Cost Benefit and Impact of Remote Diagnostics
Full quantifiable measurement of remote diagnostics cost benefits has yet to be pragmatically
demonstrated in a broad sense. However, it is, clear that diagnostics technology
does have some measurable impact. A comprehensive study of the primary benefits and
impacts of service diagnostics in equipment service showed an array of primary and direct
benefits and impacts, as indicated in Figure 99-9. These benefits can be measured in terms
of improvements in service delivery as viewed by the service provider, the field service
organization, and the customer.
A survey of well over 100 service providers indicated that service diagnostics can
reduce the training time and can reduce or eliminate the effort required to collect and analyze
repair and maintainability data. Diagnostics also can help the service organization
directly in improving the allocation of craft personnel and parts resources, to reduce costs.
Diagnostics technology also has been found to provide a way to deliver better service and
product differentiation to the customer from the perspective of the service providers identified
above and customers (based upon a survey of over 250 customers). Additional
direct benefits include reduction in the overall mean-time-to-repair, including a reduction
in the number of “broken” calls due to a lack of availability of parts or skills on-site.
Finally, the service providers and the customers observe that service diagnostics could be
used to improve the ability to deliver service in remote or inaccessible areas.
Quantification of these benefits was more difficult, however