Competition in service is very real and is forcing organizations to re-think their value proposition to customers.

The discussion of transformation in service is no longer tied to the debate of cost vs. profit center. In most organizations, the profit center argument has won out, and won out several years ago.

Service organizations are now increasingly focused on customer satisfaction and revenue. Therefore field organizations need to begin to identify how they can support better resolution rates and improve revenue opportunities with current resources

For any equivalent quantity of metal, aluminium is lighter but steel is significantly stronger, so how do you decide which path to go down when choosing service bodies for your fleet? The answer is not as simple as you think. [ + ]

Fatigue management has increasingly been the focus in terms of road safety for managers responsible for on-the-road teams. A historical reliance on paper-based logging systems means that many companies have been slow to adapt and to take advantage of the new technologies that present a simple solution to this often deadly problem. [ + ]

Gone are the days when a truck or van was just a way of getting from one job to the next. Field service vehicles are an increasingly valuable asset with many faces: mobile office, technology hub and roving inventory location. [ + ]

Honeywell and The Service Council have revealed 38% of field service organisations expect to potentially reduce costs by an average of $875,000 following improvements to workflow processes that would save each worker 30 minutes or more per day. [ + ]

Driver training is an invaluable addition to any fleet manager's repetoire of management tools. An effective program can not only lessen incidences of personal injury and asset damage, it also provides a valuable avenue for road rule re-education and current driving practice assessment. [ + ]

The Service Council has partnered with Westwick-Farrow Media's Field Service Business (FSB) to bring our thought leadership content and expertise to FSB's community, to help service-centric businesses continue to sharpen their service strategies through global insights and trends analysis. [ + ]

In Australia's highly competitive access equipment market, a product range renowned for its quality, performance and innovation is merely a good start. That's why the management of JLG Industries Australia set out to back it with the best possible support systems. [ + ]

Since 2001, ECONZ has been the driving power behind New Zealand's favourite roadside breakdown service, The Automobile Association, helping rescue an average 1200 stranded drivers per day. [ + ]

Reduced driving distance? Increased customer satisfaction scores? First-time resolution? When it comes to field operations, there are plenty of metrics that you could track. And if you aren't already measuring the success of your field operations, you need to start - now! [ + ]

For many years, the importance of 'services' has been increasing in the global economy. This rise in importance is primarily the result of the impact of commoditisation, particularly in manufacturing-related industries. Manufacturers have relied on post-sale service given the impact commoditisation has had on product margins. [ + ]

When it comes to implementing new business systems or processes, it is recognised that the human response to change has the greatest capacity to determine a project's outcome. This continues to be a factor in a range of studies into the causes of failure in large-scale ICT project implementation. A lack of senior level support, changing mindsets and poorly defined objectives are just some of the factors that influence the results. [ + ]

With strong links to customer satisfaction and retention, achieving first-time fix is now the top business priority for field service organisations, according to a 2014 Insight Report (Transforming Service Delivery). [ + ]