Automation of Warranty Management applications helps improve warranty KPIs and reduce costs. But there is another other side of warranty that connects to the field repair process, which is often overlooked. Service technicians are usually in the field to fix the customers’ problems proficiently, and should not be bothered with any other issues that could delay or hold their work. Be it preventive maintenance, unscheduled repair or warranty replacement, troubleshooting and decision making in the field is often intricate and time-consuming. Also, field technicians strive to understand complex contract or warranty entitlements, policies, or service bulletins to make on-field decisions on troubleshooting or to evaluate the coverage for billing and warranty or service contracts. Therefore, it’s important for organizations to mobilize their field service staff by automating the field service tasks, and connecting transactions in the field with warranty, contracts and other backend ERP systems. In this white paper, the author discusses the real-life challenges faced by field technicians and how they can be empowered with mobility solutions to improve field productivity, increase accuracy of diagnostics, reduce warranty and invoicing cycle times, enhance service revenues, and most importantly, improve customer experience to make service excellence a strong selling point.

1. > Field Service Mobility - Transforming
Field Service and Customer Experience
Presented by Devendra Malekar and Rohit Lohan at Warranty
Chain Management Conference 2012
PEOPLE. PASSION. EXCELLENCE.

2. Competitive pressures/Need for
44%
differentiation
Need to drive new service
53%
revenue opportunities
Customer demand for improved
61%
asset availability and faster…
Need to drive workforce
67%
productivity and utilization
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Source: Aberdeen Group, January 2011
Customer Demand for Faster Service, Field
Productivity and Competitive Pressure for
Differentiation directly indicates the need of
optimum Customer Experience
Key Drivers for Field Service Optimization
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3. Consumers consider an initial set of
Reinforces brand loyalty brands based on perceptions and
Awareness and
perception exposure to touch points
They add or subtract
Purchase and brands as they evaluate
After-market support Continued
Customer-centric delivery what they want
avoids post purchase
support experience Ultimately they select a
dissonance
brand
Customer
Experience Product receipt
Ease of billing
and payment and usage
After purchase, consumers
build opinions about brand
These brand opinions Field Service / Contact care based on the product usage
influence their loyalty towards repair and problem and service experience
the brand experience identification
Customer Experience is the sum of all the feelings and
interactions for the brand’s product, service or people
Influencers of Customer Experience
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4. Key Goals for Field Service
Improvements
> Faster Service Response
Higher
> Better first time fix Customer
Satisfaction
> Decrease parts inventory
and carrying cost
> Reduce Customer Asset Improved Higher
Product Customer
Downtime Quality Retention
> Improve reverse logistics
> Improve recovery cycle time
- warranty & invoices
> Improve aftermarket Increased Lower
Service Service
profitability Revenue Cost
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5. - Work orders are manually assigned without
considering important factors such as skill-sets
- Technicians depend on office and proximity to the customer location
admin staff to provide relevant
failure information Scheduling and
Dispatch - Unavailability
- Information related to service of the right parts
parts, labor, invoicing, etc. are during repair also
not automated and integrated causes delays
with enterprise systems
- Field
- Field failure diagnostics and
service Information is
processed manually causing
Communication
and Reporting
X Time to
Resolution
technicians do
not have access
to service
misinterpretation of failure and manuals, bulletin
repair data s, and warranty
or contract
- Delay in recovery due to delay entitlements
in initiating warranty and
Paperwork
invoices - Delay in repair
estimate
- Conventional customer - Technicians spend 15-18% of their time on work approvals
experience – No insight on order-related paperwork such as job
repairs carried out cards, invoices, claims, reports etc.
Challenges in Field Services
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6. Technology Improvements in Recent
Years
> Lower cost of technology acquisition
> “SMART” phone revolution – fast and powerful handheld
devices
> Improved mobile data speeds
> Improved connectivity between different systems
(ERP, CRM, Warranty etc.)
> Affordable and Open Source BI solutions
> Enterprise communication and knowledge management
platforms – JIVE, Share point etc.
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7. Process Improvement Areas
Employee • Better Field Employee Management
• Technician Performance Measurement
Productivity & • Incentive Program based on Productivity and
Satisfaction Customer Feedback
• Technician Competitiveness
Repair Turnaround
• Availability of Relevant Information
& Quality • Repair Knowledge Base
• Optimal Service Scheduling
Operational • Forecasting and Planning
Excellence • Resource Optimization & Tracking
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8. Key Strategic Actions Taken by
Industry Leaders
Invest in mobile tools to provide technicians with better access
to information
Make captured service information available across the
company
Develop real time visibility into field assets
Develop programs and tools to retain knowledge
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9. What should be present in a Good
Field Service Mobile Solution?
> Interface for customers through
various channels – mobile app, mobile
web, web, business systems
> Automated service scheduling and
email-notifications
> Complete work order management
including customer approval workflow
> Failure diagnosis and repair checklist
based on repair knowledge base
> Integration with backend ERP systems
for customer history, parts ordering
and tracking
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10. What should be present in a Good
Field Service Mobile Solution?
> Integration with Warranty system for
claim entry, equipment repair
history, claim tracking and other
warranty information.
> On the spot customer acknowledgement
and invoicing
> Return logistics component allowing
technician to manage return shipments
> Integrated mapping, barcode and
location services components
> Mobile BI (Business Intelligence)
component for key reports and metrics
> Instant customer feedback
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11. Service Work order Product
details; installation, demo &
Driving directions; delivery / registration
Field
Mobile analytics Warranty / Contract report
Technician
monitor field KPIs information Itemized invoice with
auto-bifurcation of
warranty and non-
warranty items
Predicts and
accordingly Initiate warranty claim
carries parts and directly from field
Office Admin tools required
Barcode scanner Printed using thermal
automatically registers mobile printer.
use of parts / inventory
Digitally captures
and updates the ERP Customer
customer’s signature
Invoice and Mobile payment gateway for
payment instant payment;
recorded in
On-the-spot customer
the ERP
satisfaction survey
Integrated Field Service Mobility Solution
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12. Technology Considerations for
Mobile Solution
Usability, Scalability, Security, Integration, Deployment
˃ Assess the current field service performance and identify areas for improvement specific
to your business / environment
˃ Consider cloud based deployment of the app as well as creation of custom Enterprise App
Catalog using the SaaS model
˃ Leverage advanced platforms (such as iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows etc.) to
integrate the app with the backend ERP, Warranty, Contract, Sales, and CRM systems
˃ Use a suitable middleware tool to manage interactions among the systems involved in
aftermarket service processes
˃ Most importantly, design the app to be scalable, secure and easy to use
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13. Tightly
Usability
Integrated
Balance between Usability and Closed Loop
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14. About Tavant Technologies
˃ Specialized IT Solutions & Services Company; Founded in 2000, based in the Valley
˃ 11+ years of experience in developing Aftermarket and Warranty Management Solutions
for Diverse Industries
˃ Cross-platform capabilities – Proficient in developing native, web and hybrid applications
for mobiles, smartphones and tablets
˃ Cross-industry solutions – Capabilities across mobile commerce, social
networking, location-based solutions, mobile advertisement modules; developed for
customers cutting across industry verticals
˃ Reengineering and Integration – Experienced in large scale integration with internal and
3rd party systems
˃ Judicious selection of mobile feature set deployment, based on nomad roaming behavior
of target audience
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15. > Thank You
Contact Us:-
T: (866) 9-TAVANT W: http://www.tavant.com/warranty
E: bizdev@tavant.com
PEOPLE. PASSION. EXCELLENCE.