Why Exceptional Field Service Matters

Oct 27, 2020 • Features • Cognito iQ • White Paper • Digital Transformation

This new series of excerpts from a recent white paper published by Cognito iQ analyses why exceptional field service is important and outlines how to transform your field service operation from strategy to execution...

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why exceptional field service matters...

It has become clichéd to talk about uncertainty in recent months, as the global pandemic has disrupted business and daily life across the world.

However, had we written this white paper before March 2020, we would have still been writing about the importance of exceptional field service in a climate of economic uncertainty. In 2018, PwC's Annual Global CEO Survey revealed a record level of optimism regarding worldwide economic growth. But the most recent survey, conducted just one year later in 2019, showed a record level of pessimism. More than half of the CEOs who participated believed the rate of global GDP growth will decline, and only 27% were ‘very confident’ in their prospects for revenue growth, a low level not seen since 2009. At the time of the survey, uncertainty was driven by trade tensions between US and China, and within the EU, with Brexit fuelling insecurity in the UK. The outbreak of Covid-19 has exacerbated an already difficult situation.

Field service organisations operate in an extremely competitive environment, and one in which customer expectations have been elevated by the quality of service - speed, ease and visibility - they get from online retailers. Service leaders are charged with delivering revenue and profitability growth and introducing new products and services, as well as contributing to customer retention and brand differentiation through the delivery of service excellence. In short, field service leaders can’t afford to leave any potential improvements in efficiency, cost savings, customer experience, employee engagement or competitive advantage on the table. When faced with increasing uncertainty and economic pessimism, exceptional field service becomes business critical. The pandemic also highlighted the need for field service leaders to be able to change and adapt rapidly, and to implement, manage and monitor new processes at speed.

The Impact of Digital

This is all easier said than done. Field service is tough at the best of times. What is perhaps different about this looming recession from those in the past, such as the financial crisis in 2008, is the digitisation of our lives and businesses. Digital transformation offers field service organisations the ability to make decisions that are driven by data, rather than by gut feel. We believe that this is the only way for service leaders to achieve exceptional service, and fulfil the potential of the service organisation to deliver business growth. Some service organisations are at the beginning of the digital journey, just beginning to automate paper-based or manual processes, or just starting to collect mobile data from their field-based technicians. Others are further along, using advanced analytics and data science to make sense of their data, and implementing the latest developments in technology, such as virtual reality to assist with repairs in the field, robotic process automation to expedite customer communications in the call centre, and Internet of Things (IoT) to enable predictive service. The most innovative service leaders are enhancing their digital transformation by adopting business approaches that have been successful in other disciplines. Techniques from lean manufacturing, such as continuous improvement, short interval control and value flow mapping, can be applied to field service to find opportunities to improve, test, adjust and apply to enhance the business. Management approaches such as Google’s Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) can be used to turn strategies into actionable individual goals and to get the buy-in of employees across the organisation. Despite all the challenges, we believe the future is bright for field service organisations. This combination of digital technology, data science and advanced business approaches is what will win through for the best service organisations.

The Digital Journey of an Organization...

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Look out for the next feature in this series coming next week where we analyse why field service is hard.

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