Using Service Fundamentals to Drive Operational Excellence in Modern Field Service

Field service organizations have evolved from break-fix customer service operations into proactive and value-driven partnerships that work alongside customers to drive value. These changes are in no small part due to the onboarding of new technologies, such as Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors and artificial intelligence (AI).

However, the evolution of the service department is also the result of innovative field service strategies like the Outcome-as-a-Service (OaaS) business model, which seeks to sell uptime and customer outcomes as products rather than machines and devices themselves. To reach this model, service organizations have conducted a hard analysis of their operations. As a result, they've discovered new ways to apply the fundamentals of service to their evolving, technology-driven field service strategies.

Two service fundamentals are essential to this process: empowering technicians and empowering customers. Here's how the two are working in concert with today's technology to drive operational excellence in modern field service.

Empowering the Technicians of Today and Tomorrow

Field service organizations don't adopt technologies based solely on their novelty or on industry trends. By most accounts, buy-in for new technology investments can only be achieved if field service leaders can demonstrate what value those investments will bring to the customer experience and the organization itself.

Technologies must also work to support the fundamentals. With the right tools, field service organizations and their technicians can serve as trusted advisors to their customers and deliver value to both them and the organization.

In a recent WBR Insights survey entitled "The Service Support Guide to Empowering Your Customers," service leaders were asked to select their top three considerations when purchasing equipment for their field service operations among a list of nine options.

A plurality of the respondents (44%) said that ensuring knowledge transfer between field service veterans and new hires or contractors was a top concern. This result mirrors industry trends, as several organizations are focusing on knowledge capture and transfer amidst an aging workforce. Many companies are also placing more reliance on contingent workers to fill gaps in their internal rosters.

Empowering contracted technicians with connected technologies to help them access support in the field can help them deliver better customer outcomes. It can also help contractors better understand the organization's field service standards, helping them fix issues the first time while meeting customer expectations.

Meanwhile, 43% of the respondents said that empowering technicians with more ways to obtain support while in the field was a top concern. Empowering technicians with technologies like augmented reality (AR) and remote support features allow them to get first-hand assistance from remote experts while in the field. This is especially useful for new technicians and contractors, as it allows them to connect directly with veteran technicians while on-site

Finally, 42% of the respondents say meeting maintenance requirements was a top concern when selecting new machines and equipment for their field service operations, while 38% list the lifecycle of the equipment as a top-three concern. It's important to note that the lifecycle of the equipment investment is seen by most of the respondents as secondary to its ability to capture knowledge, assist technicians and contractors, and deliver fast outcomes to the customer.

Based on these responses, it's clear that service organizations are selecting the tools they use internally to support technicians in delivering on core objectives. This starts with a strong base of knowledge that is accessible to everyone in the organization, which leads to better outcomes for customers and stronger results for the organization.

Providing New Avenues of Service to Customers

Service organizations are also working to provide their customers with more self-service options. Based on the WBR Insights report, it isn't revenue that's driving this decision. Instead, it's the needs of customers themselves.

According to the study, 57% of field service leaders said they were prompted to seek a greater level of self-service capabilities for customers because customers were demanding them such options. In this context, self-service capabilities can include anything from customer-controlled scheduling tools to apps that enable customers to fix problems with their assets on their own.

There are secondary benefits to investments into self-service as well. By empowering customers to resolve problems themselves, the organization can unburden the service department from routine queries and concerns while allowing team members to focus more extensively on complex challenges or on selling additional services to customers.

Self-service could also improve first-time fix rates, which was a significant driver of adoption for 43% of the respondents.

Learn More at the Next Field Service Conference

Field service organizations have made significant progress in their journey toward digitization, both internally and through their customer-facing initiatives. These organizations are adapting quickly to rapidly increasing customer expectations and behaviors.

But the fundamentals of field service are still serving as guideposts for organizations' efforts. Field service technicians are becoming more empowered than ever. With the right tools, technicians' virtual and face-to-face encounters with customers serve as the bedrock of the entire field service experience, including the outcome-as-a-service business model.

Field service fundamentals are set to be important topics at the next event in the Field Service conference series. Don't miss the Conference for Leaders in Customer Success, Service & Support happening from November 16^th to 18^th at the JW Marriott in Palm Springs, California.

Download the agenda today.