In this final excerpt from a series featuring conversation between Salesforce's Gary Brandeleer and Field Service News' Kris Oldland the conversation takes a more philosphical turn as Brandeleer outlines why we should be taking the opportunity to...
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Nov 20, 2020 • Features • Digital Transformation • Salesforce • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Remote Services
In this final excerpt from a series featuring conversation between Salesforce's Gary Brandeleer and Field Service News' Kris Oldland the conversation takes a more philosphical turn as Brandeleer outlines why we should be taking the opportunity to build sustainability into the new normal...
Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts
A SERVITIZED WORLD IS A SUNSTAINABLE WORLD
In a recent white paper authored by Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News, published in partnership with Salesforce we looked at one of the big questions as we build the new normal and we plot our route to recovery – ‘should we be redefining the very definition of what the value proposition is of field service in a world of remote service delivery, zero touch service delivery?’
Of course, in this post pandemic, new world, it's an embryonic conversation. It's early days as we find our way towards these new modes of working, but it is imperative that we, as service leaders, are having these kinds of conversations today as we all build towards recovery together.
The white paper, which is available on the button beneath this article, goes into a number of aspects of this conversation and it's designed to promote the leaders of our sector to start thinking about these kinds of conversations. To further build on this discussion Oldland invited Salesforce’s Gary Brandeleer onto the Field Service Podcast to push that discussion further and to hear Brandeleer’’s insight reflecting on the many conversations he has had working with companies from all different parts of the world across many all different industries, in terms of embracing digital transformation.
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the discussion was how Brandeleer outlined that what we're doing now isn't just reaction to the pandemic but can also really be building a much more sustainable future as well.
"Can we actually sell much more services and our experience, and really think about the impact on the climate when we do this?"
- Gary Brandeleer, Salesforce
“I think if you look at optimization right now there is a really deep advantage at moving towards these more advanced services-based relations on a recurring basis,” begins Brandeleer.
“What I mean by this is that if we want to achieve sustainability on this planet, consuming more products is not the way forward. We know that literally every single time you consume anything it's pollution one way or another. When you consume a service, well, there is not always pollution behind it. Going back to outcome-based services, sometimes actually, the outcome can be where the device is going to be more efficient, which is going to consume less energy, which at the end of the day, we make it a more sustainable device.
“The criteria we're going to have to think of is ‘can we use everything that is going right now in the world, especially in the field service world where many of the companies we have as customers, make the world a better place by servicing the device making the product better and keeping the world running.
“Can we use now all the skills we have around us to actually say, ‘Well, you know what COVID-19 that's one thing, but there is also climate change going on?’ I mean, literally three weeks ago in San Francisco, we had a day where it was night during the day, which was pretty disturbing, for sure. I was thinking like, well, these are sharp, guys. I mean, that's where we are going, we need to make sure that we are creating differentiation for services and that we literally stop selling too many products.
“Can we actually sell more services, leverage our knowledge and experience, and really think about the impact on the climate when we do this? Of course, we are not going to stop selling every product out there and for the install base that is 40 years old, actually keeping it running is more polluting than not having a new product. However, for some products, it may be a case of thinking ‘I can keep it for three years more, it's fine’. ‘I'm going to be fine with that, I'm going to maintain the asset to improve the efficiency of the device for two more years and that's going to save us maybe a little bit of steel, a little bit of co2 emission and we can optimise this.
“I think there is really a spot we can reach which this kind of optimal place with a balance between new products and services which by the way, we need to be offered in a trusted relationship style and get to a world where there are no surprises with the product, it's not breaking anymore - but on top of that, actually, it's helping the world to be more sustainable. I think that's really all Holy Grail I would love to reach at one point of time."
Want to know more? Field Service News Subscribers can access a White Paper on this topic on the link below.
If you have yet to subscribe click the button below to join 30K of your field service management professional peers and subscribe now to access this content and our entire premium content library now!
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 Salesforce 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.
Further Reading:
- Find the full episode of this interview and the entire back catalogue of The Field Service Podcast @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- Read more about the impact of Covid-19 on Field Service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/en-gb/covid-19
- Connect with Gary Brandeleer on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/garybrandeleer/
- Follow Michael Kuebel on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/garybrandeleer?lang=en
- Find out more about Salesforce Field Service Solutions @ www.salesforce.com/uk/products/service-cloud/field-service-lightning/
- Follow Salesforce on twitter @ twitter.com/salesforce
Nov 19, 2020 • News • Cognito iQ • Konica MInolta • Digital Transformation • EMEA
Konica Minolta has won the BLI PaceSetter Award for Serviceability and Support 2020-2021 in Western Europe awarded by Keypoint Intelligence for the second time.
Konica Minolta has won the BLI PaceSetter Award for Serviceability and Support 2020-2021 in Western Europe awarded by Keypoint Intelligence for the second time.
With Cognito iQ flagged as a platform that supported the win, the recognition honours the OEM that offers the best-designed tools, programs and trainings to enhance the serviceability of its products and services. With its “shift left” approach, Konica Minolta provides systems to empower its clients to help themselves, such as using online trainings or providing support through remote tools.
COGNITO iQ's PLATFORM ALLOWS KONICA MINOLTA TO AUTOMATE THEIR FIELD OPERATION, IMPROVING EFFICIENCY AND REDUCING ERRORS
Leveraging their Cognito iQ-developed platform, Konica Minolta is able to analyse operational performance of its field service in real time. With this “shift left” approach, the issues are solved closer to their origin and field presence of service experts can be reduced significantly. This helps to limit physical contact points which increases safety for customers and technicians, as travel from client to client can be minimised in the time of Covid-19.
Konica Minolta use Cognito iQ to automate and mobilise their field operation, automating previously manual processes, improving efficiency and reducing errors, and giving Konica Minolta real-time information to control the service support operation. In addition to this they have implemented the Cognito iQ analytics platform, OPA, which gives the field service operation live data enabling them to make fact-based decisions on trends in real-time.
“Pursuing a customer-centric approach, Konica Minolta always focuses on the needs of its users for its products and services’, commented Nick Ranson, UK Director of Value Added Services, Konica Minolta Business Solutions UK, “We have a close relationship with Cognito iQ, their expertise and understanding of our operation has helped to redefine service for the UK business. It’s great to see our efforts recognised with this award”.
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
- Learn more about Konica Minolta @ www.konicaminolta.co.uk
- Find out more about Cognito iQ @ www.cognitoiq.com
- Follow Cognito iQ on Twitter @ twitter.com/Cognito_iQ
- Follow Cognito iQ on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/cognito-
Nov 19, 2020 • Features • White Paper • field service management • Leadership and Strategy • Appify
In this second excerpt from a recent white paper published by Appify, now available at Field Service News, we provide an analysis on how to measure field service readiness...
In this second excerpt from a recent white paper published by Appify, now available at Field Service News, we provide an analysis on how to measure field service readiness...
Want to know more? Field Service News Subscribers can access a White Paper on this topic on the link below.
If you have yet to subscribe click the button below to join 30K of your field service management professional peers and subscribe now to access this content and our entire premium content library now!
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 Appify 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.
How field technicians rate their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other service equipment is especially crucial as all must now adopt additional, more stringent workplace safety protocols. Seventy-two percent (72.6%) of field technicians and managers rate the quality of the PPE they use to service their customers as "good" or "very good," an encouraging sign.
This suggests field technicians and management have a shared understanding of what makes for effective PPE.
How Would You Rate The Quality of the PPE You Are Using to Service Your Customers?
How Would You Rate The Quality of Equipment You Use to Service Your Customers?
How Ready Are Your Service Teams to Service Customers Post COVID-19?
Many respondents don’t feel that the pandemic will impact their field readiness. We asked respondents to rate how ready service teams will be to go on-site to service customers post COVID-19. Field technicians responded, on average, with a rating of about 8.3.
IMPROVING WORK ORDER MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCY
The current societal disruption may very well cause ongoing changes to the types of work orders technicians service. When people stop using hotels en masse, there is less of a need for maintenance. Textile factories have likely seen an uptick in machine usage due to the demand for cloth masks. Those machines will need more frequent attention than they did in the past.
We may see spikes in work orders for industries that previously relied on only semi-regular maintenance visits. Other industries will demonstrate a marked drop in demand for their equipment.
Currently, field technicians see about 50 orders or fewer in one month. Forty-four percent of field technicians report receiving fewer than 50 work orders in one month.
How Ready Are Your Service Teams to Service Customers Post COVID-19?
There is a range of time frame durations for these work orders. More than one-third (39%) of field technicians have work orders stretching over multiple days, 35% have work orders that last one day, and 25.97% have work orders that last a few hours.
How Long Does It Take to Complete a Work Order?
The volume of these orders and the duration they last may shift dramatically in the coming months. How organizations respond to changing demands will likely dictate future success.
Look out for the next feature in this series coming next week where we discuss resources and technology investments for Field Service.
However, 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 you can access the white paper instantly upon completing the registration form!
Further Reading:
- Read more about Leadership & Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
- Read more about Field Service Management @ www.fieldservicenews.com/field-service-management
- Find out more about Appify @ appify.com
- Follow Appify on Twitter @ twitter.com/AppifyInc
Nov 18, 2020 • Features • Digital Transformation • Salesforce • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Remote Services
Salesforce's Gary Brandeleer and Field Service News' Kris Oldland discuss the true value of the service engineer and outline a future of field service where break-fix is no longer part of our day-to-day lexicon...
Salesforce's Gary Brandeleer and Field Service News' Kris Oldland discuss the true value of the service engineer and outline a future of field service where break-fix is no longer part of our day-to-day lexicon...
Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts
IF A DEVICE FAILS, CSAT WILL GO DOWN
Perhaps one of the biggest questions of the current times for the field service sector, as we plot our way towards the new normal, is should we be redefining the value proposition of what field service delivery means, in an age of remote service and a post-pandemic world? It's an embryonic question. Indeed, it's an embryonic conversation, but it's one that the field service sector needs to be having.
Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News recently authored a white paper on this topic, published in partnership with Salesforce to kick start the discussion. To get further insight into the area Oldland invited Salesforce's Gary Brandeleer onto the Field Service Podcast to gain further understanding and learn from Gary's experience working with a number of different organisations in the areas of digital transformation so we can start to piece together exactly how we should be rethinking the value proposition of service delivery.
In the above highlight from that conversation, Brandeleer and Oldland start discussing what the real value is of the field service engineer.
"The key aspect and all the research that we've run on where the value is regarding service engineers, suggests that the value lies in the fact that they are subject matter experts, and that's come from across research projects, interviews, Think Tank Sessions that we've run at Field Service News. It is a constant, consistent theme," explains Oldland.
"The real value of the engineer is having a subject matter expert on-site, so I think we might see an annual, biannual, or even quarterly review process where that engineer, the subject matter expert, goes on and spends the day with the customer. A scenario where they aren't just on-site to fix a couple of issues, but looks at how those assets are interacting looks at how the data that they have from other organisations, across the fleet and outlines to the customer how to optimise for those.
"Then the more day to day routine, or the quick break, fix problems that can be solved remotely, that's where that level of remote-first comes in," he adds.
What if you could transform this relationship into one where the customer will never expect and never experience a failure?"
- Gary Brandeleer, Salesforce
"I think, I wish that, in 10 years from now we will not even know what break-fix is," adds Brandeleer.
"What I mean by this is with more and more new products being developed, the product shouldn't break anymore. It will need to be maintained - and it needs to be very clear how to maintain it, so it doesn't break. I think that's really where I wish all our customers were right now because when one of your devices is breaking, essentially, you can't have a good CSAT - it's nearly impossible.
"Yes, the service provider can get in to fix the problem quickly, and they can get the CSAT up again, but the break is going to see the CSAT going down for sure.
"What if you could transform this relationship into one where the customer will never expect and never experience a failure? Where they will never experience breaking points with your device? To say to the customer, we are going to create this relationship where we guarantee you that the assets won't break. We are going to make sure that we execute on this promise, delivering you a device and a service that leads to a position where the asset you need won't ever let you down - and at the same time, the customer understands clearly what they're going to pay for it. It's much easier as a relationship to say 'okay, yes, you're paying $1,000 a month for the service contract, but you have no break-fix, no surprises.'"
"I think that's really where I think these relationships can grow into true partnerships."
Want to know more? Field Service News Subscribers can access a White Paper on this topic on the link below.
If you have yet to subscribe click the button below to join 30K of your field service management professional peers and subscribe now to access this content and our entire premium content library now!
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 Salesforce 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.
Further Reading:
- Find the full episode of this interview and the entire back catalogue of The Field Service Podcast @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- Read more about the impact of Covid-19 on Field Service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/en-gb/covid-19
- Connect with Gary Brandeleer on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/garybrandeleer/
- Follow Michael Kuebel on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/garybrandeleer?lang=en
- Find out more about Salesforce Field Service Solutions @ www.salesforce.com/uk/products/service-cloud/field-service-lightning/
- Follow Salesforce on twitter @ twitter.com/salesforce
Nov 17, 2020 • News • Cognito iQ • Digital Transformation • EMEA • BAXI
Improving customer service, maximising worker efficiency and meeting SLAs are just a handful of the challenges that field service operators face.
Improving customer service, maximising worker efficiency and meeting SLAs are just a handful of the challenges that field service operators face.
Even field service operations that are working well can find 5% improvements when they set out to become exceptional, and improvements of more than 20% are not uncommon.
Baxi, together with Cognito iQ, recognise the true significance of data and the value it can bring to a business, from cost savings, improving repeat busines through improved customer satisfaction to identifying areas of process improvement that can bring transformational change to a business.
BAXI HAVE MADE THEIR GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE EVEN BETTER BY SUCCESSFULLY LEVERAGING DATA AND ANALYTICS WITH COGNITO iQ
Quality data that can provide insight is key to transformational change and improvements. Cognito IQ’s next generation analytics solution, Insight Hub does just that. Providing real-time analytics, it provides at a glance metrics in its bespoke dashboard that allows you to make instant changes to keep your team on track as well as a longer term view for informed strategic planning and strategy.
Baxi, and Cognito iQ have successfully leveraged data and analytics that enabled them to:
- Increase productivity 25%
- Reduce secondary visit times by 42%
In this webinar, Steve Randall, Baxi’s Head of Service will share:
- The challenges Baxi faced and how they addressed them.
- How technology such as Insight Hub, makes it easier to manage a large mobile workforce.
- The impact of having real-time analytics on their customer service and more.
To register for the webinar 'Transforming Your Field Service Operation from Excellent to Exceptional, visit info.cognitoiq.com/getting-to-exceptional-webinar2.
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
- Register for the webinar 'Transforming Your Field Service Operation from Excellent to Exceptional' @ cognitoiq.com/getting-to-exceptional-webinar2
- Find out more about Cognito iQ @ www.cognitoiq.com
- Follow Cognito iQ on Twitter @ twitter.com/Cognito_iQ
Nov 17, 2020 • Features • Cognito iQ • White Paper • Digital Transformation • field service management
This final excerpt from a recent white paper published by Cognito iQ outlines a seven-step process to take you from strategy to execution, so you can achieve exceptional field service...
This final excerpt from a recent white paper published by Cognito iQ outlines a seven-step process to take you from strategy to execution, so you can achieve exceptional field service...
Want to know more? Field Service News Subscribers can access a White Paper on this topic on the link below.
If you have yet to subscribe click the button below to join 30K of your field service management professional peers and subscribe now to access this content and our entire premium content library now!
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 Cognito iQ 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.
Step 1 - Analyse Current Situation
The first step in improving anything is to understand the current situation. To do this you need accurate, timely data about what is actually happening on the frontlines of field service.
The principle of value stream mapping, which comes from the discipline of lean manufacturing, is a useful concept to help guide this step. Your goal in analysing the current situation is to identify value - as defined by your customers’ needs - and then to map the value stream, which is all of the steps and processes that you undertake to deliver that value. Then you can look for bottlenecks, so you can eliminate any wasteful steps. In addition, if there is data missing, you can identify ways to fill the gaps.
The analysis requires data. In recent years, many field service operations have undergone some degree of digital transformation, which for many has meant that they have gone from having limited data about field service - knowing just whether the job was done, and the customer had paid - to having too much data that they can’t analyse or make sense of. Not only is there mobile data that tracks field service technicians’ whereabouts, and progress on any task, and gathers feedback from customers, but there is also a wealth of internal data such as from ERP or CRM systems, financial data, call centre information, repair data and customer emails. Combined with data about parts and assets, some of which comes directly from IoT enabled equipment, you end up with a complex mix of structured and unstructured data, which is often hard to makes sense of.
The most effective way to identify patterns in the data is to use data science techniques such as machine learning.
For example, using machine learning in the analysis of asset and parts data enables you to take a structured approach to asset lifecycle management. If you can spot patterns in repairs and revisits, you can start to predict and prevent failures. Again, generic tools can make some headway here, but field service specific tools have algorithms that have been programmed with field service knowledge which are better at surfacing genuine opportunities.
Step 2 - Set Aligned Goals
There was a time when in many businesses, the service operation was viewed as a cost centre, a necessary, but expensive, functional department.
This view is outdated; today, companies understand that field service is integral to the business. Field service technicians are not only the face of the brand, they are able to build relationships with customers and have opportunities to generate revenues through cross selling and upselling.
In the same way, there is a growing recognition that field operations goals need to be integrated with wider organisational goals. The opportunities identified in step one need to be prioritised based on a number of factors: which can easily be actioned, which have the greatest improvement potential, which offer the greatest return on investment, which are the low hanging fruit. But overarching all of this is the need for opportunities to align with overall company goals.
Furthermore, at this stage, there is a need to understand what the ROI of change will be, and to quantify the risk of not changing. If you can put a financial value on your goals, it will help you to make the business case for the investments you will need to make, both directly in terms of expenditure on the technology to drive change, and indirectly in terms of the time you will need to commit.
Step 3 - Define Metrics for Success
Once the current situation is analysed, opportunities to improve are surfaced, and goals set, aligned to the company strategy, you then need to decide how to act to meet those goals.
You are moving into the tactical stage of the seven-step process, and are focusing on practical actions that you and your team can take. The questions you need to answer at this stage are:
- What are the processes, practices, controls and levers that you can alter to influence performance?
- Which metrics that support these levers, need to move to indicate improvement?
- What are the thresholds for improvement - how much do the metrics have to move?
Once you have defined the metrics and set thresholds, you can use them to define employee KPIs, and you will be ready for the next challenge which is to change the behaviour of your employees in accordance with the new goals.
Step 4 - Engage and Motivate Employees
Change is hard, and it goes better when everyone is on board. In order to ensure that employees change their behaviour and work towards the goals you have defined, you will need to have the data to monitor performance.
You probably have an instinct for which of your field workers are the best performers, but your analysis of performance metrics will give you hard evidence, and also help evaluate why they are the best. You probably also know which workers consistently fail to hit their targets. Analysis will show you what to do to help them improve –and to monitor their progress. Once you know the drivers of excellence, you can replicate them throughout the organisation, working with employees to improve skills and capabilities where needed.
It also helps if employees understand the wider company strategy and how their own performance indicators and goals align. We recommend adopting OKRs, a method used by Google to align organisational strategy with individual goals and improve performance.
OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results — the process by which leaders and their teams set ambitious, measurable goals each quarter — are a critical component of how Google’s leaders managed Google’s growth from day one. By focusing on a few priorities, identifying the metrics that measure progress towards those goals, and quantifying the impact of that progress, OKRs equipped teams at Google with what they needed to think big, get alignment across the organisation, and execute on their ambitious plans.
Step 5 - Make Changes to Processes
Once you have decided on the metrics to focus on, you can begin to make changes. These changes can be at any level. They can be to processes or procedures, in which case they will require everyone to know about and follow them.
They can be to documentation, giving people new information, or to the website, to change customer behaviour. They can impact the field service technicians directly, or indirectly - the example below involved a small change to the call centre script, not to engineering processes - but it had a big impact on a key performance metric for engineers.
There are many barriers to implementing change. Even if you have employees on board and the whole company aligned around the strategy, it can be hard to know which changes to prioritise, how they will affect other metrics, how much it will cost to implement the changes, and what will be the return on investment. At this stage, modelling the likely impact is invaluable, as it will help you prioritise.
Step 6 - Observe and Analyse Outcomes
Once improvements have been implemented, the next step is to observe the impact on performance and analyse the outcomes.
As a service leader you need to have full visibility of what is happening in the field in real time, so you and your team can make adjustments and prevent incidents before they arise. Ideally you should be able to see, at a glance, the status of all your key metrics, and be alerted if any are in jeopardy as well as any variations from the plan for the shift. Short interval control is another technique used in lean manufacturing to drive improvements, during each shift; with access to field service data and analytics tools to gain insight in real time, service managers can adopt this approach. This approach is also adapted from agile software development environments which advocate testing and learning with real customers, in real time, using data to assess the impact of each change.
Also, as you make the changes, capture those that are driving improvements, as well as those that are having little direct impact, but may impact further down the line. You might want to pilot in one region, capturing what has worked and what has not. You can then use the region staff as ambassadors of change across the broader organisation.
As well as acting in real time to change outcomes during the shift, you need to be able to analyse the impact of changes over time, so you can see whether improvements have been effective and if you need to dial up changes, dial down, or try something else. You can even conduct controlled experiments by using AB testing - trying two different approaches with different, randomly chosen sets of technicians, or in different regions, to see which improvements work the best.
Step 7 - Feedback and Adjust
This is the step where the value of the data driven approach comes into its own.
Taking the outcomes of improvements, and feeding back into the data for analysis at step one creates a feedback loop, enabling you to test and learn, freeing you from having to make gut decisions, and harnessing the power of continuous improvement to get to exceptional field service.
With a continual improvement approach, the £500K or more you could save in productivity isn’t a one-off. You can use that saving to do more, or to reduce headcount in year one, and also expect to see a similar improvement and saving in years two, three and onward. The goalposts are always moving in field service, as technology advances, competitors improve and customer expectations increase, so there will always be improvements you can make, regardless of the quality of your service at this moment.
TAKING THE FIRST STEP
So now you know the seven steps, what are you waiting for? It’s easy to describe, but not so easy to do.
In reality, getting to exceptional will require you to have the following:
- high quality, accurate, real-time data
- the ability to analyse the data to gain insight, both in real time, and in retrospect
- the experience to decide how to apply the insight
- the foresight to model the impact of changes and the ROI of planned actions
- the insight to know what exceptional looks like, and to set appropriate benchmarks
- the agility to test changes and learn from the outcomes
- the leadership to drive through improvements and manage change throughout the organisation
We know that field service leaders are a talented bunch, but that is still a tall order. Fortunately, there is no pressure to take all seven steps at once. Getting to exceptional is a long-term process and just taking the first step will deliver business benefits. So how do you take that first step? Advances in technology mean that there is support available. Digital transformation means so much more than just digitising paper-based processes, or automating manual processes. We believe that all of the hundreds of decisions that are made every day in field service operations can and should be driven by data and analysis, not by gut instinct, or expediency.
For many companies, the digital transformation challenge has moved on from being able to collect the data, to knowing how to analyse it, and what actions to take. Advances in AI such as machine learning mean that we can start to automate the process of continuous improvement. The goal should be that the system can spot a problem and recommend a fix without human intervention, and then track that change through the organisation and drive adoption in the field. The future of field service belongs to those companies that can adopt advanced analytics, together with smart business approaches, to use data to drive exceptional field service.
Field Service News 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 you can access the white paper instantly upon completing the registration form!
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
Nov 16, 2020 • Features • Digital Transformation • Salesforce • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Remote Services
Salesforce's Gary Brandeleer and Field Service News' Kris Oldland discuss potential downsides to adopting a remote first-approach to service delivery and explore the potential for a hybrid model that blends on-site and remote service...
Salesforce's Gary Brandeleer and Field Service News' Kris Oldland discuss potential downsides to adopting a remote first-approach to service delivery and explore the potential for a hybrid model that blends on-site and remote service...
Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts
WE WILL SEE A HYBRID MODEL EMERGE IN THE NEW NORMAL
In a recent exclusive white paper authored by Field Service News Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland, we explored a number of different aspects of the emerging conversation centred around the importance of remote first service delivery.
The white paper looked at a number of different facets of that discussion including the technology and tools required to make sure we're delivering remote service effectively and also looking at some of the pros and cons of adopting a remote first by default approach both for the service customer and the service provider.
However, as this is a fairly embryonic conversation that has only recently gained significant traction as we see a huge host of companies beginning to embrace remote service delivery as a direct result of the pandemic, Oldland invited Salesforce’s Gary Brandeleer to join him on the Field Service Podcast to hear his insight and to learn from his direct experience. With Brandeleer and his colleagues at Salesforce having helped so many organisations through digital transformation journeys, it was also an excellent opportunity to disseminate some of the thinking that goes on alongside that.
In the above excerpt from that podcast, the two begin discussing some of the nuances within the conversation, particularly looking at the challenges of remote service delivery and also the potential loss of benefits to having the field service engineer on site for the service organisation.
For example, it has long been said that the field service engineer is the eyes and ears of the organisation and their being on site could be a significant loss from the service providers side of the equation.
"I think that's an interesting discussion to have because I really think that there is going to be this hybrid model..."
- Gary Brandeleer, Salesforce
“So there is an idea of the loss of the trusted advisor to consider that is for sure,” begins Brandeleer.
“Before, your trusted advisor was really just a technician on site, now I have a feeling that we will see this decrease a bit, but it's a balance. Companies must decrease that approach of having 100% of that trusted advisor relationship with the technician. Now, the balance may be 50% of that trusted relationship is done through contact on site, but 50% of that relationship is now built with the back office,” he explains.
“I think that's where this loss of the trusted advisor will be covered by other things,” Brandeller adds.
However, what about the issue from the other side of the equation, what value to the service provider lose in not having someone on-site, with a captive and attentive audience of the customer?
“I think there is nothing better than having someone on site to actually look at if there are other devices that the service provider could also service. Having a subject matter expert on there to interpret and understand how the site is working, what is the criticality of an asset against the whole system and the whole operation of the customer?
Indeed, it does seem that there are arguments in either way to the advantages of remote service delivery and on-site both for the customer and the service provider.
“Companies are getting these kind of quick fixes done via remote assistance, which is really helping on uptime,” Brandeleer muses. “However, some customers may say, Well, that was a quick fix that you did for me remotely and yes the device is fixed, but it seems like you need to send someone anyway. So when really is my problem really going to be completely fixed?”
“I think that's an interesting discussion to have because I really think that there is going to be this hybrid model where the first quick fix is done remotely – for example it could be like your pipe leaking. It might be quite annoying right now. Well, you, you do the quick fix of putting tape literally around the pipe and say, okay, for now shut down the machine, keep it like this, we will be on-site very fast.
“So somehow, yes, the leak was fixed, but it was a quick fix and now you need to really need to have someone on-site. So how can you add this discussion with customers where you say, okay, we really solve your problem completely, and when was the problem really considered as fixed completely?
“I think that's where the only way to have this kind of discussion is always going back to data.”
Want to know more? Field Service News Subscribers can access a White Paper on this topic on the link below.
If you have yet to subscribe click the button below to join 30K of your field service management professional peers and subscribe now to access this content and our entire premium content library now!
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 Salesforce 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.
Further Reading:
- Find the full episode of this interview and the entire back catalogue of The Field Service Podcast @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- Read more about the impact of Covid-19 on Field Service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/en-gb/covid-19
- Connect with Gary Brandeleer on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/garybrandeleer/
- Follow Michael Kuebel on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/garybrandeleer?lang=en
- Find out more about Salesforce Field Service Solutions @ www.salesforce.com/uk/products/service-cloud/field-service-lightning/
- Follow Salesforce on twitter @ twitter.com/salesforce
Nov 13, 2020 • Features • Digital Transformation • Salesforce • The Field Service Podcast • Covid-19 • Remote Services
Salesforce's Gary Brandeleer and Field Service News' Kris Oldland discuss why there is foundational new thinking required as we build the new normal of field service...
Salesforce's Gary Brandeleer and Field Service News' Kris Oldland discuss why there is foundational new thinking required as we build the new normal of field service...
Want to hear more head over to our podcast library @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts
THE BENEFITS OF REMOTE SERVICE DELIVERY
Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News recently authored a white paper in partnership with Salesforce, that focused on one of, if not the biggest questions of the moment in our sector. Should we be redefining the value of field service delivery in an age of remote service, especially if we move to remote first as a default. It was a wide ranging white paper that looked at a number of different areas including the benefits and the negatives for both the customer and the service provider themselves.
To further add to the initial thoughts raised in that paper, Oldland invited Salesforce’s Gary Brandeleer onto the Field Service Podcast, to take the conversation a little bit further. Brandeleer was able to bring his own experience and of course, the wider experience of the team at Salesforce who've been instrumental in the digital transformation of so many organisations to the table. In the above highlight from that conversation Oldland and Brandeleer discuss some of the benefits of remote first approach for field service customers.
“The safety factor is number one, and is very real, especially right now,” explains Brandeleer.
“I think it will continue even after COVID. Safety is number one in field service, in general, and having someone on-site, COVID or not, is always risky. There is always a risk for the human there doing his job.
“So in some areas we definitely think remote assistance will help, even without COVID. For example, can you just have only one person on the roof whereas before you may have had maybe two or three technicians working at the same time in a small and dangerous area when maintaining a roof top device? So there are some safety aspects that will remain I think.
“What's also going on as well with the move to remote service delivery is that, we may lose out in some instances in having the trusted advisor on site, but at the same time it does create better customer relations with the back office. Before, often the only face of the company was the technician - now I have the faces of people that are working in the office, and helping me to find issues to my problem here on site. Where that's really a benefit is that suddenly instead of having just one single person as being the face of your company, you might have an easier way to present multiple persons in front of the customer.
“Even though it's virtual, having a face to respond to you on a call is still creating this trusted relationship,” Brandeleer adds.
"This is where field service companies can really start creating new business models, where you create a real partnership-based relationship with your customer..."
- Gary Brandeleer, Salesforce
“I think the second thing that is also really important that remote assistance brings is the concept of the quick fix - can you really quickly fix the problem right now? Then maybe the service provider will also send someone in one month, or maybe in two weeks, to fully resolve all the problems, but at least the issue is resolved for now. The concept being to try to keep uptime as high as possible and I think that's where companies need to think about how they can create a business model with that first step of remote assistance.
One challenge that I'm hearing from some customers is that it’s challenging to invoice these remote assistance calls. This is because the customer is saying ‘you didn't send a technician on site so are you going to charge me the same price? Why are you invoicing me that much?
“I think that's where you need to go back to customers and say, ‘okay, maybe we change this kind of variation and we have now a service contract review.' Perhaps one suggestion could be a subscribed contract yearly where the customer can have 20 remote assistant calls within the year and on top of that you have the regular maintenance and most probably at one point of time, even preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance.
“This is where field service companies can really start creating new business models, where you create a real partnership-based relationship with your customer. You tell them very clearly the outcome they are going to get such as the device is going to be operational for 97% of the three percent remaining is where it would be down for maintenance. This is where you are saying to the customer ‘we guarantee you this and on top of that for good service and maximising this outcome, we are going to provide you multiple ways of calling us and asking for a quick fix.
“I think that's where people really start to get into the thinking around this. It is really bringing new base line for innovation for new business models. I think that's really something which is very important too.”
Want to know more? Field Service News Subscribers can access a White Paper on this topic on the link below.
If you have yet to subscribe click the button below to join 30K of your field service management professional peers and subscribe now to access this content and our entire premium content library now!
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 Salesforce 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.
Further Reading:
- Find the full episode of this interview and the entire back catalogue of The Field Service Podcast @ www.fieldservicenews.com/podcasts
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- Read more about the impact of Covid-19 on Field Service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/en-gb/covid-19
- Connect with Gary Brandeleer on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/garybrandeleer/
- Follow Michael Kuebel on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/garybrandeleer?lang=en
- Find out more about Salesforce Field Service Solutions @ www.salesforce.com/uk/products/service-cloud/field-service-lightning/
- Follow Salesforce on twitter @ twitter.com/salesforce
Nov 12, 2020 • Features • Digital Transformation
In the first in a new series of videos where we look at field service operations and technology within different industry sectors we talk to Gary Milne, of Healthcare at Home about the important work they undertake, how that has changed since the...
In the first in a new series of videos where we look at field service operations and technology within different industry sectors we talk to Gary Milne, of Healthcare at Home about the important work they undertake, how that has changed since the pandemic and why dynamic scheduling engine Fast Lean Smart (FLS) has been a crucial element in their ability to meet customer demands and plan for expansion
Field Service News is the only dedicated business journal dedicated to the Field Service industry within the UK and beyond. Updated daily with key news, insight and analysis Field Service News is the key resource for anyone operating a mobile workforce. Field Service News is published by 1927 Media Ltd.
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