IT Being a Game Changer in Field Service

Therefore, technology leaders need to be empowered and avoid being “order takers” that only design, build and run. Technology leaders of today must be agile and aligned with operations on the goal. They should be able to identify operational blind spots and always look for a closed-loop solution which is looking at the operations, process and tools. Technology leaders also should be collaborative business partners that truly care about resolving customer issues more quickly, designing capabilities to handle higher work volumes with less effort, and improving overall efficiency and service.

Also, IT needs to design with two primary “customers” in mind: the internal customer (employee) and the external customer. To address the needs of the internal customer, be cautious when selecting devices to avoid making the wrong assumption. For example, consider if a smartphone will meet the requirements or if a tablet or hybrid device would be better. Also consider what features and functions—such as screen size, weight, processing power, ports and battery life—are needed. All of these factors contribute to the end functionality.

4. Which growing or future technology innovations in Field Service are you personally excited about?

Automation provides endless opportunities to support the field. Advanced workforce optimization, logistics, collaboration and mobile solutions enable service technicians to optimize customer engagements that will inspire customer loyalty. What I am most excited about is advanced vehicle technology, seamless software integration and remote tools (i.e., Google Glass, HelpLightning) that will let field technicians to “show” what they are seeing to inside support teams and enable collaboration to resolve issues. We also are using connectivity of our systems and solutions to link data with smart algorithms, thus predicting failures before they even occur. In Field Service, it’s also important always to build an integrated solution for activities such as work-order management, dispatch, scheduling, customer interaction, knowledge management fleet management and reporting.

There will always be a need for service and handling service correctly means building reasons for customers to stay and increasing sales. For companies to scale, technology can be designed to address the 3R’s: Reduce events, Remote fix and Reduce on-site time—and remote monitor and diagnostics technology is key. For example, to help reduce dispatch, we have customers call a centralized function for pre-clarification first. If we do need to dispatch, we then are able to better prepare our field technicians. And utilizing technology to quickly identify having the right people in the right place at the right time with the right tools improves efficiency. Additionally, we can conduct “Instant Replays,” where cross-functional teams along with the customer quickly review an event to identify areas of improvement.

5. We are all dealing with technology every day. How does technology drive Field Service?

When customers need field support it means something is broken, so the field workforce must optimize every customer interaction in order to change a negative into a positive. As a customer-centric organization we support a three-legged stool—employees, customers, and business. The challenges are greater than in previous years: our employees have higher demands, our customers are more sophisticated, and our competition is fiercer. In this environment, it is our people that will be the market differential and technology needs to support them. IT can be and has to be a game changer. Optimizing the entire service process from the customer incident through service delivery, root cause analysis and corrective action can be driven by technology solutions. Technology will be an enabler in how field service does their job and even what the job entails. The prevalence of connected devices opens up possibilities for proactive, even “touchless” services, as well as new commercial models quite unlike the traditional fee-for-service model.