Service management in today’s digitally-led business environment requires an integrated strategy encompassing scheduled maintenance, parts allocation, and the actual delivery of the service itself.
Helping drive this is the organisation’s ability to leverage service management tools strategically to identify new business opportunities. This is according to Technodyn International, the exclusive strategic partner for global cloud enterprise software company IFS in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Many vendors still build management software based on a binary checklist of service needs. And then, there are those organisations that develop service products with feature sets as basic as their other applications. This sees them shoving service processes into a pre-built mould that does not reflect the modern requirements of today’s businesses and customers. Invariably, this results in compromising on the service delivery plan or investing in more products to deliver additional capabilities,” says Heman Kassan, chief commercial officer at Technodyn.
All this can be avoided by focusing on service management across three broad categories: Service delivery, operations, and customer experience. Measuring the value of service management software based on the breadth of its capabilities is important. But more than that, companies must first understand what their implementation strategies will require in the short- and long-term before deciding on the tools required to realise their objectives.
Service delivery
“Even though many might gloss over the service delivery capabilities of tools, like contract management, appointment management, service-level agreement management, and others form the cornerstone of a successful solution,” says Kassan.
An organisation cannot hope to use business technology utilities that help win, service, and retain customers if it is incapable of delivering on its fundamental service delivery requirements.
Operations
Generally, optimising the operational capabilities of the company centre on scheduling appointments through multiple channels. The best tools can perform this quickly. And by including the likes of artificial intelligence and automation into this process, solutions deliver the real-time updates needed to flag any issues throughout the job delivery value chain.
“Parts and reverse logistics management also become necessary pillars of optimisation. Getting a full operational picture giving complete visibility of all the service management processes, is key to success. And it is here where many companies fall flat,” adds Kassan.
Customer experience
Throughout this, the customer experience remains important. One of the secrets to business success is that happy customers are often a result of technicians working efficiently and using tools like zero-touch service and chatbots to enhance the overall experience.
“Good customer experience utilities enable frictionless handoffs that guide the customer through the service lifecycle. The main goal behind this is to automate redundant tasks and reduce the load for the back-office staff. Engaging and forward-thinking systems that resolve common issues and routine maintenance without tying up a line or forcing a customer to wait on the phone for a human can be a significant competitive advantage,” says Kassan.
Moving ahead
All these elements come down to how effective the service management software is at integrating existing processes with digitally-centred ones. This is where an integration partner working alongside a software partner becomes important.
“Even then, employee buy-in is vital to any service strategy. Companies need advocates to ensure technicians are pressing the service buttons, especially if the new service software will automate more than previously. To top it off, customers will only care about any enhancements if the service platform provides new ways to go to market. If an organisation is now tracking more elements of its business in the service solution, then it can deliver solutions around that trackability. This is the core of outcomes-based service – build your contracts around uptime and output, not break-fix,” concludes Hassan.