Investor view: there is much room for improvement in field force customer service

“Online sales and delivery contrasts starkly with the typical utility offering of an all-day or half-day appointment.”

In the face of ever-increasing challenges for utility field forces, there are opportunities for best-in-class operators to outperform and enhance shareholder returns.

Customers’ expectations are higher than ever. Online sales and delivery (one-hour slots for the supermarket food drop-off seven days a week) contrasts starkly with the typical utility offering of an all-day or half-day appointment. Complete reliability of power and water networks is already expected: continual availability of telecommunications networks is rapidly becoming a core demand, increasing the pressure on owners to improve fix times and enhance network capacity.

Asset infrastructure is, in parts, aging and frequent unplanned repairs become necessary, and the more recently installed infrastructure demands specific technical skills to install, maintain and fix. Compounding capability issues is field force capacity. The smart meter rollout is driving a peak in demand for field installation. Similarly, many telecommunications providers are driving annual increases in the volume of their network rollout. Competing for limited resources and upskilling existing teams adds cost.

So what are best-in-class operators doing to counter this erosion of profitability? A growing trend is the use of data analytics and insight development for planning and scheduling, which helps operators align team capability with task-scheduling. This includes evidence-led assessment of individual skills against quality of delivery, and quantifies how external field resources should be flexed in and out to maximise performance. Data-led field force optimisation should not be a surrogate for existing best-practice, but should sit alongside ongoing reviews of performance management, monitoring of working patterns and strategies to ensure retention of key staff.

There are benchmarks for field force operations and if performance is below-par, operators should ensure there is a rapid improvement plan. This would include a clear strategy for the use of third-party field forces as a means of bridging both the capability and capacity gaps. Once an operator achieves parity with peers, continued innovation will be required to keep pace: and the role of data analytics will be critical.

Martin Price, director, Baringa