When asked what he thought the most powerful force in the universe was, Albert Einstein once replied, “compound interest!” Compounding even small improvements in workers’ routines translates into huge profits. A field service workforce can attain best-in-class profitability by seeking out and optimizing seemingly minor tasks that are repeated over and over throughout a field worker’s day—compounding profitability throughout that worker’s day and across all the workers in the organization.

The optimization of those repeated tasks will lead to gains in field worker utilization and first time fix rate, which, according to Aberdeen Research, continue to be the key indicators of how well a service organization is running.

According to a recent Aberdeen report, best-in-class service organizations are achieving 74 percent field worker utilization as opposed to 60 percent for average companies and only 48 percent utilization for the poorest performing companies. In addition, best-in-class companies also lead in first visit fix rates of 90 percent vs. 71 percent for average companies.

Cutting cost while increasing revenue is a familiar refrain in long-standing, stable areas of an enterprise. In the area of field service, where enhanced technology has exploded the potential paths to improvement, solving the puzzle can be overwhelming—leading some organizations to focus on a single “easy win” that might play well in the boardroom while leaving significant money on the table.

According to Aberdeen, the key to improving worker utilization and efficiency is to equip field technicians with mobile computers. Moving from handling paper forms in the field to using mobile computers will raise productivity over 23 percent. But, what if the company has been using mobile computers for years and still need to cut costs and increase revenues?

The key to simultaneously improving efficiency and revenue can be found in focusing on the worker’s daily routine—the little things each field worker repeatedly does throughout each day. Small improvements in a worker’s routine multiplied over time add up to large savings and revenue. In the same way a dripping faucet wastes gallons of water each day, a minute saved in one task or a minute gained in another add up to large revenue improvements. By themselves these saved minutes seem insignificant, but, when multiplied by the number of workers a company has and repeated multiple times each day, gains quickly become substantial.

Examples of tasks that commonly “leak” seconds or minutes from a worker’s day include:

• Stocking the truck,
• Handling a work order,
• Navigating to the job site,
• Diagnosing the problem,
• Determining the solution,
• Finding the parts,
• Making a repair,
• Completing the “paperwork,” and
• Collecting payment.

Finding ways to optimize each of these steps moves a worker to the next step faster and can lead to accumulated time each day for an additional call. Mobile computers and the software they run can improve processes by empowering field workers to make smarter, faster decisions by allowing them to complete a task more quickly and efficiently—improving the overall customer service experience. The problem is that many companies choose mobile technology to solve only one or two issues—such as paperwork reduction or work order management.

Moving away from paper in the field can generate huge improvements, but, unless the mobility solution addresses other bottlenecks in the system, the company will be at a loss to find incremental improvements.

The answer in creating time for technicians to “make one more call” lies in choosing computing hardware and software capable of providing them with time-saving features and tools in more areas of their routine to repeatedly increase their productivity throughout their day.

M2M Diagnostics

If the technician’s mobile computer can be used to more quickly diagnose the customer’s problem through direct machine-2-machine diagnostics, those time savings are multiplied by each visit through the day and across all the technicians. When a car is serviced, the technician will probably first connect a computer to the car’s onboard diagnostic system. Everything from air conditioners to dishwashers comes from the factory with built-in diagnostic ports. This feature alone can cut diagnostic time in half.

Global Positioning System Navigation and Route Mapping

Providing the workforce with global positioning system- (GPS-) based turn-by-turn navigation to job sites saves recovery time from wrong turns. A wrong turn can cost workers 3 or 4 minutes, and the longer the wrong turn goes undetected, the steeper the recovery time.

Inventory Management

Something as simple as reading barcodes on parts placed into and taken out of the truck can save time looking for parts that are not there or driving back for parts the technician already had. Hand writing parts used on a service call is a time leak.

Payment Processing

If not automated, credit card processing is another time waster. The field worker should be able to complete that transaction as quickly as pay-at-the-pump gas stations—seconds and not minutes. Using the phone to process payment wastes the worker’s and the customer’s time.

These revenue improvements come without adding more people or more vehicles. The key to these improvements is more capable field computers that can provide time-saving features to improve more areas of the repeated work flow.

According to VDC Research, the primary buying criteria for mobile computers is price. In the previous example, even if the company spent $10,000 on each mobile computer, that would still mean an investment of $500,000 to make an additional $3.9 million in the first year.

Takeaways

• Look at the small, repeated steps in the process for the big multipliers. The little savings multiplied by people and time will add up to big savings.
• Translate those time savings into income producing activities. This translation is where the worker utilization factor is derived and is the ultimate goal of automation. This might require incentives to the workers to get that “one more customer” per day. Again, those incentive costs will be small compared with the revenue payback and are only paid after higher revenue has been realized.
• Don’t choose a mobile computer with limited functionality because:
• It meets the target price or
• It can only address the big problem that is seen today.

Technology should enable improved process. Consider hardware and software with an eye on the future and the next steps that would optimize the field workers, rather than achieving one goal. A metaphor is the Swiss army knife, which can later deliver new tools when greater improvements are needed.

Best-in-class organizations understand these rules and focus on the little things to achieve their level of success. Don’t underestimate the power of small improvements compounded over time.

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