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August 15, 2022 | 5 Mins Read

What Can We Learn About Service from Wayne Gretzky?

August 15, 2022 | 5 Mins Read

What Can We Learn About Service from Wayne Gretzky?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

I’m confident in saying my husband doesn’t regularly consume the content I create, but if any article I’ve written catches his eye, it will be this one. He played hockey in high school and college and is a die-hard Pittsburgh Penguins fan. Early in our relationship, he tried tirelessly to persuade me to fall in love with the sport – but once our sons were born, settled for watching a game here or there in silence. 

While my appreciation for hockey is via my husband’s passion for the sport, I’ve always loved a good quote. So, when Frank Mattes referenced a Wayne Gretzky quote during our recent podcast, I knew I needed to seize the opportunity to create an article from it. The quote he brought up is, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

I don’t know many service organizations today that would claim they are satisfied with “good” and don’t desire to be “great.” Quite frankly, customers won’t allow that kind of complacency. So, if our aim is to be great, we need to determine where the puck is going to be and work on getting there. These are three areas of service where I feel it is especially important for organizations to think about how to get ahead. 

All Outcomes, All the Time

Where the Puck Is: We recognize that customers desire more than just products and services and are really demanding more outcomes. They want overall solutions from companies that meet a particular need, solve a specific challenge, and compliment the areas of expertise they have by filling in gaps of expertise, execution, or insight. Essentially, they want you to be able to guarantee you’ll deliver value in whatever form that is you provide. Transactions have become less appealing, partnerships more. Companies today are at varying stages of sorting through how to meet these more advanced needs. This is complex, because it requires not only service transformation but business transformation – which brings about layers of change. 

Where the Puck is Going: With few exceptions, I believe we’re going in the direction of almost everything As-a-Service. Customers want to be able to pay you for the value you deliver, no more. They want transparency on exactly what that value is, and that means the value it brings them – not the value of the output. To determine where your puck is going, you need to think about what your service does for your customers – what does it enable, solve, or change? That’s the outcome they want to purchase from you – not a line item of product or service. There are some great examples of organizations making strides toward where the puck is going, like Kaer, Baxi, and Cubic Transportation

Technology-Powered, People-Focused Service Delivery

Where the Puck Is: To consider where the puck is, let’s think about where the puck has been. Historically, field service was a manual effort – you relied in many ways on your people to go out into the world and do what you needed them to do. There was little to no visibility into when, where, or how it was done, but you and your customers trusted your workforce to get the job done. Then came digital transformation, and our focus shifted entirely to how digital could change the game. What can we automate? How can we drive efficiency? How do we connect, assess, and deliver insights in real-time? To some degree, we took the focus off our people and became distracted by digital in the sense of considering the tools we could use to control our workers rather than enable them. Today we are reconciling the reality that service success is technology-powered, but people-focused. 

Where the Puck is Going: Organizations who deliver outcomes realize they cannot do so with manpower alone. Mike Gosling of Cubic Transportation said so himself in our interview, “Adding field engineers to meet the demands of outcomes is not reasonable – technology is critical in today’s service landscape.” We need the power of modern digital tools to create the future of all outcomes, all the time – but where the puck is using digital to arm our employees with knowledge that compliments their passion for helping customers. To automate basic tasks that they find daunting or frustrating, so they can spend more time on what matters. To capture their incredible insight in a way that it can be shared easily with others. As much as our customers want the seamlessness experiences and real-time reactions that digital allows, they also want relationships with someone they trust. The puck is going to where our frontline workforce is more of a knowledge worker, a relationship builder than just a hands-on repair technician. 

Elite EX 

Where the Puck Is: I haven’t spoken to a business leader in ages who isn’t struggling with the talent gap. We can brainstorm new ideas for where and how to recruit the next generation of employees, but the reality is that without really digging into your employee experience, you won’t win the talent war long term. Most organizations today realize that to meet their CX objectives, they need to take a harder look at the engagement and satisfaction of their employees. On a podcast with Eduardo Bonefont of BD, we talk about how the company dug into what its employees were frustrated with and took real action to improve the EX and what benefit that has brought. 

Where the Puck is Going: To win the talent war sustainably, we need to genuinely acknowledge the irreplaceable role our frontline workforce plays in not only our service success but our brand persona and customer experience. Where the puck is going is a frontline workforce that is acknowledged, respected, and rewarded commiserate to the value they provide, particularly as companies shift toward the trusted advisor nature of outcomes-based service. Where the puck is going is a collaborative relationship with these employees versus top-down management because they hold insights about your customers – and a perspective on your business – that no one else does. 

August 8, 2022 | 3 Mins Read

Considerations for Fortifying Service Businesses Amid Economic Turmoil

August 8, 2022 | 3 Mins Read

Considerations for Fortifying Service Businesses Amid Economic Turmoil

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

While we could all use a break from anxiety-inducing headlines, business leaders have no choice but to digest and react to the news about our economic state. The degree of economic turmoil varies across the world, but with talk of numerous countries entering or nearing a recession, proactive steps to bolster business are important for all service organizations.

This McKinsey article suggests that no matter your current business outlook, “To start responding to the challenges of the present, any company can benefit from establishing a core team to read and comprehend the economic signals, translate them into a range of business implications, and serve as the fulcrum for agile decision making.” It goes on to provide thoughtful guidance for companies specifically in the United States looking to build resilience. 

The term agile is an important one, and my hope is that our collective experiences building muscles of resilience and agility throughout COVID have left companies in a stronger position to survive economic turmoil. During the pandemic, we became accustomed to new information every day – and were forced to learn how to react adeptly to continually changing circumstances. Those lessons weren’t learned with a temporary purpose, but to forever change the competence businesses have in adapting and overcoming challenges.

As I think about what could help service businesses weather an economic storm, a few things come to mind:

  • Keep your customer focus. The companies during the pandemic that I spoke with that experienced the least negative impact were those who reacted quickly to how their customers’ needs had changed. They focused in on the opportunity to tout the value of service in extending the lifespan of assets. They offered greater flexibility and played up OpEx offerings. They brainstormed creative marketing to highlight their abilities to meet new customer needs. When a panic button is pressed, the instinct to turn internal can be strong – but don’t forget that your customers are what will pull you through. Staying in tune to their needs, and how those needs may be evolving due to current circumstances, is critically important.
  • Make targeted investments to increase efficiency. Spending money to save money can seem counterintuitive when pressures are high, but there are ample scenarios where a targeted technology investment can achieve quick and significant ROI if you have particular areas of the business where productivity could really be bolstered. In this Deloitte article about resilience in manufacturing, there’s discussion around how targeted investments to increase productivity can be worthwhile. In fact, their data in this sector shows that higher investments before recessions bear higher returns during recovery periods. 
  • Protect company culture. When stress is high, often the burden can be passed to frontline employees, which can have a negative impact on productivity. In economic turmoil, your employees are just as stressed as you are – and often feel powerless. Remain conscious of their emotional wellbeing, and work to protect company culture. This doesn’t mean paining a rosy picture where there isn’t one, but rather communicating openly and honestly and – most importantly – remembering to acknowledge their hard work and effort even when the bigger picture might not be overly positive. 
  • Stay data driven. Insights and data should be prioritized over emotions and be used as the cornerstone of decision making. Being proactive is important, but so is being patient and pragmatic. It’s important that the entire company have an accurate picture of where things stand at any given time, both for decision making and general awareness. 

I wish you all the fortitude and stamina to face any challenges you’re up against. If there are topics that would be helpful for us to find experts to interview, please reach out and let me know. 

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August 1, 2022 | 3 Mins Read

The Power of Problems

August 1, 2022 | 3 Mins Read

The Power of Problems

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Do you remember the two-part podcast I recorded with James Mylett, SVP, U.S. Digital Buildings at Schneider Electric? If you haven’t listened, there are many nuggets of wisdom throughout the conversation. I read an article the other day, though, that brought back to mind one of his points – how much he values root cause analysis (and how often it is rushed past). During the podcast he said, “When you think about a problem, everybody wants to go to ideation, and we don’t spend enough time first identifying the root cause of the problem. And so, my bias is to start at the problem and work backwards from that and put a solution in place that’s supported with data.”

This article by Sabina Nawaz in Harvard Business Review examines an even deeper layer of leadership misstep than failing to analyze root cause – discussing leaders who insist employees “bring me a solution, not a problem.” As Nawaz states in the article, this mentality can be chalked up to wanting to avoid employees complaining or “whining” and the hope to empower employees more by forcing them to solve problems. 

But there is power within problems, and leaders who don’t want to dig into root case – or worse, don’t want to even hear about problems – are overlooking a critical source of insight and perspective. Now of course we don’t want to create a culture where employees are whining about every minute “problem” they encounter – but if we are hiring strong talent and empowering them, would they? Doubtful. The problems your employees surface are important to them for a reason – and being open to listening and engaging is not only key to employee satisfaction but can reveal opportunities that would otherwise lie dormant. 

The Frontline Perspective

In field service, the importance of this topic is amplified because you are relying on a mostly remote workforce to be the face of your brand. The deal with customers often and encounter questions, thoughts, opinions, and yes – problems – others within your business don’t. They have an especially powerful line into what customers think, want, and need. Their take on what problems customers have can point you in the direction of how to improve and evolve your service offerings. 

At the same time, they play an especially impactful role in the Customer Experience; so, listening to their “problems” is also important. If there’s a frustration or issue keeping them from doing their job well, a leader should want to understand that so that it can be resolved and the employee experience – and customer experience – protected. 

This tendency of leaders to want to silence problems feels like an outdated mentality in a category along with fear of failure. Modern leaders who recognize the importance of culture and value the perspective of their talent don’t want to avoid hearing of problems, they want an openness to surface issues along with a collective willingness to dig in and solve them. They know that innovation doesn’t occur without failure and encourage employees to talk and think and try because they know if the responsibility to make the business better is shared, success is more likely. 

I often say, a problem doesn’t go away because you aren’t willing to talk about it. Employees who feel silenced will stew about whatever it is that is challenging them – and that will inevitably cause diminished performance than what they are capable of. We need to be not only able but committed to digging into problems because we see every one as a learning opportunity, and we need to take James’ advice to really understand their root cause before we jump to a solution. 

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July 25, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

It’s Time to Solve the Field Service Branding Problem

July 25, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

It’s Time to Solve the Field Service Branding Problem

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service 

Shortly before I left my post at Field Technologies, I wrote this article about the need to redefine the field service role. The need has only increased in the four+ years since I wrote that article, yet I don’t see a huge amount of effort being put into how we articulate and sell – in other words, brand – the field service opportunity. 

If you follow our content, you know that recruiting and hiring is a primary challenge for 95% or more of our audience. There are many reasons for this, but one that we have discussed is that field service has a bit of a branding problem. There are two common responses when field service is positioned – one is cluelessness as to what it even means, the second is a misperception that it consists entirely of “dirty,” grueling, low-paying work. Either response poses a huge problem for companies looking to recruit talent at impossible paces. 

The exciting news is that field service holds more potential not only for organizations but for individuals in its frontline roles than ever before. Further, the way we define, perceive, and incentives field service roles is rapidly evolving. What we need to do with this reality is seize the opportunity to work on a brand refresh of sorts so that we can convey not only what field service is, but why those looking for a new career opportunity should take note. 

What’s the Elevator Pitch?

In the article I linked earlier, I focused on things companies should consider about making job postings more inclusive, ensuring the proper prioritization of soft skills, and reflecting on whether or not incentives are relevant and enticing for today’s target employee. These are all still valid points, but what I’m thinking about today is a taking a step back and considering how we articulate what field service is a bit better. We need a good elevator pitch. 

At a friend’s recommendation, my husband and I have been watching the show Halt and Catch Fire. It was an AMC show, described by the network as, “Set in the 1980s, this series dramatizes the personal computing boom through the eyes of a visionary, an engineer and a prodigy whose innovations directly confront the corporate behemoths of the time. Their personal and professional partnership will be challenged by greed and ego while charting the changing culture in Texas' Silicon Prairie.”

As an aside, it’s a good show and worth a watch. But this article isn’t about the show! In an episode we watched recently, one of the main characters, Joe MacMillan makes the statement, “Modern society sits on a foundation of services we take for granted.” That is field service. Field service: the services across a variety of industries that are the foundation of modern society. For example, [insert your industry’s service and what it enables here]. 

From this simple elevator pitch that highlights the importance of this group of industries no one knows by name, we can then begin to explain how it has evolved and continues to evolve and what that means in terms of the potential that exists in today’s careers. This is the point also where we need to reflect on how we are positioning roles we are recruiting for, what we’re offering in terms of career progression, and how we describe benefits and incentives. But starting with a simpler description for what field service means I believe is an important step. 

If you take the sentences I started with and consider how you would expand, you can begin to brainstorm all of the ways you can communicate the exciting things that have taken place in field service in recent years paired with what you’ve learned about what your target candidates value. Things not limited to, but along the lines of:

  • Explaining how equipment has transitioned from less mechanical to more digital
  • Discussing the role of the frontline as a knowledge worker, relationship builder, trusted advisor
  • Emphasizing career progression based on the ways we know service delivery is evolving in coming years
  • Ensuring communications are written in a way that appeals to and encourages a diverse set of candidates
  • Playing up important aspects like company culture, company and role purpose, flexibility, benefits and growth opportunities, and so on

Perhaps I am biased because I love this space and love what I do, but I think the positives to convey around what field service is and what it is becoming are abundant. I do think, though, that starting with a strong elevator pitch would help to create a greater awareness of not only what field service is, but the major role it plays in all our lives. What do you think?

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July 18, 2022 | 6 Mins Read

5 Notes to Take from Husky’s Introduction of Predictive Service

July 18, 2022 | 6 Mins Read

5 Notes to Take from Husky’s Introduction of Predictive Service

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service 

If you missed my recent podcast with Tony Black, President of Service at Husky Injection Molding Systems, it is worth the time to go back and listen. Tony relays firsthand the company’s recent efforts to create and rollout a new, predictive service model. As you know, I believe strongly in the value that comes from sharing our journeys and perspectives. While I’d never assume that Tony’s retelling of Husky’s path and lessons learned can serve as a blueprint for anyone else, I do believe there are nuggets of wisdom in these stories that can make a real difference.

I talk to many leaders who have passionate visions of how their company’s service model and service delivery can evolve, but struggle with execution. As such, what I want to do here is give my take on some of the points from Tony and I’s conversation that I think serve as important food for thought for others looking to take their visions to reality.   

#1: Predictive Is (or Soon Will Be) Essential to Remain Competitive

Husky’s introduction of its predictive service offering, Advantage Plus Elite, was a direct result of looking to meet modern customer needs. “We’re already a really good service business with talent founded on high responsiveness, really strong global infrastructure of technicians and service centers, and really close to our global customer base. But the real opportunity was to transform our service business with more predictive and proactive solutions, centered around delivering on our commitments to our customers and maintaining those commitments through the life cycle of our product,” says Tony. “Our customers operate their facilities 24/7 for the most part and produce very high volumes. Any performance erosion or unplanned downtime is really unacceptable. Coupled with complex technology, material changes happening in our industry, and the skilled talent shortage, our customers have come to us and said, ‘We really need you to help us maintain our performance with all these dynamics happening, but please do it in a proactive way. We can’t afford to do it the old way.’”

Whether you call it predictive service, proactive service, outcomes-based service, Servitization or XaaS, the through line is that customers today care far less about your products and even services and are beginning to demand uptime and peace of mind. Companies like Husky who are taking this demand seriously and evolving to meet today – and tomorrow’s - needs will leapfrog the competition that continues to embrace the status quo.

#2: Service Maturity Requires Digital Adeptness and Automation

You can’t achieve baseline acceptable service performance today without a reliance upon digital tools, let alone a predictive or outcomes-based approach. The level of sophistication that Husky is aiming for – that any company looking to progress along the services maturity continuum is – cannot be achieved by scaling manpower alone. It requires a strong digital strategy and proficient use of technology, as well as a reliance on automation. 

“Advantage Plus Elite is powered by technology we call NSM. NSM is developed by a full-time team of SMEs here at Husky. They’ve identified, through their experience, the key variables to monitor, the tools to use to detect trends, and the dashboards to monitor, and then proactively see the potential issues, but also do this at scale,” explains Tony. “We launched this officially a little over a year ago. Since then, we’ve stood up monitoring centers here in Bolton, Canada, in Luxembourg, in Shanghai, Mexico, Japan and Brazil all staffed with monitoring center specialists. When those specialists, using the NSM detect a trend or a problem, potential problem, they issue a ‘We Call You’ to the customer’s plant in local language. And this is all done 24/7. That ‘We Call You’ explains the issue, and then the solution is also explained. Sometimes this alone gives the customer enough information to resolve the issue themselves. If not, we connect and aim to resolve it remotely. The third option is, we send in an informed technician and sometimes even send the part in advance as well. In all of these cases, we then monitor the solution and verify that we’ve really found the root cause.”

#3: People (Human Centricity) Must Balance Technology

While Husky’s offering relies on automation, Tony was sure to emphasize the critical role people play in the success of the company’s new service model. This is a point echoed in many of the conversations I have – we know that for customers, it isn’t just about the guaranteed uptime or performance, but also the relationship. Customers want human touch and a level of knowledge and insight that helps differentiate the company further than simply predicting and proactively resolving issues – this is where the ‘trusted advisor’ term we hear so often come into play.

“We balance the technology with Husky people, people power. Each contract has a dedicated program manager, and that program manager facilitates a weekly and a monthly 30-minute standup meeting with the plant to go over the prior week’s We Call Yous. They use a standard weekly performance report showing the trend of unplanned downtime, OEE, energy usage, and so on,” explains Tony. “That weekly meeting combined with the technology allows our customers to be hardwired into the Husky knowledge base 24/7. That combination has really proven to be powerful.”

#4: Remote Service Does Not Threaten Service Jobs

When we start discussing the role that connected assets, remote monitoring, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence play in service today – and how their role is rapidly expanding – it often causes tension or angst among the frontline workforces. They fear technology will replace their jobs. That is absolutely not the case, and an important initial step in managing change is to ensure they understand and truly believe that.

Will there be less on-site service work over time? Of course, but it remains an important service delivery model even with a remote-first strategy. In new models like Husky has introduced, any reduction in on-site work is balanced by ample opportunities for new service roles. “It’s a fallacy to think you can just have this magical AI and bots and automation, auto emails. There is always going to be a requirement for a tech base close to our customers, period,” emphasizes Tony. “The type of techs and the number of super techs you need, the mix is going to change, but they will always be needed. And again, what we’re doing is we’re creating more informed technicians.”

What’s exciting, though, is how Husky’s story illustrates the way a mature service model will create new service roles that can be filled – in part – by service technicians who no longer desire to be on-site. “There are three new roles with the introduction of this solution. There’s the program manager, there’s the monitoring center specialist, and then we have connectivity specialists who are located closer to our customers,” says Tony. “The program manager role is creating new opportunities for employees inside Husky. We have a really strong group of program managers, a complete cross section of people with different backgrounds, all have good program management skills, but a real high energy group, good with customers, but also understand how to work with the SMEs. These new roles are being filled by technicians. Not just technicians, others as well, but there’s a good mix of technicians who are really interested in doing this.”

#5: Execute Before Expanding

A final point Tony made in the conversation is around keeping your focus as you begin your transformation journey to a predictive or outcomes-based model. As he says, it can be tempting to get wrapped up in the potential and try to take on too much too soon, but it is best to keep things simple at the start while managing the internal and external change.

“Focus is important. As you go down this path, it’s really easy to start thinking about a lot of things that you want to do and can do. And what can happen is you just kind of get paralyzed and you don’t really get anything done really well,” says Tony. “So, my advice here, very specifically, is just focus on several key insights. Just one good insight can provide enormous value for our customers. And it builds you. It builds a platform to expand on. So, don’t worry about having 50 great insights. Have one and start. And customers will see value. It’s a journey, right? It’s a continuous journey. And you keep innovating and adding insights as you go and as you learn.”

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July 11, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

Tetra Pak Shares 5 Considerations for Service Transformation Success 

July 11, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

Tetra Pak Shares 5 Considerations for Service Transformation Success 

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

At the Future of Field Service Live Tour event in Stockholm, I was joined for a session by Berit Hallgren, Program Director at Tetra Pak. In her role, Berit is focused on driving the company’s strategic focus on service operations optimization. Berit has been with the company for more than 30 years and is an experienced change driver with vast experience in project management and people management. 

Berit’s demonstrated history of driving large, global business transformation projects within supply chain and services was clear in our discussion as she spoke to the many layers involved in achieving success with change at scale. As surfaces in many of my conversations, we touched on the fact that so much of a company’s success (or failure) with service transformation comes down to people. But Berit also shared some tactical tips that have helped her over her career ensure that a massive transformation progress through its phases to ultimately deliver the intended impact. Here, she shares her five considerations for successful transformation.  

#1 – Be Clear on Your Why

First and foremost, be sure you know why you’re doing what you’re doing – when the bumps in the road appear, and they will, you need to hold to your why to keep things on course. “Be clear on why you are doing what you’re doing,” says Berit. “What are the problems you want to solve? Because if that is not clear, how can you communicate to your audiences?”

Make sure your why considers the needs of all relevant stakeholders. For their current program, Tetra Pak began with a thorough analysis. “So, the first thing we did was an analysis. I brought together a team with finance, HR, market experience, service experience, and project management experience and myself,” explains Berit. “We did a detailed analysis to understand what are really the areas that we need to transform and how do we make that happen? Our objective came out through that analysis.”

#2 – Know Exactly What You Want to Transform

A vision of your ideal finish line is not enough to get you there, however. “And then, you need to determine what are the areas you want to transform in the end? It must be very clear for people, so they understand we are not going everywhere. We are going in these specific areas,” says Berit.

For Tetra Pak, the analysis resulted in four objectives and four levers, or ways in which the company will meet its objectives. This is clear and consumable, helping the company stay focused on the purpose of the journey and making the “how” simple to understand. 

“It’s exciting to have a clear vision of where we want to go, but we need to do that in a step wise journey. Always putting the customer first and putting the employees first as well. That's really what excites me – what we can bring to our customers, to our employees, and also to the company with this whole transformation and the new opportunities it brings for the future,” says Berit.

#3 – Get Outside-In Perspective

I believe this is a consideration that companies often fall short on, because there is immense value in outside perspective. “The outside in perspective is super important as well,” says Berit. “That I would also really advise. Successful companies can tend to focus more on themselves than on the customers and the outside input, but there is a lot of value that can come from doing so.”

Getting some outside-in perspective can also help you to benchmark where you are and where you desire to be to help guide the transformation. “Being able to show to the organization, ‘This is where we want to go. This is where we are.’ That becomes really, really powerful,” adds Berit.

#4 – Communicate Change in a Personalized Manner

It’s critical to communicate effectively around change but doing so in a personalized manner is the key to that communication being impactful. To do this, you have to know your audience well and communicate the aspects of the transformation that are relevant to them in a way that resonates. “‘What's in it for me?’ You need to be able to explain that for the customer, for your employees, and for the company as well, because it's not the same message to all of these people,” explains Berit.

Often a company develops one narrative around its change and uses that message with the masses, but this impersonal approach doesn’t take into consideration what matters most to each intended audience – which limits the ability to gain buy-in and commitment the way a personalized approach will.

“We have a clear communication plan for all of our projects, of course. Change and communications work closely together. We have a change manager for the program because if you don't take change management seriously, there is a huge risk for failure,” says Berit.

#5 – Have Courage

This was my favorite point of Berit’s, simply because it was so clear that it is a trait she exemplifies that has helped her track record of success over a long career at Tetra Pak. “And finally, have courage. That's probably one of my stronger skills. I'm persistent, ‘So, okay. It didn't go this way. Let's try the other way.’ Because you need that when you drive a big transformation. You have to be persistent, because it will take time. There will be challenges, but it will happen if you have decided it will happen,” she proclaims. 

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June 27, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

The Potential of Service Has No Limit

June 27, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

The Potential of Service Has No Limit

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

On this week’s podcast, we’ll share our first full session from the Future of Field Service Live Tour. This session is a conversation with Jean Claude Jobard, VP of EMEA, Marmon Link at Marmon Foodservice Technologies. Jean Claude has been involved in service for more than 25 years, having formerly held roles at Tetra Pak and Sidel. 

Our session in Paris centered around Jean Claude’s views of what he thinks field service will look like in 2025 and what companies need to be doing today to be ready. You can tell as soon as you speak to Jean Claude how passionate he is about the topic of service, which is something I both admire and relate to. Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Jean Claude what lesson he learned in his former roles that he feels will help him in his relatively new role with Marmon.

I loved his answer. He said, “A few years back, a supply chain head at the company I worked for told us, ‘efficiency has no limit.’ I believe this applies to service as well. Service has no limit. When you see the different level of maturity from one company to another, even the ones that are on top today are nowhere near the end of what’s possible. We’re only at the beginning. There is so much we can do, and it's not only about making money. That’s part of it and certainly possible, but this is also about delivering value to our customers through service. If you listen to your customers properly, you really embed that into your development, there is no limit to the ways you can help them.”

What’s Holding Us Back?

I agree with Jean Claude. In my opening session at the Live Tour events, I spoke about the power of storytelling in service and one of the “stories” that I think is so compelling in service today is the wealth of potential that exists. Perhaps some companies are bound by their legacy in a way that prevents them from seeing that potential, but I believe many do see it and want to bring it to fruition.

But if that is the case, what is holding us back? Why are so many companies “stuck” in the status quo or struggling to create new services that meet different customer needs?

Well, Jean Claude pointed to a few of those reasons in our discussion.

Companies struggle with defining their modern service value proposition. “We have to understand we are not selling technology. We are not selling digital. I mean, maybe some are, but we should not,” says Jean Claude. “The way we work today is our digital team telling us, you know what, this is what we have developed. Now you go and sell it. But this is not service. So, what we want to sell – what we should be selling – are services supported by digital technology. This is where we really bring value to customers, not selling digital but by using it as a tool to better meet our customers’ needs.”

Companies lack strong leadership. “One of the biggest barriers is leadership. Leadership to set the vision. And I want to elaborate a bit on that one. Setting the vision. How can I imagine? I mean, you don't know what you don't know. If in your company you want to develop a service vision, you need to talk to other people that are far above what you do,” says Jean Claude. “Leadership has to see and set that vision and you need benchmarking. Then there are people at the management level who might not believe that in the suggested changes that can bring additional value to the service.” So whether your top-level leaders are lacking a vision for service, or they have a clear vision but middle management isn’t bought in, leadership that isn’t aligned on service strategy make it incredibly difficult for an organization to achieve its service potential. 

Companies see the potential but lack the courage to change. “This requires courage, because what we will do tomorrow is not what we do today. And there will be resistances. It takes courage to implement the change because it is a working role and it's not continuous improvement. It's really a change. You also have to consider selling the change to your customers, by the way,” adds Jean Claude. This is a topic I wrote about recently, discussing the fact that many companies want the benefit of service transformation but aren’t willing to put in the hard work required to achieve that change. There are no short cuts here that can get you to the benefit without the investment – if anything, we find companies who attempt short cuts to be set further back than they were when they began. 

Service remains siloed. “In many companies that have recognized that service can bring a lot of not only revenue, but margin, everybody's begun saying service first, service first, service first. But over the last two years in my previous company, on a quarterly basis we’d have the presentation of results. There was not one single presentation from service. This is where management needs to walk the talk,” says Jean Claude.

Despite these challenges, the future is bright for service and there is progress being made within many organizations to remove these barriers to its potential. 

Stay tuned for the full session with Jean Claude on the podcast this week!

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June 20, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

You Want Transformation, But Are You Prepared to Change?

June 20, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

You Want Transformation, But Are You Prepared to Change?

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

I’ve become an avid Peloton user, and the other morning instructor Jess Sims shared a message in her class that resonated with me in a few ways. She said, “everyone wants the transformation, but not everyone wants to change.”

At the end of 2021, I realized I’d gained 30 pounds during the year. Now obviously I knew I’d gained weight, but I had avoided the scale because I wasn’t ready to face the facts. This was a combination of things – in late 2020 I had Covid which took me out of my healthy routines, that led into the holidays, the holidays led into another full year of Covid stress on top of other things and it simply snowballed. Going into 2022, I knew I needed the transformation, and I was ready for the change. 

I have lost all 30 pounds since and have been reminded how much better I feel – physically and mentally – when I exercise every day. I did a Whole30 in January to reset my nutrition habits and since that ended, I’ve simply focused on being mindful of my choices but not restricting or tracking what I eat, because that doesn’t feel right for me. There have been days that I have wanted to make short term choices that don’t support my long-term goals, but I’ve kept the end game in mind and have stayed committed to the (ongoing) change. 

What does this have to do with field service? Well, I’ve seen the same concept play out often – a company wants the value of transformation but isn’t willing to put in the arduous work of change. This can happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they simply don’t realize the level of change required to truly transform. Other times you have pockets of the organization who embrace the change and others who resist, slowing and sometimes halting transformation. Maybe a company is stuck on a certain layer of change that is uniquely complex. Sometimes the intensity of it all causes a sort of burnout and efforts fizzle. And so on. 

In my years creating content in this space, I’ve been asked by technology vendors often: What’s the next big thing? We’ve already discussed X topic so much; we need to address something new. And I say: yes and no. There’s nothing wrong with being forward thinking and pondering what the future holds. But in service the reality is that there’s still a significant amount of quite foundational transformation that needs to be done before those companies can even consider what’s next, and that’s the case because the topics we’ve been discussing for five even 10 years seem super simple on paper but are incredibly complex to execute in the realities of the business. 

To See the Potential, You Have to Put in The Work

It’s true that there can be no transformation without change. When I ask a leader what held the business back from success or what was the #1 lesson learned, the most common answer is change management. We know change is hard, but we also know it’s necessary – so rather than avoiding it, we need to embrace it and to make it a fiber of our culture. 

Generally, I think the issues lie less in companies not being willing to put in the work than not recognizing which areas will demand focus or to what extent. Here are a few points to consider:

  • Start with clarifying the purpose of your transformation (and make sure it is crystal clear for the purpose of communicating to others)
  • Determine what success looks like and how you’ll measure progress (be realistic)
  • Involve stakeholders early to validate your thinking, surface objections, and create buy-in
  • Ensure the team you have involve is cross functional as this is one way you’ll avoid disjointedness and surprise challenges
  • Be committed to the change but not to the methods – be flexible enough to consider that the path to success may wind, but as long as you’re making forward progress you are doing it “right”
  • Communicate early and often and over and over. If you think you’ve said it a million times, say it again – and always with your audience’s “why” in mind
  • Own the fact that you must make your transformation personal for everyone in your business you expect to carry it out. Unless you can reach the finish line alone (and you can’t), it needs to matter to them as much as it matters to you. How will you achieve this? Communication is key, but so is employee engagement, recognition, incentives, input and leadership
  • Expect bumps in the road and normalize failure

There’s so much more I could add, but this is a start. Seeing the industry’s progress from a bit of a distance over more than a decade, I recognize how we’re collectively moving along the path. There are leaders who have truly successful transformed service to be a customer-centric, digitally capable profit center and who are ready to innovate above and beyond. There are some who have tried and failed because they weren’t ready for the change, who must pick themselves up and try again. And many in between. 

What excites me is the potential that I believe lies just on the other side of this hard work of transformation. Yes, the work is never done – and that’s OK. Part of evolving to be a modern business is recognizing that the change is really ongoing and that the transformation is never “complete.” Embracing that is what fuels your journey and allows you to surpass your initial objectives time and time again.

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June 13, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

Redefining “CIO” for the Modern Digital Age

June 13, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

Redefining “CIO” for the Modern Digital Age

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

About a month ago, I came across an interview on LinkedIn that Carin Forsling, Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group, did with Mats Hultin, CIO of Ericsson on business-led digital transformation. During the interview, Mats states that he views is role as CIO not as Chief Information Office but as Chief Integration Officer. 

This point stood out to me, for a few reasons. First, surfacing in more and more conversations I’m having is the importance of a role (or roles) to coordinate, choreograph, align, or harmonize the strategic efforts within a business – particularly as it relates to both digital transformation and innovation. Second, we know that when companies see their digital transformation efforts fall short of expectations, it is very often due to organizational siloes

Mats viewing his role as one of integration is indicative of a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed in today’s digital world; it exudes an awareness that the information (i.e., technology) is only impactful if it is well integrated into the business. And, while I’ve also heard said the new role of the CIO is Chief Innovation Officer, I like Mats’ description far better – because even innovation, when siloed, cannot scale without integration.

“Not only is the CIO’s role to build bridges between the business and IT,” says Mats, “but it is also about understanding and coordinating the needs, objectives, and opinions of various stakeholders. To be impactful, it is important to have a holistic view and then create a cohesive approach that everyone is bought into. This is how you avoid the detrimental siloes.”

While I was in Stockholm for the Future of Field Service Live Tour, I had an opportunity to sit down with Mats to ask him some of my own questions about Chief Integration role. We know that historically there is often a great divide between the business and IT in many companies – the business feels IT “doesn’t get it,” and IT becomes frustrated that the business thinks it knows best. This is the first area in which the concept of integration is so powerful. “A significant part of the CIO role is coordinating efforts – working to build bridges between the business and IT,” says Mats. 

Three Key Areas of Focus

When he thinks of the integration responsibilities within his CIO role, Mats points to three major areas of focus. First is addressing the different perspectives that exist in any business. “Not only is the CIO’s role to build bridges between the business and IT,” says Mats, “but it is also about understanding and coordinating the needs, objectives, and opinions of various stakeholders. To be impactful, it is important to have a holistic view and then create a cohesive approach that everyone is bought into. This is how you avoid the detrimental siloes.”

The second area of focus is around customer journeys. While it is quite widely understood that transformation and innovation are most effective when done from the outside in, not every company takes that approach. “I see an important part of my role as the understanding of our customer journeys to ensure that we are making investment and prioritization decisions on what will benefit them most,” says Mats. 

Finally, of course Mats is responsible for the integration of technology. As the sophistication of technology increases, so too does the onus to keep centered on business value, usability, and purpose. “We need to be sure that our systems are well integrated to meet the needs of our employees, our customers, and ultimately the business,” says Mats. “We rely on core partners to deliver foundational systems, we look for opportunities to leverage the latest in AI and automation, and most importantly we focus on how all of our technology works together seamlessly.” And while each of these three areas requires its own integration, all three require overarching integration to tie customer needs to the business views and then tie strategy to execution.  

A Look to the Future

I think Mats has hit the nail on the head in how he views his role. He realizes that there can be numerous “brains” in the operation, but if wonderful ideas aren’t knit into a plan, companies spin in place. He also knows that there’s incredible potential in digital, but that it must be tied to business needs, and integrated into business practices, for that potential to come to life. 

As we look ahead, there’s no doubt in my mind that a greater focus on “integration” will help to eliminate the organization siloes that are holding many companies back not only from digital transformation ROI, but also business model evolution and broader innovation. Putting leaders like Mats in place who recognize the power of different perspectives, but feel a personal responsibility to build those bridges, is the way forward. 

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June 6, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

Leading Change Vs. Leading Innovation

June 6, 2022 | 4 Mins Read

Leading Change Vs. Leading Innovation

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Linda Hill, researcher, professor of business administration, and chair of the Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School, speak in late 2019 at the IFS World Conference in Boston. I found not only her insights but her passion for her work very compelling and have been following her on social media ever since. 

Not long ago, Dr. Hill was a guest on Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead podcast – and I will pause here to tell you that reading my write-up on one of the points they discussed is no substitute for going immediately to listen to the full episode. The discussion was around “Leading with Purpose in the Digital Age,” and throughout Dr. Hill shares a wealth of perspectives she gleaned while conducting research and writing her book Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation (named one of the 20 best business books by Business Insider). 

Being a fan of both women’s content and work, it was super interesting for me to hear them become more aware of the ways in which what they each do intersect (Dr. Hill being focused on business leadership and innovation; Brené being well known for her work on vulnerability, courage, and creativity – both as individuals and as leaders). In a nutshell, they arrive early on in the conversation that success – or failure – with digital transformation and innovation has little to do with technology and a whole lot to do with people (and human interaction, communication, company culture, etc.). I was suppressing screams of “YESSSS!” while listening, because of course I hear this exact point play out on a very regular basis. 

Again, in the episode, they dig in to so many topics that are valuable to go and hear firsthand – digital literacy, power dynamics, creating a culture of change, how to fuel innovation, how to lead well in relation to all of these things, and much more. But in addition to sharing a resource that I think is an excellent listen for you all, the one point I wanted to touch on here briefly is the wisdom Dr. Hill shares on the differences between leading change and leading innovation. 

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Historically, we’ve looked at leadership as a whole. Is the leader a good leader? Are they empathetic, do they have high emotional intelligence? But in today’s business landscape, the reality is that digital transformation and immense disruption have created the need for us to better define how to lead based on what it is we’re trying to accomplish. In the episode, many of the emotional struggles Brené picks up on Dr. Hill speaking about are created by ambiguity. This ambiguity can be cleared by better defining what type of leaders we need in which areas and phases of the business, and what skills make for success based on our goals.

Dr. Hill says, “Leading innovation and leading change are different. When you lead change, you have a vision, and you are trying to inspire people to follow you to the future. When you’re trying to innovate, you don’t actually have a vision. You can’t inspire people to get there because you don’t know where you’re going. What you have is a purpose, and a purpose is why you’re going and what you’re trying to do versus where.”

Just based on this clarification, you can begin to see why there’s no universal fit for leadership. What makes a leader very strong at driving change and another successful at spawning innovation are very different, and it is highly unlikely that a leader would be skilled in both ways. 

Dr. Hill adds, “Innovation is about how you get people to co-create the future with you, not follow you to the future. It’s a very different process. So, what’s co-creation about, versus vision and followership? We need to build the capacity to collaborate, which his about diversity and difference. The other piece is can we experiment and learn together? Can we adapt and pivot when we need to? This is about culture and capabilities – being able to flex those muscles.” Dr. Hill shares that she’s working on a new book, Scaling Genius, that digs further into this topic. 

Perhaps your focus is on digital transformation, and if so, knowing how to lead change well and inspire your employees to embrace your vision is important. Or maybe you’re looking to encourage larger innovation, and if so, you need not only different leadership skills but likely different organizational structures, accounting measures, and working processes to succeed. Many companies are working simultaneously on both, and then it becomes increasingly important to know what type of leadership works best where. We know that people and culture are the crux of what makes us successful, so gaining clarity on what types of strong leaders are best suited to spearhead your goals is very important. 

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