Today we heard the news that ClickSoftware was being acquired and taken private by Francisco Partners. Personally, I have covered ClickSoftware and worked with their team over the course of the previous 10 years and wish them the best as they enter this new journey. ClickSoftware has been, and continues to be, a key player in the field service automation space, and I look forward to tracking their progress moving forward. Over the course of the previous 12 months, two major software providers focused on field service, in TOA Technologies (by Oracle) and ClickSoftware, have been acquired. Most of the field service providers that started off as scheduling optimizers have now been accounted for. There aren’t many independent enterprise-focused field service software companies left.
Topics: field workforce, mobile field service, News, Field Service, Perspective, IoT, clicksoftware
2015 Smarter Services™ Symposium Recap: Observations by Andy Huber of Xerox Corporation
Intro: I have attended The Service Council Symposiums in the past as have several of my colleagues from Xerox and other companies.
Topics: Service Products, Internet of Things, self-service, Predictive Analytics, News, Perspective, Customer Journey Mapping, Self-Support, service cost, service collaboration, big data, IT, Omni-Channel Customer Service
2015 Smarter Services™ Symposium Recap: Observations (Part 2) by Cary Chapman, Advisory Board Member
Wrapping up my analysis of the 2015 symposium (Part 1: here), Day three began with a keynote delivered by Joe Brown, Senior Design Lead at Ideo. His topic was “Designing New Service Opportunities”. Joe introduced us to the seven rules of brainstorming. These certainly are helpful for creating some structure in the brainstorming process. There were a series of statements throughout his discussion that have merit. They are as follows: find the right problem to solve, test ideas in minutes not months, 70% of all change efforts fail, the biggest roadblocks to change are behavioral, don’t get ready- get started, when initiating change take baby steps and make the changes temporary until proven.
Topics: News, Service Innovation, Perspective, Perfect Service Visit, service design
2015 Smarter Services™ Symposium Recap: Observations (Part 1) by Cary Chapman, Advisory Board Member
The fourth of four symposiums I have attended was kicked off by John Carroll at noon on Tuesday, March 10th. No complaint on the weather or the venue in San Diego they were both beautiful. Ron Kaufman was introduced as the MC for the three days. Ron performed an admirable job of learning the background of each of the speakers he introduced which enabled the attendees to better know each presenter. Our first keynote, Erica Javellana of Zappos!, discussed the creative beginnings of Zappos! by their founder Tony Hsieh. Tony was looking for a certain type of shoe to purchase and when he couldn’t find them, decided to start a company and make them. Erica went on to discuss the ten core values that the employees created which shaped their culture and a set of values that they could then use to hire and fire. The processes, values and culture that Zappos! has put in place give us a solid look at what we will be experiencing with upcoming generations entering the workforce. Following Erica’s talk there were several captivating panel discussions to choose from and enjoy. Karl Hohmann of ServicePower and I chaired a breakout session discussing Hybrid Workforce Strategies to accommodate Third Parties and Contingent Labor. We enjoyed interacting with twenty attendees, 10 having had previous experience with third parties. The discussion was lively and could have gone much longer with good discussion on the pluses and minuses of these topics.
Topics: service workforce, contingent labor, net promoter score, Talent Management, News, Perspective, service culture
Yes, it’s March, and that usually means lower productivity and a heightened sense of chest thumping tied to respective college basketball teams, atleast in North America. (I am very guilty of this given that my alma mater is a No.1 seed). While pockets of fans are tuning in across the rest of the world as well, these fans are probably much more interested in the madness of the Cricket World Cup taking place in Australia and New Zealand.
Topics: Customer Experience, Hewlett Packard, collaboration, HP, Ingersoll Rand, Vivint, Internet of Things, Talent Management, Safelite Autoglass, Xerox Corporation, News, Aging Workforce, customer value, Perspective, Zappos, knowledge management, KONE Elevator, Service Data, big data, Millenials, customer experience design, IoT, Smarter Services
Getting to Customer Value with The Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a major topic of discussion. Analysts, technology companies, governments, and more are voicing their opinions on the upcoming IoT revolution. The folks whose opinion is most pertinent, the organizations deploying Internet connected products and services, and their customers, are actually evaluating if IoT truly holds the promise that we all think it does.
Topics: Service Strategy, enterprise value, Internet of Things, customer value, Perspective, service value, enabling technology, IoT
Organizations, that support consumers and enterprises alike, are looking to enhance the self-service opportunities available to their customers. A 2014 The Service Council research effort found that 6 out of 10 organizations were looking to provide increased self-service resources to their customers.
Topics: customer service, self-service, customer engagement, multi-channel service, customer experience management
Its Superbowl week, and as always we’re spending a lot of time talking about the teams, strategy, matchups, snacks, and more. It's a fun time, especially if you’re a fan of the New England Patriots or the Seattle Seahawks (sorry Packers fans). However, this year, there seems to be way too much attention being paid to Deflategate and the atmospheric conditions that impact ball pressure. It's all a little media circus.
Topics: Service transformation, deflategate, Perspective, service culture, Superbowl, service priority
Surprising Takeaways from Our Recent Field Service Research
The Service Council, with the aid of the SmartVan community, surveyed over 180 service and manufacturing organizations on the state of their field service businesses. The results are extensive and we are compiling the findings over the coming weeks. Here are some surprising takeaways:
Topics: mobile, Field Service, Trends, video, Perspective, talent