Mediacenter

The best brands seek to deliver a truly holistic, unified experience for their customers. They give detailed attention to every aspect of look and feel because they are aware of the importance of every step in the digital customer life cycle. The online commerce experience is no different and demands a high level of integration and unification throughout. In July 2014, Acquia commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate how companies are using online content and commerce platforms to deliver a unified experience in the age of the customer. To further explore this trend, Forrester developed the hypothesis that companies need to integrate content and commerce operations, processes, and technologies to truly deliver cohesive digital experiences that will resonate with customers. In conducting 153 online surveys and five in-depth interviews with web content management and eCommerce platform decision-makers in the US, France, Germany, and the UK, Forrester found that companies selling products and services online are leaving money on the table due to their failure to unify content and commerce.

The Field Service research team, with the help of global service software provider ServiceMax, created this report from a survey of more than 50 companies like Johnson Controls and Bayer Healthcare, in attendance at the Field Service Europe event in October. Other key insights of the report include: 66% of companies view their service organisations as profit centres rather than cost centres 40% of companies have no strategy in place to motivate their parts reps to sell services, and will not be looking to do that for the next five years See how your firm compares to your peers and competitors by viewing the results throughout this report.

Click here to Download the Q&A transcript Over the past few years, one of the buzzwords we’ve seen surface in the field service industry has been “servitization;” the idea that companies can use the services they offer to differentiate themselves in an already over saturated marketplace. John Dodd, Director of Global Services & Enterprise Programs at EMC, takes this one step further. According to Dodd, the differentiator that companies should aim for should actually be delivering services with the customers in mind. For him, the ability to align technology and services to deliver the most value for customers gives EMC its competitive edge and is a best-in-class practice that all companies should strive for.

Many organizations are struggling with how to best train and develop their field service workforce. Best in class organizations now have to learn how to develop their people into top notch performers that are able to perform the technical aspects of the job while delivering exceptional customer service. This white paper delivers best practice guidelines for optimizing the performance of your organization’s workforce. These essential guidelines and strategies are based on learning research, as well as one-on-one interviews with the leaders of “best in class” field service organizations that are shaping the future for field service.

A diagnostic knowledgebase contains fault and repair information derived from engineering design data, technical publications and real-world field experience. The most comprehensive knowledgebases contain a combination of concise descriptions of failure modes predicted through engineering analyses and real- world maintenance experiences that reflect the collective experience of the global user community of the subject equipment or system. This paper identities three potential sources of knowledgebase content, any of which can contribute to an effective and efficient troubleshooting process for even the most complex equipment and systems.

According to a new survey of service and support executives at global service companies like Pitney Bowes and DIRECTV, nearly half of field service companies (47%) are incentivizing reps to sell services. While technical training still far outweighs soft skill training for field service technicians, according to 74% of attendees, customer experience is playing a more important role as service revenues account for 35% or more of all company revenue, according to 46% of our respondents. While companies in field service are investing in training that will enhance customer service, this data suggests that companies still place the highest value on their product. The Field Service research team–with the help of global service software provider Astea—created the report based on the findings.

During the 2012 Field Service conference, a survey was conducted with the audience of more than 400 attendees with the goal of providing a report that would outline how service organizations stack up against one another in various focus areas. The audience was asked to comment about their investment in: Streamlining service delivery Future investment into research and development Current growth strategies New product development Workforce management strategies Best-in-class strategies for training and development Approximately 60 people in roles like Senior Vice President, Customer Support, Vice President of Field Service, Director of Customer Advocacy and more, from companies as diverse as Kodak, Siemens and Pitney Bowes, responded to the comprehensive survey. After compiling and analyzing the results of this questionnaire, the 2012 Field Service Benchmarking Report is now ready for download.

It is simple: companies want to make sure work gets done well and on time, while freelance workers want honest work and good pay. The right technology just hadn’t been invented to optimize millions of people working every day across every industry in local markets. That’s what we make happen at Work Market. Download The Work Market Guide to Finding & Managing Onsite Freelancers by clicking on the image.

Problems with managing service information can cripple service efficiency. Recent studies suggest that as much as 40% of service time is spent searching for information required to complete specific tasks. This means that nearly half of a service technician’s day is wasted in unproductive activity.

In this exclusive presentation, Andy Ortega, Director Global Field Service at Pacific Biosciences discusses field service training: Exploring Best Practices In Service Leadership Development.

In this exclusive presentation, Andy Ortega, Director Global Field Service at Pacific Biosciences discusses field service companies: Exploring Best Practices In Service Leadership Development.

In this exclusive presentation, Michael Reschauer, Director Business Development at Heidelberg USA, discusses mobile workforce management solutions: Heidelberg USA‘s Approach to Increase Revenue by Actively Engaging Service Technicians in Promoting Products

As the corporate world barrels into the digital age, field service organizations must consider how to better utilize technology to manage a mobile workforce. Pitney Bowes is taking steps toward that kind of innovation with new practices like streaming video tutorials to Blackberry's and smartphones of its field service staff. In this exclusive podcast interview, Ivin Smith, Vice President, Customer Service & WW Technical Support, Pitney Bowes, talks about why the company is taking steps like this. Ivin has even starred in some of these training videos himself, and says that he thinks its important to embrace technology and means of communication his field reps are using. Smith also talks about ways the organization is working to increase service revenue, such as the implementation of creative incentive programs to drive the sales of fee-based services.

In this exclusive presentation, David Bisciotti, VP Field Operations at Varian Medical Systems, discusses service level agreement: Assuring First-Rate Customer Service by Incentivizing your Employees and by Effectively Measuring Customer Satisfaction

You probably attend a fair number of conferences a year. Having something to take back to the office that recaps the event for you is just plain helpful. So we've created a Post Show Report that we hope gives you the basic information about: Who Attended the Event Their Industry and Job Level Breakdown What Attendees Were Saying Onsite How Your Company Can Benefit by Being Involved Many Other Insights

Editor-in-Chief of the Field Service Blog, Deanna Gillen, sat down with leaders of the service industry and compiled a series of five executive whitepapers citing advice from cross-industry, cross-function service leaders. This is the first of five in our executive whitepaper series derived from conversations with industry experts.

In this exclusive presentation, David Bishop, Director Service Operations & Operations Strategy Service North America, Johnson Controls, discusses field service management: Optimizing Remote Operations and Predictive Services.

In this exclusive presentation, Todd Miller, Technical & Customer Support, Ricoh Americas Corporation, discusses \mobile resource management: Effective Document And Knowledge-base Management For Enhanced Product Support

Cross-industry “tried and true techniques” led Affymetrix to the top of its game in the lucrative molecular diagnostic market, said Jennifer Lescallett, Sr. Director of North America Service and Support at Affymetrix. The company was able to increase profit margins and set itself apart from the crowd by, “working from the inside out, building a solid foundation,” to address customers needs. Bolstering customer experience has become the leading challenge that more and more field service organizations are grappling with. Creating competitive differentiation in the industry isn’t about how effective workers are at completing the task, but how satisfied that customer is with the end result. In the Field Service industry, companies looking to cash in on larger service revenues have begun to prefer a “soft-skilled” workforce, as opposed to one that is more technically inclined; A trend that is a far departure from past practices. In this Q&A, Lescallett explains that the key to increasing profits and improving your company’s bottom line comes directly from your service and support teams.

In this exclusive presentation, Meredith Powers, Director at AT&T discusses service automation: Innovative Service Automation: Eaton PowerSource.