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Not only has it become conventional wisdom within the high-tech service industry to accept the idea that technology can improve the productivity and efficiency of service operations, but industry benchmarks actually prove that technology does indeed have significant impact on service performance. In fact, the results of our benchmark study developed in conjunction with AFSMI (S-Business Optimization: Achieving Success in Field Service) indicates that the use of advanced technology such as scheduling optimization software can increase field service productivity and utilization by as much as 25% while reducing field service operating expenses by as much as 40%.

These results are very encouraging, and many service organizations have now begun to deploy or consider deploying new technology in the hopes of achieving similar outcomes. However, despite its promises, it seems that the adoption of advanced technology and related market growth have been slow and arduous. The challenge for many service organizations is not over whether to acquire and deploy new technology, but about which particular technology or vendor they should select in the first place.

A sluggish economy and a soft market for advanced technology combined with a crowded field of vendors offering similar solutions have resulted in intense competition. Vendors who were once selective about which segment of the market they were targeting and very clear about the ideal profile of a targeted customer are now forced to pursue just about every type of sales opportunity that passes their way, whether or not their solution is right for the end-customer. The status quo has created a “buyers’ market” where the onus is now on the customer to determine which solution is best. Yet, many potential customers are delaying the purchase of new systems, not necessarily because the economy is slow, but because they have so many options to choose from that they can’t determine which option is the best to pursue.

This current situation is not necessarily entirely due to what the market perceives as the aggressive sales mentality of the vendor community. The end-customer is partially responsible too. Although many end-customers have very specific reasons for considering advanced technology solutions in the first place, they often lose sight of these reasons as they begin to consider different solutions from different vendors. For some end-customers, the reason for considering advanced technology is simply a matter of automating manual processes and building a customer database, while others may want to use technology so they can have access to quality information in real-time to facilitate better decision making. Still others may want to use technology to handle more complex problems that cannot be resolved in a real-time manner by human interaction alone.

To make the best decisions about technology, the end-customer needs to know which tools and technology are best suited for his needs. Unfortunately, it seems that many end-customer organizations start the evaluation process without a clear understanding of their needs for technology, or the current state of the art, or the impact of technology on service performance metrics, or industry trends with respect to the types of solutions being deployed. All too often we see the end-customer organization making decisions for the wrong reasons. They may want to select a particular solution because it fulfills their immediate needs for the least costly, least risky, and easy-to-implement solution, without regard to the impact on service quality or market competitiveness. Or they want to select a solution because it is perceived to be a leading edge product, without regard to the impact of implementing the solution within their organization.

To ensure the best decision, we advise service organizations to develop a very clear understanding of what they want to achieve and how they are going to use technology to achieve it. As mentioned previously, a service organization merely wishing to automate basic processes needs a different type of solution than a service organization that wants to use technology to resolve complex business decisions in a rapid manner. In addition, service organizations need to make decisions on new technology based not only on how business processes operate today but on how business processes should and will operate in the future. This requires service organizations to take a strategic look at their businesses and technology requirements before they decide to deploy new technology. It is important that their decisions closely match where the company and the rest of the industry is in terms of deploying new technology as well.

For example, a service organization with a high volume of service activity from a large number of service agreements in place with customers who have tight response time requirements, and which faces intense competition and is on the leading edge of technology or wants to create a competitive advantage, may find it is advantageous to deploy one type of solution over another. This company would find that technology designed to automate basic process would not be able to achieve their requirements and would have to deploy more robust systems or optimize business processes, if it hasn’t done so already, in order to take advantage of the best solution.

In summary, a service organization needs to consider a number of different parameters and aspects about their business before it can select and implement a new solution. A service organization can minimize its risk and maximize its return on investment if it has a very clear understanding of its requirements and an even better understanding of the results or outcomes it can achieve through deployment of new technology. We believe the ideal planning process for deploying new technology should begin with gaining a full understanding of the state of the art and best practices, as well as take into account the impact of new technology purchases on key internal and external performance measures such as customer satisfaction, service quality, productivity and efficiency. The ideal solution is found when the end-customer can determine exactly how the new system will impact them and why this outcome is preferred over any other option. The outcome can only be achieved vis-à-vis effective and comprehensive planning, analysis, and evaluation of needs and requirements, state of the art, best practices, return on investment, and vendor capabilities.