Direct Communication for Field Service Operations

Reflection-Design thinking using Visualization

Problem Statement/Challenge: Field engineers and the technical support  team did not have a direct communication medium. All the exchange of

communication would be done by using emails or phone calls. This would  cause delay in first visit fixes which were necessary to meet the customer

SLA’s (service level agreements) to avoid penalties and keeping the customer

satisfied. The field engineers are based globally and are supported by a

backend team’s in the regions to provide the necessary technical support at  the time field intervention at customer sites. There was a need to for instant

communication challan between the technical support team and field

engineers. It was necessary to identify how this need could be fulfilled so that

the field engineers and supports teams can work collaboratively in sync to

provide real-time to support the customers.

Tool/Method Selection: I choose Visualization technique to map the current  process of communication between the Field Engineers and the Technical  Support Teams using process mapping using Visio and the cost based on  time and motion study was captured. I choose this technique because I could  understand the pain what the stakeholders where struggling through in there  day to day life to work towards a better customer experience by talking to  them. I could relate to the same experience/pain while I was struggling  through my Mac book to fix the software issues in it and how the Apple  support team tried hard to fix it and that was only possible as they could  communicate and access my Mac-book online directly. I could visualize both  the scenario were very similar in nature and this idea could provide the users  a better experiencing in supporting the field engineers and thereby giving a

better customer experience.

Application: I choose Visualization technique to map the current process of  communication between the Field Engineers and the Technical Support  Teams using process mapping using Visio. I identified what are the needs of  the field engineers during field intervention at customer sites, what type of  information or technical support does the field engineer needs to complete  the job at the customer site. After my discussion with the field service  management GPO (global process owner) and other stakeholders, few field  service engineers and technical support team member I proposed a solution  of a Chat portal and designed a first cut slide pack of portal process map on  a power point presentation and the various screen ( Login screen, choosing  support team region, chat dashboard on live, active and missed chats  support team users etc.) in the portal and Chat initiation page in the field  engineers mobile application, the proposal was accepted after few iterations

on the process, portal and chat page design.

The modalities on where the chatting feature should be provided to the field  service engineers mobile application and what information should appear  when the chat is initiated for the technical support team to pull out the  desired requirement and address the issue, where should the technical  support team agent view the alert in the backend tool that a field engineers is  seeking and accept the chat invitation to provide necessary support to the  field engineer. How to engage a SME (subject matter expert) and bring him  on the same chat room, when required to address a technical issue for a  solution, while SME is on leave/traveling or off working hours were discussed,  risks and challenges were identified and a discussion on how to leverage on  NLP (natural language programming) and AR (augmented reality) based

technologies were also discussed and agreed.

All the details were clearly ideated, captured and agreed with the process  owner and were captured in a BRD(Business Requirement Document) a new  project was approved showing up the necessary cost & benefits inclusive of  projected benefits on employee and customer experience.

The project was launched in an agile methodology by adding the user stories  and delivers agreed on bi-weekly sprints. The idea, process & design was  shared & explained to the project team. New features and functionalities were  discussed with the developer during the user story grooming sessions, while  they provided their inputs on improvising on the design and making it better

for user’s experience.

Insight: I could visualize what idea can be adopted from my experience but to  provide shape to the idea and to gain acceptance it was necessary to provide  a story behind the idea and to elaborate on explaining the idea in a more  intelligible and evident way. And the only way to do it was to do it was to

think in a non-verbal way and show it to the stakeholders and process owner.

The idea also needed necessary questioning and skepticism so that it can be  refined to suite the requirement. While sharing the idea it also came across  that a similar tool can be scaled to other business units where there is a  need. Engagement, alignment and curation with the stakeholders removed

the friction and fast tracked the idea to materialize as a project.

Approach: I could have tried some other design thinking techniques like story

telling. Although I think I used storytelling by way of using visualization.

I think story telling about relating to my experience can further be improvised  by asking other members also to pitch in with their stories and the pain areas

and how they could achieve better results by using design thinking & ideation.

I think all the techniques of Design Thinking can be used in our lives in

different ways to improve it and make it better.

