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May 23, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

Makino’s Critical Shift from Reactive to Predictive Service

May 23, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

Makino’s Critical Shift from Reactive to Predictive Service

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Makino is a globally recognized company that produces metal-cutting and EDM machines. Like many product manufacturers, Makino is looking for new ways to differentiate itself through service. As such, the company is incorporating IoT, AI, and ML into its operations to enable the shift from reactive to predictive service. “This is a critical shift for Makino. It allows us to make support a competitive weapon,” says Mark Rentschler, VP of Customer Support at Makino.

Makino, a long-time IFS FSM customer, adopted the IFS IoT Business Connector as a part of its predictive service strategy. The IFS IoT Business Connector, a set of components that connect Microsoft Azure IoT Suite, or other discovery environments, to receive and operationalize device data and deliver observations to IFS business software. Along with proprietary AI and ML, Makino is able to monitor conditions of its machines and predict failures before they occur. In certain instances, when customers permit connectivity, the IoT Business Connector can feed data from the equipment directly into IFS FSM so that a call can be placed, or a ticket created automatically. The solution works to determine product patterns and notify of issues prior to a failure occurring. Alerts can also be set to inform when preventative maintenance isn’t done properly or as scheduled. These insights help Makino not only to operate more efficiently, but to provide optimal equipment uptime for its customers.

Creating New Service Revenue Streams

With large equipment like what Makino manufactures, downtime is incredibly costly and disruptive to customers’ operations. Further, in today’s service landscape customers simply expect minimal to no downtime and for the equipment they’ve purchased to just work, period. Of course, service providers know this is no easy feat and work to keep pace with increasing customer demands. For Makino, the IoT-enabled OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) service offering not only enables the company to better meet its customer demands, but it also provides a new revenue stream for the company. This more sophisticated level of service that combines predictive analytics as well as equipment usage and operating data gives customers both insight and reliability that they are willing to pay a premium for, which is structured in the form of an annual subscription fee. “This solution provides more than just information and status updates, it really offers the ability to avoid failures that result in significant costs and disruption,” says Rentschler. “This value proposition is exactly what our customers want.” Makino began development of this offering about a year and a half ago, and first introduced OEE to its customer base in September of 2018 with commercial availability February 2019. The company has seen immense interest from its customers with beta testing of the offering going very well. Makino anticipates this move to predictive service to create a long-term revenue stream that will augment its product and traditional service revenues.

Managing Major Change

Rentschler, who has been with Makino for more than 24 years, acknowledges that the move to predictive service is both a structural and fundamental shift. This transformation goes beyond the introduction of sophisticated new technology and reaches into the company’s culture, operations, and even business model. “You have the introduction of technology itself, which requires our already electrically and mechanically skilled engineers to also become capable of networking,” says Rentschler. “With this being a new offering for our customers, you also have to consider the soft skills that are necessary to articulate the value and deliver on predictive service. These changes require continued communication and employee development – you can’t achieve full success without true collaboration.” For a company that has traditionally provided products with break/fix service, the introduction of a subscription-based predictive service model is also a notable change. “For a company that sells capital equipment, the world of subscriptions with agreements, renewals, and the like is a significant adjustment,” says Rentschler. While not without its challenges, Makino’s willingness to embrace the world of Servitization is commendable – too many organizations are hesitating because its simply easier to do what they’ve always done. For those, though, Rentschler has some wise words. “Go fast, because you’re already late,” he says. “This is the future of our industry, so you either embrace it or you’ll be left behind.”

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May 20, 2019 | 5 Mins Read

Overcoming the Barriers to Creating Servitization Revenue Streams

May 20, 2019 | 5 Mins Read

Overcoming the Barriers to Creating Servitization Revenue Streams

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

With the journey to Servitization well underway for most service organizations, there seems to be one major challenge standing in the way of reaping its rewards: creating new revenue streams. At this year’s Field Service Palm Springs event, this challenge was of the most talked-about topics among attendees. Numerous times throughout the four days I heard a service leader ask, “How are you making money doing that?” Rarely was an answer offered.

Why is it that companies are struggling with creating revenue through Servitization? I think there are a few different reasons, but before we dig into those, let’s first discuss the progress that has been made in the industry. A year ago, at this same event, Servitization was being discussed (mostly be vendors) as a forward-thinking notion. In that one year, so much has changed. Servitization is now being embraced as a concept by nearly all service organizations and in practice by many. Companies have come to understand that the path into the future of service is far different than the road that has gotten us to where we are.

Progress on the Path to Servitization

I believe there’s a common understanding among service organizations that truly the only means to achieve success from this point forward is to authentically achieve and maintain a customer focus. Organizations realize that customer intimacy and a deep, rich understanding of what customers both need and want is critical not only to be able to deliver competitive service in today’s landscape but to be able to ultimately develop those next revenue streams. Organizations also accept the fact that Servitization cannot be achieved without operational excellence, and this means both streamlining and optimizing processes as well as investing in state-of-the-art technologies that are essential to meeting today’s pressures. Finally, companies are grappling with the idea that what has historically been a very slow-moving, often laggard industry needs to quickly transform itself to a more agile, innovative one. This means an evolution of strategic initiatives, business models and offerings, functions and roles, and for most an overhaul of the technology used to manage it all.

The Potential for Monetizing Servitization

While the evolution to Servitization isn’t exactly simple, it is inevitable. If that isn’t reason enough to embrace it, the potential it brings to grow revenue should be. For most companies, there are two primary opportunities to create additional or new revenue through Servitization:

  • Delivering outcomes. As companies move away from reactive, break-fix service and move toward predictive service capabilities, the value proposition for customers is immensely amplified. You are no longer providing a service but delivering an outcome. Getting to the point of avoiding the need for a customer to call you requesting a repair is a level of value that most customers would happily pay more for. It’s up to you to take advantage of the experience economy by repositioning your service offering as an outcome – a guarantee that your customer can remove that source of worry and work from their plates and just know that things will be taken care of.
  • Offering insights. Data has become the most valuable asset there is today. Service organizations with connected assets often default to thinking about how that data can help their service operation be more effective and efficient – from the standpoint of enabling that predictive service. However, there’s a whole new world of revenue opportunity when you begin thinking about how the data you are collecting (or can collect) can benefit your customers. Equipment usage data that helps you detect fault patterns and avoid failures can also provide valuable perspective for your customers on usage, consumption, peak times, and so on. Organizations that begin thinking outside of the box of what service they can provide and begin thinking about what insights they can provide expand the potential for revenue opportunities.

So, What’s Holding Companies Back?

This all may sound simple so far, but as I said at the beginning, the reality is that most companies are struggling to realize revenue gains from Servitization. If I think about why this is, a few barriers come to mind:

  • The concept of Servitization is a seismic shift for companies. We must recognize that the evolution underway in service is truly transformative and it takes time for companies to determine how to adapt. I think the first major barrier is that some organizations are having difficulty developing and articulating their vision around Servitization. In many cases, this stems from not having a great grasp on what those customer needs and desires are, and organizations must start here. This lack of vision can also be attributed to leadership that is more comfortable maintaining the status quo, which is a stance that needs to be fiercely challenged if a company wants to remain relevant.
  • Servitization success requires strong foundational technology that many organizations lack. You simply cannot deliver on the value of Servitization without having strong foundational technology in place. Many companies are struggling to modernize as quickly as they need to in order to progress with the pace of customer expectations. This goes back to agility being a new concept for most service organizations, and it’s important to work on being more nimble both in selecting as well as deploying the tools you need to deliver outcomes.
  • Change management remains tough to tackle. Change management is a topic that has been covered time and time again and in countless ways, yet it remains top of mind for service leaders. From the top down, this level of business transformation requires a lot of work on not only developing but articulating that vision and then re-creating a company culture that is more aligned to the new and future way of operating. Change management, while conceptually straightforward, remains incredibly challenging for companies to tackle effectively.

Companies lack confidence in their Servitization value proposition.

At the end of the day, service and sales are now closely intertwined – and as a function that historically hasn’t had a major sales aspect to it, this is a struggle. I think that some companies have an offering that they could indeed monetize and simply aren’t doing so because they don’t know how to articulate their value proposition to customers. Ultimately, to achieve success in creating Servitization revenue, organizations must get comfortable and become confident not only in creating but also pitching offerings that they know their customers find value in (because they’ve asked).

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TDC’s Mission to Minimize Vulnerability, Maximize Competitive Advantage

May 16, 2019 | 4 Mins Read

TDC’s Mission to Minimize Vulnerability, Maximize Competitive Advantage

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

For 130 years, the TDC Group has been delivering innovative communications solutions that link Danes more closely together. Brands in TDC Group include YouSee, Telmore, Fullrate, Blockbuster, Dansk Kabel TV, CubeIO, Get and TDC Erhverv. TDC Group is working toward a vision it refers to as ‘Digital Denmark,’ in which the company is committed countrywide connectivity and digitally educating citizens with the ambition to become the leading infrastructure operator and the best service provider.

To accomplish these objectives, TDC recognizes the need to invest in digital transformation – both in technologies themselves as well as new digital skill sets that will lead the company forward. In the company’s 2018 Annual Report, CEO and President Allison Kirkby says, “TDC Group is committed to investing in building the infrastructure and assets that will provide us with sustainable, long-term competitive advantages.” As with many other industries and across many parts of the world, one of the major challenges for TDC is qualified talent to lead this charge. The company knows that its digital transformation requires the recruitment of more employees with digital competencies, yet there is a threatening lack of these profiles in the Danish labor market. In an effort to alleviate this problem, TDC co-founded Digital Dogme. The company is working to upskill its employees with the digital competences needed for the future as well as attracting new talent.

A Focus On Field Service

Modernizing its field operations has been an important aspect of TDC’s digital transformation efforts. The company employs a field force of 1,000 technicians with 45 highly skilled and incredibly knowledgeable dispatchers that schedule more than 1 million tasks per year. “For an operation of our size and complexity, relying on a team of highly specialized dispatchers puts us in a very vulnerable position,” says Mads Frølich, Product Owner at TDC. “This fact, along with our need to be more efficient and to be able to accommodate mounting customer pressures, led us to the deployment of IFS Field Service Management.” During its solution evaluation process, TDC focused of course on value but also on finding a company that it felt was equipped to meet its demands. IFS appealed to TDC based on the FSM solution functionality, but also based on the company’s stability and reputation for being customer-centric. “We set our expectations high,” says Markussen. “We needed a partner that would embrace that.” With its solution selected, TDC began configuration and integration which included a thorough process review and update. Deployment of FSM began in early 2018 and is ongoing. “It’s been quite a journey,” says Mads Frølich, Data Analyst at TDC. “Learning and training takes time, and managing change is at least as big of a project as the technology itself.”

The Change Management Imperative

TDC started its change management efforts early, working prior to the project’s start on gathering experiences from technicians and dispatch to ensure the solution selected would meet their needs. “We knew that the mobile solution needed to map to our technicians’ work versus forcing them to adjust to a new workflow,” says Frølich, “and dispatch was instrumental in defining how we’d configure IFS FSM and PSO.” As deployment began, TDC established a “war room” at each location where they’d hold daily meetings surrounding go-live. “The war room gave us an opportunity to thoroughly evaluate our progress, and to collect feedback in real time. It was key in us being able to appropriately gauge the happiness of our technicians as well as our customers’ reactions,” says Frølich. TDC enlisted the support of its frontline workforce to assist with change management and solution adoption. “We worked to identify super users, based on skills and willingness, who were trained ahead and then worked to train their peers,” adds Frølich. “This process, along with relying on regions that have successfully deployed to tell the tale of the value themselves as ambassadors, really helps in fostering acceptance and adoption. The message coming from peers really resonates with the workers more so than just classroom, directive training.” Markussen and Frølich urge others to keep in mind that change management is an inevitable, natural part of the process. “Change management is a process itself, and you can’t control it,” says Markussen. “The average age of our technicians is 50+ - and we’re asking them to adjust from complete control over planning their own day to an automated drip of tasks. This is a major adjustment and its natural to experience some resistance, but I will say once they are over the hump they do grow to like it.”

Preparing For The Future

TDC’s investment in IFS FSM is building a strong foundation for its field operations that will set the stage for the future. Already the company is better able to accommodate non-standard or into the schedule, and the company anticipates that it will ultimately see a reduction in travel time and better SLA compliance as well. TDC is working to mitigating risk by putting a solution in place that will reduce the need for manual intervention from the dispatchers, so that the company can better utilize the skilled dispatchers and reduce vulnerability of tribal knowledge. By focusing on the digital transformation of its field operations as part of the company’s broader objectives, TDC is setting the stage for further automation that will help the company better serve its customers and achieve competitive advantage as it strives toward Digital Denmark.

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5 Steps for Understanding How Customers Develop Their Perceptions About Your Brand

May 13, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

5 Steps for Understanding How Customers Develop Their Perceptions About Your Brand

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By Hamdy Michael Ayas

Delivering superior experiences to customers has many benefits for optimizing returns on investments and it can be a significant value adding factor. For example, it can lead to achieving a competitive advantage from the branding level. In addition, through the experiences of customers, a powerful positioning can be established for being perceived as the best of class in service.

This requires a strong understanding of how the customers want to experience their journeys of interactions with the organisation as well as acting effectively upon this understanding. Understanding the way that customers develop their perception about a brand leads to ways of managing their perceptions and delivering superior experiences. But how is it possible to structure the way that customers develop their perception about your brand?

  1. Defining interaction touch points with customers: Every touch point of interaction between a brand and a customer contributes to forming the total experience that a customer will have. A Touch Point, as an interaction instance of a customer with the brand, can take place in many ways, from simple/obvious instances to well-hidden effects.
  2. Creating superior experiences: Transforming your offerings from unidimensional products/services into comprehensive experiences enables the delivery of significant added value. For example, a sportscar, can have two engines with the same output. A smooth continuous sound from the engine can give the perception of stability and power but on the other hand, a rough and intermitted sound might give the experience of an old machine and set lower performance expectations. In terms of perceived value however, the rough sound can be associated with vintage machinery. In combination with other experiences of similar associations during the interactions journey of the customer this can result to a superior driving experience.
  3. Giving some ownership of the interactions to customers: Every touch-point of interaction consists of a two-way communication and the input of the customer is crucial to be heart. For example, two questions that a field engineer can ask prior a visit, have an equal meaning but lead to very unequal results in terms of customer satisfaction. Getting the opinion of the customer and deciding together the date of a visit by using “When would you like us to be at your site?” develops a superior experience than just informing the customer that “We can be with you earliest on Friday”.
  4. Traveling the customer journey: Usually, a customer is going through several interactions with a company/brand during an experience and there is an entire journey of interactions that determines the customer’s perception. For example, a customer navigates on the website to find information, comes in contact to submit a request, receives a service, uses a piece of equipment and so on.
  5. Anticipate what customers expect in every interaction: In a Customer Corridor, during the end-to-end set of interactions that the customer has with the organisation, a set of expectations setting takes place. Most importantly, the way that the organisation interacts creates a set of responses on these set expectations and the customer’s perception of the organization’s brand is determined by meeting or failing to meet these expectations.

Therefore, offerings by themselves can create value but they are not enough to create customer delight. Customer delight is created by successfully playing the game of setting the right expectations for the right price and then exceeding these expectations. And setting the right expectations in a precise and systematic manner needs the development of value-driven operational qualities.

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Field Service Used to Be Easy: How Spencer Technologies Uses Data To Adapt

May 9, 2019 | 4 Mins Read

Field Service Used to Be Easy: How Spencer Technologies Uses Data To Adapt

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Founded in 1972, Spencer Technologies has grown to become a global company with more than 500 employees and 200 technicians throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe. The company provides project management and technology services to support retail stores and multi-site organizations.

I had the honor of interviewing Rudy Goedhart, Business Intelligence Director at Spencer Technologies recently at the IFS 2019 InFocus Group customer training and education event. Spencer has been an IFS Field Service Management™ (IFS FSM™) customer for more than seven years and Goedhart’s role is focused on leveraging the data the solution provides to make the company more efficient and to keep its customers happy. Everyone in the room chuckled when Goedhart exclaimed, “Field service used to be easy!” What he went on to explain is that historically, customers were really happy to hire Spencer in to do a job, have the work completed, and receive a bill. Period. Over the past couple of years, those expectations have evolved dramatically. “In today’s always-on world, customers demand insight. We realized about 18 months ago that we weren’t giving them enough information – they wanted more from us, and we needed to better use our technology to deliver,” says Goedhart. “Customers want to know, at a glance, how we’re performing against our SLA, how long the technicians have been on-site, the reason for any delays or re-visits. They want to check in continuously to get that status update and know everything is happening as planned.”

The Foundation for Critical Visibility

IFS Field Service Management™ (IFS FSM™) intelligently manages Spencer’s overall service lifecycle, helping the company to optimize all processes and touch points and deliver seamless service while placing its focus on customer satisfaction. With IFS FSM, Spencer can connect project, work management and task execution in the field as well as centralize the management of resources, projects, and associated requirements while reliably capturing field data remotely. Spencer has the ability to specify service deliverables including response times, coverage schedules, bill schedules, PMs and escalation rules. With IFS FSM as its system of record, and through using the customer portal functionality, Spencer is able to provide its customers with the continual flow of information they’ve come to expect.

3 Critical Data Applications

Goedhart categorizes Spencer’s use of data gleaned from FSM into three equally important categories: internal, customer-facing, and to minimize vulnerability. Internally, Spencer communicates progress on key KPIs continually at all levels of the organization. “We use the lobbies functionality of FSM to deliver the appropriate data to each function: leadership sees a certain set of data, technicians see another, and shipping and logistics functions see yet another,” says Goedhart. “Each view is customizable, but the point is that at every level of the organization, insights from the system as it relates directly to key KPIs are being communicated on an ongoing basis. This ensures we are all aligned as a team on what’s most critical at any given point as well as how we’re performing as individual functions and as a company overall. This level of visibility has helped us to avoid numerous escalations, which saves us time and money and keeps our customers happier.” The customer-facing data is what is newer for Spencer, born out of those increasing demands for information. Through reporting and the customer portal, depending on customer preference, Spencer is able to use insights from FSM to keep its customers in the know on what is most important to them. “All our customers have real-time visibility into our FSM system of record with real-time reporting,” says Goedhart. “Being able to deliver the level of insight our customers want using FSM has become a competitive differentiator for Spencer.” Finally, Goedhart notes that data has come in handy in terms of the company being able to protect itself and minimize vulnerability. In the instances a customer issues arises, one that perhaps historically would’ve resulted in a loss of billable hours, Spencer now has the evidence of service delivered to fall back on as needed.

Words of Wisdom

Goedhart shared some valuable insights with the crowd based on what he’s learned in the last 18 months as Spencer has taken on this mission to better serve its customers with data. First, he urges you to consider the value of the data you’re sharing – whether internally or externally. “If you’re sharing data, whether with employees or customers, it absolutely has to be both meaningful and actionable,” says Goedhart. “If it isn’t, it’s just noise – and that noise will cause confusion and frustration.” Finally, Goedhart suggests taking control of the narrative around data with your customers. “Make suggestions and offer choices instead of asking open-ended questions,” he says. “If you tailor the information to each specific customer and start over each time asking what is needed, it will cause a lot of wasted time and energy. Customers are coming to you because you know the business – show them that by offering them what they need. If you can anticipate needs and offer solutions that fit those needs, 99% of the time your customers will be happy with the standard offering you’re suggesting. But you have to control that narrative – otherwise you open yourselves up to too much input and not only endless but unnecessary customization.”

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A People-Focused Approach to Technology Strategy

May 6, 2019 | 4 Mins Read

A People-Focused Approach to Technology Strategy

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By Charles Hughes

We like to think technology can solve any problem and improve any bottom line. But have the newest TVs ever made us smarter than good, old books? Why is it that after almost 50 years of aerospace technological advancement, it is still incredibly hard to fly a human to the moon? Technology alone is rarely the entire solution.

Technology needs to match the problem and fit the human using it. Nowhere is this truer than in a field service organization. The field service technician is the most important and most complex piece of a field services support model. Therefore, as the center of the services ecosystem, technology needs to be built around them. No system or application can replace human decision making, intimate customer knowledge, and an intuitive ability to satisfy customers’ needs. Done right, with proper training, technology can be a force multiplier. But it starts with people doing their job well. Military leaders use the term “force multiplier” to describe the effect of adding a capability to a team that exponentially improves the likelihood of success of the mission. Sometimes technologies demonstrate how a whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. When army infantry units are given mechanized vehicles, their maneuverability and speed are greatly improved, allowing the unit to cover more ground more quickly. Now add an armored company to the mix and you have increased firepower allowing the unit to defend or attack more aggressively. An army of 100 can challenge an army of 1,000 less well-equipped soldiers.

How To Use Technology As a Force Multiplier

Technology can be a force multiplier for your field services organization, but only if your team understands that tools do not substitute for service, they merely enable it. Moreover, technologies require training and acquired skills. Like a military unit, you must develop a well-trained team of professionals that are dedicated to the mission of delivering outstanding field services support to their customers. Develop that underlying culture of service first, and then start overlaying technology to increase the service power of the team. Field services organizations that look for a silver bullet to solve their service capability problems quickly find themselves automating poorly-designed processes, masking a training issue or resource constraint, delivering poor service more quickly and at an unnecessarily greater cost. You can provide a poorly-trained field technician a mobile device and it may make them more effective than not having one, but you won’t see the same jump that you would if you gave that same device to a well-trained and capable field engineer. Training and skills yield the return on investment, not the mobile device. Giving a scheduling engine to a poorly trained field technician will only get them to the next appointment, not prevent appointments that would have been unnecessary had the problem been fixed on the previous meeting. Having integrated inventory management and ordering empowers poorly-trained field technicians to order unneeded parts more efficiently. You will quickly find that investing in the training and development of your people provides a greater return on your technology investment. Once you understand the capabilities of your team, you are better positioned to deploy technology to create new service offerings, increase service levels, and generate more capacity. Develop an integrated roadmap that starts with a foundation supporting the long-range vision. For example, if your field technicians are not mobile, consider a mobility system to get them started. Determine if your mobility strategy (short or long term) should include schedule optimization, workflow management, inventory management, and data analytics. Should you purchase an off-the-shelf solution or develop one internally? Should you roll out a major release or used a phased approach? Seek to understand how your people will utilize and adjust to the technology. Don’t assume all team members will welcome technology with open arms. Capable team members may feel they don’t need the technology while less capable team members may fear the technology will expose their weaknesses. You may discover there is significant training or a culture shift that needs to occur within the team to prepare them for technology. The particular needs of each field service team may differ but consider your service offerings in conjunction with your technology choices. Now you are ready to develop a cohesive technology strategy and see a higher return on investment. Don’t forget the impact on your customers when developing your technology strategy. Technology tools that make life easier for your field technicians should not make it more difficult for your customer. Anything you deploy that makes it easier for the customer to request and receive service or stay updated on the status of their service request should be well received. If your solution causes the customer to change how he does business or requires incremental effort on their part, then be prepared for unhappy customers. Technology may seem the panacea to what ails your organization, and it can be an effective force multiplier, but don’t let it become a band aid for a systemic issue in your organization. Take steps to ensure your people are capable of effectively utilizing technology to improve their service delivery capabilities. This people-focused technology strategy will give you the edge on your competition and maximize your return on investment.

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My Top 3 Observations from Field Service Palm Springs

May 2, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

My Top 3 Observations from Field Service Palm Springs

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Last week was spent in sunny Palm Springs taking notes on the top-of-mind trends and themes among service leaders at Field Service Palm Springs 2019. There was great energy at the event, a very well-done production by WBR. I had the opportunity to connect with old friends and make some new and I was fortunate to participate in and listen in on some interesting sessions. Before this week of post-travel catch up gets away from me, I wanted to share three points that I found notable at the event.

#1: The Elevation of the Service Industry is Apparent

One of the things I noticed most is how much more of a conversation this year’s event was among attendees. In year’s past, you’d have a handful of really innovative organizations up on stage talking about their initiatives – and a whole room full of attendees looking up at them thinking, “huh?” Maybe not quite – but this year there was a stark contrast to the division among leaders and laggards at the event. Rather than many learning from few, everyone was learning from one another.

This change illustrates the elevation of the industry – the fact that overall, service is becoming more strategic, competitive, and for many organizations a key differentiator is exciting. This evolution resulted in delegates that were all somewhere along this service transformation journey, and all active participants in the exciting conversations happening at the event.

#2: All Paths Lead to Servitization

Servitization was arguably the key theme of the event. The idea that companies can no longer just sell and service products, but rather need to level up and begin providing outcomes and experiences was front and center in the event’s content and conversations. The vast majority of those in attendance are in full agreement that this is the future and are at varying points on the journey of figuring out how to master this within their organizations.

Sub-topics under the general theme of servitization included the criticality of customer centricity and exercises like customer journey mapping and VOC (voice of the customer), how best to communicate new offerings to customers, the challenges around how to charge for new/different services, and the need to adopt the latest technologies to be able to keep pace with customer demands.

#3: Some Topics are Timeless

Over and over again at the event the themes of change management and soft skills came up – truly in almost every conversation I was a part of. I know it can seem like these are topics that have been covered time and time again, but they are critical to what the attendees are looking to accomplish, and it was clear organizations of all sizes in all industries still struggle with these aspects.

If you think about it, it makes sense – there is a greater, deeper change at play in this industry than ever before. Organizations aren’t just asking employees to adopt a new tool – they’re asking that, but along with adopting an entirely new way of doing business. One that involves new and different interactions with the customers, and therefore necessitates more sophisticated soft skills.

Each of these observations from the event – and more – demand their own deeper dive, so keep an eye out for more coming soon.

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April 29, 2019 | 5 Mins Read

How to Get Service Workers to Use the Technologies at Their Disposal

April 29, 2019 | 5 Mins Read

How to Get Service Workers to Use the Technologies at Their Disposal

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By Tom Paquin

WBR’s Field Service USA Conference is an excellent opportunity to connect with business leaders, check in on old friends, and get a feel for how the industry is changing. I’m certain that there will be quite a bit of digital ink spilled on the topics uncovered at the event (We’ve already had a bonus podcast episode recorded while there), and there are quite a few things worth unpacking in the coming days and weeks. One thing that stuck with me throughout my conversations was that many service leaders are struggling with getting their technicians to actually use the systems that they’re supposed to.

This dilemma is obviously as old as technology itself (arguably older). There’s a 1999 Harvard Business Review case study titled Rich-Con Steel, still routinely used in MBA programs today, that serves as a cautionary tale for companies training and implementing new IT systems. In it, a tacked-on and poorly-vetted solution is ignored by fronline workers, inciting inaccuracies that ripple throughout the business, from order management, through inventory, and customer service. In real life, this ultimately led to the decline and bankruptcy of the Richards & Conover Steel Co., a Kansas City institution founded in 1857. The company’s building has been repurposed into luxury lofts. A cautionary tale, indeed. We’re 20 years removed from the failures of Rich-Con Steel, of course, and technology-adverse companies no longer have the luxury of doing nothing. This is especially true in service, where a break-fix mentality is increasingly rejected by customers, who expect little to no downtime, and rapid resolution when it happens. Fancy new technology investments can lay the groundwork to help organizations compete, but the resounding refrain from executives was that down-the-line execution was failing. This was true in a variety of technology categories, but for many, the failures seemed to stem from two specific pieces of tech: Augmented Reality, and Field Service Management itself. For service firms adopting AR, the issues seem to stem from a combination of tech limitations and workforce failures. On some remote job sites, techs lack the cellular connectivity for their AR solutions to work properly. More often, though, when they’re in need of support, many executives made it clear that their technicians go straight to phone calls, and leave it there. AR utilization failures can cause slowdowns, but failure in utilizing service management systems properly can lead to data inaccuracies that can impact business effectiveness catastrophically. When techs don’t log service appointments properly, delay or neglect part usage, or don’t take advantage of internal systems for invoicing, you suddenly and dangerously lose all visibility into how your business is run. One service leader indicated that he, manually, started and ended technicians’ service appointments for them in his system when he saw them reach a job site. That’s no way to run a business. With those problems in mind, here are a few things that can help smooth over your tech’s relationship with business systems. These may not be the right fit for everyone, but taking a step back and reevaluating your approach could save your company a lot of anxiety in the long run.

Pilot Programs Need to Be Exhaustive

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again—Don’t just pilot new systems with your leading technicians. Also pilot them with mediocre performers, and, ideally, some new techs as well. This will give a much better vision of how systems can, and will, be implemented, both at different levels of tenure, but also at different skill levels. This will also help you build a practical implementation plan, especially when it comes to more abstract tools like AR. For example—If nine out of ten techs show no performance improvement through a specific job, but AR decreased onboarding time by half, that gives you a pretty solid business case for deploying AR as a training utility first, then further iterating for on-site opportunities.

Rollout Should be an Event

I’ve been in companies where rollout of a new system is part of a one-hour meeting, or done so piecemeal over the course of eighteen months. The former leads to technicians feeling unprepared and unsupported with new technology, while the latter allows employees to lean on old systems, often causing efficiency drags and inconsistent reporting. So—new technologies should accompany, generally, a week of initial training and shadowing. Use your pilots as player-coaches, form breakout sessions, and immerse the staff in your tools. Articulate the personal value for them—time saved, easier processes, access to better information. From a business process point of view, it may seem horrifying for the company to train for a week, but an upfront time investment pays dividends in the long-run.

Let your Techs Know Where They Stand

This is simple visibility. Technicians will be more inclined to use tools if they see others are using them, and they are given a gauge on their own performance. This is also a great way to glean some more value on reporting tools built into the hardware and software that you buy, by turning some of those reports towards the front-line workers most impacted by them. I would not advocate making utilization numbers, time-on-task, or repair times necessarily points for disciple, but they can be used as an opportunity for re-training.

Make Automation your Friend

Let’s think about our service leader from earlier, who manually started technicians’ appointments when they reached a job site. It would take virtually nothing to automate that task—A notification that a technicians received on a job site that says, “You have reached your job site. Would you like to begin your service appointment?” This brings them into the application, rather than doing the work for them. This baseline will only be built upon as more sophisticated AI processes automate more and more simple, repeatable functions. This is but one example.

Listen

Your technicians are not lazy, technology-adverse, or incapable of learning. A technicians’ hesitation to adopt a system derives from their desire to offer the best service possible, and the fact that they, the technician, have the best understanding of how to do that means that there’s a great opportunity to hear from them. Don’t just include them at the pilot stage, bring them into the decision-making process. Understand the worst part of their job. Invest in solutions that solve those problems, and you’ll have a team that respects your decisions, and uses your tools. It’s not hard, but it definitely requires more than simply buying a piece of software.

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The Key To Digital Adoption: Make It Personal

April 25, 2019 | 2 Mins Read

The Key To Digital Adoption: Make It Personal

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By Greg Lush

In this series thus far, we’ve discussed various aspects of how to ensure digital transformation success. Last time, we talked about the importance of building a positive digital reputation – and one of the keys to doing so is to make it personal for your employees.

If you look back at the legacy of software deployment within organizations over the last couple of decades, with a keen focus on transactional systems, practitioners learned how to adapt their habits into the constraints of the software system. It really wasn’t until valuable applications came into the mix in the last few years that this position has been questioned. Now, more than ever, we need to look at it through a different lens if we are to achieve success in building our digital reputations. Although maybe a bit unusual for some here are some suggestions to get you started on making your adoption practices personal:

Lead by example. As with many things and articulated earlier in the series, a community, each in their own way, must demonstrate consistent use of the new valuable As everyone learns at their own pace it is not important the level of competency demonstrated, instead positive signals that the transformation is important to everyone.

Digital coaching. Often, with modern digital tools, adoption is not the core functionality of the software. Instead how to connect these tools with individuals daily work habits drive a change in behavior. Digital coaching starts with a discussion, followed by suggested tools to leverage. We remove the challenge for user to correlate their needs to functions within often unknown and/or complex toolsets. As the tools deliver immediate value they are commonly expanded by the individual or the team.

Typical uses:

  • Individual or team often utters “if I could only” …
  • Progressive users with the desire to be more productive
  • Output from business improvement or ideation meetings

Value:

  • Personalizes adoption
  • Immediate increase in personal and team productivity
  • Builds user confidence

From apps to outcomes. It is simply amazing to watch the transition as individual’s dependency on the “I believe button” falls off. The efforts put forth within your organization, in some cases for months and months, building and fortifying your digital reputation have paid off in spades. You will know that you’ve arrived and are ready for the next phase of the hierarchy of digital adoption when your transformation cycles stop naming applications and began listing transformation elements. Instead of your practitioners feeling the burden of determining which valuable application in the cloud platform will serve them best, they are now thinking about how these tools can help them reach their digital potential.

For me, and why you see the greatest amount of detail within the digital reputation section, is the realization that without a good digital reputation you will never achieve adoption. For those of you scoffing at that statement, true business transformation through these wonderful, value packed applications, will always be just out of your reach.

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Finding the Starting Point of Successful Servitization

April 22, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

Finding the Starting Point of Successful Servitization

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By Annick Perry

In the ever-changing environment that service businesses operate, there are many potential transformation initiatives available. But from all these potential choices, which are the best options to start with? Is there any low-hanging fruit that can help a service business to accelerate growth? Let’s look at the most effective practices that most successful service transformations typically start with.

Understand Your Customers’ Service Needs

It’s of critical importance that you understand your customers in order to quickly identify their needs and business challenges and be able to propose the right services. Due to the frequently intangible nature of the service business, customers often need help to articulate their service needs. The more effective the needs exploration phase, the more likely a customer will feel that they are understood and that the right services are being proposed. Most successful sellers will have developed their own “mental” customer segmentation model, with the typical needs, benefits and recommended solutions. It pays off to assist the broader sales team with good research and training to fully understand customer service needs.

Understand How Your Customers Buy Services

Your ability to sell depends on your ability to understand your customers buying journey. Do you have to train your field engineers to act as trusted advisors? Have you identified the moments at which a customer typically buys during a product life cycle? Or perhaps you have to work closely with the product sales force to sell a product as a service? Having a clearly defined sales strategy aligned with your customers’ preferred way of buying will make your entire sales force more effective.

Turn Average Sales Teams Into High Performers with Better Sales Methods

Sales teams that deliver average results often lack a good approach to selling services. The fundamental difference between selling services and products is that in the case of services, the discussion always starts with what the customer’s challenges are and never with the service itself. However, more often than not, product sales people typically focus on matching a customer’s documented needs with the product on sale. In the case of services though, most customers do not know that they have a need for services, or they may have given up on finding solutions for challenges that they assume cannot be solved. There are several proven service sales methodologies and you need to make sure that your sales people fully master the chosen method.

Let Your Top 10% Sales People Share Their Best Practices

Turn your entire service sales staff into high performers by providing them with sales tools that leverage the best practices of your top performers on a daily basis. A service sales guide written with the help of your top performers can really make that difference. In order to achieve this, you need to understand what your top sales people do so well, and research your customers and map the customer needs of the different types of customers with actual solutions. Such a sales guide can make your entire sales force excel, while the top is even getting better as they learn from sharing their best practices.

Make Everybody A Trusted Advisor

From the top of the company down to every front-line employee, companies should be able to gain the trust of customers and guide them towards whatever brings the best value to the customer. Our research has identified the categories of skills that are particularly important:

  • Situational knowledge: Being able to relate to the customer and identify their issues and pains
  • Capability knowledge: Know what capabilities you have that can solve the customer’s issues
  • People skills: Behavioural, communicational and observational skills are very important, as well as being able to understand verbal and non-verbal cues
  • Selling skills: Understanding the process of how you sell something and possessing negotiation skills

The changes needed to take place in order to compete in the service economy of the present and the future can be plenty for an organization. The way to realize them is to start with what can be actually achieved and overcome the challenges ahead.

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