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July 8, 2024 | 11 Mins Read

How Can Service Organizations Contribute to a More Sustainable Future?

July 8, 2024 | 11 Mins Read

How Can Service Organizations Contribute to a More Sustainable Future?

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Sustainability is a topic that impacts each of us personally and plays an increasingly integrated role in the business landscape. From the perspective of how companies comply with and support sustainability requirements to how they aid customers with sustainable offerings or their own initiatives, it’s a topic that impacts just about every area of today’s business. Perhaps one area that is underrepresented though is the intersection of service and sustainability.

To discuss this and more, I recently welcomed back to the UNSCRIPTED podcast Rainer Karcher, sustainability enthusiast, “climate activist in a suit,” and former Chief Sustainability Officer, who has recently departed the corporate world to start helping companies work toward their sustainability objectives through his own organization, Heartprint.

As the Founder and Managing Director of Heartprint, he brings more than 25 years of IT experience from companies like Allianz Technology, IBM, and Siemens AG. His expertise spans support, infrastructure, data centers, service operations, and IT sustainability. For Rainer, sustainability extends beyond environmental protection to encompass a holistic approach aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Agenda, addressing all ESG aspects – and his passion for this work is contagious, so I strongly recommend listening to the full discussion.

There’s Always a “Why” for Sustainability

Let’s start with ensuring we’re all operating from the same understanding that everyone – and every business – should be invested in this topic and committed to taking action. There’s always a “why” for sustainability, it’s just a matter of through which lens the view resonates with you most.

“Start with your own health,” says Rainer. “If you take the SDGs, the Sustainable Development Goals, good health and well-being is part of sustainability. So, this is already a first advantage. The second is, if you for example eat less meat, you help the planet. Even by reducing consumption to maybe once or twice per week, you can consume the higher quality products, helping animal treatment, saving you money, and more. From the perspective of a company, there’s the topic of inclusion – a company that is inclusive has an advantage. If you provide a surrounding for employees to work towards a better future, the growing numbers for whom it’s a private passion will be happier in their jobs – so it can play a role in talent attraction and retention. Then we get into all of the ways these trends are impacting companies, there’s just so many reasons why this matters.”

As you read through the trends we discussed, you’ll see that whether you share a personal passion for this topic, feel invested in leaving a better future for your children, or are looking at it from strictly a business perspective, sustainability matters. There are demands to comply with, but also opportunities to win customer mindshare and marketshare by leading the way, and even create offerings to help customers on their own sustainability journeys.

Current Sustainability Trends

So, what are those trends? In an hour discussion there’s no way to cover everything, but Rainer and I focused on talking about the areas that would be especially relevant for service-centric businesses. Here’s a synopsis:

  • Regulatory pressures. “With the European Green Deal, but also impacting companies in the U.S. and across the world, there are guidelines impacting how companies do business. Depending on revenue, but going down to even the small business world, is the CSRD, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and it is replacing the non-financial reporting of the past. This is nothing completely new, but brings a broader and deeper granularity when it comes to sustainability. It contains the typical environmental aspects like carbon footprint, like water consumption, air quality, it goes into biodiversity aspects as well but also goes into social, including pay gaps, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, all those features. And finally, the governance aspect goes into the supply chain aspects. What is the code of conduct of a company to work together throughout the supply chain? It is impacting companies all over the world. We do have, depending on relationships and customer scenarios, for sure, always the need to make things transparent. And this is the biggest achievement of initiatives like CSRD and some others as well. On the other side, it does regulate where investments are going into the part of CSRD and that Green Deal called EU taxonomy. So, this is defining what is sustainable investments. I think the equivalent in the US is a bit the Inflation Reduction Act.”
  • Increasing Transparency. “Regulations require you to create a transparency on where your emissions are coming from and how you are making progress to further reduce and to get to carbon neutrality in the future, then until 2050 by latest to stick with that 1.5 degree Paris Agreement. To those of you who are not familiar, the objective of that is to limit the global average increase of temperature to 1.5 degrees. To achieve that, you have to look into, for example, the way you travel. In field service, employees normally spend a lot of time on the road. To get to your customers the sooner the better, you mostly aren’t taking any public transport or trains. You jump maybe onto a plane or into a car to get there. This is part of the regulatory for the environmental aspect, but also brings us to finding ways to lower that footprint.”
  • Lowering Environmental Footprint. “We have to find ways to lower your footprint, meaning maybe changing to electrical vehicles if it's on short ranges or mid ranges. Maybe changing to sustainable aviation fuel if you have to fly and if you have to.” There are also a number of ways in field service to use modern technologies to reduce your environmental footprint. For example, the incorporation of remote service capabilities that allow customer self-service and/or remote resolution help organizations avoid unnecessary on-site visits and also ensure that when a visit is needed, the information to achieve first-time fix has already been gathered. Moreover, technologies like IFS Planning & Scheduling Optimization (PSO) help to maximize efficiency and reduce travel time, helping to make sure you are keeping the footprint that is necessary as small as possible.  
  • Accessibility. “The accessibility aspect in the U.S. is now coming over to Europe. We're quite behind here in Germany and in Europe. We have the European Accessibility Act, which is now enforcing companies starting in summer of next year to make their products and services accessible for anyone. That means inclusiveness for blind people, for people with any kind of mental diseases or disabilities. That is something which affects for sure service and field service as well.”
  • Human Rights. “In Germany, for example, we've started already last year, the German Supply Chain Act and now the European Union is enhancing that most likely in 2026 with the CSDDD (Corporate Supply Chain Due Diligence Directive). This focuses on the whole aspect on human rights treatments, children, labor, modern slavery and so on, throughout the whole supply chain. If I'm, for example, working with a call center in India, I have to ensure being the company who is providing the service, that even if it's a third or fourth tier supplier, that they are treating humans right and providing fair payment the way it is defined in the local area region. So, I have to ensure this is in my own responsibility and not just handed to the supply chain.”
  • Investment Decisions. “I don't make an investment into a company which I have to be afraid might not be existent in a year or two. I'd like to understand that whatever they do is resilient, in regard of the whole supply chain and even reputational aspects. I do not want to work with a company, invest into a company, or insure a company I might see a risk of getting into press and media in a negative way, or maybe in a year or two and they go bankrupt. I don't know for the U.S. market, but I know for the European and in particular German market, banking is heavily looking at who is getting loans and for what conditions. Companies who have a clear sustainability commitment, the target setting, and resilience and transparency already, they get loans to far better conditions than companies who not.”
  • Supply Chain. “A perfect example we've seen already throughout the pandemic. If you remember that ship blocking the Panama Channel for a couple of days, brought a lot of companies really to their limits. If I have an understanding of my suppliers throughout the whole chain and transparency of what is their impact and what could bring my supply chain to risk. With human rights, the fashion industry has been an example of poor working conditions and reputational aspects. Every company leader, every C-level in a company, whether it's 50, 500, 5,000, 500,000 employees, has to take responsibility.”
  • Sustainable Product Design. “If you design a product in the way that you're first of all able to repair it quite well, and when it's not able to be repaired anymore can be fully reused, you are acknowledging that our resources on Earth are limited. We don't have unlimited resources. In many cases today, we produce something, we use it, and at the end of the life cycle we throw it away often to landfill, often exported to sub-Saharan Africa or elsewhere, and we just waste and dump. This has to change. If we design products for longevity and to where we can dismantle components, separate metals from plastics, and so on, it will not only lower costs but create more circularity and lessen the environmental harm.”
  • Circular Economy’s Service Potential. The circular economy is not only better for the environment, but it can present opportunity for service providers. In a recent post on LinkedIn, Lucas Rigotto, CSO, Liquid and Powder Technologies at GEA Group, shared how he feels many research organizations and news sources discussing sustainability miss the opportunity to touch on the intersection with service. He says, “In some of our recent Sustainability and Circular Economy discussions, I came away feeling incredibly energized about the crucial role service plays in our organizational goals but even more on impact for the industry to be more efficient, profitable and really deliver outcomes from a circular approach. Service is in a prime position to help our customers achieve their sustainability goals by focusing on upgrades, modernizations, service contracts, and digital solutions. We’re ensuring products run smoothly and efficiently for longer periods, reducing waste, and conserving resources. How do we do it? Upgrades and modernizations give our customers’ assets a new lease on life. Service contracts provide ongoing care to keep everything in top shape and minimize unnecessary downtime. Our digital solutions bring process insights, help optimize their operations with our autopilot like applications and real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance, ensuring our customers and their industries are always one step ahead. By adhering to these practices, we’re not just assisting our customers; we’re also making a significant positive impact on the planet. We keep pushing forward, embracing the 5Rs, and demonstrating how our strategic service activities are paving the way for a more sustainable future. It’s a win-win for the environment, for our business and mostly for our customers and society!”
  • Artificial Intelligence. “If you look into the digital and IT world, everyone is talking AI. Everyone is looking into trying to find real use cases for AI. I just recently had a service experience myself where I called my mobile provider with a need and after about five minutes of conversation, realized I wasn’t talking with a human. We are just at the beginning of that – AI capabilities are tremendously changing the way we live, the way we work, what we do and how we do things. In service areas, you can take the simple first-level support and free up the people doing that on a day-to-day basis to work on creative, innovative things. From that aspect, there is a huge opportunity to improve our lives with artificial intelligence. On the flip side of the coin, it always comes with a price. And AI is consuming already a huge amount of energy. For example, if you Google yourself versus putting your name into ChatGPT4, ChatGPT will bring up more or less the same results but costs you 100 times more energy than Google does, and this goes for any AI solution. The energy consumption is incredible, and it requires a huge amount of data centers to be built. There’s also the ethical aspects of artificial intelligence, including the treatment of people entering the data, the issue of bias, and the question on its impact on humanity as a whole. If it sounds like I'm an enemy of AI, I am not. I am quite sure we need to have it. It's part of a solution, but we have to treat it right.”

The Issue of Greenwashing

I was curious to ask Rainer whether, with the mandated increases in transparency, greenwashing is still a major issue. According to him, greenwashing won’t go away. “As long as you have humans who are intelligent and smart at using the right words and the right visuals, there will always be greenwashing from an outside perspective,” he says. “Things like the CSRD are aimed to reduce that and it is being enhanced with a clean claims directive to regulate how you have to set up your strategy to be allowed to talk on carbon neutral or net zero. For example, to stick with that, you have to reduce your own footprint by 90% and only 10% is allowed to be compensated and offset with certificates. If you have to compensate more, then you are not allowed officially to use the term net zero. Does it keep all the companies away from greenwashing? Surely not I’m pretty confident if you keep your eyes open and trust your gut feeling, you’ll be able to identify those who are serious in their efforts and those who are doing the check-the-box thing.”

What’s Next?

Curious what Rainer anticipates the next 12 months will bring in terms of the trends discussed above, and more? “Twelve months will definitely be the time in which we’ll see AI dramatically increasing. I think we need to have a way bigger focus on resilience and the awareness that what we’ve already seen in terms of the effects of climate crisis aren’t going away. We’re still focused on things like transparency for the as-is, but we need to put a dramatically fast focus on what will happen in the future. So AI will have a huge role in prediction and helping us adapt to situations and find alternatives. I also think the world is connecting more and more – we as humanity and as the enterprise world are connecting globally. We have a global issue, so we have to treat it as such – not as competitive advantage, not with intellectual properly, but with collaboration and working towards one goal together.”

And with that, you can likely understand why Rainer named his new company Heartprint. His enthusiasm for and view around this work comes from the heart, and companies who are most committed to doing the work will know that along with creating a strategy and a blueprint, you will be most successful if you genuinely care.

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Are We Facing AI Fatigue?

July 1, 2024 | 4 Mins Read

Are We Facing AI Fatigue?

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An artificial intelligence (AI) search company called Lucidworks recently published a report on what they characterized as a slowdown in AI spending, and it brought to mind a roundtable discussion at our recent Future of Field Service Live event in Cologne, Germany.

During my final interview with Jelle Coppens, Product Domain Expert for Service and Repair at Electrolux, the discussion turned to AI. Electrolux is using IFS's AI-powered planning and scheduling optimization engine (PSO) and plans to expand their use of the technology. The conversation was a great real-world use case of AI in action, but what struck me was that during the roundtable sessions after the session, some participants said they are growing tired of hearing about AI.

I get it. AI is an inescapable topic, no matter what industry you are in. Much of the roundtable venting had to do with the volume of AI coverage and the lack of specifics on exactly where and how to use the technology. (“We are tired of hearing about this technology” is not part of the Gartner hype cycle, but maybe it should be!)

That's why the Lucidworks report caught my eye, because their data indicates actual deployment experiences are throwing some cold water on AI-mania, and that will probably help make the projects that do move forward a lot more successful. I think what has happened is that the bandwagon took off without many defining a clear business case or selecting proven, functional tools. Now we are stepping back to assess how best to make use of AI, and I can see how all of the conversation can cause some to grow weary.

However, I do believe AI is an incredible opportunity – in field service and beyond. One we need to take caution to harness appropriately and balance with humanity, but the potential to layer more intelligence into existing digital ecosystems is massive.

AI in Field Service

In field service, AI is (at least near term) best suited for what the tech industry now refers to as co-pilot scenarios, where the algorithm exists to enhance or augment workflows, rather than supplanting the real humans doing that work. In applications where there are simply too many variables or too much data for a person to possibly evaluate accurately, AI can help narrow choices and point people in the right direction. It can also help to automate work that is time consuming but low value, and to heighten predictive capabilities.

AI projects that are not well planned or properly implemented can quickly prove to be costly and useless. Large language models (LLMs) trained on unfiltered data can hallucinate, and models that ingest AI-created data can suffer from what is known as model collapse (I talked about this back in April).

The Lucidworks survey indicates that AI adoption is beginning to slow because of some of these concerns, with just 63% of organizations planning to increase AI spending this year, compared to 93% in 2023. According to the study, just around one quarter of planned projects are fully implemented, and 42% have not produced significant benefits. In many cases, projects haven’t made it out of the pilot stage.

The number of companies worried about project cost has gone up 14 times compared to 2023, and concerns about response accuracy have increased by a factor of five, The more complex the application, the more these concerns increase (along with costs), while success is harder to achieve.

The WBR Insights "AI in Field Service Report" also mirrors some of the Lucidworks findings. In that survey, 92% of respondents said they struggled with legacy integration in their AI implementations, and 74% were challenged by a lack of data quantity or quality. Costs were a problem for 62% of organizations.

Most of the companies in the WBR were already using AI for predictive maintenance (88%), parts wastage prevention (82%), case predictions (58%), and call deflection (57%).

When it is deployed successfully, AI can produce notable benefits in time savings, increased first-time fix rates, reduced parts wastage, and faster resolution times. For instance, another report from MarketsandMarkets claims the integration of mobility and AI in field service can result in 30% to 40% productivity gains.

So, are we facing AI fatigue? In some cases, yes – but not because the technology is overhyped. Rather because many companies leapt into AI projects haphazardly when the buzz began, only to learn the business benefits of AI demand a much more fastidious approach. To me that’s what this data represents; a collective step back to take a more tempered, strategic approach to AI, which will ultimately pay off.

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What Do We Mean When We Say, “Service is a People Business?”

June 17, 2024 | 4 Mins Read

What Do We Mean When We Say, “Service is a People Business?”

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In countless conversations, podcast interviews, and event sessions I’ve heard the same phrase: “Service is, and always will be, a people business.” I agree wholeheartedly, but I think it’s interesting to ponder what exactly does this mean?

This statement seems to surface among a few common themes – one is when discussing advancements in technology. Almost as a reminder of the importance of human connection and the power of our frontline workforce. Another common point in conversation where this phrase arises is in seizing the full potential of service; determining how best to honor, protect, and leverage the relationship the service provider has with customers.

When I ponder what the phrase means, there are a few things that quickly come to mind:

  • The impact of people on creating brand perception and customer experience and loyalty. We know that the service workforce is often the most prominent face of the brand for customers, and that position holds a lot of power. Sure, the worker is there to “get a job done,” but in reality, when they are properly enabled and empowered, they do so much more. They build relationships that foster customer satisfaction and create goodwill for the inevitable moments that things might not go smoothly. They are the epitome of the term “trusted advisor;” a term that many can try to capitalize on and exploit, but only those really making the effort can achieve. There are aspects of the daily job that can be automated to make things easier and smoother, even certain service tasks that could be eliminated, and roles may change to where service execution becomes increasingly remote and so on. But I think, fundamentally, the humanity that exists in this relationship and the nuance to it that only people can create will remain, even if its form morphs and evolves.
  • The potential of people to uncover new service opportunities and aid in business transformation. The companies who don’t recognize the wealth of knowledge that exists at the frontline to lead their business to the next phases of success are truly missing the boat. We talk about the importance of customer intimacy and the need to truly understand a customers’ business; who better to do so than the service technician? When we are able to consider how they can take part in innovation rather than being solely at the receiving end, we can unlock a new source of valuable perspective to help influence what’s valuable to customers and therefore how our service can grow and expand. We can use predictive analytics to understand trends and to infer a lot about how customers use our products and what they may find value in or need, but, again, the relationships and interactions that service is built upon are a treasure trove of perspective that can’t be found anywhere else.
  • The unique way people complement digital capabilities. Data is powerful and AI is bringing to service a new wave of intelligence that holds tremendous appeal and potential, but when the phrase “service is a people business” is spoken in this context, it’s to remind us that those capabilities are most impactful when used alongside the power of people. There’s so much debate about at what point AI will replace humans, I think we remind ourselves and each other of the people nature of service to reinforce the fact that we must balance our focus on and investment in technology with our continued and amplified focus on and investment in our people. This doesn’t mean roles and duties won’t change, but we need to work to define what can and shouldn’t be automated and shape that into what the future of service will look like, and how it will remain a people business.
  • The irrefutable, irreplaceable importance of human connection. In all of these ways, and more, there’s just something about human connection. This comes up at every Future of Field Service event we host; there’s nothing like coming together face-to-face to share with each other, learn from one another, and feel less alone in the world. It can be hard to articulate or summarize, but we as humans are meant to engage with one another; and while in service what that engagement looks like may take new shapes in the next era, there will always be a certain part of the experience that can only be delivered by people.

What would you add to my list? How are you thinking about ensuring we protect the power of people while working to innovate and keep pace with digital capabilities? I’d love to hear from you!

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What Makes a Service Leader Stand Out?

June 10, 2024 | 4 Mins Read

What Makes a Service Leader Stand Out?

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Last week we announced Future of Field Service’s Stand Out 50 Leadership Awards, and I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity to acknowledge and recognize some of the amazing individuals leading their service organizations, teams, and customers to success. For more than 16 years I’ve been fortunate to speak with service leaders on nearly a daily basis, for articles, events, and podcasts, and those interactions have given me a tremendous appreciation for the tall task they have taken on.

All service leaders work incredibly hard, in my opinion, so what makes a leader stand out? There are, of course, many things that could set a leader apart which is why nominations will allow for an explanation of how each leader is going above and beyond to make an impact. With that said, when I think of what makes a service leader stand out, there are a few things that quickly come to mind:

  • They don’t sacrifice innovation to meet immediate needs. It’s a balancing act, for sure – but stand out leaders have found the formula for balancing today’s business needs with reserving time, energy, and resources to create the business of tomorrow. They aren’t short sighted, they see the potential of service, and they work toward the long-term strategy while maintaining today’s successful business.
  • They evangelize the importance of service within their businesses. They have conviction around service’s unique ability to create differentiation, build customer loyalty, offer a brand experience like none other, and grow revenue – and they work tirelessly to ensure this conviction is understood and ultimately shared across the business.
  • They are bold. They think outside of the box; they free themselves from the confines of the status quo. They challenge “the way it’s always been done,” to look for ways to do it better, or do it altogether differently. They aren’t afraid to share wild ideas or to fail forward, and they empower their teams to do the same. They know that creating the future of service demands leaders who will carve a new path, and they are up for the job.
  • They put their teams first, because they care and because they know doing so will create the best customer experience. They recognize the immense knowledge of the frontline workforce and the impact those teams have on the customer, and they know that doing everything they can to enable, empower, and nurture their teams will pay dividends when it comes to employee engagement and retention, customer outcomes and, ultimately, business success.
  • They prioritize customer intimacy. They know that innovation must happen from the outside-in, and to advance services in any meaningful way requires not only a deep understanding of a customers wants and needs, but also of their business. They find multiple avenues to listen and take action on customer input and feedback and ensure their teams do the same.
  • They harness the power of modern technology. They realize that in today’s service landscape, it is essential to work smarter not harder. They are embracing sophisticated capabilities in a practical way, looking for opportunities to optimize the use of their resources, excel at meeting (or even anticipate) customer needs, and adopt capabilities that reduce unnecessary waiting, travel, and inefficiencies.
  • They focus on creating inclusive environments. They aren’t interested in increasing diversity as a check-box exercise, but they truly value having a range of experiences, skills, opinions, and perspectives on their team – and they know the best way to benefit from a diverse team is to create an inclusive environment that welcomes the voice of all, celebrates contributions, and works together toward a common goal.
  • They are authentic. They know that being genuine and empathetic is needed to connect with their teams as human beings and to form relationships that are mutually beneficial. They find ways to show up as their whole selves at work that feel honest, comfortable, and valuable.
  • They are humble. They know that the days of the leader being the smartest person in the room are a thing of the past; success in today’s landscape requires a team of individuals skilled in different areas who come together to solve problems and realize opportunities. They focus on curating and amplifying skilled teams, being sure to provide leadership but never taking individual credit for collective wins.
  • They are continually learning and growing. They know that as fast as the business changes, they must evolve too. They find ways to expand their knowledge, mindset, and viewpoints to stay relevant and impactful – in their industries and in their leadership roles.

What would you add to this list? I’m curious! I’m also hopeful you’ll take a few moments to nominate a service leader you feel stands out. This could be someone who has led you who you feel had a massive impact, someone on your team you feel has tremendous potential, or a peer you see working hard to advance their industry; nominate whomever you feel is deserving here: https://www.futureoffieldserviceref.ifs.com/stand-out-50/

Nominations close on July 15th and then judges will deliberate. Judges include myself, Dot Mynahan who spent more than 30 years in service leadership at Otis Elevator, John Carroll of The Service Council, and Tim Baines of The Advanced Services Group. The Stand Out 50 will be officially announced as Future of Field Service Live joins forces with IFS Unleashed in Orlando this October. It will be a celebration not to be missed!

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AR and VR in Action in Field Service & Beyond

June 3, 2024 | 4 Mins Read

AR and VR in Action in Field Service & Beyond

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I recently recorded a podcast with Stuart Thompson, President of Electrification Service Division at ABB, to discuss how the company is using augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) for its field service operations.

We've been talking about using AR and/or virtual reality (VR) for service for a while now, but until the COVID-19 pandemic take-up of the technology seemed slow. While it seemed there were some viable use cases for field service, factors such as connectivity, cost, and change management kept adoption minimal. Things changed when the pandemic forced everyone to look for some type of remote technology for just about everything, including troubleshooting and training. A lot of companies quickly began experimenting with AR and VR for service and other industrial applications, and four years later we are starting to see the fruits of that experimentation.

When you consider some of the AR-related items in the news, I think they tie in well with that pandemic-inspired push to use AR/VR, as well as what ABB had to say about it.

While we normally think about AR/VR for service, it can be used in a lot of other applications that touch service, even peripherally, including computer aided design (CAD). A lot of manufacturers are trying to tie their service data back into the design process so insights from the field can help improve future product designs. One of the companies leading that charge has been Siemens, which (among other things) sells CAD software. The company just demonstrated a VR-based system developed with Sony that will allow engineers and designers to actually do some of their design work using AR and VR.

The other story was about a hydraulic pump manufacturer called Permco that faced a lot of challenges during the pandemic. The company's pumps require hand assembly at the factory, and new hires typically went through a lengthy in-person training process to learn how to build the pumps. The pandemic made that type of training impossible, but a software developer working for the company came up with a fix – a VR solution that lets trainees learn to assemble pumps using a headset, internally developed software, and data from their CAD models. New employees can assemble pumps hundreds of times in VR before they ever touch the physical pump. They’re even adding haptic gloves, so trainees can “feel” the parts they are working with.

AR Aids in Labor Challenges

While that's an assembly application, you can pretty easily see how that type of system could help under-staffed service companies make repair training faster and less labor-intensive. Even if using AR/VR at a job site might not be a workable solution for service techs, virtual repair training could be a big boost for an industry that doesn't have enough seasoned technicians to go around when it comes to on-the-job training/mentoring.

Which brings me back to ABB. Like Permco, the company turned to augmented reality because COVID made some in-person activities impossible. According to Stuart, a large project in China that required complex remote training was what finally pushed ABB to deploy AR into the field. After looking for some wearable devices that were practical for technicians to use, they shipped the units to China to help with training.

“[The] Chinese engineers were already trained in basic electrical infrastructure and systems. However, they might not have had the deep domain expertise on the particular piece of equipment they were working on,” he said. “We could then through wearable devices project onto the equipment and we could have engineers sitting in the U.S. … guiding them verbally and visually on the priorities and what to do and what not to do. [T]hey were able to communicate in English and then the tools were translated into Chinese for the field engineers.”

A short time later, they were able to do the same thing by connecting technicians in Germany with their counterparts working in a mine in Chile. “People were open to using it because they had no other choice at that point in time,” he said. “And we usually find in times of crisis like this, technology can move extremely quickly and people become much more open and adapt to using it.”

For service, of course, deploying AR for training technicians or helping remote techs work through a problem can represent a major change in workflow for organizations. But if it means saving several days of travel and/or struggling with translators when every minute of downtime counts, the investment is going to be worth it for a lot of companies.

We covered a lot of ground during our conversation (including how ABB is using artificial intelligence along with AR), so you should check out the entire podcast.

Have you found any good, practical uses for AR/VR in service? I would love to hear about them.

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Why Mental Health Matters So Much in Service – And Some Expert Advice on What to Do About It

May 20, 2024 | 11 Mins Read

Why Mental Health Matters So Much in Service – And Some Expert Advice on What to Do About It

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I hear time and time again at conferences that, “Service is, and always will be, a people business.” In service, our people are our greatest asset.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the 2024 theme is “Take the Moment.” According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Take the Moment campaign is intended to “encourage us to foster open dialogues, cultivate empathy and understanding and to share resources to support individuals and families on their journey towards mental wellness.”

We’re “taking the moment” to discuss this topic today because it is one that is important to me, personally, and important to you – our audience – because it’s an issue that is demanding attention in the workplace today. No longer can discussions around mental health be avoided at work, no longer can employee wellbeing be seen as “soft,” and no longer can leaders be successful without deploying empathy, compassion, and vulnerability.

I look at the progress we’ve made in destigmatizing mental health with deep appreciation but look at how much work there is left to do to eliminate bias and truly support teams and am eager to watch the leaders, individuals, companies, and organizations that will step up to lead the charge. As someone who navigates various challenges such as anxiety and depression that stem from C-PTSD, I am thankful that the world is becoming one in which you can show up as you are in regard to mental health and not fear the same judgement or backlash that was once guaranteed. I’m also thankful that the workplace is becoming somewhere where mental health journeys can be normalized and wellbeing prioritized.

When I consider the work left to be done, I find myself drawn back to the power of storytelling. In a recent podcast with Marco Hugo Gutierrez of Tetra Pak, we discussed how the company is putting the focus on employee wellbeing that it deserves. Marco shared that when Tetra Pak looked into the engagement of its field workforce, isolation was one of the biggest challenges they faced.

Isolation being an issue for a field engineer who rarely visits an office or engages face-to-face with teams makes sense. But the reality is, we can all face periods of isolation at work – some due to remote work arrangements, and others when they feel they can’t share openly or be themselves in a work setting.

Last week, we featured the story of Rob Stephenson, TEDx Speaker, Mental Health Campaigner, Keynote Speaker, CEO of FormScore®, and Founder of the InsideOut LeaderBoard® on the UNSCRIPTED podcast. Rob lives with bipolar disorder and based on his own life experience was motivated to make a career out of campaigning for mental health and helping organizations take action in an area that can still bring with it some apprehension, sensitivity, confusion, and even skepticism.

If you yourself do or have struggled with your mental health, I hope you will take from this that you are not alone and that there are people who care and are willing to listen – me being one of them. I also hope that maybe if you’re in a position that you’re able, you will consider the power of sharing your own story. If you have team members you want to be able to do a better job of helping, I hope you’ll find value in some of the advice Rob shares. If you’re reading this and question why Future of Field Service is covering this topic, I hope you question that response and really dig into what’s behind it.

Words of Advice from a Mental Health Advocate

Let’s start by ensuring an understanding of why smashing mental health stigma matters so much. “I think the reason that it's so important to smash the stigma and challenge these misconceptions is at the most extreme end, it's costing lives. People are not getting the help and support they need. They're not comfortable asking for help. And we're losing lives to suicide,” explains Rob. “But also, if we can start to receive help and understand what is driving mental ill health and start to manage that, whether that's with medication or whether it's with exercise, via social connections, whatever it might be, we can then just tap into those strengths that come with being human.”

It’s helpful to consider that stigmas are rooted in fear, because that allows action through education. “We want workplaces where teams can thrive, but we can't thrive if we don't feel comfortable talking about a challenge. Stigma itself comes from fear, and fears are often countered by knowledge. So, the idea of educating ourselves about these conditions is really important. I think much of this comes from the way mental illness has been portrayed over the years. It's Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the Lunatic Asylum, all of these words that have come into common vernacular. We've got to break all of that down. We're human. We're all individuals. We're all unique. We're all on a continuum of something, whether it's neurodiversity, whether it's mental health, whether it's well-being, whether it's opportunity, whether it's privilege. And some of us are just more extreme. That's not wrong. It's just human. And I think as we accept the differences in society, then that comes with understanding. Understanding comes with education and awareness.”

Beyond stigma, people can often freeze because they are afraid that if someone opens up to them about a struggle they’re having, they must know how to help. Rob dispels that myth, “The question I often get asked by people is, what about if someone says that they are struggling to me? What should I do? We're fearful of that as well, because as humans, particularly in the workplace, our jobs are generally to fix things, right? You can't fix someone who comes and says, I'm experiencing depression, anxiety, PTSD, or whatever. There are professionals that can help to do that over time to manage and to come to terms with. But as a friend, a boss, or a loved one, you can't immediately solve that problem, and nor should you try. And I often say that we're not qualified to fix people, but we are qualified to listen as a human being. And sometimes knowing that person is there to listen unconditionally, and you can be yourself with that person, that's a huge benefit when we're struggling. And it's these little simple things that make the burden easier to carry.”

Rob observes that companies are at varying points in not only accepting the importance of mental health as a workplace focus but in taking action to make progress. “We're seeing another sort of continuum there of organizations that are not doing anything, organizations that are ticking or checking a box, and then organizations that truly value the well-being of employees,” he says. “It’s okay that we're all at different stages; what I don't like to see are organizations that are understanding for their employer brand that we've got to do something about well-being. So, we'll get an employee assistance program. We'll maybe have a few awareness sessions. We'll have some benefits, and that's well-being: done! The organizations that get it understand that well-being is not just a benefits issue; something to offer people when they're struggling. Organizations that really understand the work that needs to be done here understand that actually it's about ways of working. It's about fairness. It's about belonging. It's about inclusion. It's about unrealistic work demands. It's about psychological safety.”

This distinction is tied to whether a company is truly taking a people-first approach, or simply checking a box of what they feel they need to do to “contribute” to such an important topic. “Most people-oriented organizations, somewhere in their marketing materials, you'll see people are our greatest asset. So why do we invest more time servicing the photocopier in certain cases, right? It's about thinking, what is the objective of our organization? Now, most organizations, again, will have some objective around the creation of shareholder value, which is right because that's how these organizations are owned. But what about the creation of value for employees beyond the financial? Is coming to that workplace a life-enhancing experience? If not, why not? Because it should be. And if we get this right, those employees will be higher performing. There's a whole bunch of research coming out of Oxford University and other organizations that categorically show that a well-engaged workforce will perform better. It leads to higher personal performance, team performance, even company and stock market performance. So, if we get it right, the other performance aspects will follow. But we've got to choose to get it right for the right reasons that we want employees to have that experience, not just to check a box to say we've done well-being.”

Solidly agree on the importance of the issue, but unsure where to start? “Talk to your employees and really understand what's going on for them,” suggests Rob. “Because we can often sit at the center in large organizations and make assumptions with what will work for their well-being without asking the people that we're trying to help. Psychological safety, as championed by Amy Edmondson of Harvard, talks about the belief you won't be held back, punished for speaking out, admitting a mistake, or coming up with an idea. But, where our well-being is concerned, I think it's really interesting to understand whether employees feel comfortable in saying, my work demands are negatively affecting my health right now. What can we do about it? And I think if we can get to a culture where that is seen as safe in doing so, I think that's a really good starting point.”

The role of the leader in creating that psychological safety is imperative and depends significantly on the willingness to be vulnerable. “Can the leader talk about, it doesn't need to be a mental health challenge, can the leader talk about a time when they've needed to prioritize their own well-being at work? What have they done to do that? Can the leader talk about their well-being non-negotiables? What are the two or three things each week they need to do to stay well?” asks Rob. “If we start doing that at the team level and asking others what their non-negotiables are, then you're normalizing the well-being conversation. You're giving people permission. Leaders influence work and work culture, but it takes time to do so.”

Know that, as a leader, you don’t have to have mental health struggles to apply vulnerability and move the needle in this area. “We all have mental health. We all exist on a continuum. Some of us will experience a mental health challenge or a diagnosable mental illness. Everybody will experience mental ill health from time to time, excess stress or difficulty sleeping or whatever it might be. And then we all have well-being, and we can all prioritize our well-being. Mental health would be one aspect of our well-being alongside physical well-being, spiritual well-being, et cetera,” explains Rob. “So often the conversation, particularly with leaders is well, I don't feel comfortable talking about my mental health. Well, that's fine. But recognize that you will do things as a leader to maintain good mental health or positive well-being. You'll prioritize sleep. You'll maybe exercise. You might think about your nutrition. You might socialize with friends. You have time with family. All these things nourish us, right? So, for the leaders that might be a bit uncertain about even speaking out on this topic, you're actually doing it already, but by talking about it, it normalizes it in the teams. So, then we're not asking people to share back how they're feeling about any mental health challenge. We're saying, what do you need to do to stay well? Is it taking your lunch away from your desk? Is it putting a micro break in the day? Is it going to the gym? Is it that soccer match? Is it book club? Whatever. We all do different things to look after ourselves, but if we can get people talking about this, then that sends a strong message in the team that it's not only, you don't have permission, but you are encouraged to go and do this.”

However, if you do have a mental health challenge, sharing some aspects of it – if you’re willing – can be powerful. “I'm generalizing here, but most people wouldn't feel too uncomfortable putting a doctor's appointment on their schedule. Many more people would feel less comfortable putting therapy on their schedule. And again, if you see a leader putting therapy in their diary, in an open diary, that sends a strong message,” says Rob. “And I love to hear CEOs talk about going to therapy.” This is an example of how you can illustrate the acceptance of prioritizing mental health without getting into details.

Rob reinforces the importance of looking at wellbeing not through the lens of benefits or perks, but in really assessing if the ways of working in your organization are healthy and sustainable. “Often we'll see huge investment in well-being programs and benefits that are then underutilized and often will be underutilized because of poor communication, but mainly because people feel they don't have the time or the permission or the psychological safety to do so,” he cautions. “And you see a lot of memes out there, you can't meditate your way out of burnout or a 16-hour day, which is true. Benefits have their role, but you've got to start with ways of working. Are we putting people under appropriate amounts of pressure? Do we have appropriate resources for this job in hand or for this particular team? Do people feel safe in their workplace? Do they feel like they've got a sense of belonging? Can they be themselves? Are we creating an environment that creates a social connection with our workplaces, particularly if we're doing more stuff over Zoom or we've got people on the road? Let's start the hard work, which is looking at culture, looking at teams, looking at psychological safety, looking at what's really going on for people.”

If you’re still not convinced now is the time to act, or take further action, to normalize mental health and promote employee wellbeing, the proof is in the stats. “Some organizations still feel that well-being is a soft issue,” says Rob. “For the cynics, I'd point them to the research. So Indeed, the jobs board, have a happiness index run by Oxford University and they've collected basically about 20 million data points of people ranking their companies on well-being. They’ve taken that data and mapped it against the stock market and for the top 100 companies on well-being, they significantly outperform the markets. Now, in a market where there is a war for talent and employees, ignore well-being at your peril. So, if you don't believe it's morally the right thing to do and you have a duty of care to create a culture conducive to wellness, understand that you’re missing a really big performance opportunity by ignoring well-being.”

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Field Service Palm Springs 2024: Event Highlights

May 13, 2024 | 4 Mins Read

Field Service Palm Springs 2024: Event Highlights

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Last week I landed in sunny Palm Springs for my umpteenth WBR Field Service event (truly, I’ve lost count). This event is a pleasure each year – there are so many friendly faces that it’s wonderful to see, and new faces join in each year as the industry grows and evolves.

This writeup isn’t meant to be a formal review or a complete synopsis of the event, rather a summary of what stood out to me as someone who covers the space weekly and has attended the event over more than a decade. There was a much wider variety of topics covered than what I’ll touch on here, and some points on which I plan to expand in upcoming articles.

Now going into the event, I fully expected ample AI coverage – more like aggressive if I’m being honest. And I wasn’t wrong; AI was one of the cornerstone topics of the event. As it should be, given the exciting advancements in technology and the real-world applications driving value for service organizations. What pleasantly surprised me, however, was how well-balanced the AI discussions were with points about the criticality of employee engagement, empowerment, and effective leadership.

AI Everywhere

While some of the sessions seemed to force the AI narrative, there were plenty of actionable discussions and practical advice. One of my favorite statements around the topic was, “there’s no killer app, only a killer use case.” When it comes to AI and all of its buzz, this is important to remember – the reason to invest in the technology isn’t because it’s all the rage but because it solves a challenge within your business.

Moreover, investing in AI doesn’t demand a revolutionary approach – it can be an evolution of how you further derive value from systems in place. In a panel on Best (and Worst) Use Cases for AI, examples of this were shared such as improving chat bot functionality in customer service or adding ease and automation to a technician’s knowledge resources while on site with a customer. During this panel the speakers, Haroon Abbu of Bell & Howell and Jessica Murillo of IBM, also worked to dispel myths about AI. These included easing concerns that AI is meant to replace people, remembering that AI isn’t always right and false trust is risky, and pointing out that AI isn’t only for large companies; it’s accessible to all.

Practical advice was shared across that panel discussion and others: understanding there’s real work around data readiness underneath all the hype and ignoring this keeps initiatives from fruition. Focus early efforts on identifying where techs are being bogged down or spending a lot of time and looking for ways to – in bite size chunks – apply AI to create ease. Words of caution reminding attendees that, if you aren’t pushing the envelope – you’ll fail. And emphasizing the absolute criticality of diversity – in data and in talent – when looking to make use of today’s AI capabilities.

People at the Center

As I stated, I was expecting major AI buzz. But what I wasn’t expecting was just how many sessions were leaders speaking about how important our focus on people is (and I couldn’t agree more). In the opening keynote, Alban Cambournac of Schneider Electric set the stage by discussing how employee engagement drives customer satisfaction. His message was echoed and reinforced over the next three days.

This included acknowledgement of cultural differences and discussion around how best to navigate this. Joe Lang of Comfort Systems spoke about the difference between technology adoption (implementation of a good idea) versus utilization (following orders) and why that difference matters so much.

Adam Gloss of McKinstry delivered a wonderful keynote on day two of the event, showcasing the differences between a people-first culture and one that isn’t. He spoke about how trust, teamwork, and inclusion increase a workforce’s capacity for change, and how that capacity for change spurs companies ahead of the competition.

There was a panel of young talent speaking about what the industry needs to consider as it develops future leaders, which the moderator summarized by saying that building the next generation of leaders “doesn’t require new tricks but requires a mindful approach that’s curated to the individual. That’s always been the right thing, but it hasn’t always been crucial to do.”

Corrie Prunuske and Roy Dockery gave a keynote double-header on diversity and inclusion, in which Corrie shared a lot of her personal journey and lessons learned and Roy shed light on some of the shortcomings in how companies recruit today that are holding them back from true diversity among their teams.

I was thrilled that the focus on humanity was just as strong as the focus on AI. The question was raised after one session that, “The systems are transforming – becoming more sophisticated. Are we?” I think this is an important question for both companies and leaders to be asking themselves, in relation to not only the customer value proposition and technology use, but also in what surrounds our people – engagement and empowerment, leadership, true diversity, and inclusive culture. Those that can’t strike the balance between both worlds, like the event did between these topics, will struggle.

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Sage Advice for Selling the Value of Outcomes-Based Services

May 7, 2024 | 10 Mins Read

Sage Advice for Selling the Value of Outcomes-Based Services

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Not too long ago, in my discussions for the podcast or at industry events there was a lot of talk around the relevance of outcomes versus products (or solely services). Leaders would share stories about what customers really want – peace of mind – to evangelize thinking beyond the traditional products + services equation. At this point, it seems the value of outcomes-based service is understood, and the talk has shifted to: How?

If you missed last week’s podcast with Alastair Winner, partner and co-founder of Mossrake Group, a consulting firm that helps organizations bring advanced services solutions to market, I’d encourage you to go back and have a listen. We cover a lot, and his advice is spot on, and born of years of experience both as a provider and a consultant.

For those of you that prefer reading to listening, let me recap some of the important points that I think are relevant for anyone and everyone on the outcomes-based journey, whether truly at the beginning or along the path of brining the vision to life.

Defining Outcomes

First and foremost, it’s important to clearly define what you mean when you’re saying “outcomes-based” service. As Alastair points out, this topic has been subject of a lot of buzz and is subject to many loose interpretations.

“It's one of those buzzwords that tend to get used a lot. But when but when you scratch beneath the surface, very often you'll find quite different experiences and solutions,” he says. “We define what we meant by outcomes in four key steps. Firstly, it's this combination of products and services that are presented to the customer as a service. Secondly, the value of that outcome is described in a language that the customer really understands. The third point is that we need to measure the outcome with an outcomes KPI that describes the outcome in a way that both the service provider and the customer agrees is applicable. And the fourth point is that the service provider is responsible for ensuring that the outcome is delivered over the time specified in the service contract. What we have seen very often is that product companies will take their traditional products and services, combine them together in a similar way, but present that through some sort of leasing mechanism. Which certainly has some value but, in the end, still has all of the operational overheads and risks that you would associate with any other purchasing model.”

As outcomes-based services become more widely used, the savviness of customers is rising – making it important for providers to understand the rules of engagement and what savvy customers will be seeking (and avoiding). While savvy customers are on the rise, the majority aren’t yet, which is also important to note as it gives the provider an opportunity to help lead the way, build trust, and be seen as the knowledgeable and capable party a customer will want to purchase outcomes from.

Understanding the Outcomes Personas

Who you sell outcomes to will be different from who you’ve sold traditional products or services to, and developing your understanding of the personas involved in an outcomes agreement is key to successfully selling. “Most of the work that we've done is introducing this as a new business model, a new concept, which will require you to talk to more people than you would have otherwise,” explains Alastair.

He gives a synopsis of the five personas commonly involved in outcomes:

  • The operational owner – historically has taken responsibility for the technology domain or area that your service is going to address. They'll be overseeing the operation, doing lifecycle management activities, coordination of all that work. They'll be the primary contact and most likely the entry point most service providers will have to the customer because you have a relationship there.
  • Operational owner’s leadership – because it’s something new, they're going to be likely engaged in the dialogue. And part of the value of these services is to liberate resources. So rather than having your own employees focused on doing some of these activities, the service provider is going to be doing that work. And that releases capacity that can be reused and that manager is likely to benefit from that. They’ll also be trying to demonstrate a level of stability.
  • Finance – again, any sort of financial change is going to require finance review. This is one of the stakeholder groups that you really need to get to early because their opinion will matter significantly as to whether or not a company is going to accept this shift from CapEx to OpEx. We've had some experience where you've gone all the way through the sales cycle, got very excited, only to put it in front of finance and they've said, no, we're not doing that.
  • Procurement – sort of on the more periphery, if a company has a procurement team they’ll be involved in any buying. This will likely be something quite new, so you need to spend some time recalibrating.
  • Legal – again, sort of more periphery, but legal is likely to have a new set of terms and conditions, a new scope of work. Legal departments will have templates typically that they like to use with their suppliers, and this is likely not to fit with any of the templates that they have today. So, procurement and legal will likely be involved in the negotiation and crafting the final terms and conditions.

Shared Risk

Providers of outcomes must accept that risk is inherent in the business model. “That's one of the big differences between this model and a traditional model. When you sell a customer a product, the accountability and the risk for the value that that product creates immediately transfers to the customer. In an outcomes-based model, there is an onus on the service provider to deliver that value,” says Alastair.

With risk comes potential reward, so it’s important to understand the benefits and risk on both sides of the agreement. “From a customer perspective, some of the risks that they're going to be thinking about are the fact that this is likely going to be a long-term services commitment – this can make them feel locked in. They're going to be handing over operational control and that itself can cause apprehension.  They may ask, what happens if the business needs change over that long period of time? Can I get out? Can I adapt? Can I change the service?” explains Alastair. “The benefit to the customer, of course, is that they'll get this agreed outcome. It'll liberate some capacity for them. They'll get to work ideally with a trusted brand who are providing this curated experience at a predictable cost. It really simplifies their operation, allows them to go focus on their core activities while the service provider deals with this sort of critical non-core type of work.”

Then there’s the appeal and apprehension side for the provider. “If I look at it from a service provider perspective, they're likely to have to make some sort of upfront investment in technology, hardware, or software. And probably, they're going to have to think about putting capacity ahead of demand, especially if they're able to provide some level of flexibility to the customer. So, the customer is not making an upfront investment, but the service provider is. So that's a risk. And of course, then they've got to think about all the lifecycle activities to sustain the service and deliver the outcome over the contractual period, which could be up to 10 years. When you think about all of the updates and changes and recalibrations and replacements that have to go on over that period, you've really got to be thinking about what that looks like and costing it accordingly,” says Alastair. “The benefits for the service provider are they get a long-term annuity stream with almost certainly a higher rate of return. Over that contractual period, they're going to get service on everything over a very long time, and they're going to end up with a very loyal customer.”

Three Levers to Balance Risk

While accepting risk is critical, Alastair does share three levers providers can use to help balance the risk and reward to ensure its achieved and both parties feel like they end up in a good place. “In our experience, there are three elements that service providers will typically use. One will be simply the initial contract term. How long are you going to lock a customer in for? And does that give you enough time to recover the upfront investment that you've made?” explains Alastair. “Then there's what we call minimum commitments – the service provider and customer will agree a minimum number of units or services that are going to be consumed over that initial contractual period that will provide the service provider with a guaranteed income. And there is a premium for flexibility. The final one is exit fees. In the event that a customer chooses to leave the agreement early, you can build in this concept of a balloon payment at the end, should they decide to leave. Ideally, and in most cases, if the service is well designed, they'll just continue and the balloon payment risk will disappear over time.”

Alastair also points out that a provider must be cognizant of the dependencies on the customer that will exist in order for the provider to ultimately deliver the agreed outcomes. “Dependencies must be understood and called out in the contract,” he says. “There can also be a danger that a service provider can get pushed into a KPI where they really don't have ultimate control. As a provider, you need to ensure that you can deliver the outcome that you're agreeing to and that dependencies are well defined.”

Anticipating Common Objections

When it comes to selling outcomes, knowing what issues may arise during the sales cycle will help you prepare in advance and respond adeptly. Each of the involved personals may bring up different questions, issues, or objections. “From an operations perspective, I think one of the big objections and things to watch out for is the fact that very often it's the individual that you're talking to or their team who is going to be disrupted by the introduction of the service. So, you could be very eloquently talking about the value proposition of your outcomes-based service to a guy or gal who is thinking, well, this is going to take away my job. You have to be very conscious of who it is you're talking to and the implications of what it is you're proposing to the individual that you're dealing with. You need to reframe that to point out the unique opportunity of outcomes to free up the team to focus on something that's core to the business. It's going to deliver far more business value,” shares Alastair.

The management team will likely want more detail on this same angle – what other activities will an outcomes agreement enable them to have time for? What does this add to their bottom line?

“From a finance perspective they’ll be looking at how the spend will change in moving from CapEx to OpEx and determining if that is acceptable and beneficial for the company. Again, we’ve had some experience of getting to very late stages of trying to position a deal only for the finance team to say, well, this simply won't work because actually, there's some advantage for us holding capital on our balance sheet. It makes our company valuation look more positive. I wouldn't second guess the objections that might emerge from finance. The key is to get it in front of finance as early as you can to seek an opinion,” urges Alastair.

Building in lead time to navigate conversations with procurement and legal is advised. “Often when procurement is presented with an outcomes-based model, they'll find it hard to find alternatives in the market to do their typical comparison, which can look very confusing and can create an objection. The objection there is, well, I can't really follow my process. I haven't got three suppliers that are delivering this. You guys are the only people in the market that are offering it right now. What do I do? That could be challenging,” Alastair explains. “The legal team will have some templates and every company will have a scope of work that they've agreed, which is how they would like to buy. We’d encourage a service provider to create their own scope of work terms and conditions, so it's on the supplier paper, not the customer paper. Be very clear which of the different sections and clauses are likely to be ones that are in the domain of legal. Based on the familiarity with the business model and the savviness of the legal representative you might be working with, you just need to be prepared to spend quite a bit of time there and expect there to be some back and forth as the contract ends up taking shape.”

Getting Started (If You Haven’t Already)

Does this all sound daunting? It can, but the potential is vast and worth exploring. If you find yourself more in the assessment phase or early stages versus well along the journey, Alastair offers some advice: “Do some collaboration, co-creation work with some trusted customers, especially in the early stages of service development to really understand how the customer is thinking about the value of the service, how KPIs might emerge from that work that align with their business. Also think about what we would term a system of record, because outcomes KPI needs to be reliably measured and there needs to be a single point where both the customer and the service provider can view in a consistent way. Finally, don’t try and impose this on a customer. Use your starting point to help them understand the concept and then refine for the customer to meet their needs. It takes time. The selling process for a solution like this is going to be longer than a traditional product sale. Spend the time to get this right and to ensure that the customer really understands.”

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4 Critical Factors to Consider While AI Legislation Continues to Develop

April 29, 2024 | 4 Mins Read

4 Critical Factors to Consider While AI Legislation Continues to Develop

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Earlier this year, the European Union adopted new rules around how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used by both public and private organizations. While legislation is still developing in the U.S., service organizations that want to leverage AI in their operations should be paying attention to these emerging laws.

The rules adopted by the European Parliament address privacy concerns (such as using images scraped from the Internet to create facial recognition databases), while also requiring certain types of AI systems to reduce risks and ensure human oversight. Those systems include things like vocational training, law enforcement, border management and others.

A key element is transparency of the models and data these AI systems are based on, reflecting a concern that a lot more people have about these AI platforms – knowing what data the algorithms are sampling.

This is important for potential new use cases of AI, because the quality of the data being fed to AI solutions counts. Without getting too deep in the weeds, the types of AI solutions based on ChatGPT are not really thinking so much as analyzing data and providing a synopsis, an answer, or an output based on previously existing material.

For general purpose AI, content providers are already pushing back against the use of copyrighted materials – like the contents of the New York Times – that are being ingested by these systems. The types of AI solutions being used or proposed in field service are less prone to copyright violations, but they still need human-created content – technical manuals, repair data, customer service scripts, and more. Eventually, though, the supply of original content can run dry and that's when AI models can go sideways.

AI Hiccups

One widely documented phenomenon is chatbot hallucination. If you pressure a generative AI system long enough, it may provide confident-sounding results that are, in fact, complete fabrications (this may be the most human-like quality of AI, come to think of it.) These hallucinations can be the result of model complexity, inaccurate source data, or training data bias.

While AI solution providers are working to fix this problem, some researchers have declared it an unsolvable part of AI – their take is that these models are making guesses and cannot really separate fact from fiction. In more creative pursuits, these hallucinations can be funny or, in some cases, inspiring. In more technical applications, they can be disastrous. AI models can also be vulnerable to cyberattacks, with third parties deliberately tweaking input data to induce hallucinations.

Another issue is called AI model collapse, which occurs when the AI solution starts using other AI-generated content, essentially causing the solution to eat its own tail, figuratively speaking. Once enough of this so-called synthetic data is fed into the model, the results become increasingly nonsensical.

In fact, in one study an AI large language model (LLM) was fed synthetic test data to generate text about English architecture until its responses became strange and curiously focused on jackrabbits. AI image generators trained on AI art have also been shown to create increasingly indecipherable results.

So, for service organizations evaluating AI solutions that can help guide technicians through a repair, help build better routes, or help improve maintenance scheduling based on equipment performance, there are four critical factors to consider:

  1. What do you want the AI platform to do? In service, the best current scenario given the maturity of technology, is to have it operate in a co-pilot mode, helping team members make decisions where there are a lot of variables in play – things like routing, scheduling, troubleshooting, predicting future maintenance or part needs, etc.
  2. What data is being used to train the AI platform? That information, whether it is from public/shared sources (like maps) or company-specific information, should be clean and accurate and, critically, created or vetted by actual people. AI models built on other AI-generated models will degrade results over time.
  3. Is the AI platform in compliance with existing privacy and intellectual property regulations? This will vary by region (and in the U.S., at least, things are somewhat in flux). The key is to make sure you are not violating the privacy of your clients, and that the AI solution is not creating models based on proprietary information that belongs to someone else without their permission.
  4. How will AI outputs be used by team members? AI solutions do not really make decisions, per se; they make very educated guesses based on ingesting a lot more data than a person could ever hope to consume. In service, the best-case scenario now is that the software makes recommendations, and a team member evaluates those recommendations based on their own experience and observations of actual conditions to make what is (hopefully) a better, faster decision.

I have written before about how AI can be used in field service here, here, and here. If you have thoughts on how AI can be used (or not!) in service, I would love to hear from you.

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April 22, 2024 | 6 Mins Read

Six Storytelling Missteps That Risk Your Relevance to Employees & Customers

April 22, 2024 | 6 Mins Read

Six Storytelling Missteps That Risk Your Relevance to Employees & Customers

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I’m a big believer in the power of storytelling, which will come as no surprise given the time I spend weekly hosting the UNSCRIPTED podcast. But you don’t need to take my word for it; there’s ample evidence of the importance of storytelling in business.

According to UC Berkely Executive Education, stories increase trust and engagement: “Stories engage people on a personal, values-based level. They can also help “humanize” a brand (people connect with other 'people,' not faceless factories), increasing trust and compelling customers and employees to become brand advocates.”

This Forbes article explains that “storytelling refers to the art of crafting narratives that capture the essence of your brand and appeal to your audience. It also involves communicating narratives in a way that is both relatable and memorable.”

Entrepreneur lists 5 Compelling Reasons Storytelling is Crucial to Business Success, including making your brand memorable, differentiating from the competition, and establishing thought leadership.

In the service world, a story is told every time we have an encounter with our customers – whether through words or simply through the actions of what we deliver. I wrote an article a while back prompting our audience to consider, what story is your service telling? But while the experiences we provide tell their own story, leaders (and teams) more and more need to embrace the importance of storytelling and hone the skill.

This is increasingly important because the influence and impact of leaders with employees, and with teams and customers, depends more and more on the ability to truly connect and appeal to a person’s emotions, not just intellect. Being adept at creating those connections is something not every leader has historically had to do; there was more emphasis on exercising control versus fostering trust and creating connections. And with customers, particularly in today’s outcomes-based landscape, the engagement, trust, and differentiation that storytelling nurture are crucial for expanding relationships, evolving business models, and growing revenue.

So, I suppose the first major misstep would be overlooking the importance of storytelling as a crucial skill. But for the sake of this article, let’s assume you understand its importance. Then where do things go awry?  Well, like many of the nuanced topics we discuss, this is one of those skills or artforms that sounds simpler than it really is.

In my interactions, conversations with leaders, and personal experiences, there are some missteps I’ve picked up on that seem to surface over and over again.

#1: Speaking without listening first. Does this sound obvious? Well, yes! But believe me, this is a bigger issue in both internal and external interactions than people want to accept. And there are many reasons why – for instance, we know that knowing our audience is important, but we think we do. Truly, and well (spoiler alert: no, you probably don’t – at least not as well, or as currently, as you think or need to). We know it’s important to listen first, but we don’t have time! We have an initiative to roll out or a number to it, and we just have to do our best with the information we have. There are many complexities that make investing the time to understand your team members or customers as intimately as you need to, but I promise you none are worth skipping or rushing this step. Understanding what’s important to your audience is fundamental to storytelling success.

#2: Using internal narrative externally. This is a trap that is all too easy to fall into; we fail to recognize the ways in which our audience may not find our messaging relatable and tailor it to their viewpoint. Let’s consider a couple of examples. First, when you are leading a change internally – you relay the companywide “why” to your team and expect them to understand the reasoning and accept the change without hesitation. But does that companywide why relate to them in any way? Is it personalized into a story that will help them see how the change helps or is important to them? Or with a customer, you get excited about an innovation or investment you’ve made to help serve them better and then excitedly tell the story, in an internal narrative. “We’ve invested in IoT, and it’s so exciting because we’ll have X, Y, and Z data about your equipment!” How does this benefit them? “We’ve put new technology in place to be able to help predict failures on your equipment and eliminate downtime.” Much better. Same story, but from the perspective of two different audiences. It’s so important!

#3: You lack authenticity. Storytelling is meant to prompt an emotional connection, but if you’re disconnected from the “story,” it’s really information sharing versus storytelling. If you want to appeal to someone’s humanity, share something that sparks not only interest but emotion, or helps build trust, you have to be willing to get personal. You must genuinely care about whatever it is you’re communicating, otherwise your efforts will fall flat. If you find yourself robotically telling a “story,” you need to do some self-reflection on why that is and find a way to either create your own personal connection to what you’re sharing or determine if you can delegate the task to someone who can be more authentic in their delivery.

#4: Your message is boring. I couldn’t think of a nicer way to articulate this, really. Part of the art of storytelling is the energy, the “pizazz.” Simply regurgitating a company message to your employee isn’t storytelling, nor is sharing a blanket company message with zero personality with your customers. Storytelling is more. It’s creative, it’s exciting, it’s emotional. Sometimes boring stems from a lack of interest, which I’d tie back to the previous point on authenticity. And sometimes boring stems from delivery, which can be a factor of feeling like you don’t have enough creative freedom to storytell in your own way, or because storytelling is a skill that you might need to practice or put some effort into. If you aren’t receiving the response you’d like, dig into some further insights around storytelling and see if you can find some areas to work on.

#5: Your delivery is one-dimensional. We have to keep in mind with storytelling that different audiences may prefer to receive messages in different ways. You might be very skilled at a one-to-one, face-to-face delivery, but manage a fully remote team. That’s an issue! Storytelling can be written, it can be verbal, video, and more – and chances are, depending on the message you’re trying to convey, you may need to branch out from just one format. If you’re creating a new offering, yes you need to be able to articulate it well, but you also could likely benefit from some really strong copy on a landing page and some video testimonials to support your messaging.

#6: Your story isn’t appropriately backed by data, evidence, or resources. While the person delivering the story may not be the same person to execute all the follow-through, there’s a real problem when we don’t have actions in place to back up the words we are saying. Consider a change initiative; you tell a good story to get employees bought in, but when they ask what the plans are for training, you don’t have the information. Or with a customer, you position a next-generation capability that piques their interest and then when they ask what use cases are in existence or what a commercial agreement might look like, you have nada. We don’t have to have the final conclusion in mind when we start sharing the prologue, but there does have to be enough meat to the story that we don’t hook our audience in and then leave them hanging. That, unfortunately, can deteriorate trust rather than build it.

I’m sure there are many more missteps we could cover; these are just the few that quickly came to mind. What would you add to the list? And how do you feel about the topic of storytelling in business overall? I’d love to hear!

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