Asia Pacific Field Service Organisations Could Save An Average of $875,000 Annually, Survey Reveals

Online, June 19, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Honeywell (NYSE: HON) and The Service Council™, have revealed 38 percent of field service organisations expect to potentially reduce costs by an average of $875,000 following improvements to workflow processes that would save each worker 30 minutes or more per day.
The finding came out of a survey of 260 global decision makers, including representatives from Asia Pacific, which polled them on their organisation's field service processes to gauge potential areas of improvement and enhancements.

The survey showed that 75 percent of respondents have conducted a process review in the past 12 months, most of which are driven by continuous improvement programs. But 25 percent have not, and of that group 63 percent have not conducted a process review in more than five years.

The most highly ranked opportunities to improve technician efficiency were: daily schedule management and communication, clock-in and clock-out processes, parts lookup, and resolution information and knowledge lookup. Additionally, the top-rated area for workflow improvement in Asia Pacific was call and appointment management.

The primary disconnect from the survey data is that while 65 percent of organisations indicate that they are fairly diligent about conducting process reviews of their field service operations, only 27 percent indicate that they are doing so while keeping an eye on revenue objectives.

"This new research illustrates that as Asian field service operations advance their position along the mobility maturity path they need to start looking at how their revenue growth goals are directly tied to their field level process and workflow reviews," said Lynn Huang, Head of Marketing & Strategy, Asia Pacific, Honeywell Scanning & Mobility. "By looking at revenue goals and process change in conjunction, field service leaders will better position themselves to implement changes throughout the workforce that can provide big savings."

"By drawing revenue goals and process review / change together in business decision making, field service leaders will be able to directly link profit growth with investments in workflow and process change, technologies as well as staff direction and evaluation," she said.

Field service organisations often follow a common path of goal evolution including replacement of paper-based processes to productivity boosts and lastly a focus on revenue growth. It is evident as businesses move from the initial stages of paper replacement toward the ultimate objective of increasing profits, that deploying technology infrastructure only to field operations is not the whole solution. As companies continue to analyse their workflows, both for efficiency and revenue improvements, the more they will be able to capture and realise the value of moving down the mobility maturity path.

For further information view the full report and infographic.