Service Intel: Recent Episodes
Aquant
In the new age of service, customer experience is a top priority. In the Service Intel Podcast, we are exploring all the issues that are top of mind for service leaders who are tasked with turning OK service into exceptional experiences. Our guests are talking about everything from employee training and cost reductions to new technology in and out of the field. Our service professionals answer your most pressing questions. How do field service heroes create exceptional customer moments? What tools are beneficial along the journey? Where are the pros turning to when they have questions? How are leaders in the industry approaching the importance of data analysis in field service? How is the space changing over time and what are industry titans doing to stay ahead of the game? - Our resident Service Principal, Sidney Lara, along with other top experts from all perspectives throughout the vast space of Field Service will provide the knowledge you need to be on top of the curve in a changing digital world.
This episode was originally a webinar so the participants may reference visuals. If you would like to watch this episode, you can do so here:
In today's episode of Service Intel, Sidney Lara is joined by Joe Lang, VP of Service at Comfort Systems, to discuss the insights from Aquant's recent field service benchmark report.
This comprehensive analysis covers over 24 million work orders, 6.6 million assets, and the practices of nearly 582,000 technicians. They discuss a wide range of topics, from bridging the skills gap and leveraging data and AI, to enhancing an organization's service delivery. Joe Lang shares his personal experiences in tackling service challenges and underscores the importance of initiating an organization's AI strategy sooner rather than later. Enjoy the episode!
In this week's episode of Service Intel, we're diving into the world of AI with special guests Tas Hirani from Aquant and John Carrol, President of the Service Council. They discuss critical strategies for effectively deploying AI within enterprise organizations. Tas sheds light on common obstacles encountered during AI implementation, based on examples from pilot programs with Aquant’s customers, and shares actionable insights for service organizations aiming for success. This is a great episode for any leader looking to implement an AI strategy.
In this episode, Tim Burge, Director at Aquant, steps in for Sidney to interview Ben Sutton of Smith’s Detection. Ben talks about Smith’s Detection’s data journey over the past 4 years, the drivers behind becoming more data-driven, the challenges associated with having an overwhelming amount of data, and the importance of standardizing metrics. They also discuss generative AI’s role in the process and Smith’s Detection’s vision for data utilization in the next 5 years.
In this episode, we sit down with Venkata Reddy, Vice President of Worldwide Service & Support at Bruker Nano Surfaces. Today’s episode is all about team building, Venkata has a ton of experience building teams and will share hiring strategies, and best practices on creating a culture of belonging in the field service industry.
A lot of service organizations are embracing the shift left approach, which is essentially the process of moving resolutions closer to self-service to minimize equipment downtime and improve customer satisfaction. On today’s episode of Service Intel, we are joined by Sasha Ilyukhin from Tetra Pak to discuss Tetrapak’s shift left journey, specifically what drove them to embrace the approach, the execution, and the success that shifting left has had on their business.
In today’s episode, we have special guests Tas Hirani of Aquant and John Carrol from Service Council to talk about generative AI. They discuss its impact on the industry, key considerations for evaluating AI technology for businesses, strategies to gain buy-in for cost-effective and user-friendly AI tools, and practical tips for training AI solutions across various user groups. This is a great episode for anyone looking to understand and leverage AI in service.
This podcast episode originates from a webinar and includes references to visual content such as decks, which are not visible in this audio format. To fully experience the webinar with all its visual elements, please click here: https://discover.aquant.ai/future-service-generative-ai-071823
Joshua Orr, Manager of Product Support Services at John Deere, sheds light on John Deere’s Service Efficiency Journey. He discusses specific strategies they’ve implemented to reduce waste and improve diagnostic time. He also shares how they measure success and the benefits of offering more self-service options.
Today's episode is a special collaboration with the AI in Business podcast. Shahar Chen, CEO and Co-founder of Aquant joins Matthew Demello to talk about the role generative AI-enhanced co-pilot platforms can play, particularly in improving B2B customer experiences in field service across multiple industrial sectors from heavy equipment to healthcare.
On today’s episode of Service Intel, we are joined by Bob Feiner, Senior VP at Dell Technologies Client Solutions Group Support Services. Bob and Sid explore why the most critical view in service is that of your customers — and how to make your CX one to remember. Bob also shares how Dell moved from old-school service tactics to new-school methods like self-service, social media, chatbots, and beyond.
Matt Ganus, the Director of Home Services at Whirpool, joins Sidney for a discussion focusing on Whirlpool's third-party service model. Matt explains what prompted the shift to a third-party model, along with the challenges and wins they’ve experienced. He also shares how the company handles employee training, knowledge sharing, and the role technology will play in the service Whirlpool delivers to customers.
Over the past decade, the ideas and implementations around planned and predictive maintenance have evolved significantly. In this episode of Service Intel, we have Jerry Gross, Former Sr Director of Services at National Instruments -- now owned by Emerson -- here to explore the evolution of predictive maintenance in the field service industry.
In today’s episode, Jonathan Osbourne, VP of Service Operations at Tiffin Motorhomes joins us to talk about Tiffin’s unique approach to customer support. He explains the evolving customer expectations and buying patterns in the space, what they do to enhance customer satisfaction in the RV Industry, and how they’re leveraging technology to meet these new demands.
In the finale episode of Service Intel season 2, Shannon Tymosko joins Sidney for a discussion on the importance of mental health, specifically as it relates to prioritizing mental health in the skilled trades and other male-dominated industries.
In today’s episode, Fernando joins Sidney to discuss how the pandemic led more service organizations to reevaluate their operations and revamp their service contracts to improve customer relationships. Fernando speaks specifically to his philosophy around service contracts and Siemen's unique approach to approaching customers with service contracts to improve customer uptime and generate company revenue.
In today’s episode, we’re excited to have Nick Cribb, President at SAM Service. Nick sheds light on his career journey, and how he got to where he is today. Sid asks Nick to talk about his leadership style, philosophy, and the changes he’s seen in the industry since he first started working in service. The episode closes out with tips and advice on how leaders can run successful service businesses and stay competitive in today’s environment.
In this episode, Juan Cruz, Director of service operations at Haemonetics shares what it takes to kickstart a digital transformation project. Juan and Sid talk through best practices for implementing new technologies, how to identify when to invest in tech, choosing the right technology partner, and building a business case that will get buy-in from leadership.
Subcontractor work and third-party field service teams are on the rise and could eventually account for a majority of the work being completed in the field service industry. Salvador Accardo, VP of Services at AB joins Sidney Lara in Aquant's latest episode of Service Intel to discuss trends related to third parties and contractor work.
Rodger Smelcer, Executive Partner at United Service Technologies joins Sid to discuss how to hire, manage, retain, and appreciate the unique preferences and behaviors of coworkers who grew up in different generations. They also talk about organizational structures and how to navigate cultural issues during a merger or acquisition, specifically as it relates to its impact on various generations of workers.
In today’s episode, we have Anthony Bacak, Director of Global Field Services at National Instruments. Anthony shares his experience raising a daughter with down syndrome and how that inspired him to build an even more inclusive culture at National Instruments — one that accounts for the unique needs of employees with diverse physical and mental abilities. He talks about his company’s inclusion resource groups and the importance of understanding what different team members need to succeed in their roles.
Tune in for a discussion with Sid and Ehab Goldstein, Global VP, Strategy, Competitive Insights & Head of Customer Service at Lifescan. Ehab shares how service teams can use AI to take a more proactive approach to call data. He discusses his team's experience using technology during the call monitoring process and its impact on the way they deliver service. He also shares thoughts about using data for market research, satisfaction feedback surveys, and how to choose the right technology partner.
Sales sells the piece of equipment, service brings the customer back – that’s the topic of this week’s podcast. In this episode, Peter Lee, Sr. Manager, Service Sales and Marketing at Philips joins Sidney Lara to discuss the differences between sales and service teams. Peter shares key strategies to sell service and drive revenue and explains why he believes the point of sale is the easiest and most effective way to sell service.
Lacey Gigante, Director of Post-Market Surveillance at Integra LifeSciences, a surgical and medical equipment manufacturer. Lacey has spent her entire career in the highly-regulated and fast-paced med-device industry. She shares her experience learning how to manage work-life balance and provides leadership tips to enable teams to thrive. She explores this topic in-depth for our listeners in an episode packed with practical advice.
Aquant's Service Intel podcast is back! This season, our host Sidney Lara, Aquant's Service Principal, is connecting with leaders across the industry to openly discuss challenges, wins, and everything related to the next generation of field service.
We’re super excited to get into it and have so much in store for you this season. We will share new episodes on a bi-weekly basis so be sure to download the podcast to keep up with the conversation.
Does your service organization ask the right questions? On episode 8, Curtis Novinger, VP Service Operations, Comfort Systems USA - Mtech, emphasizes that data isn't the only thing that changes companies; it's about the people! He discusses the need to manage traditional KPIs while also using data to identify biases that could be caused by how a business is structured. Organizations need to step back and take a more logical approach in customer experience, optimizing satisfaction. Tune in as Curtis challenges the listener to rethink recruiting, expand what they may perceive as the “limited” available workforce and to hire logistics experts to exceed expectations.
Patrick Jansen, Chief Services Officer at VBR Turbine Partners, joins us to discuss VBR’s transformation of field service and digital iOT support performing remote troubleshooting and diagnostics and going from an MRO, working on turbines themselves along with the instrumentation, to also being a software developer. Tune in to listen to this unique journey as products become more software driven over time with remote system capabilities.
Sasha Ilyukhin, SVP of Customer Service Operations at Tetra Pak, dives into OEE and the goals OEM’s try to achieve with these measures. What is the importance of properly harvesting data as the first step in the journey? Is it better to build strategic partnerships rather than the do it yourself approach? How about sustainability in service, data driven decision making’s role in improving mutual trust, and the need for proactive maintenance? Why does equipment gets more expensive as it ages, and should we focus on people over the technology? Tune in to find out!
On this episode of the Service Intel Podcast we have Roy Dockery - the Vice President of Customer Care at Swisslog Healthcare. Roy gives the blueprint for obtaining more diverse candidates and emphasizes the need for a shifted hiring focus in service and its tremendous benefit. He also describes the importance of avoiding hyper segmentation of your workforce, navigating onsite technician logistics and vendor credentialing through covid, the need to make sure techs are well versed and can fix multiple types of machines and more!
Linda Tucci, the Senior Global Director of Technical Solutions at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, takes us through the journey of a new era in customer support. Emphasizing that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for every client, Linda explains why it’s crucial for customers to be able to flag issues as they build out their technology roadmap from vast global perspectives. To help streamline communication, Ortho created a smart service program that uses proactive alerts and algorithms to provide continuous access to great data and experts. Learn how Linda and Ortho are creating virtual training opportunities and perfecting the entire support experience, which allows the customer to drive the conversation to ensure continuous improvement.
For episode 3 we have Jason Holland,Technical Learning Leader at NCR. Jason describes their one-of-a-kind global tech support that involves blended learning across engineering and training departments to provide a “voice of the field technician." This is a critical step that lets the service department provide feedback to product development. He also explains how the company is working to improve customer satisfaction and employee morale, and how these changes lead to better service outcomes. Lastly, learn about NCR's journey from a reactive to proactive service team thanks to the help of predictive analytics.
On the very first episode of the Service Intel podcast, our expert host Sidney Lara, Service Principal at Aquant, is joined by Marco De Sanctis, Service manager at Agilent Technologies. Marco dives into importance of remote resolution, evolution of the equipment through feedback and design playing a pivotal role, which metrics matter most and how this has changed over time, avoiding recurring failures, importance of surveying customers for feedback, preventive maintenance best practices, the need for crucial insights to evaluate service teams, and keeping his team motivated coming full circle with customer satisfaction.
On episode 2 of the Service Intel Podcast, Sidney is joined by Nave Orgad, the Director of Service Innovation and Service Agreements at Konecranes. Nave describes how he has leveraged data to best promote field service offerings, going from a cost center to a profit center, the need for technician soft skills in order to upsell service, and the importance of having access to parts onsite and how to obtain this effectively. Nave also dives into the need for alignment between product development and service team, explaining successful cross functional troubleshooting within service as an organization. He emphasizes the necessity of cleaning up and structuring data, sometimes more so than even analyzing it - underscoring its crucial importance in any field service operation.
Welcome to the Service Intel podcast. Field Service is rapidly evolving, and we are bringing together top experts in the industry to share perspectives on their own transformation journey, and provide guidance along the way.
Why is it important that we launch this podcast? Why now? Who needs this type of insights?
Our host, Sidney Lara, Service Principal at Aquant who has tremendous experience leading service operations at a global scale for major organizations, provides the answers and gets you ready for what will some impactful, insightful and truly helpful content to come. Stay Tuned!