A collection of field service news and views worth checking out:

Get Your Techs Onsite, on Time

The service technicians’ time range: it’s universally loathed, and yet service organizations continue to subject their customers to lengthy, noncommittal windows in which to expect service. In Bloomberg Businessweek, Hannan Carmeli, ClickSoftware’s president and COO, offers five simple tips for companies that wish to end the waiting game. A few highlights from Carmeli’s column:

  • Be punctual: provide specific time slots — and stick to them
  • Stress thoroughness: fix the problem correctly, the first time
  • Eliminate hassles: empower technicians will all the tools and intelligence they need to solve the customer’s problem

HVAC, Lighting Acquisitions: Truth & Rumor

Greentech Enterprise posted a rundown on the recent HVAC acquisitions and how the lighting industry may experience its own buying spree. Lighting systems uses nearly as much power in a commercial building as the HVAC system — 25% and 32%, respectively. According to the article, lighting systems are largely uncontrolled and can’t be dimmed on the network, which means companies that produce dimming technologies, such as Lumetric, Digital Lumens and Metrolight, could be tempting to industry giants such as Honeywell and Siemens.

Upcoming Light Bulb Regulations

More lighting news from Greentech Enterprise: The publication recently posted an informative article on the regulatory shift away from incandescent light bulbs. In the U.S., efficiency standards will likely lead to a phase out of incandescents by 2014, which is startling considering that they account for nearly 80% of the bulbs sold to U.S. consumers. Several key reasons for the shift:

  • Efficiency standards imposed by the U.S. government indicate the end for incandescents by mid-decade.
  • Incandescent light bulbs are extremely inefficient. About 5% of power goes to illuminating the bulb. The remaining 95%? Lost as heat.
  • It’s old technology. Tube TVs and tube stereos have been out of the market for decades, but light bulbs remain the last vestiges of an 1800s technology that’s still used today.