At a conference earlier in Q4, I asked the 300+ attendees “are you happy with your service organization and delivery?” Not a single hand was raised.
Service organizations around the world know they are lacking key capabilities that would enable them to take their businesses to the next level. They may have first-time fix and preventative maintenance efficiency goals that they are falling short of achieving because they lack spare parts management integrated with intelligent workforce scheduling. They may be missing IoT tools to accurately track and build metrics, they know they have to decide on repair vs replace questions but don’t have the data to drive those decisions, their reverse logistics operations need a makeover…the list goes on. Having service management that grows profits and achieves customer experience goals is still a work in process in every business today.
Service organizations desire excellence but struggle in execution
With a concrete value and service proposition, manufacturers know they can earn 10 to 20 times more than the cost of the initial equipment sale. But in order to unlock the full potential of service revenue, organizations need a management platform that provides everything they need in one place. Enter IFS FSM 6.
IFS FSM 6 is the first field service product launch announcement from IFS since the company added cloud-based field service and fleet management developer WorkWave to its field service management (FSM) portfolio along with the arrival of new Chief Product Officer Christian Pedersen. Where IFS is headed with its service management platform is a game changer for field service organizations. FSM 6 is the next step in that evolution.
I genuinely believe that IFS FSM 6 is the most complete and advanced field service offering available on the market today as it is able to deliver on customer experience, service management practicalities and business transformation in a way that would require multiple vendors in other companies.
The IFS service solution in version 6 extends its class-leading functionality with more purchasing and deployment flexibility, greater mobile field service capabilities and an intuitive new user experience available on any device. IFS FSM 6 is an end-to-end solution built to enable the world’s highest performing service organizations to maximize profitability, capitalize on the potential of IoT technology and service an increasingly demanding customer base.
To aggregate all these functionalities elsewhere, a field service organization would have to stitch together an FSM implementation from multiple vendors — increasing project complexity and cost. IFS also enables a common data model where predictive insights drive outcomes, not just pilot projects.
Proven field leader delivers new functionality
For the three years in a row, Gartner has named IFS a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management. To determine Magic Quadrant rankings, Gartner evaluates each vendor’s field service management offering on completeness of vision and ability to execute. IFS is listed as the organization with the highest in ability to execute field service management implementations.
Unlike the solutions provided by other vendors in the leader quadrant, IFS FSM 6 is the only complete end-to-end solution to support complex service operations such as AI scheduling, aftermarket services related to warranty or repair spare parts and services, and reverse logistics all in one. As I said previously, to attain this level of functionality elsewhere, a company would have to stitch together three or four solutions from different vendors. And while some vendors say they have these functionalities in their roadmap, their timeframes range from 3-5 years! IFS FSM6 is here now, ready to deliver.
Organizational change sharpens field service management focus
Customers of IFS can rely on 20 years of deep and rich domain expertise, with an executive team that has grown with the requirements of field service management since the discipline began. Additionally, IFS is investing heavily in its cloud architecture to not only deliver the value of cloud efficiency to its customers but also the promise of 99.999% reliability, active-active redundancy and the ability to take advantage of ongoing innovation in the platform, upon release. To spearhead the cloud roadmap and all future product development, IFS recently announced the appointment of enterprise software expert Christian Pedersen as Chief Product Officer. Christian joins IFS from SAP, having previously run Microsoft’s ERP business. His vision centers around delivering value through differentiated and effective solutions that are easy to understand and adopt by customers, prospects and partners.
Over the last three months IFS has been working hard to build on the WorkWave acquisition and to develop an experienced and growing skill set. The company now has a dedicated Field Service Management Business Unit. That team is primed, ready and able to drive the deployment of IFS FSM6 solutions with the necessary consultancy, implementation advice and ongoing support for global field service companies across the Americas, Europe, MEA and the Asia-Pacific.
To find out more about the new features for IFS FSM 6 and how to take your service organization to the next level read the full announcement.
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Image credit: Photographer: Sturti
