Yell urges plumbers to use web for promotion

In order to demonstrate this, Yell has launched an Infographic, which helps them to identify what people are searching for when looking for a plumber in their area.

The Infographic follows research that found over 823,000 searches online for the keyword ‘plumber’ take place each month around the country. Yell is attempting to highlight the fact that people often search for local services, with 40,500 searches with the keyword ‘London plumbers’ made each month, according to the Infographic.

Yell claims that plumbers and indeed other firms that offer customer service through a mobile workforce, should promote themselves online through improving their search engine optimised web content, their email marketing and their advertising.

To improve customer services, businesses with mobile engineers should also deploy work planning software to ensure that customer service standards are as high as possible.

Research by marketing consultancy, GroupM found that a staggering 58 per cent of purchase decisions now start with consumers performing searches through Google and other search engines.

Cloud technology to expand in coming year

Peter Job, the chief executive of Intergence Systems, said that although the cloud computing industry is biggest in the US, it is growing in Europe and that developments will be made to keep up with business demands.

Speaking to IT hot desk, he explained that, historically, firms have been sceptical about the security of the cloud, but are coming to realise that measures have been taken to tighten security. Meanwhile, he added,
“Obviously, it's a much bigger market than Europe, but I think they seem to be embracing the technology and as with most things – what tends to start in America then tends to come across to Europe quite quickly.”

He also stated that over the coming year to 18 months, we will see “a lot more innovative cloud products”.

Businesses in the UK are already reaping the benefits offered by adopting remote desktop technology. For example, firms are discovering that they can cut the costs of equipment with the help of virtual desktops, while reducing IT support costs by outsourcing it to the cloud.

Mobile workforce could benefit customer service in 2012

The website talked to a panel of experts about their customer service priorities for 2012 and found that many hope the growing mobility of the workforce will act in their favour. Zack Ulocker of Zendesk, for example, said, “In 2012, the mobile consumer and the mobile workforce will rapidly converge.”

“Officially sanctioned or not, many customer service employees will make use of their smart phones, iPads, and personal accounts like Twitter and Facebook to solve their customers problems because they can react more quickly and easily,” he added.

Adopting a solid service desk management software solution to help track and organise a mobile workforce is essential for firms that want to ensure they make the most of this new way for working. In addition, providing remote IT support for employees is important if they are to use their devices for work. Local IT support and work planning software will also play vital roles in mobile workforce management in 2012.

Remote working can boost productivity if handled correctly

Nathaniel Borenstein, who is a pioneer of digital communication and great supporter of remote working as a concept, claims that some businesses can save thousands of pounds per employee, as they can boost productivity and reduce office and equipment costs by embracing remote working.

Other firms, that have little choice but to have their engineers out on the road, can use engineer scheduling software and other mobile workforce management software to ensure staff are productive and organised.

Other advantages outlined by Borenstein include the fact that remote working opens up a whole new, diverse range of employees to jobs they could not do from a central office. New employees could include the disabled, carers, parents of young children and people that live in remote regions of the country.

The argument against remote working is based around the benefits of face-to-face communication, which can be achieved with regular in-office meetings. In the meantime, keeping close contact with workers through work planning software can be useful in boosting morale.

How to shop for a new service management solution

He claims that there are a number of questions firms should ask themselves when looking for a new service management solution, to ensure they get what they actually need. He compares this to shopping for a car.

Some of the processes a business should go through, according to Mr Mann, is to think about what they actually need, rather than what is available. Decision makers should also identify the features that they need the most and the least and keep these in mind throughout.

He recommends that decision makers talk to people within the company that have had experience with different vendors and systems and ask for their advice. He adds that it could also be worth seeking out existing clients of the vendors being considered for their feedback.

Mr Mann claims that it’s a good idea to ask for a pilot run, or a ‘test drive’ of any service desk management software to make sure it’s appropriate. Asking for what the business actually needs when talking to vendors will also result in a much better service than simply asking what a vendor usually offers.

Haulage efficiency can be helped with service management tools

The tyre making company stated that 15 per cent of haulage firms are concerned they could be out to work within just eight years due to increased environmental regulations.

The report, which was based on interviews with 400 haulage firms of various sizes, is intended to, “help fleets better understand, and therefore better prepare for, the needs of the road transport industry in 2020 and beyond.” The survey found that 30 per cent of the haulers in Europe have no plans in place to try to respond to the new legislation over CO2 emissions that are expected to come into force in the coming decade.

The report claims that 18 per cent of haulage firms claim that further incentives for more intelligence and efficient management of fleets will help them to deal with the problem. Deploying work management software and service desk management software can help haulage firms to ensure that their mobile workforce is tracked and managed efficiently.

Survey finds server virtualisation is now commonplace

The research found that the technology was being deployed by 60 per cent of the forum’s members, largely in order to cut costs and consolidate the space needed for the servers in data centres.

Dani Briscoe, the Corporate IT Forum’s research services manager, said, “Virtualisation is established. It is a known thing. People are happy with it. The distinction between private cloud and virtualisation is becoming blurred.”

She added that when compared with the percentage of firms using virtualisation 18 months ago, it is easy to see that cost saving is seen as a major benefit offered through virtualisation. Despite IT budgets remaining flat, this is an area that many firms have invested in, to save money in the long run.

“One box can run many servers. People can reduce hardware support costs, but there is added complexity in licensing costs,“ she added.

The same can be said for the deployment of virtual desktops, which can also help to free up cash that would have been spent on hardware, in-house IT support and upgrades, for example.

CIOs clearly see cloud computing benefits

The study, carried out by independent researchers at Vanson Bourn, established that 70 per cent of the CIOs questioned agreed that “cloud computing and virtualization technology had the biggest positive impact on businesses in 2011."

The percentage rose to 76 per cent among CIOs of smaller firms, according to the study, which suggests it’s not just major corporations that are using cloud technology.

BT Engage’s CEO, John Thornhill, said that cloud computing was becoming a “business, rather than just technology terms and companies are now using these technologies in earnest.”

The CIOs also stated that they thought their role and their profile within their business had improved as a result of the uptake of cloud technology. Benefits such as better productivity, more automations, lower costs and better customer service all leave CIOs with more time to focus on the strategic elements of their roles.

The study concluded that the interest in the cloud is only set to increase in the coming years as its benefits become even more well know in the business community.

Oil and gas engineering jobs to emerge in 2012

“During the recession, lots of projects didn’t make it past the financial investment decision stage, but many were sanctioned in 2011 and as a result of this we can expect an increase in demand for construction and commissioning roles,” explained Simon Coton, NES’s Managing Director.

However the industry may find a shortage in people with the right skills, as a result of fewer people going into this line of work. This has resulted in the oil and gas sector looking at other engineering sectors to try to attract talent to fill vacancies.

Mr Coton explained that much of the workforce in the shipbuilding and electrical engineering sphere “can be retrained to work in oil and gas because they use a lot of the same skills.”

Despite this diversification, the oil and gas industry is expected to see some shortage in skills in the coming year, As a result, intelligent work planning software and mobile workforce management systems can be useful in ensuring wok is completed despite depleted engineer numbers.

Poor customer service still affecting homeowners

The survey, which was carried out by YouGov, found that only 22 per cent said customer service had improved somewhat over the period, while only 3 per cent said they had noticed a significant improvement.

The survey questioned some 1,400 people about their attitudes to the service they have received in their homes. The outlook looked rather bleak for those firms relying on their mobile workforce to respond to public requests for in-home services, such as plumbing, heating, gas and electrical engineers, for example.

Some 49 per cent attributed the poor customer service to impolite staff, while 19 per cent said that timeliness was a major problem for many of them. The same percentage again (19 per cent) said that they found engineers were sometimes not able to fix their problems and that this led to poor customers service.

Firms that deploy engineer scheduling software will often reduce these issues and improve customers service, particularly around busy times of year like Christmas and mid-summer when staff shortages might come into play.