The 2019 Augmented Wearables Expo (AWE) took place in sunny Santa Clara, Calif. This year’s AWE 2019 featured a large “play area” dedicated to entertainment-oriented use cases. With more than 7,000 attendees, 250 exhibitors, and 300 speakers, AWE pulled in a large crowd over its three-day run. AWE is primarily oriented toward smart glasses hardware and software, though other forms of novel interfaces are included. Smart suits and smart fabrics, including innovative applications of haptic technology, have their place in the conference, expanding the scope of “solutions” on display.
Navigating across disparate systems and logins continues to be one of the top frustrations for field service engineers and technicians. Other customer-facing agents such as call center CSRs, dispatch, and technical reps are also challenged, and this affects the organization’s workflow and customer experience. Efficiency is dependent on timely and accurate use of a process and application. Effectiveness is dependent on employee engagement with the process or function that uses an application. These efficiency and effectiveness challenges are compounded by the environment in which the engineers/technicians work.
Communications before, during, and after the customer site visit are all important. However, you will find that the common threads that run through all of the communications between you and your customers are typically based on the “Listen, Observe, Think, Speak”, or LOTS, approach. It really doesn’t matter when you are having communications with your customers; what matters is that when you do, you are consistent and responsive. This is where the LOTS approach can truly help.
Whether outsourcing customer care, technical support, field service, or IT resources to a third-party, there is more to consider than selecting the vendor, establishing the scope of work, and pricing and signing the agreement – much more.
All businesses want to provide quality products and services, but not every business manager knows exactly how to define quality, or even where to get started. While there is no single best way to build a quality program or to go about implementing one, there are a number of questions that, once addressed, can at least help to set your business on the right path.
Has there ever been a better time to be employed as a field service engineer (FSE) or technician? Having been an FSE in the past and spending most of my time now with FSEs and their management, the answer is definitely “No.”
In today's highly competitive and increasingly demanding economy, businesses of all types and sizes are being forced to search for a cost-effective means for identifying new markets and establishing programs for penetrating and cultivating them. In most cases, the business development manager has to scramble to implement the most current, state-of-the-art market development tools to support the overall effort. But sometimes the most valuable tools may already be present within the organization, and this is particularly true with respect to the services sector.
Service and sales are more interconnected than ever before, especially in an era where the customer has a wealth of information and competition is abundant. To add another strategic weapon in a company’s playbook, the entities of service and sales must merge into one point of contact: the customer service representative (CSR). The CSR, existing as a voice in a call center, or the other end of an online chat, provides multiple touch points with a loyal customer each year and also has the power to up-sell and cross-sell products and services without adding organizational costs.
Technology and process are the foundation of your service delivery model. The appropriate use of technology will allow you to build an efficient model that can scale to meet your clients’ needs. If you fail to leverage technology as the foundation of your delivery model, you will miss an opportunity to stay competitive in the market. Many service organizations fail because of their inability to leverage technology. As a result, it is important to fully understand your technology options as you build and adapt your service delivery model.
There is a phrase I hear over and over when field service personnel greet each other and sometimes when they greet customers – “I’m living the dream.” It’s a sarcastic phrase, and one I dread hearing. To me, this phrase exudes drudgery, working for a paycheck, and boredom. It’s used in a sarcastic sense, but do we know if technicians are truly excited about their work goals, or in this stagnant state? You may be thinking I’m simply making the point to spice things up a bit for motivation. I like the idea of spicing things up, but there’s a bigger issue here.
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