Episode Transcription
Inga
Good afternoon, Anastasiia! Thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. And thanks for agreeing to share your experience implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service at KTS Engineering. It really means a lot to us to hear this story straight from the client’s side. So, let’s get started.
Anastasiia
Yes, let’s do it.
Inga
Let’s go. Tell us a little about yourself, about KTS Engineering, and your role at the company.
Anastasiia
Hi everyone. I work at KTS Engineering — we service equipment and provide related support and technical assistance to our clients. As for my own role, it was really about understanding the business needs, the users’ needs, and translating those into system requirements, and then working with the developers to help drive those changes through. And on top of that — some hands-on technical support for colleagues who reach out with questions about how the system works. Honestly, that’s exactly why they brought me onto this role in the first place — because ideas were already coming up that something needed to change.
Inga
So now we’ve got a better sense of the context you’re working in. Let’s move on to the project itself. What were the main challenges in your service processes before you implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service, Anastasiia?
Anastasiia
In my opinion, the main problem was that information was scattered literally everywhere. Everyone kept their own Excel file, jotting down whatever information they needed, and there were a million of those files. And whenever you needed to track something down, it turned into a full-on detective investigation — where’s that piece of information, who has it, is it even up to date? We were burning a ton of time just trying to get the data current. The core problem was different storage places, different people involved. It was a nightmare.
Inga
Right, I hear you, and that’s exactly what pushed things toward change. Got it, thanks. So at what point — what was the trigger? When did you realize the existing processes had…
Anastasiia
Hit a critical mass, right?
Inga
Yes, exactly, that’s it.
Anastasiia
I think it’s a pretty standard scaling situation — more clients, more requests coming in. And what used to work just because someone remembered things, jotted stuff down in their notes — at that volume, it just stopped working. We started missing things, some requests weren’t being handled fast enough, and the whole Excel-file approach hit a dead end.
Inga
Right, so you made the call that something had to change, and then came the question of picking a platform.
Anastasiia
We want to serve our clients well — quality, speed, and less time spent doing it.
Inga
Anastasiia, why Microsoft Dynamics 365 specifically, and why OntargIT as the implementation partner?
Anastasiia
Microsoft Dynamics integrates really easily with the other Microsoft products we’re already used to working with. As for OntargIT — we talked to a few different vendors, and OntargIT came back with a plan and a timeline that actually worked for us. That was the biggest draw, honestly, because we were already out of time — we needed this rolled out yesterday. We wanted the new system up and running as fast as possible.
Inga
So you were under a tight deadline, and that worked in your favor. Thank you. Now tell me — going into the implementation, what were your main expectations for the project?
Anastasiia
Well, moving away from Excel files, so everything lived in one place, so everyone did their piece of the work and logged their information, and that information could then be used by whoever else needed it. That was the main thing. And we also really wanted better analytics on the work we do — without analytics, you can’t make good calls about where to go next. That’s still something we need today, so we’re slowly working toward it.
Inga
Thank you. Now let’s get into the actual rollout. Anastasiia, how would you describe working with the OntargIT team?
Anastasiia
It was great. Everyone had a good sense of humor, honestly, it was fun. We did interviews, nailed down our requirements, put together an action plan, and — this was the best part — we actually stuck to that plan and delivered everything on time. I’d probably call out one thing especially: you know how users always want that magic wand — one button that instantly fixes every single problem? The team reined us in a bit and said, “Let’s figure out what’s actually critical to get you live, and what’s just nice-to-have that we can build later.” So thanks to that guidance from OntargIT, we nailed down the must-haves, put them on the roadmap, delivered on time, and starting the new year we were already up and running in the system.
Inga
Great, love that, thank you. So the new system’s live, everything’s in place. Tell me — which processes changed the most after the rollout? What felt like the biggest, most noticeable shift for you?
Anastasiia
Well, I stopped hunting for information across different places — it’s all in one spot now. I can pull up how many requests came in, of what kind — so I’ve got some real analytics and visibility into where every request stands, which clients reach out most often, and with what kinds of issues. That’s one piece of it — just how much easier it is to work with information. Also, the rollout happened alongside a bunch of other process changes at the company, so honestly I couldn’t tell you which came first, the chicken or the egg — it all sort of tangled together. For example, we now have a dedicated team handling client requests, because it used to be more of a field-service model, but now there’s so much new equipment and so many less experienced users who need support and guidance early on. So a whole separate unit basically emerged to support that — which never existed before. I think there’s also a much clearer sense of who’s responsible for what. Before, one person might’ve handled everything, but as we scaled up headcount, it made sense to split responsibilities — and that meant we needed clear documentation: who does what, at which stage, who hands off what information to whom. So, a lot of changes got tangled up together, and honestly that’s still ongoing.
Inga
Anastasiia, thank you, that was a really detailed, thorough answer. And I think we’ve already touched on day-to-day service team operations. So tell me honestly — do you now have better visibility into service requests, engineers’ work, and planning?
Anastasiia
Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. We do have visibility — we know where people are, what work they’re doing. Because sometimes when people are out on a job…
Inga
Sorry to jump in — and that’s in real time? Not after the fact, not a couple of days later, but actually live?
Anastasiia
Yes. Because you really do need to know, in the moment, where everyone is. And if a request for extra work comes in for that region, we can quickly figure out who to hand it to, whether that person has time available, and what needs to happen next. Also, honestly, management would love to have dashboards, but that’s still on our roadmap. Right now we’re focused on making sure the data going in is solid — some kind of foundation for reporting — and pretty soon we’ll build out a monitoring system for management, so they can feel confident everything’s on track and there’s no lag in handling client requests. So yeah, there are still plans for that down the line.
Inga
So the goal is a nice, clean visual — dashboards, KPIs, metrics. Thank you, thank you. And you know, I’d really love to ask about the team’s experience directly — how quickly did the team adopt the new system, overall?
Anastasiia
Oh, that really varied — everyone had their own experience with it.
Inga
Okay, so — how tough was the transition?
Anastasiia
I wouldn’t say it was straight-up hard, because I’d already been through an implementation before, and I knew there’d be some pushback, some confusion — like, “why do we even need this, things already worked fine, why change anything.” But we’re working on identifying the repetitive, routine tasks every user deals with, and showing them: look, right now this task takes you this long, but now you won’t have to spend that time — and you can put that freed-up time toward something more useful. My job is basically to make sure every user gets some kind of win out of this, so they see the change in a more positive light — because not everyone realizes they’re all part of the same chain…
Inga
The cause-and-effect chain. Let me try to put it this way…
Anastasiia
Right, everyone contributes their part, and how well a colleague does their piece affects how much time the next person needs and how good the final result is. So basically, everyone’s putting in effort to get across the finish line—
Inga
—and come out winners!
Anastasiia
Exactly, exactly. Not everyone sees it that way yet, but we’re slowly getting there and proving that the system wasn’t built to make life harder — quite the opposite, it’s there to change things for the better and make them simpler.
Inga
To simplify things, make life easier, make the team’s work more efficient. And Anastasiia, an important question about business impact: whether the rollout is partial or complete at this point — what impact has it had directly on the business, in terms of operational efficiency and how you work with clients?
Anastasiia
In my view, the system we got lets us log every client interaction much more precisely. And you know, it’s not just our internal processes that changed — we’re gradually changing how we communicate with clients too, because before, it was mostly phone calls and conversations that never got recorded, and things only got done because someone happened to remember. Now we have a good number of clients, a good number of requests coming in every day, we log all of it, and we distribute it across the team. It’s incredibly convenient that, thanks to shared access to this information, if someone’s out sick or something comes up, another colleague can just pick up where they left off. That’s genuinely useful — even today, actually — I mentioned it’s been a pretty hectic day because one of our key people, who handles request distribution, is out sick, and I was able to step in for them without a hitch, so the work just kept moving. We’ve also created new roles, brought in new people to handle responsibilities that used to just be lumped into everyone’s general workload, and that makes things easier too, because each person with a specific skill set handles their piece best, which frees others up to focus on what they’re better at. So basically we’ve shifted from a generalist approach to specialization, and that saves time and raises the quality of the work we do.
Inga
That sounds like real professionalism — everyone doing what they do best. Thank you, Anastasiia, I’ve really taken in your story — it’s a story of professionalism, a story of success. I’d like to zoom out for a second: I think it’s pretty clear that service engineering companies need to keep up, often in constantly challenging, dynamic conditions. How important do you think automating service processes is for a business like this?
Anastasiia
Honestly, I don’t think there’s even a debate here — it’s a must-have. That’s exactly why we have computers, why we have software — so they can take over the routine, repetitive work.
Inga
Can’t do without it.
Anastasiia
There’s just no point otherwise. People are there to bring their expertise and handle more complex, creative work. And to make room for that, you need to free up their time from the stuff that can easily be automated. Whatever the system can handle, the system should handle — and people should get to be creative. I think that’s both more interesting for employees and it motivates them more.
Inga
Anastasiia, let me make sure I’ve got this right — when you said you know your engineer’s location in real time, plus their qualifications and whether they’ve got availability — am I right that you’re using mobile apps for that?
Anastasiia
Yes.
Inga
Got it. So basically, without mobile apps, without this whole digital shift, there’s really no way to know where someone is and how quickly they could get somewhere — it just wouldn’t be possible?
Anastasiia
It’d be possible, but it would eat up an entire day. A manager, for instance, could stay in touch with these engineers and track where everyone is, but instead of having a smooth process for that, they’d just be stuck on the phone the whole time trying to sort out the basics.
Inga
Manually, over the phone, is that right? So just staying in touch — that would literally mean phone calls?
Anastasiia
Right, and jotting things down somewhere on the side. And you’re spot on that things change really fast — the situation in the morning can look completely different by lunchtime. That part’s gotten a lot simpler now. Actually, here’s another big shift — we used to plan the next day’s work every single morning, and now we’ve moved to planning a whole week ahead. That’s a massive time saver, and honestly probably one of our biggest wins.
Inga
So now you can comfortably scale and take on more requests. Anastasiia, I had one more question — what advice would you give companies that are just starting to think about automation? Though I think you’ve basically already answered that — it’s a “must-have”?
Anastasiia
I’d probably say — don’t expect it to be some magic pill. The system itself doesn’t solve your problems — it’s a tool that helps you solve them, a tool that shows you exactly what’s not working. So if a company decides to go down this path, they need to be ready to put real effort into documenting responsibilities, documenting processes, documenting the reference data they use. At first it just feels like everything’s a mess — kind of like tidying up a closet: you pull everything out, create total chaos, and think, “why did I even start this, things were fine before” — but then you work through it, you toss some things, combine others, organize it all better, and in the end you’ve freed up shelf space for something new. It’s the same in business — we cleared out a lot of clutter, dropped processes that were just getting in the way, added new ones, and watched how it played out. That doesn’t mean we got everything right from day one — no, we went through plenty of changes along the way. And with the experience I have now, I can see things I’d probably do differently, but you need time — and your own mistakes — to get there. We’re really just at the beginning of this journey: we’ve identified the problems, we’ve got plans we’re working through, and we understand what we want from the system and from ourselves. This is a long-term effort.
Inga
Thank you, Anastasiia, thank you so much. Your answers have felt not just detailed, but genuinely honest — you can really tell you’ve lived through all of this. Thank you so much. One more question, maybe the most important one: looking back, what would you say has been the biggest value this project has brought to KTS Engineering?
Anastasiia
The biggest value is understanding our own weak spots. There were things we never paid attention to before, and now we have the tools to track them and to build out different actions, different business processes around them. We’re no longer making decisions blind — we’re basing them on actual numbers. For example, we’ve had Field Service running for two full months now, and management got some really interesting stats they never had visibility into before — how many hours, what kind of work we’re doing, and so on. All of that shapes what comes next and our future plans. It’s a great feeling, doing work that isn’t just work for its own sake, but is guided by a clear plan for growth — to me, that’s the best part.
Inga
So, am I getting this right — you now have visibility because you’ve brought together, like you mentioned earlier, data that used to be scattered? Before, everyone had their own little Excel sheet on their own computer—
Anastasiia
Their own reality, exactly. And at some point, we had more Excel files than actual requests — that was genuinely alarming. Now everything’s transparent — everyone has access to whatever information a colleague has added.
Inga
All in one place.
Anastasiia
Before, there was so much back-and-forth over email — someone would do something and then have to email the whole team about it, so inboxes were absolutely massive—
Inga
And growing literally every day.
Anastasiia
And now, you can just open up a request and see exactly who contributed what, what steps were taken, what information was received or given to the client — anyone on the team can pick up that request at any point and keep moving it forward. And the same goes for a manager — at any moment, they can see what stage it’s at, whether there’s a delay, and why. So basically, that’s transparency, that’s control.
Inga
Transparency and control — that’s exactly the word you used, control. Thank you so much, Anastasiia. I’ve genuinely enjoyed listening to your answers. Thank you for this conversation today, for sharing your experience — like I said, it means a lot to us to hear about a project straight from the client’s perspective. We wish KTS Engineering continued growth, and lots of successful projects and achievements ahead.
Anastasiia
Thank you too — and honestly, your team made this whole process as smooth and enjoyable as possible, which matters a lot too.
Inga
Thanks for being with us today. Take care.
