In this third article of a series of excerpts from a recent e-book published by IFS, we look at how to use artificial intelligence to optimize resources and make predictive scheduling a reality.

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This feature is just one short excerpt from an exclusive Field Service News e-book published by IFS.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full e-book now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

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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 IFS who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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Artificial Intelligence to Optimize Resources

The Challenge

Optimizing the productivity of your field workforce while delivering a great experience for your customers is ever more challenging in today's on-demand world.

Field service software with embedded Artificial Intelligence (AI) delivers knowledge efficiently, processes solutions to complex data seta, and automates repetitive activities to allow human workers to focus on personalized service, solving complex problems and escalations - where people excel. AI is revolutionizing the way resources are optimized, paving the way for predictive scheduling and enabling organizations to consistently meet service level agreements for enhanced outcomes.

However, despite almost 90 percent of businesses intending to make an investment in AI, it can be difficult for them to get started on the journey to delivering the value that AI promises. The important thing is not AI in and of itself, but how it can be used as an enabler within our solutions. Our AI solutions are focused on clear use cases that will allow you to better support your business, both now and in the future. We make AI easy to use and to understand for non-technical data specialists, removing the complexity while still delivering solutions that are rubust and powerful in their use of algorithms and data science.

"IFS scheduling optimizing is a phenomenally powerful tool. It is key to us in delivering the outcomes our customers want in the most efficient way possible."

Mike Gosling, IT Service Platforms Manager, Cubic Transportation Systems.

The Solution

IFS gives you what you need to optimize your planning and scheduling activities to manage the strategic, operational and tactical elements of your resource planning.

Powered by industry-leading artificial intelligence, IFS can do in minutes what our competitors take hours to accomplish. Our planning and scheduling solution allowa you to forecast and model your requirements to test strategic changes before you implement them, saving you time, money, and headaches.

Service is the New Product. And It Enables the Move to Outcomes

The Challenge

Adopting Artificial Intelligence allowa your organization to move towards greater automation of business processes when it is effectively combined with other technologies to solve problems end-to-end.

As you've seen, for example, the predictive service of assets relies on effective live data gathering via IoT sensors, machine learning to predict future asset performance using a model built on data sources like maintenance history, and advanced scheduling and optimization to plan the most effective maintenance schedules based on these predictions.

The Solution

The key to how IFS delivers improved processes lies in our Intelligent Process Automation, which is a combination of the following tools:

• Process discovery and representation through a business modeler used for a Digital Twin of the Organization (DTO)
• Data and knowledge management through the creation of connected knowledge representation to describe processes and their related entities and properties
• Process monitoring through Machine Learning, continually improving execution through reinforcement learning
• Automation through a workflow engine that can initiate actions within our software

"It's inevitable: selling products as services will become a major component of businesses over the next decade."

Aly Pinder, Product Director, Service Innovation & Connected Products, IDC.

Business applications have always been about process automation, but historically knowledge has been captured and implemented using human-crafted business rules and thresholds. This approach has shortcomings: the rules used are typically of limited complexity, do not change dynamically over time and purely encode knowledge as directed by humans, who might not be doing things efficiently or correctly. By incorporating machine learning, IFS can help organizations leverage historical data to detect patterns and rules that might not be apparent to people, while learning continues over time to produce the best decisions and enable organizations to adapt to changing business environments.

Look out for the next feature from the e-book "The Future of Service Management Technology" next week where we look at two major service challenges to overcome when it comes to the service workforce.

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This feature is just one short excerpt from an exclusive Field Service News e-book published by IFS.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full e-book now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

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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 IFS who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Learn more about IFS @ www.ifs.com
• Download the IFS Service Managers Buyer's Guide @ www.ifs.com/assets/service-management-buyers-guide/
• Learn more about IFS Cloud @ www.ifs.com/ifs-cloud-overview/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

In this new article by Aquant, we look at a step-by-step approach that all service leaders should consider to ensure a smooth tech deployment.

Artificial intelligence is a growing force in the service space, but without proper pre-project planning, problems are bound to arise. To ensure a smooth deployment, team leaders should rely on a step-by-step approach to bring the final product over the finish line.

Enter the mighty checklist, whose power to manage expectations, help stakeholders remain consistent, and guide a project to completion knows no bounds. In our recent Service Leaders Spring Break sessions, we identified four essential steps that all service leaders should consider when implementing AI tools within their organizations.

let's put together the plan

1. Define the problem. Hone in on the larger business problem, then tie your service challenges to those broader business initiatives. Begin by diagnosing what the problem actually is — that means trying to solve for the root cause instead of putting bandaids on symptoms. Next, show the C-suite that your proposed service deployment will address those big issues. For example, if increasing customer satisfaction is a top initiative, be clear how technology that increases first time fix, or helps spread technician knowledge will result in boosting those customer service goals. Lastly, break those big goals down into tangible wins that will resonate across departments. For example, IT wins with cleaner data, and managers can rejoice at trackable KPIs.  
2. Create a stakeholder map: Stakeholders, assemble! From executives to end users, it’s important to determine who has an interest in the outcome, as well as influence over the overall project. A successful team contains a healthy mix of partners with the power to set and modify requirements, as well as others who will be directly impacted by the project's outcome. Once you assemble your dream team, you can determine what they need to succeed and start guiding the project to be as successful as possible. Throughout the duration of the implementation, your stakeholders will give you quick feedback and deeper insights — both necessary for a successful end result. Don’t forget to get back to basics by assigning tasks, due dates, and keeping everyone (equally) informed with regular check-ins. In short, don’t let any one group feel left out.
3. Perform a data reality check: There’s no such thing as good or bad data — only existing data and what you make of it. In most companies, IT and business departments will need to work in tandem: the first gathers the data, and the latter interprets it. For a successful implementation, both parties need to have an understanding of what data exists, and how they’d like to use it to achieve results. The AI vendor can further analyze and interpret. One last note here, don’t worry that your data is too messy or that your company doesn’t have enough data. The starting point should be simply assessing what’s available.
4. Agree on realistic project expectations: We’ve heard the horror stories when it comes to AI implementations — complexities, escalating timescales, and spiraling costs can run rampant. For these reasons and more, companies tend to label large-scale implementations as confusing and risky. However, keep in mind that artificial intelligence is a “living” tool — one whose capabilities expand and contract as it absorbs more data. You should not expect your AI to work at 100% efficacy right out the gate, but rather, remember that its accuracy will increase as it learns how to utilize your organization’s data. That means that project expectations should start small and grow in relation to the project. Don’t forget, implementation is the first step, then comes full user adoption, and that’s when results will really take off.

Once you hit these pre-project milestones, it will be easier to move forward gaining approvals and rolling out the projects.

need some inspiration?

We built the checklist so you don’t have to.

To accelerate your project, Aquant created The Ultimate Guide to Tech Deployments, a comprehensive list designed to help you fully define the benefits of AI and leverage its power within your organization. We know it can be overwhelming to consider the many puzzle pieces, so you can use our checklist to take your deployment to the next level, or simply use it as a guide.

Further Reading:

• Read more about Aquant on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/aquant
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Watch the Aquant Service Leaders Spring Break sessions @ view.aquant.io/servicespringbreak/
• Download Aquant's Ultimate Guide to Tech Deployments @ www2.aquant.io/ai-deployment-checklist
• Learn more about Aquant @ www.aquant.io
• Follow Aquant on Twitter @ twitter.com/Aquant_io

In the third and final excerpt from a recent white paper published by Aquant, we look at four solutions for effectively building the new service workforce...

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This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

 

 

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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 Aquant who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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A little understanding of generational differences goes a long way in building the tech-savvy, customer-centric, and skilled (multigenerational) workforce you need.

The most talented young service workers won’t magically appear at your door simply because post a job online — you need to attract them with the right mix of tools and approaches, empower them with the technology they expect, and enable their learning and professional developmen

Leverage the Latest Technologies Across the Entire Organization

From the initial hiring processes to the provision of everyday work tools, outdated technology is a big turnoff for digital natives like Gen Z and Millennials. If they sense that your technology is stuck in 1999, they’ll take a different job. A 2019 Yello survey found that Gen Z has a baseline expectation that employers use up-to-date technology for the application process and that their platforms be mobile-friendly. A quarter (26%) of Gen Z candidates say that a lack of technology during the hiring process alone would prevent them from accepting a job with the company, so tech matters from the very start of the relationship. Set the right expectations early (and always).

When it comes to using technology for work, Millennials and Gen Z want to use (and master) the latest and greatest digital tools to help them do their jobs more effectively. In a recent webinar with Rodger Smelcer of United Service Technologies, he explained how he’s got one of the youngest service teams in the industry, and how UST’s up-to-date technology is key to keeping younger employees engaged and productive.

Smelcer details how younger service engineers utilize everything from mobile apps and social media to AI tools to capture findings and share new fixes or hacks with the entire UST team. He also notes that junior staff are energized to use the latest technology that empowers them to crush daily service metrics and foster long-term career advancement.

Enable Collaboration

Tech-savvy Gen Z workers and Millennials have grown up accustomed to collaborating in real-time in every aspect of their daily life and they bring those same preferences to the workplace. While it’s generally assumed that the youngest members of the workforce rely exclusively on digital tools, Gen Z, and to a lesser extent, Millennials, actually prefer to have a full menu of collaboration options, showing a desire for face-to-face interactions as one option (among many) to stay connected at work. And younger workers also want continuous, face-to-face feedback about their contributions at work.

It isn’t either technology or face-to-face, but preferably all-of-the-above.

What does that mean at a time of social distancing for an industry where field engineers have traditionally worked solo on job sites? Remote collaboration tools have never been more relevant than today to ensure the safety of service employees and their customers. These remote tools enable the workforce to feel (and literally be) connected and access the most accurate information and advice from across the entire organization. The benefit? The ability to resolve service issues with little or no in-person contact with customers.

Especially at a time of remote work and remote service, building collaboration into daily workflows and adopting technology to foster a collective knowledge base is essential for ensuring (contactless) service quality and extending a sense of camaraderie in service teams.

Support Continuous Learning

Professional development is among the top priorities for Millennials and Gen Z. When asked why they were dissatisfied with a job or planned to quit a position after less than two years, lack of training and professional development ranked third for both younger generations, just behind pay and a lack of advancement, according to research by Deloitte.

Both groups express eagerness for on-the-job mentoring along with digital tools that let them learn-as-they-go and share their findings with colleagues. Meeting the expectations of this young, motivated workforce is key to adapting to ongoing demographic shifts and a business climate of rapid digital transformation. When your younger workers learn via digital tools, not only do they stay engaged with your organization, but they also drive better service outcomes for your customers (who also expect tech-savvy solutions, by the way.

Set Your Business Up for Post-Covid Success

COVID-19 has served to accelerate digital transformation, for both business organizations and the customers they serve. Customers, in general, turned to more digital solutions, from online grocery shopping to Zoom meetings to streaming entertainment. Businesses were forced to keep pace and “up” their digital game

Those service organizations that had invested in digital transformation prior to the pandemic or have accelerated digital investments during the pandemic have generally outperformed organizations that have been slower to deploy digital-first approaches. In the service industry, for example, remote service provision has become a key success factor at a time of public health concerns and social distancing. Moreover, maintenance of equipment is increasingly becoming predictive and proactive, as sensors transmit continuous streams of real-time performance data that enables service and maintenance teams to intervene even before equipment breaks down

Digital tools that support faster, predictive, or remote service are now even more critical drivers of customer experience. The technology also helps reduce time on site, which is helpful in terms of public health. Whatever the future brings, digital tools can help ensure the continuity of your service operation and enable you to scale service provision.

WHAT'S NEXT

Now’s the time to act before small problems become insurmountable.

Digital tools, like intuitive AI solutions, can help your service team leverage and share service knowledge, which is the key to improving service outcomes — including improving KPIs and enhancing the customer experience. Those same tools will help attract and engage younger service talent by helping them feel both comfortable and more empowered.

Equally important, leveraging digital technology can help you future-proof your service organization in times of crisis, such as during COVID-19.

The service organizations that coped best with social distancing had already invested in digital transformation, which helped them adapt faster to “the new normal.”

Whether it’s a public health crisis or a demographic/workforce shift, you’ll need to remain agile: digital tools offer the best way forward regardless of the challenge.

Your new recruits (and customers) will thank you!

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This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

 

 

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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 Aquant who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Aquant on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/aquant
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Leadership & Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com//leadership-and-strategy
• Learn more about Aquant @ www.aquant.io
• Follow Aquant on Twitter @ twitter.com/Aquant_io

 

In the second article of a series of excerpts from a recent e-book published by IFS, we discuss how IoT and machine learning make predictive maintenance a reality.

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This feature is just one short excerpt from an e-book published by IFS.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full e-book now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

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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 IFS who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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Break / Fix is Dead.

The Challenge

As innovators vie to stand out and become leaders in today's highly competitve landscape, the traditional model of break-then-fix is no longer holding weight with the consumer.

To embrace the service delivery models of the future, businesses need to evolve over time from reactive to proactive to democratized and ultimately, to predictive and prescriptive maintenance.

The Solution

IFS' advanced asset monitoring technologies enable you to establish a higher level of service above and beyond fixing individual pieces of equipment when requested. It guarantees your customer continued operation and focuses on building a long-term partnership to increase their asset lifecyles and enhance their operational performance.

IoT measurements and readings draw your attention to possible faults and anomalies before they occur, allowing service teams to deliver quick and appropriate response to avoid downtime.

IFS predictive maintenance adds machine learning power from sensor data and historical asset service information to identify under - or over - maintained assets. You can revise and optimize maintenance plans, moving from time-based preventive action to condition-based predictive action for increased uptime and asset output.

IFS customer Eickhoff, like many manufacturers, has been redefining the role service will play in the company's ability to differentiate. Eickhoff's 1300 employees worldwide support two business units: mining equipment and gearboxes for industrial and wind turbine applications. Its mining customers are focused heavily on uptime and output since any downtime of the equipment is incredibly costly.

"IoT and data analysis are critical to Eickhoff's evolution. Porting notable events from our IoT environment into IFS's platform is helpful in terms of history and documentation, in detecting event that are worth alerting customers to take action on, and to schedule out and event predict service needs. But moreover, the insights we can glean are a new line of customer value. Their ultimate goal is uptime, so not only can we provide the machinery but also insights to help them achieve that goal."

Dietmar Schmitz, Head of Product Development Service, Eickhoff.

We're helping our customer Icelandair to analyze data from multiple sources while utilizing predictive modelling that's powered by machine learning. Plus, we're using explainable AI to not only predict when an aircraft may experience an issue that requires ground-time within a certain time frame, but also predict which area of the aircraft is most likely to experience a failure.

Instead, businesses need to deliver a customer's desired outcome for their product, equipment or asset, and often before the customer has even thought to ask for it. Whether it's B2B or B2C, all customers want greater value from their investment, and that means providing a service that works for them, exactly how they want it to. The additional challenge, however, is for service organizations to deliver this in a way that's sustainable and cost-effective.

"We're saving costs and increasing our on-time performance."

Lilja Scheel Birgisdottir, Reliability Engineer, icelandair.

Subscribe to access the full e-book where you can watch two videos from Icelandair, where Reliability Engineer, Lilja Scheel Birgisdottir explains how, with the help of IFS, they are able to reduce costs by collecting technical data that enables them to constantly evaluate the health of their fleet.

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This feature is just one short excerpt from an e-book published by IFS.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full e-book now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

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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 IFS who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Learn more about IFS @ www.ifs.com
• Download the IFS Service Managers Buyer's Guide @ www.ifs.com/assets/service-management-buyers-guide/
• Learn more about IFS Cloud @ www.ifs.com/ifs-cloud-overview/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

In this second article of a series of excerpts from a recent white paper published by Aquant, we look at two major service challenges to overcome when it comes to the service workforce...

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This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

 

 

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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 Aquant who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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All service organizations face external challenges around evolving customer demands and internal challenges around developing their capacities to address those evolving customer demands. When it comes to the service workforce, two challenges stand out above the rest.

 

CHALLENGE #1: The Need to Build a New Workforce for Today and Tomorrow

The shifts described above and the disruptive impacts on service delivery, have been hitting the service industry for a decade now, and are projected to continue for at least the next few years. While many organizations have transition plans in place, you should ask yourself:

“Does my transformation consider ALL aspects of the service cycle?”

That includes:

• People
• Processes
• Technology
• Customer demand and shifting preferences
• Long-term scalability

Here’s why the time to act is now.

• There is a massive demand for highly skilled talent in the service industry, but it’s in short supply.
• A workforce with a wide range of soft and technical skills is required to service today’s mix of equipment and machines. They also need to play the role of front-line brand ambassadors.
• More businesses are competing on service as the differentiator vs price. And the quality of service increasingly represents a major competitive advantage.
• Top younger and tech-savvy talent have more choices, and they’re more likely to leave a workplace that doesn’t meet their expectations for onboarding, training, professional development, and more.

CHALLENGE #2: Today's Growing & Costly Skill Gap

Historically (and today too), the service smarts exemplified by industry veterans came primarily from on-the-job experience and were developed over time. A major challenge for service leaders right now is figuring out how to quickly transfer that knowledge from veterans to the new workforce.

Another factor: these experts are being asked to play two major roles at once — leaders want them to be trainers and mentors, but their deep skillset is needed in the field. Your top service experts simply can’t be in two places at once.

We know you’d love to clone your SMEs and have them on your team forever, but that’s not reality. Here’s what’s happening now as a result of the brain drain.

• Increased service costs

• Decrease in service KPIs, including first time fix rates

• More customer churn

• Lower employee morale

Let’s dive deeper into costs, and for this part, we hope you’re sitting down.  

The skills gap is expensive. The bottom performing quarter of the service workforce (challengers) costs organizations 80% more than the top quarter of the workforce (service heroes), according to our Service Intelligence Benchmark report.

When you have a failed first service visit, the costs continue to grow. A failed first service visit leads to, on average:

• 2.6 total visits to resolve the service issue

• 15 additional days in Mean Time to Resolution

• Customer dissatisfaction and loss of service brand reputation. A failed first visit is especially problematic in light of the pandemic-driven urgency to limit time spent on job sites.

What should service organizations be doing to overcome these issues and build up a dream service team with the know-how to resolve issues efficiently? The first step is attracting, retaining, and empowering members of the two most recent workforce generations, Gen Z and Millennials.

Look out for the next and final excerpt from the white paper "The Service Leader's Guide to Recruiting and Retaining Gen Z & Millennials Employees" next week where we look at 4 solutions for effectively building the new service workforce.

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This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

 

 

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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 Aquant who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Aquant on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/aquant
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Leadership & Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com//leadership-and-strategy
• Learn more about Aquant @ www.aquant.io
• Follow Aquant on Twitter @ twitter.com/Aquant_io

 

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, today announced its financial results for the first quarter—January to March of 2021. After a strong 2020, Q1 results point to a continuation of the growth trajectory across the entire business and specifically in recurring revenue, cloud revenue and service management revenue.

After a strong 2020, Q1 results point to a continuation of the growth trajectory across the entire business and specifically in recurring revenue, cloud revenue and service management revenue.

IFS’s position as the global vendor of choice for companies transforming their business models away from selling products towards selling services and outcomes is validated by its Q1 performance and the triple-digit growth of its service management business at 103 percent.

IFS’s Q1 hits significant markers with recurring revenue over 80% of software revenue, cloud revenue growth at 102% and representing over 50% of recurring revenue

Q1 also saw some key milestones for IFS, which included:

The launch of IFS Cloud, which was the most significant in the Company’s history. It brings IFS’s entire depth and breadth of functionality into a single platform. Deployable in a modular way, on-premises or in the cloud, it not only supports a composable enterprise but with digital innovation natively part of the product, it also accelerates digital transformation. 

The acquisition of Axios Systems extends the Company’s enterprise service management proposition with IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Operations Management (ITOM) functionality and creates new opportunities for IFS and Axios customers alike. The combination of IFS and Axios Systems is instrumental in extending IFS’s ambition to cement itself as the market leader in the service space.

The global launch of IFS’s Moment of Service positioning and new branding took place in February. This set out IFS’s clear strategy to align its value proposition to servitization and become the default vendor for organizations who want to be their best when it matters to their customers—at the Moment of Service. 

IFS CEO Darren Roos commented, “The launch of IFS Cloud in Q1 was the most important launch in company history. It was a milestone that delivers on our promise of helping customers create truly amazing moments of service. The impressive performance and growth of our cloud and service management business is evidence that customers value that we understand their needs and are delivering products that support their journey.” He added, “In addition to our organic growth, we are strengthening our proposition with the addition of Axios Systems to ensure we remain the de facto leader for companies that want to differentiate in how they deliver and profit from service.”

IFS Chief Financial Officer, Constance Minc, added, “I believe Q1 is representative of the recognition IFS is getting in the cloud software market. By continuing to deliver double-digit recurring revenue growth at 24 percent we are showing a consistent upward trend in our performance and in the quality of our revenue mix. With our cloud software revenue now representing 40 percent of our total software revenues and 50 percent of recurring revenue, IFS is hitting some very significant milestones.”

Other financial highlights:

• Q1 software revenue was SEK 1.2 billion, an increase of 13 percent Year on Year
• Q1 recurring revenue was SEK 1.0 billion, an increase of 24 percent Year on Year and representing more than 80 percent of software revenue
• Q1 cloud revenue increased 102 percent Year on Year representing more than 40 percent of software revenue (cloud revenue defined as all revenue streams associated with a cloud deployment deal)
• Proportion of license revenues from new customers up to 57 percent.

* Note: all figures based in Swedish Krona and reported in constant currency. Service management revenue growth normalized for one large deal in Q1 2020.

Learn more at www.ifs.com/corp/company/financial-results/.

Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Learn more about IFS Q1 Financial Results @ www.ifs.com/financial-results/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

In the first article of a series of excerpts from a recent e-book published by IFS, we look at ground-breaking service capabilities that enable you to maximize customer outcomes.

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This feature is just one short excerpt from an e-book recently published by IFS.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full e-book now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

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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 IFS who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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Deliver Amazing Moments of Service

In today's customer-driven environment, service is more relevant than ever before. Why? Because it enables differentiation in a crowded, competitive market and is a key revenue driver for future business growth.

In recent years, service has also become the face of your business. As such, it is often the catalyst of customer frustration or adoration and an opportunity to show how you're using technology in intelligent ways, not just to track customer behavior or save on the buttom line, but also to create transformational experiences for your customers. We call these 'Moments of Service'.

These are the moments when everything comes together, when the hundreds of decisions, thousands of processes and people all align to deliver your company at its best. Whether you manufacture heavy industrial equipment, undertake complex construction projects, manage aerospace assets or operate a huge electric or water utility, it takes your entire organisation to deliver value at the exact moment when your customers are engaging and interacting.

Great Moment of Service connect you to your customers and drive greater brand loyalty. But delivering these kinds of experiences requires you to refocus your business on services and outcomes instead of porducts. It also requires next-generation technology that can predict and prevent asset downtime, automate manual activities inside and outside businesses, offer out-of-the-box innovation, and reduce operational costs.

But just how are industry innovators rising to meet these challenges? And how can the right technology help you embrace the service delivery models of the future, such as predictive maintenance and outcomes-based service capabilities, that will enable you to deliver amazing customer experiences?

"As a manufacturer, we must think about how to evolve our operations to ensure the customer outcomes of uptime and information are met. IFS has been instrumental in enabling us to differentiate on service and has prepared us for the future of service."

Dietmar Schmitz, Head of Product Development Service, Eickhoff.

Service is the New Product. And It Enables the Move to Outcomes

The Challenge

Delivering products, even ground-breaking products, is no longer enough to win the hearts and minds of your customers.

Instead, businesses need to deliver a customer's desired outcome for their product, equipment or asset, and often before the customer has even thought to ask for it. Whether it's B2B or B2C, all customers want greater value from their investment, and that means providing a service that works for them, exactly how they want it to. The additional challenge, however, is for service organizations to deliver this in a way that's sustainable and cost-effective.

The Solution

The global pandemic has driven companies of all types and sizes to adopt a customer-outcomes mindset, even for those outside of traditional service provision businesses. In all industries, we are seeing that customers and consumers are willing to pay a premium for better service and a guaranteed outcome.

As your business evolves from seeling products, to selling services as a product to providing outcomes-based service performances, value is delivered through the contract you provide - which safeguards and maintains the uptime of your customers' assets.

"It's inevitable: selling products as services will become a major component of businesses over the next decade."

Aly Pinder, Product Director, Service Innovation & Connected Products, IDC.

For all service organizations, regardless of industry, the move to outcomes provides peace of mind to customers while also giving you more recurring revenue streams and the ability to offer even longer - and ultimately more profitable - contracts. Shifting your entire organization to deliver optimized outcomes and experiences for your customers cannot be done overnight, and it cannot be done alone. Businesses need the right technology and an experienced partner to help them navigate the evolution from simply maintaining customers' equipment to optimizing its performance, extending its lifecycle, and being able to predict failures, enabling your team to take corrective action before your customer experience downtime.

Look out for the next feature from the e-book "The Future of Service Management Technology" next week where we look at two major service challenges to overcome when it comes to the service workforce.

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This feature is just one short excerpt from an e-book recently published by IFS.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full e-book now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

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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 IFS who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Learn more about IFS @ www.ifs.com
• Download the IFS Service Managers Buyer's Guide @ www.ifs.com/assets/service-management-buyers-guide/
• Learn more about IFS Cloud @ www.ifs.com/ifs-cloud-overview/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

Today, on Earth Day, IFS announces its promise to sustainability through a plan to improve the company’s own operations, enable customers to achieve their sustainability goals, as well as influence the industry at large to improve its accountability to our environment.

IFS’s values, culture, and business model are linked to its vision to provide the best possible experience to its customers. The relationship between this vision, leading by example and providing sustainability technology are key to systematizing a sustainable mindset and behavior.

The multi-year plan lays out the company’s stepped approach and commitments for the next three years and brings IFS’s long-term thinking on the importance of sustainability internally and its ecosystem and owners to the fore.

The three-year plan will create positive impact in IFS’s own business, its customers’ and through industry-wide action

The stepped approach will be established around three core pillars:

1. Our own business

In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, IFS has identified several areas where it increase its focus for greater impact.

• Education – the IFS Education Program already works with nearing 80 universities and higher education institutions globally. The program provides scholarships, grants, IT equipment, as well as practical knowledge through internships and mentorships for students. Over the course of the next three years, IFS plans to expand the program to 150 institutions globally.
• Carbon emissions – in a program started in 2019, IFS committed to reducing its carbon footprint in part through consolidating its real-estate and improving the green credentials of its properties. From mid-2019 to date, IFS has reduced the square meterage of its global real estate by 9.5 percent, shrunk its car fleet by 86 percent versus 2019 and is committing to reach carbon neutrality by 2025.
• Philanthropy – IFS champions and partners with the IFS Foundation to alleviate poverty and other social ills in Sri Lankan rural villages - Sri Lanka is home to the largest proportion of the IFS workforce. The IFS Foundation’s mission is to help improve the living standards of people in the countryside by addressing aspects of health, water and sanitation, education, and economy, and resulting in a self-sustained community. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Sri Lanka have already improved the lives of over 3,000 people. IFS supports the IFS Foundation’s planned expansion to encompass additional areas within remote and rural areas of Sri Lanka.
• Developing an Impact Mindset: IFS is looking for ways to further accelerate its employee awareness of and contribution to the sustainability agenda. We will be introducing a framework to trigger people's mindsets and to guide engagement. The framework will drive how the company is making it possible for its employees to impact sustainability as individuals and assess how successful IFS is at engaging its workforce behind the Impact Mindset.
  • Volunteering – all employees are given the opportunity to invest one workday a year to support a charitable cause of their choice. In 2023, we strive to have the equivalent of three years’ worth of work invested by our employees
  • Employees – IFS has set the bar high against peers in the industry in terms of diversity in employee mix sets. For example, women make up 34 percent of the business, above the industry average for tech
    • We will continue to drive grass-roots programs such as the IFS Education Program to foster diversity across the industry
    • The health and wellbeing of employees remains top of mind, with a new program being launched for employees across the world and measured by twice annual employee surveys
  • Governance – IFS has always maintained policies on Human Rights and Anti-Slavery and will further ensure that this is not only in line with UN criteria and reporting and but also pervasively included in the education of its employees.

2. Our customers’ businesses

Increase energy efficiency: In March 2021, IFS launched IFS Cloud, is a single platform that IFS customers can deploy on premise or in the cloud in a modular way taking advantage of the latest technologies and thus reducing needless computer processing and storage. When deployed in the cloud, such as on Azure, IFS Cloud is 52-79 percent more energy efficient than compute equivalents deployed in traditional data centers, and storage is 71-79 percent more energy efficient than storage equivalents deployed in traditional enterprise data centers*.

Sustainability technology to give back: Recognizing the need and pressures many customers must monitor, manage, and report on their own sustainability goals and commitments, IFS is producing a new module within IFS Cloud specifically for sustainability management. With so much information held within the value chains that IFS Cloud connects, this new module will be offered as standard, to all IFS Cloud customers in late 2021. IFS will donate a share of the license revenue generated by the module to sustainability causes.

Innovation for sustainability: To propel the ideation and delivery of added sustainability scenarios for IFS Cloud, a yearly hackathon will be launched on the 21^st April and will run for three days across Earth Day (Thursday 22^nd April). Teams from all over IFS’s research & development (R&D), customer-facing and internal divisions are taking part together with our partner ecosystem. Please contact us here if you are interested in joining one of our teams. IFS will also continue to strengthen its IFS Incubator program along the 10 principles are the key statements that describe how we implement sustainability at IFS at the corporate level, in our businesses and at the regional level.

3. Our industry at large

To raise awareness around the importance of sustainability at a macro level and to help improve its own approach to sustainability, IFS will be making two significant appointments, one internal in creating the role of Director Global Sustainability (ESG) and one external by appointing Lewis Pugh as its Sustainability Ambassador. Lewis Pugh is the UN Patron of the Oceans. Pugh will influence IFS’s sustainability plan, as well as engage with the IFS ecosystem to challenge and celebrate sustainability best practice.

Commenting on his appointment, IFS Sustainability Ambassador, Lewis Pugh said: “We need governments, businesses and individuals to all play a role in making positive change. I am pleased to be working with IFS whose team is clearly taking the issue of sustainability seriously. Having the ability to engage with their ecosystem of customers and partners presents an opportunity to have an impact at scale.” He continued, “Climate change is an existential threat to life on earth. We now need all hands-on deck to tackle this crisis.”

Darren Roos, CEO of IFS, added: “IFS has a long-term responsible approach to creating value for customers. By considering sustainability as an integral part of our business model we not only capture value creating opportunities, but we can mitigate risks so and stay on course to be successful in our sustainability strategy.” Roos continued, “The progress achieved over the last couple of years to improve IFS’s approach to sustainability has been meaningful, but with the launch of this multi-year plan we are making commitments and make ourselves accountable. This is meaningful to our customers, our employees, our owners and our community at large.”

To find out more about how IFS is helping customers achieve their sustainability goals, please visit: ifs.com/sustainability

Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more about Sustainability on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/sustainability
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Learn more about IFS Commitment to Sustainability @ ifs.com/sustainability
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

In the first article of a series of excerpts from a recent white paper published by Aquant, we look at the disruption and the challenges presented by he ongoing generational shift for service organizations of all sizes...

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This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

 

 

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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 Aquant who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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Your most seasoned service techs are retiring. Do you have a plan to replace them? And how do you know how to transfer years of experience to junior staff quickly?

How can organizations like yours attract, retain, and quickly bring up-to-speed younger workers before your seasoned pros retire? The solutions to these challenges, according to industry experts and leading service leaders, include:

• Leveraging the latest digital technologies that empower less experienced employees to succeed by democratizing knowledge
• Promoting continuous learning and development on your service teams
• Setting your people up for success in a post-pandemic world filled with uncertainty and accelerating change

An Ongoing Generational Shift

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This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

 

 

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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 Aquant who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

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Further Reading: