I had a conversation today with an analyst firm specializing in the field service technology area. We were discussing marketing plans for 2008 and one of the topics that came up was the use of tools such as web 2.0 and whether they can make social networking or more specifically user generated content more acceptable in the service business.

One of the challenges facing a service business these days is sharing knowledge between the technician workforce and then retaining it within the company. As the range of consumer products grows in quantity and complexity, the fact is that service technicians are required to "fix" products that they may have come across only once or twice. Look at the increase in sales of plasma and LCD screens as an example. The complexity of simply installing these products is creating a whole new group of specialist technicians who just "do big screen TVs".

In real world service organizations we know that when a field technician is struggling with a particular problem or comes across a product for the first time, their first call will be to a more experienced colleague to find out if they have come across anything similar. The product guide or manual is overlooked, generally because it's become outdated as soon as it's published.

However, what happens to that knowledge once it is gained? If there is no way of sharing it except through word of mouth over a cell phone, then the company is losing vital service intelligence that could save time and effort the next time the problem arises.

One solution is user generated content. There is clearly an argument for a central knowledge base that isn't in the form of a manual or product guide. By using social networks as part of a business solution a service business can create a central knowledge base online which is accessible to all field technicians. Whenever a technician has a problem, or an unknown product, he can search the knowledge base quickly and easily for the fix he needs. Giving technicians the tools to capture, store and distribute invaluable field experience for the benefit of the company results in a win-win situation. The field technician gets his job done more quickly and the service business retains ownership of the information.

We'd be interested in hearing your opinions on this - do you think social networking has a place in a business environment?

By Vince Jacobs

Last week from coast to coast there resounded a collective Hooray from 32 million Canadians - why? Because for the first time in 30 years, the Canadian dollar reached parity with the US Dollar. 1C$ = 1US$.

For decades Canadians have lived with an inferiority complex over its insipid little currency versus the mighty US dollar of our larger neighbors to the south. There is now a collective puffing out of chests as Canada became a petro currency. Canada is now the largest exporter of oil to the USA after Saudi Arabia.

And so? What impact to a provider of service?

Well, for a start the initial euphoria is quickly giving way to a collective Canadian out pouring of anger as to why Canadians are still paying 30% more for goods and services than our American cousins. Take for example the purchase of a Honda. One look at the Canadian website and the American web site and you will see that a Canadian purchased vehicle carries a sticker price reminiscent of those dark days when a Canadian $ was worth 70 cents US.

If that was not enough of a signal to Canadian companies that the "times are a changing" then the hoards of Canadians heading south to do their shopping in American shopping malls certainly should be. Bottom line is that as import prices plummet, Canadian companies are going to have to learn to do a whole lot more for their citizens on fewer dollars than they may be accustomed to.

So what for the hapless service provider?

As the downward pressure on prices percolates through the Canadian economy, providers of services and goods will have 2 choices: compete more effectively or give up to their American cousins in the south. Do not think for one moment that European readers are immune to this. The 2,000 miles of open water will not guarantee immunity to cheaper American products.

Getting a quart out of a pint pot has never been easy - a problem made more difficult by the gross shortage of labor throughout Canada. And yet a solution stares service providers in the face: become more effective in the deployment of their valuable and expensive human field resources and more efficient in the use of their cash tied up in operating their service departments. The deployment of scheduling, dispatch and communications systems are proven to deliver anywhere between 10% - 50% gains in productivity. Cost of such systems should become less of a problem as software vendors who quote in US$ pass through the automatic savings.

There's a new report out from the research firm Aberdeen Group called "Underpinnings of Service Excellence". The reports discusses how service companies looking to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty while reducing costs, can synchronize resource capacity with service demand.

The thinking goes that if you can accurately forecast service demand, you can plan and provision your service resources, comprised of field technicians and spare parts, more effectively to meet that demand.

According to the report results, this type of initiative for companies Aberdeen Group consider "best in class" has resulted in 22% increases in first-time fix rates, 18% higher SLA compliance rates, 27% improvement in workforce utilization, and 14% lower overtime costs.

As well as highlighting the research results, the report offers analysis on what pressures are driving service organizations to introduce this type of strategic activity and how companies can take action to improve their own performance in this area.

Its definitely worth a read if you're interested in field service or workforce optimization:

http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/4168-RA-service-demand-resource.asp

An interesting debate is going on in a company that we've been dealing with recently. Like most service companies they are trying to balance SLA performance against travel and overtime and all the other competing factors that make optimal service delivery such a nightmare if you use manual planning.

Here is the scenario:

The Service Manager says "we must focus on hitting our response times - we risk paying out big penalties and jeopardizing contract renewal if we miss too many"

The Logistics Manager says "most of the engineers are multi-skilled; they carry van stocks for the whole product range and a lot of their parts never get used - so why not focus the engineers into product or business areas to reduce van stock costs?"

The Service Manager says "- but that's going to potentially increase travel and risk more SLA infringements!"

The Operations Director has the view, "well, what the Logistics Manager says makes sense - we have a guaranteed saving on parts which we need to balance against a bit of a gamble on SLAs and increased travel costs. Cash savings or caution - what do you think?"

The Service Manager feels a bit exposed, but he's agreed to go along with it for a while, to see what happens. He monitors SLAs regularly so he can try a pilot scheme in one area, cross his fingers and pray. If SLAs suffer he can stop the pilot quickly, if travel costs go up, well he knows who to blame.

Fortunately he is using SERVICEPower automated scheduling, so changing engineer skills and territories and the system parameters to build the schedule needed for the new process is a relatively straightforward task, certainly much easier than getting IT to change all those rules in the rules based scheduler that he had before; and he can switch back really quickly too if the Logistics Manager's idea fails..

We are in day 1 week 1 of the new process - I'll let you know how things progress.

Ray Croft : http://www.servicepower.com

There are some confused ideas out there in the market, about the role GPS has to play in automated scheduling.

Earlier this week I was with a prospect who wants to buy automated scheduling, but has stipulated as mandatory in his ITT that the solution must include GPS.

Now that's fine, at ServicePower we have great GPS integration and visualization with the new stuff in our latest version, but I was intrigued and asked him why?

"Well", he said, "if you don't know where the engineers are, how do you know who to give the next job to?"

Perhaps I hadn't properly explained that 99% of our scheduling decisions are made for a time in the future, so where the engineer is now is rarely relevant. SERVICEPower knows all about geography and territory and the engineers start and end locations and their centers of operation, and where engineers are planned to be way into the future, so we are self contained.

We integrate to GPS for a very different reason "for health and safety, insurance and duty of care issues, and to monitor more closely the adherence to plan throughout the day.

"But the GPS salesperson I was talking to said it is essential!" the client explained. Well he would, wouldn't he?

-Ray Croft

To find out more about ServicePower, visit our Web site at http://www.servicepower.com