the 2013/2 014 service, revenue & training trends...

The 2013/2014 Service, Revenue& Training Trends Report

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2 2013/2014 Service, Revenue & Training Trends Report

The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported that as of March2013, employers added 221,000 more field service jobs than theyhad in 2012 rounding the total number of field service techniciansemployed in the United States to a staggering 4.9 million. It’s hardlynews that field service is a critical component of any organization. Infield service, the technician’s responsibilities fall far outside therealm of product repairs. The global field service communityrecognizes its techs as valuable revenue drivers, as well as the mostvisible face of a company. Despite the proliferation of newtechnology and devices, industry findings suggest that servicetechnicians are still the most important factor for reaching profitgoals and ensuring the loyalty of customers.

The landscape of the field service industry has changed rapidlyto meet the exceeding expectations of the “evolving customer.” The evolving customer that has been observed throughout theindustry is one that has been born out of the advent of newtechnology. Raised on a healthy diet of instant gratification, thenew consumer is more demanding and holds higher expectationsfor service providers. Companies in the industry have moved towardincreasing customer satisfaction by improving the service that theirfield forces provide. Optimal service, mobility, technician training andbridging the knowledge gap between the generations are just someof the many issues that thought leaders are grappling with in theindustry.

The role of the service organization has transformed acrossmultiple industries; service no longer ends with delivering support.As a result, today’s senior service executives are focused onfinding a true understanding of customer needs and the provisionof solutions to ensure customer satisfaction, profitability andmaximum value. 73 percent of business leaders surveyed byForrester said, “acquiring and retaining customers,” was numberone on their to-do lists for 2013, and industry findings suggest thatmany companies are not afraid to put their money where theirmouth is. According to a separate study from Forrester, whichsurveyed some 2,200 software decision-makers on their capitalspending plans for 2013, field service ranked fourth (at 27 percent)closely behind sales, corporate services and customer service.Field service ranked even higher when it came to investing inmobility software — with 42 percent reporting they planned toinvest, just behind those planning to invest in mobile salessoftware, which was 48 percent.

About This Report

Introduction ..................2-3

Research Findings ......4-18

About Field Service ........19

About WBR/WBR Digital 20

About Astea ..................21

Register For Next Year ....22

Table of Contents

Optimal service mobility,technician training andbridging the knowledgegap between thegenerations, are justsome of the manyissues that thoughtleaders are grapplingwith in the industry.

When you seethis symbol; itsignifies a keyfinding to payattention to.

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Organizations across the board recognize the need to invest in theright technologies and tools to enable their employees to improveexisting processes, meet the growing needs of customers, and makegreater contributions to the bottom line. Forward-thinking companiesin field service have already implemented strategies to improveexisting service operations, manage resources, their partners andmost importantly, their customers.

The team behind Worldwide Business Research’s Field Serviceconference – with help from an advisory board of senior-levelexecutives from international service organizations – created abenchmarking questionnaire for Field Service USA’s 2013 audience ofservice and support executives. The survey was distributed onsite atthe Palm Springs conference, where more than 85 executives fromcross-industry, cross-vertical manufacturing companies answeredquestions about mobility, workforce management strategies and best-in-class strategies for training and development. Their roles rangedfrom Senior Vice President, to Global Service Leader, to Presidentand CEO of the Supply Chain and more. They representedcompanies as diverse as GE, DirecTv and Pitney Bowes.

See how your firm compares to your peers and competitors byviewing the results throughout this report.

Companies in the industry have movedtoward increasingcustomer satisfaction by improving the servicetheir field forces provide.Optimal service mobility,technician training andbridging the knowledgegap between thegenerations, are some of the many issues thatthought leaders aregrappling with in theindustry.

See how your firmcompares to yourpeers and competitorsby viewing the resultsthroughout this report.

About This Report

http://www.wbresearch.com/fieldserviceusa/home.aspx




What is the primary productthat you service?Q1

Primary Products Serviced

(Numbers not meant to equal 100% as some companies service multiple categories.)

29% Construction/Industrial Products

27% Imaging, Medical, Scientific

7% Utilities

7% Transportation

4% Commercial Computers

4% Commercial Appliances and Electronics

4% Domestic Appliances and Electronics

1% Domestic Computers

1% Enterprise Network Support Services (Electrical, Security, Telecom,Cable, Internet)

33% Other (please list)

There was an 11 percent decline inservice constructioncompanies surveyed,than the surveypopulation of 2012.

*

Other responses included:• Onfieldservice/instrumentation

• Defense MRT• Consulting, HVAC (2)• Industrial Manufacturing (3)• Lasers for Research andIndustry

• Air traffic control systems• Satellite communicationssystems/equipment

• Printers-multifunctional• Diesel Engines• Service Solutions• Manufacturing• Wind Turbines• Heavy Industry (HeavyEquipment, Shipbuilding,Steel Service Center)

• Lake Format LED Displays• Fire Protection• Packaging

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Attendee Response (%)

29% of participants serviceconstruction/industrialProducts.




What percent of companyrevenues comes from services?Q2

of respondents saidthat 35 percent ormore of companyrevenues come fromservices.

23%

23% 35% or higher of company revenues come from services

11% 25-30% of company revenues come from services






This is a 16-pointincrease from the2012 Field ServiceBenchmarking Study,where 39 percent ofthe surveyedcompanies said that25 percent or more ofcompany revenuescome from service.This suggests thatfield servicecompanies’ efforts toincrease revenue arecontinuing to pay off.

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“From a business development perspective, I like to differentiate between service contract calls andcharged service calls/contract calls. These are handled with the perspective of managing cost, gettinga customer quickly into production, and activate backup operation modes before the actual repair can becarried out. We have a remote fix rate for these calls. Helpdesk activity on charged service calls should behandled to secure the business.”

Michael Reschaur, Director of Business Development, Heidelberg




of respondents said thattheir companies earn 35percent or higher inprofits from services.

26%

What percent of companyprofits comes from services?Q3

26% 35% or higher of company profits comes from Services

20% 25-30% of company profits comes from Services






Over a quarter ofcompanies surveyedreported earning 35percent or higher inprofits by providingvalue-addedservices.

*

The findings suggest that field service industry leaders todayare serious about adding value to their products throughcustomer experience and lead management, and finding theright person manage that lead tunnel is a top concern.

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Our findings suggest that through their field representatives, (moreclosely examined in Question 5 and Question 6), companies in the fieldservice industry are able to increase profit margins by addressingthe customers’ needs. Bolstering customer experience has become theleading challenge that more and more field service organizations aregrappling with. Creating competitive differentiation in the industry is notmeasured on how effective workers are at completing the task, rather, it is measured by the overall satisfaction that customer has with the endresult. 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 ismore technically inclined; a trend that is a fardeparture from past practices. Our findingssuggest that in the field service industry this trend is here to stay.

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soft-skills

fasterfix

technicalsupport

inCReaSe PRofiT Revenue

$




What area of training areyou currently prioritizing? Rank 1 thru 5; 1 being highest priority, 5 being lowest.

Q4

of attendees ranked product repair and troubleshootingas the number one area in where they will focus theirtraining efforts in the year ahead. 74%

Very few people surveyed ranked one of the four options provided as the lowest priority. Therefore,one could conclude that, for respondents, soft-skills, product repair/trouble-shooting, and cross-training/management are all priorities for leaders in the field.

*

Low

1

2

3

4 Managementdevelopment

42% rank 4-5

High

Other responses included:• Sales, Sales Group, Trainingof new employees,Processes beyond SPECbut using law

• Complex CustomerSolutions, TechnicalCapabilities, Specialization-Applications

• Systems & Network,Opportunity identification ofcustomer andcommunication to fieldsales team, Up-selling,Selling/Lead GenerationSkills

• Computer Skills, ProcessImprovement, IT

Product repair

Soft-skills

Cross-training

97% rank 1-3

73% rank 1-3

66% rank 1-3

“It’s not surprising to me that training in soft skills follows next in ranking to training in product repair.I believe that every customer has a basic expectation that the technician who responds to a trouble callwill have the requisite training and competencies to make repairs as quickly and efficiently as possible.But today’s customers are in more savvy many ways and field staff are now required to engage theclient on a variety of customer care topics including; company initiatives, product updates, producttraining and complaint resolution. To be successful, it is necessary that the field staff understand how todeal effectively with customers so that their experience is a positive one."

Ken Walsh, Chief Engineer & Vice President Operations, London Hydro Inc.


To hear more from Ken on how London Hydro is empowering their front line, CLICK HERE

http://www.wbresearch.com/utilitiesfieldservice/utilitiesserviceqanda.aspx?utm_source=email&utm_medium=10531.005&utm_campaign=EM4QandA&utm_term=&utm_content=qanda&mac=Test




of surveyed companies(47%), incentivize repsto directly sell services.

Nearlyhalf

Do you have a strategy in placeto motivate or incentivizeparts/ product sales reps tosell and offer services?(Choose only one)

Q5

38% Both

35% Neither, but we are working on this

18% To provide qualified leads, but not to directly sell services

9% To directly sell services, but not provide qualified leads

Similarly, nearly half of surveyedcompanies, 47percent, incentivizereps to providequalified leads, butnot to directly sellservices.

*

“A cross-trained field service engineer with a high first time fixrate and soft skill capabilities is gold. Smart servicecompanies are investing their training money in these areas.”

Jim Saccone, GE Oil and Gas, Global Leader

To hear more from Jim on GE’s training initiative’s,CLICK HERE

http://goo.gl/esbnvx




of companies said they have or are in theprocess of implementinga strategy to motivatetheir parts reps to sellservices.

57%

Do you have a strategy in placeto motivate your field servicereps to: directly sell services,provide qualified leads only,neither, or both? (Choose only one)

Q6

42% Yes, strategy(s) being implemented

24% No

19% No, but we are working on this

15% Yes, strategy in place

When asked whether there was a strategy in place to directly sell services/provide qualified leads,the answer was nearly split down the middle, with 56 percent reporting that there was a strategy inplace to provide qualified leads, and 47 percent reporting that they incentivized reps to directly sellservices. This was a significant increase from the findings of the 2012 benchmark, where only twocompanies reported to have a formal strategy in the planning stages.

*

““I think its interesting that such a large number of companies are looking to leverage their field techs forrevenue generating opportunities while also focusing on enhancing their technical skill set. I think thisshows that field service technicians need to be viewed as trusted advisors rather than true sales agents.What’s important to the customer is solving their problem in the most effective and efficient manner.”

Bob Feiner, Global Deployment and Field Services, Dell Services

To hear more from Bob on post-sale service and support, CLICK HERE.

http://www.wbresearch.com/servicelifecyclemanagement/post-sale-service-strategy.aspx




What percent of yourincoming service requestsare resolved throughRemote Assistance?

Q7

36% 0-5% of incoming service requests are resolved through Remote Assistance





14% 50% or more of incoming service requests are resolved through RemoteAssistance

of respondents said thatless than 20 percent oftheir companies’ servicerequests are resolvedthrough remoteassistance.

64%

This is a seven-pointdecrease from the2012 Field ServiceBenchmark Report,where 71 percentsurveyed said that lessthan 20 percent ofservice requests wereNOT resolved throughremote assistance.This suggests asignificant improvementin remote assistanceeffectiveness, as fewerexecutives respondedthat requests wereNOT being resolved inthis way.

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Over 85 percent of our service requests arehandled via remote assistance (i.e. technical callcenters), and we’ve recently added some additionalconfiguration reporting on every truck roll to increasethat percentage in the future (recording the location of key componentsso customers can easily be instructed how to identify them and reporttheir status—plugged in, light on, etc.). So we’re either leading edge, orhopelessly out of step with the industry (I prefer to believe the former).”

Dave Baker, Senior Vice President Field Service, DirecTv

Discover how DirecTv adopted a remote management solutionthat not only enabled the company to run at peak performancebut significantly improved the bottom line.

“

To hear the full interview, CLICK HERE

http://www.wbresearch.com/fieldserviceinteractive/directvinterview.aspx

http://www.wbresearch.com/fieldserviceinteractive/directvinterview.aspx




Through which of thesemethods are you deliveringcontent?

Q8

85% Classroom/lecture

76% Traditional Media (e.g. text, pictures, diagrams)

67% Online Courses

49% Web-Based Clips (e.g. YouTube)

43% Live Streaming Content (webinars)

7% Other (please list)

1% No Training

100

80

60

40

20

0


Methods of delivering training content

The most populardelivery method fortraining content is stillclassroom/ lecture(85% of respondentsare using this method).Online courses arebeing implemented by67% of respondents,and 43% of respondentsare using live streaming(webinars) to delivertraining content.

This is identical to the 2012 FieldService BenchmarkReport, where 85 percent ofrespondents choseClassroom/Lecture as the number onemethod for training.

*

“ We use face to face, Powerpoint, Skype, Video, and Onlineinteractive training.”

Kyle Hurlbut, Director of Engineering Services, Litepoint





Despite advances in technology, the most popular delivery methodfor training content to field technicians is still classroom/lecture,which was ranked as the number one method for training by 85percent of respondents (the same findings as the 2012 Field ServiceBenchmark). This points to the high value that thought-leaders in theindustry place on face to face training methods. Behind this, onlinecourses are being implemented by 67 percent of respondents, and 43percent of respondents are using live streaming (webinars) to delivertraining content. Perhaps this suggests a philosophy within manycorporations that in-person training is still the best.

*

foR ouR fieLD TeCHS, 85 PeRCenTagRee THaT FACE TO FACETRAINING IS KEY.

WebinaRS onLine onLine

offLine CLaSSRooM

onLineCouRSeS

85%

43% 67%

faCe To faCe




Rank 3-6

Rank 4-8

Which of the following are youtraining your technicians/service reps on?

Q9

Rank 1-8, in order of priority; 1 being the highestpriority for your company currently; 8 being the lowest.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Other responses that participantsvolunteered that fell outside theparameters of thesurvey included:Industry TideChangers, FieldAutomation, Enterpriseand Product Training.

*

said that RemoteDiagnostics are the most important area oftraining for technicians,coming ahead of CRM,PC, Smartphone andTablets. The lowestpriority for currenttechnician training at companies in theindustry is training in sales.

56% Rank 1-3

56% Remote Diagnostics

48% CRM

47% PC

43% Smartphone

37% Tablet

27%

36% Sales

Call CenterTechnologies

Only 24 percent of respondents rated tablets as one oftheir top three priorities for training their field servicetechnicians. This is interesting, given that 58 percent ofparticipants in last year’s survey planned to invest in tablets.Perhaps this indicates that among field service companies,there is a desire to invest in tablets, but it is more of a “bluesky” concept than a necessity for their field forces.

*

(Numbers not meant to equal 100%)




What variable pricing do youuse for Transactional Service?(Choose only one)

Q10

35

30

25

20

10

5

0


Variable pricing for Transactional Service

33% Differentiated rates based on product lines

22% Package for parts and services

18% Other

12% Differentiated rates based on response time

7% Differentiated rates through alternative sales channel

5% Differentiated rates based on first time fix

3% Differentiated rates based on service job size

of surveyed companiesoffer differentiated ratesbased on product lines.

33%

Other responsesincluded:• Firm fixed price on timeand material

• Percentage

“A high fix rate isoften an indicationthat independentservice providers aregetting the business.One can celebratehigh fix rates but thisonly means thatsomeone else didget the business orthe remote help wasnot able convince acustomer that thework needs to bedone.” Michael Reschaur,Director of BusinessDevelopment,Heidelberg




for your technicians, what isthe balance of soft-skillstraining vs. technical training?

Q11

74% Soft skills<Technical

14% Soft skills=Technical

8% Technical (no soft skills)

3% Soft skills>Technical

of participants say thattechnical training for theirfield techs supersedessoft skills.

74%

Technical training stillfar outweighs soft skilltraining: 74 percent ofrespondents say thattechnical training isprioritized over softskill training. Whilecompanies in fieldservice are investingin training that willenhance customerservice, this datasuggests thatcompanies place thehighest value on theirproduct over theservice that theyprovide.

*

“[This response] I find striking relative to what we’re doing [atDirecTv], remembering of course that we are B2C rather thanB2B like most attendees. While we continue to enhance ourtechnicians’ skills with technical training (as we expand ourinvolvement in home networking, mobile delivery of video,etc.), our first major effort on soft skills training (started thisyear on a national basis) has had a bigger than expectedimpact on both customer response (as measured by NPS) andon technician morale (who feel that this is the training thatthey’ve been waiting for, because it makes it easier and fasterto take great care of our customers). It’s an act of faith, and alittle harder to prove the ROI before the fact, but having doneit, I now wonder why I didn’t do it sooner.“

Dave Baker, Senior Vice President Field Service, DirecTv



“


What major trend(s) do you seehappening in the service marketsover the next 15 years?

Q12

Speed of service is gaining a lot ofattention in theindustry. Same dayservice is becoming acompetitive advantagefor service companies.The biggest problemwe have to solve iscapacity planning andtech scheduling.Service companies willhave to move to a retailstyle staffing approach,which can drive assetutilization and overallprofitability.”

C-Level attendee,Field Service USA

Someresponsesincluded:

Enabling technology in

to leverage knowledge and tech capability.

Competitiveenvironment – capital $ are down so companies areramping up the interest in service

business.

Increasedcompetition.

Smarterproducts

Controlled costs – Bestresponse

to customer – max uptime.

Customer Productivity means lowers costs for clientand vendor.

Evolution from a cost center to profit center.

business optimization,professional services.

Movement from technical services to

Customers will rely more on OEM’s to supply services. This is because of the agingworkforce and those withknowledge will retire

in 3-5 years.

Remotediagnostics, cloud based remote

service, diagnostics, analytics and inspection.

The move from “Wrench

Turner” engineers to more sophisticated applicationsavvy engineers. The rise of self-service customer options in terms of ticket creation,

knowledge base, etc.




Field Service is the leading service and support event that attractssenior-level service and support professionals from 15 differentmanufacturing industries including Aerospace, Medical DeviceManufacturing, Hi-Tech Electronic, Semi-Conductor and CapitalEquipment, Construction, Automotive, TelecommunicationsEquipment, Energy, Industrial and Agricultural Equipment and more!

Field Service tackles the latest strategies in core service functionsincluding mobility, workforce management, technical support andknowledge management. Additionally be sure to gain as much insightto the new areas hounding service and support professionals all overthe world including innovative developments in increasing servicerevenue, customer soft-skills, technician utilization, developingservice leadership and effective mobile resources management.

About Field Service

“We have been a long-term partner with Field Service. Wefind that the speakers are very, very good, and it helps us tryto understand what’s happening in the industry, what arepeople really worried about, how they have solved differentproblems, and it allows us to map our product set to realworld situations from other companies.”

Debora Schum, East Regional Sales Manager, TRIMBLE

Media Contact Deanna [email protected]

Free exclusive content, social networkingand the best kept secrets to service, fromleaders in the field service industry.

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WBR is the world’s biggest large-scale conference company and partof the PLS group, one of the world’s leading providers of strategicbusiness intelligence with 16 offices worldwide. Our conferencedivisions consistently out-perform their industry sector competitors onthe quality of the events we produce and the relationships we nurturewith both attendees and sponsors.

Every year over 10,000 senior executives from Fortune 1,000 companiesattend over 100 of our annual conferences – a true “Who’s Who” oftoday’s corporate world. From Automotive events in Bucharest toLogistics conferences in Arizona to Luxury conferences in New Yorkand Finance summits in Hong Kong, WBR is dedicated to exceedingthe needs of its customers around the world.

In addition to our industry leading conferences, our professional servicesmarketing division, WBR Digital, connects solution providers to theirtarget audiences with year-round online branding and engagement leadgeneration campaigns. WBR's marketers act as an extension of yourteam relieving strain on your internal resources while promoting yourbrand and solutions to your prospects. Solution providers can targetidentified accounts or relevant industry/function segments of WBR'sentire global database of over 500K senior-level decision makers.

about WbR/WbR Digital

“There is not another place to come to see this manyvendors, this many different exposures, and different typesof service organizations and learn.”

Robert Ticknor, VP, Business Development, QUALTECHSYSTEMS, Inc.


www.wbresearch.com




Astea International (NASDAQ: ATEA) is a global provider of software solutions that offer all the cornerstones of service lifecyclemanagement, including customer management, service management,asset management, forward and reverse logistics management andmobile workforce management and optimization. Astea’s solutionslink processes, people, parts, and data to empower companies andprovide the agility they need to achieve sustainable value in less time,and successfully compete in a global economy. Since 1979, Astea hasbeen helping more than 600 companies drive even higher levels ofcustomer satisfaction with faster response times and proactivecommunication, creating a seamless, consistent and highlypersonalized experience at every customer relationship touch point.

www.astea.com Service Smart. Enterprise Proven.

about asteainternational

Contact Information:CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS (USA):240 Gibraltar RoadHorsham, PA 19044-2306

[email protected] +1.800.878.4657 +1.215.682.2500

See more Astea in the news

“ This is the onlyconference of itskind. As a sponsor,we get theopportunity to speak to a goodcross-section ofcompanies thatcome from manydifferent industries,to understand whatkind of concernsthey have, to find outwhat their needsare. That helps usnot only find leads,but also helps usdrive the futuredirection of ourproduct. FieldService’s mainadvantage is that it allows us to havea window into topprocesses, people,tools and initiativesin the space. Wehave the opportunityto benchmark bestpractices and newideas from a cross-industryperspective."

Debbie Geiger, VP,Global Marketing,Astea International

http://www.astea.com/en/News-Events/In-the-News/page.aspx

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• You’ll gain access to the largest and most senior-level speaker facultyconsisting of cross-industry service and support executives with keyinsights and strategies to help you improve your customer experience andservice delivery

• You’ll find a tailored program developed by service executives for serviceexecutives; Field Service’s agenda was created from the insight of 76senior-level service executives, highlighting the latest challenges andstrategies that have swept the industry.

• 98% of 2012 attendees said they’d recommend Field Service tocolleagues. We think that means you’ll like it too.

• For the last 10 years the Field Service USA conference has been thevenue of choice for the world's leading manufacturing service executives togain actionable takeaways and create real improvements within theirorganizations. You cannot afford to miss out on this unparalleled networkingopportunity.

Call our customer service team to get the best available discounts for your firmat 1.888.482.6012, or email us at [email protected]

Still Not Convinced?

Be a part of next year’sbenchmarking report at oneof our 2013/2014 Events;

Make your mark in the Field Service Industry.

*16 - 18 September, 2013 | Westin, Charlotte, North Carolina

CLICK HERE TOREGISTER NOW!

*

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14 - 16 October, 2013 | Movenpick Hotel Amsterdam City Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands


October 28 - 30, 2013 | Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego, CA


22 - 25 April, 2014 | Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa, Rancho Mirage, CA


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