INSIDE: Setting your solution criteria Evaluating key features and functionality Choosing your deployment model Conquering vendor selection

Transcription

1 INSIDE: Setting your solution criteria Evaluating key features and functionality Choosing your deployment model Conquering vendor selection

2 From The Editor The Importance Of Field Service Management Selection Sarah Nicastro Publisher/ Editor In Chief, Field Technologies, fieldtechinfo.com oday s field service organizations are taking on increasing demands and balancing a number of objectives. Service operations are no longer seen as the cost center of an organization, but rather as the conduit to the customer. With this newfound view comes a lot of opportunity, but also a host of pressures and challenges. Some of the key focus areas of today s service organizations include becoming more customercentric, transitioning from a reactive to a proactive service model, integrating M2M and IoT (Internet of Things) technologies to maximize uptime and first-time fix, and working to integrate service and sales to maximize cross-selling opportunities and ultimately the bottom line. You Can t Skip The Building Block Of Field Service Success To achieve success with any of these key focus areas, there s an essential ingredient these organizations must build off of a solid field service management system. Without an efficient field service management solution in place, you re fighting an uphill battle when it comes to keeping pace with today s service leaders. We re at the point where field service management solutions are attainable for any size and type of organization. There is a wide variety of solutions available today, whether you re just starting out and looking for your first automation tool or you ve had field service management in place for years and are looking for expanded features and functionality. That variety of options can be not only a gift but also a curse, in that it can sometimes be an overwhelming and complex process to sort through all of the solutions and providers to land on what s best for your organization. The idea for this report came to me as I was reviewing the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, which was published in December of Many of you may be familiar with the report, but if you re not, Gartner evaluates field service management providers based on a variety of criteria, lists the strengths and cautions for each, and segments them into four categories: challengers, leaders, niche players, and visionaries. While not exhaustive, it s an excellent report to help you weigh differences among solutions and providers. This report is meant to provide some complementary insight on more of the business process side of evaluating and selecting the right solution (and solutions provider) for you. The content of this report is based largely off of our interactions with countless end users and talking with them about how they selected the solutions they did what criteria they used, what mistakes they made along the way, what advice they d share with you. I hope you find the content in this report helpful and valuable. If you re in the process of evaluating/selecting a field service management solution and you haven t yet taken a look at Gartner s Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, I d suggest checking that out as well. As always, I welcome your feedback and can be reached at sarah.nicastro@fieldtechinfo.com.

3 Setting Criteria Step 1: Thoroughly Evaluate And Outline Your Field Service Management Needs ield service management (FSM) software has evolved from a niche application to a must-have solution for organizations looking for ways to monitor and manage technicians in the field and to improve profitability of this increasingly important revenue source. But with the explosion in field service solutions offerings, finding the right software has become quite a challenge. Whether you are newly deploying a field service management solution to replace manual, paper-based processes or replacing an existing FSM solution, the first critical step is to fully map out your application needs. By creating a formal document that spells out exactly what you want the software to accomplish, you can more quickly and effectively narrow down your list of potential choices. Examine Your Existing Field Service Processes The first step in this endeavor is to outline all existing field service business processes, from call intake through scheduling, dispatching, work order management, call resolution, and billing. This shouldn t be a top-down process; you should gather input on this outline from all stakeholders. There can be a sometimes significant gap between what managers think is happening in the field and what technicians, dispatchers, and administrative employees are actually doing on a day-to-day basis. Once the business process outline is complete, identify process bottlenecks or other areas of potential improvements. Where are inefficiencies in your current systems negatively affecting customer service or SLA (service level agreement) compliance? What issues are dispatchers or technicians struggling with? Where are data entry errors most likely to be generated, and at what points in the process are staff likely to be bogged down by manual processes? With a better understanding of the real problems you are trying to solve, it will be easier to generate a list of key features and functions that you will require in a new FSM solution. Prioritize those features and separate must haves from nice to haves. The work you did on the business process outline and in identifying problem areas will help narrow your focus to the features you ll actually use versus flashy new functions that might be irrelevant to your operation. This process also helps you determine what problem areas to address first. Can certain features be rolled out in a phased manner to help make the implementation easier to manage? Does every element of the solution need to be live on day one, or would you be better served to address the deployment in well-defined stages? Determine How You ll Measure ROI Plan how you will measure the success of the solution once it is in place. According to Frost & Sullivan s 2013 Mobile Enterprise Applications survey, 55 percent of respondents said that unclear ROI was a chief barrier to implementation of a mobile application. Set goals based on the improvements you outlined, determine how you will establish your current baseline performance, and then measure that performance moving forward. Are there specific improvements (completing more stops per day, reducing idling and fuel consumption, improving technician efficiency, etc.) that can be quantified and used to create an ROI model and timeline? Have a plan in place to 55% name unclear ROI as a chief barrier to implementation of a mobile application source: Frost & Sullivan s 2013 Mobile Enterprise Applications survey gather feedback from internal users and from your customers about how the organization is performing. Evaluate potential software solutions with an eye toward the reports and analysis that can be created and used to monitor these improvements. Finally, develop a training plan in advance of selecting the new solution. If your technicians are already using mobile computers and an FSM, this may simply entail a few in-person or even remote sessions explaining the new software. If you are moving from paper to an automated system, you will need to evaluate how tech-savvy your technicians and dispatchers are and begin the process of introducing and explaining the new solution well in advance of the actual implementation. You should also consider how you can incent employees to embrace and utilize the new system. Employee acceptance can make or break a software deployment; you must clearly demonstrate how the new solution will make your service team s work easier and more productive. Some of the most important work you will do when selecting and implementing a new FSM occurs before you evaluate a single vendor. By taking the time to prepare a thorough list of requirements and determining how you will measure the success of the new solution, you can create a clear road map that will guide you through the remainder of the software selection process. l

4 Header Here Aligning Features Step 2: Understand And Prioritize Key Features And Functionality apping out your specific application requirements will help you generate a thorough list of features and functions you ll want to look for as you begin the search for your new FSM solution. Sticking to that requirement list as you are evaluating software solutions will help you quickly eliminate solutions that don t meet your needs and stay focused on your specific objectives. The remaining contenders that meet your criteria will require a closer look to determine if the capabilities they claim actually perform to your standards. According to Aberdeen s Field Service 2014 report, modern field service solutions go far beyond traditional scheduling and work order completion. Field service excellence can no longer be defined by scheduling a technician appointment and routing that technician cost-effectively to a customer site; the best-in-class are those that have identified ways to leverage the customer interaction of a field service visit into a valueadd experience that not only resolves an issue but also highlights the importance of service, Aberdeen asserts. Can you use the data generated by your FSM solution to drive revenues or improve forecasting of future service needs? According to Aberdeen s survey of service organizations, 57 percent of best-in-class companies identified improving forecasting and planning as a top strategic action, followed by increasing the availability of service knowledge to help resolve issues faster (48 percent), investing in mobile tools to provide access to information in the field (43 percent), developing real-time visibility into field assets (40 percent), and implanting predictive or prescriptive analytics to enable proactive service (40 percent). 4 Critical Areas Of Field Service Management Impact When considering a new or updated FSM solution, evaluate its features against its ability to help you improve in four critical areas: field service performance (how many jobs are completed per day), customer satisfaction measures, costs (overtime, first-time fix rate, etc.), and meeting commitments (such as regulations or internal policies). What should you be looking for? Typical FSM capabilities include, but are not limited to: Scheduling/Dispatch: This is probably the most critical feature for most companies. Scheduling and dispatch operations should be as automated as possible. If you foresee that there will be significant manual tweaks to the schedule by dispatchers, that might indicate a problem with the software or a problem with your own scheduling processes. The solution should also make it easy to add new jobs to the schedule on the fly and continuously optimize the schedule based on dynamic information about job status and technician location. Each software vendor has its own algorithms and approaches to scheduling optimization, but the best tools leverage a database of technician knowledge, skills, real-time location data, and other inputs to create the most efficient schedule. Work Order Management: Technicians should be able to receive and accept assignments, quickly complete work order documentation on their mobile devices, and send that information back to the central system wirelessly. By automating this process, the solution should help you eliminate back-end data entry and paperwork. Mobility: Deploying an FSM solution without a mobility component is akin to fighting with one arm tied behind your back. Real-time access via a mobile device to resource planning, parts tracking, and customer portal information helps workers in the field complete their assignments faster and respond quickly to customer requests. The FSM should provide a dedicated mobile component that supports the major mobile operating systems (Android, ios, Windows). There are other considerations should the solution be Web-based, native, or support HTML5? that should be evaluated based on your company s specific requirements. Custom Forms: In some industries the forms technicians use can vary by project or client. There are a number of solutions available that help your internal staff quickly develop custom forms with little or no coding and without a costly investment in custom programming on the part of the vendor. Payment/Billing: The solution should allow you to automatically generate invoices once work orders are closed. Some FSM solutions providers even provide

5 Aligning Features outsourced billing and invoice management services that can help you more efficiently manage this process. Wireless Communications: There are still companies that rely on end-of-shift batch uploading of field data, primarily in order to reduce communications costs. However, this practice is becoming less common, and the solution should at least have the option of realtime wireless communication, which can help enable a number of productivity and visibility benefits. Proactive Service: Forward-thinking field service organizations are moving from a reactive to a proactive service model. Can the solution help anticipate failures to generate parts orders from the field when necessary. Knowledge Management: An increasing number of FSM vendors are offering what are essentially social media apps for technicians loosely structured tools that help the technicians communicate and share information with each other that can help them do their jobs better and leverage the skills and experience of the entire team. FSM can also provide mobile access to schematics, repair manuals, training videos, and other information that can help eliminate the need to carry bulky manuals or to make numerous phone calls if there is an issue with a particular repair. 48%of best-in-class organizations list increasing the availability of service knowledge to help resolve issues faster as a top strategic initiative source: Aberdeen Group s Field Service 2014 report and better manage preventive maintenance visits? Some solutions can integrate M2M and IoT (Internet of Things) data and provide ways for technicians to easily record and share information about upcoming maintenance tasks, identify other potential service opportunities, and provide estimates in the field for customers to help turn those opportunities into new business. Analytics and Reports: The chief service officer and other management should have access to real-time data to make decisions to improve the strategic direction of the field service organization. The solution should provide dashboard views for managers and easy report generation using preestablished KPIs (key performance indicators). Upsell/Cross-Sell Capabilities: Sales and service are interdependent but often disconnected processes, and many organizations today are working to bridge that gap. While your technicians may not be equipped to close a sale in the field, the mobile solution should at least offer them the ability to note potential upsell or crosssell opportunities and automatically pass those along to account managers. This can be a key revenue generator. Parts/Inventory Management: According to Aberdeen s Field Service 2013: Workforce Management Guide, not having the right part is the number-one reason service organizations fail at fixing customer problems the first time. FSM solutions can provide visibility of parts inventory at the depot and in the trucks and make it easier to get those parts to the right location to ensure a first-time fix. Technicians should also be able Technicians should also be able to access asset and customer service histories and other account-specific information that can help complete the job. ERP/CRM Integration: Tight integration with ERP (enterprise resource planning) and other business systems is also a critical component of any new field service deployment. By tying field activity to the back office, companies can shorten the billing cycle down to just a few days. That can improve cash flow while boosting productivity by eliminating manual data entry and other payment-related processes. Fleet Management/AVL (automatic vehicle location): Fleet management tools are often separate from FSM, but real-time vehicle location is increasingly included in many of these software suites. In some cases, the FSM vendor provides direct integration into one or more third-party fleet tools. You may not see an immediate need for fleet capabilities, but tying location data and vehicle data into your FSM solution can provide additional insight into operations and help drive down the costs of vehicle maintenance, insurance, and fuel. FSM solutions come in a variety of configurations, and some provide a modular approach to deployment that allows companies to roll out the most important features first and then add more functionality at a later date. Understanding the benefits of these critical features and being able to map them to your own requirements document will vastly improve your chances of a successful deployment and a faster return on investment. l

6 Deployment Model Step 3: Select Your Software Deployment Model early all of the major field service solutions providers now offer a cloud-based deployment option. Sometimes referred to as a hosted or SaaS model, this option allows companies to implement software on a subscription basis without having to invest in on-premise servers or devote the same level of IT resources to supporting the software. Cloud-based solutions are becoming more popular for mobile deployments. According to Frost & Sullivan s 2013 Mobile Enterprise Applications survey, just 27 percent of respondents reported having an on-premise-only solution, while cloud-based systems had increased to 33 percent. Forrester Research, meanwhile, expects the global market for cloud computing to reach $241 billion in Cloud-based solutions can offer increased flexibility, scalability, and lower IT support requirements. All of this can equate to a potentially lower cost of ownership for the system. In addition, if there are changes or updates to the application, companies no longer have to go through the arduous process of updating each device. Deployment is also faster, and it s easier to scale the solution up or down as the workforce grows. How do you decide between an on-premise or cloud solution? Do a total cost-of-ownership analysis. If you are looking for cost savings, cloud solutions don t always deliver those savings if there are significant incremental costs. Make sure to fully understand and consider both the up-front acquisition costs and the ongoing operating costs for each model. For smaller and midsize companies, the idea of paying as you go for a hosted application versus the up-front cost of a single on-premise deployment is very attractive, especially in an environment where credit is sometimes tight. Evaluate your own internal IT resources. If you lack the staff or expertise to properly support an on-premise solution, cloud may be the way to go. Consider the volume of FSM integrations. If your implementation requires integration with a high number of other software systems, an on-premise solution may present fewer headaches. If your existing ERP, CRM, and other back-end systems are on-premise, it may also be easier to integrate an on-premise FSM solution. Companies that have had the most success with cloud deployments have migrated multiple applications to a hosted model as part of a longer-term strategic plan. Think about your customization needs. If your business requires significant modifications to the FSM software, onpremise might be the more appropriate model. Cloud-based solutions are increasingly flexible, however, so consult with the vendor to see if it can meet your needs. Determine what budget is the best source of funds to pay for the solution. On-premise deployments typically are paid for out of the capital expense budget and have a large financial impact during the first year of the system. Cloud-based solutions, because they have an annual subscription, are often paid for out of the operating budget. Keep in mind company, industry-specific, or regulatory requirements that preclude the use of cloud-based solutions. If you work with government clients or those in related industries (aerospace or defense, for example) your contracts might prohibit the use of cloud-based storage or applications. Consider disaster recovery and backup. While some companies are reluctant to host their data off-site, cloud-based solutions offer inherent security and disaster recovery capabilities. Even if you opt to have the data ultimately land in your own systems, many cloud services provide a built-in remote backup. Successfully Evaluating Cloud-Based Providers Many vendors today offer both an on-premise and a cloud solution, which might be a good choice for a company that is on the fence or anticipates making the move to the cloud further in the future. In either case, as you re evaluating cloud solutions, be sure to determine whether the solution is truly flexible and future ready (to support new devices and applications), ensure that deployment can be handled easily and effectively, and ensure the software provider has relevant experience in your vertical market. Find out what hardware platforms they support and what network bandwidth requirements might be. If you need to transfer large files (such as schematics, high-resolution photos, video, etc.) as part of the solution, you should make sure your wireless carrier and your own internal LAN can handle the traffic. There are also a variety of types of cloud solutions (public, private, hybrid, etc.); find out what type of cloud offering the vendor provides, what their guarantees are for uptime, and how your data will be secured. Data security is critical, and a well-managed cloud offering can be just as secure (or even more so) than an onpremise solution. Due diligence should include talking to existing customers, evaluating security certifications, and establishing clear expectations and penalties for security breaches. A robust FSM can improve your operations regardless of whether it is on-premise or in the cloud. A careful evaluation of the costs and benefits of both models will help you deploy the software in the most efficient and effective manner for your business. l

7 Partner Selection Step 4: Tackle Solutions Provider Selection ven once you ve found a field service management software solution that matches your requirements list, your work is still not done. You have to carefully evaluate the solutions provider standing behind the software. Remember: This isn t just a software purchase, it s a partnership, and before you entrust business-critical functions to your new partner, you should make sure that the vendor and its software will be around for the long haul. Consider the following key areas when evaluating a software vendor: Vertical Market Expertise: While there are certainly common elements in field service across vertical markets, many industries have very specific application requirements. Companies performing pest control, HVAC (heating, ventilation, & air conditioning) repair, information technology service, and oil well maintenance may all schedule, route, and manage mobile technicians, but their specific needs in the field vary considerably. Make sure your vendor has the specialized knowledge and understanding not only about your particular market, but also the specific application. It should also have experience working with similar-size companies. A vendor that has only worked with very small firms may have trouble scaling to meet the needs of a nationwide operation with thousands of technicians, for example. Customer References: If the vendor claims expertise in your particular vertical, ask the vendor for references from companies in that same vertical, companies that are of a similar size to yours, and customers running applications that mirror your own. Don t just accept canned case studies; follow up by calling those customers and, if possible, doing a site visit to see the solution in action. Even if the solution is working very well for those clients, they may have experienced deployment challenges that can help you better prepare for your own installation. Product Readiness: Don t invest in vaporware. If the vendor claims it can provide the functionality you are looking for, make sure that those features are live in the software, and that they have been tested by other customers. There can be advantages to becoming a beta site for a vendor, but relying on untested software for businesscritical functions can be a costly gamble. Flexibility And Customization: How flexible is the solution? According to Gartner s Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, 2014, vendors should offer a choice of deployment models, including on-premise, hosted, and SaaS. Products should be architected on a service-oriented architecture (SOA) framework as well. In addition, the vendor should be willing to work with you to customize the solution where necessary to meet the specific needs of your company and your application. Financial Stability: Take a look at the vendor s books. How long have they been in business, and what is their current financial situation? An FSM solution can be a long-term investment; if the vendor goes bankrupt, you don t want to be left trying to maintain their software with no outside support. Find out how many active customers they have and where their revenue is coming from. How stable is the management team? Are there pending lawsuits? If possible, find out their profitability levels over the preceding five to ten years, along with their net debt over the same period. Support: You ll need help not only with the initial deployment, but on an ongoing basis to help troubleshoot, maintain, and upgrade the software. Do they have support resources located near your offices? What are the terms of the support and maintenance contract? Outline your expectations in detail, and make sure you are clear on what the vendor s contractual obligations are to you. Your own clients establish service level agreements with you and hold you accountable when you fail to meet those requirements; you should do the same with the software vendor. What staff will be involved in the deployment, and what type of training do they offer? Will they convert your existing data for the transition, and what additional fees may be involved? Responsiveness: Ask those customer references how the vendor has performed when there is a problem with the software. How quickly do they respond? Is there 24/7 support available? Are calls and s promptly returned by the support staff? Software failures rarely happen at convenient times, so you should make sure the vendor can help address these emergencies when you need help. Vendor/Product Road Map: Finally, have a conversation about the vendor s future plans for the software and their product road map. Technology continues to evolve over time, and the software should evolve along with it. If there are technologies on the horizon that you are looking at for the future, find out what their plans are relative to those items. l

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