…a whole wealth of information.

Rather than having to navigate spreadsheets and other documents, a graphical dashboard can give them an at-a-glance view. This information can be made available to customers on their tablet devices and branded with your corporate identity.

Conclusions

Your delivery of service excellence is reinforced by how you handle information: sending information out to your field-based teams, capturing information from your engineers and flowing it into your back-office systems, sharing information with customers…

Modern field service technology makes all this possible in a way that would be unthinkable using manual systems or older technology. Mobile devices and web technology add another layer of agility by making location no object in being able to collect and publish this information

 

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Resource Type: eBook
Published by:  Telogis
Title Gaming the System to improve driver behaviour
Download: Click here to Download the full ebook here

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

Synopsis

As a field service manager you might be wondering how gamification can help your business, or perhaps you’re ready to start but you’re looking for ideas on the best way to implement.

This eBook published by Telogis can help you find the answers to these questions and understand how different employees might respond to gamification based on their personalities.

Overview

Gamification is a word that you will be hearing more often, with industry experts picking it as a growing trend in business applications.

The term arose back in 2002 but it wasn’t until 2010 that it started to gain traction. Software developers began using the engaging traits of electronic games to increase participation in business programs. Before long, business applications that allowed users to socialise, collect achievements and be rewarded started to pop up.

Over the years gamification has matured. More real-world testing has helped “gamified” business applications to evolve beyond a simplistic points system. This ebook explores the three fundamental elements of integrating Gamification into your business:

1. Mission
2. Alignment
3. Deployment

Phase 1: Establishing your mission

A business without a mission is like a ship without a rudder. Even if you already have a mission, it’s worth reviewing or updating it to match the current business environment. While your mobile workforce may be a subset of a larger business, there’s no reason it shouldn’t have its own mission, one that aligns and supports the overall corporate mission.

Once the mission is established, it’s time to break it down to individual goals or objectives that support the mission. Keep your objectives as specific as possible. No sport would ever get popular if the goal was vague, moved regularly or unclear to the players.

 

No matter what your objectives are – increasing productivity, decreasing fuel costs, improving driver safety or increasing asset utilisation – the secret to achieving them is keeping them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound (SMART).

Phase 2: Align your mission objectives

To make sure you stay on track to achieve your objectives you need to check your alignment.

This means reviewing your objectives, to check they align with how you operate as a business. For example, if your company puts more emphasis on working as fast as possible without respect for safety, then setting an objective to reduce speeding won’t align.

Get your company influencers (normally managers or supervisors) involved and review your objectives with them. They’ll let you know quickly where they think alignment is lacking. It’s important that your managers are onboard with the new objectives – they will play an important role in influencing others and ultimately help achieve a successful outcome.

After reviewing and refining your objectives, aligning them with your organisation, you’re ready for implementation. It’s time to deploy.

Phase 3:  Deployment

The size of your organisation will determine the scale of your deployment planning. In the case of using Telogis Coach mobile app, small companies may only need brief training that includes a quick-start guide to explain how it works and instructions on how to download, install and log in to the app on their mobile device.

Large enterprises would benefit from the tailored implementation provided by Telogis Professional Services. Their expertise and deployment experience can help avoid common pitfalls and roll it out right the first time.

 

Monitoring results

First of all, you want to make sure everyone in your organization knows what your objectives are. If one of your KPIs is to reduce speeding by 50% then let the whole team know, not just management. A team wins when it knows what it’s playing for.

You’ll also need a scoreboard. Telogis Coach includes an enterprise dashboard that shows real-time results for specific KPIs - you can log in from anywhere and get an up-to-date score, either across the entire fleet or individual crews.

Celebrating wins

You don’t need to do cartwheels in the office every time a driver gets a perfect score but there should be recognition and reward. In most cases the size of the reward is not important; it’s about making sure they know you know, and it means something to you.

Recording the game time

Decide on how long each “game” lasts. Employees will soon tire of a game with no end in sight. You can choose any reasonable period but in general, for achieving fleet KPIs, a period of 90 days is most common. At the end of each period, results are tallied, players rewarded and recognised and the game starts over.

Gamer types

Not only will you have some of each gamer type personalities in your organisation, there’s also a little of each type in all of us. You should remember this with your gamification program and make sure you’re keeping each type happy.

Killers need sufficient competition. Achievers need plenty of recognition and rewards. Socialisers need lots of interaction with other players and Explorers need the opportunity to be creative with the game. Check from time to time that you have the balance right.

Give your team time to adjust to the new gamification approach, be generous with recognition and rewards and stay focused on your mission.

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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by:  Kirona
Title: Driving Productivity in Field Service
Download: Click here to download the white paper

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

Synopsis

This white paper from Kirona highlights the benefits of integrating automated scheduling with a mobile working solution.

Overview

Leveraging the power of an integrated scheduling and mobile working solution that reduces travel and idle time, streamlines processes and ultimately increases the number of jobs/deliveries/visits completed per day per field worker can deliver average productivity improvements of 20% and sometimes even higher.

Rostering vs scheduling

Rostering ensures that you have enough people to fulfil the demand at any point in time. Scheduling ensures those people are doing the right things at the right time.

Real productivity gains only come when making the step change from rostering to scheduling. Best-in-class service organisation achieve 81% performance in worker utilisation Scheduling enables you to take into account when allocating work such a location and skill set.

 

The order in which work is schedule can have a significant impacto productivity. If you have a team of 100 workers doing 5 jobs a day, there are 1 billio possible combinations of how those jobs could be allocated

Minimise travel time

Travel time can be the greatest source of productivity leakage. Reducing the travel time of field workers by just 10% per day can, on average, increase productivity by as much as one additional average job per day.

Kirona strongly recommends that journey planning needs to be fully integrated into the scheduling process and that it takes into account the actual route between jobs and incorporates traffic information.

Addressing no access

An efficient schedule drives productivity improvements, but only if customers keep appointments and field workers are able to gain access. Integrating scheduling with customer communication can increase the number of appointments kept and update customers on arrival times.

Streamlining Workflow Paperwork, rekeying data, manual workflows and not having access to key information are all factors that are detrimental to the productivity of your field workforce. The benefits of having a seamless mobile working solution far outweighs the investment required.

Access to the right information empowers a results-driven workforce. According to Aberdeen Group’s Field Service 2014 report, best-in-class service organisations achieved an 88% first time fix performance

Handling the emerging day

The daily challenge for field service organisations is how deal with the unexpected without compromising productivity or letting customers down. According to the McKinsey Improving Workforce Productivity, an average 5-10% of jobs are cancelled each day an 10-20% or tasks run shorter or longer than expected.

Managing this requires real-time visibility of your engineers and a dynamic scheduling app that allows you to move work allocation one job at a time.

 

Leveraging Actionable Insight

Comprehensive insight, acting on it and measuring the impact is the key to driving continuous productivity improvement. Benchmarking individual performance and task times, analysis of capacity vs demand and understanding geographic coverage all are key productivity drivers.

Conclusions

Field workforce automation software is key to driving productivity. The technology is proven, deployment does not have to be complex and there are significant gains to be made.

We have seen time after time that by leveraging Dynamic Resource Scheduling combined with Mobile Working, organisations on average see an uplift in productivity of 20%.

Yet the value does not stop there. These organisations also see an improvement in first time fix, a reduction in no-access, reduced administration overhead and measurable improvements in customer satisfaction. The field service activities become far more predictable and so too does performance.

Every aspect of work can be measured, analysed and lessons learned to drive continuous performance.  According to Aberdeen Group, a best in class service organisation is defined by its ability to achieve 81% or greater workforce utilisation, 88% or better first time fix and a 90% or better customer satisfaction.

 

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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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Resource Type: White Paper
Published by: Astea
Title: Forging a service and sales partnership
Download: Click here to download the white paper
By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis:

The wall between sales and service activities is crumbling within many companies. Once largely viewed as a cost centre, the role of the service organisation has steadily evolved as companies recognize its potential as a source of new revenues and a valuable tool in strengthening customer loyalty.

However, there is often a disconnect between the service and sales organisations. Service technicians often serve as the face of the company, spending much of their time directly interacting with customers. They are potentially a valuable source of new sales leads, able to spot opportunities for new product sales or competitive product replacements, offer service contracts to clients, and even cross-sell/up-sell products or services. Most companies are not fully taking advantage of this potential sales leads stream

This white paper outlines the potential sources of new revenue enabled by better integrating service and sales activities, discuss the challenges of realising this revenue, and provides information on the tools, software,
and strategies that top-performing companies utilise to grow that revenue.

Overview:

The ability to leverage information coming from the field service organisation to drive sales opportunities with new and existing customers will be a critical competitive differentiator moving forward. Companies that leave their sales and service organisations technologically or operationally separated could be leaving substantial revenue on the table.

 

However, according to The Service Council, of the 55% of companies that are not utilising their service teams for sales, most report that this is because the technicians lack training, lack the skill set or incentives to sell, or the companies prefer that they don’t sell at all.  Service organisations also may lack the tools to turn those leads into revenue. The Service Council reports that 17% of service organisations still rely on paper, while another 19% don’t have any tools with which to capture leads.

Two types of service revenue

There are two ways that service creates new revenue. One is through direct sales of service offerings  from existing service contracts, non-contract service, new contract sales, and parts sales. The second is by generating direct revenue via warranty sales and other value-added services.

Breaking down barriers

Many of the chief obstacles to meeting new service revenue objectives are both structural and technological. Many companies are not currently structured properly to foster better collaboration between service and sales.

Technology can also play a role. The Service Council says 53% of companies lack real-time visibility into service performance and potential revenue opportunities: traditional paper-based service management processes make it very difficult to communicate potential sales leads and new opportunities back to the sales teams.[quote float="right"]Many companies are not currently structured properly to foster better collaboration between service and sales.

Service technicians often lack the tools to identify and document these opportunities, or to act on them while they are in front of the customers.

 

Keys to better service/sales collaboration

Linking sales and service requires a mix of operational changes and technology.[ordered_list style="decimal"]

1. The ability to accept payment in the field greatly expands the sales potential for the service force.
2. Companies that do leverage the service teams to generate new sales leads typically have dedicated teams focused on service sales, and create sales quotas for the service organisations.
3. Top performers also train service agents on lead identification and sales management
4. The profile of service technicians is changing: technicians are hired also on their sales skills and experience. Some companies are hiring agents with more sales experience, and then investing their training budget on service/technical skills rather than the other way around.
5.  Should the service team should be selling directly or simply gathering leads? The decision will depend your company’s business, culture, and the type of service agents you currently employ.
6. How do your customers view your service team?  If the service technicians are simply seen as people who arrive, fix problems, and leave, then introducing a sales function may not yield the best results. If the agents are already serving as trusted advisors to the customers, however, they may receive more positive reception to sales activities.
7. Evaluating the skill sets of the service force is also important. Can your technicians sell? Are they interested in doing so? What tools, technology, and infrastructure need to be in place that will help them sell effectively? Asking your technicians to sell without giving them the tools to do the job correctly will not yield new revenues.
8. Don’t let the sales strategy compromise the work your service team is performing. It may still be more appropriate to send leads to a dedicated sales team for follow-up.

In order to leverage the service organisation to increase revenue effectively, companies will need to foster collaborative environments that will encourage the service teams to generate leads for the existing sales forces. That can be done by providing technicians with mobile technology that allows them to quickly and easily capture and communicate those leads, developing incentive programs that reward lead generation, and creating business process flows that ensure the leads will be followed up on quickly.

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