What does field service look like today? Read about the 4 technology industry trends and their impact on field services:
- Technology has a much larger role in delivering service excellence with a reduced workforce.
- Consumption-based pricing models require a much better understanding of the customer.
- Social media is allowing for greater cross-collaboration between organizations and driving better service to the customer.
Unique challenges need to be understood and addressed for field service success in emerging markets, such as the BRIC countries.
Read more about them as well as field service capabilities in The State of Field Services: 2013.
Talent Management research intelligence_13 paradigm shifts_20 March 2024.pdf
The State of Field Services 2013 by TSIA
1. The State of Field Services: 2013
by Ravi Naidu
WHAT DOES FIELD SERVICES LOOK LIKE TODAY?
There is absolutely no doubt that 2012 was a tough year for service executives. The combination of a
shaky global economy, a highly fractious political environment, and the unpredictable presidential
election forced many executives into a “wait and see” strategy. Whether you are pleased with the
outcomes of 2012 or not, the good news is the heavy weight of uncertainty has been lifted, to a degree,
and better decisions can be made. The bad news is that all the problems and challenges that were
kept at bay last year didn’t solve themselves and must now be dealt with expeditiously and carefully.
Of course, none of this comes as a surprise to any executive responsible for field service and depot
repair operations. For years they have been fighting the good fight of balancing cost containment with
adding more value to the business and, to some degree, none of this has changed. In 2013, service
executives are once again being asked to cut costs and contribute more to revenue. Traditionally, this
contribution was measured through customer satisfaction ratings and renewal rates. However, at TSIA
we are seeing the role of field services changing or expanding to include activities like cross-selling
and upselling that contribute to increasing “consumption-based” revenue.
Field services and depot repair used to be fairly simple operations that didn’t require complex
technologies to manage the business. However, our world is changing dramatically, and several times
last year I was asked how TSIA defines field services. Through much dialogue, it became clear that
we needed a better understanding of the business functions that fell under the “umbrella” of field
services in today’s environment. To address this, we have created the “Field Service and Depot
Repair Value Chain,” shown in Figure 1.
Last year John Ragsdale, TSIA’s vice president of technology research, reported that the average field
service truck roll cost a whopping $1,011.17.
1
Hence, it should come as no surprise that the field
service and depot repair value chain really begins with technologies and business processes designed
to help “prevent the truck roll” or, stated differently, reduce the number of onsite visits needed by your
field service engineers (FSE). It’s important that we point this out because, historically, this has never
been viewed as an FS function. But as mentioned above, our world is changing. The evolution of field
services also requires an expansion of the data capture/logging function. In order to truly understand
your customer, it’s no longer enough to capture and log the site visit basics such as start time, end
EXECUTIVE INSIGHT
TSIA-EI-13-005
February 25, 2013
FIELD SERVICES