Customer-Driven Field Service: Transforming Mindset, Technology & Operations for the Experience‑First Era

Insights from the 8th Annual Field Service & Aftersales Summit & Awards 2026 – 21st January, Mumbai 

At the 8th Annual Field Service & Aftersales Summit & Awards 2026, service leaders from India’s most influential industries—Jay Prasad (Founder & CEO, ExaThought), Shriniwas Joshi (Head of Consumer Care, Bajaj Electricals Ltd.), Ravindra Bhaiwal (VP – Global Technical Service & Clinical Applications, Transasia Bio‑Medicals Ltd.), Samir Sil (GM Service – Life Science & Diagnostics, Thermo Fisher Scientific India Pvt. Ltd.), Rakesh Gupta (Head Customer Service, Panasonic Life Solutions India Pvt. Ltd.), Prashant Trivedi (Business Unit Head, B. Braun Medical India), Sibasish Pani (Head Digital Innovation & Technology & Support Service Delivery, Lauritz Knudsen Electrical & Automation), Sunil Kumar Jha (VP – Global Service Head, CEAT Ltd.), and Rahul Kumar Pandey (Head – Customer Support, National Engineering Industries Ltd.)—gathered to unpack one defining question: 

What does it take to build a field service organisation that is truly customer-driven in an experience‑obsessed world? 

What unfolded was a deeply revealing conversation. It went beyond operational checklists and technology adoption—it became a discussion about culture, connectedness, effortlessness, capability, and systems thinking that truly determines customer loyalty. 

1. Experience Thinking: Making Service a Designed Journey, Not a Department 

The discussion began with a shared acknowledgement: Most organisations still view service as an isolated problem‑solving function, rather than a seamless journey spanning the customer lifecycle. 

Customers expect: 

• a single continuous narrative across touchpoints 

• clarity rather than confusion 

• responses that feel human, not procedural 

• journeys that connect discovery → purchase → ownership → service 

Yet many service experiences remain fragmented. 

Examples shared highlighted that even technically accurate resolutions can still feel frustrating when customers must repeat information, deal with inconsistent communication, or experience low ownership. 

The emerging philosophy is unmistakable: Customers remember how they felt, not just what was fixed. This requires shifting from reactive support to intentional experience orchestration. 

2. Disconnected Systems = Disconnected Customer Understanding 

A striking moment during the panel came when participants were asked how many organisations still operate with disconnected systems—CRM, ERP, service platforms, apps, call centre tools. 

Almost every hand in the audience went up. 

This reveals a major industry-wide reality: 

• Customer data is siloed 

• Frontline teams see incomplete history 

• Systems don’t share context 

• Service journeys restart with every new interaction 

The insight was simple yet transformative: Connecting enterprise systems is the first step to truly knowing customers. 

Without integrated data, organisations remain trapped in symptom-solving, unable to create personalised, anticipatory experiences. 

3. The Metric Shift: Why NPS & TAT Alone Don’t Move Customer Loyalty 

For years, organisations celebrated better Turnaround Time (TAT) and strong Net Promoter Scores (NPS). Yet customer retention did not improve. 

This disconnect prompted deeper introspection. 

New experience-led metrics are now gaining prominence: 

Customer Effort Score (CES) 

Measures how hard the customer had to work to get help. 

Resolution Quality Index (RQI) 

Evaluates if the issue was resolved thoroughly, correctly, and confidently. 

Handoff Accuracy 

Tracks the number of transitions a customer experiences. 

These metrics expose what TAT and NPS hide: the emotional friction customers face throughout the journey. Organisations are now realising that “fast” service is meaningless if the process feels complicated or repetitive. 

4. The Frontline Workforce: Skills, Purpose & Cognitive Load 

One of the most powerful insights revolved around the people who make service happen—technicians, field engineers, service agents. 

They face: 

• system overload 

• disjointed information 

• increasing complexity 

• pressure to deliver under tight SLAs 

• the need to manage emotionally charged interactions 

Digital transformation often unintentionally increases their cognitive load. 

This has led to a new understanding: 

Skills > Tools 

Tools only work when frontline teams have: 

• the skills to use them 

• the will to adapt 

• clarity of purpose 

• contextual understanding 

• empathy and judgement 

The idea shared during the panel was compelling: Knowledge comes from purpose, will, and skill—not from tools alone. 

Reducing attrition, improving training, and defining clear purpose for frontline roles are now seen as foundational to service transformation. 

5. AI Adoption: A Human Trust Problem, Not a Technology Problem 

While AI is becoming central to diagnostics, routing, predictive maintenance, and recommendations, adoption challenges persist. 

Frontline teams often hesitate to rely on AI because: 

• outputs feel generic 

• recommendations lack context 

• data behind AI is fragmented 

• past experiences reduce confidence 

The solution lies not in more AI, but in trust-building and contextual intelligence. 

AI must: 

• reduce cognitive workload 

• enhance technician confidence 

• provide human-like context 

• integrate seamlessly into existing decision flows 

Only then will AI evolve from an analytical engine to a credible partner in service excellence. 

6. Technology Must Reflect Customer Pain, Not Internal Reporting 

Several organisations shared that their dashboards painted an optimistic picture while customers continued to escalate. 

Why? Because dashboards were designed for leadership reporting—not for real customer pain. 

The industry is now recognising the need for: 

• dashboards that mirror customer reality 

• predictive signals 

• early escalation visibility 

• unified customer histories 

• actionable insights for frontline teams 

Technology must be practical, empathic, and outcome-driven—not ornamental. 

7. Knowing the Customer: The Shift to Hyper-Personalised, Contextual Service 

Customers don’t want more channels—they want the right channel at the right moment, with minimal effort. 

Organisations are now: 

• orchestrating journeys intelligently 

• reducing repetition 

• designing context-aware responses 

• personalising interactions based on history 

• simplifying access to support 

The new standard is: Service should feel effortless, intuitive, and personalised—not transactional. 

This marks the transition from multi-channel service to hyper-personalised, contextual, intelligent service delivery. 

Conclusion: The Future of Field Service Is Connected, Empowered & Experience-Led 

Insights from the 2026 summit point clearly to the future: 

The leaders of tomorrow will be those who: 

• connect their enterprise systems 

• adopt metrics that reflect customer effort 

• reduce cognitive load on frontline teams 

• invest in skill, purpose, and capability 

• build trust-led AI adoption 

• use technology to illuminate customer pain 

• design seamless, personalised journeys 

• embed customer-centric culture at every level 

Service excellence is no longer achieved through speed or scale alone—it is achieved through connection, empathy, intelligence, and intentional experience design. 

This is the new blueprint for customer-driven field service in an experience-first world.