by Ian Stewart | Dec 27, 2012 | Mobile & Tech
Imagine you’re elbow-deep in an especially tough mechanical repair. One hand is turning a screwdriver, the other is holding down a piece of equipment. Wouldn’t it be nice to Google-search for repair tips, hands-free? Or imagine you’re climbing up...
by The Editors | Dec 26, 2012 | Customer Experience
From analyzing the latest mobile technology to providing management tips and vehicle fleet operations advice, the SmartVan’s Top 10 posts of 2012 covered it all. Here’s a look at our top-read articles of the year: 1. Four Things Field Techs Should Never,...
by Ian Stewart | Dec 21, 2012 | Strategy & Leadership
A new line of work trucks and van is set to crash the U.S. market in 2013. Ram Trucks, a subsidiary of Chrysler (which is owned by Italian carmaker Fiat), will introduce the Ram Commercial lineup of vehicles next year — and one of its first entries in the space will...
by Derek Korte | Dec 19, 2012 | Customer Experience
2012 saw field service organizations creatively find ways to boost service-related revenue and experiment with new tools like the iPad to make technicians more productive, connected, and efficient. What will 2013 bring? The SmartVan spoke with Ravi Naidu, director of...
by Tiffany Kaiser | Dec 18, 2012 | Mobile & Tech
Field service personnel are no strangers to tablet computers — in fact they’ve revolutionized many aspects of the industry. But there’s still a “wow” factor at play, and such is the case with Japanese company Aero Sensing, Inc., which is using...
by Ian Stewart | Dec 17, 2012 | Strategy & Leadership
Hat-tip to Keith Shaw at IT World for spotting these excellent 1950s training videos commissioned by Southwestern Bell to help their phone-line installers learn to deal with ornery customers. (AT&T’s tech channel posted them to YouTube.) Say what you will,...
by Ian Stewart | Dec 14, 2012 | Strategy & Leadership
The end of the year is a good time for service managers to sit down with their technicians and conduct yearly reviews. But as James “Alex” Alexander told us earlier this week, many managers simply don’t bother arranging year-end assessments, missing...
by Ian Stewart | Dec 12, 2012 | Strategy & Leadership
Customer satisfaction and loyalty are the two big buzz terms in service organizations today. Question is, how do you achieve — and measure — them? First step: Instead of targeting good practices, focus on getting rid of the bad ones, says Dr. Bill Bleuel, a Pepperdine...
by Corey Lewis | Dec 11, 2012 | Strategy & Leadership
One of the biggest keys to delivering top-notch customer service is having a seamless service lifecycle. Internal departments need to be able to communicate with each other, and relay that information back to the customer in a timely, friendly manner. The Service...
by Ian Stewart | Dec 11, 2012 | Customer Experience
Service revenues are expected to be up in 2013. What should field service companies do with those gains? The smart ones will re-invest that to drive sustainable growth, says Bill Pollock, president and chief research officer of The Service Council. According to...
by Darren Weiss | Dec 7, 2012 | Field Service Spotlight
Now’s the time for companies to look back on the good, bad, and ugly of this past year and determine what they can do better in the next year. But according to professional service strategist James “Alex” Alexander, most field service organizations...
by Ian Stewart | Dec 5, 2012 | Mobile & Tech
This time a year ago, we were predicting that 2012 would be the “Year of Mobility” in field service — not exactly an out-on-a-limb prediction, but an accurate one in retrospect. This go around, mobile will certainly continue to be a big theme for field...
