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March 5, 2021 | 3 Mins Read

Back to Basics: Making Service a Competitive Differentiator

March 5, 2021 | 3 Mins Read

Back to Basics: Making Service a Competitive Differentiator

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By Tom Paquin

This is part of an ongoing series on the state and standards of service management software. Here are the previous articles in the series:

When people ask, “What is Service Management?” the answers usually focus on the obvious: tracking, cataloging, and optimizing service operations for a business (I mean, that’s more or less exactly how I defined it). This is invariably true, and it’s certainly key to successfully running a service business. But it ignores the heart of why service is so important in the first place.

Service software, at its best, is a catalyst for growth, not just in terms of managing systems and processes, but by helping you master complexity and track more elements of your business than ever before—a single source of truth, under one roof.

This level of detail doesn’t just delight customers, it actually offers you the tools to rethink your book of business, and how you package products for your customers. Publicizing these things can often be a challenge. Does your customer really care about any of this? Not if you don’t give them a reason to. They won’t care that you adopted a new outlook, or a new service platform, but if you position your new tools, servitization plans, etc in a way that’s actually compelling, they’ll certainly care.

To do this correctly, there’s ostensibly three steps necessary:

  • Track your success
  • Articulate the value
  • Reiterate the value

Tracking your success is invariably the first challenge, and it’s where smart technology systems can be the difference between success and failure. Spencer technologies uses IFS dashboards built into their service solution to show real-time analytics from support technicians and assets in the field. This actually uses the technology itself to tell a story about how they’re benefiting their customer’s bottom-line. For asset-intensive businesses, this frequently is about unearthing and cataloguing information about assets, then serving them back to customers in a digestible way. No matter what, you can’t effectively derive value without first tracking value.

Now articulating that value goes hand-in-hand with this. We’ve already touched on ways that Spencer has done so within the concepts that they actually use to track, but for other companies, it can be more complex. One brand I know of uses their service successes as case studies—"Look at the value that optimization has offer in terms of uptime for ‘X’ company. What do your uptime numbers look like?”

Given the wide swaths of industries under that big, beautiful service umbrella, a great place to start for inspiration about how businesses do this is through our podcasts. There’s now over 100 stories of service success spread across a diverse set of industries, both business and consumer-facing. Lots of great material to consider.

My last point is the most salient, and as I’ve discovered, the most challenging for companies to focus on—marketing messaging needs to be perpetual. As I learned many years ago from an Forrester analyst, the CEO of a pizza company thinks about pizza every day. Their customers think about pizza when they want pizza. Because of this, they’re likely to miss the salient details of your marketing blitz if said blitz has an expiration date on the side of the package. Sometimes it’s not about meeting your customers where they are. Sometimes it’s about being there when they reach you, with the right use cases and messaging apparatus to validate why you’re the choice for their service needs.

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March 1, 2021 | 3 Mins Read

The Complexities of True Customer Centricity in Service

March 1, 2021 | 3 Mins Read

The Complexities of True Customer Centricity in Service

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

In a recent Future of Field Service Advisory Forum session, we discussed the topic of what customer centricity looks like in practice. It was a great question posed by one of our members, wondering what exactly others do behind-the-scenes to substantiate their claims of customer centricity. The conversation among the group surfaced some really interesting points, which I’ll recap here, and a sense of camaraderie around the fact that customer centricity isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds – and certainly not as simple as making the claim.

Be Clear on Your Definition of Customer Centricity

The first thing that came up is the need to create clarity around what you mean by customer centricity. It’s easy to claim customer centricity as a buzzword, but if you want to make true impact you need to further qualify the areas you’re looking to address. One of the forum members suggested looking at this in terms of three areas: customer success (the ability to use and benefit from your products or services in the intended way), customer experience (the feelings your customer has about how you’ve delivered said products or services), and customer satisfaction (the customers overall feelings about what you provided and how you’ve provided it).

Examining each of these areas allow you to see where you need to focus the most attention and develop an action plan around the feedback you’ve gathered. Another important point to note is that customer centricity can’t be the focus of service in a silo, it needs to be approached from a company-wide perspective.

Determine What (and How) to Measure

We discussed the fact that, to start, many of the metrics by which you measure service success operationally will also be important to your customers. For instance, first time fix is important to you as it relates to keeping costs controlled, but it’s important to your customer satisfaction as well. The suggestion from the group was to examine the operational metrics you currently use and determine the lens through which your customers would look at them. So, if you look at SLA compliance, that would likely translate to your customers in terms of the importance to them of uptime. Understanding what is most important to your customer will help you create the best metrics by which to measure your performance in a way that is truly customer centric.

You also need to consider how you’re assessing customer feedback. With NPS being a commonly-used tool, one member pointed out the importance of measuring both transactional and relational NPS – in other words, NPS related to how your customer rates a specific transaction as well as NPS related to how your customer relates their overall working relationship with you.

Prioritize the Personal Touch

One of the most emphatically reinforced points by many members of the conversation was the importance of keeping a human feel to all of this. While customer surveys and NPS scores are important tools to use, we discussed the fact that they are relatively impersonal. The group was passionate about the need to have actual, one-on-one conversations with customers to gather more detailed, anecdotal input and to express that they – as people – matter enough to you to take the time to prioritize talking with them.

Not only is this approach important when it comes to personalizing your brand and showing customers how much you care, but this level of customer engagement is key to developing a deep enough understanding of your customers’ businesses, processes, and needs to be able to effectively develop new value propositions for the future. And while gauging the impact of your current efforts is important, the real key to customer centricity is developing relationships and gleaning insight that will put you in a position to better meet the needs of your customers, now and into the future.

What advice do you have about walking the customer centricity talk? I’d love to hear from you!

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February 26, 2021 | 2 Mins Read

Optimization and the Environment

February 26, 2021 | 2 Mins Read

Optimization and the Environment

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Tom Paquin

A few weeks back, I wrote an article on the importance of proper parts management and reverse logistics for sustainability. In it, I made the case not just for the moral imperative that smart waste management allows, but also the economic imperative. In that same vein, I think it’s important, within field service, to discuss optimization in the same vein.

I’ve outlined optimization in excruciating detail (and sometimes with the help of Super Mario) over the last few years, so if you’re in need of a primer, they’re out there. The bottom line is: Best-in-class planning and scheduling optimization finds and fixed invisible inefficiencies for your business. We’ve used the example of Cubic previously, where PSO showed them  that their instincts of leaving a single technician at a single site for the entirety of the day was actually wasting money and resources. But why, exactly, is that the case?

It comes down to what your optimization system is trying to do. Inferior systems with optimization capabilities, under many circumstances, are just shoving people into time slots in what is essentially the illusion of automation. True, full-featured optimization powered by AI is (as we have discussed before) attempting to accomplish a specific set of goals for your business. Specifically, they are using complex algorithms fed by vehicle, job, and location data to minimize:

  • Drive time
  • Time from ticket to invoice
  • Appointment time
  • Stockouts

And many more. By coordinating a list of goals (and feeding that list with good data) you’re mitigating a lot of drive time. Drive time means gas guzzling time.

Let’s put together a general estimate to what that could look like. Let’s assume your vehicles average 35 miles per gallon, and your system, by consolidating truck rolls, saves 10 miles of drive time per truck per day, which is a pretty standard expectation. Assuming you have, let’s say, 200 technicians, that’s about 57 gallons of gas a day, 286 gallons per work week, 14,857 gallons per year.

Obviously there’s a monetary component to this. Last time I filled up, I paid $2.50 per gallon or so. Assuming that you’re using regular unleaded and happen to be in the greater Boston area, that is more than $37,000 in savings annually on nothing more than gas. That ignores every other saving that good optimization offers a business.

There’s obviously a bottom-line benefit to this, but the ecological story is just as prescient, and worth publicizing. There are obviously a variety of ways that businesses can mitigate their carbon footprint, but drive time is absolutely and unequivocally a key. And yes, cynical as it might be, if your business is making decisions that eliminate waste, ecologically through reverse logistics and operationally through AI-powered scheduling, you have tools to market around that, too. It’s harder, then, to find a more tangible win-win for a business that’s not just forward-looking with its growth, but also with its place in the natural world.

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February 22, 2021 | 4 Mins Read

Take Heed, Change Agents – Your Troops Are Weary

February 22, 2021 | 4 Mins Read

Take Heed, Change Agents – Your Troops Are Weary

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

We’re a year into this global pandemic, and I’ve written multiple articles and published numerous podcasts about how COVID has increased the pace of change, made businesses more open minded in how they operate, and accelerated digital transformation. While the roots of this change are unfortunate, the results of how it is propelling service forward are in many ways exciting. We’ve featured many success stories in the last year about how companies like Park Place Technologies, Munters, and Alfa Laval have navigated the turbulence masterfully in a way that has not only provided business continuity but powers business transformation.

But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we must temper our drive for change that brings such immense opportunity from a business perspective with some real empathy and patience for what our frontline workers are experiencing. Keep in mind that when you’re owning the vision and setting the strategy, it is exhilarating and exciting – when you’re on the receiving end it can be quite overwhelming.

To put yourself in the shoes of your frontline workers, you really only have to think a bit about how this last year has impacted you on a personal level. We all have our different stories, but I don’t know many individuals who haven’t struggled in some way – be it physical health, mental health, juggling work and children being home, the weight of being an essential worker, and so much more. However, as leaders, we are built to keep our eye on the prize and keep momentum building – and while I’m not at all proposing we grind that momentum to a halt, I think we need to take pause and consider the weariness of the workforce.

Balance Business Needs with The Human Experience

The business needs to continue evolving, perhaps now more than ever. I am simply suggesting that as we find ourselves a year into an incredibly taxing pandemic, we need to consider a bit more than we might normally what the human experience of our workforce looks like and be sure we adjust our business strategy to compensate for some of the needs of our people.

Change management is a topic we’ve discussed in detail for a long time, and with good reason – it is often where transformation efforts fall short, because we overlook or underprioritize the importance of creating not just compliance but adoption among our workforce. I would say that, today, change management is even more critical – because the frontline troops are weary. They’re weary from a year of worry about their health, their families, and their jobs. They’re weary from adapting to new circumstances and requirements, at work and at home. And I believe the onus is on us to make an extra effort in how we manage change to do whatever we can to minimize their weariness.

Adjust Your Strategy, Speed, and Style

Of course, what this looks like in every business and for each change will be unique, but there are three areas I would suggest you consider:

  • Do you have a solid strategy for managing change? If you say no, well, start there. If yes, ask yourself when was that strategy set – pre- or post-COVID? It might be worth re-examining whether your strategy for managing change is ample for COVID circumstances. Aspects like clearly articulating your ‘why,’ over-communicating, and making ample time for soliciting feedback and addressing concerns are even more important today – you want to think about these steps through the lens of a workforce that is likely stressed, tired, and perhaps worried about how this change will impact their career with your company. It’s important to set extra steps, time, and resources in your strategy to ensure you’re not simply checking a change management box but really helping your employees through an addition to an already-taxing time.
  • When COVID hit, the companies that reacted well did so nimbly and quickly. The speed of change early on was rapid, and it needed to be. But a year in, we’re all a bit more hardened than we were in those early days. While you may still need to apply speed to certain situations or project, where you can think about how you could perhaps slow down a degree or two in order to alleviate some stress, allow more time for adoption, and incorporate more change management into the project.
  • I would argue this is the more important of the three to consider and there’s one word I’d use to summarize the style you need to consider to best address this workforce weariness: PERSONAL. In this new often-virtual world full of uncertainty and volatility, we’re all hungry for more human connection. More authenticity, more transparency, more empathy, more understanding. If you’ve used a textbook change process in the past, know that textbook may not resonate today the way it would have two years ago – you need to dig in and think about how to foster a more personal style of connection and management with your employees. The more personal you get, the better your chances of resonating and breaking away some of that weariness to create more acceptance, engagement, and buy-in.

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February 19, 2021 | 4 Mins Read

Vaccine Rollout with a Service Mindset

February 19, 2021 | 4 Mins Read

Vaccine Rollout with a Service Mindset

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By Tom Paquin

If you—like me—have someone who is currently eligible for vaccination from COVID-19 somewhere in the United States, it’s likely that you—again, like me—have refreshed a state government website incessantly, scrambled over the sudden appearance of an open spot, frantically plugged in you or your loved one’s medical information, and been greeted by a frozen webpage, or an error message, or a notification that there are no vaccines available at your given location.

I live in the state of Massachusetts, whose initial vaccine rollout, for various reasons, was poor. And in spite of some improvements, on the 18th of February we moved into Phase 2 of rollout, offering vaccines to people 65 and older, thus flooding over a million new people onto the sites and into the vaccine queue. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this has led to frustration, anger, and confusion as the scheduling portal buckled under the traffic and those without constant access to a computer or who can sit on hold for over an hour are left in a lurch.

This has left many, myself included, frustrated, demoralized, and unsure of what to do next. So we’re going to channel that frustration into what we love to do around here—applying a service-oriented mindset to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout!

While we are quick to talk about service management in the private sector, it’s important to remember that nonprofits and public works need service support too. Often their confluence with the private sector is a blurred line, to begin with (especially in the case of these rollouts, most of which are happening with the help of private enterprises) but, though customer retention is less of a concern for governments and municipalities, mitigating waste and maximizing customer happiness is paramount to successful operations.

So let’s look at a few tips for how to take vaccine rollout and make it right for people:

Stress Testing and Scenario Modeling

Naturally, one of the biggest problems with the vaccine rollout has been the volume of people accessing the web crashing the site. Those who eschewed the website and called have met operators who are also attempting to access a crashing website. How can these issues be mitigated in the future?

My state, like every other land mass on the planet, has a given number of human people in it. That number of human people accessing a scheduling system, under any circumstances, can be simulated. It is something hackers do frequently. A key to any rollout of a customer-facing system is stress testing the load of users at a given time. Managing that load means managing not just the traffic, but how that traffic is queued, how it is routed, and how it is prioritized.

Getting these right in any service scenario will benefit from a favorite topic of mine: simulating service interactions. “What if?” scenario modelers are easier and easier to enable (most commonly in the planning and scheduling world), and can show outcomes at various volumes crosschecked across other conditions. The confluence of these give a picture of overall system health and allow businesses to build immediate contingencies and systems for roadblocks.

Meeting the Needs of Diverse Stakeholders

I am privileged to work in a job that offers me the ability to sit in front of a screen for eight to ten hours a day. Because of this, I could conceivably spend all day refreshing the “Vaxfinder” portal indefinitely and snatch up the latest appointment in between meetings and production work.

People who ironically work in many of the industries that are exposed far more frequently to the public—Postal workers, bus drivers, food service workers, and so on—Lack that privilege. You could argue that this is a socioeconomic failure and represents greater fissures in the foundation of civilized society that have been unearthed by this crisis, and I’m not qualified to say whether or not that is true. I’d argue, though, that a small way to begin to repair such fissures would be through ensuring racial and economic equity with respect to the rollout.

It would be wrong of me to say that technology will save us from our problems, and good people are working to combat this legislatively. But by developing triggers, allocating appropriately into specific demographics, and, plainly, ensuring that the rate of vaccine utilization matches the demographic makeup of the state, region, and so on, is important.

This succeeds though systems of tracking, and is a reminder of the importance, in any service setting, that tracking is never, ever a binary. Lifecycle tracking begins with the supply chain, though the delivery of service (or, in this case, jabs), and finally, the follow-up and demographic management. If that’s not measured in a single, unified way, then you can’t match demographic shortfalls to an increase in the supply chain.

Obviously in the walled garden of a private enterprise, this is easier to do than for a government or nonprofit, but thoughtful development on the front-end can, at the very least, mitigate and correct some of these issues.

Unfortunately, because of that, this article functions more as an allegory for service delivery than a solution that governments can take to heart. But when it’s time to schedule your own jab, consider how your own business is managing supply chain, service, and volume, and if there’s a way to do it better, more equitably, and with less friction for all of your customers.

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February 15, 2021 | 5 Mins Read

Demystifying the Monetization of Data

February 15, 2021 | 5 Mins Read

Demystifying the Monetization of Data

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

IDC estimates there will be 55.7 billion connected IoT devices (or “things”) by 2025, generating almost 80B zettabytes (ZB) of data and says “organizations continue to connect their internal processes across roles on a digital platform; and these same industry organizations are realizing the importance of expanding their ecosystems to meet market and customer need, and be more flexible and resilient.”

We all recognize the criticality of gathering data, but do we have clarity around exactly how to make the most of that data? Based on my recent conversation with Dr. Andreas (Andy) Schroeder, Reader for Information Systems at Aston University and Digital Lead for the Advanced Services Group, it seems the answer in most cases is no – particularly as we look at the paths for monetizing data. Andy and I recently recorded a podcast, which will be released soon, during which he demystified some of the common challenges around how to leverage data to increase revenue.

The Chicken and Egg Syndrome

The first point to get clear on is what comes first: strategy or technology? As Andy explains, data is an answer that should be answering a question that is tied to your strategy. “Technology or data, information technology is a way to answer questions,” he says. “The questions that need to be answered are defined by the business model. So, if my business model, for example, says I provide heating as a service, then the question is, for example, how much heat does my customer need, how much comfort does he or she need? This is a question, and then we can look at how we can use technology to answer this question.”

Leading with strategy and focusing on what questions do you need to answer to deliver value to your customers is the best way to approach putting technology in place to gather the right data. Too often companies get ahead of themselves by putting technology in place and collecting data that they aren’t sure what to do with or how it fits within their value proposition. This can waste valuable time and create overwhelm, so you are better of setting your strategy first and defining exactly what questions you need answers (data) to.

Clarify Your Path to Revenue

This was my favorite quote from the podcast with Andy: “We all agree that Servitization is tightly linked to digitalization, but I would go even further and say that Servitization is the way to monetize digitalization.” He goes on to explain the cohesiveness that should exist when it comes to your company’s evolution from product provider to Servitized business, digitalization efforts, and new customer value proposition.

Clarity around how best to approach this puzzle is where the majority of demystification needs to occur. “A lot of the IOT investments that we're seeing, may not pay off on their own unless they're wrapped into a business model that takes advantage of being able to monitor something at distance,” explains Andy. “There are some huge misconceptions around Servitization. Servitization is not a statement of, ‘We are not good at producing products.’ It's a statement of, ‘We can provide our product as a service because we have the best products around, because we can provide products that we can put a lifelong commitment to instead of our competitor who is more or less happy when they don't have to be involved with that product long-term.’”

When there is confusion around or resistance to the idea of morphing to a Servitized business model, the value proposition tends to be presented in a fragmented way: product first, then service after with new data capabilities added on as digitalization efforts mature. This fragmented approach is all wrong, because not only does it not embrace the true meaning of Servitization, but it pieces out the value that customers are willing to pay for into siloes that aren’t at all meaningful to them.

“If we take the narrow term of monetization, that means money for data in the way we can interpret this,” explains Andy. “We’ve found that in a lot of companies that we work with, they come with ambitions of being able to monetize the data on its own. Some make investments in development platforms and so on and so on, to be able to communicate data and insights to the customer. Very, very few are managing to convert this into actual business propositions that are being taken up by the customers.”

What Are Your Customers Willing to Pay For?

What Andy is describing is a challenge I’ve heard tale of many times – a customer isn’t receptive to paying for data or a new tier of service contract enabled by that data, because their expectation is that as their trusted provider, you will extend your latest and best capabilities to them. In other words, they are interested in the outcome – not the path to the outcome. “What we find is that a lot of times, the customer is not willing to pay for the data. There might be different reasons, there might not be enough value in the data, or the customer might say, ‘I buy your product and you want to charge me to tell me when my product will break? I mean, I'm your customer, why don't you just tell me? Why would we have to have a different loop, why do you want to charge me extra for it?’”

This is why, in most scenarios, the path to data monetization needs to be a natural part of the shift to Servitization or outcomes-based service, not an initiative on its own. “In the wider context, the way to monetize data is to make it part of the entire service proposition,” says Andy. “To be honest, the customer doesn't really care to know when the machine breaks in a service context. In a service context, you're contracted to make sure the machine doesn't break, and there's a penalty associated with the downtime of the machine. Why would the customer want to know? For curiosity reasons, yes, but it is your responsibility. By folding data into a service proposition, you can more easily monetize it because you are translating it into tangible, substantial value.”

Now some organizations who have advanced quite far on the Servitization journey have also seen success in monetizing data in additional areas beyond the core service value proposition – by leveraging data as a way to provide valuable knowledge and business insights in more of a consulting manner. While this isn’t yet the norm, it is also worth considering how data may play a part in your revenue growth if you can glean insights from it that provide value to your customer base beyond informing your service.

Stay tuned for this podcast coming soon, where Andy and I discuss these themes in more detail and also walk through important tips for collecting the right data for your needs.

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February 12, 2021 | 5 Mins Read

Finding the Fit for Field Service in Retail

February 12, 2021 | 5 Mins Read

Finding the Fit for Field Service in Retail

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By Tom Paquin

I am a creature of the retail world, having spent my young and early professional life in it, both directly as an hourly employee, and then indirectly in advisement to some large retail brands. Because of that, it’s something that I talk about here frequently. Most of the discussions that I’ve had have been about the actual retail go-to-market strategy for retail organizations: Where service can fit in their current day-to-day operations. This means focusing in most instances on service rather than field service, utilizing what physical space is available to provide experiences for customers who are standing on your property.

Field operations, as they relate to retail, usually fall into two categories: building physical infrastructure for delivery, repair, and installation services, or the act of delivering service to retailers. Having discussed the latter in some detail, let’s focus on the expansion of companies towards delivering actual field operations outside of retail.

It’s easy to see this in a binary—the only field service you could provide, as a bookseller, for instance, is a product delivery service. But is that the only service that you could provide? Are there opportunities to servitize the book-buying process, perhaps through subscription-based book clubs that provide books to members each month and organizes and runs their meetings, perhaps in partnership with local catering? The technology potential and intersectionality of local businesses have finally caught up with the ambitions of business owners…let’s not stifle out-of-the-box thinking now.

Obviously I can say things like this without consequence, since I don’t need to find the money, resources, and infrastructure to make it happen. With that in mind, let’s talk about some of the logistical considerations that could help connect the dots.

Appropriating field workers

How does one “staff up” for field operations? How do you manage the vehicular costs, material costs, and labor costs associate with these sorts of additions to your workflow? Why, the same way you do everything else of course. Resource planning and logistics shouldn’t be a new tenet for your business, and these new additions should slot alongside them with ease. If they don’t, you need to evaluate the tools that you’re using to manage these systems in the first place.

Schedules for field employees aren’t the same, obviously, as in-store staff, and it’ll be up to you to decide if these two (or more) roles warrant different types of talent to inhabit those roles. If so, they should sit side-by-side on a time sheet, with similar expectations, appropriately divergent goals, and compensation commensurate with skill and out-of-pocket expenses (if any). If your in-house staff can also manage your field operations, can you hybridize their day, allocating some time to in-store work, and some time to field work? How can you make this equitable? How can you conform to labor laws? Good software and mobile oversight will help you.

On-site points-of-sale

As a retail employee, my job was never to ring out customers, bag items, deliver exceptional customer service, or show customers where a product was. My job was the up-sell. At Gamestop, I was hawking preorders and magazine subscriptions. When I worked for Apple, it was their various service programs, whether it be AppleCare, which still exists, or MobileMe and One to One, neither of which exist any longer. Checkout can be managed by a mobile phone, or, if you’re Amazon, an elaborate system of motion-sensor cameras. The value of a retail employee is how much additional money and loyalty they can bring into the organization. This doesn’t stop when they step off your property (assuming they’re still on the clock, of course).

Setting field sales goals that are realistic and respectful is a key to making field operations viable for any business, but certainly for retail. For that reason, field workers need to have point-of-sale access on mobile devices—this should include full inventory, the ability to allocate inventory, remit payment, and schedule follow-ups for delivery if appropriate. This sort of connection to backoffice processes is the bare minimum of successful field operations. Your field workers can’t waste your customer’s time calling to check on inventory or whether or not you can get something. They need it at their fingertips.

Where does all this tech live?

There are basically three ways that point-of-sale, navigation, and appointment management (and the dozens of other things you might need in the field) can be put into the hands of field technicians: Proprietary devices, company-supplied consumer mobile devices, and employee-provided devices (BYOD). Is there a right or wrong way to do any of these things? Probably not, but it’s important to think about what works best for your purposes.

If you’re bought into a proprietary point-of-sale system, a proprietary device might seem like the best option, but obviously if you’re running service-oriented applications on the device, they need to be compatible—and natively compatible—or the system loses any value. What’s the point in deploying a mobile version of a proprietary technology if it can’t do what you need the mobile solution to do in the first place.

We’re at a point where, from a mobility perspective, consumer devices typically fit the bill just fine. Whether you own the devices centrally or you rely on employee devices typically comes down to the economics. The value of centrally managing devices is that you can have a few phones or tablets that are picked up and returned centrally, and you can control the operating system, applications, and what apps the device actually has on it. With BYOD, there are mobile device management overlays that can help regulate company-owned applications, but you’re still treading in difficult waters if you’re messing with an end user’s property.

In the end, the technology is a means to an end, and while field operations might not be the defining facet of retail, for many businesses, it could be exactly what sets them apart and keeps them viable.

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February 8, 2021 | 6 Mins Read

A Cautionary Tale of How Last-Mile Logistics Gone Wrong Can Ruin CX

February 8, 2021 | 6 Mins Read

A Cautionary Tale of How Last-Mile Logistics Gone Wrong Can Ruin CX

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Customer experience has become a critical topic for every company I interview – even in industries that haven’t traditionally prioritized CX as heavily as others (like utilities, for example). Companies have learned that, ultimately, CX is what drives revenue and creates brand loyalty. Looking at some of that statistics shared in this recent article, the emphasis on CX by companies in our audience is well supported. For example:

  • 81% of marketers expect to compete mostly (or entirely) based on CX (Gartner)
  • $1.6Tis lost every year in the U.S. because of poor customer service (Accenture Strategy)
  • 74%of consumers are at least somewhat likely to buy based on experiences alone (Forbes / Arm Treasure Data)
  • $98B/yearis left on the table by companies who fail to provide “simple” experiences to their consumers (Siegel+Gale)

So, what constitutes a good customer experience? I suppose the weight of different criteria vary person to person, but some table-stakes expectations are control (self-service), ease and quality of communication (omni-channel support, proactive information), visibility (insight), efficiency (first-time fix, on-time delivery, knowledgeable employees, etc.), and effective problem resolution. We’ve talked a lot in recent years about the imperative role service plays in CX, and how it is often times the most frequent (sometimes only) face of the brand to customers. As such, equipping employees with the information, knowledge, and assets they need to delivery a positive CX has become top priority for today’s service organizations.

Technology plays a key role in delivering a cohesive and satisfactory CX. Money, time, and effort are being invested to consolidate systems and reengineer processes to achieve this cohesiveness and keep pace with the type of CX provided by consumer-facing brands like Amazon. Disparate tools and siloed data must be brought together so that the customer journey isn’t fragmented, and the service workforce must be equipped with the information, skills, and resources to deliver the experience you want to be associated with your company’s brand. It’s not an easy feat, but it’s an important one – and we’ve featured many success stories of companies getting it right.

My Real-World CX Woes

Perhaps that’s why a recent experience has frustrated me so much. We just finished remodeling a family room in our basement. In December, we ordered a sectional sofa from Joybird to finish off the space. For those not familiar, Joybird is a trade name of Stitch Industries, Inc. which was acquired by La-Z-Boy in July of 2018. Joybird specializes in e-commerce of custom-made furniture with very limited showroom locations in New York, Washington D.C., and Chicago. I’d seen Joybird pieces pop up on Instagram in beautiful colors and interesting textures that received rave reviews and was excited to make the purchase.

The online selection and ordering process was modern and user-friendly, including the ability to order free swatches of their many fabrics to evaluate in person before ordering. You can custom design your piece from the Joybird website and, for those looking for financing, that option is easily integrated into the purchasing process. Because I am incredibly impatient, I actually placed an order before receiving the fabric swatches and realized when they arrived that I much preferred a different option – so I called customer service to inquire about making the change, and they were friendly and accommodating. I was impressed with the ordering process all around.

Once we updated our order to the preferred fabric, we received an order update email confirmation and estimated delivery date (January 21st) along with a “follow your build” email which enables you to check in on the manufacturing of your product for updates from beginning to end. The experience thus far was very in line with what I’d expect from the brand’s fresh and modern persona.

On January 11th, we received an email explaining that the sofa build was complete and that the next phase would be for the sofa to go to a transit hub, where it could sit for up to a week to synergize shipping with other local purchases. The estimated delivery date remained January 21st, but January 21st came and went with no word on delivery or further email updates. On January 22nd, I called Joybird customer service to inquire about our order status – you can’t reach someone directly but have to leave a message for a call back, which I understand is likely due to work-from-home circumstances of COVID. When the representative called back, I was told only that Joybird does not have visibility into any order status once the sofa has shipped and that we must await contact from the third-party delivery provider. I was assured this would happen by January 28th.

Then January 28th came and went with no sofa, no contact by the delivery company, and no updates. I called again January 29th and was told the exact same thing I’d been told the previous week. Third time is a charm, right? Wrong. Another week and no sofa, no contact, no updates. This time when I call, now into February, I press harder because – let’s be honest – this lack of communication and lack of visibility really isn’t acceptable. I am told that the sofa is en route to last-mile logistics provider J.B. Hunt for delivery. On my own, I find the number to contact J.B. Hunt to inquire about location and status of delivery and I’m told they have our order information but have not yet received the sofa – the representative is hopeful it was on the order received end of last week and just hasn’t been scanned in yet, so I remain hopeful the sofa will finally arrive this week.

Fragmentation, Lack of Visibility Are Entirely Avoidable with Today’s Technologies

Reliance on third-party logistics providers is quite common, and I’ve never had such issues with getting insight into the status of an order. Companies I talk with that use third-party providers know the importance of leveraging both technology and training to ensure the use of a third-party doesn’t negatively impact the customer experience. The contrast of the customer experience of the Joybird sales process versus its service process is honestly shocking to me – the initial phase was so strong that my expectation for a cohesive, positive experience was set. The sofa we eventually receive may very well be phenomenal, but at this point, the impression I have of the company overall is quite poor based on my service experience (or lack thereof). The reality is, with the technology available to companies to offer a more cohesive customer experience and to have (and maintain) real-time visibility into its inventory from order all the way through to delivery, this level of disconnect and fragmentation feels simply unacceptable. This is a real-world example of the type of customer experience that ruins a brand’s perception and reputation, and the thing that gets me most is how entirely unavoidable this is.

I have a local acquaintance who recently received a beautiful, emerald green Joybird sofa – I reached out to her to inquire about her experience, and it very much mirrored ours. She said, “the sofa is absolutely beautiful and wonderfully made, but I will likely never order from them again based on the overall experience.” My point in writing this article isn’t to blast Joybird, but to use this very real-world example to illustrate the absolute criticality of asset visibility, connectedness, and a cohesive customer experience – especially when relying on a third-party delivery provider.

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February 5, 2021 | 2 Mins Read

Back to Basics: What is Outcomes-Based Service?

February 5, 2021 | 2 Mins Read

Back to Basics: What is Outcomes-Based Service?

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By Tom Paquin

This is part of an ongoing series on the state and standards of service management software in 2020. Here are the previous articles in the series:

In our last “Back to Basics” piece, we discussed “Servitization”, which has become the buzzword of choice in recent years among manufacturing and adjacent industries. As we barrel headfirst into an increasingly service-oriented economy, rethinking customer-centric business models around services rather than products has been a priority for many businesses.

Outcomes-based service takes that premise and extends it across all businesses that offer service functions. For many businesses, getting servitization right in the first place means focusing it on outcomes-based functions. But even businesses with well-established service functions have seen the benefits of outcomes-based service models.

So: What is Outcomes-Based Service?

Outcomes-based service is the act of restructuring service contracts to focus on desired and provable outcomes, rather than warranty, maintenance, and break-fix.

Imagine, for instance, that when you bought a new computer, you were guaranteed five years’ maximum efficiency. Perhaps that requires an upgrade after year two, new RAM or a new video card, or perhaps that requires something be repaired. All of that is baked into the price of the outcomes-based contract. This also ensures that all service emanates from the OEM. And it builds customer loyalty and ensures that when a new machine is purchased, that it’s purchased, used, and enjoyed for half a decade.

Different businesses will engineer outcomes differently for their customers, of course, focusing on some big areas. A recent study saw companies focusing out outcomes in the following areas, ordered by prevalence, from top to bottom:

  • Performance metrics
  • Asset uptime
  • Time-to-service
  • Fail rates

Obviously, for many businesses, this is a huge shift not just in go-to-market, but in how service is tracked, managed, and optimized across businesses. That’s where employing best-in-class service, asset, and project management software becomes even more important to the bottom line, and to your relationship with your clients.

We’ve explored a lot of instances of best-in-class outcomes-based service over the course of the last few years here at The Future of Field Service. Here are a few interesting stories and articles to help you see what outcomes-based service looks like in practice.

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3 Predictions for Why 2021 Will Be the Year Service Soars

February 1, 2021 | 5 Mins Read

3 Predictions for Why 2021 Will Be the Year Service Soars

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

2020 presented more challenges and hardships than any of us were prepared for, but I do believe if you look closely there were some positives among all the adversity. For me, witnessing how the leaders I’m speaking to rose to the challenges of 2020 with grit, resilience, and fortitude inspired and encouraged me. They’ve shown true compassion for their coworkers and customers alike, bonded together by a deepened sense of empathy.

Beyond the individual level, however, the challenges of the last year have forced growth upon service organizations that I am excited to see bear fruit. Elements of increased open mindedness, greater creativity and agility, a collective surrender of comfort zones, and recognition of the criticality of both people and digital tools will spur these companies forth as 2021 unfolds. Here are three predictions for how:

Prediction #1: Digital Innovation Spikes

Our world quickly turned virtual as COVID struck, and the leaders I’ve spoken to fall into two camps: those who had made significant traction in digital transformation and were relieved they had, and those who had lagged behind for one reason or another and felt the pain of lacking tools that would aid greatly in business continuity and decision making.

The moments of service that matter most, the ability to react nimbly to quickly changing business criteria, and the capacity to expand and evolve service offerings all rely on a strong, cohesive digital infrastructure. This year, we’ll see digital innovation and investment spike among service organizations. Those who’ve already made progress on their digital transformation journeys will be looking to build upon their strong foundation – and those who have lagged will work hard to catch up. An IFS study of more than 3,000 executives from six regions across the world who weighed in on their organization’s plans to invest in digital transformation technologies in automation, artificial intelligence, IoT and more – expressed that, globally, over 50% plan to increase spend on digital transformation initiatives.

In data released in October 2020, Gartner stated that, “Top performing enterprises are accelerating digital innovation and leveraging emerging technologies to come out stronger on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has arguably been the most significant ‘turn’ in 2020, according to Gartner, Inc.’s annual global survey of CIOs. 2021 will be a race to digital, with the spoils going to those organizations that can maintain the momentum built up during their response to the pandemic.”

Gartner, with findings of a survey conducted online from June through July 2020, with 402 respondents across the U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia, Singapore and India, points to increased investment in IoT, stating that, “Despite the disruptive impacts of COVID-19, 47% of organizations plan to increase their investments in the Internet of Things (IoT).” Another Gartner, Inc. poll of roughly 200 business and IT professionals on September 24, 2020 revealed that 24% of respondents’ organizations increased their artificial intelligence (AI) investments and 42% kept them unchanged since the onset of COVID-19.

IDC explores how laggards, which it refers to as digital resisters, are catching up, saying that, “The pandemic was a wake-up call for the digital resisters.” The firm’s study “shows 64% of organizations will either be early adopters of new technology or aggressively seek out emerging technology, a departure from past recessionary behavior. It is the digital laggards who are expected to make the boldest moves as they play catch up. 53% of digital resisters, the least digitally mature organizations, are planning to seek out emerging technology compared to the average of 29%.”

Prediction #2: Servitization Journeys Speed

Servitization has been the industry buzzword for the last few years, but has real progress taken place? I believe so, and I believe 2021 will speed Servitization journeys. The concept of Servitization on paper – that product manufacturers compete on service offerings rather than commoditized products – sounds simple, but the reality is it is a monumental shift in how a business thinks, sells, performs, and delivers and monumental shifts take time. Munters, for example, who is on the journey to Servitization, shares insight on both the potential but also the complexities.

However, COVID has brought together several forces that collectively will make strides toward Servitization. First, it has created greater customer intimacy – companies have learned more about not only what their customers want, but how they operate. This greater understanding inevitably leads to the discovery of additional opportunities to provide value. Many manufacturing companies I’ve spoken with have seen a heightened interest in service offerings, with customers wanting to maximize the lifespan of their current equipment to avoid capital expenditures. As such, they have become increasingly open to subscription models and premier service offerings which paves the way for Servitization progress.

I’m not saying that we’ll see the full potential of Servitization realized in 2021, but I believe we’ll see a quicker pace of progress than we have the last few years as these factors, and others, play out. This Forbes article discusses some other reasons contributing to the move toward XaaS business models for manufacturing in a post-COVID world, including revenue resiliency and employee safety.

Prediction #3: Field Service Becomes Anywhere Service

Remote service capabilities have been the most sought after as a result of the pandemic, providing business continuity as travel bans and quarantine restrictions were put in place. But the value of remote service spans far beyond surviving COVID and, in 2021, our concept of field service will be replaced with one of “anywhere service.” As remote service takes hold and becomes the standard first line of defense for organizations, we’ll realize that the initial service visit can be done from anywhere.

Organizations will recognize the benefit of leading with a remote-first approach that provides far faster response times, increases the odds of remote resolution, and improves first time fix rates when field service is necessary because of the insight gleaned in advance. Remote service empowers the customer by engaging them in the service process aiding in quicker resolution, and it empowers technicians by eliminating unnecessary trips and travel time allowing them to better leverage their expertise.

In no way do I believe that field service will disappear – rather, the use of “anywhere” remote service to diagnose issues and resolve problems that don’t require a technicians time or skills onsite will contribute to the progress toward more strategic service and allow for far more optimal use of resources. Freeing up the time and energy of technicians by eliminating service work than can and should be done remotely will give them an opportunity to focus time in the field on value-add work sharpening their skills as a trusted advisor, which is precisely what will propel the company forward in its service objectives.

I’ve been writing for more than 12 years about how service is becoming more strategic – about the incredible potential it holds for businesses across a variety of industries. But to seize that potential takes an immense amount of change – a full departure from “the way it’s always been.” Until 2020, many organizations simply weren’t ready to commit to the cultural, technological, and operational changes necessary to see the potential come to life. In 2021, we’ll see how navigating the challenges of 2020 results in a leap forward to exponentially speed the service evolution in the coming years. And that’s something I am eager to witness.

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