Measuring success: how to choose the right metrics to track the progress of your field service operation

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!

But measuring success isn’t as simple as creating a spreadsheet, collecting data and graphing results. It’s also not as easy as adopting what are considered to be some of the standard metrics of field service, such as completing more appointments in a shorter workday and increasing customer service.

Field service metrics should be meaningful - ie, in context to your organisation’s short- and long-term objectives.

So how do you put field service metrics into the context of your business to make them more meaningful? Start with two simple steps.

1. Map the relationship between field service operations and the strategic goals of your business.

Often, field operations leaders fall into this trap: “I’ve implemented this field service technology solution or strategy, so I have to assign some sort of measurement specifically to field services to check that it’s working.”

The challenge and the opportunity of measuring field services is that it affects multiple areas of the business. It’s not that common productivity metrics (eg, increase in jobs completed per day) are wrong, but using that field service metric alone is not effectively demonstrating the impact of your success on the business.

It’s like saying your car is a good car because it can accelerate quickly. But maybe you only drive on residential roads, so does that metric actually mean anything to the bigger picture?

Here’s an example of a company with a field service team that got this step right. A large cable provider wanted to build loyalty by creating a culture of customer service in all departments. It realised that a key component of good service was ensuring technicians showed up on time for every installation and service call, and that they were friendly and knowledgeable. So, the operator enacted a plan to empower its field technicians to be better prepared for each appointment, using new training and a mobile application.

2. Assign metrics that assess the impact of field services on the strategic business goal(s).

Now it’s time to get to the good stuff: building the field service metrics that will help you measure the true impact of your field service operation on the business.

For the cable operator in our example, because on-time service was key, it focused on measuring what percentage of the time field technicians arrived within the window of time that was promised to the customer. The new strategy improved on-time arrival to appointments by 18% within six months. Subsequently, as it evaluated the impact on the strategic customer loyalty initiative, the cable operator saw a direct correlation between this improvement and an increase in its Net Promoter Score.

So now that you know how to assess your field operations in a way that both measures the success of your field operation AND the impact on a business outcome, here are some final tips to help you put this into practice:

• Consider the maturity of your field service processes and technology when creating metrics, especially when they are based on a timeline.
• Keep in mind the business model - a service organisation will focus on different metrics than one that is infrastructure focused.

Finally, you’re ready to go! Armed with this strategy of mapping your field operations to business objectives, then determining the field service metrics that contribute to those objectives, you will be able to meaningfully measure the success of your operation. In the long term, it will position your field service workforce as a strategic part of the organisation that drives real business value - not just another cost centre that must be run more efficiently