The field service experience

When we speak of consumerisation in field service, we often think of the impact that consumer devices, such as smartphones and tablets, have had on field service delivery. We might also think about the impact of consumer applications on enterprise field service workflows, making it easier and simpler for technicians to access their necessary field service information. In essence, if they could do it with what they had at home, then why not at work? Most of our thoughts around consumerisation in field service revolve around the technology available to field technicians.

An area where consumerisation is likely to permeate the enterprise field service space is in the area of field service experience. We have all heard of customer experience management and its impact on customer loyalty and commitment. But most customer experience management discussions revolve around service delivered via the channels of the contact centre such as email, voice, chat, social or the web. However, very little attention is paid to the experience delivered to a customer during a field service visit.

Perhaps I should say that very little attention ‘was’ paid. In field service visits to direct customers, organisations are spending a lot more time focusing on the experience associated with the visit. This starts with the appointment booking process and extends all the way to the post-visit feedback process. Organisations are focusing on areas such as:

• Ease of getting an appointment
• Ease of cancelling or rescheduling appointments via text or web-based channels
• Precise and shorter service windows
• Alerts on technician status on the day of service
• Technician likeability
• Technician professionalism and concern for customer (not just getting the job done but doing so in a manner that shows concern for the customer’s premises and time)
• Summarising work and ease of adding new services
• Capturing customer feedback

Therefore it’s not just about someone showing up at any point in the day to solve your service issue, but it’s more about minimising the inconvenience of what is considered to be a painful situation for most customers. And with that in mind, it’s also the hope of turning a field visit into a positive experience for both the servicing organisation and the customer.

In times when we shy away from in-person and face-to-face communications, and it is extremely difficult for organisations to connect with their customers, a field visit offers a unique opportunity wherein customers provide a window of time and attention to the servicing organisation. During this time, much can be learned about customer preferences and annoyances and what can be done in the future to align with the former and avoid the latter. There is also the opportunity to make customers aware of other valuable services that can prevent service inconveniences in the future or improve the usage experience of that particular product and service. Customers can also use that time to learn more from their visiting field agents around getting the most from their investment in that provider’s goods and services.

This focus on experience necessitates a change - both in the types of workers that are hired to serve as field agents, as well as in the training provided when these agents step in front of the customer. Our research continues to show an increasing focus on customer interaction and interpersonal traits in field service hiring profiles. Technical skills are still important, but organisations are coming around to the fact that the technical requirements of the job can be taught - the interpersonal requirements cannot be.

Now, it is vital that the particular service issue a field visit is scheduled for gets resolved effectively. Without that, investments made to improve the field service experience are mostly wasted. But when paired with issue resolution and effective field service, a unique field service experience can go a long way in delighting customers. And these customers might begin to expect the same type of field service experience in their multimillion-dollar enterprise relationships.

Image caption: Sumair Dutta - Chief Customer Officer