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February 27, 2023 | 5 Mins Read

The Significance of Optimizing Spare Parts Management

February 27, 2023 | 5 Mins Read

The Significance of Optimizing Spare Parts Management

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service 

Supply chain and logistics challenges have been in the news a lot the past three years, and parts availability (or lack thereof) has certainly been a challenge in the service sector. In last week's podcast, I spoke to Ivo Siebers, Senior Vice President of Global Logistics at TK Elevator about how his company has fundamentally changed the way they manage the flow of parts to technicians. Those efforts resulted in huge gains in how frequently technicians had the right part in their trunk (or readily available from the depot).

In manufacturing, supply chain management is complicated by the whims of consumer demand. Field service logistics, on the other hand, is governed by the installed base of equipment in a given industry – that makes it a little easier to predict and manage.

But knowing what equipment is installed where is only part of the challenge of service logistics. It has traditionally been difficult to forecast what parts were going to fail when, and at what locations. New technology is making it easier to analyze maintenance histories, spare parts consumption, and other data to make those predictions even more accurate. Real-time operational data can add another layer of reliability.

At TK Elevator, technicians service a wide range of elevators and escalator systems, and having the right parts on hand for a given job was a huge challenge. According to Ivo, technicians generally only had the right parts in their trunk around 10% of the time and were able to obtain them from the depot same-day for another 10% of jobs. Most of the time, they had to order parts and then wait, impacting service level agreement (SLA) compliance, first-time fix rates, and customer satisfaction.

Data-Led Approach Drastically Improves Parts Availability

Using data and analytics, the company has been able to make impressive improvements in spare parts availability. Right now, Ivo says that technicians have the right parts available 80% of the time. To get there, TK Elevator leveraged different types of data, including parts usage and failure rates. “We want to avoid breakdowns or down time of the equipment,” Ivo said. “We try to better understand our portfolio, we try to better understand each and every type of equipment that is under maintenance with us and try to use this knowledge, this big data, in order to become more predictive.”

One part of their approach has been more intelligent forecasting. The company is using the data it already has on hand about parts consumption, previous maintenance, and condition monitoring, to predict the parts the technicians are most likely going to need in their trunk stock or positioned at regional depots. That data also guides the technicians to pay close attention to certain parts during regular inspections and maintenance, so they can service those parts before a breakdown occurs.

Data analysis has played a big part in TK Elevator’s success in optimizing spare parts, but the other aspect is how the company has changed its approach to storing and delivering inventory. The technicians have access to a digital catalog of roughly 100,000 different parts that can help them accurately identify what they need. With the digital catalog, technicians can send orders directly to a central warehouse to fulfill the request instead of using the local branch office as a sort-of middleman. 

“And instead of sending it to the branch as formerly done, the warehouse will send it directly to the technician. That might be a pick point, that might be the car trunk, that might be a PUDO, that might be a location close to his workplace. Wherever it suits, it'll be sent as close as possible to in order to save his travel time,” Ivo told me.

As more data is collected about the systems each technician services on their route, the trunk stock can be replenished and updated proactively, which helps reduce the number of special orders the technician has to make.

Having these capabilities can have a significant effect on SLA compliance and other critical metrics. It has also led TK Elevator to question some of its own biases and old practices when it comes to spare parts inventory. In supply chain management, inventory has been a dirty word since Lean and Just-in-Time practices came to the fore, but cutting inventory can make it hard to meet SLA requirements when you have to wait for parts.

With predictive data about what parts you are likely to need, you can improve service levels without increasing stock or obsolescence. 

The key is having the right stock. TK Elevator has already cut its warehouse stock 30% while still improving SLA performance. With input from the field service operation, the ERP system, and other systems, the company has been able to rebalance inventories, so the stock is optimized based on actual utilization.

A misperception that Ivo says the company had to work around was the idea that the technicians and the depot managers would resist the new inventory management approach.

On the technician side, the worry is always that staff will see the new technology as a way to reduce employee workload or headcount. The company also feared that supervisors might feel cut out of the loop since techs could order parts straight from the warehouse.

But Ivo says that the frontline techs quickly saw the value in eliminating the aggravation of showing up on site and then not being able to complete the job because they did not have the parts. With better stocking decisions and more visibility, technicians can do a better job of keeping the customer informed and happy. Supervisors were also happy that they no longer had to manage parts logistics.

“[The technicians] feel really empowered and they took it really [as a] positive. And from the field supervisor's side, they said, "Nobody likes this task, so taking it away from us, it's great." So sometimes you are a victim to your own biases,” Ivo said.

During our conversation, we also covered a lot of ground about employee buy-in, the need for accurate data, and how TK Elevator plans to leverage condition monitoring to do a better job of predicting future part failures. You can listen to the full podcast here to find out more about how predictive inventory management can boost service performance.

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February 20, 2023 | 4 Mins Read

You Encounter Resistance to Change, But Do You Understand It?

February 20, 2023 | 4 Mins Read

You Encounter Resistance to Change, But Do You Understand It?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service 

A few weeks ago I spoke to Adam Gloss at McKinstry about the role leaders play in service transformation, and how such an important part of that role is in getting buy-in from team members during what can be pretty tumultuous shifts in how service organizations do business. On last week’s podcast, we had to opportunity to dive a bit deeper into the art of just how leaders manage change – even those that are pretty resistant.

To find out more about some of the science behind managing change, I talked to Dr. Elizabeth Moran, the former Vice President of Global Talent Development at ADP. A clinical psychologist by training, Elizabeth serves as a consultant and executive coach who works with teams from new start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. She also recently published a book, FORWARD: Leading Your Team Through Change, that provides strategies for navigating change based on neuroscience principles. 

As she points out in our conversation, the “people management" aspects of change often take a back seat to the project management component, which can create friction and even undermine the long-term success of a project. Change seems constant and accelerating at most companies, particularly when it comes to digital transformation and the rapid evolution of technology. It can be hard to keep up, and overwhelming to both team members and leaders alike 

This is where her neuroscience approach provides some very helpful guidance, because while we may think we are managing people and projects based on objective data and business goals, our brains (and co-workers’ brains) are reacting in ways that are not necessarily rational or readily apparent. Elizabeth outlines five neuroscience concepts that, when leaders understand and accommodate, can help make these transitions easier and, in turn, make change leadership more successful.  

The first is the threat of uncertainty. When people are uncertain, they get anxious. That ties into the second concept, negativity bias. Our brains are wired to expect the worst when we don't know what's going to happen next. For leaders, the key is to address that uncertainty (let team members ask questions and give them as much information as possible about what the change means for them), and then try to move them back toward a neutral or positive position.

“We started with uncertainty. Now, we're automatically tilted to what's going to go wrong. That's just a way that we are always hardwired to protect ourselves," Elizabeth says. “So, [that is] why it's so important to not only think about what could go wrong in a change and allow your people to talk about it. It's also important to basically think about, ‘Well, what could go right?’" 

The third concept is the switch-cost effect – basically, team members may think the personal cost of change (in learning new technology or processes) is higher than they are willing to pay. How do you deal with this as a manager? Make sure you help people understand what they are being rewarded for, and that they won't be penalized for the extra time (or increased errors) associated with learning a new system. “In this case, what we're looking for is not perfection in somebody doing a task or doing it the exact same way we've done. We're going to reward people for trying something new. And that's a way you can counteract the switch-cost effect," Elizabeth shares.

Balancing Analytic and Empathetic Skills

Elizabeth also explains the difference between the analytic and empathetic networks in our brains. The analytic network is the project management system in our heads that can analyze data and establish schedules. The empathetic network, on the other hand, takes a wider view of things and helps us tune into the verbal and non-verbal cues our colleagues are giving us. “The kicker is when one of those is active, it suppresses the other," she says. “And so hence, when we're very focused on a project in getting something done, we are not able to attend to the human side of change, which is why the best leaders who do this really almost have to specifically imagine they're putting a different hat on."

Finally, the fifth concept is the value of optimism and positivity. This is critical for counteracting the negativity bias mentioned earlier. A good leader helps the team imagine positive outcomes and provides feedback on incremental successes. In scenarios, which have become more and more common, of change fatigue, understanding and embracing the value of optimism is especially important. 

All five of these concepts really point to the critical role of communication in change management. That's more than just announcing a change. Leaders also must be prepared to answer tough questions, reassure team members about how the change will affect them, and admit when they don't have the answers. Using the neuroscience perspective, leaders can better understand that there is always going to be resistance, but that resistance is not a permanent state; providing the right information, feedback, and support helps employees shift their mindset. As Elizabeth puts it, “Resistance is simply concerns that haven't yet been addressed."

Our conversation covered a lot of great tips for managers that are trying to find a better way to address change fatigue and resistance, and the entire episode is well worth a listen! You can find the full podcast here to hear more about these fascinating neuroscience concepts, and how understanding them can help field service leaders be more successful in supporting their teams.

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February 13, 2023 | 4 Mins Read

Are EVs Ready for Field Service Prime Time?

February 13, 2023 | 4 Mins Read

Are EVs Ready for Field Service Prime Time?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service 

Sustainability is an increasing focus for companies across industries and around the globe. When it comes to the ways that changes in field service operations can impact sustainability initiatives, the list is longer than you may think. Planning and scheduling solutions that help minimize necessary travel help, remote capabilities eliminate some travel need altogether, and Servitization has many ties to environmental impact (get a feel for exactly how by checking out stories on Kaer, Baxi, and Koolmill).

Another topic of conversation that comes up when we discuss how to make field service greener are electric vehicles (EVs). EVs have the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions, and a number of countries have pledged (or even passed legislation) to reduce or eliminate gas-powered vehicles over the next several decades. In the U.S., California is leading the charge with plans to ban gas–powered cars by 2035. 

I had an interesting conversation at Field Service Connect in Austin last fall with delegates on what exactly this will mean for field service organizations. For those in regions where regulations are looming that will force a shift to EVs, the pressure to purchase new vehicles is more intense. Other companies, though, have considered potentially shifting all or part of their fleet to hybrid or full-electric vehicles as gas prices have soared.

There are examples of EV fleet conversions going on right now – a number of cities have rolled out electric buses and garbage trucks. More significantly, the U.S. Postal Service plans to roll out 66,000 electric vehicles over the next several years. Beyond reducing emissions, there are other benefits to be had from EVs. For one, fuel prices continue to be volatile (and in many areas outside of the U.S., those prices were already much steeper). EVs also have fewer moving parts, do not require regular oil changes, and in some cases can provide businesses with valuable tax breaks.

What came into question during that conversation at Field Service Connect, though, is just how practical this change is in present circumstances. This varies, of course, depending on the type of service business you are running, and the geographic area served. 

Practicalities of EV Use in Field Service 

First, can you get an electrical vehicle that fits your business? If you primarily rely on cars or pick-up trucks, the number of hybrid and EV options is expanding. But the standard in many industries is a van, often with a fairly hefty load capacity. Currently in the U.S., there are only a few options when it comes to EV vans, and a further complication is that many of them offer a fairly limited mileage range. The Ford E-Transit, for example, offers versions with a range from just 108 to 126 miles between charges.

European firms have a better selection, and more electric vans are coming to global markets that offer longer ranges and a wider variety of sizes. You can read about some of them here and here. The cost of some of these vans is close to their gas-powered counterparts, but the limited range will likely remain a significant challenge for some organizations.

Which brings about the second major question, which is around how advanced the charging infrastructure is in the areas your field service teams operate. While EV charging infrastructure in the U.S. is coming along quickly, some of the participants in that conversation felt it isn’t yet extensive enough to support their operations. While some people envision gas station-like charging hubs, EV charging can happen just about anywhere a vehicle can be parked, so expect to see more of charging ports in parking garages and lots. If you service commercial customers, you may even be able to plug your van in while the technician is working. There are also portable charging units that can add range for vans that do not report back to the depot often.

Fleet operators will likely have to install their own rapid charging infrastructure to use when vehicles are not in service, as well as charging hardware for technicians that take their vehicles home. The logistics of charging multiple vehicles are a little more complicated than just pulling them up to a gas pump one at a time, so that could cause complications, too, particularly if you are trying to take advantage of off-peak charging rates.

You also have to consider how you will manage a mixed or fully EV fleet. For companies that rely on fleet management solutions, EVs can currently pose a challenge. There is, in fact, a whole new ecosystem of fleet management solutions aimed directly at EV fleets. In addition to tracking EV-centric fleet metrics like charging status, these solutions are tailored to gather data from vehicles that do not necessarily conform to the same vehicle standards as gas-powered vehicles. 

While the cost of EVs is generally higher than traditional vehicles (for now), there can be some long-term cost savings both in fuel and maintenance, in addition to benefits related to compliance and tax savings. EVs are generally quieter than gas-powered vehicles, and in some cases can serve as a power source to tools and lights. There is also, of course, the impact on your company’s sustainability initiatives.

Cost, range, and overall practicality probably mean that in the U.S., outside of California, EV adoption in field service will remain relatively low in the immediate future – but I expect that will change quite a bit in the next three years. In Europe, where gas-powered vehicles will be banned after 2035, there will be more rapid adoption, but also more support from governments to make that practical. 

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February 6, 2023 | 5 Mins Read

How Much of the Potential of AR and VR Remains Untapped?

February 6, 2023 | 5 Mins Read

How Much of the Potential of AR and VR Remains Untapped?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service 

Many would argue that virtual reality (VR) is one of those technologies that has generated more discussion than actual adoption over the past decade, at least outside of gaming applications. However, its close cousins, augment reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR), have a steadily increased presence in field service and other industrial spaces. And we may be reaching a tipping point.

IDC, as part of its FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Operations 2023 Predictions, noted that: “By 2027, the use of extended reality technology, including AR/VR/MR tools, will increase by 40%, creating a new breed of digital worker and reducing operator/field worker errors by 30%.”

I have also seen growth estimates indicating a CAGR of as much as 30.6% for extended reality (XR) and up to 43.8% globally for AR. The potential expansion of AR will not only change the way frontline field service technicians work but I believe will eventually create new roles and new types of service experiences that will fundamentally evolve service delivery in a variety of ways.

When we talk about AR in field service, traditionally what that has looked like is a technician in the field, armed with a tablet or maybe a VR headset, using the technology to overlay schematics or other data over an image of an actual piece of equipment. In some cases, remote technicians are aided by more senior technicians or other SMEs off-site, using the technology to provide a better view of the problem and allow for the benefits of “hands on” guidance without the need for that senior worker to travel on site. Other companies have seen success in using AR and MR for training purposes, speeding the time to value of new workers. And yet others have begun using the technology directly with customers to provide remote service and speed time to resolution.

These examples of the use of AR/MR and sometimes VR offer some valuable potential benefits:

  • You can accelerate and improve training for new hires
  • You can better leverage the knowledge of senior technicians by allowing them to assist multiple less-experienced technicians from a central location
  • You can enable remote service/support applications by allowing technicians to help customers troubleshoot or diagnose problems
  • Technicians in the field will have access to better diagnostic and repair information (without the hassle of paper manuals), which can make them more effective and productive
  • Remote service can improve response times and reduce the cost of truck rolls
  • And more

We’ve Only Just Begun

What is perhaps most compelling here is that these benefits target some of the most acute problems facing the service industry – the difficulty in hiring and training new technicians, the looming retirement of large numbers of older technicians, rising costs, and the increased complexity of the equipment being serviced.

Focusing on the staffing and efficiency benefits misses part of the story, though, and does not address some of the potential for virtual technology to change service in other ways. 

That's because there are other trends outside of service that are also pushing adoption of VR/AR/XR across different industries. As more firms adopt digital twin technology on the design and manufacturing side, for example, it will be easier to provide access to these virtual twins of equipment to service organizations. Potentially, that could provide a shared view of assets for both PLM and SLM solutions leveraging everything from CAD files to real-time equipment performance data.

Why is that important? There are already manufacturers leveraging that type of VR technology for everything from individual pieces of equipment to entire factories. At some point in the future, technicians could evaluate a virtual twin of a specific machine located hundreds or thousands of miles away, and then diagnose, recalibrate and potentially even (in some cases) repair the machine in an entirely virtual setting.

More immediate scenarios would enable customers and technicians to use AR as a link to enable better remote diagnostics and service as part of a remote-first strategy that can improve response times, fix rates, and technician efficiency.

While that will result in less on-site service and technical expertise, there will need to be a restructuring within service organizations to ensure that customers are getting effective remote service, that they can escalate to an on-site visit when necessary, and that the service organization can establish good customer relationships as they transition from a traditional break/fix to a more trusted advisor role. 

In an environment where most companies are having trouble hiring enough technicians, wasting a truck roll when the problem could have been solved remotely by a technician or even by the customer themselves is no longer an acceptable cost of doing business. The real value of AR/VR in service is not the ability to peer into a machine from afar (although that is important), but in how the technology can help service organizations provide the right type of service as quickly as possible.

When I spoke with Tony Black, President of Service at Husky Injection Molding Systems, last summer, he talked about the role of AR and artificial intelligence in helping create better informed technicians that can work in smarter ways. It has also allowed the company to create new roles and opportunities for technicians within the company to enable remote service without losing the human touch needed to provide a good customer experience. Technicians play a critical role, even if they aren't going to the customer site. “The type of techs and the number of super techs you need, the mix is going to change, but they will always be needed,” Tony said. “And again, what we’re doing is we’re creating more informed technicians.”

I heard much the same when I spoke to Munters about how their remote services strategy changed before and after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – their use of the technology was initially for business continuity, but has evolved into a more strategic play in allowing the company to focus on outcomes-based service. “When you want to reduce downtime, you cannot permit yourself to send a technician who goes on site, has to travel for two hours, does a diagnosis, comes back, orders a part, goes for a second time to fix it. You don’t have that luxury anymore. Remote Assistance can help reduce downtime, because that technician that did one visit during the day, using remote technology can maybe serve 20 customers that day,” says Roel Rentmeesters,

VP of Digital Transformation at Munters. 

Husky and Munters are just two examples that illustrate how remote service is increasingly an important part of staying competitive and profitable – and how AR/MR/VR technologies are going to be increasingly important enablers as organizations make that transition.

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January 30, 2023 | 4 Mins Read

Is Crisis a Tipping Point for Technological Innovation, or Far Too Late?

January 30, 2023 | 4 Mins Read

Is Crisis a Tipping Point for Technological Innovation, or Far Too Late?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service 

Air travel has gotten more frustrating every year, and 2022 was already on track to be one of the worst on record in terms of flight cancellations when a winter storm downed thousands of flights just before Christmas. Then as the weather cleared, Southwest Airlines continued canceling flights because of a failure in its scheduling system, leaving thousands more travelers stranded. Shortly after that, a damaged database file in a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system led to even more flights being grounded across the U.S.

Poor weather aside, the issues at the FAA and Southwest point to a bigger problem – technology has become a foundational element of every business, but far too many companies take a major gamble by relying on outdated, obsolete, and seemingly fragile systems to manage their operations. 

You do not have to look far for similar examples in other industries. There was the clunky software that led to a half-billion-dollar mistake at Citigroup, and the rats nest of HR software mucking up how Amazon manages employee leave. A Ponemon Institute study estimates that nearly 60% of cyberattacks could have been prevented by installing available software patches. Companies large and small are not doing a very good job of keeping their IT infrastructure up to date, and in a business environment where the pace of innovation, new customer demands, and the need for greater flexibility are constantly increasing, that is simply unsustainable.

Service organizations – even those that were early adopters of key technologies – should take a lesson from these failures. Technology investment is not a one-and-done proposition; software and hardware infrastructure need to evolve right along with your business needs and the general IT environment. Like a garden, or a marriage, or your children – whatever metaphor you care to deploy – technology investments need tending to.

Sometimes, of course, a crisis can be the catalyst that shakes an organization out of its IT languor and prompts action. IDC published its annual Future of Digital Innovation predictions back in November, and the very first one was, “By 2024, the top 5 companies in each sector will be those that used technology to innovate their way out of a global crisis such as recession or supply chain disruption.”

A technology investment by itself is no panacea, though. Back in 2002, department store chain Kmart filed for bankruptcy, in part because of a botched supply chain management system deployment. In an effort to regain ground against Walmart, the company attempted a rapid rip-and-replace approach to its IT platforms. Nothing worked the way it was supposed to, and Kmart entered a decades-long downward spiral.

The Power of Proactiveness

A reactive approach to aging technology is always going to be more disruptive and costly than addressing the problem before a failure. What should service leaders take from all of this? The first step is to acknowledge if your reality is that critical technology investments or updates have been put off and then work to remedy that as quickly as possible. 

Yes, that can be easier said than done. There are a lot of reasons that important upgrades are skipped – budgets may be tight, and your IT staff may be overloaded. The thought of training employees on a new system may seem daunting. There may be institutional roadblocks to change. A previous deployment may have not gone as well as you wanted. Or the old systems may be working just fine, trapping you in the warm embrace of complacency.

The problem is that many of these systems were designed for maximum efficiency and low costs, but without much in the way of resilience. And to be fair, the “if it's not broke, don’t fix it” attitude many companies had about their aging technology was enabled by a long period of (relative) peace, economic growth, and low interest rates. Unexpected disruptions (disease, war, unpredictable weather) can rapidly expose the faulty wiring underpinning these systems. 

If your organization is coasting along on technology that hasn't been meaningfully revisited for five years or more, you may be setting yourself up for a costly business disruption. And it isn’t only about investing in new technology, but also making sure that existing solutions are properly maintained and upgraded. That does not simply mean applying regular security patches or version upgrades, but also evaluating these systems on a regular basis in the context of your business. Can your technology solutions keep up your current rate of growth? Can they handle an increase in business volume or a larger number of employees? Is there redundancy built into the system in the event of a crash or a cyber attack? How much support does the vendor provide (and does the vendor even still exist)? Are your hardware and software upgrades staying in sync? Do your solutions equally support your customers and your technicians?

The key is to ask those questions early and often, before a crisis occurs. Hindsight may be very clear, but it is also expensive (Southwest took an $800 million hit to its quarterly earnings in the aftermath of the holiday season). At many organizations, it takes an existential threat before leadership will even consider making a critical technology change. In field service – an industry where agility and continuous evolution are increasingly table stakes for competitiveness – no one can afford to wait that long.

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Leadership Sets the Tone in Service Transformation – What Tactics Are Most Impactful?

January 23, 2023 | 4 Mins Read

Leadership Sets the Tone in Service Transformation – What Tactics Are Most Impactful?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Change management is a huge challenge when it comes to business transformation initiatives, and one that can easily be glossed over by managers who are caught up in agenda setting, technology purchasing, financing, and the general logistics of these projects. To be successful, though, service leaders need to leverage their interpersonal relationship skills to ensure that every team member understands, supports, and contributes to these efforts. Change is disruptive, sometimes painful, and leaders need to display a degree of empathy, understanding, and openness, along with creativity and drive.

On this week’s podcast, I talk with Adam Gloss, VP and GM of Service at McKinstry, a facilities management company based in the Pacific Northwest. When you listen to our interview, one thing that you will immediately notice is Adam's enthusiasm for service innovation, for problem solving, and for the potential for business transformation in service, and what that can mean for customers and service organizations. 

The shift from cost center to profit center has changed service delivery approaches, customer expectations, and expanded the role of technology up and down the service chain. The pace of this change is invigorating for some, but can be exhausting for others.

Adam’s enthusiasm is one of the reasons I wanted to talk to him about service transformation, and the role leaders play not just in initiating change, but also shepherding their team through the process, particularly since not every team member is going to be equally as happy about these projects.

Gloss says that managing perceptions around change is an important part of leading team members through it, helping them move past identifying a problem to seeing the potential impact in the solution. "And that's the exciting part to me, is seeing that impact that you're having on a client or customer on a segment of the market, on your own team members or employees, on the world around you,” he says. “Being able to wake up one day and look at something and go, ‘Wow, I helped do that.’ That's really exciting and engaging."

As facilities owners are faced with some steep belt tightening in the wake of the pandemic, changes in building usage, and economic turmoil, McKinstry has been focused on changing the mindset of customers and employees alike as it shifts to an outcomes/solutions-based service model. Both the company and its customers must adapt to a new reality in facilities management that will affect the sales process, procurement, service delivery, technology, contracting, and billing.

“If I'm really going to help a customer, I need to understand their problems,” Adam says. “But you take that a step further. If I'm really going to help them solve that problem, I can't look at old metrics or KPIs or ways of procuring and say, ‘Okay, this is how we're going to do it.’ I need to align my solution to that problem and I need my KPIs or my measurements to align to theirs.”

This can be difficult for an organization that is used to delivering service a certain way. Leaders not only have to be cheerleaders for these new concepts, but also have to acknowledge the frustration people experience as these changes occur, or they aren’t going to feel included or invested in the process. But you ultimately have to push past focusing on the problem and focus on the customer outcome you are trying to achieve, rather than your own internal discomfort. That changes the energy around the whole process, but it requires a more sympathetic approach to leadership.

“As a leader, you need to balance confidence and vulnerability,” Adam says. “I can talk to my people about something being hard and challenging and acknowledge the reality of it, but I still have to be incredibly positive about the outcome we're working towards.”

That balance is also critical because there are going to be people who will take longer to embrace change, and few who are completely resistant to it. It's too easy for leadership to get wrapped up in the excitement around change, to focus on logistics, and to try and push the entire organization across the finish line as quickly as possible to reach those outcomes. 

That approach can be overwhelming for team members that may need to move at a slower pace or that need some convincing about the value of what you are doing. Adam says it's important to know when to dial it back a bit, actively listen to what team members are telling you, and empathize with their experiences – educate, inform, and give people an opportunity to feel like they had real input.

"So, there's a way I communicate with my leadership team. There's a way that we communicate down to managers. There's a way we communicate down to the frontline. And the messaging, it will change," he says. "Now for me, I can sometimes be frustrated that change doesn't happen fast enough or things were more challenging than I think that they should have been, or I didn't quite get the outcome or result that I wanted. And I have to again remind myself it's not about me. It's about us. It's about getting there together and it's about the outcome."

In other words, an effective service leader in this situation will focus on setting the right tone rather than setting a fast pace. You also have to celebrate small, incremental victories along the way to acknowledge the progress the team has made during what can be a very lengthy journey.

Listen to the full podcast to hear more about how Adam has harnessed both his enthusiasm and his vulnerability to help lead McKinstry through the changes and challenges during the past several years and to harness the potential he sees on the horizon. 

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Is a Focus on the Frontline Causing Your Talent Strategy to Fall Short?

January 9, 2023 | 5 Mins Read

Is a Focus on the Frontline Causing Your Talent Strategy to Fall Short?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Attracting, attaining, and retaining talent has been one of (if not the) top challenges for service organizations for a couple of years running and there’s no end in sight. The talent problem isn’t a simple one to solve and I think organizations have accepted that it isn’t an issue that will blow over or be addressed with a few simple tweaks, but a significant shift that requires far more creativity and far broader change. 

What I wonder is if the current focus is inhibiting some of the success companies could see in achieving better success in not only their talent acquisition but also talent retention goals. We’ve thus far focused the conversations – and actions – quite heavily on the frontline workforce, and within that mostly on the quest for new talent. While continuing to look for new sources of talent (and further evolving a company’s ability to farm ability into experience rather than expecting to find experienced new hires) is important, I believe our focus on finding new frontline workers is too narrow to adequately address the talent problem we have. 

There are a few reasons why. First, the challenge to find talent is compounded by the significant change that most service organizations are in the midst of in terms of what their service offerings are and how service is delivered. As such, the role of the frontline is evolving in parallel with the company’s need to find more workers – it’s a moving target in some ways. Second, focusing only on talent acquisition, even when successful, is like putting a band-aid on the bigger problem. If you can bring new people in, great – but then what happens? We need to put better attention on understanding what employees want and evaluating the reality of the employee experience so that we can make changes that will allow both the new hires and existing employees to be fulfilled and want to stay. 

Are Your Managers Engaged, Enthusiastic, and Effective?

These factors should call attention to how important managers our in your talent strategy. Are they capable? Do they feel engaged and invested? Are they able to articulate your company’s vision and strategy to the frontline in a way that conveys enthusiasm and inspires motivation? Or are they confused on where the company is headed? Are they frustrated? Are they part of the “old guard” that thinks a focus on company culture and employee experience is silly? When you start asking these questions, you can begin to envision how critically important management is in whether you are able to deliver what’s needed to today’s talent. 

In this HBR article by Erica Keswin, To Retain Your Best Employees, Focus on Your Best Managers, we’re reminded that employees don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. The author illustrates the importance of a focus on managers, saying, “Managers are really having a moment. Between the Great Resignation, a lingering pandemic, employees demanding flexibility, skyrocketing mental health challenges, a looming recession, and general uncertainty, more and more employees are turning to their direct supervisors for direction and support.” 

She goes on to point out, though, that ample focus on the management level is a missing link in many organizations. “Unfortunately, managers aren’t always prepared to meet their moment because they’re woefully under-trained and overworked while tasked with leading their teams during heightened turbulence. In fact, new research by Future Forum found a record 43% of managers say they’re burned out — the highest of any job level,” Keswin writes. The article suggests three ways to invest in the development of your managers that are worth a read, but I’d like to make my own suggestions as well. 

  • Measure manager performance. It’s important to find ways to gain an objective view of the impact your current managers are having and to understand the reality that you cannot measure success simply on their ability to meet financial KPIs. While these measures can provide some of the picture, a way to gather input from the frontline on the effectiveness of their managers is important in overall assessment. When BD invested in eNPS, the company gleaned incredibly valuable insight that helped address issues and make changes that significantly improved employee engagement. 
  • Be willing to have the hard conversations. If you are truly committed to improving company culture and employee experience, you must be willing to content with leaders in place that aren’t helping achieve those objectives. Sometimes there are managers who have some great qualities, but as leaders are not capable of promoting a positive working environment and adeptly uplifting and supporting others. Allowing these leaders to stay in place because it is a tough situation to handle only harms culture, causes employees impacted by this leader’s negative qualities to become frustrated and even leave, and sets a bad example for what you are willing to tolerate. 
  • Accept that tenure doesn’t indicate ability. Many organizations promote employees to manager positions based on their success as an individual contributor or their time in a role. However, tenure alone doesn’t indicate leadership ability. You can take this into consideration, but you should also be ensuring you are taking steps to validate competence. And don’t forget interest! You want managers who feel called to lead and find fulfillment in doing so, not managers who are taking a role simply because they see it as the only way to grow their paycheck. It’s important to seek the desire, but also to invest in the development. Investment in manager education, training, and continuing development is far too low and this needs to change. 
  • Ask for feedback. It’s so important to learn how your managers feel about your company, their roles, and your leadership! If there isn’t open communication or they don’t feel comfortable speaking up, they can have frustrations or desires that they bottle up and let build into leaving the company or, maybe worse, becoming a negative energy to everyone around them. If you recognize the importance of your managers, you need to be willing to understand their wants, goals, and feedback and put actions in place to help them feel appreciated, supported, and empowered. 
  • Prioritize 1-1 communication. There are many ways to ask for feedback from managers and employees, but when it comes to your employees at all levels feeling the company is invested in their success, it’s important to invest in 1-1 communication to really build relationships and human centricity. Managers should have this outlet, and they should provide it for their direct reports. This is an important part of getting to know employees as people, making them feel they are important to you and to the company, and understanding their goals so that you can retain talent over a long period of time by giving them the opportunities they want to evolve, grow, and progress in their careers. 

What would you add to the list? Does your organization do a good job of focusing on managers or not? I’d love to hear from you and share your insights. 

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The Future of Field Service Year in Review

December 19, 2022 | 3 Mins Read

The Future of Field Service Year in Review

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

I’m still reconciling the reality that 2022 is drawing to a close, but here I am writing a Year in Review summary. This year has been a whirlwind with a flurry of activity that, after years of Covid-induced slow down, brought both overwhelm at times and immense fulfillment. When I reflect on the year I feel immense gratitude for the opportunity to reconnect and re-engage with so many of you in so many different ways. My interactions throughout 2022 have shown me how the challenges we’ve faced the last couple of years have only drawn the service community closer together. 

To summarize some of the highlights, I must begin with the first-ever Future of Field Service Global Live Tour! When Future of Field Service was first created, I had dreams of evolving the content platform into a basis for connection and community, and this year those visions came to life. In our first tour, we visited five wonderful countries and in each location were joined by industry-leading expert speakers and highly engaged attendees. The events featured podcast-style interviews and a lot of interactive discussions, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive – it reinforced for me the value that exists in coming together across industries to discuss common challenges, trends, and share not only information but inspiration. Across the five cities we had 20 speakers and more than 150 attendees. If you weren’t able to join this year’s Live Tour, you can find summary insights here – and stay tuned for exciting information to come soon on the 2023 Tour!

In-Person, Audio, Online and Everything In Between

In addition to hosting our own events, Future of Field Service had a presence at many other industry events including Field Service Palm Springs, Field Service Hilton Head, The Service Council Symposium, IFS UNLEASHED, Field Service Connect Austin, and Field Service Europe. The ability to spend time with so many people within our community, in person, this year was really a joy – and I think that feeling was shared among those who attended these events. While there are still challenges to face, the overall energy among attendees at these events was positive and there is much shared excitement about the potential that exists in service.

When we weren’t traveling, we kept the content flowing with more than 50 articles and 51 new podcasts. Here are some really cool stats according to Spotify’s “Wrapped” review for the Future of Field Service podcast:

  • 1,503 minutes of new content
  • 40% more listeners and 28% more followers in 2022
  • Listeners across 37 countries with the top five being the United States, Sweden, the Philippines, Germany, and Spain
  • Among the top 15% most followed podcasts
  • Among the top 15% most shared podcasts globally

Last week I shared my Top 10 Episodes of 2022, which is always a challenge because there are so many great interviews to choose from. If you missed that recap, it’s worth having a look – the topics featured vary from leadership and sustainability to labor and predictive service. You can find the list here.

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Make It a Priority to Master Knowledge Management

December 12, 2022 | 3 Mins Read

Make It a Priority to Master Knowledge Management

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

At Field Service Europe, Tim Burge of Aquant shared some findings from the company’s recent Service Intelligence Benchmark study. One insight he shared stood out in my mind, which is “if all employees had the knowledge and skills to perform like the top 20% of employees, service costs would be reduced by 21 percent.”

Based on the discussions at the event, companies aren’t nearly where they need to be when it comes to having a modern and effective knowledge management strategy for field service. Compounding that fact is the sheer volume of frontline employees within service who are approaching retirement age, presenting a significant risk to organizations in loss of incredibly valuable knowledge. 

Knowledge management is defined as “the process by which an enterprise gathers, organizes, shares and analyzes its knowledge in a way that is easily accessible to employees. This knowledge includes technical resources, frequently asked questions, training documents and people skills.” While the concept of knowledge management isn’t unique to field service, there are some challenges specific to field service that make it uniquely important to get a better handle on:

  • As mentioned, there is a large quantity of very knowledgeable workers nearing retirement age and a huge risk of losing their tacit knowledge 
  • The types and volume of insights needed by frontline workers in field service has expanded as customer expectations have evolved and grown
  • Digitalization has made information more accessible, but has also in many instances caused data overwhelm without quick and easy access to the insights really needed at any given time
  • An inability to retrieve the necessary knowledge in an accessible, digestible format in real-time when it is needed causes costly return visits and negatively impacts customer satisfaction

In the coming year, with cost pressures on the rise and frontline workers leaving the industry and taking valuable insights with them, improving our focus on and strategy around knowledge management must become a priority. For service success today, having access to meaningful insights is just as important for a field technician as having their toolbox or the correct spare part. 

Knowledge management is often discussed with three types of knowledge in mind: tacit, implicit, and explicit. While most organizations have strong documentation of explicit knowledge and processes for distributing it through training, manuals, etc., we need to consider how well (if at all) we are capturing and making usable the implicit and tacit knowledge of the frontline workforce. 

Automate Knowledge Capture

At the event, numerous attendees shared frustrations around getting the frontline workers to agree to document their insights or “offload” their knowledge in some way. And I don’t blame them! It’s cumbersome for an employee with years of experience and countless interactions that have culminated in that tacit knowledge to try and distill it down into some sort of manifesto. 

If we realize the imperative to improve knowledge management, we then need to consider the best approach. As much as possible, we need to find ways to capture and leverage knowledge as it is being organically used and shared among the workforce – this reduces the burden on any one individual to spend (non-productive) time documenting or downloading. You likely already have technology in place that you could be deriving these insights from, such as:

  • Your field service management solution
  • Augmented reality or video collaboration tools
  • Help desk interactions
  • Many others!

Before you ask an employee to spend time documenting or sharing their insights, be sure you are embedding the wisdom already being shared within your organization. You may have areas where you find you have gaps to fill, and then you can get creative about gleaning additional insights from some of your most experienced technicians. 

This is one of the examples of AI use that makes me chuckle at those who say, “one day, AI will take the jobs of the field technicians!” Doubtful, particularly when many companies aren’t even putting to good use AI to make accessible some of their knowledge. We have a long way to go! But knowledge management is a perfect example of where AI can play a practical and very impactful role within field service – an area that you need to be putting a concerted effort into mastering. 

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A Field Service Battle Cry: Stop Reacting to Change, Start Driving It

December 5, 2022 | 3 Mins Read

A Field Service Battle Cry: Stop Reacting to Change, Start Driving It

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

At Field Service Europe in Amsterdam last week, Jean-Claude Jobard, VP EMEA at Marmon Link, gave one of the most impassioned keynotes I remember listening to. He stated in his introduction, “I love service. Service is my life – I’ve been in this industry for 36 years.” As someone who is also quite emotionally connected to my work, his genuine statement really resonated with me and I believe with many others in the room, too. 

Jean-Claude went on to talk about his belief that service has no limits – but that there are ways companies are limiting themselves. He began by discussing some of the change that has occurred since March 2020 – recapping of course Covid, but also Supply Chain disruption, mass exits in the job market, inflation and economic turbulence, the energy crisis, and even war. You may be thinking, wow – what a depressing speech! But it wasn’t. Jean-Claude was quick to point out how crisis has made service stronger. 

This is where his excitement for the potential that exists in service comes in – and that excitement is contagious. It’s really cool to see a leader who, even after 36 years in their industry, is so bullish on the amount of opportunity that is on the horizon. Jean-Claude isn’t dissuaded by the idea of change; he’s emboldened by it. And that was really the crux of this keynote – it was a battle cry of sorts for service leaders to stop reacting to change or resisting change and begin embracing and driving it. 

It’s Time to Hit the Gas on Areas of Service Opportunity

Jean-Claude went on to discuss some of the areas of service that, on the surface, have changed since Covid began. But the question he begged is, “what has really changed?” In his view, not as much as we like to think. The areas many point to as having gained traction, he feels, are more of a reactionary change than an intentional, and therefore longer-lasting, change. Here are some of the areas Jean-Claude reflected on to consider how much opportunity remains for those willing to take the initiative:

  • Remote Service. “We saw an uptick in use of remote support when Covid hit, but use eased when travel began again,” says Jean-Claude. “Its use has increased, but it isn’t embedded yet and this is an area we need to push because there’s immense potential.”
  • Advanced Services. “I don’t think there’s been a significant change here – companies on the journey continue the journey,” he says. “But we know that delivering outcomes and sharing risk is important to customers, especially in times of uncertainty. We 
  • Resources. “Has it ever been easy to find field service resources?” Jean-Claude asks. “No. If you look at job descriptions from 20 years ago, are they different? How are we making this industry attractive to new hires? Today’s FSEs are more Customer Service Engineers. We complain, but we really need to change how we market, treat, and reward these jobs. We should also be examining the possibilities that exist to share resources among companies. Why not?”
  • Sustainability. “There has been no significant change here overall,” says Jean-Claude. “We’re still sending technicians all over the world, we’re not helping customers reduce energy consumption. Remote capabilities play a huge role here, and so does reducing energy consumption, remanufacturing, and recycling.”

As Jean-Claude said at one point, “We’ve learned that what we thought to be impossible in March 2020 is possible now.” Rather than ignoring that knowledge in favor of complacency, Jean-Claude’s message is to become excited about what we’ve proven we can do and harness that excitement into forward momentum. Service has no limits, except for those who choose to sit still. 

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