How data-driven insights and AI are giving rise to the connected commercial kitchen
The food service industry and its equipment are growing in complexity. This has given rise to the as-a-service provision of kitchen equipment through annual maintenance contracts with designated service providers. Naturally, in such a fast-paced industry, equipment availability and reliability are key priorities. Data-driven insights and technologies, in particular artificial intelligence, can keep kitchens operating at maximum potential. Here, Sarah Nicastro, VP of Customer Advocacy, IFS and Creator of Future of Field Service, analyzes how the largest independent provider of commercial kitchen repair in the U.S., Smart Care Equipment Solutions, uses a comprehensive service platform to keep the nation’s kitchens cooking.
The rapid adaptation of data and smart devices has crept into almost every industry and consumer interaction during a typical day. One industry which may not spring immediately to mind is the food service industry, but research shows that the “connected kitchen” is becoming a reality.
A recent report, published in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, identifies Internet of Things (IoT) opportunities as “data-driven decision-making, supply chain management, and preventive maintenance” among many others that will “leverage specific operational process theories and increase the likelihood of a competitive advantage through innovation across the various sectors of the hospitality industry.”
Building the kitchen of the future
It’s clear to Smart Care that smart appliances in connected kitchens can provide deep and rich insights that can steer the daily actions of restaurant managers and owners alike.
Smart Care serves restaurants, hotels, cafeterias, and other food service operations in more than 40,000 establishments across 42 states. Customers rely on Smart Care’s 800 plus technicians to fix and maintain refrigerators, walk-in coolers, commercial dishwashing equipment, and cooking equipment from conveyor pizza ovens, griddles, steamers, gas ranges, and more.
Smart Care has recently focused on reshaping its IT infrastructure to provide the cohesiveness, consistency, and visibility needed to build its vision to become America’s most respected commercial kitchen service company by 2024.
Scaling service delivery through technology
Gyner Ozgul, COO at Smart Care, and the Smart Care team realized that it was necessary to invest in modern technology to propel the company towards reaching its vision as well as addressing the evolution in customer expectations and the opportunities to better optimize resources. “We needed technology that would help us build a better Moment of ServiceTM for our customers and their end-customers. From an end user perspective, I call it the Amazon mentality, or consumerization. It’s this whole expectation and timing of service delivery, great communication, and constant communication flow, but also things like information on the equipment you’re working on and accessibility of work order management systems,” explains Ozgul. “Positive impact on the customer experience was first and foremost for us.”
Smart Care began its search for more modern technology with clarity on three primary objectives. It was important that the tech would deliver a more modern and consistent customer experience, improve optimization of Smart Care’s resources, and enable the company to scale service delivery as it grows both organically and through acquisition.
AI-driven service keeps expenditure low and ovens burning
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a key success factor in meeting increasing customer demands. With Smart Care looking to drive automation into everyday operations, it now relies on IFS’s AI-driven schedule optimization engine. The engine provides real-time adjustments for dispatch-to-work assignments to get the ideal technician with the right parts on site, even as emergent requests roll in. Smart Care also relies on AI to help technicians with part identification and equipment diagnostics.
As a result, Smart Care service offerings have expanded beyond traditional reactive break-fix repair. Smart Care also sells annual maintenance contracts that require proactive planning and management to ensure resources are available when needed and that plans are priced to be both competitive and viable.
A recent innovation that drives even more convenience for customers is Smart Care’s MYTECH® service. MYTECH® lets customers pre-pay for technician hours to use as the technician sees fit, and when a technician visits, they get a “honey-do list.” “Essentially what the customer has done is given us a work order, saying here’s the list of things I need you to look at as you’re walking in,” says Ozgul. “And then, using the pre-purchased hours, the technician will work on all the items that the customer has noted on their ‘honey-do list’.”
New data streams provide asset and technician insights
Asset information and maintenance history resides in the IFS software and presents possible outcomes that are leveraged to improve services. This data can help Smart Care become a strategic advisor to their customers by offering insights on what assets, makes, or models of equipment are more problematic and when assets are nearing end of life and should be replaced. The final hurdle is to feed equipment insights, gained by experienced techs and structured maintenance histories, back to new technicians so they can provide the same high levels of service and consulting.
With its investment in modern technology, Smart Care has set the stage for its journey to differentiation through data. In time, more kitchen equipment will include IoT sensors that can drive intelligent maintenance. Equipment design will increasingly incorporate smart functionality which will allow it to self-monitor and report proactively on a variety of custom data points from performance of parts, warranty expirations, and advance notice of needed service and repair. Factory-trained technicians will be able to use the data to not only effectively repair the equipment to operating standards, but also to gain insight on the causes of the failure and how it can be prevented in the future.
“IFS helps us to master the seemingly simple things first, like building labor and parts accurately,” explains Ozgul. “That seems very fundamental but believe it or not, it’s easy to do wrong and provides a ton of value when we get it right. With IFS we have a simpler platform with less integrations – and every integration is a breakage point, so this improves integrity and sets a strong foundation from which to build.”
Parts management, work order management, and mobile capabilities are all being leveraged within the platform. “We are working on a few adjacencies to IFS with things like AI tools to help technicians with part and product identification, as well as self-help guides, to improve knowledge management,” says Ozgul.
“Our technicians use the IFS mobile interface, which is an iPad-based work order management system that integrates with the back-office tools. It relays the information the customer provides when they call, as well as any new information that comes from us, to the technician through his mobile device. For instance, we can dictate what questions the technician should be asking the customer. All customer requirements and needs, the work order diagnosis, and history is notated in the mobile solution and then communicated back with the CRM in the background, so we have optics into all of that information up until the closure of the service event.”
A platform for the future of the connected kitchen
Building on its IFS investment, Smart Care is also continuing to evaluate and pilot technologies that work well alongside the platform. Smart Care is utilizing IFS Remote Assistance for remote service capabilities, along with more customer self-help tools.
“Our customers have equipment that is very capital intensive, being able to understand the lifecycle, birth to death of that equipment, and when they should spend their capital on fixing the equipment versus replacing the equipment is something customers want. We now will be able to deliver on that want as we have the capabilities within IFS to house that data in a logical manner, says Ozgul. “The ability to increasingly leverage data as a part of our service value proposition is the most exciting aspect of what our investment in IFS will enable.”
Source: IFS
Date: 5 November 2021
