IFS Completes the Acquisition of Global Enterprise Service Management Provider Axios Systems

Jun 11, 2021 • News • Digital Transformation • field service management • IFS • GLOBAL • Axios Systems

IFS, the global cloud enterprise applications company, announces that it has concluded the acquisition of Axios Systems.

The transaction, which was initially announced in March 2021, combines two pioneers of the service management space: IFS, with its leadership in Field Service Management and Axios Systems, with its strength in IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Operations Management (ITOM). The combined IFS Enterprise Service Management proposition is unique in how it enables companies to orchestrate their value chain and optimize their workflows so they can not only deliver amazing moments of service to their customers, but also so they can maximize revenue creation opportunities and increase profitability.

IFS STRENGHTENS LEADERSHIP in service management with THE ADDITION OF AXIOS SYSTEMS' POWERFUL ITMS AND ITOM CAPABILITIES

Since the acquisition was announced, IFS is proud to have attracted many of the best leaders from the sector to bolster the already growing team at Axios Systems. Now under the framework of a dedicated Business Unit within IFS, the team are focused on delivering new product innovation, increased investment in customer experience, and a more focused, industry-led, go-to-market.

Martin Schirmer, President of the Enterprise Service Management Business Unit, commented, “Over the past two months I have met with many employees, customers and partners who I would like to thank for their openness and enthusiasm for what lies ahead. It’s clear to me that we have acquired a company with many assets and strengths, in a market that is evolving and in need for further disruption. With the investment we are committing as well as our customer-centric approach, I am confident that our current customer base will benefit, which will in turn help attract new customers, and we will further extend IFS’s dominance in the overall service management space.”

To learn more about IFS’s service management solutions, please visit: ifs.com/service. For more information on the Axios Systems best-of-breed proposition Assyst, please visit: ifs.com/assyst.

How to Get the Pulse of the Customer Before the NPS Score

Jun 09, 2021 • Features • service excellence • technology • Aquant • Covid-19 • Leadership and Strategy • GLOBAL

In an age of Uberization, customer service expectations are higher than ever in our post- pandemic world. The answer to meeting those expectations lies within the rich data sets we have on each customer. However, the flow of information often reaches us too late for intervention. Is Artificial Intelligence the solution that will help us spot service trends before the customer relationship goes sour? Kris Oldland talks to Aquant’s Sidney Lara to find out more about this critical area of modern service excellence...

At the end of 2020, Field Service News Research undertook a major research study that globally spoke to over 240 field service organisations.

The study’s findings reinforced what many of us already knew; our industry was going through radical change. The pandemic was the catalyst, but we had already begun a journey of transformation long ago. Yet, while the technology and even the delivery mechanisms for service may be rapidly evolving, the fundamentals of service delivery remain constant.

In that study, we saw how 70% of field service organizations stated that service excellence remained a key differentiator in winning and retaining business. However, the definition of what service excellence looks like in a post-pandemic world (a world that has embraced digital transformation with both hands in a bid to better meet customer demands) has undoubtedly changed.

In today’s Uberized world, the expectation of effortlessness in service interactions has reached entirely new peaks. Our customers expect us to have joined the dots before we speak to them. They have become accustomed to the companies they choose to work with, having a detailed and intimate knowledge of their interactions. Yet, for many field service organizations, they are driving while looking in the rear-view mirror. That is to say that today too many of us (because of lack of tools, not lack of will) fail to leverage the deep customer data we have until there is a problem.

The systems in place are often adequate, but is it adequate enough when the bar has been raised so high by bleeding-edge data-driven service providers? Is the information your service department receives often simply too little and too late? When that low NPS score comes back, the damage has been done, and it can take twice as much effort to rebuild a broken customer relationship than to maintain a healthy one.

The key question then for field service organizations operating in these dynamic and fast-developing times is how can they get ahead of customer issues before they happen? The answer is by understanding all of your service data.

It is a task easier said than done, but one that can be achieved by leveraging Artificial Intelligence tools that are designed to surface the critical data that brings such insight and knowledge to the fore.

To find out more about this critical area within our sector, Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News, caught up with Sidney Lara, Service Principal, Aquant.

Kris: Customer relationships have always been important, why the urgent need now to reevaluate how well you know your customers?

Sidney: We are in the age where data is readily available almost anywhere and anytime. Customers can make smarter decisions when it comes to choosing a manufacturer or service company. So, while they may be a customer today, what are you doing today to ensure you have their loyalty tomorrow?

Additionally, as technology evolves both for manufacturers and service providers, you need to think about clearly defining your differentiating product or services. Take a step back and ask yourself if you were the customer, why would you choose a particular product or service? Do your goals align with your customer goals and how do you ensure you are meeting those expectations? If you can’t measure your customer loyalty, you may find yourself at risk of losing them. What if one day, your largest customer decided to go with another product or service? How would this impact your business?

Kris: Service leaders have quite a few tools to measure KPIs and/or customer stats, what are they missing?

Sidney: I would agree. At the same time be very careful when talking about using tools and KPIs. I have seen and talked to people throughout my career that embrace technology and KPIs for their business or operations. What can be missing is the criticalness of the measure. Meaning, why are you measuring a particular KPI? Is it the flavor of the month or year? Is it because everyone in the industry measures it? Whatever the case may be, tools can shed light on weaknesses within your organization. However, will those measures improve customer value or benefit? If it doesn’t, maybe you need to rethink and prioritize accordingly. We need to be careful not to confuse data points with insights, just because we have the data, doesn’t always mean we know how to use it in a way that best advances our goals.

Kris: It sounds like you are discussing BI tools. Why does standard BI fail service organizations?

Sidney: Thank you for asking, as this is a critical point - we need to differentiate data points and BI tools from meaningful analysis of that data. Organizations can fall into the trap of adopting BI tools and create wonderful insights to see their business strengths and weaknesses to the level they have never seen or experienced before. While the detailed visibility can be great, this can also lead to a trap of creating too many KPI’s or lead to the potential of “analysis paralysis”.

Those that know me well have heard me say “let’s not boil the ocean.” If we try to solve all issues, (with this wonderful BI Data) we will never effectively solve any of them or at least not in a timely manner.

Next you need to ask, does what I’m highlighting with my BI dashboard actually align to the company’s strategic goals? If it does, then it’s much easier for you to gain organizational buy-in. The next question is, how can we use this data to ensure visibility and timely support to solve those issues? Strategic measures need to become front page news within an organization whether results are good or bad.

Total transparency on key initiatives drives accountability and ideally creates a winning environment when everyone can see improvements month over month. Finally, and most critical, is taking timely action on those measures if you don’t meet your goals.

Teams should strive to review results as often as needed to monitor and celebrate successes. But equally important, swift action to apply timely countermeasures on missed targets is the secret sauce. Done in a very cadenced manner, you will drive effective improvements to your organization. Likewise, if countermeasures are not executed in a cadenced manner consistently, I’d be willing to bet lack of improvement will follow.

But back to the question, “Why do standard BI tools fail service?” Ultimately, BI tools provide a vast amount of information, but little direction on what information is most critical to my business goals. Additionally, they don’t answer the question, “How do I take actionable steps to address service issues?

Kris: How can service leaders make informed decisions today (based on data not hunches)?

Sidney: Service leaders must discipline themselves to step away from the inevitable daily service fires to evaluate if their services are providing customers with value.

Ask the following questions:

What are the ways that you are measuring customer value? How often are you taking the customer’s pulse of satisfaction? Are you leveraging technology to gain immediate access to this critical data?

While we often hear that service is the most important department in an organization in terms of driving customer satisfaction, service leaders need to have the data readily available to effectively navigate and analyze their services.

Even by monitoring certain KPI that on the surface appear good can still lead to customer dissatisfaction. Service leaders must have the ability to look deeply into metrics for true root cause understanding. This is where today’s AI can aid in swift decision making. Service leaders must embrace change and leverage technology to gain the best insights as quickly as possible to effectively steer the organization in the right direction. Those that do will be able to maximize customer satisfaction while improving operations that lead to growth.

Kris: What do those different outcomes look like?

Sidney: Great question - It is essential to understand all the relative data to your initiative or goal. By reacting to a metric, simply because it dipped or missed the mark can often lead to all kinds of assumptions and ineffective countermeasures. You’ll only get a true understanding of the root cause if you look at all the data (the big picture) that led to a final outcome. This leads to effective countermeasures and decision making. This is where you should leverage technology to customize the view you need for your specific needs.

Kris: What tools will ultimately help them turn the corner in their customer relationships?

Sidney: Turning the corner with customers can be easily achieved when you are the driver and/or initiator in communicating asset performance and service performance. Don’t wait for the customer to express dissatisfaction.

When you have the ability and tools to illustrate your service performance, you should want to communicate the results of your services. If your services are doing great, then this provides the platform to remind your customer of why you are a choice provider. Can you leverage these opportunities for upselling more services?

If your services are not going well, you should still take the opportunity to tell your customer what actions you are taking to improve the misses. Effective communication and transparency of your services with your customer will help nurture a relationship where customers will see you as a partner in their business and see you as a vested partner making them successful.

Kris: What’s the best way to get started today?

Sidney: I recommend getting started with AI tools or AI vendors that can understand both your business and your data on day one. Look at technology that can quickly analyze your data AND provide actionable recommendations, instead of a tool that simply visualizes data.

There are many BI technologies that have the ability to compress and summarize data so it can be difficult to decide which one is best for you.

At Aquant not only do we have the ability to compress and summarize your data, but we also differentiate ourselves by applying Natural Language Generation (NLG) and Natural Learning Processing (NLP) to enable dynamic real time feedback. We uniquely aggregate your data into a simple yet meaningful format.

As a result, Service leaders can take swift calls to action like never before. Our technology can be implemented in a matter of a few weeks enabling service leaders a jump start on your abilities to drive change.

World’s Leading Geo-Data Specialist Fugro Signs Contract with IFS for Global Financial and Project Management Solution

Jun 02, 2021 • News • industry leaders • IFS • Leadership and Strategy • GLOBAL

Geo-data specialist, Fugro, is fueling a transformation journey to unify its people, processes, and business data with a single enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution from IFS.

With a 9,000-strong workforce in 61 countries, Fugro collects and analyzes information about the earth and the structures built upon it. The company helps its customers determine the optimal site for the safe, cost-effective, and sustainable design and construction of buildings and infrastructure by acquiring, analyzing and advising on geodata for clients in industries such as offshore and land-based energy, renewables, infrastructure, and nautical engineering.

IFS Software to empower Furgro employees worldwide with cloud-based capabilities across global finance and accounting, project management and procurement

The investment in IFS is part of a company-wide initiative that is aimed at bringing staff together in one collaborative way of working, on a centralized technological framework. Without a central system and access to one version of its business information, the company was challenged in leveraging efficient and collaborative ways of working, with common processes and effective business and financial reporting. To provide a single, digital home to its business units, the company opted for a flexible solution that could support its project-based business and ensure timely and accurate reporting in one fully integrated solution. The cloud-based IFS solution will support mission-critical processes including financial management, project and business management, project accounting, and purchasing. When fully deployed, the system will be used in some 40 countries worldwide.

“Companies like us, supporting our clients in managing their complex project lifecycles, are often forced to use separate software products to manage different stages of the project, creating multiple disconnects between data, people and time,” Fugro Chief Executive Officer Mark Heine said. “The IFS solution will standardize and harmonize our project-oriented processes in one highly intuitive ERP platform. Having all of our people accessing the same data and working in the same way will be faster and more enjoyable for our teams. We look forward to working with IFS to usher in the next phase of our company’s business transformation journey.”

Frank Beerlage, Managing Director, IFS Benelux, added, “Project-based service providers such as Fugro need business technology that can scale and flex as business and circumstances dictate. We have a very successful track record in developing tools for companies in some of the world’s most demanding environments, both offshore and onshore. Fugro is a well-respected brand in the project-based service space and we are excited to be working alongside them to establish new standards of efficiency and value.”

The solution will be implemented in collaboration with management and technology consultancy, and Platinum-level IFS partner, BearingPoint.

Learn more about how IFS supports project-based businesses at www.ifs.com/corp/solutions/enterprise-resource-planning/project-erp-software/.

Upsell Leakage: Everything You Need To Know

Jun 01, 2021 • Features • Coen Jeukens • servicemax • Leadership and Strategy • GLOBAL

Do you know what your maximum service revenue potential could be based on the product units your organization sells? Is your current service revenue less than this maximum? Do you have a process to upsell service contracts into your existing...

If you gave one or more puzzled looks while reading that, chances are you are suffering from upsell leakage.

In my previous article on revenue leakage, I defined two types of leakage: contract and non-contract leakage. In this article, we’ll define upsell leakage. It is very likely that upsell leakage at your business could be twice as big as the other two combined.

Understanding Upselling Leakage

As a service organization, you’d like all your customers to buy your premium service. Some customers will buy ‘gold’ service level for their installed base, others will be happy with ‘basic’ service. It all depends on the use case of your customer and their propensity to value the services you offer. As use cases tend to change over time, you may want to consider setting up an upselling program using the touchpoints from your service delivery.

“If you don’t ask, you don’t give them the opportunity to say yes.”

Not having such a program deprives you of revenue potential; being the delta between your current service revenue and ’gold’ service level.

Defining the Upsell Service Revenue Potential

To quantify upsell leakage we can use a mechanism known to Sales as TAM (Total Addressable Market). Suppose you sold 1,000 units at $10,000 each. Suppose a ‘gold’ service contract has an annual selling price of 12% of the unit selling price. This would put your service-TAM at $1,200,000 per annum.

Imagine your service department has 600 of those 1,000 units on their radar screen. The rest is sold via an indirect sales channel and/ or lost-out-of-sight. This gives an installed base visibility of 60%. Let’s assume those 600 units generate a service revenue of $400,000, split across:

10% of units are in (OEM) warranty and don’t generate revenue (yet)
50% of units have a bronze, silver, or gold contract generating $240,000
40% of units don’t have a contract and generate $160,000 in Time & Material (T&M)

With the above figures, you currently reap 33% of your service-TAM and you have an upsell potential of $800,000. Monitoring this upsell leakage metric should give you the incentive to put a revenue generation program in place.

Identifying the Metrics that Impact Upsell Leakage

In the numeric example, we’ve touched on three metrics that impact upsell leakage.

Installed base visibility: It all begins with installed base visibility. Units not on your radar screen will not contribute to your service revenue! This is easier to manage for units sold via your organization’s direct sales channel, though it does require an effort to manage the life cycle from as-sold to as-maintained. For units sold via the indirect sales channel, you’ll have to exert extra effort to get access point-of-sale data, maybe even ‘buying’ the data.
Attach rates: Both warranty and contracts are attached to the unit, thus driving attach rates. Attach rates are ‘boolean,’ they say something about having an attached contract, not about the amount of revenue you get through that contract. Attach rates start at the installation/ commissioning date of a unit. Either Sales makes the attached-sale at point-of-sale of the unit or the Service department drives the attaching post-point-of-sale. The driving metric for Service is to maintain a continuum of attachment throughout the life cycle of the unit.
Service revenue contribution: Within the subset of attached contracts, you’d like to have as much revenue contribution as possible, ‘gold’ service being the holy grail. Per service contract you could have any of the following revenue contributions:
- OEM Warranty: 0% of Service-TAM
- Enhanced Warranty: 33% of Service-TAM (only the on-top-of OEM warranty piece)
- Extended Warranty or Basic Service: 67% of Service-TAM
- Gold: 100% of Service-TAM

Remedying Upsell Leakage

The overarching paradigm to growing service revenue is twofold: increasing your installed base visibility and making sure you have attached offerings to those units.

Getting visibility on units sold via the indirect channel is slightly more complicated, but once you quantify the associated service-TAM with those units, you may have the ‘funding’ to ‘buy’ the data. This may even lead to revenue sharing models with your channel partners. The last piece of the puzzle is using the visibility of the upsell leakage gap whenever you have a touchpoint with your customer.

Note that the original (service) contract has been drafted many months ago by people who are further away from the business, who could not 100% envision the service reality of today. You thus may end up in an entitlement conversation where the customer has an urgent requirement whereas the contract ‘only’ covers for the ‘basics.’ The delta is an upsell opportunity. Either resulting in an upgrade of the service contract or maybe only upgrading an incidental work order. In case the latter happens more often, you have the data points to convince the customer for the former.

Now, understanding that upsell leakage is potentially twice as big as contract and non-contract leakage together, you may have found your compelling reason to start another revenue growth project.

Learn about ServiceMax Entitlements here.

Jacqueline de Rojas CBE appointed to IFS Board

May 13, 2021 • News • field service management • IFS • Sustainability • Leadership and Strategy • GLOBAL

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announces that Jacqueline de Rojas has joined its Board as a non-executive director. Following three years of successive double-digit growth, the appointment of de Rojas adds strength and depth to the IFS Board, providing direction, governance, and support to management during this phase of expansion. The appointment is effective immediately and brings the current number of non-executive directors at IFS to five.

De Rojas is an experienced technology executive and industry thought leader. Through her various roles and appointments, she has helped the industry at large address the digital skills gap, deliver on diversity and inclusion, and ensure technology is accessible throughout all levels of society. Her work and commitment have been recognized by industry bodies and governments. She has also been awarded Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services benefiting the technology sector related to international trade.

TENURED TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE AND PRESIDENT OF TECHUK TO SUPPORT IFS THROUGH THE NEXT PHASE OF GROWTH

Commenting on her appointment, de Rojas said, “As the global economy reboots following the Covid-19 pandemic, technology will play a crucial role in helping businesses to build back better and make up for lost ground. Throughout this crisis, we’ve seen the power of IT in action to deliver life-saving public services, swift vaccination rollouts and keep businesses operational.”

“IFS stands apart from its competitors by marrying the Company’s deep industry expertise with its ability to rapidly create business impact,” she continued. “The leadership team has a clear vision of how to empower its customers to deliver meaningful moments of service and value. I’m thrilled to be joining the diverse and ambitious team at IFS which is set to play a major role in the reshaping of industry business models as we enter a post-Covid economy.”

Darren Roos, CEO of IFS, said, “Jacqueline’s track record speaks for itself and she is a real ambassador for the things we care about as a business. Her experience and passion will be meaningful as IFS continues its transformation and growth trajectory. The expertise she brings will further enhance the board’s ability to support and oversee the delivery of our strategy.”

JdR Headshot AO3

Jacqueline de Rojas CBE

De Rojas holds Board-level assignments for several leading global businesses: as Chair of Metapraxis; and as a Board director at Rightmove plc, FDM Group plc, Costain Group plc. She is also President of techUK, an advocate for diversity and inclusion, and a mentor at Merryck Group.

Prior to her current assignments, de Rojas had a 30-year career in enterprise software having held senior leadership positions in global tech businesses such as Citrix, CA Technologies, McAfee, Novell, and Business Objects.

For more information about the members of the IFS Board, please visit: https://www.ifs.com/corp/company/governance/

Mize Presents Service Lifecycle Management at the Field Service Medical Virtual Event

May 04, 2021 • News • Digital Transformation • Mize • GLOBAL

Mize, provider of the Connected Customer Experience Platform and Service Lifecycle Management software, announced that Mize would sponsor and present at the Field Service Medical Virtual Event by WBR, a Conference for Leaders of Customer Success,...

Sponsored by Mize, the Field Service Medical Virtual Event will feature presentations and panel discussions with industry leaders from across the medical device industry. They will share details on their 2021 strategies through conversations designed to provide attendees with best practices and lessons learned.

mize shares insights from a real-world journey to transform and unify access to service information

Michele Merritt, professional services consultant manager at Philips Healthcare, a leading health technology company, and Josh Russell, director of product management at Mize, will co-present a keynote on the journey to transform and unify access to service information globally. The keynote highlights how Philips Healthcare transformed its service documentation process to reduce costs, improve performance, and create a better user experience using the Mize Service Knowledge Management solution. The keynote is May 5 at 3:15 p.m. ET.

"With Mize Service Knowledge Management solution for field service engineers, global medical device manufacturers can simplify the access to all service and parts information," said Russell. "Mize knowledge delivery platform provides secure access to all content types globally to improve technician productivity and reduce costs while improving the product uptime for healthcare organizations."

At the conference, Mize will showcase industry-leading service lifecycle management solutions, including field service management, service parts management, and warranty and contract management. Mize service solutions are used by global manufacturers such as Electrolux, AGCO, and Kohler Power Systems to streamline service interactions with their channel partners, service technicians, and end customers.

"Field service engineers play a vital role in keeping the critical medical devices performing as expected with minimal downtime. Having access to service knowledge and parts information at any time anywhere globally on any device online or offline helps these field service professionals to deliver accurate and timely service," said Ashok Kartham, Founder & CEO of Mize. "Mize scalable CX platform and field service management solution enables global manufacturers and tens of thousands of their service technicians to have global access to optimize the service delivery and maximize product uptime."

IFS’s Q1 Hits Significant Markers with Double Digit Growth in Recurring Revenues and Triple Digit Growth in the Service Management Business

Apr 28, 2021 • News • field service management • IFS • Sustainability • Leadership and Strategy • GLOBAL

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...

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/.

Improve Technician Efficiency and Productivity with Service Parts Management

Apr 27, 2021 • Features • Mize • Parts Pricing and Logistics • GLOBAL • Spare Parts Management

When a part breaks or wears down, providing a quick and efficient replacement is crucial for keeping customers’ operations running smoothly.

Offering reliable repairs improves the buying experience, leading to repeat part sales and happy long-term customer relationships. It’s a win-win for everyone—but it’s almost impossible to achieve without an effective service parts management process.

On the surface, service parts management seems like a relatively straightforward process; a part breaks, and a technician is deployed to fix or repair it. But in order for that process to run efficiently, technicians need to be able to solve the problem on their first attempt, meaning technicians need to have access to the appropriate parts, knowledge, and other resources they need to get the job done right.

Manually managing service parts is unrealistic. With so many different part variations, unique repair processes, and inventory to keep an eye on, service parts management cannot be done efficiently without the help of an integrated platform.

HOW TO ENHANCE customer uptime with an integrated service parts management platform

When service parts aren’t managed properly, a frustrating chain of events can start for both the customer and the technician. Parts may not be readily available (and may take weeks to be delivered), the technician may not be experienced in the repair they’re deployed to complete, or the technician may get to the repair site only to realize additional work needs to be done that they don’t have the appropriate tools for—just to name a few.

In any of these situations, the technician must leave the job site without completing the work and come back another day. The customer is frustrated, the technician’s time was wasted, and the lack of productivity ends up impacting the company’s bottom line.

To improve productivity and ensure a positive customer experience, technicians need to be able to gather insights about the repair before they’re sent to the job site. This is where an integrated service parts management platform can make the job exponentially easier.

A platform provides your team and technicians with an opportunity to store and share all parts and product data in one up-to-date location. They can access parts catalogs, videos, descriptions, and even 3D renderings of part repairs on the go; automate the parts ordering process to prevent stock from getting low; and manage intricate bills of materials (BOM) that reflect the growing complexity of parts and products. Technicians can even use analytics to identify patterns in previous fixes that required repairs beyond the initial scope, allowing them to stock their truck with tools and parts they might need before heading to the job site. An integrated service parts management platform prevents technicians from showing up unprepared for the job they’re tasked to do by ensuring they have crucial insights and information they need to be productive. To further ensure technicians are able to increase first-time fix rates and enhance customer uptime, attend the Mize presentation on April 28th during the Field Service Virtual Event by clicking here.

IFS Outlines Multi-Year Sustainability Strategy

Apr 22, 2021 • News • field service management • IFS • Sustainability • Leadership and Strategy • GLOBAL

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...

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.

Screenshot 2021-04-23 at 09.07.21

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

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