By Sarah Nicastro, Creator and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service
In today’s headlines, you won’t see as many mentions of change management as you do AI – it isn’t as buzzworthy or as “sexy.” But when it comes to service transformation, all roads truly lead back to change management. I’ve spent almost two decades speaking with service leaders about what they’re working toward and struggling with and change management has been the most significant through line.
When we consider what the future of service holds – the evolution already well underway – it’s clear that being adept at change is crucial. So why do so many organizations continue to flounder in their efforts?
Field Service Management: Progress Creates Complexity
Roughly five to six years ago, field service management (FSM) entered a new era – one fueled by increased investment, vendor consolidation, and rapid innovation.
The result? An explosion of choice.
“There’s really no one solution that is widely implemented as the standard anymore,” David explains. “We’re seeing a highly fragmented industry – lots of vendors, each optimized for different slices of the problem.”
On one hand, this is a sign of progress. The capabilities available today are far beyond what organizations could imagine a decade ago. On the other hand, it introduces a new challenge: decision paralysis.
Many organizations are now asking the same question: Where do we go from here?
The Paradox: Fragmentation vs. Consolidation
David shared that what makes today’s FSM landscape especially complex are two seemingly opposing trends happening at once:
- Fragmentation: A growing number of specialized solutions
- Consolidation: A push toward unified, end-to-end platforms
While this sounds like a contradiction, it’s representative of a transition.
Organizations are moving away from siloed systems (ERP here, FSM there, asset management somewhere else) toward what David describes as a “connected platform vision” – one that links work, assets, customers, and field execution seamlessly.
As David puts it: “On one hand, there are so many options. On the other, the industry is moving toward consolidation – bringing everything into one platform to simplify and connect the data. The key message that we share with our clients is that it’s not just about field service management. It’s not just about scheduling or collecting data. It’s about connecting your field to your work, to the assets, to the customers.”
And that shift is critical. Because field service doesn’t operate in isolation.
David emphasized in our conversation the importance of understanding that FSM is not a standalone function; it’s the downstream consumer of upstream decisions.
He describes this through a simple but powerful framework:
- Initiate
- Plan
- Schedule
- Execute
- Complete
- Analyze
FSM sits squarely in the middle.
“The way you schedule work is heavily influenced by how that work was initiated and planned,” he explains. “And that impacts everything downstream, from execution to data capture to outcomes.”
As he explains, not understanding the interconnectedness of field service is where many organizations go wrong. They try to fix field service challenges within field service – without addressing the upstream processes, data quality, or organizational alignment that ultimately determine success.
The ROI of Change Management
It’s a great question – one I’ll get to in just a moment. But before we talk about the why, and explore the how, let’s pause for just a moment to think about the massive potential here. What if, instead of chasing the next trend or adopting the latest feature, we focused instead on getting really good at something that’s held businesses back for a long, long time? I’d argue that cracking the code on effective change management is the most advantageous investment an organization could make.
Companies struggle with change management because it is complex. They invest time, money and resources into the process of managing change and then grow frustrated that the process hasn’t proven “successful.” That’s because change is a people issue that requires people skills. The term itself – ‘change management’ – is representative of the issue; management implies oversight or control when what’s really needed here is leadership.
It’s fine to have a change management process – a programmatic approach to apply to a project. But that will never cut it in today’s fast-paced and dynamic environment. What’s lacking is strong leadership – psychological safety, trust, empathy, and follow-through. Which leads us back to the complexity, because these characteristics require authenticity, care, and they take time – things that are often at odds with the pressure of project timelines, budgets, and expectations.
Acceptance Vs. Compliance
Organizations flounder in their efforts because they’re trying to circumvent humanity; they want to find the shortcut to adoption, so rather than work for acceptance they settle for compliance and then wonder why engagement is low and turnover is high. It’s a tale as old as time, it seems, and the skeptic in me wonders if it’ll ever change.
But call me crazy, I feel there’s a shift underway – a tidal wave building of recognition that the old ways no longer work. And rather than keep applying the same old processes and hoping for a different outcome, perhaps greater success can be achieved by taking the road less traveled. By accepting that competitive advantage in today’s landscape might come from creating cultures where employees feel heard, valued, and appreciated. Where change is initiated in all levels of the organization, not forced from the top down.
One of the reasons I have hope that things could shift, that maybe just maybe I won’t be writing another article in ten years about how change management remains the number one struggle of service leaders I speak with, is the mindset I hear in the conversations I’m having with leaders who understand what’s required.
Service Leaders Share What Works
In our recently released Stand Out Service Trends 2026 report, our Stand Out 50 leaders weighed in on a variety of topics across the pillars of people, process, and technology. Participants acknowledged the challenge of managing change: 16% find managing change to be very challenging, 68% somewhat challenging, 10% not too challenging, and only 6% not challenging). But they also offered some insight into what they’ve found works well:
- Don't dictate the change. Work with key contributors who learn and then understand the need for a given change. Collaboration is key
- Engaging frontline employees in the development. We start with the why and the desired outcome and bring them in to help with developing the solutions
- We’ve had a lot of success using the PROSCI method
- Success stories are the best motivator
- Saturation of information & reinforcement. Small team training across the field team to ensure more adoption
- Centralized team with "change agents" in each function
- Selling the why to the people that will be most impacted. Getting their buy-in if you can, then overcommunicating the changes while allowing for constructive feedback
- Inclusion at an early stage
- Plan and communicate with key people. Get engagement from influencers across all teams and turn them into evangelists
- The message about our position, why we are where we are and what we are going to do about it comes from group management. The message is then repeated by local leaders via communication packs in order to maintain consistency. We then have continuous initiatives to ensure progress is maintained in the area of change
- Demonstrating success from change to create a belief in the changes
- Leading by example
- Piloting and showing success stories
Perhaps even more powerful, the report illustrates the leaders’ understanding of how employee engagement is foundational to managing change. They share perspective on what characteristics are most important to the creation of a strong culture and what factors are crucial to employee engagement. For these insights and more, be sure to read the full report.
I’m co-hosting a webinar on Wednesday, April 15th to discuss the findings of the Stand Out Service Trends 2026 report. I’ll be joined by Stand Out leader Clinten van der Merwe of TOMRA as well as Kriti Sharma, CEO of IFS Nexus Black. Register here to join us!