September 2002

The field service market is adopting mobile IT faster than any other single market sector. Why? Because it can transform a cost centre into a profit centre. Sharon Clancy reports

Whether they would admit it or not, historically of lot of companies have regarded service and maintenance as an unavoidable cost. But if that's how your company still sees them, it's probably time to think again. Service is changing its image from necessary evil to new revenue generator; and the magic ingredient that is making it possible can be summed up in a single phrase: mobile communications.

"In the early 1990s service was considered a non-core activity and was often outsourced," says Richard Olsen, commercial director at mobile data specialist Three X. "Then people realised that the companies actually handling those service contracts were building profitable businesses, and this made them reassess the service sector. Service activities can provide an important, reliable revenue stream, especially when an uncertain global economy leads to fluctuations in new sales."

Even those companies aware that service is important in maintaining relationships with customers have often remained wedded to a mobile telephone and paperwork system. Implementing mobile IT applications can be complicated, requiring more resources than can be spared.

 

Then there's pace of wireless developments to consider, and the worry about whether the technology will be future-proof. Should you invest company money in technology which has a good chance of being surpassed by something better in two years? So-called third-generation mobile communications promise faster communications and the ability to transfer large amounts of data quickly, securely and at reasonable cost. Should you wait for it?

Well, everyone we talked to for this article says GPRS networks are perfectly adequate for field service applications. Not only would there be little gain in waiting for 3G, they argue; in addition, the benefits that GPRS can deliver are such that companies who delay risk handing a competitive edge to their rivals.

GPRS could almost have been designed for field service applications. It runs over the GSM networks, but is typically about 40 per cent cheaper. Field workers simply dial-in once and are then logged in for the day. You pay only for the data that is sent, and for most companies one megabyte a month per device is likely to provide ample capacity. Communication is by email or SMS, eliminating voice calls; and because airtime costs are low, you can communicate with service engineers as many times a day as is necessary.

The benefits of a connected field service operation are so tangible that the field service sector is predicted to be one of the fastest-growing mobile computing sectors in the next few years. "We've moved past the visionary stage, and companies who are early adopters of technology have moved into the pragmatist stage," says Richard Olsen. He explains: "Pragmatists are prepared to invest in new technology, but only if they can buy products that have proved reliable, and if that proof is coming from trusted references. They aren't interested in unproven systems or technology for technology's sake."

When they do move, though, invariably they are finding it's a win-win situation. Customer service levels rise because staff can be more proactive with customers. Simply informing customers of precise arrival times or unavoidable delays creates goodwill that may be hard to quantify, yet is good for the image. Accountants will be more interested in the productivity gains that can be achieved because each worker can complete more jobs each day. Call centre costs are reduced because fewer operators are needed to manage the mobile workers. Company cash flow benefits through faster billing because there's no longer any need to wait for engineers to return to the office with paperwork before billing the customer.

Workers themselves also benefit. Because jobs are allocated more efficiently, workers spend less time travelling. Personal security is improved for lone workers in remote locations.

For optimum benefit, most suppliers agree that a field service application should be integrated into the company's existing IT systems (customer databases, accounts, stock control and so on). In the past, that might have been an intimidating, time-consuming and costly exercise. However, the latest generation of field service applications is modular, so service managers can deploy the technology and start benefiting straight away, and gradually add more functionality and integration as workers and managers become more familiar with the technology. The modular packages also usually come with software to facilitate integration to other applications.

Specialist supplier Pinnacle says there are four main areas to consider when choosing a field service application: hardware, forms software, call-centre software and wireless communications system.

The decision as to whether you should go for a PDA, a data-capture handheld or a ruggedised notebook computer really depends on how much data your mobile workers are going to need access to. A PDA or handheld computer can suffice if the operation entails simply data capture and transmission. Ruggedised notebooks will be more appropriate for other engineers, who have more complicated data entry requirements. You also need to decide whether your mobile workers need to work offline for any length of time, because there are "fat" and "thin" applications to choose from.

In fat applications, all the software is held on the mobile device. A key advantage is that if the worker is out of network range he can continue working. In thin applications, the mobile worker simply uses his computer to link up to applications held on a company server. iTouch predicts that eventually there will be "fit" applications, which come somewhere in between; a "thin" or modest amount of cache memory will be provided on the handheld, and will be regularly updated from the server.

For fat applications, Microsoft's Windows CE operating system is fast becoming as ubiquitous on PDAs and notebooks as the Windows OS is on PCs. Windows CE is not just a slimmed-down version of Windows, but also contains features important for mobile devices such as power management. One reason for its popularity is that there are lots of software developers familiar with Windows. That brings down the cost of applications development, makes tailoring solutions faster, and future-proofs the technology to a certain extent by making upgrading simpler.

Workers like CE, because it presents them with the familiar Windows environment with drop-down screens and so on. Its popularity will no doubt be enhanced when Windows CE.net arrives in October. This gives "thin" applications the same access to messaging facilities and other Microsoft software currently available on "fat" devices.

Cost savings from the reduction in voice-call traffic can be impressive, says Pinnacle's managing director David Cotton, and call management software plays a crucial role in this. "It's vital to have a system that automatically allocates jobs to engineers via a data network. If the call centre operator has to call the engineer, it slows things down, reduces customer service levels and adds to costs."

Data calls on GPRS are generally cheaper, but can still prove expensive unless you ensure you have the right contract with your network provider. Paying per megabyte of data transmitted sounds simple, but few field service data transmissions use anything like this amount, points out Pinnacle, and the more messages are sent, the higher the costs. A better contract, it says, is a set fee inclusive of so many megabytes of data each month.

Whatever the mobile device, field service applications allow engineers to download customer records from office systems. That means mobile workers can access customer service information such as service level agreements and warranties, more or less as their office-based colleagues would.

Records are updated much more quickly than with paper systems. The engineer inputs the relevant information when the job has finished, or can order the parts necessary to finish the job. The data is transmitted in real time and records can be updated immediately.

Getting the forms software right can make or break a field service application. Users have to find it easy to use, comprehensive enough for them to do their job properly, and trustworthy. Some forms are configurable, but others have fixed fields. If you want to design your own forms, check the software allows you to do it and that it's easy - you don't want to call the help desk every time you want to add a new field. Avantgo's Mobile Inspector (reviewed in Issue 2 of m.logistics) is a good example of user-friendly form software.

Such is the pace of change in service operations, that it's not overstating the case to say that you ignore the profound effect this is having on customer relationships at your peril. Customer service has moved centre stage for most businesses, whether they are B2B or B2C, because service plays an important part in keeping those customers loyal. Ignore that and you could find your customers ignoring you. n

Field service applications

Field service applications usually combine communication software with the forms software that actually runs on the devices. Often the service module is one of a suite of mobile applications from the same company.

If you don't have the time to set up the whole thing yourself, or are concerned about getting all the elements right, you can now often get a complete end-to-end package that includes the hardware, call centre and forms software and airtime.

Watford-based Pinnacle is an early pioneer, having teamed up with mobile data service provider Cognito. Managing director David Cotton confirms that some companies do want packages. "Choosing a mobile solution presents managers with a complex decision-making process involving hardware, applications software and choice of communications network. Understandably, managers don't want to risk making an expensive mistake."

Pinnacle Mobile combines the company's established Service Director application and call handling software with Cognito hardware (a clamshell handheld) and data radio communications contract.

Cognito itself is best known for its mobile data networks, but has developed Formsplus application software to offer integrated solutions to end users. The Formsplus application runs on devices such as Siemens SX45I PDA, enabling engineers to manage their workflow digitally in real time.

Structured information is despatched from the service management system direct to the engineer in the field, and the engineer completes a series of forms on screen to return requested job progress and completion information directly to the service management system. All data is packetised to minimise GSM airtime, transactions are tracked, and current status details are returned to the sender during the communication process. Cognito provides store-and-forward facilities if required.

Outsmart, a new mobile solution from Three X, includes a field service application called Mobile Engineer. It is ready-to-run integrated software that combines service and customer relationship management and workforce functionality in one package. Typical of the new breed of service software, Outsmart handles every aspect of the job from receipt of service call, through to mobile workforce scheduling and wireless communication between service centre and mobile. Data from the field is fed straight back into the service management module, so stock and accounting records can be updated quickly and accurately.

Outsmart uses Nexus, Three X's own software communications utility, which guarantees delivery of any message. If the connection is broken before all the data is sent, the transfer recommences at the message after the last acknowledge receipt, so there is no duplication of data.

Graham Erskine, marketing director at Telepartner, says field service applications are all about real-time communication with engineers. "Many service contracts stipulate a maximum time between call and completed repair. To maintain high service levels, you must have an always-on connection and the ability to push jobs out to engineers and get automatic response back."

Erskine says the always-on capability is the main factor (apart from cost) influencing users to deploy PDAs, smart telephones and handheld computers rather than notebooks. "Once the lid is closed on a notebook it powers down, so ceases to be connected. And in any case you need a separate communicator. It's simpler for the engineer to have just one piece of hardware."

Telepartner's Pocket Despatcher is a "thin application" designed for Pocket PC, the CE-based operating system for PDAs, smart phones and handheld computers. Telepartner was one of the first companies to develop field service applications using the new generation of smart mobile phones such as the Nokia 9110 and 9210 (see the separate feature on page 30). The company has also changed to a Mercury Mobile Applications server, which is designed to maximise the benefits of GPRS by speeding on data transfer rates.

Overnetdata is a mobile data GPRS applications specialist. Its BALI.NET technology has been developed to enhance applications by making them user-friendly and also cheaper to run, and also to ensure devices have connectivity, robustness and data compression capabilities to reduce costs.

Overnet's M-Workforce solution is aimed at field service applications, and uses Microsoft's Pocket PC 20002. Features include the ability to dial the customer directly at the press of a single button, and a notepad facility that allows the engineer to use a stylus to add any comments.

Rangegate has added a Service-EDGE application to its range of wireless applications, which can operate as a batch data-capture program or as a real-time service enabler. It incorporates a host of functions such as call logging, optimised scheduling, updating, tracking and alerts, the assignment of electronic job cards to technicians, and on-site call billing and invoicing for labour, parts and travel. It also handles spares inventory for field-based personnel. The system also facilitates and manages workflow and procedural conformance to service level agreements.

One of the first users, Amalgamated Cleaning Services, demonstrates that it's not always necessary to have real-time connection to benefit from mobile field service applications. ACS is using Service-EDGE on a British Telecom telephone kiosk cleaning contract. Engineers simply log in at the end of the day using a land telephone line to upload the day's activities and reports and download the next day's work schedule.

iservice is one of three off-the-shelf software products for mobile workforces from wireless application service provider iTouch. All are designed to run over GSM and GPRS networks, and are enabled for 3G. The applications are PDA-based, and include back-office software as well for simple implementation. For example, there is an SMS application which enables office staff to send text messages to mobile workers about new jobs or updated job status. To use iService on a GSM network, workers must dial into the office system to effect a data transfer. With GPRS, of course, the hardware is always connected.