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Are We Measuring Today’s Service Success on Yesteryear’s Metrics?

December 2, 2024 | 3 Mins Read

Are We Measuring Today’s Service Success on Yesteryear’s Metrics?

If there’s one thing that can illustrate the divide between what a company says is most important and what actually is, it’s how they measure success. When conducting research for our recent Stand Out Service Trends report, it was interesting to reflect on where businesses are still working to reconcile what service has become (a key differentiator and engine for growth: 37% stated that service is a significant source of revenue/profit for their businesses and 19% described service as their company’s primary growth engine) with the changes needed operationally to truly embrace its potential.

For instance, wanting peace of mind or guaranteed uptime/performance was second on the list of reported customer expectations, but only 26% of respondents are currently offering outcomes-based services (and 26% are offering reactive/transactional break-fix service only). Further, it seems that some organizations have yet to align KPIs to what service can mean to the business (a differentiator and growth engine).

We asked, “What are the core KPIs upon which your field technicians are measured?” Here are the anecdotal responses shared:

First-time completes, 5-star service, and cycle times
NPS, response time, same-day fix, PM completion, parts usage, inventory accuracy, customer retention
First-time fix, response time, NPS, customer feedback
No formal KPIs
Utilization and first-time fix
Utilization, return trip avoidance, and parts management
First-time fix, response time, average order value, productivity
Utilization/productivity
Time to resolution, uptime, NPS, revenue/profit
NPS, completion rate, productivity/efficiency, quality/FTC, and revenue creation
CSAT, first-time fix, parts management
NPS
Productivity (return rate)
Accessories attachment rate
Utilization, return visits, technical accuracy
Remote tool usage, CSAT
Safety, NPS, timely completion of assigned workorders
NPS, safety, quality
Transactional customer surveys, periodic maintenance completion, site avoidance service completion
Time to recover/install
EPI, MTTS, MTBF, spare part consumption, MTTINT, on-time PM completion
Customer NPS, contract performance, learning and development
Maintenance completion rates, revenue per truck, and safety
CSAT
First-time-right, respect of appointment, value creation, efficiency
Response time, resolution time, first-time fix rate, remote service rate, contractual fulfillment rate, spare parts availability

Now some of these responses indicate a well-balanced approach, assessing both operational and customer-centric KPIs. I can also understand those who opt to go all-in on NPS or CSAT metrics, with the thinking that as long as they are delivering there that’s what’s most important (which obviously has to be agreed from the top-down). But it’s those who are solely relying on metrics like productivity and utilization that I question, because for organizations looking to seize the full potential of service, these metrics won’t accurately reflect success (or failure).

This is of course just a short list, and we don’t have the context to know how each of these responses ties back to the broader company objectives (or not), but reading through this made me think long and hard about the discrepancy that may exist in organizations between how they’re measuring success and what they’re saying is important. Or what they may learn by expanding their metrics to take in another view.

How does your organization measure service success? Do you feel the KPIs are well-aligned to what it is the business is aiming to achieve? I’d love to hear from you.

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The Seeds of Service Innovation

November 18, 2024 | 3 Mins Read

The Seeds of Service Innovation

Have you seen the Stand Out Service Trends report we recently published? If not, be sure to check it out! And even if you have, you’re in luck because I have some content to share in today’s article that didn’t fit into the final report.

As we surveyed our Stand Out leaders, we asked for insights around how customer expectations have changed, how service delivery is evolving, how organizations are building cultures of change, and much more. We also asked for input on the question, “How do you evaluate areas of potential (beyond efficiency improvements) within your service organization?”

The leaders shared several anecdotes that we didn’t have room for in the report – but that fortunately I can share here with you! Here’s what they had to say about where they find seeds of service innovation:

“Through benchmarking and consumer experience studies.”

“We utilize customer journey mapping in order to align opportunities to improve the overall customer experience, inclusive of improving the employee experience as well.”

“We use industry seminars, whitepapers, and mid-term planning (3/5 years) that includes quality improvements and revenue/profit predictions linked to changing customer needs and the product portfolio changes expected/planned.”

“Reflecting on how we can best serve the customer while maintaining profitability. What technology can we use to support service to the customer, while maintaining customer value and employee engagement?”

“Customer feedback!”

“We leverage an internal process called ‘The Idea Factory’ which creates a conduit for idea flow from across the organization.”

“Ideas generated from the team with past experiences or new concepts from baselining, along with KPI data indicating where the efficiencies need to come from. The other organization departments also drive a lot of what we need.”

“We have Customer Success managers who gather insights from customers and conduct monthly meetings with all customers. We also have an annual customer survey.”

“Through customer journey analysis, design thinking workshops with customers and employees, and bottom-up ideation workshops.”

“I would say we don't have a very robust infrastructure to do this. We have a forum for ideas/requests that gets evaluated by the leadership team, but we don't have a multi-functional forum for this.”

Reading through these responses, there are a few notable points that stand out to me. First is the point that there is no better seed of innovation than that which comes from customers themselves. You can see by the number of customer-centric replies that these organizations recognize that truth and put proper emphasis on understanding customers’ feedback, needs, and desires.

The next thing I’d note is the value of diversity of thought. I love the concept of the “Idea Factory” and am glad multiple respondents noted the importance of ideation coming from all levels and areas of the company. When organizations involve employees from different functions, with different backgrounds, skills, and perspectives, the outcome is far richer than if innovation rests in the hands of a limited pool of viewpoints.

The use of industry seminars and whitepapers is good to think about, too. I’d suggest considering not only how you can explore what companies within your industry are doing, but also how seeds of innovation can come from learning from other industries as well. Keeping pace with what trends, themes, and challenges are top of mind in (and beyond) your industry is a great way to not only validate your own ideation but to spark new ideas as well.

And finally, I appreciate the respondent who shared honestly that their organization doesn’t have a good infrastructure in place for finding these opportunities. It’s important to have the objectivity to recognize that truth; many organizations fail to see what’s lacking in their internal processes. Knowing there’s a need to create a better system for nurturing innovation is the first step in doing so!

Are there any ways you source seeds of innovation that you’d add to this list? I’d love to hear from you!

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What Do Field Technicians Want from Technology?

November 11, 2024 | 4 Mins Read

What Do Field Technicians Want from Technology?

In October I shared an article with some excerpts and extras from the recent survey and subsequent report we created with the Stand Out 50 Leaders. That piece, specific to employee engagement, is complemented well by research recently released by the Service Council.

In September, the Service Council provided an early look at the results of its annual “Voice of the Field Service Engineer” survey via a webinar with Service Council CEO John Carroll and Gerardo Pelayo, VP of Research and Advisory at the Service Council (you can watch the whole thing here).

This annual survey provides some good insights into technician psychology, particularly when it comes to job satisfaction and the ongoing challenge of finding and retaining employees. It also gives us a look at how technology initiatives are affecting the employees in the field. What I found interesting in the data the Service Council presented this year was that, while technicians generally appreciate the efficiencies created by existing solutions, there may be times when automation goes a little too far.

But first, a few interesting points about the research. The median age of technicians is decreasing, with the largest group of respondents being younger than 44, indicating a renewed frontline workforce. However, technician commitment is eroding. Less than half plan to remain in field service for their entire career; in some organizations, that number is as high as 83%, so there is quite a spread when it comes to retention in the industry.

While the reasons they plan to leave varied, a lack of fulfillment seemed to be driving many of them into other careers. Many are looking for more money or, interestingly, a bigger challenge when it comes to their job. Which begs the important question: is automation making some field service work too … boring?

As Carroll put it, “Will automation make the role mundane and take creativity away? We need to find a balance between the technology capabilities being innovative, and not making this a boring, mundane, step-by-step job. The frontline is empowered by fixing and solving problems.”

Balancing Automation and Empowerment

In the survey findings, technicians listed solving problems, fixing and repairing equipment, and learning about new tools and technologies as what they like about their jobs. They don’t like paperwork and administrative tasks, wasting time searching for information, their work hours, or the pressure put on them to work faster. Technicians above the age of 35 also don’t like rigid, imposed processes, which could be a warning sign when it comes to technology deployments and retention.

Technicians across age groups still felt they were spending too much time on paperwork and data capture in the field, with the respondents claiming they spent an average of 52% of their day on these tasks. While this indicates ample opportunity for greater use of technologies like AI and further automation (perhaps coupled with a need in many instances for modernization of core service management platforms overall), there are also points that show the work that service organizations have done when it comes to digital transformation has yielded benefits.

For instance, an impressive 93% reported that technology had made them more productive, and 69% said they were encouraged to innovate. Technicians generally are much less concerned about GPS tracking than they were in prior years, and the percentage of technicians who phone a colleague when they need support has dropped from 81% last year to 58% this year. This is significant, because those inter-technician support calls can be a costly drag on productivity.

The survey also asked what capabilities were not currently available on their mobile device that would be valuable. Top categories were live troubleshooting steps using AI-based support tools (20%), augmented/virtual reality on the asset for troubleshooting (19%), live video with backend support (18%), and spare parts inventory visibility (15%).

Technicians also said they would like to see improvements in email management, spare parts inventory visibility, parts ordering, and time and expense reporting.

I’ve written a lot in the past about the importance of maintaining a holistic view of employee satisfaction that includes recognizing that technicians are people with lives outside of their work, and the survey touches on a few of those topics, too. Sixty-eight percent of respondents said that technology has made them less mentally stressed, and 83% indicated that technology had made them safer in the field.

Asked what features were available in their technology solutions, but felt like a burden, lead opportunity capture ranked high. That led the Service Council team to question in their webinr discussion whether there may be too much pressure on technicians to sell/upsell in the field.

So, what can we take from this data? On the upside, it looks like technicians really like a lot of the technology that has been deployed over the past several years, particularly when it helps remove friction from the parts of the job they don’t like (paperwork, for example) or speeds up the process of helping them address problems/answer questions. And they want more of it – more video and AR/VR support, better ways to find and order parts, and access to more knowledge.

What they don’t want is to be forced into cookie cutter work processes, or to have their ability to creatively solve problems for customers restricted by technology. It also looks like organizations still have work to do when it comes to making field service an appealing long-term career choice to this new crop of younger technicians. That will probably involve a mix work/life balance adjustments to things like scheduling, improving technician engagement in technology deployments, and finding ways to incorporate technician input into operations and business planning.

You can watch the webinar here. If you have thoughts on the data or want to share how your own technicians have responded to automation, I would love to hear them.

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How Do You Prevent Your Company’s Legacy from Becoming a Liability?

November 4, 2024 | 3 Mins Read

How Do You Prevent Your Company’s Legacy from Becoming a Liability?

When I sat down with Michael Galon of Coca-Cola at Field Service East this summer to discuss working together on a podcast, he brought up a topic I knew many would relate to: how does a leader ensure a company’s legacy doesn’t become a liability?

It’s a great question, and not one that has a simple answer. There are ample benefits for a company that has a rich history – they often have excellent brand recognition, have developed strong customer loyalty, and have created operational efficiencies and streamlined processes that come from decades of lessons learned. However, many of these companies can also find themselves within the trap of the ever-so-comfortable status quo. This is especially true when a company is performing well and feels stable in its existing state.

Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the status quo; but it does create the risk of missing an opportunity (or moreover, a need) to evolve or innovate which is where it can become a liability. Within service specifically, there are a number of scenarios where this can take place – product-centric companies that overlook the potential of service and therefore neglect any innovation around the function, companies performing well enough that their objectivity around innovative potential or risk is clouded, and so on.

4 Exercises to Avoid the Liability of Legacy

The goal is to create a balance between leveraging the company’s legacy for the strengths it brings, while ensuring you don’t allow for it to become a liability. Sounds simple, right? Of course not! But here are some factors that can help prevent the liability of legacy from creeping up.

Remain Curious to Avoid Complacency. The comfort level tends to come not only from what’s familiar but from the false belief that you’ve got it “all figured out.” And maybe you do, but the reality is circumstances always change. It’s important to remain curious. If you are asking the question, over and over, of whether your company’s legacy is creating any areas of liability, I think you’ve won half the battle.
Seek Inspiration Outside Your Industry. Some industries tend toward innovation far more than others, and it’s important to remain aware of not only what changes are taking place within your own industry, but outside of it. If your industry is slow to evolve, you risk being disrupted by not recognizing a need for innovation before a new entrant or early adopter does. Further, customers in all industries today have expectations that are heavily influenced by experiences they have as consumers and across other industries, so taking into consideration only what they could expect from a direct competitor is a far too limited view.
Get a Fresh Perspective. The reality may be that if you are working among heavily tenured teams, the ability to look at things objectively may be very challenging. Sometimes it can be very helpful to get some fresh, outside perspective. This can be in the form of brining someone into a role in the organization that has experience in a different industry, a different organization, or simply a clean take on things. Or it can come from working with a consultant or even from networking with peers across other industries or organizations. There’s tremendous value in seeking wisdom from others.
Stay Close to Your Customers. Close customer relationships and an active effort to understand their environments and assess their challenges is essential to every business but can be especially important when it comes to ensuring your legacy offerings and ways of working are continuing to resonate, as well as what adjacent services or value they may be seeking. Customer loyalty is a wonderful thing, but asking the questions around what you could be doing differently, doing better, doing in addition to will not only strengthen the relationship further but give you valuable insight into where and when change may be needed.

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What is Most Impactful in Creating Employee Engagement?

October 28, 2024 | 3 Mins Read

What is Most Impactful in Creating Employee Engagement?

My hope is by now you’ve heard about our recent announcement of the 2024 Stand Out 50 Leaders and perhaps you’ve even seen that we’ve just published a report we created with the input of those leaders. The idea being that if we’re recognizing the impact of fifty exceptional leaders, it would be worthwhile to use the occasion to understand their views on the service landscape’s current opportunities, challenges, and key areas of focus.

We surveyed the Stand Out 50 to ask them questions we defined across the three categories leaders always say are critical to service transformation: people, process, and technology. I poured over the data and pared it down to fit into the 12-page report myself, but try as I might there was simply too much valuable insight to squeeze it all in. As such, I have some exclusive bits on different topics to share with you all over the coming weeks.

To start, in the people section of the report, we cover a number of factors related to employee engagement. I’m going to assume I don’t need to reinforce the importance of employee engagement; the leaders within the Stand Out 50 and many beyond them realize that to deliver exceptional service and meet business objectives, employee satisfaction not only matters but is crucial. As we explored different aspects of how the Stand Out 50 recruit, hire, retain, and empower their teams, I asked the following (optional) question: What do you feel is the #1 factor that impacts employee engagement? Here are the anecdotal answers that the Stand Out 50 leaders shared:

“Investing in training has and will be a continued priority, including a recent launch of a new training lab that allows for hands-on product training, brand immersion sessions, and focus on soft skills throughout.”

“Creating a culture of humble and transparent leaders through trust and integrity.”

“An effective direct manager that makes them feel valued and supported.”

“Leadership engagement and transparency which enables the employees to connect to the company vision and strategy.”

“Recognition at company level of the importance of the role. Not once a year, but regularly.”

“Being inclusive.”

“Communication - often, timely, candid.”

“Fair, two-way performance reviews linked to training and development.”

“Focus on creating and reinforcing awareness of service relevance to the total business performance.”

“The freedom to have choice in their work life - opportunities, location and working hours, as well as the chance to develop and learn.”

“For service employees, the customer relationships are often what keeps them engaged the most.”

“Promoting work-life balance.”

“Employee empowerment is the basis for engagement.”

“Creating a strong emotional link with the company, feeling part of a family, and having a clear sense of purpose.”

These responses touch on several categories we know to be paramount in today’s talent landscape: empathetic, authentic leadership; clear communication; a sense of purpose; flexibility and work-life balance; investment in ample training and development opportunities; inclusivity; and being recognized and rewarded for their contributions.

I do wonder if, since the Stand Out 50 were peer and team nominated, this acknowledgement of what it takes to create employee engagement is adequately shared among the “masses.” I’ve had a handful of conversations in the last weeks with service leaders who bemoan their organizations failing to recognize the direct tie between how teams are treated and how the business performs, but I do hold a belief the percentage with that mentality is dwindling.

How highly does your organization prioritize employee engagement, and what factor would you add to this list? I’d love to hear from you! Be sure to download the full Stand Out Service Trends Report to see what our leaders had to share about other topics within people as well as process and technology.

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Lessons in Leadership: Remaining Relevant and Impactful Over a Long Career

September 23, 2024 | 9 Mins Read

Lessons in Leadership: Remaining Relevant and Impactful Over a Long Career

A couple of weeks ago I welcomed to the UNSCRIPTED podcast Tim Spencer, VP of North American Operations at Interblock Gaming for what turned out to be one of my favorite conversations to date. Tim is well known in the field service space for the work he’s done innovating within the service function at companies like BUNN, Scientific Games, WMS Gaming, ACCO Brands and Taylor.

What I’ve always appreciated about Tim is that he stands out from many of his peers – older, tenured leaders – in that he has little interest in the status quo. I’ve watched many of his peers speak on stages and belabor the challenges of actually innovating or defend their decisions to continue “doing what’s working” in a variety of areas while Tim gives insights on embracing new technologies, modernizing the talent approach, and finding new ways to meet today’s customer demands.

So, I was excited to welcome him onto the podcast to discuss what, in his view, enables a long-time leader to avoid falling into the warm embrace of the familiar and instead push ahead to continue to evolve. Within our discussion, Tim humbly shared his views on what aspects of service and leadership have stayed the same over his career, what’s changed, and how he’s worked to remain relevant and impactful over his long career.

Valuing What is Timeless

Tim’s insight can be roughly divided into two categories: knowing and valuing what is timeless and keeping pace with change (as a leader and for your business). Number one in the timeless category is the criticality of good communication. “One of the keys to success in service is communication. Always has been. Always will be. Won't ever change,” he emphasizes. “I’ve found that in my career, every challenge I ever had with a customer was resolved one of two ways. Either by better understanding expectations or by better communicating. Or both. So, if I learned what they expected and they learned what I could deliver, we aligned those expectations.”

Effective communication is a building block of any relationship, and the importance of being able to build and nurture relationships is the second timeless skill. “Generally, this effective communication helped to build a good relationship. If the relationship came off the rails, it was because we didn't spend the time we needed on the communication,” says Tim. “And the keys here are timeliness and candor. Again, I've rarely had a customer who said, I hate the bad news you're giving me. Usually what they say is, why didn't you tell me sooner? Maybe I could have reacted. We could have worked something out. We could have done something differently. Timely and honest communication are crucial.”

Customer centricity came up next, and not only in the sense of creating customer intimacy but for obtaining insights to fuel innovation. “When I was very young in my career, the President of our company put me in a sales leadership role for two years to develop my understanding of our customers,” shares Tim. “So, first sales call ever, the customer says, ‘oh boy, another new guy. What are you going to do for me?’ I said, well, I don't know. What do you need? And he said, ‘No salesperson's ever asked me that. They’ve always said, here's what I'm selling.’ That was something I've incorporated since that moment, is to ask my customers, what do you need? What do you need me to do? How can I help you grow your business? How can I change to help you be better? That informs and fuels whatever you need to do next to be successful.”

Tim also shared about the timeless value of learning, especially from peers. “As a leader, if you're not finding a way to reach out to other people and learn and grow by association, you're missing the boat and you're doing yourselves and your customers and your employees a disservice,” he says. “Finding ways to tap into the ideas and thinking of others is a great source of new ideas, valuable connections, and inspiration for innovation.”

Keeping Pace with Change

It might not surprise you that one of the things that’s changed most since Tim’s career began is the use and role of technology in service – and he hasn’t shied away from rolling up his sleeves to understand what’s available, its impact, and to put to good use technology to modernize service in many of the organizations he’s led. “One of most obvious changes over my career is technology,” Tim says. “You know, you think about your grandparents and wonder what changes they saw in technology over time. Well, I'm now one of those grandparents! I spoke about the innovative launch of our first handheld device back in the early 2000s and that was nothing compared to where technology is today.”

With the volume of technological innovation Tim has witnessed, I was curious how he prompted himself to keep pace and determine what investments were best at different points throughout his journey. “I never implemented any technology in any of my roles just for the sake of technology; I did it because I wanted to solve a business problem,” he shares. “I had an issue. I had to solve it. And I looked to others and experts and technology to try to figure it out. Find a solution and try and implement it in my business to make it better. Then you could innovate or iterate on that, innovate and iterate again, or find the next business problem and go find a solution to that. So just always being on the hunt, I guess, for the next problem to solve. Not being complacent, saying, I don't have any problems because that's stupid. Everyone's got a business problem somewhere.”

We also discussed the evolution of the role of service within the business – it’s shift from cost center to profit center and everything that shift has brought about. “I mentioned that I cut my teeth in the manufacturing side of the business. Product companies for a long time made all their money on the product, skinny margins, and gave away the service. And most companies now have figured out that the inverse is actually the key to success. The margin opportunities are in service; the opportunity to really continue with a revenue model that's repetitive, that's on the service side. That's something that's changed a lot over the many, many years that I've been slugging away at it,” Tim reflects.

The one area that Tim and I debated a bit is just how much has changed – or not – when it comes to leadership styles. “I thought about your question on leadership a lot and at first thought, I don't think leadership styles have really changed or evolved. Then I thought, and I thought, and I thought, and finally I said, well, maybe they have,” he says.

What we ended up coming around to is that Tim has naturally inclined toward a leadership style that is being demanded more in today’s landscape. So, while it hasn’t changed for him, we uncovered in our conversation that it has indeed evolved as a whole.

There are elements of leadership, of course, that have been and always will be foundationally important. “The things that haven't changed relative to how we lead, are things like fairness, equity, and honesty. And one I'll throw out there that many people might not agree with, but I really love, which is inclusiveness. I've never been the smartest guy in the room. I've never been the expert, but I know where to find those people, tap into their experience and knowledge, and have them be a part of the solution. Not only do I get a better solution, but I get a team that's excited to participate. So, I think that leadership style never changes,” he says.

When it comes to what has evolved, it is tied to the elements of leadership I see as outdated like control, ego, and even fear. “What I came to think about that might be a change is the ability to adapt your style beyond the very ‘command and control’ kind of leadership,” says Tim. “I remember an early encounter when I was a supervisor at a plant with an executive who said, ‘I don’t get ulcers, I give them.’ I thought, Wow. Okay. That's aggressive. And throughout the early years of my career, I had a lot of leaders like that who would often say to me, ‘you know, you're not mean enough. You're not tough enough. You're not kicking butts.’ But that's never been my style.”

While that’s a testament to Tim and not only his values but his ability to recognize an approach that’s ultimately more effective, it’s a positive change that “his style” is becoming more the norm. “I think that finally that style has found its home. In our current environment – our employment environment, our work environment, our leadership environment - it's okay to have a little bit softer, gentler approach to leadership,” he reflects. “It doesn't mean that you aren't still tough, that you don't follow guidelines, metrics, and principles to hold people accountable. But it does mean that you can still find joy in the process. You can have some camaraderie and good spirit and mentorship and an approach to leadership that understands and appreciates that your people have lives. If we think about our employees' environment, we can adapt and change ourselves to make it a much better, sweeter work environment for them. And a place that they'll want to come back to the next day and a place they'll want to maybe work harder for.”

The evolution of leadership style ties in, at least in part, with the rapidly evolving talent landscape – and the two topics are inextricably linked. “Today, there’s more of a need to do the right thing. Then it was the right thing, to do the right thing. Now you need to do the right thing in order to attract the workers that you need. And if you're not thinking creatively about ways to make their work-life balance better or to appeal to whatever it is that floats their boat, someone else who's more innovative is going to get the talent,” Tim cautions. “You're either going to not get enough people or you'll get the less talented. So, I think innovation relative to our approach to work, our approach to our people, our approach to hiring and retention, innovation is the key. You've got to be thoughtful. You've got to think outside the box. You've got to be smarter than the other guy who's recruiting the same people. You've got to be thoughtful about what does the employee need in their current environment and what can I do as a company leader to try and help solve for that need.”

Managing Vs. Leading

In Tim’s view, part of the role of leadership is to look for the opportunities to change. “I used to tell young managers that there's a difference between a manager and a leader. A manager manages the process and doesn't change anything. A leader looks for ways to change the process. And I always encourage them to be more leaders than managers,” he says. “What I tried to do in my career was to always be thinking, okay, this feels pretty good, but what am I missing? What's next? And where's the next opportunity to change something? Because not changing is backward movement in life. Staying put is the same as moving backwards.”

Leading well relies on two important factors: one’s willingness to keep learning and one’s ability to be kind. “You can never stop learning and growing, no matter where you are in your career. As part of that learning and growing, look for ways to innovate and then iterate,” Tim says. “Lastly, I'm convinced after 35-plus years, a kind leader can and will prosper. Don't think that you can't be a kind and caring leader. Don't think that you have to be the guy that's kicking rear ends down the hallway. We need to find joy in our leadership. Other people need to find joy in our leadership, and have it not be a burden to work for us. There are ways to do that and still accomplish the mission of the job.”

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Bridging the Gap Between the Remote Service Vision and Reality

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Bridging the Gap Between the Remote Service Vision and Reality

The Service Council published some interesting data over the past several months that emphasize some opportunities and challenges in field service management in general and in shifting to a remote service model specifically.

One infographic highlights the role that field service management plays in service innovation. According to the Service Council data, top planned tech investments for 2024 are artificial intelligence (AI), business intelligence (BI), and field service management. FSM is outpacing CRM and ERP in market share. The top focus areas for digital transformation across service organizations are currently technology interoperability, customer touchpoint management, and worker enablement (including training process efficiency). These insights indicate there is still a lot of work going on behind the scenes to get data and technicians aligned in useful ways.

Their State of Remote Support report includes some additional insight into technology priorities and challenges. For example, two in three companies lack the dedicated resources to achieve remote support efficiencies by innovating through IoT-based machine learning models or AI.

Related to that, the inability to predict and prevent why remote support was necessary was the second most common reason for challenges in this area, and there was generally an indication of low success with more proactive approaches to field service and support.

According to the report, “The motivation for shifting left is the simultaneous improvement in customer experience, asset uptime and service costs by resolving events earlier in the process and with less touch points – essentially removing waste. However, the reported challenges and the top 3 focus areas going forward (Knowledge Management, Employee Training, AI-Assisted Diagnostics) are geared to mitigate the impact from customer-triggered events. Best-performing organizations will be the ones that integrate data, processes and technology to understand the reason for service events, anticipate their occurrence and proactively influence the resolution path.”

The Service Council also noted that data is being underutilized. Many companies cannot use IoT data at scale, and roughly a third noted that they could not really consume their own knowledge base effectively to help solve problems. Asset proliferation is making this worse.

A Bold Vision

Reading these numbers brought to mind my recent discussion with Clinten van der Merwe, SVP and Head of Global Service and Project Management at TOMRA Recycling.

Clinten mentioned a pretty bold goal during that interview, relative to service sustainability: “[W]e set the strategy that by 2035 will be fully digital, which is very ambitious. I know … but as I mentioned before, the challenge is that … we don't want to sit in 10 years’ time selling machines, but unable to support our customer.”

Clinten described a potential future where technicians are working remotely, fixing machines from coffee shops while wearing flip-flops. This was part of what he called the company's North Star vision. You can question how aggressive or realistic this goal is, but if you are a field service organization ramping up digital transformation, hoping to shift toward more proactive and remote service, and working to become more attractive to today’s talent, that description is not entirely off the mark.

The obstacles outlined in the Service Council data can stymie that vision. As he put it, you need the right digital tools and processes in place, along with a lot of automation. Putting a strong foundation in place – technologically, process-wise, and culturally – is critical to making that remote service vision a tangible reality.

Moreover, that type of vision requires not only the means to provide remote troubleshooting and remote service, but also the ability to pull useful insights from those service encounters, and do so in a way that can help service organizations illustrate their value to customers in a service delivery model where they may not physically encounter the technician (often or at all). On the bright side, customers are primarily focused on whether or not a machine is running, and if you have the right tools in place, you can more easily sell them on that idea of paying for uptime rather than break-fix.

“And that's what it comes down to, is really saving money and cost to our customers, that overall total cost of ownership, but getting to a place where you can actually put on a piece of paper that you're guaranteeing a certain level of uptime availability,” Clinten said.

The warning in the Service Council data is that companies are having trouble getting useful information out of their existing systems, and that they still have integration work to do. If your technicians are remotely recalibrating machines to get ahead of problems that would otherwise result in downtime, you must be able to show what they did, why they did it, and why that is important and valuable to the customer. Without interoperable tools in place that can generate those reports easily, a remote service or digital transformation initiative can struggle to gain traction.

My conversation with Clinten covered a lot more ground, including the importance of getting management to see field service as a key revenue stream and the cultural changes involved in this type of transformation. You listen to the entire conversation here.

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6 Factors to Consider for Your Talent Strategy, Featuring Input from an Ideal Candidate

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6 Factors to Consider for Your Talent Strategy, Featuring Input from an Ideal Candidate

My husband and I have a running joke when one is complaining to offer a solution and then say, “or do you just want to complain about it?” The way I roll my eyes at him when he says “yes” makes me think of how I feel about the field service organizations making a very half-hearted effort to address the challenges of today’s talent landscape.

Should we change our job descriptions and recruiting practices? Nah, let’s just complain. Shall we finally accept that we have to work harder than we used to by – gasp – training capable but inexperienced workers rather than expecting they drop from the sky with 10+ years’ experience? Let’s resist (and complain).

All the complaining about what’s changed and the pining for “how it used to be” is wasted energy that would be better put toward adapting to the current circumstances, because they aren’t changing anytime soon. So, yes, you do need to change your approach to attracting and recruiting – and, yes, you do need to put more effort into not only training and enablement, but culture and leadership. But if you do the work, the talent is there – and they’re telling you what they want and need if you’re just willing to listen.

Take, for instance, Teresa Carneiro, Field Service Engineer at STEMCELL Technologies, who recently shared her story on the UNSCRIPTED podcast. Teresa is 24 years old, from Portugal, and after finishing her master's degree in biomedical engineering set a goal to work in Germany. Having landed in a Field Service Engineer role in Munich for Vancouver-based STEMCELL, Teresa had a lot to share about her experience seeking said role.

Having had the opportunity to meet Teresa in person at the Future of Field Service Live event in Cologne this past June, I can attest to her appeal in terms of field service talent (the various job offers she received throughout the day are further proof). Most organizations are seeking greater diversity, including bringing more women into roles, and far more importantly than that she is intelligent, engaging, well-spoken, and passionate about her work. The insights she shared during our podcast are food for thought for organizations across industries looking to break free from the status quo and take action to modernize their talent approach.

#1: The Field Service Branding Problem Persists

I wrote an article a while back about the field service branding problem, and the premise endures. There isn’t ample representation of field service careers and, therefore, it’s a sort of unknown category of career opportunity that varies greatly by industry but overall falls victim to being “under the radar.” Kids in school talk about wanting to be doctors or teachers or athletes or businesspeople, but they aren’t aspiring to lead a global service organization (or a regional service company).

“One thing that I felt that was really lacking throughout my whole university experience was having some real examples of what it is possible to do after you finish your studies,” says Teresa, “And of course, you can do your own research, but having real life examples and people to talk about how their daily life actually looks like gives you a much clearer idea of what your own life can look like if you choose that path.” She came across the opportunity of becoming an FSE because she had a friend working in a similar role and felt it was an opportunity she’d enjoy.

While it’s a long-game approach vs. a real-time fix, it's important to consider how we work to make the world of field service more visible and the career opportunities within that world better known to children and students.

#2: We Don’t Have a Talent Gap, We Have an Experience Gap

Many service organizations have been accustomed to hiring FSEs or technicians with previous experience and are really struggling to accept that hiring based on experience is a practice of the past. We talk about the “talent gap” but in reality, there isn’t a shortage of talented candidates – there’s a shortage of candidates that have already done the job.

Companies that are taking the initiative to revisit requirements, finding ways to offer additional training or certifications or apprenticeships so that they can seek capable and teachable employees rather than those who have been in a similar role are opening up a far broader realm of possibility. “I think it is very curious because ever since I actually joined the industry, I have heard all sorts of companies saying exactly how hard it is to get young talent in their teams,” shares Teresa. “But I must say that having very recently searched for a job, I felt exactly the opposite. I felt that I was always behind because I didn't have any previous experience in this industry. Even when you come across some entry-level jobs, they often ask for years of experience. It can be a bit discouraging. And especially in this type of role, you need a lot of training regardless of your previous experience because of how specific it is. I truly believe that recently graduated students can bring a lot to the table. We are used to learning so many different things in such short timeframe.”

#3: Many Field Service Job Descriptions Are Hindering Efforts

There’s the need to evolve to a point of not requiring previous experience, but that particular issue aside many field service job descriptions are deterring potential candidates. Everything from inaccurate or outdated requirements (such as needing to lift 50 pounds when, in reality, no FSE has lifted more than 15 in history) to highly technical or niche terminology to poorly articulated descriptions of what the work and opportunity looks like are causing massive challenges.

It's important to consider: when is the last time you really updated your job descriptions? When you did so, how critically did you examine not only the criteria but the unconscious bias and the appeal to candidates? Many organizations haven’t updated as recently as they should, and even more haven’t truly reflected on what could help them cast a wider net of applicants to have more potential talent to choose from.

Let’s also remember that evidence shows that women are far less likely to apply for a role if they do not meet all requirements, which is important to consider if you have the goal of increasing diversity. “At first, if I didn’t meet all requirements, I would not apply. Then I started to understand that this simply wouldn’t work; I needed to apply and then prove myself in the interviews. If they meet me, I might change their minds. And that's what happened,” says Teresa.

It's fortunate for Teresa, and her employer, that she was given an interview despite not meeting 100% of the criteria. But this is a lesson for companies to consider the talent they are missing out on by not revisiting how they position the roles they need to fill. “I applied anyway, because I figured, what do I have to lose? And I encourage young people to do the same. Whenever I'm talking with friends that are searching for new jobs, I always say, apply even if you don't fit every requirement. Because it might change their mind when they meet you and talk to you,” Teresa says.

#4: Know Your Audience: What Appeals to Younger Talent about Field Service Roles

Tied in to creating more awareness appeal of field service roles and updated job descriptions to reflect what matters most to today’s talent, you first must understand what it is younger candidates are seeking and will find attractive about the FSE role. For Teresa, the appeal began with the sense of purpose she feels as an FSE. “I have found a job that allows me to keep in touch with the research environment I studied. For me, being able to bridge the gap between industry and research makes me feel really accomplished and that I'm doing something meaningful,” she shares.

Many younger workers are drawn to the opportunity to travel, which is common with field service roles. “I was excited for the opportunity to travel, to be exposed to different environments,” says Teresa. “I do love traveling and having the opportunity to visit not only places in Germany but also other countries in Europe.”

Teresa was also excited for the opportunity to hone her communication and people skills. “I also like to talk to people and establish communication with our customers. I see this job not only as servicing machines, but also listening and understanding our customers, which in my case are researchers,” she says. “I can relate to them and I can understand their urgency.”

Field service holds a lot of potential in offering variety as well as flexibility, if the company embraces doing so. For young talent that hugely values work-life balance, this can be an advantage. “I like that not every day is the same and I appreciate the flexible work hours,” explains Teresa. “In the same week, I can have some days working from home, others traveling, and also some days in the labs. Not always being in the same place for a nine to five job is also one of the reasons this role is so appealing to me. The younger generations are definitely more focused on work-life balance than previous generations.”

#5: Understand that Improving Recruiting is a Small Piece of a Much Bigger Puzzle to Solve

If you really want to create a winning talent strategy, it must reach beyond the recruiting and hiring phases. Companies can get wrapped up in these areas because of the acute need to fill roles, but the reality is if you aren’t creating a working environment that this talent wants to be a part of, retention will be poor and you’ll constantly be trying to catch up.

For companies who are bringing in more diverse candidates, consideration of the employee experience is even more imperative. If your new employees are different in any way from the “typical” employees, think ahead about what work is needed to ensure they are welcomed, treated fairly, and feel comfortable communicating any challenges.

“So far I've not really faced any big challenges. However, all of my visits so far have been joint visits as I'm still in training. And I guess that another thing that might make me feel more comfortable and secure is that I work mainly with research labs where, in contrast with field service, there are a lot of women working. Compared to other industries, I feel this one might be a bit easier to fit in as a woman, even though all of my field service colleagues are men,” Teresa shares.

Teresa not only felt very respected and supported by her manager from as early as the interview process, but she has felt welcomed by her peers. “I feel my company's culture is overall very welcoming. One thing I really appreciate is that everyone is super available to include me and have me join customers visits. They always take extra time to explain and train me properly. They never make me feel like a burden or like I'm delaying their work or making them stay longer or anything,” says Teresa. “The other thing that was also reassuring is that I was never given a time limit to when I need to be ready to start going alone. My company has always reiterated that I will only go alone when I feel comfortable and ready.”

The employee experience begins with onboarding and initial training, both of which demand proper focus. “With all the training [two intensive training weeks in Canada at headquarters and subsequent joint visits], I feel really equipped. As I've said before, the training is so specific that even if I'd had previous experience, it would not help me necessarily with this equipment. I don't think that would make such a difference,” Teresa says.

Of course, the quality of leadership and type of management plays a fundamental role in employee satisfaction and retention – this is another area of evolution and significant differentiation for some companies. “So far, I’ve been really lucky with my current manager because there is no micromanagement whatsoever. There’s a sense of ownership that comes from, of course, being given the tools that you need, but also having the freedom to explore the way you're most comfortable doing things and tackling issues in your own way,” says Teresa. “Instead of just being told how I need to approach services, I have been given space and highly encouraged to find the way that is best for me.”

#6: Check Your Bias and Assumptions

As younger workers enter field service and diversity improves in other areas as well, it’s more important than ever for us to be very aware of our biases and assumptions. As companies work to evolve to today’s talent landscape, knowing that you don’t know what you don’t know is imperative. Get curious, ask questions, seek to understand.

This importance was illustrated when I asked Teresa how she feels her draw to field service might evolve as she progresses into other phases of life. “Of course, I have no idea how my life is going to look in a few years. And I don't know if I will enjoy traveling as much as I do now,” says Teresa. “These questions about balancing this type of job with parenthood are often framed as exclusively a woman's problem, such as how do you see yourself managing this lifestyle when you become a mom? And, of course, you did not frame it that way, nor did you assume that I do want to have children, which is also not an assumption that should be made for every woman. But this balance is not just a woman's problem. This might be a concern for anyone who wants to start a family and knows how much time we spend away from home in this type of job. So, companies should tackle this problem and get creative, having everyone in mind and not just women.”

As we work to modernize our approach to talent, we have to understand that there are deeply embedded assumptions, norms, and unconscious bias that must be mined and mediated.

In conclusion, Teresa shares some thoughts on her recent experience seeking, obtaining, and starting a FSE career: “A young person's perspective is that the companies that are investing in creating flexibility and creative environments and that are promoting professional but personal growth as well and that provide a safe space for learning are definitely on the right track. Believing in young people and their skills is crucial as is giving them a chance, even if there are other candidates with more experience. Everyone needs their first opportunity to show their work. And ultimately, the companies that are working hard to attract this new talent hold significant power in including the younger generation.”

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Don’t Miss This Vital Element of a Customer-First Strategy

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, the concept of customer-centricity is not just a buzzword—it's a strategic imperative. But while many organizations focus intensely on customer satisfaction, there's a critical element that often gets overlooked: the employee experience (EX). A customer-first approach is intrinsically linked to the experience of the employees who serve them, and businesses that appreciate and leverage this connection can drive transformative outcomes.

I spoke on this topic at last week’s Field Service East event in Orlando. The day’s theme was around customer centricity and as I reflected on what within that theme I wanted to surface, the need to better respect and reflect the role of EX in driving CX was my immediate thought. Further, because the event was a technology-centric event, I wanted to showcase how companies can expand their view of technology’s role to encompass how it benefits employees and can drive EX.

The Business Case for Prioritizing EX

At the heart of any successful customer-first strategy is a workforce that feels engaged, valued, and empowered. Research from the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) underscores this point by defining EX as the extent to which employees are enabled or constrained by organizational capabilities and practices. This includes both the digital and physical environments that allow employees to adapt their work to meet changing needs, and the collective work habits that foster knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and empowerment.

Research shows that companies investing in great EX are more innovative and deliver better customer experiences more efficiently. MIT researchers found that organizations in the top quartile of EX not only developed more successful innovations but also doubled their revenue from these innovations compared to companies in the bottom quartile. Additionally, their industry-adjusted Net Promoter Scores (NPS) were twice as high.

Gallup has reported that companies with engaged workforces are 21% more profitable and 17% more productive. McKinsey’s findings echo these sentiments, revealing that more than half of employees who left their jobs in the past six months did so because they didn’t feel valued by their organization or manager, or lacked a sense of belonging.

Technology as an Enabler for Better EX

We recognize technology as a powerful enabler, but most commonly that recognition is tied to how it can help the business, both in optimizing operations and in improving CX. What is far less considered is how technology can serve as an enabler for the EX.

This is an oversight; technology should be seen as an enabler not only for business productivity and customer benefit, but for transforming the employee experience. Instead of asking how technology can be used to get the most out of employees, organizations should consider how it can be used to create the best possible work experience for them.

I’ve seen some powerful examples of how companies are broadening their view of technology’s impact to include employee benefit. Here are a couple of illustrations:

Using Automation to Create Autonomy: One company is using IFS Planning & Scheduling Optimization, a powerful AI-based tool that will auto-adjust using various criteria, to offer employees the autonomy to select their start and end times each day. Rather than dictating their schedules, the tool will accommodate the technicians controlling their own. Some employees want to drop their kids off at school and start a bit later; others want an early start and an earlier finish. The technology can account for any of this, and this company has put focus on work-life balance and employee wellbeing by sharing in the benefit of the increased productivity by giving its workforce choice.
Sharing the Time Savings of AI. Another company has incorporated AI into its field operations to automate reporting. This saves each technician three hours per week of manual reporting, and rather than take the mentality of “How much more can we squeeze out of that three hours,? they instead opted to share that return by absorbing two of the hours gained into the technicians’ productive time but giving one hour back in the form of an hour shorter work week (for the same pay, of course).
Offering Flexibility with Remote Capabilities. I have a couple of examples of companies that are using Remote Assistance and other remote service capabilities to get creative about how service is delivered in their organizations and introduce far greater flexibility – which we know is important to today’s talent. Some are using remote to offer hybrid schedules, where technicians do remote work from home a few days a week and travel the others. Others are creating new roles where remote is the primary duty and therefore for those whom travel is a barrier have more options. Finally, some companies have been able to keep older, knowledgeable workers around longer to mentor newer talent by allowing them to support in a “hands-on” manner from home.
Using AI to Transform Knowledge Sharing. Many companies are making strides in how they’re using AI to capture, store, and intuitively share knowledge. This equips employees with the insights they need to be successful, easing burdens of the job and making them heroes in the eyes of the customer. It also helps alleviate the magnitude of onboarding and initial training needed when the tools are sophisticated enough to deliver accurate insights as they are needed.

Now I’m not suggesting companies take an entirely altruistic view on this topic (although I do believe treating people well is a worthwhile initiative in and of itself); this perspective isn’t to minimize the reality or importance of driving the familiar business metrics of efficiency, productivity, and the like.

I’m simply saying that when today’s technologies are leveraged well, they can accomplish those business objectives organically without the focus of “wringing the most we possibly can” from our employees being the narrative. In fact, when you broaden your view to consider how technology can benefit the EX, you may find you derive greater business benefit – because the two are inextricably linked.

The organizations that will lead the future of business are those that recognize that both people and technology are critical to success and must work hand in hand. By fostering an environment where employees feel empowered, valued, and engaged, companies can drive better outcomes for both their employees and their customers, paving the way for sustained innovation and success.

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