by Ian Stewart | Nov 30, 2012 | Field Service Spotlight
Most field service people are in the business of fixing a thing — a piece of equipment, appliance, or cable line. Barrett Burghard services a mountain. Burghard is the director of snow services for Heavenly ski resort near Lake Tahoe, on the California/Nevada border....
by Ian Stewart | Nov 29, 2012 | Field Service Spotlight
Think your field service job is tough? Try climbing 1,700 feet above the ground to repair a radio-transmission tower — with only a cable rope to save you. After watching this nail-biting video (warning: may cause bouts of nausea and/or vertigo) we definitely needed a...
by Marisa Wong | Nov 28, 2012 | Strategy & Leadership
As chief customer officer at Enterasys, an Andover, Mass.-based enterprise networking company, Vala Afshar has piled up 81,800 tweets — about 130 per day — since signing up for an account in early 2011. His Twitter feed reads like a constant stream of...
by Ian Stewart | Nov 27, 2012 | Strategy & Leadership
For many field service professionals, “Cyber Monday” marked the real start of the holiday season. Experts are estimating that U.S. consumers spent between $1.5 and $2 billion online Monday, mostly on smartphones, tablet computers, TVs and appliances,...
by Ian Stewart | Nov 26, 2012 | Strategy & Leadership
The holidays can be a hectic time for consumers and businesses alike. Whether it’s ramping up the number of deliveries, handling a glut of emergency calls coming in about failing heating systems, or installing a slew of new appliances — all the while trying to...
by Ian Stewart | Nov 23, 2012 | Strategy & Leadership
The following post first appeared on John Ragsdale’s blog, Eye on Service, and is being reprinted here with permission. Hopefully you are familiar with Franz Kafka, whose literary works confuse, anger, and frustrate. My favorite example is The Trial, published...
by Ian Stewart | Nov 21, 2012 | Field Service Spotlight
What’s the hottest hiring sector in field service? Solar installation — backed by hot companies like soon-to-IPO Solar City — is making a strong case heading into 2013. A new report from The Solar Foundation shows that the number of solar installer job openings...
by Ian Stewart | Nov 20, 2012 | Field Service Spotlight
Here’s one core competency of field service organizations that most CEOs don’t pay enough attention to — good driving. Why? For starters, according to government estimates, a single on-the-job vehicle crash can cost employers $16,500. The cost rises to...
by Derek Korte | Nov 19, 2012 | Field Service Spotlight
Despite a nationwide unemployment rate of 7.9 percent, there’s one sector that can’t seem to fill jobs: the trades. CBS’ 60 Minutes recently estimated that there are as many as 3 million unfilled trade jobs in the U.S., with more than 500,000 in...
by Ian Stewart | Nov 16, 2012 | Field Service Spotlight
Things break — it’s a fact of life. Luckily, for just about every piece of equipment, from ATMs to Zambonis, there’s a service technician to come to the rescue. How do they go about fixing it? What are their biggest — and dirtiest — challenges? We’ve...
by Mobile Enterprise | Nov 15, 2012 | Mobile & Tech
This post first appeared on Mobile Enterprise. Re-posted with permission. It’s almost that time of year: your employees are itching for the latest tablets — some of which may show up under Christmas trees or as Hanukkah gifts next month. With seemingly every...
by Tiffany Kaiser | Nov 15, 2012 | Customer Experience
As much as the holidays coincide with a business slowdown for many field service companies, for some they present an great opportunity to reconnect with customers and employees. Earl King, founder of Texas-based King Productions International, a commercial HVAC...
