We recently met up with Andy Payne, head of Engineering Services (Operations Director, Engineering Services) at Fujitsu to learn about an initiative to expand the firm’s support services capabilities. Fujitsu is building a new team of support engineers to do some of the less complex hardware support activities typically undertaken by third parties.
By the end of the year, c300 new people – some with no previous technical experience – will be hired into the team. Fujitsu has taken on a range of new recruits, including apprentices and unemployed people through job centres. The ramp-up period is rapid – after just three weeks of training, field staff are able to respond to up to 50% of support calls. Rather than simply do a ‘card swap’, the Fujitsu engineer will aim to fix the problem on site.
Feedback from customers has been very positive; they say get a better level of service from full-time, Fujitsu-badged employees compared to contractors or third party couriers. Furthermore, Fujitsu has achieved greater savings than expected, for example through using fewer spare parts.
Payne told us that staff who excel would have the opportunity to progress their career and move into other engineering support roles where more experience and knowledge is required. Indeed, this is a great example of a leading IT player doing its bit not just to provide entry level jobs in UK tech (see here), but a long-term career path too.
Fujitsu’s initiative may also be a sign that the support services ‘pendulum’ is starting to swing back in-house. Five years ago, many systems vendors were keen to reduce the number of in-house staff carrying out “feet on the street” support services by outsourcing low level (and perceived low value) activities to third parties. Fujitsu clearly believes the time is right to bring these activities back in house, for good financial reasons as well as to improve customer satisfaction. This could be grim news for third party support organisations and technical courier companies, many of whom are struggling already.