TSC’s 2015 field service research indicated that 25 to 30% of organizations are closely evaluating or building the business case for the use of live video or augmented tools to improve field service performance. There are several benefits that can be accrued by the use of live video in field service, particularly in improving first-visit resolution rates where field technicians can rely on live video to get support from higher-level support specialists. As the use of the technology becomes more prevalent, we will see additional benefits as well.
About Diebold (www.diebold.com)
Diebold, Incorporated (Diebold) provides services and support primarily to the financial and banking industries. We recently sat down with Bill Fletcher, VP of Global Remote Services Delivery, to chat about the services-led evolution of Diebold and the impact of live video in supporting a services-related growth strategy. (Expanded interview found here)
The Interview
TSC: Thanks for joining us Bill. Can you please explain where you are in your journey to leverage live video in field service?
BF: We’re still in the early stages of using live video for field service. In 2014, we ran a successful pilot in a high-density New York market. We were very pleased with the results and have now expanded the use of video to a larger group of field technicians.
TSC: Can you explain the objective of using live video in field service?
BF: The banking industry is transforming and we have to transform with it. To stay top of mind with our customers, we have a services led strategy that focuses on understanding customer needs and relies on continuous innovation to deliver solutions to our customers. When it comes to service and support, this involves staying one step ahead of performance deterioration and ensuring the highest level of availability for all products that are supported by Diebold. For Diebold, growth will come with the aid of:
- Establishing and strengthening our service-oriented culture
- Onboarding new service professionals that are aligned with our culture
- Offering new services and solutions based on customer needs
- Becoming more predictive to ensure a higher level of availability
- Becoming more efficient when reactive service is necessary
When we originally embarked on the live video concept, our intent was to greatly improve field service efficiency by connecting field engineers with service experts in order to ensure a prompt and effective resolution. This efficiency not only helps us improve resolution rates, but it also impacts availability and improves the overall experience for our customers.
TSC: Outside of improved efficiency, there have been added benefits. Could you please touch on those?
BF: All of the areas of growth identified have been impacted by our live video project. Primarily, we’ve seen a dramatic improvement in onboarding time for our field technicians. Before live video, new technicians would be paired with experienced technicians as part of their field training. Now, we can drastically reduce the time spent there by linking new agents with experts via video. As long as a new technician has the appropriate electro-mechanical aptitude, we can offer the final stages of training via a live video connection, which cuts training time by a third. It also frees up the time and resources of the experienced technician and increases his/her reach from a training perspective.
Live video will be a key enabler of our multi-vendor services program. This is a core area of growth for us. With the aid of video we can better document the steps necessary to support non-Diebold equipment and ensure that field technicians have the support they need when facing equipment manufactured by other companies.
TSC: You are leveraging a solution provided by Verizon and Librestream. Why did you pick this specific solution versus others available or a solution developed in-house?
BF: The Verizon-Librestream solution is very robust. We have a significant relationship with Verizon and rely on them to bring us best-in-class technology solutions that fit our needs. We need to continue to stay focused on solving our customers’ needs.
We couldn't use available consumer products due to the security concerns of our customers. You can imagine that in finance/banking, the security requirements are quite stringent. We’re extremely happy with our rollout so far. The Librestream Onsight solution has several other advantages:
- It works well in limited bandwidth areas. This can be a major challenge given the areas that our field technicians often have to work in.
- We have the ability to manipulate the camera remotely while the technician is working. This is valuable as the technician can continue his/her work while the expert views and diagnoses the situation.
The complete transcript of our interview is available in a TSC case study (Access). In the interview we dig deeper into Diebold’s service and support strategy; the benefits accrued from using live video; best practices when embarking on a live video program; and next steps in Diebold’s video-enabled services evolution. You can access the case study here.
For more on Diebold, please visit www.diebold.com.