In this third and final excerpt from a recent white paper published by IFS and Noventum we look at three case studies illustrating successful transformation journeys.

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Now that we’ve outlined the strategic plans, as well as the technology enablers, let’s consider, holistically, what this looks like in practice. To illustrate the service transformation journey, here are three different case studies that each illustrate a part of the journey:

• The first case study is about a company that convinced the top management to change the business model to a service business. This case study focuses on the first part of the journey ‘Set the climate for Service Transformation’.
• The second case study is about a company that re-engineered their service delivery model to become low cost and perceived as high value by customers. This case study illustrates the step of using customer experience design to (re)design and implement the delivery model.
• The third case study is about a company that whose existing strategy adequately pushed sales but did not promote sustainable growth for the business. This case study highlights the step of redesigning the go-to market model.

1. CONVINCING TOP MANAGEMENT TO CHANGE THE BUSINESS MODEL TO BECOME A SERVICE BUSINESS

The current situation

A division of a German engineering group, that had traditionally produced and sold large machines for the paper making industry, had built a modest service business contributing less than 5% of the division’s total revenue. Their current service offering consisted of providing spare parts plus reactive and preventive maintenance service contracts.

The challenge

They were facing several challenges:

• Price pressure on new equipment sold was increasing due to increased competition from Chinese suppliers
• Annual growth of the company had been below industry average for the past 5 years
• Profitability of the overall business was going down

Two senior managers saw several opportunities to grow the service business but were having difficulties in convincing the board of directors to strategically invest in the service business to develop its potential.

What was done?

The service director used benchmarks, an outside-in view and assessment outcomes to convince the CEO of the company to invest in growing their service business.

The following steps were taken:

• A financial and operational benchmark was performed of the company’s performance against a comparable group of industry leaders. The report included the growth and profit potential for this company if they would strategically invest in the development of their service business.
• A web-based survey was sent out to several hundreds of customers immediately after the most common interaction point of a customer service request by phone or email, a spare part order request, an on-site visit by a field engineer, and following a visit by a sales person.
• Several customer interviews were conducted using video conferencing. The interviews were analysed, and a short video compilation was made to high light the key conclusions about what the customers’ service expectations were and what service they were receiving.
• Growth potential and productivity improvement opportunities were prioritised, and the conclusions were discussed during a workshop with the board of directors of the company. The result was a commonly agreed and documented vision with the strategic and financial objectives defined and a service transformation roadmap for the coming years.
• A short-term plan was made that secured the first real result within the first year. In addition, a multi-year roadmap was implemented by setting up the service transformation governance programme organisational structure, planning and funding.

Benefits

The result was that the board of directors understood that customers were expecting more help from the company. They expected help addressing their business challenges such as improving their competitive position with smart outcome-based services, industry knowledge, data and information systems that would help customers to lower production cost by integrating several players in the value chain.

The company has started their service transformation journey by implementing the multi-year strategic roadmap. This contains several projects that required substantial investment, organisational change, and the development of new capabilities in the company. The financial results in the past 5 years have been a sustained double-digit growth with profit margins above the industry average.

2. RE-ENGINEERING THE TRADITIONAL SERVICE DELIVERY

The current situation

A major manufacturer and service provider for healthcare equipment concluded that if they wanted to increase their market penetration while maintaining their profitability, they needed to dramatically lower their cost of service delivery. This was particularly true in emerging, lower cost markets.

Their service delivery model at that time was rather traditional: customers would call in if they had a problem with their equipment and in most cases a field engineer was dispatched to go on-site, diagnose the problem and fix it. This service delivery model was the result of relatively high cost of the equipment, typically ranging from 700 K Euros and higher per installation. The total cost of maintenance for most clients was relatively low when compared to the cost of depreciation and related operational costs, such as the cost of hospital staff needed to operate the equipment. Customers were expecting a personalized approach in service and they would find it normal that even for small problems, that could have been solved remotely a field engineer, would show up to fix it and explain to the staff what happened. The company was already improving their capability to remote monitor, diagnose and fix equipment but the traditional way of working was hard to change.

The challenge

They were facing several challenges:

• The average price of equipment that was sold in high growth markets was much lower than in the traditional market. The average equipment price was below 50.000 euros but could go as low as 2.000 Euros per device.
• To provide field engineer services for such equipment would result in relatively high cost when compared to the equipment purchase price and cost of operation.
• Healthcare equipment is highly regulated and in most cases mission critical, often lives could be at stake, and delays in treatment of patients could lead to high levels of frustration
• and financial losses for hospitals and doctors involved. Therefore, customers would expect the highest levels of service, especially in emerging markets where hospitals were often small and did not have more than one device.
• Customers would not be willing to pay for higher levels of services and price premiums on service contracts were often not accepted, even though excellent service was certainly an expectation.
• As a result, many customers would leave the maintenance and repair role with their own internal Biomed (internal maintenance services for medical devices) and were, generally, disappointed with the level of service.
• Equipment failure could cause damage to the reputation of the brand, as customers expectation is a very high standard of service.

The company had limited understanding of how customers of medium to low priced equipment were currently experiencing their service. Traditionally, such equipment had not been a focus area for the service division of the company as the general assumption had been that the service business growth potential was limited and the possibility to earn good profit margins was low.

What was done?

To rethink the service delivery model, other industries were investigated to gain ideas. Very inspiring examples were the low-cost airlines that had stripped their services of all extras to the bare bone basic service requirements, simplifying and streamlining business processes, introducing high levels of automation and often asking customers to help themselves with self-service.

Other examples included business models such as Ikea’s knock-down furniture where customers are asked to transport their own furniture and assemble it themselves.

One important element in the success of these examples was that it is important to get the balance right such that increased automation and ease of use for customers, outweighs any perceived reduction in service caused by streamlining and process change. The objective of these models is to increase the value of service for the customer while reducing the cost of delivery for the supplier.

After translating these examples to their own business, the company came up with several high efficiency service delivery models:

• Self-help: Whereby customers solve issues and conduct maintenance themselves without the support of their service provider, including the use of manuals, online FAQ’s, and web videos.
• Supported self-help: Whereby customers solve issues and conduct maintenance themselves with the support of the service provider, i.e.: via a helpdesk (phone, email, chat) or ‘look-over the-shoulder service’, possibly with help of a remote connection for diagnosis.
• Product exchange: In this instance, rather than repairing equipment, a service provider will arrange its replacement whereby the customer will either receive a new or refurbished product.
• Bench repair: Here, the product in need of repair will be shipped to the service provider’s repair shop, after which the product is shipped back to the customer. In the interim the customer may receive a temporary loan product.
• Tech courier: Having determined which part or component needs replacement (via customer or service provider diagnosis), a low-cost courier with basic technical and product knowledge will deliver the component and conduct the swap. In this instance, products are designed for easy access and swapping.

• High efficiency Field engineer: In this instance a field engineer with limited technical skills is dispatched to repair the customer’s product, potentially conducting the diagnosis himself using diagnostics methods and tools that were created by very experienced field engineers • Remotely using a machine to machine (IoT) connection: In this instance a service provider will access a system via a remote connection and not only detect and diagnose the issue but also execute the solution via the remote connection.
• Predictive Maintenance Management: Using the data obtained from connected equipment the problems will be predicted in time so there will be no need to do any corrective repairs. Preventive maintenance plans will be adjusted, often just in time, to reduce the chance of malfunction and reduce downtime and lower maintenance costs in the process.

The following steps were taken to get to these models:

1. An investigation was launched into customer’s expectations from the brand. Narrowing down the minimum expectation that should be fulfilled and the most important brand values that would have to be respected and built-into the customer experience.
2. The current cost of the service value delivery chain was analysed and the main areas for potential cost reduction by changing the service delivery model were identified. All best practices and the latest trends in service delivery models from other industries were evaluated as well as emerging trends in technology that could help reduce the cost of delivery or improve customer experience.
3. Pricing models were developed by benchmarking the equipment “street prices” with pricing of various levels of service. This was validated with various key markets in the world, in particular the markets where the highest growth of new equipment, at lower street prices, was expected.
4. New service delivery models were designed and tested. Processes and enabling service information technologies were designed evaluating achievable cost levels, the impact on customer experience and the resulting service value proposition, often defining 2 or 3 basic services with a limited set of optional services to keep the complexity low.
5. A multi-disciplinary approach was taken (including R&D, product marketing, manufacturing, and service) which led to the conclusion that sometimes products had to be re-engineered to improve their serviceability. Lowering the cost of service did have a major impact on the total life cycle cost. Product engineers that may previously have had their focus on inventing new features and benefits to the product, now understood the profound impact on customer experience and life cycle cost it would have to design products from the ground up for their desired modes and levels of service.

6. The IT team created a Service IT Solution Architecture that would leverage the connectivity of the products and use the data through intelligent applications that were now able to create predictive maintenance models. The data could also be used for process optimisation and designing enhanced services to customers.

7. After the design phase the new service delivery models were tested in the markets and rolled-out country by country to allow for local deviations from the standard model.

Benefits

The result was that the new high efficiency delivery models have enabled the company to grow their service business, typically with double digit growth rates. It allowed the company to sell equipment with a “street price” as low as 2000 Euros together with a service contract and still achieve gross profit margins worth of 50% percent. Each delivery model would be able to fix remotely any software problem or problem caused by the end user. The chances of such problems occurring would be reduced by smart predictive analytics capabilities. Users would receive “look over the shoulder” assistance often with remote agents taking control of the device and helping remotely. Hardware problems would no longer require a field engineer to visit the customer site.

In the longer term, the mission critical components in a device would either be engineered with redundant components, or replaceable units that the user of the device could replace by themselves. Alternatively, a “tech courier’ a driver with a limited technical skill set would come on site to replace the unit. Field service, the most expensive element in the chain, had now become a service logistics operation often outsourced to third party logistics providers who had economies of scale and low-cost services. Customers were educated on the new service delivery models and the benefits of self-service, such as the speed of resolution and being fully in control, were also perceived as valuable, on top of the higher reliability and lower life cycle cost.

3. DRASTICALLY INCREASE SERVICE REVENUE BY SMARTLY CHANGING THE GO-TO MARKET APPROACH

The current situation

A pan European medical equipment provider whose existing strategy adequately pushed sales but did not promote sustainable growth for the business. This was because their sales force was still employing traditional techniques which pushed the features, characteristics and pre-defined benefits of their company but were of little relevance to the customers’ situation. In the purchasers’ eyes, the benefits being sold to them were barely distinguishable from those of other providers.

The challenge

The service sales force presented characteristics and benefits of the service offering to the client but used very few ‘hooks’ to effectively highlight the company’s competitive advantage. They frequently spoke to someone other than the decision maker who had different needs. Further, in most cases their approach was reactive rather than proactive, i.e. the customer calls in with a query, or just before their warranty expires.

This resulted in the service sales force encountering issues relating to their client’s ‘budget’ as the person who called only had limited buying power and simply forwarded the proposal to the purchaser without being able to justify the value.

The root cause here was that their approach was not proactive and not customer driven; there was a lack of attention to the customers’ critical business issues. Consequently, a common vision with the decision makers on how to really address critical business issues could not be developed. This customer buying vision is essential however because it defines the value of the offering and the urgency to do something about it.

What was done?

Working with this medical equipment provider, we started transforming their sales approach to embrace customer centricity. The approach required getting a good understanding of client needs and challenges, which is only possible by developing the skills of customer-facing staff so that they can have informed discussions and get a good understanding of the customers’ business. Ensuring that the teams had the necessary capabilities to have such insightful conversations with customers was a specific challenge we addressed before improving the sales process.

A key step here was to train the company’s field service engineers to act as trusted advisors so that they could develop a better understanding of their customers’ needs. They were trained to recognise opportunities for sales which were then communicated to dedicated sales teams.

We designed a new go-to market strategy for each service, launched very specific sales campaigns and set up a dedicated service sales teams that proactively followed up leads and were able to articulate the value of a service in the context of customers’ needs.

That was done by researching customers’ service requirements. The company did have a good understanding of what customers were expecting in terms of product features and quality.
However, they had very limited knowledge of how the products were being used. It turned out that there was no such thing as “The Customer” as groups of customers with similarities in the use of the product and in the expectations of the expected benefits could be segmented by typical customer service needs. Customer service needs were further categorised into product related needs and customer business needs. The product related services needs can typically be satisfied by specifying the service performance characteristics in service level agreements. E.g. performance metrics such as uptime and response time were the key metrics in the SLA but could still be different for each type of customer.

The customer service business needs were a lot more difficult to identify. Customers had non-technical needs such as needing help to optimise the workflow in a laboratory or wanting to pay for the products based on their actual usage (Pay per Use) and leave the technical management to the provider. One segment of customers went so far as to demand that the product provider also manages the entire end-to-end process for a combination of laboratory instruments together with the staff of the customer.

Benefits

Within a year the service revenue had grown by more than 20% as well as EBIT on the service revenue. Ultimately, the strategy forged a path for the development of a range of new products and services, as well as expansion into other market segments. These results would have been impossible without an underlying focus on what has become the defining factor of sales: customer centricity.

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'Overcoming the Barriers to Servitization' white paper is available on Field Service News.

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!

 

 

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Further Reading:

Read more about Leadership & Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com
Learn more about Noventum @ www.noventum.eu
Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

Dave Hart, Managing Partner of Field Service Associates, takes us on a journey down memory lane in this exclusive article for Field Service News.

In 1983, legendary singer Lionel Ritchie (yes, he of Commodores fame) released his new solo album Can’t Slow Down. The following year he released a single from that album entitled Hello (is it me you’re looking for) and it reached number one on three Billboard music charts: the pop chart (for two weeks), the R&B chart (for three weeks) and the adult contemporary chart (for six weeks). The song also went to number one in the UK Singles Chart for six weeks.

Whilst driving along in the car a few weeks ago, I was thinking through my consultancy write up following my conversation with a CIO of a very large company. “Hello, came on the radio” at exactly the right moment; it was one of those moments, almost fate where in seven words Lionel had managed to summarise the root of the issues this particular company was having.

Whilst discussing with my CIO client her particular hot topics (which was the subject of the call) we discussed her companies service business which was fairly sizeable and when digging a little deeper into the topic with her she proclaimed, “I don’t actually know the name of the guy who runs our service business!”

I know from my own experience running a large service business, our quarterly business reviews with the CEO were two hours long. One hour and fifty minutes discussing how much product we had sold and ten minutes discussing the service business. The service business contributed significantly to the overall EBIT of the company; it’s like it was a given, that service would just perform and achieve the numbers.

During a budgeting cycle in the same company, the regional CFO exclaimed, “I have no real idea how service works, I just assume revenues will go up with the annual price increase, you will keep contract losses below 3% and your budget EBIT number is a given”

So, my question. Should service be taken for granted?

Unfortunately, in so many businesses, it is and my call to action here is that for service to thrive It needs focus from the whole ‘c suite’ to ensure it grows, that it constantly invents itself to cater for customers ever changing needs, market forces and transformational factors.

“Service leaders need to grasp what dominates their business leaders’ areas of focus

and then capitalise on that.”

Service is the powerhouse, the profit driver; dare I say, the future of sustainable revenues for product companies. Don’t take my word for it look at the evidence. In the recent TSIA publication ‘The State of Service Revenue Generation 2020’ the report states that 62% of companies polled said equipment revenues were declining and 70% stated service revenues were increasing.

So, ask yourself this question. How many true CSO’s are out there within companies, CSO’s that sit on the ‘C suite’ and influence the business direction, develop strategies for growth, that influence product design to be more service centric and ultimately transition the company to adopt a service mindset?

I bet not many.

I remember a conference from the days when we could travel, data attributed to PwC was presented, PwC had surveyed 2,500 companies in 2018 and found that 83% of those companies promoted the CEO from within. There is a startling similarity to service leaders who are promoted from within (that number is actually 84%), but does this necessarily mean that the potential myopic view of service is maintained?

The challenge for service leaders is to become apparent and top of mind to their CEO/CFO/CIO’s which is by no means easy. Service leaders need to grasp what dominates their business leaders’ areas of focus and then capitalise on that. I suggest service leaders find an approach that works with each persona. Here are some suggestions which are generic but may help the reader understand some areas of potential focus for them…

• CFO’s – Half of CFO’s are fast tracking digital initiatives and 52% are re assessing business strategies. What an opportunity to put service front and centre introducing new approaches and digital transformation to pull organisations out of the COVID slump and back into revenue growth.
• CIO’s – Of course will be concerned with cyber security, data governance and automation but in creating IT products, CIOs will be interested in the emotional value that makes their customers purchase the product or service. CIOs and IT leaders realize that customers buy from companies they feel care about them. Another wonderful opportunity to get on the agenda of the CIO and talk about your service strategy.
• CEO’s – Their top concern is global recession and maybe it’s time to enlighten them about how service can become the engine of growth for their business.

Service leaders need to be able to understand each of the drivers of the people listed above and then ensure they tailor a message to that persona that will resonate. To do that they must be thoroughly prepared to be top of mind with their proposed solution, as each one of the ‘C suite’ will have many pressing priorities, all vying for their and their teams time as well as those precious financial resources.

Benjamin Disraeli once said ‘There is no education like adversity’ and COVID has delivered adversity in spades but I can’t help but feel the time has never been better to influence above, to build a sustainable plan that will resonate with your leadership team, to re-educate them about just how powerful their service businesses are. I then suggest you then pick up the phone and dare I say, start by saying….

Hello, is it me you’re looking for?

Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more exclusive FSN articles from Dave Hart @ www.fieldservicenews.com/dave-hart
• Learn more about Field Service Associates @ fieldserviceassociates.com
• Connect with Dave Hart on LinkedIn @ linkedin.com/david-hart
• Follow Dave Hart on Twitter @ twitter.com/DaveHartProfit

In this second excerpt from a recent white paper published by IFS and Noventum, now available at Field Service News, we analyse how to deal with organisational resistance, develop internal skills and capabilities and how to use technology solutions to support effective service delivery.

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

The next two blocks of the Service Transformation journey must be run in parallel.

In the ‘dealing with organizational resistance’ block, you manage the service transformation journey; ensure there is a path to keep the C-suite engaged; and have a path for escalation in case issues need to be solved in the bottom block of the journey.

Undertaking these steps is required so you can continuously focus on making sure that the whole organization supports the journey and contributes to it, to identify people that are against the change, and to ensure that the steering committee can take the necessary steps to have a conversation with those stakeholders.

In the table below we outline the steps on ‘dealing with organizational resistance’.

DEVELOP INTERNAL SKILLS AND CAPABILITIES

In the ‘develop internal skills and capabilities’ block you are designing, developing and implementing every element that is needed to successfully achieve the set strategic and financial objectives. Doing this by design will ensure that no element will be forgotten, and that people will be able to form a clear picture of the changed organization.

In the table below we outline the steps on ‘Develop internal skills and capabilities’:

TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS TO SUPPORT EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY

Service transformation is a multi-tiered initiative that requires a blend of organizational and technological changes working in tandem with on another. Positioning your current technology stack alongside capabilities deemed critical offers the synthesis necessary to enable successful transformation.

Traditional Field Service solutions just don’t stack up when it comes to enabling uptime for critical assets and truly delivering on outcome-based service. Outlined below are a variety of tools, and capabilities that are essential in any field service management solution which can truly propel you on this service transformation journey efforts.

In the next and final feature of this series of excerpts coming next week, we will look at three different case studies that illustrate successful service transformation journeys.

 

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Look out for the final feature of this series coming next week where we will look at three case studies of successful service transformation journeys.

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!

 

 

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership & Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com
• Learn more about Noventum @ www.noventum.eu
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

In this new series of excerpts from a recent white paper published by IFS and Noventum, now available at Field Service News, we analyze how to productise services and set the climate for the service transformation...

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

With ever increasing internal and external market pressures, manufacturers have been searching for ways to diversify their revenue streams. Within product-oriented businesses, there has been a drive to offer a greater diversity of aftermarket services, we refer to this shift as servitization.

Both those organizations looking to servitize their business, as well as businesses who previously include service contracts or warranty offers, are diversifying the established business models inherent in these approaches. Most notably, organizations are employing contracts based on asset or product outcomes, uptime, and output rather than focusing on a break-fix approach and maintenance contracts.

These dramatic shifts in both the go-to-market and service delivery approach runs the risk of increasing organizational complexity, creating redundant systems, and unforeseen personnel risks. In an environment where margins are tight, servitization will be a strategic differentiator and a path to growth BUT manufacturers must ensure they carefully manage the transformation journey to ensure they deliver value and not give away service for free.

Recent research from IDC investigated the factors which are preventing manufacturing companies from progressing on their Servitization Journey. Lack of internal know-how, organizational resistance and lack of technology systems were found to be the most common inhibiters.

What is limiting your companys ability to deliver more technology-enabled services as part of your overall business?

What Is Limiting Your Companys Ability to Deliver More Technology-Enabled Services As Part of Your Overall Business?

All these challenges need to be addressed when companies embark on Servitization. This report will explore the organizational, cultural, and technological challenges and look at methods that businesses have employed to ease in the shift towards Servitization.

HOW TO PRODUCTIZE SERVICES? THE SERVICE TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY

To answer this question, we have investigated what steps manufacturers that have a successful service business undertook and how these steps have helped to overcome these challenges.

Aside from these steps, we also identified a particular sequence in undertaking these steps to overcome these challenges. Based on these insights, we developed the ‘Service Transformation Journey’:

As the above illustrates, there are several steps to undertake which emphasizes that a Service Transformation is not something you can do in a day. But what is each step, and why is it essential?

SET THE CLIMATE FOR SERVICE TRANSFORMATION

The first block contains the steps related to ‘Set the climate for Service Transformation’. It is essential to start with this block to deal with most of the identified barriers. Undertaking these steps will also ensure you get funding for the full journey; get help to set the right priorities; ensure that you develop services for which there is a customer demand; and be able to deal with organizational resistance from start to finish.

In the table below we have outlined the first steps that are necessary to set the climate for Service Transformation:

 

In the next feature of this series of excerpts coming next week, we will discuss how to deal with organisational resistance, develop internal skills and capabilities and how to use technology solutions to support effective service delivery.

 

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Look out for the next feature in this series coming next week where we discuss how to deal with organisational resistance.

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!

 

 

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership & Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com
• Learn more about Noventum @ www.noventum.eu
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

In the final feature from our exclusive serialisation of Jim Baston’s excellent industry focused book Beyond Great Service we see the benefits that have resulted in Charlie’s efforts to establish a new sales-focused mentality amongst his service engineers that doesn’t compromise their trusted advisor status and even more importantly that they as service professionals are comfortable with...

Across recent weeks here on fieldservicenews.com we've published a series of features analysing an exclusive research project run in partnership with Si2 Partners, WorkAmmo and Service People Matters.

Previously we reflected on Si2 Partners founding partner Nick Frank's initial commentary on some of the headline findings of the research which were first aired in a recent episode of the Field Service Podcast.

Now in the final part of this exclusive research analysis, we dig deeper into the findings and see how the trends the research has revealed support Frank's Si2 Partners initial hypotheses...

The Key Characteristics of a Service Manager

So, to begin let’s explore what the key characteristics field service organisations are looking for when recruiting new service managers.

We asked our survey respondents “What are the key attributes you look for in a service manager” with a list of 14 options to select as well as the option to submit additional information - and we asked respondents to list any options that were applicable to them.

Interestingly, and very much in line with Frank’s comments, the most common response was leadership capability in which 86% of respondents stated was a key attribute they sought within their service managers.

This in itself is a particularly intriguing insight given that as Frank alluded to, leadership capabilities may not be particularly evident based on past performance if organisations are promoting from within and selecting their new service managers from a pool of their highest performing field engineers.

This is not to say that they won’t necessarily exist within that pool, however, the skill set of strong leadership is as we have mentioned in the introduction a different skill set to what makes an excellent field service engineer.

"The most common response was leadership capability in which 86% of respondents stated was a key attribute they sought within their service managers..."

Yet it seems indeed that leadership is absolutely viewed as pivotal within the role of service management today - something that is surely a reflection on the strategic importance of service delivery as a growth driver that Frank refers to.

However, whilst the research findings reveal that whilst leadership skills are the most commonly sought after trait when recruiting service managers, it seems that many service organisations continue to seek out similar attributes within their service managers as those that are often highly valued within field service engineers and technicians.

Specifically, field service organisations were commonly looking for potential service managers to show technical knowledge and application (77%) and be good problem solvers (50%) both key traits often sought after in field service engineers and technicians.

Additionally, both an ability to fight fires and demonstrated performance delivery were both identified as key traits by just under a third (30%) of field service companies look for when recruiting new service managers - again highlighting how the roles of service managers are seen as being a linear progression from field-based roles.

However, given that this number is relatively low, it could also be argued that this could indeed be indicative of a changing tide and that this is part of the evolution which Frank described as service becomes a strategic growth drier rather than merely a cost centre.

Yet, when we look for the skills and attributes that are more firmly in line with what Frank describes as business management skills, again the data sits very much in line with his hypothesis, that perhaps not enough service organisations are showing the levels of ambition that one might expect given the large shift towards service as a profit centre we have seen in recent years.

"A third of companies (33%) who stated that a good head for business is something they look for in a service manager, whilst slightly more (40%) stated that an important trait they look for in service managers is for them to be analytical and metric driven..."

In fact, again it is a third of companies (33%) who stated that a good head for business is something they look for in a service manager, whilst slightly more (40%) stated that an important trait they look for in service managers is for them to be analytical and metric driven - another attribute that is perhaps more aligned to business management than the traditional requirements of service management.

What these findings to appear to reveal is that we do seem to be in the midst of an evolution within the role of the service manager, with some companies still leaning towards selecting the best performers within their field service teams, whilst others are adopting a slightly more ambitious approach to selecting their service management personnel in looking for traits that are more aligned with the strategic business aspects of the role.

There are of course merits in both approaches, as Frank points out, however, there are also a number of traits that are fundamental to being able to ensure that field service operations are delivered optimally and this was also evident in the research findings.

One big attribute that was commonly cited as important for field service companies to seek within their service managers was a customer-centric outlook - which was, in fact, the second most frequently cited of all the options within the survey with 80% of companies stating this is something they look for within a potential service manager.

Alongside this, a large percentage of companies felt that potential candidates for their vacant service manager roles should ideally have a good operational understanding, which two thirds (66%) cited as well as a good rapport with their service engineers which over half (55%) cited.

Whilst both of these latter two attributes could, of course, be developed by an external candidate these are both areas where an internal recruit would certainly have an advantage.

Service Manager Development

So, based on the research findings around the desired attributes of service managers, there remains a strong case for hiring from within, yet at the same time we are certainly starting to see a developing appetite for and a gradual shift towards the more business focussed service management role that Frank describes.

So does this mean that field service organisations are looking to recruit within and then develop the layers of business acumen required for managing a service business as a profit-generating entity?

The research would appear to suggest that this may not yet be the case and the role remains to be seen as being both technical and supervisory rather than being focused on business performance and strategic thinking.

Having  asked our respondents ‘What training do you give to your service managers?’ we found out that indeed, leadership training was the most popular response being cited by just over half (53%) of respondents, whilst technical training was also cited by half (50%) of respondents.

"Less than a quarter of our respondents (23%) stated that they gave their service managers any financial or business acumen training..."

In addition to these attributes ‘coach-the-coach’ style training and also ‘soft-skils’ were both cited by 30% of companies, is another attribute that fits more within a supervisory focused service manager role.

In contrast to this, less than a quarter of our respondents (23%) stated that they gave their service managers any financial or business acumen training.

This would certainly suggest that whilst aspirationally many companies may be beginning to see service as a driver for revenue growth, in reality, the majority of field service organisations still see the role of the service manager as being one firmly rooted in the operational side of the business.

Of course, one answer for this could simply be that many organisations see the more business-focused aspects of service management as belonging within the realm of the service director, rather than the service manager - but that begs the question as to whether we are developing the necessary characteristics within our service managers to make the necessary step up to become highly effective service directors who can drive both a service operation and business growth forward simultaneously?

Could it be that as field service delivery continues to becoming increasingly interwoven within business strategy - particularly as the trend towards servitization and outcome-based contracts become more prevalent that we are seeing demand outstrip supply in terms of service managers who are equally comfortable being operationally efficient, business savvy and who also have a natural proclivity to customer-centricity?

"Over two thirds (70%) of respondents stating that they didn’t feel there were enough candidates to meet demand for service managers roles..."

The research would again certainly add weight to this argument with over two thirds (70%) of respondents stating that they didn’t feel there were enough candidates to meet demand for service managers roles given the fact that field service has become increasingly important operation within many companies wider business strategies.

This lack of suitable candidates again asserts the validity and importance of being able to recruit from within - in essence, to be able to grow your own service management leaders. However, if companies are to do so and to do so effectively, then it would appear that many need to rethink how they approach their management level training programs to incorporate more focus on the business aspects if they are to truly align the role of service manager, with the premise of service as a profit centre.

Yet it is by no means an impossible task and the fact that just under half (44%) of the field service organisations who participated in the research involve their service directors within the recruitment process would suggest that these concepts may well filter down over time.

It seems that there is a small portion of field service organisations who are one step ahead of the pack in terms of developing their service managers to not only be able to deliver operationally but also strategically. The question now must be how long before the rest catch up? how long before the rest catch up?

Executive Findings: 

• 86% of field service companies state that Leadership Capabilities are a key attribute they look for in potential service managers
• 77% of field service companies state that Technical Skills are a key attribute they look for in potential service managers
• 80% of field service companies believe their Service Managers must have a customer-centric outlook.
• 55% of field service companies expect their Service Managers to have an excellent rapport with their service technicians
• 23% of field service companies provide their Service Managers with business or financial acumen training.
• 70% of field service companies believe that there are not enough suitable candidates to fill the demand for Service Managers

About The Research:

The research was conducted over a six week period reaching out to fieldservicenews.com subscribers as well as the respective audiences of our partners inviting recipients to complete a detailed online survey. In total there were 131 respondents.

In addition to this Field Service News Editor-in-Chief conducted a live polling session at the recent Field Service Connect event, held at the Belfry, UK which was hosted by WBR at which an additional 33 senior field service executives were present bringing the total respondent level to 164 field service professionals - a sufficiently large enough response base to provide a fairly robust snapshot of the current trends around recruitment and development amongst field service organisations today.

The respondents represented a diverse range of industries including; Heavy Manufacturing, Healthcare, Consumer Electronics, Power Generation and Facilities Management. There were respondents from all across the globe including the UK, Belgium, Germany, UAE, Canada, Spain and the USA and there were responses from companies of varying sizes ranging from those with less than 10 engineers through to those with over 800 engineers.

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Previously on fieldservicenews.com we published an analysis of an exclusive research project run in partnership with Si2 Partners, WorkAmmo and Service People Matters where we revealed that 57% of field service organisations prefer to promote from within when appointing service managers.

Here in the second part of this analysis, we now explore in greater depth whether service organisations should be redefining the role of the service manager and ask what are the key attributes we should look for in service leaders of the future...

As field service operations continue to become an increasingly important part of revenue and customer engagement strategies for organisations of all sizes and in all verticals, it, of course, follows that those leading our field service teams are simultaneously becoming essential to the wider success of a business.

In our previous analysis of our research into development and recruitment trends within field service organisations we revealed that currently just over half of field service organisations prefer to promote from within when seeking to fill field service management vacancies, which is largely how things have been done historically - it is a sure bet that a large percentage of the service directors reading this report will have started their career as a technician in the field and this background and experience certainly has its advantages.

For a start when promoting someone from within they will, of course, have a much more intimate understanding of your organisation, your engineers’ workflows and perhaps most importantly your customer base. These are all factors that will help them hit the ground running in their new management role.

"Sometimes the best engineers, no matter how conscientious and efficient they may be when working in the field, just can’t make the step up into management - running a team requires a very different skill set than keeping your clients’ assets running..."

Yet, there is, of course, a flip side. Sometimes the best engineers, no matter how conscientious and efficient they may be when working in the field, just can’t make the step up into management - running a team requires a very different skill set than keeping your clients’ assets running.

Discussing this particular finding within the research in a recent episode of the Field Service Podcast Nick Frank, Founder of Si2 Partners commented:

“I think it is very natural, especially for companies who see service as a cost centre and as simply a way of generating customer loyalty, to see the people that they want to lead these functions within their own organisation.”

“Of course, these companies will be looking for people with the leadership skills - but they may also have a preference for someone who also knows the business.

“A large reason for that is is because service involves dealing with so many different stakeholders such as R&D and sales. Then it is also good to have someone who also knows the products and how those products work and how they operate in the customer environment.”

“So yes, if you are coming from a viewpoint of 'we are fundamentally there to keep the machines running and try to satisfy our customers’ then I’m not that surprised companies are still predominantly hiring from within.”

“But frankly, to be completely honest I’m a little bit disappointed that the percentage is still so high.”

"Service is becoming much, much more of a strategic growth driver..."

“The reason for that is because for me service is becoming much, much more of a strategic growth driver. Now that’s not to say it is the only drive, but it is certainly becoming recognised as an important strategic growth driver alongside  a number of other things.”

“When you adopt that approach, you’re suddenly your not really looking so much for that in-depth product knowledge in your service leadership - in fact as a leader you should always have people within your team who understand the technical side.”

So the key attributes you want to see in your service managers then become much more about business leadership elements. By this, I mean things such as strategic direction, decision making and getting teams aligned etc. Also, business acumen becomes far more important because when you start seeing service as a driver for growth you are no longer operating as a cost centre, you’re generating revenue and running a business - so in some ways, I was a little bit disappointed that so many are still hiring from within.”

"Business acumen becomes far more important because when you start seeing service as a driver for growth you are no longer operating as a cost centre, you’re generating revenue and running a business..."

“Who knows, maybe these companies are finding people with all those skills within their organisations, but I feel that it is more likely that they are opting to play it a bit safe, rather than being a bit more ambitious with where they want to take their service business.”

It is certainly an interesting topic for discussion and Frank raises many valid points, but is the fact that so many field service companies are still predominantly hiring from within indicative of field service companies erring on the side of caution, or is it perhaps the case that as with many other areas within field service we see patterns evolve at a slightly slower pace often due to the necessity of keeping what is invariably a mission-critical side of the business on relatively stable ground.

To help us understand this better and to dig deeper into the thinking behind many field service companies approach to hiring and developing new service managers, we will focus in this second part of our research analysis on the key trends amongst service organisations in terms what we attribute are key in the next generation of service leadership and how companies are nurturing them.

About The Research:

The research was conducted over a six week period reaching out to fieldservicenews.com subscribers as well as the respective audiences of our partners inviting recipients to complete a detailed online survey. In total there were 131 respondents.

In addition to this Field Service News Editor-in-Chief conducted a live polling session at the recent Field Service Connect event, held at the Belfry, UK which was hosted by WBR at which an additional 33 senior field service executives were present bringing the total respondent level to 164 field service professionals - a sufficiently large enough response base to provide a fairly robust snapshot of the current trends around recruitment and development amongst field service organisations today.

The respondents represented a diverse range of industries including; Heavy Manufacturing, Healthcare, Consumer Electronics, Power Generation and Facilities Management. There were respondents from all across the globe including the UK, Belgium, Germany, UAE, Canada, Spain and the USA and there were responses from companies of varying sizes ranging from those with less than 10 engineers through to those with over 800 engineers.

Look out for the second part of this analysis where we will explore how a deeper exploration of the research findings correlated with Frank’s hypotheses as we dig deeper into the key characteristics field service companies are seeking when recruiting for new service managers…

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The threat of a genuine ageing workforce crisis is being discussed by field service organisations across all industry sectors and in all corners of the globe. Field Service News in partnership with Si2 Partners, Workammo and Service People Matters undertook research to establish exactly how real this threat is to ongoing service operations and how recruitment, development and progression trends within field service are evolving...

Part one of this research report which is available here explored the findings of this research exploring the reality of the ageing workforce crisis, how field service companies are tailoring their recruitment and development programs to court millennials and whether outsourcing is an answer to help field service companies meet increasing customer demands.

Now we turn to the second part of this report...

Reducing the time from classroom to customer site

Of course, when we consider the issues many companies are facing in replacing their existing workforce it is imperative that the time it takes to onboard a new recruit is minimised as much as possible so that the newly appointed service technicians are adding value to an organisation as quickly as possible.

Whilst, of course, this is somewhat dependent on the industry in which an organisation operates, with some service engineer roles requiring far more knowledge and training than others, it is interesting to see in broad strokes the average time service engineer on-boarding takes.

The most common amount of time stated was between three and six months which was the on-boarding time for just over half of companiesThe most common amount of time stated was between three and six months which was the on-boarding time for just over half of companies (55%) whilst 34% of companies took between one and two years.

One obvious solution to both reducing onboarding times and increasing the longevity of those engineers approaching retirement age is to actively utilise your more experienced service engineers in a mentoring capacity for new recruits.

This is a well-established practice within the field service sector which is evidenced by the fact that 93% of companies stated that this is a practice they have within there workplace.

A more recent introduction to this concept is the ability for the more seasoned engineer to deliver assistance remotely using tools such as video conferencing or augmented reality.However, a more recent introduction to this concept is the ability for the more seasoned engineer to deliver assistance remotely using tools such as video conferencing or augmented reality.

The advantages of such an approach are two-fold. Firstly, it allows for one experienced engineer to support multiple newer engineers at the same time.

Secondly, it also allows the older engineer to work either from a central location or even from home - something that can be a big lure in convincing them to stay within the company.

Again this was an area we explored in our previous research where we identified that 20% of companies were using their older engineers within a remote expert capacity and we have seen similar numbers again in this current research with a further 35% of the total respondents stating they are in the process of putting such a system in place.

What is particularly interesting here is that of those companies that currently do have such a system in place a fifth of them (20%) are utilising Augmented Reality (AR).

We have long been advocates of the use of this technology in exactly this manner at Field Service News for some time now, but across numerous research reports, we have been seeing that the uptake for AR has been to date somewhat stunted.

Yet with the AR market within the field service sector becoming increasingly competitive it seems that we may now eventually be seeing the first real signs of increasing adoption amongst field service companies.

Developing the next generation of service leaders

Of course, whilst it is important to understand where the next generation of field service engineers are coming from and how they are being developed it is equally important to understand how the next generation of service leaders are entering into our sector as well.

Anecdotally many of the service directors one might encounter within the industry do tend to have come from a service engineer background, often having been promoted from within and our research would appear to indicate that this is still a common development path.

59% of the companies that participated in the research stated that when looking to fill a service management role their organisation tends to predominantly try to recruit for the role internally. In fact, 59% of the companies that participated in the research stated that when looking to fill a service management role their organisation tends to predominantly try to recruit for the role internally.

So let’s take a look at some of the common skill-sets that companies are looking for in their service managers.

It is perhaps of little surprise that when we asked our respondents “what are the key attributes you look for in a service manager?” That the most commonly cited response was ‘leadership capabilities’ which 86% of companies identified as a key attribute.

What is interesting and perhaps indicative of the growing importance the field service division plays in generating excellent customer experiences is that the second most valued attribute was ‘having a customer-centric outlook’.

In fact with 79% of companies stating that this was a key attribute they look for in their service leadership this was not that far behind leadership capabilities - certainly suggesting that customer-centricity is a fundamental aspect of what makes a great service manager.

Another big aspect of the role is, of course, the ability to communicate with the technicians and to be able to relay the wider operational picture of the business to them as well as be a conduit for them to engage with the business.

This was again quite clearly referenced in the research findings. For example, 59% of companies stated that having a good rapport with the field engineers was a key attribute they look for in their service leaders whilst over three-quarters of companies (76%) identified strong technical knowledge and application - which is of course, crucial for service managers to understand their engineers challenges and identify weak spots and highlights within their performance.

Two-thirds of companies (66%) stated that they thought their service managers should have a strong operational understanding.Additionally, two-thirds of companies (66%) stated that they thought their service managers should have a strong operational understanding.

This again is important as it allows the service manager to not only see the bigger picture but also translate that to the field engineers - which is an important means of gaining company loyalty - something that is more important than ever considering the challenges that many companies are facing replacing their ageing workforce.

The need for these key attributes is also corroborated in the areas that field service companies are focussing their attention on when it comes to training their service managers.

Again we see leadership and technical skills as the most common area of training with 52% of companies offering such training to their service managers.

Just under a third of companies also provide FSM systems training for their service managers - again an important area for them to grasp as the FSM solution is generally at the heart of how their department will run so a reasonable understanding of how such a system works, what it is capable of and even what it is lacking, can be the key to driving as much efficiency via the FSM solution as possible.

In terms of how the training was applied the vast majority of companies tend to deliver training in an ongoing manner when on-site - an approach over three quarters (79%) of companies within the research adopt. However, only a quarter of companies (25%) offer regular off-site training.

The danger here for those that solely rely on on-the-job training is that by its very nature field service is a dynamic operation with many moving parts, often seeing the service manager fighting fires as part of his regular routine.

With the immediate need of ensuring the customer stays happy the obvious priority - how often will training sessions get pushed down the to-do list?

Initial Conclusions

Firstly, it certainly does appear that the threat of an ageing workforce remains a significant concern and this is something that must be addressed swiftly before that concern truly turns to crisis.

Outsourcing appears to be a sticky plaster that many companies are turning to and it could well be that we see a gradual shift in workforce dynamics across the next few years whereby the role of the field service engineer becomes increasingly outsourced.

But in a world where customer experience is sitting at the heart of business strategy, one might question if handing over control to one of your most important assets in the customer service equation - namely your engineers themselves, is actually the right path to head down.

For those companies that are facing the challenge of replacing their workforce - but are not keen to outsource their field service work, then the reality is they must adapt both their recruitment and development plans to be more in line with the incoming workforce of millennials.

In terms of management for the time being, at least, it seems that we are seeing less disruption of the status quo, with many companies still seeking to employ from withinIt is surprising that so few companies have actually undertaken this process as yet, although what is perhaps somewhat encouraging is a similar amount of companies are at least considering doing so.

In terms of management for the time being, at least, it seems that we are seeing less disruption of the status quo, with many companies still seeking to employ from within and the traditional blend of skill-sets being required - namely technical knowledge, rapport with engineers and operational understanding all still highly sought after.

However, the one element that has been really raised to the fore is the need for our service managers to understand customer-centricity, for whilst this has always been an important asset for service managers, the fact that it has become a key attribute on such a pervasive scale is perhaps the greatest signpost of where the field service unit’s most important role in the future - not just as a maintenance team, but as true brand ambassadors also.

It’s therefore perhaps vital to bear this in mind during all points of talent acquisition be it for technician, engineer or management.

Key statistics: 

• 53% of field service companies state that replacing an ageing workforce is a challenge for their organisation...
• 21% of field service companies have adapted their training and development to be more suited to millennials...
• 80% of field service companies who outsource their service engineer work state that they have increased the amount they outsource within the last three years...
• 55% of field service companies have an on-boarding time of between 3 and 6 months for new service engineers...
• 93% of field service companies are now using their more experienced engineers as mentors for new recruits...
• 59% of field service companies state that replacing an ageing predominantly try to fill service management roles from within their organisation...

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The threat of a genuine ageing workforce crisis is being discussed by field service organisations across all industry sectors and in all corners of the globe. Field Service News in partnership with Si2 Partners, Workammo and Service People Matters undertook research to establish exactly how real this threat is to ongoing service operations and how recruitment, development and progression trends within field service are evolving...

The threat of a genuine ageing workforce crisis is being discussed by field service organisations across all industry sectors and in all corners of the globe. Whilst the technology that is developing within our industry is creating unprecedented opportunities for improving efficiencies and increasing productivity, it remains a maxim of our profession that it is a people led business.

Simply put without field service engineers, there can be no field service.

So it is of significant concern when we here of field service companies across the globe facing up to an ageing workforce crisis.

But just how much of this crisis is a genuine reality and how much is headline grabbing hyperbole?

Field Service News in partnership with Si2 partners and Service People Matters have undertaken a research project to establish the magnitude of the problem and to assess how field service organisations are recruiting and developing both field service technicians and managers.

Here are the findings...

About the research:

The research was conducted over a six week period reaching out to fieldservicenews.com subscribers as well as the respective audiences of our partners - inviting recipients to complete a detailed online survey. In total there were 131 respondents.

In addition to this Field Service News Editor-in-Chief conducted a live polling session at the recent Field Service Connect event, held at the Belfry, UK which was hosted by WBR at which an additional 33 senior field service executives were present bringing the total respondent level to 164 field service professionals - a sufficiently large enough response base to provide a fairly robust snapshot of the current trends around recruitment and development amongst field service organisations today.

The respondents represented a diverse range of industries including; Heavy Manufacturing, Healthcare, Consumer Electronics, Power Generation and Facilities Management. There were respondents from all across the globe including the UK, Belgium, Germany, UAE, Canada, Spain and the USA and there were responses from companies of varying sizes ranging from those with less than 10 engineers through to those with over 800 engineers.

The reality of the ageing workforce crisis

Of course, the first fundamental issue that we wanted to address was just how many companies were facing an ageing workforce crisis.

In a previous fieldservicenews.com research project conducted in late 2017 we identified that for 48% of field service companies the threat of an ageing workforce was indeed a genuine threat to their service operations - so has this challenge become more pressing across the last 8 months?

53% of respondents stated that replacing an ageing workforce is a challenge for their organisations Our research indicated that indeed it has, with 53% of respondents now stating that replacing an ageing workforce is a challenge for their organisations.

Of course, this means that 47% of companies stating that they do not have a challenge to replace their greying workforce - so then just how severe this crisis could be to our sector as a whole remains in question - but certainly the 5% increase of companies facing this issue across such a short period of time would indicate that this is an issue that is beginning to become increasingly prevalent.

Courting Millennials

Of course, the issue that field service companies are facing in terms of their workforce isn’t only exacerbated by the fact that many of the existing service engineers are coming close to retirement age, we must also consider the fact that the incoming generation of potential new recruits, often dubbed the 'Millennial generation' has a vastly different set of desires when it comes to job selection than the generation they are replacing.

A study by Fidelity Investments found that Millennials are the first generation ever to prioritise work-life balance over financial remuneration for example. Similarly, the linear career progression that was a lure to Baby Boomers and Generation X alike, is of less appeal to Millennials who value diversity within their career and regular fresh challenges within their working lives.

Millennials are the first generation ever to prioritise work-life balance over financial remunerationGiven this dramatic shift in culture within the incoming generation of workers should we be tailoring the way we approach talent acquisition to be more attractive for the Millennial market?

Surprisingly very few of the companies involved in our research are currently doing so.

In fact, just over a fifth of companies (21%) stated that they had adapted their training and development programs to take into account the cultural differences Millennials bring to an organisation compared to almost two thirds (62%) who had not done so.

However, there does appear to be a shift towards adopting such an approach developing though as 17% of companies stated that they were currently in the process of revising their recruitment and development programs to be more geared towards Millennials.

It is also interesting to note that over a quarter of respondents (27%) specifically target graduates when attending jobs fairs, whilst 7% go one step further and target school leavers directly. In comparison, 13% of companies target ex-service personnel.

Is outsourcing the answer?

One potential route to overcoming the loss of in-house engineers due to retirement could be to outsource some of the field service function to a third party.

In fact, exactly half of the companies we spoke to outsource some of their service work.

Of these, the most common breakdown of outsourced staff compared to in-house was a 25:75 ratio in favour of in-house staff which was the mix for 40% of those companies that outsourced some of their service operations.

34% of companies have seen the amount they outsource change across the last three years - with 80% stating that has increased What was of particular interest, however, was that amongst those companies who do use outsourcing as a means of ensuring they can meet their service demands 34% of companies have seen the amount they outsource change across the last three years - with 80% stating that they have increased the number of field service engineers that they now use within this period.

This increase is both dramatic and significant as it seems many field service companies are increasingly turning to outsourcing as a means of maintaining their field technician levels.

Whilst this could be a solution in the short term, it is justifiable to question whether such reliance on outsourcing is unsustainable across the long term?

Look out for the next part of this feature where we explore how field service companies are reducing the time from classroom to customer site, what are the key trends in developing the next generation of service leaders and draw some clear conclusions on the research.

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