Defining what effective use of data means
In this edition of the Field Service News Think Tank Sessions, our focus was on digging deeper into a finding within a recent FSN Research study that revealed that 57% of field service companies surveyed stated that while they were able to access asset data, they felt they were not leveraging that data effectively.
As always in our Think Tank sessions, this initial starting point for the discussion led down many interesting avenues of debate, all of which are summarised in the executive briefing report currently available for a limited time on our forever-free FSN FREE subscription tier.
In this particular feature, based on a section of the report, we discuss whether it is possible to define what effective use of data means and why although the interpretation may be different across different organisations, it has to mean the same thing within the company, and this is why having a master data strategy is vital.
In the preceding FSN Research study, which provided much food for thought during this ThinkTank session, one of the key findings was that while many organisations had access to asset data, the majority stated that they didn’t believe they were using it effectively within their organisation. However, as the discussion evolved, it became clear that ‘effective’ could mean different things in different companies…
As Chris Hird, Editor, Field Service News, explained, “In the FSN Research study we produced on this topic, one of the statistics was that somewhere in the region of, 57% of field service companies stated that asset data was available to them, but they felt they were not using it effectively.
“There’s a couple of important questions that this statistic raised that I feel we as an industry need to address. Are we collecting too much data, and are we collecting the correct data? Additionally, how do we as companies define what is effective?”
“The challenge we’ve had in that respect is that everybody talks about data,” replied Daniel Kingham, Vice President and Head of Service Innovation and Design, Elekta.
This content is available exclusively for FSN PRO members and will also be available on our FSN FREE subscription tier for a limited time. Please either log-in or subscribe on the button below for access.
Join FSN FREE today!
Subscribe to our forever-free subscription tier FSN FREE by completing the brief form below and get instant access to this resource plus a selection of premium resources every month.
[pmpro_signup submit_button="Get access now!" level="1" redirect="referrer" custom_fields="true" short="true"]
Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content ServiceMax who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this briefing report.
"What are you defining as your master data? What are you defining as the golden threads of data that you feel you can make decisions from?" - Mark Wilding, ServiceMax
“Big data has been a big thing for a long time, so everybody thinks they understand what’s needed to make it valuable and to turn it into an asset. We continually battle at all levels of our organisation against people saying, well, if we can get something, let’s get everything.
“It’s cheap storage, so nobody cares about who’s consuming it, and more importantly, what they’re getting from it. I think that’s where we’ve had some success putting limiting factors around data usage and asking those questions. Who’s going to consume the data, and what are they going to be doing with it? What’s the output that you want to achieve?” Kingham asks.
“Because our customers don’t want data put in front of them, they want actionable next steps. They aren’t interested in seeing data presented; they want to know what that leads to.
“We saw the same with predictive maintenance; when we started, we did three big data, proof of concepts.
“One of them lasted for 18 months. It was successful in so far as it was able to use the massive datasets that we had to do a single predictive use case., Yet it wasn’t viable to scale up.
“What we learned through that activity was that when it comes to the knowledge we have around a product and the data that comes from our products, it is much more important for us to refine it at source. We discovered that it is far more effective to work towards a use case as the reason to get connected, rather than collect the data and then try and work out what you do with it,” he explained.
For Mark Wilding, VP of Global Customer Transformation, ServiceMax, when it comes to effectively utilising data across multi-departmental projects, it is essential to establish a master data strategy.
“In my previous role, I was responsible for the global service leadership, and the challenge was data strategy, particularly developing a master data strategy.
“By that, I mean, what are you defining as your master data? What are you defining as the golden threads of data that you feel you can make decisions from?” Wilding added.
“I found that you’ve got to work backwards and ask reflective questions to help you build a map to get you where you want to be. What is the underlying strategy of your vision? What exactly are you trying to do? What insights are you trying to get? What decisions are you trying to improve upon? What revenues are you trying to launch?
"If you can work backwards from these questions you are better positioned to understand how you can develop an approach that offers insight to drive a strategic vision around efficiency, reliability, and revenue." - Mark WIlding, ServiceMax
“If you can work backwards from these questions you are better positioned to understand how you can develop an approach that offers insight to drive a strategic vision around efficiency, reliability, and revenue.”
However, according to Rajat Kakar, Managing Director, QuickWork EMEA, even with good data processes and protocols in place, we still need to consider our broad approach to data from a technology standpoint.
“Given just how much data is being created today, if a company is now just taking the approach of they ‘have’ data, if they’re just happily collecting and making data, without considerations of what they are doing with it, eventually, they will start running into problems,” Kakar comments.
“They will never be able to reach a point where they can say, ‘Okay, I need to have this information, this is viable for me and provides what I need for my business, and I need to get access this data in this given application or particular location.
“Even if they can achieve this currently, not too far down the line, they will suddenly get stuck in a loop of not being able to handle the volume of data they have, and they will not be able to manage the data they have.
“At this point they might look at the problem as needing more storage or needing faster compute power. This is a challenge many companies will face although we are starting to see better thinking emerge around how to handle data – both from technology development but also around rethinking processes,” he added.
Indeed, it seems there are multiple areas of consideration to ensure data is used effectively within an organisation, yet ensuring this is not only achieved but also a universal strategy across the business could be the difference between the success and failure of your digital transformation projects.
If you wish to read more from the group on how we can approach this from a variety of angles, then download the full executive briefing now (available for a limited period on our forever free subscription tier FSN FREE)
Do you want to know more?
If you are already a subscriber you can access the report instantly on the ‘read now’ button below. If the button is showing ‘Join FSN FREE’ please log-in and refresh the page.
If you are yet to subscribe simply click the button below and complete the brief registration form to subscribe and you will get instant access to this report plus a selection of premium resources each month completely free.
Join FSN FREE today!
Subscribe to our forever-free subscription tier FSN FREE by completing the brief form below and get instant access to this resource plus a selection of premium resources every month.
[pmpro_signup submit_button="Get access now!" level="1" redirect="referrer" custom_fields="true" short="true"]
Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content ServiceMax who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this briefing report.
Many thanks to our Think Tank members present during this session.
- Sumair Dutta, Senior Director, Product Marketing – Customer and Market Insight, ServiceMax
- Mark Homer, Managing Partner, Field Service Associates
- Rajat Kakar, Managing Director, QuickWork EMEA
- Chris Hird, Editor, Field Service News
- Dave Hart, Managing Partner, Field Service Associates
- Daniel Kingham, Vice President and Head of Service Innovation and Design, Elekta
- Mark Homer, Managing Partner, Field Service Associates
- Mark Wilding, VP Global Customer Transformation, ServiceMax
- Terence Horsman, COO, Orca Service Technologies/MCFT
- Clinten van der Merwe, EMEA Service Director, Smiths Detection
All members of the Field Service Think Tanks are speaking from their own personal opinions which are not necessarily reflective of the organisations they work for.
