Nick Frank like many has been spending more time with his young family during the pandemic and says there is much to learn from a child's perspective as we move through and beyond Covid-19 in service.

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose..."

 - Dr. Seuss

Dr Seuss children’s books are famous the world over and as many of us mix work with home schooling, we can appreciate there is so much to learn from a children’s view of the world. Maybe you are now getting to the point where you can start to learn the lessons from your pandemic experience. Maybe you are now getting to the point where you can start to learn the lessons from your pandemic experience.

5 LEarnings the Field Service Sector Can Take From the Covid-19 Crisis

Here are the top five lessons learned we have heard, which I am sure will be added to in the coming months: 

1. We can move fast when we want to!

It has been amazing at how fast companies have adapted to working remotely and in a new operating reality. One manager we talked to told us how a major equipment manufacturer rolled out an Augmented Reality Solution in 3 days, taking risks that they never would have thought in the pre-COVID 19 world.  It just goes to show what organisations can do when they have clear vision and purpose.

Talking to a cross section of managers, it also becomes clear that the most successful had already been building a culture of flexible working and innovation. This has allowed them to react effectively to the challenge. One hopes these successes should re-enforce companies’ ‘can-do’ beliefs and increase the pace of innovation. Although the road has been tougher for those conservative companies who have been slower to embrace digital technology, the cliff edge nature of the crisis has created the ‘burning platform’ required to drive change. For these companies it will be a real leadership test if they can take the bold decisions required to increase their dynamism and not revert back to type.

2. Communicate, communicate and communicate is a vital success factor

It has also forced many companies to think more deeply about their customers success and even the success of their industry. Working with their stakeholders to make tough decisions about what can and cannot happen. For example, how to solve customer issues without having and engineer on site. We even spoke to an Aerospace Maintenance Solution provider who decided to offer free of charge their Helpline to their competitors’ customers, because they had the capability and these customers needed support.

3. Flexibility and Agility are key to survival

What has surprised me is how many industrial companies have somehow kept moving ahead and utilising their field resources. Although most are running below capacity, many have been agile and fortunate enough to maximise resources. Some examples:

• Print equipment manufacturer switching service resources to priority industry such as food packaging
• Switching field staff to technical support roles
• Using down time for product training and even role out of new service systems
• Working with employees around using vacation time to minimize the economic impact.

A challenge for many is how to incorporate this new found agility into the culture of the company in a sustainable way.

4. Gaining a true understanding of the value of digitalisation

Many companies have had a crash course in Digital. Not so much in the technology itself but the value of the technology. For many OEM’s it is understanding how it is possible to solve customer problems through remote/digital access, having a 360 degree view of the customer situation from the home office or simply how to work collaboratively as a team.

From the customer side there is a greater appreciation of how technology can be used to keep their plants running or become more effective. Where IT security was a concern, perhaps now greater effort will be made to allay these worries.
For all parties a new openness to the use of technology presents a great opportunity to change the way we work together.

5. The best prepared have naturally built resilience into people and organisations

One of the major lessons learned has been to see the difference between a fear driven reactive approach to dealing with crisis, to one that comes from an inner resilience and is more step by step. Those with the latter mindset, in a strange way welcome the crisis as it has reinforced what their companies have to get right to survive. They perceive the change in attitude to risk, digitisation and people as a tremendous opportunity to be grasped.

As we speak, we are seeing new commercial and leadership learnings starting to evolve. However, it is clear that the companies that build on these lessons will emerge from this pandemic crisis stronger, fitter and more agile. NOW is an exciting time to be in business as we must scale new heights in innovation and effectiveness in order to survive.

Further Reading:

• Read more articles by Nick Frank @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/nickfrank
• Read more articles about digitalisation in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/digitalisation
• Read more articles about management in service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/management
• Read more about Si2Partners @ https://si2partners.com/
• Read more about the Service Leaders Network @ https://serviceinindustry.com/2019/12/03/why-we-created-the-service-leaders-network/