Transforming Field Service with Generative AI

The Opportunity

In an era where machinery is becoming more complex, Ascendum recognized the need to enhance field service support. By collaborating with McKinsey and Salesforce, they aimed to find value areas and cross-impact with feasibility. Time is of the essence for customers, and even diagnosing an issue can take up to 30 minutes as agents search through vast amounts of data. Building a solution to these challenges has the potential to create significant customer value by reducing equipment downtime.

The company's operations involve distributing and maintaining over 25 different brands of machinery and equipment. With a team of dedicated field and service agents, Ascendum is committed to rapid mobilization and swift issue resolution.

The Solution

Ascendum initiated a transformation to harness the potential of generative AI. Through strategic collaboration with McKinsey and Salesforce, they identified and evaluated 30 potential use cases where generative AI could deliver significant value. For instance, one use case involved using generative AI to help agents quickly pinpoint equipment repair instructions from a large body of technical documents.

Ascendum led the mobilization of its business organization and provided essential customer and industry insights. QuantumBlack brought deep industry knowledge and advanced AI capabilities, along with integration support for Salesforce technologies. Salesforce delivered a seamless user experience through its development tools, giving access to customer data. Over five weeks, McKinsey's QuantumBlack team built the generative AI engine on the Salesforce platform, working closely with field agents to ensure model output was trusted and useful.

The Impact

The partnership resulted in a generative-AI-powered solution seamlessly integrated with Ascendum's Salesforce Service Cloud. The pilot solution implemented in just four weeks led to significant improvements. It enhanced first-time resolution by streamlining access to information and providing more accurate troubleshooting diagnoses. This freed service teams from repetitive tasks and allowed them to focus on adding value to customer relationships and driving business growth.

Faster issue resolution directly translated into reduced equipment downtime, saving customers between $5,000 to $12,000 per hour. Construction workers and other operators no longer lose as much time to technical delays, experiencing less disruption to their daily work. This initiative has set a new benchmark in the industry, leveraging cutting-edge technology to redefine service standards and deliver unparalleled value to customers.

As McKinsey senior partner Peter Dahlstrom said, "Technology enablement offers a new approach to field operations, making the process faster and saving significant time for agents." This work is a prime example of how their partnership with Salesforce drives real impact at scale.