Industrial Management & Data Systems Emerald Article: Understanding wireless field force automation in trade services Stuart J. Barnes, Eusebio Scornavacca, Douglas Innes
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Understanding wireless field force automation in trade services Stuart J. Barnes
172
School of Management, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
Eusebio Scornavacca School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, and
Douglas Innes BearingPoint, Auckland, New Zealand Abstract Purpose – Wireless and mobile technologies are changing the way that many organizations operate and do business. Mobile business-to-employee solutions, especially field force automation (FFA), have been widely adopted throughout the planet. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of wireless FFA in trade services organisations in New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a case study approach to examine two trade services organisations. Findings – The findings demonstrate that wireless technologies can significantly enhance the benefits of traditional FFA. Practical implications – The paper concludes with recommendations for future practice and research. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the academic research in this field by examining two organizations that have already implemented their own wireless FFA solutions and have realized benefits and impacts as a result. Keywords Mobile communication systems, Communication technologies, Automation, New Zealand Paper type Research paper
Industrial Management & Data Systems Vol. 106 No. 2, 2006 pp. 172-181 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-5577 DOI 10.1108/02635570610649835
Introduction In the past decade, the popularization of the internet has generated a profound impact on the way business processes are managed and accomplished (Al-Mashari, 2002; Leem et al., 2004; Olla and Atkinson, 2004; Scornavacca et al., 2004). In parallel with the internet, another technology stream has emerged to play an increasingly important role in business and society: mobile communications (Varshney and Vetter, 2000; Barnes, 2003). Until recently, these technologies have followed largely separate paths (Barnes, 2004). However, since the late 1990s, convergence between the two has been accelerating, resulting in a variety of wireless data communication capabilities, in particular the wireless internet. This has led to the development of sophisticated wireless data services, based on mobile data access and electronic messaging on mobile devices (Barnes, 2003; Siau and Shen, 2003; Scornavacca et al., 2005). One recent development in mobile (m-) business is the application of wireless technologies in field force automation (FFA) (Siau and Shen, 2003; Barnes, 2003; Scornavacca et al., 2005). Wireless FFA has the potential to revolutionize organizations’ distributed workforces (Varshney and Vetter, 2000; Siau and Shen, 2003; Barnes, 2003,
2004). Wireless technologies have experienced incredible rates of advancement, in capabilities of the technologies, but also in terms of acceptance. While we may not be there yet, in the future trends point towards the majority of networks being of a wireless nature (Varshney and Vetter, 2000). The term wireless FFA is usually used to describe mobile employees, remote from their base of operations, utilizing wireless technologies to perform their specific business tasks. In comparison to traditional FFA applications, wireless FFA offers a substantially increased scope for benefits – particularly through real-time, location independent network connectivity (Barnes, 2004). As wireless FFA solutions are becoming widely adopted, it is important to understand in what way they can actually impact on businesses (Lehman et al., 2004). Research into this area is sparse, and little is known about wireless FFA impacts (Rodina et al., 2003; Barnes, 2004; Scornavacca et al., 2005). The trade services sector offers particular suitability for wireless FFA implementations as these organizations often operate in an environment characterized by distributed workforces (Rodina et al., 2003; Blumberg, 1994; Xu and Chiu, 2001). The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of wireless FFA on two New Zealand trade services organizations. The New Zealand trade services service sector offers an excellent opportunity for study as the underlying infrastructure for wireless networking is in place. New Zealand enjoys almost total cellular coverage from two different network providers, high internet availability, and the access to mobile hardware. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. The following section will present a review of relevant literature covering theory on FFA and mobile business. This will be followed by and explanation of the research methodology that guided the current study. The results of the research are then provided for the two cases, along with an analysis. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the key research findings, limitations, and suggestions for further research and practice. Background on wireless FFA There is little doubt that m-business has enormous potential to permeate the whole of an enterprise’s activities, especially in the current business environment (Barnes, 2003; Berger et al., 2002; Rupnik and Krisper, 2003). Siau and Shen (2003) noticed that mobility, reachability, localization, and personalization are key characteristics of m-business that define its uniqueness and potential. Folinas et al. (2002) also identify convenience, time sensitivity, and ubiquity as important characteristics of m-business. Positioned against “fixed” technologies, mobile wireless devices have the ability to synchronize data independent of location and time (Rodina et al., 2003). Much of the literature on mobile business has focused on consumer applications. However, according to studies recently published (Barnes, 2003), the international market for business-to-employee (B2E) is expected to grow twice as rapidly as the market for wireless business-to-consumer applications (Hansen and Deimler, 2001; Siau and Shen, 2003). One wireless B2E application with the potential to generate considerable value for organizations is FFA. A “field force” compasses employees working away from their base of operations while performing their job processes. Some examples of field workers in the service sector are (Rodina et al., 2003): field repair and servicing, facilities maintenance, insurance claims appraisal as well as inspection and regulatory compliance.
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Owing to the employees’ physical isolation from the base of operations, a distributed field force presents unique challenges, particularly in terms of coordination, job assignment, and progress tracking (Blumberg, 1994; Xu and Chiu, 2001; Gruhn et al., 2003). Jobs in the field will have inconsistent characteristics and may call for different skill sets. Some jobs may have very specific time windows and travel times for the field force between locations need to be taken into account. In these situations the scheduling and job management of employees is a particular area of concern (Xu and Chiu, 2001; Chiu et al., 2003). Discontinuous, oral information between the base of operations and the field force often leads to delays and mistakes (Gruhn et al., 2003). Firms aim to have their field force, or field service representatives attending to the maximum number of jobs per day, and that they possess the appropriate skill set for the jobs they attend. Effectively, the goals are the optimization of field service efficiency, productivity, quality, and effectiveness (Blumberg, 1994). Undoubtedly, wireless technologies have a significant potential to help organizations achieving these goals (Rodina et al., 2003; Berger et al., 2002; Effmeyer and Johnson, 2001; Engle and Barnes, 2000; Informatica, 2001; Intermec, 2003; River Run Software, 2001). Methodology The purpose of this study is to investigate how wireless FFA implementations are impacting on organizations operating in the New Zealand trade services sector. To address this objective the study attempts to understand how this technology is affecting core business processes, value propositions and the mobility of the field force in the organizations examined. This study is based on an exploratory dual-case study methodology. Case research is appropriate for researching an area where theories are at formative stages, for emerging technologies, and where little research has been completed (Benbasat et al., 1987). Case research is also appropriate for examining practice-based problems, since it allows a researcher to capture the knowledge of practitioners and use it to generate theory (Benbasat et al., 1987). Case organizations were identified opportunistically, due to the limited number of organizations that have implemented wireless FFA solutions. The organization selection criteria was: (1) be using a fully operational wireless FFA solution that was capable of wirelessly receiving and transmitting data to employees in the field; and (2) be operating within the trade service industry in New Zealand. The following cases were studied (names changed for confidentiality): . Case A is a leading vehicle association in New Zealand with membership totalling over one million. The organization has both commercial and non-commercial ventures, their membership only breakdown assistance service comprises of around 150 service offices. This service and its associated wireless FFA system is the focus of this case study. . Case B is a Wellington based, national supplier of glass and glazing services that operates with a network of local glaziers. It provides a wide range of flat glass solutions to home and corporate customers, it also provides nation wide glazing services for an insurance company. The case specifically focuses on one of the glazing organizations and the wireless FFA system that was developed for their use.
The data collection was carried out primarily through semi-structured face-to-face interviews. They lasted between 45 and 60 minutes. The interviews were recorded on audiotape and supplementary field notes were made during the interview. Some supplementary data was collected through supporting documents volunteered by the interview participants. This included system objective outlines and case study reports from technology suppliers. Unfortunately, the limitations of the research were such that extensive field time was not possible (Leedy, 1997; Creswell, 2003). Results In this section, a brief overview of the system is presented. This is followed by an examination via a cross-case analysis of the impacts of wireless FFA solutions in the two organizations. To structure the analysis, the firm’s value chain model (Barnes, 2003), the mobile enterprise model (MEM) (Barnes, 2004), and the framework of IT-enabled business transformation (Venkatraman, 1994) are used as a guideline. These models provide a valuable framework for examining the impacts of mobile enterprise solutions. Overview of the systems The wireless FFA system found on case A is used specifically for the dispatch of mobile service officers. These officers provide roadside assistance to the organization’s members. Each field force unit has a touch screen laptop computer fitted in the vehicle dashboard. It is connected via a cellular network to a central dispatch centre. Job dispatch and additional information is communicated via the laptop, which also uses global positioning system (GPS) technology to provide a visual representation of jobs as well as the real time location of each road service officer. The system studied at case B is based around the Kyocera 7135 smart phone and cellular network. The device is provided to the glaziers, which allow job management tasks and scheduling. The backend service application is web-based and is outsourced to an Auckland supplier. This case effectively deals with two partner organizations – the management company which operates a network of glaziers, and one of their glazier firms which has, in conjunction with the management company, implemented a sophisticated wireless FFA system. M-business value chain Barnes (2003) examined the value chain (Porter and Millar, 1985) from a wireless perspective, presenting ideas as to how wireless technologies could potentially affect each of the activities. Wireless FFA in trade service organizations is likely to be largely positioned in the operations, services, infrastructure, and – to some degree – human resources areas of the value chain. Because the activities in the value chain are linked to others, wireless FFA implementations can potentially have impacts across many activities of the value chain. Barnes (2003) identifies a number of the key organizational benefits of m-business. Business transformation is the highest goal, driven by effectiveness and efficiency, which are in turn driven by the other benefits. The two cases both discovered a range of benefits from their endeavours into wireless business. Table I shows the specific, effectiveness, and efficiency benefits and rating of the level of benefit that was identified. These ratings are not strictly defined but designed to rank the benefits in relation to those recognized in the other case (business transformation is further discussed in the next section).
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Table I. Level of key benefits achieved
Connectivity and location awareness were both mentioned by all interviewees as being of the most significant benefits. Given that both cases are primarily concerned with dispatch and job management systems it is perhaps not surprising that this was a dominant issue. The systems (both based around cellular networks) significantly increased the links between the mobile field force and the dispatch/office. Real time communication capabilities increased markedly enabling far greater quantities of information to be sent both to and from the field force. The GPS enabled system of case A reached a higher level of location awareness enabling real time tracking. Benefits of flexibility and ubiquity are evident, but in a reduced capacity. The system has allowed the case B field force to be more flexible in the scheduling and daily management of workload and job allocation. They, in conjunction with the dispatchers, can adjust their schedule throughout the day in response to differences between their projected time allocations and actual events. This flexibility is not as evident in case A as there is less of a scheduling component. Both cases did show some ubiquity benefits, being able to perform more processes “on the move”. These perceptions were greater in case A due to the adoption of several new processes from other areas of the business. Interactivity was recorded as low in both instances. There was some sharing of information to outside sources in case A but the systems were both largely focused on the interactions between the dispatch areas and the field force. Efficiency and effectiveness benefits were significant in both instances. Case A noted benefits in response time and roadside productivity. The efficiency and effectiveness benefits reported in case B were more ambiguous although it was believed that some efficiencies were in effect, particularly relating to the increased ability to reallocate a period of time in a glazier’s schedule if it became free during a day. The dispatch and job management processes were made significantly more effective as both cases identified that the amount, accuracy, and speed of the information exchange to and from the field force had reaped benefits. In both cases the effectiveness was mainly limited to this area. The actual services that they are providing – the act of fixing a car or installing glass – were almost completely unchanged. At this point, it is also of interest to compare in what areas of the organisations’ value chains the benefits and impacts are occurring. Figure 1 shows the areas that were impacted in the case studies. Notice that impacts were recorded across seven out of the nine areas of the value chain, however, only four of the nine were present in both cases: infrastructure and human resources from the support activities, and operations and service from the primary activities. Benefits
Case A
Case B
Connectivity Location awareness Ubiquity Flexibility Interactivity Effectiveness Efficiency Business transformation
High High Medium Low Low – medium Medium Medium Business process redesign
High Medium Low Medium Low Medium Low – medium Business process redesign
Understanding wireless FFA in trade services
SUPPORT ACTIVITIES INFRASTRUCTURE HUMAN RESOURCES
PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
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PROCUREMEMNT
MARGIN
SALE & INBOUND OPERATIONS OUTBOUND LOGISTICS MARKETING LOGISTICS
SERVICE
PRIMARY ACTIVITIES
Impacts present in both cases
Impacts present in one case
Case A’s system impacted upon the sales and marketing area of the value chain as the role of the service officers was adjusted to represent other areas of the organization. On the other hand, case B’s relationship with a physical good (glass) eventuated in its wireless FFA system having links to procurement. The management/development company behind case B led to its product development and technology impacts. Enterprise mobility Barnes (2004) developed the MEM in order to provide a high level indication of the degree of enterprise mobility in an organization. The MEM identifies how wireless networks and devices can help to integrate remote, disparate, or roaming employees into the corporate infrastructure. It achieves this by mapping the business against three axes: mobility, process, and market. Mobility measures how location independent the enterprise workers are, ranging from transient (i.e. still tied to specific locations), mobile (much more independent but has to return to base periodically), and remote (almost completely independent from a corporate location). Process maps the changes in business processes generated by mobile technologies, ranging from automation through to transformation, which ties in with Venkatraman’s (1994) framework of IT-enabled business transformation. Market maps the value proposition, ranging from channel access (the funneling of information to the employee), through to adding value to the services, and ultimately new service creation. Barnes (2004) uses the model to define three phases of enterprise mobility: mobile employee linkage, mobile employee empowerment, and mobile enterprise creation. A comparison of the two cases enterprise mobility drawn from the interviewees information shows some differences (Figure 2).
Figure 1. Impacts on the value chain
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Market
Market
Mobile service creation
Mobile service creation
Mobile service value
Mobile service value
Mobile channel access
Mobile channel access
178 Automation
Transient Mobile
Infomation Transformation
Figure 2. Mobile enterprise comparison
Remote
Process
Mobility
Case A
Transient
Automation
Mobile
Infomation Transformation
Remote
Process
Mobility
Case B
Both cases were able to achieve the first level on all three axes. Thus it is evident that mobile employee linkage has taken place (Barnes, 2004). Case A has been able to reach a higher level of mobility with its service officers able to perform almost all their processes from their vehicle. Case B, with its links to the provision of a tangible good has a field force that is comparatively less mobile in nature. Likewise, attributing processes that were performed elsewhere to the field force means that case A is surpassing the level of information. The processes of case B remain unchanged in most aspects but some capabilities are added such as for the ordering process. The services are fairly equal in terms of the market axis. The addition of sales and marketing tasks to the service officers and the links to corporate customers are working towards creating more value for the organization. Case B’s value comes from the ties to the insurance company, which the backend of the system helped secure, and the exploration of selling the system design to other trade service organizations. Looking at business transformation, from the perspective of Venkatraman’s (1994) framework of IT-enabled business transformation, both cases show some significant benefits. Both organizations were able to achieve the level of business process redesign, which is classified as “revolutionary”. They achieved this because neither system was implemented upon existing processes. Instead alterations took place in order to increase the impact of the system. Case A can be argued to have progressed further due to the information sending links outside of the organization (specifically to corporate customers), and a more significant alteration to the processes of the field force. However, the information sent outside the organization is only a way one transaction and is more in line with electronic data interchange, as such does not meet Venkatraman’s criteria for business network redesign. It should be noted that the business transformation is constrained somewhat in neither case were any completely new processes or services introduced as a result of the system.
Conclusions Wireless FFA is an exciting and growing phenomenon. Through the increasing proliferation of mobile and wireless devices and technology, wireless FFA is becoming more attainable to a range of businesses. This research has attempted to contribute to academic research in this field by examining two organizations that have already implemented their own wireless FFA solutions and have realized benefits and impacts as a result. Despite the two organizations differing markedly in size, business model, and operations they both experienced similar levels of benefits derived from the implementation of wireless FFA systems. As job management and scheduling were primary concerns it makes sense that increasing the connectivity and location awareness of the field force should be a primary goal of a wireless FFA system, especially in the service sector (Gruhn et al., 2003; Chiu et al., 2003). Benefits that were not so evident (flexibility, ubiquity, and interactivity) will perhaps come with time. As mobile technology matures and spreads, opportunities for ubiquity and interactivity are likely increase (Varshney and Vetter, 2000; Blumberg, 1994; Xu and Chiu, 2001; Lehman et al., 2004). In terms of the value chain and mobile enterprise it seems that although there were a range of business areas that were identified as impacted, the systems were still largely focused on specific areas of the organizations. When examining the results of the enterprise mobility assessment it is important to consider not only from a trade services, but also from a broader service sector perspective. Another interesting conclusion is that case A field force was able to achieve greater mobility than case B. This is largely because the provision of a physical product is not part of the service that they are providing, and so are not linked to a specific warehouse/materials centre. However, the mobility of the employees in case B is still largely sufficient for the purposes of the organization. In this way it seems that the last level of enterprise mobility may only be attainable for those trade service organizations that do not have links to the provision of tangible goods, a somewhat rarity. Also there was a consensus among the interviewees that almost all their field staff had had little previously experience with IT. Both cases acknowledged this in the design of the system and also identified that training and user acceptance were some of the major challenges that they faced. Benefits and impacts from wireless FFA as shown in this study are significant but in a fairly immature state. As the technology continues to evolve and is integrated deeper into businesses, the benefits and impacts can be expected to be wider reaching in scope. Process and business transformation has the potential to increase as the wireless FFA activities evolve along with technological capabilities. This research was based on two case studies of organizations within the service trade industry in New Zealand. The impacts of wireless FFA solutions described in this research, while generalisable to this context, must be closely scrutinized in their application to other contexts. The research was conducted at a singular point in time and consisted of only one round of data collection. The results were drawn solely from the interviewees’ perspectives and thoughts. Future research should widen the scope of the research in order to provide results that are indicative of a broader range of organizations. Longitudinal study is also
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suggested in order to understand the sustainability of benefits and how they change over time. Future research could also investigate the effect of wireless FFA on the role of the individual field staff. References Al-Mashari, M. (2002), “Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems: a research agenda”, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 102 No. 3, pp. 165-70. Barnes, S.J. (2003), mBusiness: The Strategic Implications of Wireless Technologies, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Barnes, S.J. (2004), “Wireless support for mobile distributed work: a taxonomy and examples”, Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Big Island, Hawaii. Benbasat, I., Goldstein, D.K. and Mead, M. (1987), “The case research strategy in studies of information systems”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 369-86. Berger, S., Lehner, F. and Lehmann, H. (2002), “Mobile B2B applications – a critical appraisal of their utility”, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Mobile Business, Athens, Greece. Blumberg, D.F. (1994), “Strategies for improving field service operations productivity and quality”, Service Industries Journal, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 262-77. Chiu, D.K.W., Cheung, S-C. and Kafeza, E. (2003), “Three-tier view-based mobile workflows”, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Mobile Business, Vienna, Austria. Creswell, J.W. (2003), Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 2nd ed., University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE. Effmeyer, R.C. and Johnson, D.A. (2001), “An exploratory study of sales force automation practices: expectations and realities”, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 167-75. Engle, R.L. and Barnes, M.L. (2000), “Sales force automation usage, effectiveness, and cost-benefit in Germany, England and the United States”, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 216-41. Folinas, D., Vlachopoulou, M., Manthou, V. and Zogopoulos, D. (2002), “The value system of m-business”, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Mobile Business, Athens, Greece. Gruhn, V., Hulder, M. and Ijioui, R. (2003), “Mobile communication systems for truckage companies”, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Mobile Business, Vienna, Austria. Hansen, M.T. and Deimler, M.S. (2001), “Cutting costs while improving morale with B2E management”, MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 96-101. Informatica (2001), “The new era of mobile workers”, available at: www.mobilecontentworld.biz/ PRes/downloads/2806_mobileworkers.pdf (accessed 20 May 2004). Intermec (2003), “8 steps to going mobile: when automating your field force, consider the cost of total ownership”, available at: www.knowledgestorm.com/sol_summary_61985.asp (accessed 20 May 2004). Leedy, P.D. (1997), Practical Research: Planning and Design, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Leem, C.S., Suh, H.S. and Kim, D.S. (2004), “A classification of mobile business models and its applications”, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 104 No. 1, pp. 78-87.
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[email protected] Eusebio Scornavacca is Lecturer in E-Commerce and Information Systems in the School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Douglas Innes is an IT consultant at BearingPoint, Auckland, New Zealand.
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