"The challenge in field service management is to optimally plan the deployment of the different resources,

says Christoph Jaritz - Branch Manager Styria & South Burgenland - Schrack Seconet AG.

"The so-called scheduling is mostly done by our office staff, who have to consider factors such as travel distances, appointments, staff qualifications, working time models or material consumption. On the other hand, there are the field service employees who are often on the road alone and therefore spend a lot of time writing service reports, noting down material inputs and recording their working hours on the side. This is where the Oracle Field Service Cloud comes into play for easy structuring and planning. Thanks to functional algorithms, it helps us to make scheduling as simple as possible for the office staff. It includes all factors in the planning and even spontaneous orders during the day are no longer a problem thanks to the Field Service Cloud. It recognises free periods and can assign the appropriate technicians directly. On the other hand, the Field Service Cloud can also be used directly on site via an app. With the help of the tool, the field service employee can import orders, create service reports, record his working hours and log his material consumption. What he would have needed a lot of time for without the software can now be done almost on the side.

"In order to introduce a field service solution, companies should pay attention to their respective requirements and circumstances. This means not only at the application level, but also the technically required infrastructure must be in place. Especially the questions of how the integration is created must be answered. We use the Oracle Integration Cloud here,

says Mr Markus Volkmann - Head of Digital Strategy, IT Services & Organisational Development - Schrack Seconet AG.

"We use the Oracle Integration Cloud in the first step for the integration of the Field Service Cloud to our ERP system (Microsoft NAV) and to our ticket solution (ServiceNow). In the future, however, we also plan to integrate non-Oracle products. For the selection of the platform, topics such as the size of the company and the number of employees, the number of branches, languages and the legal basis must also be clarified internally. A very important factor is, of course, the partner with whom one goes into the implementation. As an international company, it was particularly important for us to choose a partner who has the necessary skills but is also located locally. Here primeone business solutions gmbh really convinced us from the first appointment. In addition to process optimisation, which we had set ourselves as an internal goal, the issue of customer satisfaction was also very important. With primeone, we knew immediately that we were talking about the same thing here and that they didn't just want to implement a solution, but also think beyond the processes. We selected the branch in Styria as a pilot, which was able to start the first test operation after only 4 months. Since April 2021, we have been using the Field Service and Integration Cloud productively in Styria and are receiving positive feedback from the employees here as well. By the end of the year, we will roll out the system in the other offices. In my opinion, all of this is only possible on the basis of cloud software in conjunction with an experienced partner.

"Thanks to its modular structure, which can be adapted to any budget and need, this path was perfect for this innovation project. In addition, we always want to be up to date with new regulations and innovations. Centralisation of data and real-time coordination and communication between all parties involved: offices, warehouses, internal and external technicians, partners and customers are also becoming increasingly important for us. Most importantly, however, is definitely the dematerialisation of forms: For us, this means less paper waste, fewer problems with input or omissions thanks to mandatory fields, pre-filling, etc."

says Mr Markus Volkmann.