White Paper: Building an effective service model with remote service as the default

This paper is available exclusively for FSN PRO members. If you are already a member and cannot see the ‘read now’ button please make sure you are logged in. Not yet subscribed? Get instant access to this paper and over 130 over resources for just £45/month. 

We have seen the field service sector take a quantum leap forward in the last two years in terms of the widespread adoption of remote service delivery as an accepted approach to keep our customers’ assets up and running and resolve their problems quickly and effectively…

 

For some companies, the adoption of remote service delivery was a patch, a work-around, a means of getting the job done in times of enormous disruption. However, many had already acknowledged the extensive role remote service delivery would play in the future of their service operations. For others, they were perhaps caught in the middle.

 

On the one hand, these companies were ready to embrace a bold new approach to delivering maintenance and serving their clients more efficiently while improving the bottom line.

 

However, it was a journey where the destination seemed like a dot on the horizon, many years away. There would be significant challenges to overcome, including establishing the processes that would allow for a radical shift in core business processes.

 

However, perhaps the most significant barrier would be convincing the customers that this was a journey they would also want to take. The benefits of embracing remote service weren’t just the benefits of a leaner shift-left policy of the service provider.

 

This wasn’t merely an opportunity for the service provider to reduce costs and retain fees. The customer needed to see that by embracing remote service as part of the service offering, they would be receiving better care, greater uptime, and almost instant resolution to any problems that may arise.

 

The arguments for remote service were well laid out, yet, when taking a new turn so sharply away from the status quo, even the most compelling cases can take time to take root. Remote service was, until the pandemic at least, a tough sell.

 

Yet, for all the pain and hardship it wrought, the pandemic made us as an industry realise that remote service lived up to all the hyped potential, and now the discussion has been flipped. The customer who steadfastly refused to see the benefits of remote service is now asking for those exact same solutions.

 

Most field service companies introduced some layer of remote service to find a means of working throughout the lockdowns. However, the solutions and processes in place were often rudimentary in nature and clumsily executed.

 

Now, with remote service becoming an integral part of the service portfolio, we must anticipate that simply being able to offer remote service delivery is not enough; being able to do so in a professional manner that delights our customers will soon become table-stakes in the ever-increasing list of expectations our customers hold.

 

In many ways, the technology is the easiest part of the puzzle; for FSN PRO subscribers, there is already a raft of premium resources outlining technology selection and best practices for driving the adoption of remote services.   

 

However, having held several interviews and workshops in the last six months with a number field service management professionals, what many are finding more challenging is developing and executing the process changes required.

 

With this in mind, Field Service News has partnered with Konica Minolta and AIRe Link, to produce this white paper that looks at how they have moved their business to one where the approach to service and maintenance is to move towards remote service becoming the default first resolution.

 

This exclusive Field Service News white paper, authored by leading industry commentator and analyst Kris Oldland, is available exclusively for FSN PRO members – subscribe on the button below now to gain instant access to this paper and over 130 resources including FSN Education courses. 

This paper is available exclusively for FSN PRO members. If you are already a member and cannot see the ‘read now’ button please make sure you are logged in. Not yet subscribed? Get instant access to this paper and over 130 over resources for just £45/month. 

White Paper: Building an effective service model with remote service as the default

We have seen the field service sector take a quantum leap forward in the last two years in terms of the widespread adoption of remote service delivery as an accepted approach to keep our customers’ assets up and running and resolve their problems quickly and effectively…

 

For some companies, the adoption of remote service delivery was a patch, a work-around, a means of getting the job done in times of enormous disruption. However, many had already acknowledged the extensive role remote service delivery would play in the future of their service operations. For others, they were perhaps caught in the middle.

 

On the one hand, these companies were ready to embrace a bold new approach to delivering maintenance and serving their clients more efficiently while improving the bottom line.

 

However, it was a journey where the destination seemed like a dot on the horizon, many years away. There would be significant challenges to overcome, including establishing the processes that would allow for a radical shift in core business processes.

 

However, perhaps the most significant barrier would be convincing the customers that this was a journey they would also want to take. The benefits of embracing remote service weren’t just the benefits of a leaner shift-left policy of the service provider.

 

This wasn’t merely an opportunity for the service provider to reduce costs and retain fees. The customer needed to see that by embracing remote service as part of the service offering, they would be receiving better care, greater uptime, and almost instant resolution to any problems that may arise.

 

The arguments for remote service were well laid out, yet, when taking a new turn so sharply away from the status quo, even the most compelling cases can take time to take root. Remote service was, until the pandemic at least, a tough sell.

 

Yet, for all the pain and hardship it wrought, the pandemic made us as an industry realise that remote service lived up to all the hyped potential, and now the discussion has been flipped. The customer who steadfastly refused to see the benefits of remote service is now asking for those exact same solutions.

 

Most field service companies introduced some layer of remote service to find a means of working throughout the lockdowns. However, the solutions and processes in place were often rudimentary in nature and clumsily executed.

 

Now, with remote service becoming an integral part of the service portfolio, we must anticipate that simply being able to offer remote service delivery is not enough; being able to do so in a professional manner that delights our customers will soon become table-stakes in the ever-increasing list of expectations our customers hold.

 

In many ways, the technology is the easiest part of the puzzle; for FSN PRO subscribers, there is already a raft of premium resources outlining technology selection and best practices for driving the adoption of remote services.   

 

However, having held several interviews and workshops in the last six months with a number field service management professionals, what many are finding more challenging is developing and executing the process changes required.

 

With this in mind, Field Service News has partnered with Konica Minolta and AIRe Link, to produce this white paper that looks at how they have moved their business to one where the approach to service and maintenance is to move towards remote service becoming the default first resolution.

 

This exclusive Field Service News white paper, authored by leading industry commentator and analyst Kris Oldland, is available exclusively for FSN PRO members – subscribe on the button below now to gain instant access to this paper and over 130 resources including FSN Education courses. 

This paper is available exclusively for FSN PRO members. If you are already a member and cannot see the ‘read now’ button please make sure you are logged in. Not yet subscribed? Get instant access to this paper and over 130 over resources for just £45/month. 

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