As part of its go-to-market initiatives, and in response to strong demand for its products, OverIT, a global leader in Field Service Management and Augmented Collaboration solutions, has opened its second location in North America in Miami, Florida. The new office will become the US Headquarters, as the company plans to triple its US-based headcount by the end of 2020.

 

OverIT Accelerates North America Expansion to Meet Growing Demand for Asset-Intensive Field Service Management and Augmented & Virtual Reality Collaboration Solutions.

During the past twenty years, OverIT has been reshaping the operational processes of over 200 Fortune 500 companies. Their goal has always been simple: leading their clients into a new Field Service Management era, where on-field tasks are carried out efficiently, safely, and increasingly hands-free. Given the extraordinary results achieved in FY 2019, and the gap left in the market after vendor consolidation, increasing their international presence is a priority to sustain the ever-increasing demand for their solutions.

“Given the increased demand for our products in United States and Canada”, said Marco Zanuttini, CEO at OverIT, “we have invested heavily in our US subsidiary, growing it over 300% during the past six months. Our company is aiming at top industry leaders and has already hired a new SVP and General Manager for Americas, to guide the business during this new period for the subsidiary. Also, even though North America is the main focus in our strategic expansion plans, we are also in the process of drastically increasing our presence in the UK and Australia by opening up new offices to support efforts in those regions.”

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Further Reading:

• Visit the OverIT website @ www.overit.it/
• Read more news and articles about OverIT @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/overit
• Read more about Augmented Reality @ www.fieldservicenews.com/augmented+reality
• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Follow OverIT on twitter @ twitter.com/OverITSpA

 

Covid-19 has changed the world, Service leaders have to look beyond "business as usual" and find new ways to operate. Developing new solutions, delivered via strong leadership, is key to continuity. Bill Pollock explains...  

While many would argue that a serious marketing and business development action plan is required at all times, this is especially true during turbulent times. During historical boom economic growth periods, post-war recoveries and peacetime economic expansions, it seemed that virtually any half-hearted marketing or business development activities led to continuing business growth.

However, when the going gets rough, there are two key factors that all services organisations must keep in mind:

1. Life – and business – still go on, but
2. Customers have neither the time nor the inclination to mess around.

Field Service Strategy During and Post-Pandemic

The compound events of the sudden and unexpected spread of the Coronavirus, and the subsequent crash of the global economic markets have temporarily brought the world, and its businesses, to a stunned and sudden standstill. There is no longer “business (or life) as usual”. Many citizens are now “sheltered at home”, either voluntarily, or mandated by their respective governments. There is also an increasing realisation that life as we knew it would no longer be the same. As a result, neither would field services – nor services of any kind!

Already, there are many facets of the traditional services delivery model that have changed forever. However, workers will continue to use their computers, tablets and smartphones to get their day-to-day jobs done. The mobile workforce will become increasingly mobile – as will the pre-Coronavirus office workforce. As such, networks and carriers will become even more important components of the customer and field technician communications processes than ever before.

Payments will still need to be made, although there are likely to be less ATM transactions, as they will likely be replaced by an increase in online payments via the Internet, Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo and the like. Chipped credit and debit cards were supposed to slowly replace the older magnetic strip cards; however, this transformation has been accelerated by the Coronavirus pandemic, where more and more payments will now be made via “tap” or “wave”, instead of swipe, insert or hand-to-hand transfers of cards or cash with human clerks.

Patients will still go for MRIs, CT-scans and surgical procedures – but, at least temporarily, not so much for elective surgeries or non-life-threatening medical situations. Milk will still be processed. Pharmaceuticals will be manufactured. Textiles will be sewn. And services organisations will still be called upon to support their customers, dealers and end users with a full array of new and steadily evolving services.

When you think about it, everything that we do in the services industry still needs to get done – especially in these turbulent times. In many ways, we are all doing the same things as we did pre-Coronavirus – although now, there is an extra measure of importance in everything we do, every step we take, and every customer we support. It’s just going to be different! And remain different!

 

"This may also be a good time to strengthen your own organisation’s relationships amongst its strategic partners..."

 

As recently as just a few months ago, undoubtedly, we were all dealing with customers (or vendors) who, for whatever reasons, simply strove to meet “acceptable” levels of service delivery performance and customer satisfaction. Some had internal goals, objectives or mandates that needed to be met; while others simply wanted to improve existing levels of customer satisfaction to “keep up with the Joneses”. Now, everything is different. The stakes are suddenly higher.

Every business, everywhere in the civilized world, now requires the highest levels of B2B (and, increasingly, B2C) support from its cadre of vendors and partners – no matter whether the support required is on-site break/fix, helpdesk or preventive maintenance; or systems integration, consulting or professional services. However, increasingly, there has been (and is now virtually mandated) a rapidly-moving transformation away from the traditional on-site, “hands-on” approach (whether supported by Augmented Reality or not) to a “hands off” approach where service and support is, instead, provided via Predictive Diagnostics, Remote Diagnostics/Maintenance, and now – Remote Expertise.

 

3D Printing within the Field Service Supply Chain?

Further, “last year’s technologies”, such as 3D Printing, have been propelled directly into the forefront of Parts & Inventory Management as global businesses have relied heavily on the ad hoc ability to manufacture parts – on-site, and immediately – to support local medical and related emergencies. Most analysts agree that 3D Printing will fast become a mainstay of parts and inventory management as quality continues to improve and costs come down further.

In today’s tense environment when an unforeseen development can bring air travel and mail service to a sudden halt, thereby stopping parts shipments or freezing deliveries; send unexpectedly high numbers of people to medical centers for tests, evaluation and possible hospitalisation; or disrupt field service operations as otherwise would-be mobile workers sit “sheltered at home” until they are permitted, once again, to make service calls on-site, there is a renewed need for services “above and beyond the call of duty” to support what used to be “business as usual”.

But how can this be done?

Quite simply, it will involve ramping up the types of services and support products that have been historically marketed to a higher level of contingency-based support as well. This may also be a good time to strengthen your own organisation’s relationships amongst its strategic partners. For example, whatever your company’s portfolio of service and support products may have been historically, now would be a propitious time to refocus it around professional services including contingency planning, business continuity and disaster recovery, etc. And, if you already provide these types of services yourself, now is the time to promote them more heavily to the marketplace. However, if you don’t – now may be the right time to find yourself a strategic partner in those fields with which to “piggyback”, or joint market, your services.

 

"Whatever happens from this point on, the world has changed..."

 

Customers, who only a few months ago, were primarily concerned with hardware, software and helpdesk support, are now also talking about contingency planning, business continuity and disaster recovery. Terms like “high availability” and “hot sites” have been around, it seems, almost forever. However, with the advent and proliferation of the Coronavirus pandemic, they are now “top of mind” for many businesses, and no longer on the “back burner”. Are these the types of professional services that are also “top of mind” to the marketplace when they think of your organisation? If not, what can you do to make it so?

 

The Critical Rise of Augmented Reality

Field service solution providers that did not offer an Augmented Reality (AR) or Merged Reality (MR) component to their respective portfolio of offerings yesterday, were still credible alternatives for supporting your organisation’s field operations – but, not any longer! If your services organisation is looking for a credible FSM solution today, you should only be considering those powered by the Internet of Things (IoT), and built on a foundation of AR/MR, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning.

However, AR/MR is mostly helpful for empowering on-site field technicians to perform the “fix” quicker, without mistakes, and without the need to carry pounds of paper or electronic schematics with them as they drive to the customer site – but they still need to drive to the customer site! Although an AR/MR solution is essentially resident in the Cloud, it still requires “feet on the street”!

One alternative would be to train the customer/user to AR/MR to perform the “fix” themselves – but this reflects an age-old conundrum as to how much power do you want to give to the customer? How much can they be trusted to make the “fix” correctly, and without damaging anything, or taking the equipment out of warranty? What about regulatory requirements, particularly in the medical/healthcare and other highly-regulated industry segments? There will need to be an orderly progression to allow some – but not all – customers to add this capability to their self-help capabilities. This is where Remote Expertise can be of great value, incorporating such features as a “virtual” technician on-screen presence, repair instructions shown via superimposed human hands, and on-screen telestration (i.e., similar to a sports commentator’s on-screen annotations during a football match, etc.).

Whatever happens from this point on, the world has changed. The way of conducting business has also changed; however, the way of supporting businesses with the services and support they require to satisfy their customers has not – it just got a lot more complicated, and, perhaps, a bit more serious. With this increased seriousness, we can “kiss goodbye” all those meaningless and frivolous attempts to “bundle” our existing services products into a “new” branded package, or otherwise try to disguise our “same old, same old” offerings by thrusting them into a tiered, or “bullion” packaging portfolio (i.e., Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, etc. – that would be so 1990’s). Our customers have always been too smart for that anyway!

What the market wants – and needs – is an honest and forthright offering of service and support that will give them one less thing to worry about as they attempt to meet their immediate struggles, and their customers’ quickly evolving needs in this “new” – and very different – world.

Turbulent times require a serious approach, plus serious marketing and promotion – and it doesn’t get much more turbulent than this! We owe it to our customers, ourselves and our respective communities to rise to the occasion, and ensure that we can provide the services and support that our customers require immediately, as well as in the short-, mid- and longer-term. Services marketing and business development have never been more serious.

 

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Further Reading:

• Read more articles by Bill Pollock @ www.fieldservicenews.com/billpollock
• Read more about Covid-19 in service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/en-gb/covid-19
• Read more about Digital Transformation in field service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about 3D printing in service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/3d+printing
• Read more from Bill Pollock's own blog @ https://pollockonservice.com

AR firm says service firms affected by virus can use tool free of charge during trial-period.

Augmented reality company XMreality is offering firms impacted by Covid-19 free use of its Remote Guidance Service tool for an extended trial period.

 

Remote Technical Suppport

As the knock-on effect of the virus hits travel logistics - an essential strand of service delivery - experts who take up the offer can effectively provide technical support remotely without having to leave the office or home.

"Being able to provide swift and efficient technical support to customers or colleagues is crucial to the competitiveness of businesses and, in some cases, even for keeping vital infrastructure working," a press release accompanying the announcement read. "XMReality has now decided to help those companies whose operations have been affected by travel restrictions. The solution is already used in over 40 countries, including China. Accessibility is maximized because the recipient does not need any special hardware or software to receive instructions. All you need on site is a mobile phone with internet connection."

Commenting, Johan Castevall, CEO at XMReality said the company were happy to offer assistance during these difficult times for the service industry: “We are pleased to be able to help in a crisis. “We can see that a large number of companies are being hit hard by the effects of the Coronavirus, so we want to support them and facilitate their operations.” 

XMReality's announcement joins others in the service sector who are offering free use of their tools during the pandemic including Augmentir and ServiceMax. The software outfit are allowing new customers to access their real-time communication platform Zinc free of change for three months.

 

More information about XMReality's offer can be found here.

Italian utilities firm Italgas adopts hands-free solution from Realwear and OverIT to empower their field service engineers...

RealWear, the world’s leading industrial hands-free knowledge transfer platform for frontline workers today announced that Italgas opted for RealWear’s HMT-1Z1 intrinsically safe platform running OverIT’s field services software to support the digital transformation of its operations.

Italgas reports that with the RealWear-OverIT field services solution, they’ve moved beyond the consumer tablet, taking their digital transformation to the next logical level with a purpose-built device for restricted zones. They have already seen huge productivity gains with RealWear by solving complex and risk-sensitive job tasks even in ATEX Zone 1 restricted zones.

“We’re thrilled that our HMT-1Z1 systems are helping Italgas accelerate its digital transformation efforts, improving safety and reliability,” said Andy Lowery, RealWear’s CEO.“We are committed to delivering intuitive hands-free systems to accelerate knowledge transfer to the next generation of workers.”

 

The benefits of field service engineers going hands free...

Utility field workers performing maintenance work on gas infrastructure frequently encounter potentially hazardous situations that require immediate remote support and visualization of real-time IoT data of specific assets. Beyond just managing work orders, Italgas’s field services crews are required to visualize data and read technical documents while performing manual work. Italgas declares that keeping hands free via voice-controlled systems safely resolves complex issues quickly and avoids additional travel or costly service downtime in extremely restricted zones where gases are present.

At Italgas, gas distribution means guaranteeing network safety, service continuity and system efficiency. To improve service quality and safety, increase distribution system efficiency and have a positive impact on the environment, the third largest European utility has been investing heavily in the digitization of its operations.

"The innovative solution enables Italgas’s field workers to reference documents (e.g., technical datasheets, multimedia content and asset history) while using their hands to perform the maintenance on a specific asset..."

The utility first deployed the automated scheduling of work orders in 2004, pioneering the adoption of a Field Service Management solution to allow its workforce to avoid the need to visit the office to collect tasks in the morning or physically hand off documents at the end of their shift. In 2012, to efficiently manage its approximately 44,000 miles of pipelines and 7.6 million assets, Italgas became one of the first utilities to use consumer devices for its workforce.

The implementation of OverIT’s Field Service Management solution was a success and Italgas quickly moved onto an even bigger challenge: how could workers operate hands-free and benefit from the features of the tablet app while performing manual maintenance tasks? Italgas' Digital Factory, the utility’s innovation department, developed the idea of using head-mounted devices (HMDs) and assisted reality. Currently, the innovative solution enables Italgas’s field workers to reference documents (e.g., technical datasheets, multimedia content and asset history) while using their hands to perform the maintenance on a specific asset.

Data collection via voice provides further efficiency, enabling users to update asset information without any manual input. Italgas’s goal is to increase the number of field workers supported by the solution and expand its functionality. At Italgas, the knowledge gained from long-tenured workers is critical. Capturing their expertise and transferring it to less experienced technicians on the job advances digital transformation for the utility.

 

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Further Reading:

• Discover more news and analysis from OverIT on Field Service News here 
• Visit OverIT's website here 

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We asked Bill Pollock to predict what he thinks 2020 will bring. Typically, he went beyond the next 12 months and horizon-scanned into the not so distant service future where failure to keep-up could mean the end of your offering.
There has been a growing shift away from manufacturing toward the Servitisation model for decades already. However, while the manufacturing model is a well-entrenched, deeply-rooted model that everybody understands; the Servitisation model is still not anywhere near being as widely understood – even within the services sector.

The transition from break/fix, to network services, to self-help, to remote diagnostics/support has been steady, and has followed a logical evolution over the years. However, the move toward Servitisation requires more of a “leap of faith” as well as a whole new mode of operating (and pricing) for which many services managers are still not familiar – or comfortable.

This trend has carried on for decades – and the services sector is just about ready to “rock and roll” with it moving forward; however, even some of the key (and more savvy) players are not yet 100% certain that they have it right with respect to re-engineering their overall service delivery structure; services support organisation; KPIs and metrics; services support policies, procedures and processes; pricing, accountability – and the list goes on. As such, this trend will positively carry on throughout 2020 – and well beyond – as each major group of services organisations (i.e., leaders, followers, “wait-and-see’ers”, skeptics, and all others) begin their respective transitions.

The evolutionary prospects for Servitisation are quite simple: the market, as a whole, will need to see some prime examples of success in their respective vertical and/or horizontal services segments before making the plunge. They’ll need to move beyond all of the “failure” and pratfall stories before feeling more confident. They’ll need to hear some success stories – and, in their own segment. Bank/financial organisations will need to see how others in their field have succeeded, and what the positive results have been. The same will go for the medical/healthcare segment, manufacturing/industrial segment, and so on.

Most organisations will also need help with how to price “power by the hour”, “airplanes in the air”, and other “new” ways for pricing their services. I suspect there will be an uptick in the number of case studies, Webcasts and conference sessions focusing on these and other related areas. Servitisation is – and will continue to be – a big deal for years to come.

"Customers no longer will be pleased simply with equipment that is working, sensors that are communicating, and devices that are operating..."

Organisations are also transitioning from providing corrective maintenance to predictive maintenance, and this trend continues to shape the industry moving forward. Corrective maintenance has worked for many years because, basically, that’s all the industry had to offer. From the break/fix, call the manufacturer’s hotline, days; through the current remote diagnostics and repair days, there has been a common thread running through our industry: Some piece of equipment fails, a call is made (i.e., either by phone, in the past; or, today, remotely from the equipment itself) and a corrective action is taken. 

However, these are examples of the soon-to-be-bygone OTR (i.e., On-Time-Response), MTBF (i.e., Mean-Time-Between-Failure), MTTR (i.e., Mean-Time-To-Repair), FTFR (i.e., First-Time-Fix-Rate) and PM (i.e., Preventive Maintenance) days. Through Predictive Diagnostics and Predictive Maintenance the need for any On-Time Response will be highly diminished, as will the need for MTBF, MTTR and FTFR KPIs/metrics, etc. Over the coming years, there will be the need for “new” metrics, such as MTBPF (i.e., Mean-Time-Between-Prevented-Failures); MTTR will be measured in minutes or seconds, rather than in hours or days; FTFRs will be normalised as everything will get fixed in a single attempt, whether it requires a single “try”, or multiple “tries”; and PMs will virtually disappear (or at least be replaced by another PM = Predictive Maintenance). 

There will be a whole “new” way of delivering service, as well as measuring the success of the organisation through an entirely “new” set of KPIs, or metrics. [By the way - I have already written many times about the need for “new” KPIs/metrics and, respectfully claim the rights to MTBPF!] 

Customers no longer will be pleased simply with equipment that is working, sensors that are communicating, and devices that are operating – they are now beginning to look more closely at how their systems, equipment, sensors and devices are working together, in their behalf to get the job done. A services organisation that merely keeps individual systems or equipment up and running (i.e., maintaining high levels of uptime), but does not ensure that they are all working together to effectively and efficiently execute the company’s business, will ultimately find themselves being replaced by other services organisations that do. The clear winners will be those organisations that “get” Servitisation, and not those that do not.

"There will need to be an industry-wide educational 'push' as to what Servitization really is..."

Again, what will move the needle in 2020, is clearly communicating to the marketplace what failures to avoid (and how to avoid them), and what successes can be had (and how to achieve them). There will need to be an industry-wide educational 'push' as to what Servitisation really is, what it can do for the organisation (and what will happen if they don’t embrace it), what the ultimate value propositions are for transitioning to this “new” model, and what some of the best success stories have been.

Further, most services organisations are not currently using their respective Field Service Management (FSM) solutions to their full capabilities. The most successful organisations may come close, but there are few that eke out all of the capabilities that may otherwise be offered to them. Some may augment their FSM solution with a home-grown Excel spreadsheet “patch”; others may be using their Sales & Marketing Management (SMM) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions for activities that their FSM could (or should) be able to support; and still others may not even be aware of the full spectrum of capabilities they may have right at their fingertips. Again, it becomes an educational process that should be driven by the FSM solution providers themselves through the offering of strengthened professional services, such as customer portals, training, train-the-trainers, etc.

As some FSM solution providers may be focusing more on developing Augmented Reality (AR), Merged Reality (MR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) based applications to bolster their offerings, they may be relatively deficient in focusing on the basic, or “core”, components of their solutions and, thereby, miss the opportunity to help their customers/users get the most out of their offerings.

Services organisations will also be relying much more heavily on apps and mobile devices in support of their service delivery performance in 2020. Society, as a whole, is relying more and more on apps and mobile devices for communications; and, in many cases, the services sector is leading the way.

Most FSM solution providers are providing their customers/users with more apps and customer portals to facilitate their use of the solution, as well as for communications with their remote support providers. Every year, a higher percent of business is being conducted remotely, and the need for more functional mobile communications is increasing commensurately. The IoT stands for the Internet of Things; and in this regard, humans may also be considered as one category of “things” that the IoT helps to connect. 2020 will see the proliferation of all types of “things” connected to one another through the IoT: systems, equipment, devices – and people. In fact, the numbers of connected things will likely to continue to grow at an accelerated rate in 2020 – and beyond. The more connectivity there is, the better the delivery of service can be.

 

"The move toward AR and VR is beginning to grow even faster as more installations have been deployed, and more success stories are making the rounds..."

 

Companies will also continue to expand their use of AI-powered field service technology and tools. Basically, companies that are already using AI technology in support of their services operations are much more likely to expand its use over time – and, probably, very quickly. However, companies that do not yet employ the use of AI in their services operations typically lie on either side of the fence: either, “we need to do it now”, or “let’s wait and see how this all works out.” The pressure to embed AI in their services operations will be so intense, however, that there is likely to be a surge in usage throughout 2020 and successive years.

Primary uses of AI include the powering of a chatbot capability; the ability to identify key target markets for selling/upselling/cross-selling products and services; and the ability to make their overall services operations work much more productively and efficiently.

Just as Virtual Reality (VR) has made watching American football games (and European football games, as well) easier for the layman to understand, it is also making it much easier for field technicians to repair equipment in the field. No more bulky documents or manuals are required, and training programs can be short-cut (to a certain degree) as AR and VR, merged together into MR, can lead the technician to a “perfect” fix, first time, and every time.

The move toward AR and VR is beginning to grow even faster as more installations have been deployed, and more success stories are making the rounds (at trade shows and Webinars, etc.). In fact, the merging of AR and VR has sent out a signal to the “Wait and see’ers” that they may be missing the boat on AR as it is already merging with VR – all while many of their competitors are beginning to implement AI and Machine Learning platforms in support of their services operations. The time to move is now – before it’s too late in terms of having your competitors ending up being better equipped to support (and market to) their targeted customer base.With the rise of IoT-connected devices and smart homes, many new challenges lie ahead for the field service industry. The rise of IoT-connected devices and smart homes provides a major value proposition to customers, as well as to the FSM solution providers. However, what also comes along with the benefits are a number of potentially serious consequences.

For example, once virtually everything is connected, smart systems will likely become more susceptible to power outages, hacking and various types of breaches in security. The analogy is: before watches, people used sundials to tell time. Then watches could help them tell time – until they either wound down, or the batteries went dead. Today, if the global satellite network goes down (e.g., as a result of space debris, solar flares, etc.), many things we all take for granted will stop working, including a partial/temporary halt to our ability to tell time, make change, or communicate to one another via our mobile devices.

As an example, as I have been writing this article for Field Service News, I have used a pink post-it note to cover the camera on my iMac. At the same time, Alexa is probably listening to anything I say without me even thinking about it. Further, somewhere across the globe, there is probably someone standing outside the front window of a home and yelling at Alexa, Googol or Siri to “remind me what my password is for the front door security code.” What the "expert” hackers can do to outsmart smart homes or businesses will only get more invasive – and potentially dangerous – over time (i.e., the invasions of privacy tend to happen first, with the “patch” or “fix” coming later). As such, the need to provide continual connectivity PLUS protect the privacy of the customer/user will be paramount as more and more smart implementations go into play.

Making projections for 2020 in the services industry is relatively easy. Basically, everything you have gotten used to is going to change. Here's my summary:

• The “good guys” will make everything better; and the “bad guys” will try to make everything worse
• Every time you make a mistake, the whole world will find out about it virtually instantly
• Service fixes will be completed faster – but you won’t always be aware that there was a fix
• Service pricing may or may not be more expensive – but it will certainly be different
• New start-ups will enter the market; but some old standbys will be forced to depart
• Most of the KPIs/metrics you’ve used for decades will be replaced
• The most successful services organisations will follow the lead of technology – not the competition
• You think that today’s Merged Reality applications are too futuristic or too soon? Wait ‘til tomorrow, when everything is merged (i.e., connected)

 

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Read more from Bill at Pollockonservice.com 

 

 

Librestream’s Onsight AR Enterprise platform is now optimized for Samsung’s latest ruggedized tablet, the Galaxy Tab Active Pro...

Smart Field Force Management Aimed at Communications Service Providers...

Earlier this summer we introduced you to three companies that we felt were set up to bring some significant value to the field service sector. Now as we look forward to 2020 here are three more companies that could potentially help drive your field service business forwards..

While Augmented Reality (AR) offers a range of benefits, why do challenges around its implementation still exist? Field Service News’ Deputy Editor Mark Glover explores some of the technology’s major milestones, including its role in the industrial environment, and asks what’s needed to make it a ubiquitous part of an engineer’s toolkit...