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August 24, 2026 | 8 Mins Read

The Jigsaw Puzzle of Service Transformation at Alfa Laval

August 24, 2026 | 8 Mins Read

The Jigsaw Puzzle of Service Transformation at Alfa Laval

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

When organizations talk about transforming service, particularly given today’s pressures, the instinct is to look for the big move. Is it a new service strategy? A technology investment? A shift toward servitization? A new operating model? More digital services? Better talent?

The reality is that it’s all of those things—and none of them in isolation.

In a recent conversation for the UNSCRIPTED podcast, I spoke with Peter George, Head of Global Sales and Service for Alfa Laval’s Industrial Food and Heat Transfer Division, about the company’s journey to bring service into greater focus. I loved how Peter described that journey as a “big jigsaw puzzle with a lot of pieces.”

It’s an apt analogy.

Because what makes successful service transformation so complex is quite similar to the challenge of a jigsaw puzzle; it isn't simply that there are a lot of pieces, it’s that the pieces have to fit together just right to complete the vision.

You can’t redefine the service proposition without considering what that means for the people delivering it. You can’t ask technicians to become more consultative without giving them the competence, tools, and information to do so. You can’t build digital service capabilities without thinking about new roles and career paths. And you can’t expect the organization to invest differently in service if the business still fundamentally sees it as a reactive, break-fix function.

Service Transformation Starts with Changing the Vision You’re Aiming to Build

Historically, Alfa Laval viewed service as important—but, like many manufacturers with a strong product heritage, it didn't necessarily receive the same level of focus as product development.

That began to change as the company listened more closely to customers.

Peter explained that customer conversations were increasingly moving beyond traditional concepts like reliability and maintenance toward efficiency, sustainability, and ROI. Those are all areas where service can have significant impact, but they require a different way of not only thinking about but talking about service.

That became an important starting point: understanding that the value customers seek through their lens and allowing that to fundamentally change the service conversation.

Instead of, “Your machine is broken, and we can fix it,” the conversation becomes, “What are you trying to achieve, and how can we help you get more value from this asset across its lifecycle?”

That shift may sound subtle, but it has significant implications for everything that follows. And while the pieces to any one organization’s jigsaw puzzle will be unique, here are those that were vital to Alfa Laval’s success.

Puzzle Piece #1: Redefine the Service Vision

The first piece of Alfa Laval's puzzle was redefining what service should be.

The company brought service leaders together to establish a new service vision and then looked at its existing offerings through the lens of the customer lifecycle. Rather than simply retaining traditional service names and descriptions, the organization reconsidered how those offerings fit into the customer's journey and, critically, what value each one delivered.

That meant moving away from describing activities and toward describing outcomes. In the eyes of the customer, a reconditioning service isn't simply reconditioning. An upgrade isn't simply an upgrade.

What does that intervention enable the customer to accomplish? What happens when the equipment isn't performing as it should? What can be done to prevent recurring problems? How can the asset contribute more effectively to the customer's broader objectives?

And not only considering the view of the customer but adopting their language so that you express your understanding and so what you say resonates because it’s in their terms.

But redefining the offering creates another puzzle piece: if you're asking your people to have a different conversation with customers, they need to be equipped to have it.

Puzzle Piece #2: Build the Workforce Around the New Value Proposition

The frontline role changes when service changes.

A technician who is expected to simply diagnose and repair a problem has a different job from someone expected to act as a trusted advisor, identify opportunities to improve performance, and help a customer understand how to get more value from an asset.

Alfa Laval recognized that distinction. Peter emphasized the importance of attracting people with the right mindset and behaviors, but he also highlighted something that can sometimes get lost in conversations about frontline transformation: the human experience of doing the job.

For Peter, who began as a service engineer himself, work-life balance is one of the first considerations when thinking about attracting and retaining field service talent. Recognition, appropriate workload, training, tools and support all matter, but so does making sure people have a life outside of work.

Another important piece is career development. Not every field engineer wants to become a manager (nor should they). Alfa Laval has created learning programs and pathways that allow people to develop their skills and move into other roles when they're ready, including newer digital service roles.

That is a perfect example of why the puzzle pieces interconnect. Digital transformation creates new roles. New roles create new career opportunities. Career opportunities help attract and retain talent. And better talent enables the organization to deliver a more sophisticated service proposition.

Puzzle Piece #3: Give the Frontline Workforce the Tools to Succeed

One area Alfa Laval focused on was making information much more accessible to technicians in the field. For an OEM, critical information can live across multiple systems and repositories. A technician may need a drawing, parts list, standard operating procedure, or other piece of information while standing in front of equipment at a customer site.

Alfa Laval worked to centralize that information and make it accessible through tools such as IFS, reducing the friction involved in finding what technicians need to execute their work. The company also simplified reporting so technicians could complete documentation in real time rather than spending additional hours at the end of the day.

Notice the dual benefit here: Better technology can improve operational efficiency, but it can also improve employee experience.

Reducing administrative burden doesn't only mean a technician can potentially complete more jobs. It can mean less time spent working after hours, less frustration and more time away from work. That's an important mindset shift: technology investments shouldn't be evaluated solely through the lens of productivity. They can also be investments in the people who use them.

Puzzle Piece #4: Extend Beyond the Physical Field with Digital Services

As mentioned, Alfa Laval's transformation involved the creation of new digital capabilities. The company has established digital service centers where experts monitor connected equipment and provide predictive services. Those teams also act as a support mechanism for field engineers, helping them troubleshoot problems and access expertise when they need it. Alfa Laval has expanded this capability globally and incorporated technologies including augmented reality.

Again, this is more than the surface-level technology story. Digital service creates new capabilities for customers. It creates new support mechanisms for technicians. And it creates new career pathways for employees.

The pieces reinforce one another. The frontline doesn't become less important because digital capabilities expand. Instead, the definition of the frontline ecosystem becomes broader. Expertise can flow between the field and digital teams, with each making the other more effective.

Puzzle Piece #5: Create R&D Specifically for Service

Perhaps one of the most tangible indicators of Alfa Laval's changing perception and prioritization of service is the development of dedicated R&D activity for service.

Product R&D is a natural concept in a product manufacturer, of course. But service R&D requires a different mindset: proactively looking at what could be improved once products are in the field and creating new tools, services, or interventions to improve performance, efficiency, and customer value.

And critically, Alfa Laval's service organization is feeding those opportunities into dedicated R&D resources.

That creates a feedback loop: The field sees the opportunity. Service captures it. R&D develops it. The customer receives more value.

That is a very different model from waiting for something to break and then responding. It is service innovation becoming an intentional discipline, which only happens in a business that truly values the opportunity service presents.

Puzzle Piece #6: Build the Organizational Infrastructure Around Service

There's a lot of infrastructure required to make all this work. Peter talked about ensuring service has the right footprint, service centers, and infrastructure to support the installed base, while also embedding service systems into the broader IT landscape so employees can access the information they need seamlessly.

But it’s more than just infrastructure. It’s the understanding that to achieve true success, you have to accept that service transformation isn’t a “service initiative,” but rather a business transformation.

Marketing has a role because the organization needs to communicate value differently. HR has a role because talent models, career development, and employee experience have to evolve. R&D has a role because service opportunities need to influence innovation. IT has a role because information and systems need to support execution. Sales has a role because the conversation around customer value has to extend beyond the initial product sale.

In Peter's words, the transformation requires the whole organization to come along, not just service.

Advice for Service Transformation Success

The fact that the pieces can't be solved in isolation is, ultimately, what I find most compelling about the jigsaw puzzle analogy. The complexity isn't simply that there are many things to do; it's that each thing changes the requirements for the others.

Pull one piece out, and the picture changes. That's why transformation can feel overwhelming. There isn't necessarily one obvious starting point, and there certainly isn't one initiative that will solve everything. What’s helpful in achieving success is to understand upfront the interconnectedness of the pieces.

When I asked Peter what he found most challenging about this journey, it wasn’t the complexity itself he named, or any certain aspect of it, but rather the temptation to move too fast.  “Once you know what needs to change, the temptation is to move quickly,” he shares. “But transformation has to be digestible for the organization for it to work.”

Alfa Laval has deliberately brought the pieces together over time, allowing different functions to adapt and ensuring changes become embedded.

That may be one of the most important lessons for organizations embarking on their own transformation: Service transformation is not a project you complete; it's a new way of operating that you progressively build.

The goal isn't to put every piece in place as quickly as possible. It's to make sure the pieces fit—and that they stay in place.

There’s a wealth of knowledge in the full conversation with Peter, I’d recommend giving it a listen.

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August 10, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

Is Mentoring an Underutilized Aspect of Your Field Service Workforce Strategy?

August 10, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

Is Mentoring an Underutilized Aspect of Your Field Service Workforce Strategy?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

We talk a lot about the future of the service workforce. And we’re going to do so again here, because it’s one of the biggest challenges the leaders I speak with face.

While the questions are infinite, we tend to focus on a few specific (and somewhat short-sighted) ones: How do we attract younger generations to careers in service? How do we compete for talent when the skills we need are increasingly scarce?

In last week’s article, I reflected on the reality that, while these questions are certainly important, we need to dive deeper if we want sustainable outcomes. As such, we need to explore questions like how do we retain experienced technicians long enough to transfer their knowledge? How do we create an employee experience compelling enough that people choose to build a career in service rather than simply passing through it?

There are many pieces that will play a role in solving the puzzle, including strong leadership, technology, career pathing, flexible work, better compensation, skills development and more.

But in last week’s UNSCRIPTED conversation with Samantha Campbell, Senior Director of Field Services at Brightstar Lottery and a 2025 Stand Out 50 leader, offered an additional puzzle piece that is both remarkably simple and, perhaps, more strategically significant than we give it credit for: “I don’t think we’re going to recruit our way out of this talent gap. We really have to mentor our way out of it.”

That statement stuck with me.

Because it acknowledges an important truth about the workforce challenge facing field service: we don't just have a talent acquisition problem. We have a talent development, knowledge transfer, belonging, and retention problem.

And mentoring has the potential to address all of those things at once.

Mentoring is More Than Developing Individual Talent

Samantha shared her experiences in mentoring from both sides of the relationship.

Throughout her career, she has had three mentors and a sponsor who profoundly influenced her development. What struck me was how she described those relationships—not simply as sources of advice, but as connections that ultimately gave her greater confidence, empathy, and perspective.

Like many find, those relationships didn't necessarily end when the formal mentoring arrangement did.

Her mentors became people she could continue to call for guidance. Some became friends. In other words, the value wasn't confined to a six-month program or a particular set of objectives.

We can approach mentoring as another box to check in a talent development strategy: Match people together. Establish some goals. Schedule meetings. Complete the program.

But the real power of mentoring is much more human than that.

It's having someone who knows your potential, challenges your thinking, helps you see possibilities you may not see yourself and gives you the confidence to take the next step.

And for field service, where experience and institutional knowledge are so valuable, that relationship can have an impact far beyond the individual.

Mentoring as a Tool for Knowledge Transfer

One of Samantha's most compelling observations was the opportunity for mentoring to serve as a mechanism for both knowledge transfer and confidence building.

One of the most significant challenges with the aging field service workforce is that many experienced employees have decades of knowledge that can't simply be captured in a manual or transferred through an online training course.

They know how to troubleshoot the unusual problem. They know what questions to ask a customer. They understand the nuances of a particular environment. They've developed judgment through years of experience.

The Best Mentoring Isn't Necessarily Top-Down

And that brings me to another lesson from Samantha and I’s discussion.

She shared a really fascinating and I think unique experience, in which she and a colleague were asked to mentor their CEO.

The objective was initially to help the CEO better understand the changing expectations of Millennials and Gen Z in the workplace. But the relationship evolved into something much more meaningful.

They researched what other companies were doing with emerging talent, explored how Brightstar could better leverage that talent and ultimately helped create an employee impact group called Next Gen, which continues today.

The experience reinforced something Samantha considers fundamental to effective mentoring: The best leaders remain curious.

Mentoring isn't simply about an experienced person imparting wisdom to someone with less experience. It can—and perhaps should more often than it does—work in both directions.

That is particularly relevant in field service today. The people closest to the work may have perspectives that leaders desperately need to hear. They may understand changing employee expectations, customer behaviors, or technology adoption in ways that aren't readily visible from the executive level.

A frontline employee doesn't need to have 20 years of experience to have something valuable to teach a leader. When mentoring is viewed in this mutually beneficial lens, there’s even more to gain.

If You Want Mentoring to Work, Prioritize and Protect It

When Samantha was mentoring the CEO, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and she assumed the program would be one of the first things to disappear as the business dealt with unprecedented operational pressure.

Instead, the CEO told them the mentoring session was the most important meeting on his calendar; that it would be protected regardless of what else was happening.

Think about the message that sends.

We talk constantly about employee engagement and whether people feel valued. We ask whether employees feel that their voices matter.

There may be few stronger ways to communicate that than to consistently show up.

If mentoring is always the meeting that gets moved when something “more important” comes along, we're telling people exactly where they sit on the priority list.

Samantha's experience was that protecting that time created loyalty and a deep sense of commitment, and she’s protected that time in the same was in all of her mentoring relationships since.

So there’s an opportunity with mentoring beyond launching a program. By protecting it, treating it as crucial, you send a message about how much you value your employees and their perspectives.

Structure Creates Accountability, Humanity Creates Impact

Samantha has been fortunate to work within a fairly structured mentoring program at Brightstar, and she identified several elements that have made it successful:

  1. Establishing a defined timeframe. For external mentoring relationships, she has found six to nine months to be an effective window. A defined endpoint gives both people the opportunity to establish goals and smaller milestones rather than allowing the relationship to become vague or perpetually deferred.
  2. Brightstar also builds in progress notes, feedback and check-ins that are driven by the mentee.
  3. Confidentiality is established from the beginning. That creates the psychological safety required for people to be honest.

But structure alone isn't enough to make mentoring successful.

Samantha's advice to mentors is remarkably simple: turn off the distractions, listen, and be vulnerable. Her phone isn't in the room during mentoring sessions. She makes a deliberate effort not to jump immediately to an answer. Instead, she tries to help the mentee work through their own logic and arrive at their own conclusions.

That distinction matters. The objective of mentoring isn't to create another version of the mentor. It's to help someone become a stronger version of themselves. And sometimes that means resisting the temptation to solve the problem for them.

Samantha highlighting vulnerability is important, because it’s something I think we underestimate in leadership generally.

She tries to demonstrate it early in mentoring relationships because it gives the other person permission to be honest and open as well.

That makes sense. It's difficult to ask someone to share what they're struggling with, where they lack confidence, or what they don't understand if you’re presenting yourself as someone who has everything figured out.

Mentoring works better when it feels like a human relationship rather than a performance review. And in field service, where many employees are accustomed to being measured primarily by operational outcomes, creating space for that kind of conversation can be especially meaningful.

Mentoring as a Broader Workforce Development Strategy

Perhaps the biggest opportunity for organizations isn't simply what happens between mentor and mentee. It's what happens because of those conversations.

At Brightstar, Samantha shared examples of mentoring relationships contributing to changes in communication across the field, culture, talent development, and career mapping.

Emerging talent gains visibility. Ideas move upward. Leaders gain perspective. Employees see that their experiences can influence the organization.

Brightstar has a process for anonymizing themes emerging from mentoring relationships and sharing those themes among mentors and leaders. That means the organization can learn from what employees are saying without compromising the confidentiality of individual mentoring relationships.

But if multiple mentoring relationships begin surfacing similar themes around communication, career progression, tools, culture or workload, the organization should be listening. Mentoring is an incredibly valuable listening mechanism.

And when employees see that something they raised ultimately contributes to positive change—even if their name is never attached to it—that creates another layer of value.

The company is listening to us.

That is where mentoring begins to move from an individual development initiative to a broader workforce strategy.

It’s been said by countless leaders on this platform: there is no future of service without people. We simply must undertake the hard work of determining not just how to attract new talent, but how to build fulfilled employees with long careers.

I loved Samantha’s take on the role mentoring can play in this process.  “Mentoring is one of the most human ways we can build a stronger business,” she said.

As we race to keep pace with technology and changing customer expectations, there is a risk that some of the practices that seem less “innovative”—mentoring, coaching, listening, relationship building—get pushed down the priority list.

But perhaps those are precisely the practices we need to protect.

Stay Connected

Subscribe to The INSIDER, our exclusive monthly newsletter, and get a first look at what’s new, what’s next, and what’s only shared with our inner circle.

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5 Frontline Insights That Should Shape Your Field Service Talent Strategy

August 3, 2026 | 9 Mins Read

5 Frontline Insights That Should Shape Your Field Service Talent Strategy

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

"Getting 300,000 people into a training program is not the same thing as getting 300,000 people into a career."
— Andrew Brown, Founder and CEO of Trades Media LLC

There have been numerous recent headlines about significant investments geared toward addressing the massive need for more skilled workers. Google recently announced a $50 million investment to help prepare more than 300,000 American workers across more than 20 states.

Maggie Johnson, Global Head of Google.org says, “Building and maintaining the infrastructure for America's future requires a massive, coordinated workforce of skilled tradespeople — from the welders and pipefitters securing complex cooling systems, to the electricians and fiber technicians powering advanced network grids. These jobs offer high-wage careers that can support local communities. There are hundreds of thousands of skilled trade roles currently open across the U.S waiting to be filled.”

Around the same time, Meta announced its America’s Workforce Academy (AWA) initiative in which it’ll invest $115 million in the first year. The program, which will launch in Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, and Texas as the 2026 pilot locations, not only provides free training but also offers a guaranteed job for graduates.

Earlier in 2026, BlackRock’s Future Builders initiative was announced as a $100 million philanthropic initiative to reach 50,000 Americans with training and support to address urgent labor needs and promising to build long-term financial security for workers.

“Throughout our history, tradespeople have built our country,” said Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock in the release. “America needs an estimated $10 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2033 to modernize aging systems and build new energy, digital, and AI infrastructure. Capital alone is not enough – people are central to building our nation’s future. By bringing policymakers, corporate leaders and labor champions together, we’re helping ensure this growth delivers shared prosperity and greater economic mobility for more Americans.”

Recruitment is Only One Piece of the Puzzle

While it’s great to see programs like those outlined above being introduced, Andrew Brown, founder and CEO of Trades Media LLC, makes an excellent point in this Contractor Magazine article. He cautions, “Getting 300,000 people into a training program is not the same thing as getting 300,000 people into a career.”

Not only do I agree, but I’d take that point a step further – it isn’t the same as getting 300,000 people into a career, but even if it were – what will we do to keep them there?

BlackRock, Google, Meta and the like have a vested interest in the creation of programs like what’s outlined above. And that’s OK – to the extent they expand awareness of the career potential of many of these roles, in addition to the individuals they’ll directly help, it’s a win/win.

But there’s a sustainability piece of this puzzle that needs to be considered; recruiting more frontline workers only solves one part of the problem – arguably the easier part. Retention – the responsibility of the future employers of this talent - deserves equal, if not more, attention. This is a complex challenge because the expectations and desires of new talent entering the workforce differs from that of the talent aging out.

Companies don’t have an easy task at hand in shaping a strategy not only to create an employee experience that will flow over to the customer experience, but also to keep strong talent engaged, nurtured, and satisfied. But they must.

Tapping into the Voice of the Frontline

While the solution is individual to each organization, I do think there’s a wealth of insight that is often overlooked – the voice of the frontline. If leaders were to want to understand what matters most, what challenges are most difficult, what the organization does especially well, or what is lacking from the employee experience – they could unlock a treasure trove of perspective by simply asking.

This isn’t to say leaders don’t listen to the frontline – I think the good ones do. But when it comes to creating a talent strategy that’s fit for purpose in the future of service work, I think many avoid asking the questions because they’re unsure what to do with the answers. While I can empathize, ignoring the problem won’t make it go away.

In March we introduced a new monthly series of our weekly UNSCRIPTED podcast – Frontline UNSCRIPTED. After years of interviewing service leaders, I’ve learned so much after just a few short months of interviews with frontline talent. And it’s made me realize how much knowledge they hold, not only related to the problems they are responsible for solving each and every day, but that leaders could tap into to determine what’s likely to be successful in keeping employees happy and effective.

Understanding What Matters to Your Target Talent

As I look back through the four episodes we’ve released so far, there are already numerous insights to influence change. Here are five truths shared by our initial guests that send a strong signal to leaders about what matters most (which should influence how the talent strategy evolves):

  • A sense of purpose matters – and it motivates. In episode number one, Phil Manchester, Service Team Lead at AirTight FaciliTech spoke about what he loves most about his work. “I mean, it’s never good that someone has a problem, but it’s always a good feeling when you go in there and help. When they're sweating because it's 95 degrees out or their business is about to shut down, and you go in and you figure out what's wrong and fix it,” he explains. “You’ve made their day – they’re always so happy. You know? And that’s such a good feeling. Like, I didn’t save the world – but I definitely made their day better, which makes me feel better, and it makes me proud of what I’m doing.”

This sense of accomplishment – of making a difference – is appealing. And, as Phil mentions, it doesn’t have to be on the grandest of scales – service keeps the world running in a variety of ways; it’s the sense of fulfillment that comes from helping others that is significant, not necessarily the type of job being done.

  • One-size-fits-all leadership is out. Another really insightful point that came up during my conversation with Phil is the reality that today’s leaders must put in more effort to meet people where they are. In his team lead role, he’s learned a lot about communication preferences and has taken the onus to tailor his approach.

“With the older age group, people are a little bit more blunt a lot of the time, and you can just be straightforward to the point. Like – alright, let’s get off the phone – we don’t need to be talking all day. Which I like. With some of the younger guys, things have to be set a little nicer and maybe tiptoed around a little bit, which is not a problem. Everybody’s just a little different and learning that is the hardest part,” Phil explains. “If you're set in the ways of being too blunt and too honest and just here's your information, bye; it's not going to work for the younger generation. They want they want a little bit more of the why behind things. The younger guys on my team, I tell them to go do something and they ask why; why am I doing that? They don’t know why – so, I’ll show them, we’ll go over it, and I’ll explain why we do what we do. You can take this as someone talking back to you, or you can take it as them wanting to learn. They don’t want to just be told what to do, they want to understand. It presents its challenges, but it’s a good thing – it means they’re hungry for knowledge, and I love that.”

  • A path for growth is crucial. In our second episode, Jacob Brumbelow, a service technician at MaxAir Mechanical, spoke about the fact that having opportunities to grow are something he prioritizes in any career decision. “Growth my number one in terms of what’s important. If there's a ceiling, it’s a no for me,” he says. “In this industry, it feels like there's so many different opportunities for growth to develop myself to be the best me that I can be. And that's something that I really value, and which pulls me forward, that personal growth. Of course, how the company treats their employees, how they value them, matters too. The company I’m at does a great job of making you feel seen, listening to your thoughts and opinions, and including you.”

There’s plenty of data that supports this desire is widely shared. What I think companies should try harder to understand is how progression is a motivating factor. Often leaders assume this drive is a delusional ‘race to the top’ or tied directly to seeking dollars, but in reality, progression offers a sense of achievement, development, and accomplishment. This emotional fulfillment isn’t the only objective, but it would be worthwhile to consider it further.

Further, companies need to determine a path for growth that isn’t dependent on promoting each field engineer to supervisor to manager to director and so forth. Not every frontline employee that desires progression wants to manage a team – and not every service leader who’s been given a team to lead should have been. Quality of leadership is so important in today’s ever-changing landscape; companies need to adapt accordingly.

  • Flexibility and work-life balance need to be reimagined. In our third episode, I spoke with Fernando Ferreyra, Service Engineer for the Technical Solutions Center at QuidelOrtho, who used to be a field engineer and then took his current remote role. “This role has the benefit of work-life balance. Now I get to work from home, which was really appealing to me,” he says. “I was already in this position when my wife decided to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner. Now that I'm working from home, it's easier for her to go back into her career.”

Companies will be well-served to put more time and effort into considering how to leverage today’s digital capabilities to offer greater flexibility to the frontline. Individuals want to feel some autonomy – there are plenty of options to provide that sense in a way that’s aligned to what the company needs to achieve. Tomorrow’s talent will demand it, in my opinion.

  • In the AI era, the impact of the soft (or human) skills of the frontline are magnified. For our fourth episode, I talked with Marina George, who at the time was a Field Service Engineer at Oxford Instruments, about her path into field service and what she’s learned in the role. She came in well-prepared technically, but less so from a soft skills perspective.

“So, I came in, and I know the technical details. And I know how academia works, but everybody has so many different personalities and different goals. There is a really large range of personalities and also priorities from customers,” she says. “The biggest piece of advice that I got was to just be myself. You don't need to perform. You don't need to have a specific way to work with customers. If you just come to the customer as yourself, like another human being and say, okay. Number one, I’m listening. I hear what you're saying. This is our plan. And then following up on the plan. That was really important advice, because in our tool belt we have all of these sophisticated skills, but I wasn’t really sure how to act or what to say.”

Marina’s experience is food for thought when we consider not only the historical tendency to not provide enough soft skills training, but how the frontline role will evolve as a result of AI and automation. I’d venture to guess those human skills become the priority, and companies should be both seeking and supporting talent in ways that align.

Stay Connected

Subscribe to The INSIDER, our exclusive monthly newsletter, and get a first look at what’s new, what’s next, and what’s only shared with our inner circle.

Related Content

The Jigsaw Puzzle of Service Transformation at Alfa Laval

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July 27, 2026 | 3 Mins Read

Investing in Service-Led Growth

July 27, 2026 | 3 Mins Read

Investing in Service-Led Growth

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

Last week, Otis reported its Q2 earnings. Via LinkedIn, Chair and CEO Judy Marks credited “strong momentum in our service business helped drive a solid second quarter.” She also shared that “as we look to the second half of the year, we are taking a measured approach while remaining confident in the durability of our service-led growth model. Continued investments in service quality, pricing initiatives and digital technology are strengthening execution across our global operations and creating a foundation for sustainable growth and long-term value creation.”

On the company’s website, the news release states that for Q2, net sales were up 7% and organic sales up 6%, driven by service net sales up 11% with organic sales up 9%. In the release, Marks also states, “We remain confident in the long-term growth opportunities across our service portfolio. An aging installed base and our customers' increasing focus on reliability, uptime and service quality are driving favorable demand in both modernization and repair, contributing to drive sustained growth and value creation."

The Delta Between Service Potential and Execution

Reading this news took my mind right back to the findings of the joint research we conducted in late 2025 with Simon-Kucher. That research, worth digging into if you haven’t, illustrated the following:

  • The positive sentiment about the opportunity for service-led growth
  • The gap between the potential that exists and the services being delivered today (only 2% of respondents currently offered outcomes-based services)
  • The challenges that exist in bridging that gap, which range from business identity and digital sophistication to workforce woes and commercial immaturity

That research acted as a springboard for a variety of discussions on the themes throughout, including a series of podcast conversation where leaders across industries weighed in and shared insights from their businesses:

Understanding Common Challenges

While it’s been really interesting to learn more about how different companies approach service-led growth, it’s particularly insightful to understand where the common challenges lie. In a leadership summit at Simon-Kucher’s NYC office in February, the conversation homed in on a major one: defining the field technician’s role in the sales process.

This topic became the premise for a workshop that the Simon-Kucher team ran at our Future of Field Service Live event in NYC in June, again sparking strong engagement from the leaders in attendance and a variety of ideas on what works best (and what won’t work at all). The Simon-Kucher team recently published this article on how to design field service compensation that drives value without breaking trust.

While the role the frontline plays in sales growth is a big decision, it’s far from the only challenge to solve. Foundationally, a business has to agree and align on the service potential and what service-led growth will require and entail. The research also showed how businesses who are lagging in digital sophistication will struggle to achieve growth goals without a modern and capable tech stack in place.

What More Motivation is Needed?

Let’s revisit the quote above from Marks:

We remain confident in the long-term growth opportunities across our service portfolio. An aging installed base and our customers' increasing focus on reliability, uptime and service quality are driving favorable demand in both modernization and repair, contributing to drive sustained growth and value creation.

She speaks directly to what customers are seeking: reliability, uptime, and service quality. Those demands are not unique to Otis’ industry. Nor are the long-term growth opportunities that she references.

I’m not sure what more motivation businesses need to seize the service potential – to invest in service-led growth. While some continue to ponder the opportunities or the path or the play or let strong emotional ties to the business’s product legacy prevent forward progress, companies like Otis are doubling down.

And there are very clear cues in Judy’s wording to what it takes:

  • A measured approach
  • Continued investments
  • Digital technology

See, service growth doesn’t come without proper investment. Of mindset, vision, strategy, digital capabilities, change leadership, workforce development, and so on. The businesses of tomorrow will reap the seeds they are sowing today - what will your service investment yield?

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6 Specific Superpowers of Stand Out Service Leaders

July 20, 2026 | 4 Mins Read

6 Specific Superpowers of Stand Out Service Leaders

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

Last week, Berend Booms of Future of Assets published a podcast with guest Brianna Sylver, author of the book Leading Through Freefall, How Innovators Turn Turbulence into Trust. The episode centered around how leaders can find their superpower(s) and it was excellent food for thought.

Their discussion left me thinking about the superpowers I’ve witnessed among service leaders and what commonalities exist. Of course, each individual person, and leader, has superpowers all their own – leaning into your own unique authenticity I believe is an important superpower in and of itself.

But having spent time with hundreds of service leaders who I respect and admire, there are some other specific superpowers that seem to surface time and again. Or perhaps the better way to put it is that these seem to be practices and behaviors that nurture or even foster their leadership superpowers. In my observation, it’s the following actions that stand-out service leaders not only embrace but honor and protect.

#1: Non-Negotiable Investment in Facetime

These service leaders don’t take part in ride-alongs as a check-box exercise or during a once-a-year PR field trip. Rather, they understand that any leadership superpower they have is cultivated by the relationships built with in-person interactions and the understanding gleaned from spending ample time amongst the real-world experiences and challenges.

#2: Assiduous Problem Solving

Sure, all leaders (at least hypothetically) are problem solving. But service leaders problem solve tirelessly and in a multi-faceted context.

In one of my all-time favorite podcast quotes, retired service leader Tim Spencer said, “Staying put is the same as moving backwards. I tried to find something, always, that needed a fix. And I looked to others to help me figure it out. Then you iterate or innovate on that or find the next business problem to solve. A leader is always on the hunt for the next problem to solve, because every business has a problem somewhere. If you think you don’t, well, there it is.”

This is true in solving customer problems, in solving the challenges your teams face in servicing your customers, and in ensuring technology investments are made that align to the real-world problems that need addressed.

#3: Persistent Perspective

All that problem solving could weigh on someone, right? Not these leaders, they are built differently. There’s a relentless perspective they have; a deep understanding that at the root cause of each problem lies opportunity.

Rather than become burdened by the constant flow of problems to solve, they are energized by what lies beneath. Today’s customer challenges are tomorrow’s value proposition; today’s frontline woe is tomorrow’s chance to improve performance and retention.

#4: Expert Stakeholder Translation

 Service leaders have a unique position of context – intimately understanding business objectives, customer needs, and frontline sentiment. Those who hone expertise in translating among or between those viewpoints see the greatest success.

A leader who can not only articulate customer needs but shed light on how the company could better meet those needs positions service as potential for growth. A leader who can communicate the company’s need for a certain change in terms of a “why” that the frontline grasps yields better acceptance and engagement.

#5: Deeply People-Centric

“Service is a people business,” is a statement that these service leaders not only say but truly believe. Yes, they are looking at how to incorporate AI and embrace the next levels of digital sophistication – but to amplify the talents of their people, not to replace them.

Service leaders know that customers build relationships to and loyalty with individuals, not systems, products, or a brand. They reflect this understanding in how they maintain relationships with their team, how they encourage relationships among teams, and how they empower teams to serve customers with not only efficiency but personality.  

#6: Master Multi-Taskers

Finally, these leaders are master multitaskers. They hold the company objectives and customer view in parallel. They optimize today’s business while owning a vision for the future. They manage today’s workforce while reimagining what tomorrow’s needs. They execute using existing tech stacks while modernizing to better meet today (and tomorrow’s) demands. And so much more!

These reasons (and more) are why we’re proud to celebrate service leaders each year with our Stand Out 50 leadership awards. Nominations close this Friday, July 24th so if you think of a service superhero when you read this article, recognize them today here: https://www.futureoffieldservice.com/stand-out-50/

You can listen to the conversation with Berend and Brianna that inspired this article here.

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Striking Out: What a 12U Baseball Team Taught Me About Leadership, Failure, and Culture

July 13, 2026 | 4 Mins Read

Striking Out: What a 12U Baseball Team Taught Me About Leadership, Failure, and Culture

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By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

I’ve just got home from watching my son Evan’s second-to-last baseball game of the season. He’s played soccer/football and basketball for years but decided just last fall to try out baseball – this is his second season, on a 12U team named the Mighty Ducks. Game after game we’ve watched him try with all he’s got to get a hit, but all season long that hit has eluded him.

He’s been walked numerous times (if you’ve not witnessed it, kid-pitch baseball at the 10–12-year-old age isn’t always smooth) but has struck out plenty. Striking out is hard, but I’d argue watching your young son strike out is even harder. Every game he goes in hopeful he’ll make it happen, but thus far he’s not had success (he did have a couple hits his first season, so I’m not quite sure what it’s all about).

As he heads up to bat, I hold my breath hoping for him he cracks one – just one! And tonight, with the season winding down, I was reflecting on a few things.

Staying Positive

One is how I handle “striking out” – how any of us, as individuals, deal with our shortcomings. I’ve been really proud of how Evan has stayed committed, focused, and generally positive.

Last week I recorded a podcast that I’m excited for you to listen to next month (if you didn’t see, we’re taking the month of July off from publishing new episodes) with rockstar union plumber, nonprofit founder, and tradeswoman evangelist Judaline Cassidy. She said to me that one of her mantras is, “today’s no is tomorrow’s yes.” But she was also clear that having that mindset doesn’t mean a no (or a strike out) is easy or doesn’t hurt. It does hurt, but she keeps going.

We talk often about how much there is to learn from failure – but in many instances, that learning isn’t automatic; it requires effort. It’s far easier to blame external factors than it is to look inward. Owning your strike out, reflecting on what you can do differently, and trying just as hard the next time takes character.

The Impact of Strong Leadership

But as I watched Evan’s game unfold tonight, I couldn’t help but think about the impact of how coaches (or leaders) handle failure and what that does to the morale (or culture) of the team. Leadership sets the tone, and the Mighty Ducks coaches have set the bar high.

They’ve stayed steady, offered constructive feedback, and have always maintained a positive tone. They’ve encouraged risk-taking and, when some risks inevitably fail, have celebrated the effort over the outcome – building confidence among these young kids to keep aiming high. Perhaps most importantly to my mama heart, they’ve offered endless, genuine encouragement.

Their leadership has had a ripple effect across the team that has been amazing to watch. These boys cheer each other on at every at-bat; Evan’s teammates have not once shown frustration at his striking out. Even when the bases are loaded and he’s the third out, they tell him good try and give him a high-five. They all do this for one another, celebrating each other’s successes and supporting one another through moments of failure. The result is a team where every individual feels they belong and an environment where everyone is comfortable trying their best.

While we talk a lot about it “being OK to fail,” leadership in action often doesn’t back up the words. In this podcast with Gyner Ozgul, CEO of Fortis Fire and Safety, we explore some of the “untold truths” of service leadership. We discuss the risk of avoiding failure, but also how some leaders inadvertently create more anxiety among the workforce with failure-is-ok platitudes.

Gyner says, “If you don't define the boundaries as a leader for that employee, you may think you're empowering them to go do something cool and, you know, do it on their own and learn. But what you're also doing in parallel is you're creating a lot of anxiety for that person.” Your team needs to know how success is defined, what parameters around failure will be tolerated, and how you’ll support them along the way.

While it’s been challenging for me to see Evan struggle to get a hit this season, it’s been heartwarming to see how the support of strong leadership has helped him grow.

Speaking of strong leadership, one of the initiatives I’ll be putting time into during our podcast sabbatical is the Stand Out 50 Leadership Awards. Nominations are open until July 24th; get yours in before it’s too late!

We’ll announce this year’s winners live from our London event on September 24th – we’ve booked a wonderful venue and will publish the agenda soon; save your spot to join us.

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Service Organization vs. Service Business: The Mindset Distinction that Defines Opportunity

June 29, 2026 | 5 Mins Read

Service Organization vs. Service Business: The Mindset Distinction that Defines Opportunity

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For years, service leaders have focused on optimizing their own operations. Improve response times. Increase first-time fix rates. Drive technician productivity. Improve customer satisfaction scores.

Yes, those priorities remain important—essential, in fact. The challenge is that they are no longer enough.

Not long ago, operational excellence was a competitive differentiator. Today, it's table stakes. Customers expect providers to deliver efficient, reliable service. They expect organizations to leverage technology, improve productivity, and continuously enhance performance.

Businesses who are leading the way in service today and that will excel in the years ahead understand that success doesn’t hinge on who can optimize their own businesses best but is won by those that help their customers optimize theirs.

This topic was the focus of a recent conversation I had with Brad Haeberle, EVP of Services for Smart Infrastructure Buildings at Siemens. Throughout our discussion, Brad shared a perspective that I believe represents an important evolution in how service leaders think about growth, innovation, and value creation.

The Shift from Internal Service Metrics to Delivering Customer Outcomes

One of the most impactful observations Brad shared was how his perspective has evolved over time. Like many service leaders, he spent years focused on optimizing service delivery. But a defining moment during the 2008 financial crisis changed the way he thought about customer value.

As organizations faced budget pressures, customers began asking difficult questions. "What am I actually getting from this contract?" The answers, Brad recognized, often centered on tasks being performed rather than outcomes being achieved.

That experience fundamentally changed his approach.

Today, he believes service organizations need to begin with a different question entirely: "What is the KPI that your customer is using to run their business? And how is that affecting the mission of their business?"

We’ve all heard “outside-in” countless times, and it sounds simple. But many service organizations still spend the majority of their time discussing internal metrics. Utilization. First-time fix. SLA compliance. Cost reduction. Productivity.

Again, these metrics matter. But customers don't wake up each morning thinking about your utilization rate. They wake up thinking about their own objectives.

They think about reducing costs, improving efficiency, managing workforce challenges, minimizing risk, achieving sustainability goals, or driving revenue growth. The more closely service organizations align their offerings to those priorities, the more indispensable they become.

Customer Centricity Requires Curiosity—And Aligned Action

Another point from our discussion challenged a common assumption about customer-centricity. Organizations often talk about listening to customers, gathering feedback, and responding to requests. Those activities are important. But Brad made an important distinction.

"Customers can't tell you what they want,” he said. “They can tell you their problems."

When you think about the most transformative innovations in any industry, customers rarely design the solution themselves. What they articulate is the challenge.

It’s the responsibility of the service organization to understand those challenges deeply enough to envision new possibilities.

This requires more than surveys or quarterly business reviews. It requires observation. It requires curiosity. And it requires combining customer insight with domain expertise and emerging technological capabilities.

And Brad offered an important reminder as he described how some of the most meaningful innovations emerge from frontline interactions—a technician solving a customer problem in a unique way or a salesperson recognizing an unmet need.

Those moments may not immediately appear groundbreaking. But when organizations create mechanisms to capture, scale, and refine those ideas, they often become the foundation for entirely new service offerings.

The Difference Between a Service Organization and a Service Business

While I often use the terms service organization and service business interchangeably, Brad’s insights illustrate the clear difference between the two.

A service organization focuses on delivering services efficiently.

A service business focuses on creating growth through services.

The difference is significant, first in mindset and then in the results that follow.

Organizations focused solely on operational delivery often spend most of their energy improving existing offerings.

Service businesses are constantly looking beyond what exists today.

They ask questions such as:

  • What customer challenges remain unsolved?
  • What adjacent opportunities exist?
  • How can we create entirely new sources of value?
  • What markets could we serve differently?

As Brad explained, sustainable growth requires organizations to continuously place calculated bets on new ideas and opportunities. Growth doesn't happen by maintaining the status quo.

It comes from identifying opportunities that competitors haven't recognized yet and creating solutions that help customers achieve better outcomes. That mindset becomes increasingly important as technology accelerates and customer expectations continue to evolve.

Digital Is Most Powerful When It Multiplies Human Expertise

No conversation about the future of service would be complete without discussing digital transformation. And for service businesses, the next era of digital intelligence offers an expanded opportunity to scale customer outcomes.

Brad views digital as a multiplier. At Siemens, significant effort has gone into building digital capabilities that allow teams to monitor systems remotely, analyze performance, identify issues proactively, and generate recommendations before a technician ever arrives onsite.

Instead of spending valuable time gathering information and diagnosing issues, technicians can focus on solving problems and creating value. As Brad described it, technicians increasingly arrive onsite already knowing where issues exist and what actions are most likely to resolve them.

The result is faster outcomes for customers and more impactful work for employees.

Staying Relevant Requires Constant Learning

Perhaps my favorite part of the conversation came toward the end when we discussed change fatigue.

Every organization is navigating tremendous transformation right now. AI is evolving rapidly. Customer expectations continue to rise. Business models are shifting. And leaders are under pressure to keep moving forward.

Brad acknowledged that maintaining momentum isn't always easy. But he also shared a perspective that I believe is critical for service leaders: Organizations that continue learning are organizations that continue growing.

That learning doesn't happen exclusively through formal programs or strategic planning sessions. It happens through customer conversations. It happens through peer discussions. It happens through industry events. It happens through experimentation. And sometimes it happens by simply paying attention to ideas that originate outside your own industry.

Throughout our conversation, one theme remained consistent: curiosity creates opportunity. Organizations that stay curious are more likely to spot emerging trends, identify unmet customer needs, and recognize new paths for growth.

The organizations that will thrive in the years ahead will be those that combine operational excellence with deep customer understanding.

They will move beyond optimizing their own businesses and focus on helping customers optimize theirs.

Because in a world where operational excellence is increasingly expected, creating customer outcomes—not simply delivering service—becomes the true competitive advantage.

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What If Your Future Best Technician Doesn't Know Field Service Exists?

June 22, 2026 | 7 Mins Read

What If Your Future Best Technician Doesn't Know Field Service Exists?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

One of the themes that has come up repeatedly in conversations throughout my career is how many people serendipitously end up in field service. That includes myself – I wrote about my foray into field service here.

The elusiveness of how to describe the vast potential within the breadth of industries that make up ‘field service’ is a massive challenge. This challenge at least in part explains how rarely these careers are modeled to young talent and how often individuals “land” in field service without ever even knowing it existed.

On last week’s episode of Frontline UNSCRIPTED, Marina George, a Field Service Engineer at Oxford Instruments, she shared her own story that perfectly illustrates the narrow view of career paths we offer to students and young adults. As a child, Marina wanted to be a doctor. She loved science, and in her mind, as it is for so many young people interested in science, healthcare represented the obvious path.

"There really only seemed to be one career trajectory available with my love of science, which is being a doctor," she reflected. This summarizes well the way we generalize entire fields that represent hundreds of career paths into one of a handful of options kids know to consider or select for their future.

Years later, after pursuing undergraduate research, earning a PhD, completing a postdoctoral fellowship, and managing advanced microscopy technologies, Marina discovered field service.

A technology provider she had built a relationship with while setting up a laboratory suggested she consider a role within their business. Until that moment, Marina hadn't realized that a career existed that would allow her to combine her passion for science, technology, problem-solving, and helping people.

That conversation changed everything.

Today, she spends her days supporting researchers and scientists using some of the most advanced imaging technology available—while building relationships with customers and helping shape future product innovation.

Her story emphasizes an important question: How do we change the reality that much of the talent we seek aren’t aware that careers in field service exist?

The Visibility Problem: Painting a Narrow View of Career Opportunities

When we ask children what they want to be when they grow up, the answers tend to be remarkably consistent: doctor, teacher, firefighter, police officer, athlete, veterinarian.

There's nothing wrong with any of those careers. But they represent only a tiny fraction of the opportunities available. The challenge is how we help young people also see the diverse careers that sit adjacent to those familiar professions.

As Marina pointed out, every iconic profession has an entire ecosystem of supporting roles behind it. "I feel like all the careers that we see are these different icons, and kids don't realize that they have a whole team supporting them as well," she said. "Doctors, nurses; lawyers, paralegals—there are all of these extra careers that are part of that one piece."

Field service is an example of this that reaches across countless industries.

A student interested in science may never learn that they could spend their career installing, maintaining, troubleshooting, and optimizing cutting-edge scientific equipment. Someone fascinated by technology may never discover a role that combines technical expertise with customer engagement, travel, problem-solving, and innovation.

Yet these are precisely the types of careers many organizations are struggling immensely to fill.

I don’t have the answers on how, but I do believe that to adequately address talent shortages and create workforce sustainability, we need to expand awareness. We need to help young people understand not only the professions they recognize, but the countless opportunities that exist around them.

The Frontline Role: Technical Skills are Just the Start

What’s so interesting about Marina's story isn’t just how she found field service, but also what she discovered once she got there.

Like many people entering technical roles, she expected technology to be the primary focus. What she didn't anticipate was how much of her success would depend on relationships. "The biggest part that I love about my role is building that relationship with the customer," she said.

Working with highly sophisticated microscopy systems, Marina often finds herself spending hours alongside researchers in laboratories, helping them solve problems, navigate challenges, and maximize the value of their equipment.

Those interactions create something far more valuable than transactional support; they create trust. And trust creates insight.

Because field service engineers are often present during critical moments, they hear things customers don't always share through formal channels. "They really tell you what they want," Marina explained. "There's something special about that in-person, face-to-face human connection."

It's a reminder that while organizations continue investing in customer experience programs, surveys, and analytics, some of the richest customer intelligence still comes from the people closest to the customer.

The frontline doesn't just solve problems, they intimately understand them in a way that can help refine, improve, and expand your business if you harness that knowledge.

The Simplest Advice That Unlocks The Human Side of Field Service

While Marina has come to really enjoy and value customer relationships, she first had to overcome a challenge many frontline professionals face: developing confidence in customer interactions.

She admitted that when she first entered the role, the technical side felt comfortable. The human side felt less certain. She worried about how to communicate with customers. How to handle difficult conversations. How to interact with senior leaders and highly accomplished researchers.

The advice she received from leadership was surprisingly simple. "Just be yourself," she said was the encouragement she received.

At first glance, maybe that advice could seem almost too simplistic. But the more I interact with professionals across all levels of organizations and within various industries, the more I believe that authenticity is one of the most powerful relational skills anyone can develop.

Customers don't expect perfection. They expect honesty. They expect empathy. They expect someone who listens. We are best equipped to exhibit those characteristics when we aren’t expending energy trying to perform our role in the way we believe we’re supposed to, but are empowered to fulfill our role as our genuine selves.  

Marina described how transformative it was to stop viewing interactions as performances and instead approach them as conversations between people. "Remembering that they're just people as well" became a mindset that helped her build confidence, whether she was working with researchers, executives, or laboratory leaders.

We know that today’s demands of the frontline extend far beyond technical skills; in fact, most leaders I speak with agree that the most impactful frontline capabilities are fundamentally human. Marina’s story about the advice she received and how it gave her the confidence she needed to build such deep customer relationships should prompt leaders to consider the value of trusting the talent you’ve chosen to do the job you’ve chosen them to do in a way that fits who they are.

What’s the Future of Career Growth in Field Service?

Another topic Marina and I explored was one that continues to surface across the industry: career progression. Historically, field service careers followed a fairly predictable path. Engineer becomes supervisor, supervisor becomes manager, manager becomes director, and so on.

But today's workforce increasingly wants progression and growth, which makes that traditional path an issue. Some talent wants a path to growth but don’t necessarily want to move into leadership, and organizations can’t simply promote everyone to a sea of leaders.

Marina believes organizations are missing opportunities if they fail to create broader career pathways for frontline talent. After all, field service professionals develop unique expertise that combines rich technical knowledge with an immersion in real-world operating environments and deep customer intimacy.

"Field service engineers are with the product every day," Marina said. "They're seeing things maybe the factory hasn't even seen."

That knowledge can create tremendous value across organizations—in product development, quality, applications, customer success, training, innovation, and beyond.

The challenge isn't finding career paths, but rather intentionally creating them—and adapting the organization to a model where frontline talent is farmed to various parts of the business rather than expected to stay in that role for 10, 15, 20 years (which simply isn’t realistic today).

The Opportunity Ahead

What I appreciated most about Marina's perspective is how her personal understanding of what field service is and what it represents to the business mirrors what we discuss often from a business standpoint:

Field service isn't simply about fixing equipment. It's about enabling outcomes. It's about building trust. It's about helping customers achieve what they're trying to accomplish.

Through this lens, the opportunity that exists for service businesses is exciting, but so too is the incredible potential for fulfilling careers. The challenge is articulating that potential and finding new ways to help talent see all that field service offers.

Because somewhere right now is a student just like Marina once was who also loves science, technology, problem-solving, and helping people but who has never heard of field service.

Yes, that is one of our biggest challenges, but it’s also one of our greatest opportunities.

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The Top 5 Community-Sourced Takeaways from Future of Field Service Live NYC

June 15, 2026 | 6 Mins Read

The Top 5 Community-Sourced Takeaways from Future of Field Service Live NYC

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

On last week’s podcast, I shared a summary of our first Live event since 2024 which took place at the beautiful Glasshouse Chelsea in NYC on June 2nd. In catching up after the event, I’ve been humbled by the wonderful feedback we’ve received from those who joined us for the day.

These events, while intimate, take a tremendous amount of effort to plan and execute. At the height of the stressful moments, I’ve questioned myself – is this really worth it? Reading LinkedIn posts, receiving emails, and reviewing post-event survey responses reminds me the answer to that question is an emphatic yes.

If you’ve never joined one of our events, it’s hard for me to describe how special they are – and it’s the leaders to who join us, to speak and to engage, that make that the reality. The energy from the day in New York and the response we received from those who joined us has sparked massive excitement for the planning of our London event (September 24th). More on that soon, but for now here are five of the top community-sourced takeaways from NYC.

#1: Technology Alone Can’t Power the Future of Service

Natalia Shuman, President and CEO of MISTRAS Group, and one of our NYC speakers, shared the following on LinkedIn: “One theme stood out throughout the day: the service organizations that will succeed in the years ahead are those that can effectively connect strategy, technology, and people. Whether the discussion centered on AI, workforce development, customer experience, or operational excellence, the message was consistent—technology alone is not the answer. Success comes from combining innovation with strong execution and empowered teams.”

I spoke in my opening keynote about the need to modernize our mindset around technology from viewing it as an enabler (which has been the historic thinking) to viewing it as a multiplier (more aligned with not only what today’s tools can do, but the impact organizations must seek). While I believe this is important, to Natalia’s point, it’s even more crucial for leaders to really and truly understand that no matter how capable a tech stack they invest in, it cannot and will not alone achieve what they need to achieve.

Natalia’s humble view on the necessity and value of both customer listening and frontline input was one I not only respect and admire, but that more leaders would be well-served to embrace. The future of service will be owned by companies who intimately understand what their customers value, who can successfully rally crucial talent to deliver that value, and who deploy technology to amplify value delivered beyond what’s possible with human talent alone.

#2: AI is a Present-Day Business Imperative (But Not a Strategy)

Tim LaHaie, Jr., Director of Operations at Torque by Ryder, shared a summary on LinkedIn in which he echoed Natalia’s point above. He said, “Leading through change requires more than technology. Successful transformation depends on aligning people, processes, and strategy while maintaining a strong focus on customer outcomes.”

He also dug into the AI aspect of technology more specifically, sharing that “AI is no longer a future discussion, it’s a present-day business conversation. The focus is shifting from experimentation to delivering measurable value for technicians, customers, and organizations.”

In an AI Think Tank with Nick Vandivere, Chief Innovation Officer at IFS Nexus Black, we had a lively discussion among the entire group around AI myths and missteps. One we discussed is that while many leaders are reporting they’re being told to “go do AI,” AI is not at all a strategy – it’s a tool to serve your strategy.

The discussion made very apparent Tim’s point above – that AI is a must-have present-day business mandate, but also that it isn’t a panacea, and it won’t magically solve your problems or realize your potential.

#3: The Growth Potential in Service is Massive

After lunch, Dave Clement and Eric Flato of Simon-Kucher ran a workshop on how to best leverage frontline superpower as a growth lever. The session, based in part on the findings of our joint research, highlighted the growth potential that exists across service industries.

Dave shared after, “My key takeaway across all the speakers was that many field service organizations are sitting on a tremendous growth opportunity that's already in front of customers every day - the technician. The challenge isn't finding opportunities; it's building the systems to capture them.”

Tim LaHaie agreed in his summary, saying, “The role of frontline technicians continues to expand. Organizations are increasingly recognizing their impact not only on service delivery but also on customer relationships, revenue growth, and long-term business success.”

The discussion in the room centered around what the best mechanisms are not only to capture the opportunities that exist, but to adequately and appropriately encourage, motivate, and incentivize the frontline to engage in this way. One key point that was made was that this works best when the organization is truly invested in the customers’ best interest and desired outcomes versus simply looking for short-term results. This is an excellent point to underscore, both in terms of what will drive true and lasting impact as well as what will be most palatable for the frontline to rally behind.

#4: We’re So Much Stronger Together

One of my favorite pieces of feedback that I’ve received after almost every Future of Field Service event is, “I feel so much less alone after hearing today that so many others are grappling with the same challenges.” The sense of camaraderie that surfaces is such a gift of these days and each event reminds me of the power of community.

Sheri Pelish, Chief Operating Officer at BFC Solutions, mentioned this in an email she sent to me following the event. She said, “I’d just like to take a quick moment to thank you for a great event. It far exceeded my expectations, in terms of not only content but connectedness. It’s rare, and a tremendous gift, to stand in a room with leaders who face the exact same challenges you do. I walked away with growth strategies, thoughts on how to better connect with my field technician team, and a perspective on how we can and should leverage AI within our business. I’m grateful and sincerely, nice job designing an impactful, relevant, and inspirational day.”

I appreciated this message deeply because it articulates really well what I’ve found hard to describe about what takes place at these events. No one can expect to leave with a blueprint for exactly how to go and solve every problem, but the realization you aren’t alone, the connections made, the points that re-energize and inspire you to go back and dig in with renewed gusto – I have been honored to witness those moments unfolding in real-time and it’s one of my proudest accomplishments.

#5: Service Organizations Must Seek Inspiration Outside Their Own Industry

All of the feedback we’ve received has pointed out the benefit of spending time learning from organizations outside your own industry – and I think this practice is especially important for today’s service leaders.

There was a point in time where being the best in your industry was enough – but today’s customers are influenced by experiences not only across industries, but from business to consumer, from professional to personal. There’s no more acceptance of offering the best “X” industry experience; you must level up.

Tanya Singh, CCO of Biotronics 3D and Co-Founder of the FemTech Healthcare Network, emphasizes this in the summary she shared on LinkedIn. She said, “It was fantastic to reconnect with familiar faces, meet new industry peers, and engage in thought-provoking discussions around leadership, AI, service transformation, and the future of customer experience. The speaker line-up was exceptional, featuring honest conversations, practical insights, and perspectives that challenged conventional thinking while remaining grounded in real-world experience. One of the aspects I value most about events like this is the opportunity to step outside our own industries and learn from leaders facing similar challenges from completely different perspectives.”

Another sincere thank you to those who joined us in NYC – and for those who took the time to share your takeaways on social, to send a personal note, or to share feedback through our survey. I am so appreciative of you making this community what it is!

Next up: London! If you’d like to join us there, you can register here.

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June 1, 2026 | 8 Mins Read

7 Levers You May Be Missing to Get Ahead in the Frontline Talent War

June 1, 2026 | 8 Mins Read

7 Levers You May Be Missing to Get Ahead in the Frontline Talent War

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

On last week’s podcast, I welcomed Marta Riggins, a strategic employer branding consultant who formerly held roles at Instacart, LinkedIn, and Pandora Music, to explore why employer branding matters so much for service leaders today and why she’s passionate about the opportunity for organizations to pave the way as “frontline-first.”

It’s clear that attracting, hiring, and retaining the next generation of frontline talent is one of the biggest challenges field service industries face. Marta shared some excellent advice on why, within your industry, it’s a must to consider the role employer branding plays, accurately assess your approach, and make adjustments to improve your position in the quest for tomorrow’s talent.

But as a resource that reaches across industries, I think there’s also something to consider around how field service as a whole creates an elevator pitch that succinctly explains what this unique collection of industries is, so that the ability to express the wealth of career paths within it becomes easier and resonates better. A couple of years ago my husband and I watched Halt and Catch Fire on AMC; one of the main characters made the statement that, “modern society sits on a foundation of services that we take for granted.”

I thought, wow, that simple phrase summarizes quite well what field service is and the important role it plays in our society. While each organization must consider how it positions itself as an employer of choice in its specific industry, influencing young people on the breadth of opportunity in field services will require a better understanding of the broader context. While an individualistic approach is necessary, greater collaboration on a collective identity I believe would be beneficial to create more momentum in youth visualizing the potential we all know exists.

With that food for thought shared, let’s get into some of the insights that Marta shared on last week’s podcast. Here I’ve curated seven levers we discussed that I believe many organizations may be underutilizing (or even missing altogether).

Lever #1: Understand the Importance of Perception

As you’ve heard, perception is everything. And while that isn’t entirely true as it relates to employer branding (which we’ll get into in Lever #2), how your company is perceived is crucial to your ability to attract talent. Is your brand presence confusing or clear? Boring or exciting? Fresh or outdated? What impression do you believe your ideal talent would have if they looked at your website, read a job description, or visited your company’s social media?

These are important questions to reflect on, and I’d surmise for many of you reading this should prompt action. One characteristic Marta stresses is personality, “The best employer branding really speaks to the personality of your company and even your industry.” She shared the example of Lunchbox  from the restaurant industry, explaining how well it represents its space and reminding that it’s helpful to be playful, fun, unique.  

Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Marta explains how that factors in when creating the story of your employer brand. “It kind of goes back to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs where you're really looking at the progression of what draws people in: Am I going to get paid? Do I have compensation (basic) needs met? Then, do I have benefits that help with my health and my well-being? Is there stability? Is there flexibility? Am I learning something new?”

Lever #2: Recognize Your Employer Brand is Inextricably Linked to Employee Engagement

While you want to be creative in your employer branding, you also want to tell a story rooted in reality. “You could tell a story that's not true, but it will just create a revolving door,” says Marta. “You want to be creative and fun and even aspirational yet grounded in reality. What are the things that fundamentally are true in your culture or your work environment that you can speak to? There might be things that are aspirational where you know you're shifting but aren’t fully baked, and you can hint to those, but you can't go all in if it's not there.”

This means that you must reconcile the connection between the pitch of your employer brand and the reality of your employee experience and engagement. Otherwise you can tell a great story that doesn’t yield any lasting results. And this may cause some real reflection on changes that need to be made around the employee value proposition and employee experience, but to truly address this looming challenge that process, if required, is a necessity.

Marta suggests ensuring that as you develop your brand story, you have facts to support the picture you’re painting. “A good way to make sure that your branding is grounded in reality is to have data points. The way that I do branding is I'll write statements and I'll write copy, and then I make sure I can have multiple data points backing up what I'm saying,” she explains. “So, for instance, if I say we really value well-being at this company and time off, then I better back up what the policy is – what time off looks like, if there are shutdowns, what the benefits are, or tangible examples of how it’s present in the culture. That is one surefire way to make sure that you keep the employer brand story authentic to who you are.”

Lever #3: Turn Inward for Inspiration

One of the best sources of inspiration for your brand story is the employees you already have, across functions and levels of seniority. “I like to interview stakeholders when I develop this messaging. People from all different aspects of the company, geographies, levels, tenures. I like to ask people about why they joined and, if they’ve been there awhile, why they’ve stayed,” describes Marta. “Through this process you start to get interesting themes. I like to ask people, what do you think your unique cultural advantage is? What's unique to your company that I can't see on a career site or won’t read about in a benefit guide. You uncover these incredible stories that really speak to the culture.”

Lever #4: Don’t Ignore What the Talent You Want Wants

What today’s talent prioritizes may looks much different than what you’re accustomed to accommodating or tailoring to, but it’s to the organization’s detriment to ignore the realities of what’s important today. “Looking at the top value propositions that matter to candidates across generations, industries, and geographies, pay is number one. Number two is work/life balance and flexibility – flexibility is really the name of the game right now,” explains Marta.

Flexibility has been an area where many service businesses have defaulted to the reasons it’s difficult to provide rather than the potential solutions for how to offer more options and autonomy. But it’s an area that is increasingly important to address – and I believe that with the options available to organizations today, it’s a matter of unwillingness versus inability to do so.

Marta makes an important point that flexibility isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition or doesn’t need to look a certain way – there are many options for offering more control if you’re willing to think outside the box. “Flexibility can be agency over where you work or the hours that you work, the times that you work. It's not a specific demand so much as any agency you can give to people. It's about control if you go back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs again,” she explains. “There has been an increase of data 40% of employees will take up to a 5% pay cut just to have some sort of flexibility over their schedule.”

Job security is another high-ranking desire that many businesses seeking frontline talent are well-positioned to highlight. “Especially in the US, the job markets have been unstable. I think that's something that service industries can absolutely offer that a lot of industries cannot right now, and that is something to market,” Marta emphasizes.  

Lever #5: Closely Consider Your Frontline Culture

As we discussed above, the employee experience needs to live up to the employer brand story – and many businesses are most at risk for falling short on that promise with their inability to effectively extend their company culture to field employees.

“87% of frontline workers aren't sure if the culture their company is marketing or talking about on their career site even applies to them, which I think is sad,” shares Marta. “And then 50% say that they don't feel they're even thought of or communicated to. I think these stats point to a massive opportunity to be frontline-first; to not only brand as such but be intentional about extending the culture to those employees.”

There are small and large ways to do so, and I’d recommend tuning in to Tetra Pak’s story to get some inspiration. It’s important not to underestimate the impact of really foundational efforts – better communication, consistent touchpoints, more listening, fostering connection among teams and to the business’s mission.

It’s well worth the time and effort to thoughtfully consider what the experience of your frontline teams feels like and where it’s leaving something to be desired. Filling those gaps not only will help you to improve engagement and retention but will help you in your quest to attract new talent as well.

Don’t overlook the impact of recognition – something that in many instances is reserved only for top sales efforts or executive-level positions. “I have clients with a president's club that’s not just for salespeople. It includes people who are cultural champions, people from finance and HR and all different parts of the business to attend. It has a great impact and, again, it's really just being intentional about extending existing programs and policies and recognition to all your workforce,” says Marta.

Lever #6: Ramp Up Creativity & Lean in to Change

Now is not the time to play it safe, to stay rooted in “what’s always worked,” or to stay married to overly firm beliefs about what “isn’t possible.” Rather, now is the time to be willing to shake things up, to take calculated risks, and to introduce a healthy dose of creativity into the process.

“There are stats that frontline industries would need to hire 250,000 people a month just to keep up with the rate of retirement. So, I think there's no choice but to change,” emphasizes Marta. “There's no profit without engagement and people. The industry is facing a talent scarcity in a real way, but I find that so exciting because I think this industry has such an incredible opportunity to rebrand as an amazing future path for people.”

Lever #7: Hire Marketing Talent to Level Up Your Approach

My discussion with Marta made me realize that in many instances, what’s lacking in creating the brand story to set yourself apart or ensuring that story resonates aesthetically and across the best channels is the specific skill set that marketers and consultants can bring. There are unique knowledge and aptitude that, when applied, make a remarkable difference in the outcome – and, in turn, make a meaningful difference in impact.

So perhaps another important lever to consider is where and how you might augment your existing skillset to help you in re-energizing your process, reconsidering your story, or reimagining your approach.

Stay Connected

Subscribe to The INSIDER, our exclusive monthly newsletter, and get a first look at what’s new, what’s next, and what’s only shared with our inner circle.

Related Content

The Jigsaw Puzzle of Service Transformation at Alfa Laval

How Alfa Laval Has Brought Service into Focus

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