Field service is hard for a number of reasons, all of which are interconnected:

• Field-service operations are inherently complex, involving multiple elements in the service chain, such as people and processes, and they are affected by multiple factors outside of the control of the service organisation, such as traffic, access to customer premises or repair tasks that are hard to resolve. This complexity means plans are vulnerable to unpredictable, disruptive, short-notice changes.
• The complexity and uniqueness of the challenge in field service is also why generic business intelligence (BI) tools, designed to adapt to multiple management environments, are often less effective within service organisations. Because the underlying metrics don’t match the situation on the ground, changes can have unintended consequences, and end users can be resistant to the implementation of such tools.
• The Service Level Agreements (SLAs), business rules and processes that drive field service typically vary across the organisation, and by end customer. Even if these processes are standardised, the intricacy of operations means there are many potential sources of ineffectiveness.

• Compounding the problem is the challenge of managing the performance of the mobile workforce. Performance management is demanding enough when you are dealing with office-based staff; when your workforce is remote, visibility is limited and the difficulty is intensified.
• Field service has also been facing a skills shortage. The available workforce of qualified engineers and technicians is aging; fewer young people are choosing field service careers, so when engineers retire, they aren't all being replaced. There is also a need to train and upskill the existing workforce to take on new technologies, service models and working methods so they can cope with the changes, and be on board for digital transformation.
• Customer expectations are another factor. The bar for customer experience has been set high by online companies, so end customers, both consumer and business, expect to get service appointments on their terms, with real-time information about the progress of their service at all times, via any medium of their choice.
• For service managers, once something goes wrong in the field, it is hard to recover, and time that is lost can never be replaced. One task overrunning can put a field-based worker’s schedule out for the remainder of their shift, potentially jeopardising multiple SLAs and customer relationships. Service managers often lack the data to see what has happened in real time, and to move resources around to regain control.
• Many field service organisations have digitised some of their processes so that they no longer rely entirely on paper-based workflows, or store customer information in static spreadsheets. With automation and digitisation, has come an increase in the volume of data available to field-service managers - from the field as well as internal data - but without the right analytical tools, and the skills to use them, or the ability to align multiple data sources, more data is unlikely to lead to more insight.
• Even with the right analytics, it can be very difficult to implement changes to field-service processes, monitor the outcome of those changes, and understand whether the improvements have been successful, or have had unintended consequences elsewhere in the system, or even elsewhere in the organisation. Strategy for change has to link with wider organisational strategy, be communicated effectively and be effectively adopted by those who have to undertake new processes. With limited control of the ‘drivers and levers’ of performance, service operations find it very difficult to evolve and grow.

Look out for the next feature in this series coming next week where we discuss what exceptional field service looks like.

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Further Reading:

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