Guest Blog: Scott Epple, OnForce Product Manager

We’re living in pretty exciting times.  Most of us carry around small computers with us everywhere we go.  The same computing power that used to take up the size of a large room, now fits handily in our pockets.  Smartphones are connecting us to the people and places we care about, helping us be productive anywhere, and making our lives easier in ways we never imagined.

Advances in technology are also changing the game in field services, and OnForce is playing center field.  We believe the smartphone is the new must-have tool for field service pros, and we’re leveraging mobile platforms to advance what’s possible for technicians on the go.

We launched our iPhone app at the end of 2011 and quickly followed with a beta release of our Android app in February.  Our technicians are now equipped with powerful, responsive mobile apps running on their iOS and Android devices.  It’s enabling them to work better and smarter than ever before.

As a service buyer, the benefits of this innovation for you are huge.  You need pros who are responsive, timely, efficient, and productive.  OnForce’s mobile apps are helping field service technicians make impressive gains across all of these attributes.

We’ve seen amazing adoption so far, with over a quarter of a million actions being completed through our apps.  Here are just a few ways OnForce Pros are taking advantage of our mobile apps to improve their level of service:

* Faster response:  Pros are reacting to new opportunities 68% faster through OnForce mobile apps compared to other methods.

* Improved efficiency: Pros report saving an average of 12 minutes per work order on administrative tasks.

* Greater reliability: OnForce mobile users have seen 200% greater year-to-date improvement in their on-time arrival performance compared to their competition.

Service buyers have long come to OnForce for our trusted network of field service pros.  This network just got a lot more powerful.  And we don’t plan to slow down: our Android app will be available publicly in the Google Play store Spring-Summer 2012.  We’re going to continue to push the bounds of innovation in field services and we’re glad you’ve chosen to join us for the ride!

Guest blog post by Kevin Kay, founder, Willows of Easley

When it comes to technology, I just want it to work.

Technology is essential for every small business – but we’re not in a position to have an ‘IT Department’ dedicated to helping us manage our network, set up a workstation or troubleshoot a technical problem.

Every day it seems like there’s a need to upgrade our software, or there’s a new gadget that’s critical for running our business. I see value every time we invest in technology, but we can’t afford to jump on every new tech trend as soon as it enters the market.

Just recently we took a leap. We decided that we wanted several new Apple products (I’ve been a happy MacBook owner for a while now) and I went to the Apple Retail store to talk to them about it. Apple has in-store associates just for SMBs (who knew?) and I spoke with them about what I was looking to do and they outlined a plan to make it happen.

• Phase 1: Data Transfer – We were an all PC business and we had nearly a decade of data that we needed to transfer over to new Apple workstations. I brought in our old PC’s and had Apple transfer everything over to our new iMacs.
• Phase 2: Configure QuickBooks – This was the biggest hurdle that we had to overcome and it wasn’t something that Apple could help us with at the retail location. We needed to update our QuickBooks software without losing our data. The software was so old, that we had to upgrade to QuickBooks 2009, before we could update to QuickBooks 2012. We needed an outside expert that could help us – and Apple referred us to OnForce Services – who worked closely with us to help solve our problem.
• Phase 3: Time Capsule – Once everything was set up, we wanted to be sure that it was backed up so that we wouldn’t lose anything. We purchased an Apple Time Capsule and tapped OnForce Services again to help with set up and configuration.

Our data transition in-store went great and we were equally impressed by the quality of service delivery from OnForce Services. The technician who came on-site was able to diagnose the problem and get our new and improved QuickBooks system up and running – and set up our Time Capsule so that we were covered in the event of a system failure.

If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I have a business to run and I’m not interested in setting up work stations or researching how to correct a computer or network problem. The process through Apple Retail and OnForce Services was quality all the way; it was quick; and it fit my budget.

I’m confident in Apple products and, because of the quality experience that I had with the service delivery, I’m confident about OnForce Services. I plan on working with Apple Retail and OnForce Services again in the future.

Guest blog post by Dan Shedd, President of Taylor Box Company

The only way that companies get to stick around in a competitive industry like ours is to evolve quickly with emerging customer needs and to never settle for second best. We’ve been in business for 126 years and counting and a key to our success is staying ahead of the curve and delivering quality customized boxes that make our customers’ products stand out.

Technology is a core component that supports all facets of our business. Our challenge is that we manage a mixed environment of PCs and Macs. Our PCs (8-10 of them) manage our ERP system and our design studio uses MacPro Laptops (3) and a MacPro tower. We’re growing (up more than 20% last year) which means that we’re bringing in more designers – and more Apple workstations to field new customer demand.

Back in December of 2011, I visited our local Apple Store retail location to talk to them about our company; the best way we could  keep our current Mac systems on the cutting edge and what new hardware we should bring in house as our team expands. Based on the input I received from an in-store Apple associate, this is what we did:

• Purchased a new Mac Pro tower, with enough horsepower (Dual 2.66 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon) and features to arm our design team with leading edge technology and capabilities that would keep us ahead of the curve and last us for years.
• Purchased a new Mac Pro laptop, also with abundant processing power and features.
• Found an Apple Certified technician through OnForce Services, who would help us set up, configure and integrate our new Apple technology into our environment and ensure that all our Apple systems (and software) were up-to-date and properly configured for top performance.

We managed our last Apple upgrade internally and it was a mistake – it took staff away from client work; the process took forever and the install wasn’t optimal. The process was incredibly complicated and challenging – especially considering our mixed PC-Apple network environment, legacy peripherals and software apps. This time we couldn’t afford to make the same mistake and risk a delayed update process and possible system outages. It was crucial to reduce the implementation time window as much as possible. The answer was to bring in an Apple expert to handle it for us. I was happy (and relieved) that the Apple store staff could now put me directly in touch with a technician through OnForce Services – at the same time they were writing up my order. The technician from OnForce Services was extremely knowledgeable and delivered tremendous value. He arrived on time, with the necessary tools and was able to manage our upgrade and implementation quickly and effectively.

We’re always looking ahead in our business, and I absolutely plan to tap Apple Retail and OnForce Services for our next upgrade. (In fact, I’ve already recommended the service to several colleagues and highly recommend OnForce to you). Simply put: get the right technology for the job (Apple); get a quick, optimal installation (OnForce Services) and get back to work for your clients (us – Taylor Box).

I’m having a great day here at OnForce today — why, you ask? Our iPhone app for OnForce Pros just hit the app store!

The app is designed to be a hyper-efficient way for OnForce Pros to access OnForce while on-the-go, and it fully supports all the activities needed to review and accept new work orders as well as to handle open work orders.

In a way, today is both an end and a new beginning for us. It’s the culmination of months and months of extreme effort and a lot of impressive teamwork. And this is the beginning of some big new things for OnForce.

As field services is a mobile activity by its nature, an app for our Pros is a very natural extension of our offering. And I believe, at my core, that there are still huge opportunities to leverage technology to make field services dramatically more efficient. Today is a big deal not only because our mobile app is a vastly improved way for Pros to access OnForce while in the field, but also native apps and the smartphones they run on represent a new platform upon which we’re able to build some fundamentally innovative and valuable new things. Things that will help our service buyers and OnForce Pros connect, engage and work in new and better ways that weren’t possible just a few years ago.

This (and caffeine) is the kind of stuff that inspires and energizes us and gets us excited about coming to work in the morning! We’re really proud and want to sincerely thank everyone inside OnForce and in our community who helped get this app designed, built, tested (and beta tested) and launched.

The app is now available in Apple’s App Store and is compatible with iPhones running iOS 4.2 and above — more details about the app are here.

Android users, don’t fret! We definitely didn’t forget you. In fact, our team has already made great progress on the Android version and we hope to have a beta available very early next year. If you’d like to help test the Android version, just reply to this blog post with your email address or user ID and we’ll get in contact with you.

Thanks for listening and stay tuned – we have a lot of great stuff in the works that I think you’ll love.

CSOs are talking and OnForce is joining the conversation at the upcoming Aberdeen CSO Summit. Sumair Dutta, senior research analyst from Aberdeen – and our guest blogger – sheds some light about the Summit where executives are gathering to discuss current challenges associated with IT field service and to learn best practices on how to overcome them.

Words from Sumair….

At Aberdeen’s 2011 Chief Service Officer Summit (Oct 12-13 in Boston, MA, www.chiefserviceofficer.com), we’re investigating how leading organizations are looking to ensure that the culture of service and support spreads across the entire workforce, from C-Level to the front line, from finance and accounting to sales and marketing and so on. Another dimension that will be discussed is the extension of the champion philosophy outside of the 4 walls of the service organization. Our 2011 research has shown a relatively healthy reliance on third-parties for service delivery, whether it be in field service, contact center, or in the back and forth flow of service parts. For instance, in Aberdeen’s Field Service 2011: Trends in Workforce Management research (January 2011), responding organizations indicated that, on average, 20% of service tasks were handled and managed by third-party or outsourced field service workers and twenty-five percent (25%) of respondents in that survey indicated that they planned to increase their reliance on outsourced field workers in 2011.

Most organizations that are currently leveraging third-parties, especially for field service, have experienced cost and productivity benefits from their reliance on third-parties. However, these organizations continue to remain concerned with establishing a direct line of sight into the end experience delivered to their customers. This is a primary challenge for those organizations that are outsourcing and a barrier for those that have chosen to keep everything in-house. Inability to accurately track the performance of the service network and the final service brand delivered is a vital challenge that CSOs are looking to overcome.

Best practices to overcome the line of sight challenge range from better integration of technology systems, improved collaboration and training, and a focus on direct feedback capture from customers who are served by third-parties. In addition, organizations are also looking to overhaul their partner selection, compensation, collaboration and performance evaluation strategies to provide a better final service product to their customers. These strategies will  be analyzed at the 2011 CSO Summit in various sessions, starting with a Day 1 breakout panel on field service workforce strategies and culminating in a Day 2 presentation around collaboration strategies to further empower service partners, provided by Dave Dora from Kawasaki.

If you’re interested in attending the Summit, please register here.