Quick Start Guide to Automation Tools for Field Service

Transcription

1 QUICK START GUIDE Quick Start Guide to Automation Tools for Field Service Best Practices for Automating Field Service Processes Powered by

2 Technologies to support your field service operations represent large investments in both time and money. Indeed, for an IT services business, these are mission-critical technologies. Before investing in new technologies for your field service technicians, there are numerous decisions to make in order to equip them properly with these technologies. In this Quick Start Guide, we lay out various options and choices to match the right gear with your business needs. Some of the questions covered include: Should you use a proprietary pre-built system from a channel partner or build your own? Should you deploy smartphones or tablets? Should you cast your lot with Apple, Android, or Microsoft phones? While this guide doesn t explain the minutia of particular technologies, it does provide a framework for examining the decisions you ll need to make; it touches on some of the major technologies used to automate various aspects of the field service business; and it explores how technology can help you enhance your service offerings. Field service automation covers a wide area: everything from handling project management to tracking service calls and contracts, to remote monitoring of customer systems and patch management tools. Now that we are in the era of smartphones and tablets, field service means your technicians can carry a full suite of office applications on their daily rounds. The range of things that can now be accomplished in the field is a compelling reason for utilizing the latest technology. 02

3 Quick Start Guide to Automation Tools for Field Service CompTIA.org The Way We Were The history of field automation reflects the larger evolution of computing from relatively primitive devices to the powerful ones we now take for granted. In the early days of computing, technicians all carried numeric and then alphanumeric pagers. This simple notification service was the extent of available communications between field service personnel and headquarters. Pagers, of course, were one-way devices, though eventually Motorola and others came out with two-way devices. Over time, pagers were replaced with cell phones as the allotted minutes of monthly plans grew more generous and as data access speeds increased. Today it is hard to find a field tech that doesn t carry a smartphone or a tablet running fullfledged apps with broadband Internet access. In the 1990 s, the United Parcel Service (UPS) was one of the first to outfit all of its 50,000 package delivery trucks with cellular data modems and specialized tablet computers to communicate back to headquarters. This enabled them to provide the first real-time delivery status updates, but it wasn t easy. UPS had to build the infrastructure from scratch, and until that time no other delivery company had instrumented its fleet in such a fashion. Back when the Web was just getting started and the first notifications were done via messages, there weren t any nationwide data roaming cellular contracts, and tablet computers were custom-made to UPS specifications rather than being available on the open market. Since then, of course, we take package notifications for granted and every major vendor has a website you can use to track the movement of your package from source to destination using a simple form. Even the US Postal Service has put a similar system in place for its package deliveries. What was transformative about UPS in the early 1990s? Several things: they began investing heavily in technology to support their business operations, they needed ways to better automate their field service personnel and they didn t wait for the PC industry to create the kinds of hardware and software that they needed. The transformation of remote access technologies followed a similar path. Back in the mid-1980s there wasn t much beyond a DOS computer with a 1200 bps modem for remotely connecting to a home office computer system, using a character-mode terminal emulator. Remember when AT&T developed their smart payphones that had a full keyboard underneath? Now the payphone itself is obsolete. It isn t enough to just transmit a few lines of text characters to stay in touch with your remote workers: you need more information. Further transforming service provision is the ability to video conference from our computers in near-hd quality and to use accompanying interactive text chat and screensharing features.

4 Part of this evolution is the role of the telephone itself for the field service technician. A generation ago, a voice phone call was the primary support connection and a lifeline from the tech to headquarters. Today the field tech has a richer and wider variety of tools available from systems that minimize travel time when scheduling service visits to remote case management and problem resolution tools that utilize a centralized knowledge base. Even integrated billing that occurs as the tech leaves one service call and is en route to the next one has become an available capability. And just as phones are getting smarter and more capable, the days of the desktop as a primary support tool are numbered. Using a packaged desktop or client/server app for field automation tasks is giving way to SaaS and cloud-based software that is running at some remote data center, and all that is needed is a Web browser or a smartphone app for access. Now, not only do many businesses manage their entire operations from the cloud, but they may also be using a mobile tablet to access their systems thus giving them the ultimate in flexibility. The customer in the field also has more means of communicating with vendors, including posting Tweets and Facebook messages along with direct s to your employees. This has launched a new breed of social media monitoring tools that businesses use for early warnings of customer problems and to track their resolution. Dell, for example, has made a science out of using these tools in a special listening room that daily tracks tens of thousands of Tweets in 11 different languages. Issues are tagged and delegated to the appropriate department for quick resolution. 04

5 Quick Start Guide to Automation Tools for Field Service CompTIA.org Moving Forward: Selecting Service Automation Tools Inefficient systems cost your business in terms of parts, labor, and customer satisfaction. Addressing this cost may be difficult as the status quo is almost always more comfortable than introducing change. But consider how many jobs you may have lost because of unreturned customer queries? Or how many customers may have dropped you for a more responsive competitor? Other questions to ponder include: How long does it take to schedule a service call? Can you track your field agents during the day with sufficient granularity and precision to re-route them to a higher-priority job with your existing systems? If your responses to any these questions leaves you looking for ways to evaluate new and existing systems, consider the following questions: Do you have the right software platform? What mobile gear best meets your needs? What data connection do you need for your mobile devices? What level of integration with your existing systems is needed? Are you ready to make the needed investment? Do you have the right software platform? Just as you tell your clients, your first consideration is identifying your needs and selecting the right software to meet those needs. Look first at your major channel partners to see what they use and which systems they offer or support. If you don t have a major channel partner, pick your top three partners and look at their systems. Most of the modern field service vendors now offer both on-premises and cloudbased software, so you have a wide range of choices for your implementation. The cloud can provide a lot of flexibility: you don t need particular servers or pre-requisite software, but you will need sufficient Internet bandwidth to handle the cloud connection. What mobile gear best meets your needs? Most automation vendors now support at least Apple ios or Google Android devices, and some support both. With Android support it is important to know the version of your operating systems, as some software vendors only support more modern versions or those associated with particular cellular carriers. Look at some sample apps available in Apple itunes Store or Google Play Store to get a feeling for the options available for your particular mobile device. What kind of data connection do you need for your mobile devices? While more bandwidth is always nicer, you need to calculate whether broadband mobile access is needed more often than Wi-Fi for data connections. Make sure your planned broadband data contracts are sufficient to cover the communications you expect to have among your field personnel: data plans come in many forms with potential overages and gotchas that can significantly impact the cost and usability for field personnel. Be sure to fully understand whatever data plan you select. You ll want to measure

6 network latencies between your mobile devices and your headquarters or cloud apps to ensure that your technicians can do their jobs without having to wait for tedious screen refreshes, for example. What kind of integration with existing IT infrastructure do you need? When UPS developed their first field service application more than 20 years ago, they had to build their own modem pools at the different cellular carriers themselves because cellular data connections weren t in wide use. Fortunately, we don t have to do that today but you do have to understand what kinds of Internet connections are needed from your data center or from an automation provider s network to handle the expected load of your applications and users. You ll also want to examine the various Internet connections to your customers, contractors, OEMs, third party administrators and parts vendors. Device Options How much screen real estate do you need to run your typical applications? Do you already supply your technicians with a particular brand of smartphone, tablet, other device? Does your software platform specifically support the larger tablet screens? Do you already use other Mac or Google software products in your company? How much text creation is part of your field tech s daily activities? Is the phone and voice connection more critical and used more often than the apps? Do you need a digital version of various manuals and other documentation? Are you ready to make an investment in service automation tools? In deciding to move to services automation tools, some considerations are more about your business operations than the technology. Some questions to consider about your business structure: What main business elements need to be included? How will service automation fit with current business processes? How will service automation fit with the current billing systems? How will service automation fit with the type of services offered: depot repair, field service, professional and consulting service, managed services, or help desk? How many locations need to be supported? How many staff are involved? There are also project management considerations related to implementing and transitioning to service tool automation, including: Who will be assigned to the project team both at your site and with your chosen vendor? What is your budget? When will the project be scheduled? And how long will it take? 06

7 Quick Start Guide to Automation Tools for Field Service CompTIA.org Choosing a Supplier Once you ve decided a new system would benefit your operations, it s time to consider technology suppliers. Some questions to consider when evaluating potential suppliers: Do they understand service delivery concepts and methods? Any supplier you select should be familiar with service delivery and with your particular industry vertical market. Their definition of quality and timeliness should also be similar to your own. To evaluate a supplier: Ask to see examples of deployments in similar companies, industries, or markets. Identify the geographies they serve. Assess the in-house talent they have for handling support questions about their solutions. Ask for references from their longer-term customers, especially those in similar industries or circumstances. Request a full demonstration of their solutions so you can get a feel for their capabilities, functions, and features, and so that you can perform your own comparative analysis of the services they offer. Can the technology handle your entire field service operations? In choosing a service order management system, you need to make sure it has the capabilities to run the various parts of your service operation. This will be different for different business configurations, and you may have to purchase several different products to handle different pieces, or make use of an all-in-one integrated solution. Some examples of service order management system capabilities include: Technician and route scheduling, including the ability to optimize and map service routes to minimize travel times or down times, GPS Reverse logistics and parts tracking to support a just-intime inventory of parts Parts management and claims adjudication with OEM and parts suppliers Problem escalation and tracking system to stay ahead of potential delays or mistakes Supported add-ons available for specialized purposes Data protection in the event a device is lost or stolen Reporting capabilities to measure performance and identify trends related to employee productivity, product issues, service level compliance, cost of service, and customer satisfaction Management of contracts and OEM warranties General accounting and billing capabilities to determine the profitability of your service department, service products, and/or business You ll also want to consider how well the technology fits your business needs. For example: Is the software on-site or cloud-based? What are your data collection/storage requirements? Is the system self-maintainable or do you have to rely on the vendor/developer for maintenance? If the latter, it could become costly.

8 Is the system code-friendly allowing your partners /suppliers /customers systems to integrate and connect to it? Do you need compatible infrastructures? With the choice of any supplier, be sure you understand what their own infrastructure is and how it interacts with your equipment. Determine what equipment needs to be installed on-premises, or what can make use of cloud applications and whether you have sufficient Internet bandwidth to handle the increase in network traffic. Some items to consider: Does their support of particular mobile operating systems meet what your own phone portfolio is, or will you have to purchase new devices to run their systems? Do they support the presences on the same social media networks that you maintain, or will you need to add new networks to your marketing mix? Does their unified communications and network mesh well with the systems that you have in place? What is their uptime history? This is particularly important if you plan to rely on cloud-based apps. Do they offer any online learning and skills training classes to bring you up to speed? Many vendors now offer online video tutorials that can teach you about their various systems and how they work, or offer in-person classes for additional training. While many cloudbased systems are very intuitive and simple to learn, look at what other learning aids are available, either in the form of help files or FAQs or other links to explain some of the finer points of using their system. What does your customer use when they need to schedule service? Each supplier has different configurations and capabilities for how they set up their customer communication portals, so you should receive a demonstration and understand what your customer sees when they are trying to schedule service. Examine how customers can communicate with you via SMS, , and Interactive Voice Response (IVR), and how these communications are managed by the portal software, as well as how the service requests are integrated into other modules the supplier offers. In addition, examine their portal for: A hosted knowledge base to make it easier for self-service inquiries from your customers and to share community information among your own technicians A service work order system that can handle live status and appointment updates and send and SMS notifications of status changes As the IT industry continues to evolve both driving and responding to new technologies and new business models the ways in which IT services are delivered also adapts and grows. Automation technologies enable and support new efficiencies in the delivery of services. Before rolling out any automation technologies, make sure you consider and use the capabilities of CRMs, vendor partners, and tracking customer feedback to make sure you re delivering the experience promised to your customers. For a successful implementation of field service automation technologies: 1. Understand your existing business needs and how services tools can support those needs. 2. Get buy-in from stakeholders. 3. Know what you need from your platform. 4. Evaluate your mobile needs. 5. Determine the needs for integrating with existing infrastructure. 08

9 Quick Start Guide to Automation Tools for Field Service CompTIA.org Field Automation technology is an area that continues to rapidly evolve through mergers, acquisitions, and product bundling. The list below offers a small sampling of tools available in this space. Customer Relationship Management (CRM). A broad category of enterprise software used to manage customer data; track customer interactions; manage and automate sales, provide marketing and customer support; and track employee, vendor and partner relationships. Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM). Technology used in the monitoring of customer IT infrastructure and services, both cloud and onpremises solutions are available. Asset management, contracts and service level management systems offer incident response handling, IT governance issues, contracting, runbook automation, and asset tracking. Comprehensive service order management systems offer functionality to manage the full lifecycle of a service request. This includes validating service availability, service order issuance, service and or product order decomposition, and service order tracking along with orchestrating the activation, field service dispatch and route optimization, depot repair, parts management, claims adjudication with vendor, tech and customer management, and so on.

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