New IFS Field Service Management 6 from IFS Offers More Planning and Scheduling Capabilities

IFS North America Jan 18, 2019

Press Release Summary:

IFS’ new Field Service Management 6 software, available in the cloud, on-premise, or as Saas, features a new UX with a new browser based interface, more back office, mobile field service, and buying and deployment choices. The software’s new and extended features include better reverse logistics, spare parts management and depot repair, and warranty, contracts, and pricing management. Users are able to customize data fields, work flows, and interfaces. It also allows for omnichannel customer engagement.

Original Press Release:

IFS extends class-leading field service offering with IFS Field Service Management 6

Available now, the most complete, connected cloud field service includes a new user experience (UX), additional, powerful planning and scheduling capabilities, enhanced service-revenue-generating functionality, omni-channel customer engagement and next-generation cloud configurability

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announces the general availability of IFS Field Service Management™ 6 (FSM 6). With major enhancements and new capabilities, it has been field tested and is already delivering value for early adopter customer Eickhoff, a market leader in technology and services for mining and gearbox applications.

IFS’s extended offering for service management, including the WorkWave suite of solutions, offers a breadth of capabilities that is unmatched in the market. This makes IFS uniquely capable of addressing the entire market, from small and medium-sized companies to global enterprises.

IFS FSM 6 brings to market major extensions of its class-leading functionality with more buying and deployment choice in the cloud, even greater mobile field service and back office capabilities, and an intuitive new user experience on any browser or device

The new version empowers users with new and extended features such as enhanced capabilities for reverse logistics, spare parts management and depot repair, and increased flexibility for workforce scheduling optimization. Enhanced functionality for warranty, contracts and pricing management enables entirely new business models for companies that deliver services primarily through distributors.

Designed for deployment as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering, in the IFS Managed Cloud or on-premise, IFS FSM 6 redefines configurability for cloud-based field service, giving customers the freedom to tailor data fields, workflows and interfaces to their unique field service environment. Virtually eliminating the need for costly customizations, the new version makes it easy to optimize user behavior while remaining on a standard upgrade track that enables seamless access to the latest feature enhancements.

IFS FSM 6 also delivers:

Major enhancements to the IFS Planning & Scheduling Optimization™ (PSO) engine: customers can now benefit from a 50% more powerful planning and scheduling engine (on Microsoft Azure) that automates and optimizes technician scheduling, ensuring optimal decision-making based on business goals, customer contracts and service-level agreements
Omni-channel customer engagement and self-service: IFS FSM 6 can be extended with IFS Customer Engagement™capabilities for AI-powered customer service that offers the self-service options customers demand while identifying and relieving agents of the burden of many repetitive, time-consuming tasks
A reimagined, browser-based user interface: performing beautifully on any device, a new front end features user-centric and intuitive designs that adapt to any browser, on any device, empowering users to remain in control of their service operations 24/7 without being tied to the office or contact center

“Our solutions are designed to help the world’s highest-performing service organizations serve their customers in the best, most cost-effective way possible,” IFS service management business unit president Marne Martin said. “With the innovations and enhancements brought to market in IFS FSM 6, coupled with freedom in terms of on-premise or cloud deployment options, we are proud to announce a benchmark solution that can tackle the next generation of field service management challenges in a way no other solution on the market can. For those businesses serious about service being a differentiator for their brand and a source of revenue, IFS is the right choice.”

Eickhoff, a market leader in technology and services for mining and gearbox applications, signed on as an early adopter to field test and optimize IFS FSM 6. Following the successful deployment of IFS FSM 6, Eickhoff head of product development service Dietmar Schmitz said, “It has been a great experience to be involved in the development of IFS FSM 6, which was the motivation for joining IFS’s early adopter program. We use IFS FSM to support all our service operations, across multiple departments, from planning and scheduling of jobs through to asset management. The new version will help us respond more quickly to requests from our users and to changes in the market in general. We look forward to leveraging the new platform as a key enabler of continued digitalization and IoT innovation.”