Gartner defines Big Data as “high-volume, -velocity and -variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making.” My translation of this as it relates to field service is simple — organizations have more data coming in than ever before, and that, if you can determine how to process that data in a way that makes it consumable, you can leverage it to make more informed business decisions.

This relates directly to the use of mobile technologies in that, as organizations expand upon and perfect their use of these technologies by front-line mobile workers, the amount of data coming in from the field increases and becomes more complex. And the data isn’t typically coming in as a steady, digestible flow of information, but rather in big bursts of activity and information. Because of this, much of the valuable information collected in the field remains unused. And that’s where the lesson comes in — if you can figure out how to better consume and leverage all of the Big Data coming in to your organization, you have the opportunity to improve your business.

How to Leverage Data From Your Mobile Technologies

Here are some suggestions for how to determine if there’s more you could be doing with your company’s Big Data. First, assess what data you have coming in from the field. What information do your techs collect from the field via a mobile solution? What data does your fleet management or telematics solution provide? Do you gather any data via an M2M (machine-to-machine) or remote monitoring solution?

Once you have an outline of all of the data you’re collecting and receiving, think about who all could benefit from having access to that data. For instance, the service department needs the notes techs take on a job site to complete a service call record, but could the sales department also use that information to determine upsell opportunities? Look for opportunities for information sharing across groups to get the most of the data you’re obtaining.

The next step is to determine the best way to process the data. Is there data you’re gathering but not using because it isn’t available in a consumable format? Work with your current solutions providers to see if there are opportunities to create custom reports that could help you get more from your data. If you can get your data to a point that it is consumable, you’re ready for the overall goal — identifying all of the opportunities you have to leverage this data to assess trends, evaluate performance, and make more informed decisions.

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This article was previously published on Field Technologies Online, and is reposted here with permission.

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What’s a typical day like for you on the road?

I usually work between 12 to 18 hours per day. You may be called upon to work first, second and third shifts. The longest I’ve spent at a plant at any one time is 37 hours consecutively. We’re on the production line, working in a freezer that’s 28-30 degrees F or in bakeries that are 120 degrees. It all depends upon the location and customer. You have to be able to work, and work efficiently, in that atmosphere.

How far afield does your job take you? 

I’m all over the place for my work. I’ve been everywhere from Mexico to England to the Caribbean, and anywhere in the U.S.

You must have some fairly specialized skills to be sent all over the globe.

Packaging machines are definitely complex. If you are dealing with caviar or prosciutto, for example, the customer could be losing
tens of thousands of dollars per hour of downtime on the machine. As the technician, you have to get in there, find out what the issues are and get parts in as soon as humanly possible. You have to apply whatever knowledge you have, think quickly on your feet and be able to pacify a customer who may be very, very worried about production. A lot of it comes down to making something out of nothing to make the customer happy.

So improvising is critical in your job?

You have to be very careful when it comes to that. With the sophistication of the machines nowadays, if you go down the slippery slope of being a MacGyver, you end up having an orphan in the field that cannot be supported by the parent company. Customers will order parts that no longer fit because a technician has massaged the old parts to make them work.

You need sustainable fixes. Otherwise, the next technician won’t know what was done or why the new part doesn’t fit, which causes further delay — and possible a great amount of additional downtime. You always want to do it right the first time. It costs less.

How much notice do you get before you leave for a job?

I usually get the call on Friday afternoon at 5 p.m., and on Monday morning I’m up at 2 a.m. and at the airport by 3:30 a.m. to get in line for security for a 6 a.m. flight. We usually plan to stay at the customer location for a week, but there are many times when things beyond our control keep us hostage. Normally, I plan for a week, pack for two weeks and hope to get home the next weekend.

What’s in your toolbox?

My toolbox is 49.5 pounds. I know if there’s a single socket missing. I carry my own tools because I like the feel of them, and I like knowing the darn things are going to work. I’ve got a loop multimeter, an amp clamp, depth gauges, calipers and basic hand tools such as Allen wrenches. I also carry typical tools for basic fabrication: punches, chisels, etc.

When the TSA [Transportation Security Administration] leaves a pouch open on the luggage, you could lose $400 or $500 in one swoop. The company’s not going to pay, and the TSA for sure isn’t going to pay, so you’re out quite a chuck of change every once in a while. That’s one of the risks.

Do you fly first-class or economy?

It’s definitely not glamorous. I stay at the cheaper hotels, places where you fight the hotel IT person to get the Internet to work so you can submit reports. Maybe there’s mold on the windows or the shower is molding because the hotel is under $100 per night. Sometimes the phones work, sometimes not. I’m booked on the cheapest airlines, so it’s not like I build up a lot of airline miles from a single carrier. I try to get direct flights, but they’re often not the cheapest.

In a town like Chicago, where I am now, you really have to search for a hotel. We use a travel agent, but they’re limited to cheaper hotels. And, in many cases, you have to find the hotel they book. If the hotel has patched bullet holes in the door, you don’t stay there.

It all comes down to what a tech’s time is worth. We’re a cost center and are always trying to reduce costs in any way possible.

How did you get into this brand of field service?

I retired from the military and had no idea what I was going to do. My wife is also ex-military and was working for ConAgra. She said that people would always have to eat, food would always have to be packaged and that I’d always have a paycheck if I went into food processing. So I went back to school for automated machinery systems and a minor in computerized manufacturing.

I was a line mechanic for a year and a half, which involved dealing with the same problems every single day. Same place, same people. It wasn’t something that excited me.

I love the autonomy of field service. I love the ability to go out and do what I need to do, get the job done and have the respect of the people in the company to allow me to do that without any direction. It’s all about being able to get the job done quickly, efficiently and with the least amount of supervision possible. In field service, in order to get more responsibility, a raise, more time at home or benefits, you’ve got to change companies. Once you’re good at what you do, people tend to keep you right where you are.

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and got a handful of smart and surprising responses. Here are the top three qualities field service operators look for when hiring a first-rate engineer:  

Has Passion, Works Hard

• “Willingness to work problems, i.e., not lazy. The ideal tech finds complex challenges to be a form of fulfilling entertainment in real life, fortitude and persistence are acceptable substitutes.” – Mike Frome, owner of Fromeco, an aircraft battery manufacturer.
• “Experience, attitude and ‘DO you want a job?’ We only want to hire FSE’s that actually want to work and have a drive to be a FSE. We are not looking for people just to fill a position.” – Clair Bragg, president of GenTech Scientific, a seller of scientific and medical lab equipment.

• “Flexibility with working hours. If you have to be home at 5:00 pm every day, you can’t be an FSE.” – Marc de Vries, flow cytometry expert at medical supplier Becton, Dickinson and Company.

No Technical Experience Required?

• “Character before experience because if the FSE has bad character or questionable character we do not want to hire them. – GenTech Scientific’s Clair Bragg.

• “Good ability to network with back office, technical specialists etc…”  – Becton, Dickinson’s Marc de Vries

Knows (and Likes) the Customer

• “Good rapport with people (if you can’t put customers at ease, you shouldn’t be in the field).” – Mark Pulliam, technical solutions consultant at Hewlett-Packard.

• “Good customer service skills: the best quote I have heard on this is that, ‘The customer doesn’t care about what you know until they know that you care. That is the most important skill. Caring about the customers concerns and needs.”  – John Irvins, AV media technician at Mediatech, a manufacturer of lab equipment.

Street Smart, Learns Fast

• “Eagerness to embrace new technologies (if you don’t grow with the business, you’ll be left behind).” — Hewlett-Packard’s Pulliam.

• “Eagerness for continual learning in a variety of domains.” — Becton, Dickinson’s Marc de Vries.

• “Intelligence, problem-solving ability, whatever you want to call it. Frequently utterly unrelated to formal education path or even time in-field.” – Fromeco’s Mike Frome.

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They do: Waze, the developer of a popular navigation app that Google bought on Wednesday for $1 billion. Although aimed primarily at consumers, Waze could take the load off dispatchers by putting service techs in the driver’s seat when it comes to finding the quickest route to the next job.

Easy to Use, Easy to Like 

How does Waze work? It tracks via GPS the real-time movements of its active users to identify traffic congestion, accidents, road hazards and weather conditions that are contributing to a traffic slowdown or closed roadway. For example, if two Waze users driving to work suddenly slow down on a highway, the app instantly updates its maps to reflect that. When they pick up speed again, the app knows that the roadblock has been cleared. Traffic fanatics can also help out other Waze users by reporting via the app any accidents, speed traps or hazardous conditions that they encounter.

For this reason, Waze is billed as the only user-generated mapping service around — and with 50 million subscribers and counting, that’s a lot of traffic reporting.

So what can Waze do for field service? Plenty.

Fill’er Up, For Less

As everyone knows, gas isn’t exactly cheap these days. While there are ways to reduce fuel costs — hybrid vans, less time spent idling – identifying the most efficient routes to job sites is key, which is precisely what
Waze claims to do. “In general, routes that keep vehicles driving at a consistent speed with few stops or traffic lights — such as those that utilize the highway rather than surface roads — are the most economical,” wrote Megan Webb-Morgan, a former writer for ResourceNation.

There’s another fuel-saving feature to Waze: a list of nearby gas stations and the day’s price-per-gallon rate, courtesy of users who take the time to update the app.

Improve On-Time Arrivals

It’s one of the biggest complaints customers have: hours-long service windows and, still, a tech arrives late. One way to mitigate their frustration is to identify the efficient routes from job to job. The problem is, traffic conditions change minute by minute so even determining the shortest route doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the quickest. Here’s where Waze’s real-time updates have so much promise: drivers can be instantly alerted to sudden congestion and rerouted.

Late or Not? Let Everyone Know

Delays are unavoidable, even with the best technology. Waze lets service techs notify customers by text message what route they’re taking and what their estimated time of arrival is — even if it’s just the courtesy of relaying that they’re on time. Fleet managers can also connect with their techs on Facebook to sync arrival times and track the progress of their fleets. These added social features also serve as a selling point when assuring customers of punctuality.

Get Total Buy-In

Adopting new technology can be problematic for field service — an industry long dominated by clipboards, spreadsheet and paper invoices. And it can be especially challenging when older techs are asked to go digital. But Waze is easy to install and easy to use, making the transition to mobile navigation a whole lot easier for everyone involved.

Can Waze live up to its hype? It’s got 50 million users who think so — and at least a few giants that apparently do too. A lot remains to be seen, however. One question that time will answer: exactly how Google Maps and Waze will work together — or not at all.

Photo credit via TabletMag

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Enter technology. One of the best ways to teach a moving workforce is through e-learning: uploading training videos and lesson plans to a cloud-based platform so that your techs can learn whenever they want and where ever they are. Sounds simple enough, right? Not really. Developing an effective and efficient e-learning plan solves the logistics problem, but still requires choosing the right platform, hiring a team to build and implement it, and getting buy-in from a diverse workforce. Here are three core considerations when adding e-learning to your service techs’ everyday jobs:

Know Your Employees

Cellular phone company Metro PCS has a tough job when it comes to training. Because the company deals a lot with third-party vendors, it must find ways to train an unknown number of workers that aren’t even in its immediate employ. So when the company rolled out an e-learning program in 2011, it made sure the training sessions were generalized in a way that they still applied to different audiences. For example, the underlying messages were the same, but the e-learning was customized for specific regions. For example, a Northeast-based crew might receive a different lesson on driving in inclement weather than, say, its West Coast counterpart.

You may not face the same disadvantage as Metro PCS, but the lesson still applies. Your employees don’t work out of a home base, so your training should deliver the same underlying message but be customized for different geographic areas or types of workers.

Observe and Adapt

Starting an e-learning program is only the first step. It’s important too to monitor the training for effectiveness. This can be achieved only through observation, which is obviously challenging for any mobile workforce. The solution here is to identify managers within the company who can watch employees to see if the learning is actually being utilized and if it’s helping — or just another time suck. One good measure would be to track any increase in sales for a fleet that has completed an e-learning course on conversions versus one that has not.

Keep it Simple

As your workforce grows, it’s likely the age gaps among your employees does too. Your newest tech and your 15-year veteran are going to be receiving the same e-learning options, but their initial reactions are likely to differ. One way to engage workers of all ages is through gamification. Another way to get buy-in: accessibility. Create programs that can used across operating systems and devices. Don’t force techs to take a class on a specific day at a specific time. Instead, make it available to them so they can learn when it’s most convenient for them — either on or off the clock.

Finally, be sure to recognize workers when they complete a training program. Praise, either verbal or written, or some form of financial reward are among the ways employees like to be recognized for their hard work. Recognition makes employees feel valued, which improves retention. And for field service companies in particular, appreciation for a job well done can be hard to communicate when workers are almost always on the road.

The post How to Integrate E-Learning Into Your Techs’ Daily Routine appeared first on SmartVan.

So writes Bruce Rogers, “Chief Insights Officer” at Forbes. Among other evidence in his latest column, Rogers cites the federal jobs report for the month of May, released Friday, which gave field service operators reasons to celebrate: of the total U.S. job growth in the last year, field service accounted for 13 percent. And there are more than five million employed field service workers (the most since summer 2009) in the United States today, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Big Opportunity

There are several explanations for the rising demand for field-service workers, including the hiring rebound in manufacturing, which is closely tied to field service, and the creation of new types of field service jobs thanks to advances in technology. It’s the technology part of the equation that has drawn Rogers’ attention. ”Field service automation is a management consultant orventure capitalists [sic] dream,” writes Rogers. It’s the untouched white space  in the upper right hand quadrant of business value creation.”

But as Rogers notes, field service has long been known as paper-intensive and slow to adapt to advanced technologies. “Most of these operations are run through a hodgepodge of processes, some automated, most not.” With technology, field service companies can handle everything from scheduling services, managing contracts, and ordering parts to communicating with mobile devices and streamlining fleet operations.

Businesses are waking up to the opportunity. Forrester reported this spring that field service software is among the top investment priorities for global business leaders.

A major beneficiary of those investment dollars is ServiceMax, SmartVan’s sponsor and the subject of Rogers’ post. The developer of global field service automation software has seen subscription revenues skyrocket 160 percent in the last year (and an average 150 percent growth in the last four years.

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Which presents some big challenges. As Charlie Greer of Contracting Business explains in ”How to Stay Profitable This Summer,” service firms often get too caught up in the frenetic pace of handling as many calls as possible — but often lose sight of the advantages (and profits) of tackling fewer service calls and doing them well. Says Greer: “Your customers are not interested in getting a rush job today because you’re busy.” 

Greer adds, “In the summer, the tendency for HVAC contractors is to run their techs as long and hard as possible, and squeeze in as many calls per day as they can. In reality, it’s better and more profitable to take your time and perform a complete inspection on every call, every day of the year, regardless of the call load or outside temperature.”

Here are a few more tactics Greer advises for making the most out of HVAC high season:

Strategies for Summer Success

Don’t overwork your techs. You can only do so much in a day, then you’re worthless.

• Educate your techs on the cost to run a call. Explain to them that on any given call when they don’t bring the cost of the call plus the parts the company loses money.
• Provide training needed to perform the tasks at hand.
• Listen in on your dispatcher’s communications with your technicians.
• Tell your customer service reps that it’s okay if someone is unwilling to wait for service. Don’t force your techs to rush though calls in order to capture every call that comes in.

With this last piece of advice, Greer advises being transparent with customers and not overpromising, “Honesty is always the best policy when it comes to your interactions with customers. Don’t tell customers you’ll get there that day when you know it’s impossible. When it doesn’t look good but it’s still a possibility, it’s okay to tell them you’ll try to get someone there that day.”

The post How HVAC Firms Can Keep Profits Peaking Through the Summer appeared first on SmartVan.

Brenden Dobel knows the answers. The brewmaster (and “certified cicerone“) at Thirsty Bear Brewery, a San Francisco-based organic micro-brewery says every step in the process, from cooking the raw ingredients to filling the cold taps that dispense the beer, is critical. Making beer, he explains, requires an extensive amount of mechanics, from refrigeration units, pumps and kettles to fermenters, air compressors and nitrogen generators. When any part of the system breaks down, beer production screeches to a halt — delaying deliveries and, worst case, spoiling the brew.

“Maintaining a brewery,” says Dobel, “is a never-ending process.”

Many Moving Parts 

While we think of most American beers as ice-cold, it turns out that heat also plays an important role in brewing beer. The process of mashing — adding malted barley to water — creates a sticky, sweet liquid known as wort, which is then heated in a boiler.

Brewmasters, says Dobel, have a love-hate relationship with the boiler. It’s the heart of the operation — and it can be temperamental. When one breaks, “we’re like a ship in the water without a sail,” says Dobel. At $150,000 a pop, boilers require daily maintenance checks to make sure water levels are sufficient. If they drop, the results can be disastrous: a dry boiler will overheat, causing the metal to warp and the boiler to explode (for Thirsty Bear, the stakes are especially high: its boiler is located on top of a building). 

Once the boiler does its job, then comes another tricky part: yeast must be added to start the fermenting process. But because the boiling liquid can kill the live yeast, it has to be cooled. Enter air conditioning-like systems known as glycol units. If something goes wrong that Dobel’s crew can’t fix, HVAC field workers are called in.

Payoff: A Cold Pint at the End of the Day

In the end, Thirsty Bear’s elaborate system of moving parts and engineering makes a Rube Goldberg machine look like child’s play.

While Dobel went to school in Germany to learn the brewing trade and become a brewmaster, others on his team have been hired for years of experience, passion and mechanical aptitude. There are many routes to honing the brewing craft – what it comes down to for Thirsty Bear is passion and attention to detail. Dobel and his team have to solve problems fast, but at the end of a long day, there’s always an ice cold pint of beer waiting.

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Greening Your Fleet Systems 

From high gas prices to stricter fuel-efficiency standards, fleet owners have plenty of reasons to take a hard look at the latest advances in hybrid and other clean-fuel technologies. For many, however, the upfront costs can seem daunting and the logistics overwhelming.

But greening your fleet doesn’t have to be difficult, says Bill Van Amburg, a senior vice president at CALSTART, which helps fleet managers implement clean, efficient transportation systems. First, you can reduce waste by taking a hard look at your fleet operations and understanding the costs associated with mileage, idling times, and route structures, he says. Next, you can start small: don’t go “all green” overnight. Invest in a few fuel-efficient vehicles before going all out.

AT&T, for example, purchased 1,200 compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered Chevrolet Express vans as part of a broader plan to replace more than 20 percent of its total vehicles with alternative-fuel models by 2018.

Above all, recognize that the long-term payoff might justify the short-term costs.

Digitize Back-End Processes

Fleet managers can also put new technologies to work to streamline their operations and slash fuel costs. GPS-based vehicle tracking software, for instance, can help operators identify the most efficient routes for resolving multiple work orders, according to Todd Ewing, director of product marketing at Fleetmatics, a Boston-based provider of GPS fleet tracking technology.

Here too it’s worth starting small, says Ewing. “Prioritize the issues you want to solve,” he says. “A mistake I’ve seen made is that people try to put out a monster project to turn everything around. It slows everything down, and you end up not doing anything.”

Shifting to the Cloud

Field service is also hugely paper-intensive. The volumes of paperwork – from service requests to parts orders to customer invoices to maintenance contracts – that need to be completed and filed cost money and take time to sort, file and archive. Here’s where software, particularly web-based programs, can eliminate a lot of waste.

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Field Service

John Ragsdale is vice president of technology and social research at the Technology Services Industry Association. He’s also the author of Lessons Unlearned, a customer service guide.

Tony Karrer is the author of the eLearning Technology blog. He’s also a great resource on Twitter for identifying must-reads on TradesHub, a site that tracks the latest field service news.

Ron Palinkas writes the Service Blog.

Customer Service

Shep Hyken is the author of The Amazement Revolution, a New York Times bestseller.

Ron Kaufman is founder of UP! Your Service, a customer service columnist for Bloomberg Businessweek and author of New York Times bestseller Uplifting Service.

Michael Lytle is the director of global technology services and operations at Enterasys.

Flavio Martins is the author of the Win the Customer blog.

Sales

Joe Crisara is CEO of Contract Selling.

Greg Alexander is CEO of Sales Benchmark Index, a sales consulting shop, and author of Sales & Marketing Effectiveness blog.

Mark Synek is a principal in sales at Sales Benchmark Index.

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