Month: May 2020

May 29, 2020 | 3 Mins Read

COVID-19 is Turning Manufacturing on its Head. Is Service the Key to Success?

May 29, 2020 | 3 Mins Read

COVID-19 is Turning Manufacturing on its Head. Is Service the Key to Success?

By Tom Paquin

I recently had the pleasure of reading Anna-Katrina Shedletsky’s Forbes column on the impacts of COVID-19 on the manufacturing industry. It postulates (as the title makes clear) that manufacturers will experience 5 years of innovation over the course of the next year and a half. I’m not necessarily in a position to make any assertions about the 18-month to 5-year mathematical conversion, but there’s no avoiding the fact that necessity is driving an avalanche of new technologies into manufacturing, for better or for worse.

Do I have concerns? Absolutely. Chief among them are the perils of reckless tech adoption, a topic worth much more elaboration than my article from earlier this year delves into. Nevertheless, these changes are happening now, exacerbated by a gradual return to work and the establishment of a new normal at that work, and businesses will be forced to reckon with, justify, and build upon those changes to enrich their business in ways that make knee-jerk software investments seem worthwhile.

In her article, Shedletsky earmarked two specific and interconnected areas of exponential growth for manufacturers today, specifically cloud data adoption and automation, and though she is primarily focused on straight manufacturing, it is impossible not to consider these through the lens of service as well. To that end, she says in the article,

“Adoption of cloud data unlocks technologies like AI, which can be used to surface unanticipated defects during development and catch quality shifts in production without stepping foot in the factory.”

We’re not shy about the importance of cloud around here, but let’s unpack this a bit for its importance within the specific context of manufacturing. As we know, manufacturers are moving towards servitization—building business plans around service delivery rather than straight product delivery, given its much better margins and customer retention capabilities. Companies moving to, or already with service in place, are shifting service delivery from break-fix plans to more outcomes-oriented service delivery as well.

This is where cloud-oriented datasystems like the one in the article could really shine. Shedletsky rightly identifies cloud oversight as being able to help identify and mitigate production irregularities and output lags. For service-oriented companies, access to that data would offer a metric to be used for outcomes-based service. Without cloud oversight into your assets, you’re limited to promising outcomes such as time from ticket to invoice, first-time fix rate, and other repair-oriented KPIs. With greater asset oversight, you can expand those outcomes into predictive maintenance, output, and performance. This is a capability unique to manufacturing’s complex assets, and it’s a huge opportunity for forward-minded companies.

We often talk here about how you can’t engage in new service software effectively unless you have the underlying infrastructure, which has traditionally been disruptive for businesses to take on in advance. Within the context of COVID-19, the disruption from external sources are propelling huge amounts of change that can, and should be leveraged for service purposes in order to expand their usefulness. It’s a damaging crisis, undoubtedly, but it’s also a unique opportunity to use these new changes to restructure businesses, diversify revenue, and deliver more value to customers.

None of us want to the in the position we currently find ourselves in. But from that position, we are rewarded with new options and avenues for success.

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Creating CX That Fuels Business Growth

By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Our lives, personal and professional, have been forever changed over the course of the last couple of months as we’ve grappled with COVID-19. As I’ve spoken with service leaders about what this crisis has meant for them and for their organizations, what I’ve taken away from those conversations is that while this situation is most certainly devastating and unfortunate, there are aspects of how service organizations are being forced to react that will result in some really positive, long-term changes in service. These changes will bring us into a new normal in which service can surface stronger and more resilient than ever. Here are four areas of change taking place that will only expand and progress as we recover from this crisis.

COVID-19 Accelerates Digital Transformation

Many leading service organizations have been on a digital transformation journey for some time – those companies have been well-positioned to quickly build upon their efforts to react to these new and challenging circumstances. Munters is a wonderful example of this – the company has been pragmatically deploying technology to enable its journey to servitization and was able to adeptly speed its plans to adopt IFS Remote Assistance for business continuity.

Other service businesses have been dragging their feet a bit when it comes to embracing the potential that digital holds. Those laggards are now turning to digital transformation in an effort to survive the global pandemic and, in doing so, are breaking down barriers that have long been in place. Whether these laggards had been avoiding digital transformation intentionally because they were happy “doing things the way we’ve always done,” or had fallen victim to the best of intentions that continued to be deprioritized among other urgent tasks, the force by which COVID-19 is spawning these companies toward digital adoption is making them realize the power and value that they’ve been missing – and helping them to see the potential in leveraging today’s technologies not only to weather this storm, but to set the stage for a strong recovery and immense future potential.

As recovery begins, we’ll see digital adoption surge as a result of these experiences. Companies that have already been on this path are gaining valuable experiences to refine their use and build upon their successes, and those that have been slower to embrace these tools are learning now the power they hold. Employees who had resisted change are welcoming tools with open arms that allow them to continue working, and in doing so are learning that technology is a powerful enabler. These lessons and experiences will result in service organizations collectively being ready to embrace digital in a way they never have as we recover from this crisis.

Service Organizations (Finally) Embrace Agile

Fear is a powerful tool, and in this situation, the fear of failing at business continuity is forcing service organizations to embrace agile. The ability to think, react, and pivot quickly is what is saving a lot of companies in today’s circumstances. For many service organizations, these characteristics aren’t necessarily ones that come naturally – many companies, particularly those with a long history, are fairly slow to react and adopt change.

The need to be nimble in order to successfully navigate today’s challenges is showing service organizations, by practice, that doing so isn’t a bad thing. It’s forcing leaders and companies alike outside of their comfort zones and, while the circumstances are unfortunate, the result is that they will come back from this with a new perspective and a wealth of experiences that will equip them to operate in a more agile manner – bringing them up to speed with customer expectations and consumer industries far faster than had this situation never occurred.

Remote Work Becomes the New Norm

With isolation orders in place across the globe with exceptions only for essential workers, many service businesses have had to quickly adapt to allowing and enabling employees to work from home. This is pervasive across many functions, from office staff to customer support to field technicians. This adjustment is causing companies to deploy technologies that allow constant, effective, and collaborative communication – from conferencing tools to more sophisticated technologies like merged reality. The Samaritans – a registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress, struggling to cope, or at risk of suicide throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland – is using IFS Customer Engagement to allow a percentage of its volunteer network that is unable to come into location due to COVID-19 to operate from home.

The quick pivot to remote work is bringing to light a number of factors for organizations – how productive a remote workforce can be (not to mention less expensive), how trusting you can be of a good staff to do their jobs even when you aren’t face-to-face, and how empowered employees become when given this sort of trust. Between the learnings taking place and the technologies being deployed, the idea of returning all the workers that have become remote to in-office work is highly unlikely. The reality is, while some workers will most certainly return to their pre-crisis normal, much of the remote work that has begun out of necessity due to COVID-19 will continue and expand as we recover.

Safety Will Be a Key Differentiator

As recovery ramps up and service organizations that haven’t been doing in-person visits get back to it, we’ll see safety become a key differentiator for service organizations. Pre-COVID-19, a customer asking, “what is your safety protocol?” probably wasn’t incredibly common – but it will be as we move forward. Not only do experts say the Coronavirus itself will take quite some time to go away, or for a vaccine to be developed – but the emotional impact it has had on individuals will persist even longer.

An employee isn’t going to want to return to work if he or she doesn’t feel safe and well protected. Moreover, customers won’t want a field technician coming into their home or business if they aren’t fully confident in how the service organization is protecting their safety. This of course begins with proper PPE and disinfecting processes, but it should be considered far beyond that. Much of what puts people at ease is communication, so thinking about how you’ll communicate with customers regularly about what your safety practices are, who will be arriving on site and what protocol they’ll follow, and how you’re handing issues that inevitably arise will be of critical importance.

I hear people ask often, “when do you think we’ll get back to normal?” I’ve even said it myself. But in reality, I don’t think we will return to normal – I think we’ll find a new normal. And service organizations most certainly will. If there’s a silver lining in all of this, though, it’s that with the experiences of navigating this crisis, I really believe service organizations will emerge stronger than ever

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