Competencies needed to get your workforce digital ready refer not only to technology, but more importantly to people’s skills. In short, Digital Transformation is less about technology and more about people writes Julia Moeller of Si2 Partners...

“Technology is always about doing more with less, yet that combination is effective only, if you pair technology with the right human skills.”

- As quoted in the recent article by Harvard Business Review: “Digital Transformation Is About Talent, Not Technology”

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Why Do We Need Digitalization?

The storing and processing of data is increasingly being deployed by companies to increase productivity and/or revenue to build competitive advantage. It is not only about building technology capability, but normally leads to new ways of working.

This may lead to resistance from Service Engineers who have been in the field for decades, happy with the way things have been handled.

This makes it critical as you embark on your change programme and brief your team, that you clearly describe your reasoning, the „why“ behind new technology, explaining how it is not only a new way of working, but help them do a better job in a safer environment.

Why will this help the Field Technician to do a better job? If you as an employer can answer this question, your staff will be much more likely to be intrinsically motivated to not only carry new hardware, but also gladly use it. New hardware or new technology could mean the Field Service Engineer gets information needed for a warranty or repair job easier and faster, maybe find a sales brochure or digitally sign off service reports and new orders.

In order to best support your Field Technician, you as a company have to be set-up for digitalization as well. Not only does it include equipment and training for all staff, but also organizational support and the digitalization of internal processes. Most importantly, when using new tools, the Field Technician needs to be able to rely on it. There is nothing worse than standing in front of a broken machine, not being able to use your shiny new tool.

The answer is the organization has to think about the whole application up front (customer happy with access, HSE, connectivity etc). Often, I have found that a trial is essential in proving the solution to be workable.

Furthermore organizational support needs to go hand in hand with what is being promoted. For example for a client who wants to have documents signed digitally, the organization must have the processes and authorization that enables this process.

Concerning the necessary skillset needed for employees, according to the World Economic Forum the Future of Jobs Report states that active learning and learning strategies as well as creativity, originality and initiative will be more important in 2022 than they were in 2018. What is striking is that complex problem solving, critical thinking and analysis are becoming less important as more and more equipment has built in diagnostics and the capability for remote analysis. What we see is that behavioral skills such as using emotional intelligence to be able to sense what the customer needs, are being values which are on the rise.

Source: Future of Jobs Survey, World Economic Forum

 

Another, new, skill – Technology design and programming- suddenly ranges in the top 5 for 2022, however wasn’t mentioned at all in the list of important skills for 2018. Nowadays the hard skill of coding becomes very relevant, because software is contained in all technology and devices used today.

To successfully leveraging digital tools, field technician’s competencies can be summarized in three major areas: Character, Technology and Experience.

• Character; especially curiosity for learning new things and soft skills such as initiative in helping a client are important.
• Technology; in particular the interaction of mechanical, electronic and control systems is becoming increasingly critical for FSEs to understand.
• Experience; cannot always be substituted by training. Training and working with your team will be key to raising their proficiency in using your digital tool set. Although generation X and Y tend to be more pro digitization; what many fail to understand is that this group will still have to be trained in order to be successful in the field. The only difference between this generation and more experienced personnel is the way we train them.

The ‘modern learner’ appreciates peer-to-peer interaction and sharing experiences more than bosses preaching from the top. What is more; in order to get important information across, keep in mind the modern learner won’t watch videos longer than 4 minutes, unlocks their smartphone up to 9 times an hour and gets interrupted as often as every 5 minutes. Easy to understand, the modern learner is impatient and easily distracted. (Bersin and Deloitte)

In spite of this 80% of workforce learning happens via on the job interaction with peers, teammates and managers. Here, a clear vision is needed. This provides your team with clear expectations of the technical & behavioral skills they need to develop, and different learning options that suit the specific needs of team members. Often this leads to a personalized training matrix for each team member, which should be reviewed on a yearly basis.

In conclusion: Lead by example, share experiences, give sufficient organizational support and of course the right hardware you will give your Field Service Engineers the right competencies needed to be digital ready!

If you would like to know more about how to get your Field Service team ready for the digital age, then please contact Julia Moeller @ julia.moeller@si2partners.com

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
• Read more about Managing the Mobile Workforce @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/managing-the-mobile-workforce
• Read FSN more articles from the team at Si2 Partners @ www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=si2+partners
• Connect with Julia on LinkedIN @ www.linkedin.com/in/julia-moeller/
• Follow Si2 Partners on twitter @ twitter.com/si2partners

HOLT CAT, the largest US dealer of Caterpillar machines and engines, has adopted Augmentir’s Connected Worker platform to speed-up the process of training new technicians and to standardise job times.

The company operates across construction, mining, industrial, petroleum and agricultural sectors, selling, renting and servicing equipment. The firm will look to spread the Augmentir platform across other areas of its re-manufacturing and rebuild operations, including their business systems and workflows.

Artificial Intelligence's effect on Field Service Productivity

The firm’s new workforce approach will see them dovetail Augmentir’s AI-centric software with Salesforce’s Field Service Lightning, a platform they currently employ, and a move that Brandon Acosta, VP of Enterprise Operations at HOLT CAT, says should enhance productivity and output. “We truly believe that the seamless connectivity of Augmentir with that platform [Field Service Lightning] will empower our technical staff within one end-to-end digital platform; not just what to do, but how to do it,” he said.

Russ Fadel, Augmentir’s CEO and Co-Founder is confident HOLT CAT will see progress in staff training and overall productivity. Commenting, Fadel said: “We are excited to be selected as HOLT’s connected worker platform for its service, repair and maintenance applications. Our AI-based Connected Worker Platform helps industrial companies to intelligently close skill gaps so that the entire workplace can perform at its peak.

The Augmentir platform uses Artificial Intelligence in a suite of tools that assist firms in the digital transformation of their operations, for example moving from paper-based procedures to digital, augmented work instructions. It can speed-up the process of training new technicians by capturing legacy worker knowledge creating digital work instructions and workflows.

It recently upgraded its remote-connectivity capability, Augmentir Remote Assist, which now includes real-time chat, live video and audio collaboration and a recording capability to enhance knowledge sharing, a requirement gaining traction as social distancing rules from Covid-19 permeate service operations.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Artificial Intelligence in Field Service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/artificialintelligence
• Read more Augmentir @ www.fieldservicenews.com/augmentir
• Read more about HOLT CAT here. 
• Read more about the impact of Covid-19 on Field Service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/en-gb/covid-19

Richard Pratley left behind the beaches, scenery and weather of New Zealand to head-up SimPRO’s UK arm. Seven months into his new role, he spoke to Field Service News Deputy Editor Mark Glover about apprenticeships, health and safety and the state of the service sector in his homeland...

So isolated is New Zealand it was one of the last lands to have human settlement. As well as avoiding human interaction for so long more, it has also avoided the shockwaves spread from the global financial market. Seemingly exempt from the volatile effects of the recession, it is now seen as a ‘rock-star’ economy, immune to the peak and troughs of the downturn.

Investment in apprenticeships, particularly field service apprenticeships however has taken a hit here in the UK, globally and even New Zealand and the sector currently faces a discrepancy in new entrants joining the sector. Richard Pratley, Managing Director at SimPRO UK and a New Zealander is well placed to comment on the issue, which he did as a recent guest on the Field Service News podcast.

I asked him what challenges both countries – New Zealand and the UK – are facing in field service. He was forthcoming on the current employment imbalance. “I think the biggest one [challenge] is the skills labour shortage and how it’s impacting our industry,” he says. “Finding good people and keeping good people is getting increasingly harder.”

He suggested that New Zealand is reacting to the disparity, but it may be too late to plug the current gap. “A lack of investment in apprenticeships is a common trend across both geographies and I think we’ve underestimated how strong apprenticeships were,” he offered.

“Certainly, from a New Zealand perspective, it’s now well-recognized, and there is some heavy investment going in, but of course, it’s all a little bit too late. It’s not going to help us right now but it will help us in a few years’ time.”

“I think the biggest challenge is the skills labour shortage and how it’s impacting our industry...”

Richard headed up SimPRO’s New Zealand office for three years before relocating to these shores to take up his current position at the firm’s UK arm and he tells me there’s never been a better time to adopt an operational software platform or operational job management system.

But with a wide range of outfits to choose what should a service firm be looking for? “The thing we’re trying to do is to get more billable hours and more out of the existing workforce,” Richard says. However, I wonder if owner-based companies, used to ‘pen and paper’ procedures can find the change to a cloud-based OS rather overwhelming?

“Certainly, in New Zealand - and I’m guessing it’s the same in the UK too - there are a lot of large established service businesses that are owner operated,” he says.

“They have been run for a number of years and at some point, that individual may be looking to retire, and have some sort of exit strategy. The challenge is, that without some sort of systemisation, it’s all in somebody’s head and that’s a very difficult thing to get out.”

One area of work traditionally associated with pen and paper (and clipboard) is health and safety. Legislation and regulation require a strong paper trail, something that can be a laborious – yet important process.

Surely then, the cloud-based software in job management systems can assist in this? “We have a number of workflows and tools within apps that allow technicians to do those risk assessments on their devices, to record those results and to actually make some health and safety decisions before they go ahead and do any part of a job,” Richard says.

He pauses slightly before saying: “And I think that’s fundamentally important.” 

You can listen to the Field Service Podcast with guest Richard Pratley here.

 

For our latest research project, which we ran in partnership with ServiceMax from GE Digital our focus was to see what the field service engineer of the near future will look like. We are now into feature three of our online coverage of the findings of this research where we look at some of the conclusions drawn from the first part of our analysis and highlight some of the key statistics the research revealed.

To recap in the first part of this series we looked at the research aims, the threat of the ageing workforce and the changes in training methodologies that are emerging. In part two we explored if and if and how field service companies are utilising their experienced field service engineers to train the incoming generation.

Now let's dive in to part three...

 

There is also a detailed white paper outlining the wider findings of this report which is available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers...

Not a subscriber yet? Click here to apply for a complimentary industry practitioner email and get this resource sent to you instantly

(Please note that by applying for your subscription via this link you accept the terms and conditions here and a plain english version is available from our main subscriptions page here) 

Companies are aware of the challenges but are they reacting quick enough?

It is clear from our findings that the role of the FSE is undoubtedly changing.

Field service companies are today seeking much more rounded individuals, who are as proficient as dealing with face to face interactions with the customer as they are dealing with technical maintenance issues.

It is also clear that whilst it may have been exaggerated in some quarters the challenges of replacing an ageing workforce is very much a real threat to a large number of field service organisations. However, the fact remains that these challenges may also essentially be set resolve each other.

There have been numerous explorations and studies into the traits of the Millennial generation and one of the key observations that is often raised is that Millennials are on the whole a more confident generation than those that preceded them, who also value variety within their working lives - perfectly suited to a role that balances both technical and customer service elements perhaps?

Connected Assets, Machine Learning, AR and of course a solid FSM system can all empower field service engineers to be the brand ambassadors field service companies today are seeking.What is clear though is that the link between the two will be provided by technology. As discussed above, technologies such as Augmented Reality can go a huge way to bridging the gap between the experienced engineers that are in the latter part of their careers and those who are just entering the workforce. It is, therefore, a bit of a surprise that so few companies are actively embracing such tools as yet.

Perhaps, here is the real issue and the underlying challenge.

Technology really does provide an answer to most of all of the challenges discussed in this series so far. Connected Assets, Machine Learning, AR and of course a solid FSM system can all empower field service engineers to be the brand ambassadors field service companies today are seeking.

They also provide a platform for easing the transition from ‘a ‘Boomer workforce to a Millennial one by creating far more economically efficient means of extending the older FSEs productive career span, bringing them out of the field and allowing them to offer guidance remotely.

However, it seems that for many perhaps there is a lack of urgency.

There is a sense that for many companies it is a case of ‘yes - we see the challenge and we’re aware of it but aren’t actioning it just yet...’ One suspects that perhaps because the issue of an ageing workforce isn’t quite critical enough as yet and the fact that solutions do exist and are in-fact becoming fairly well established already, the danger doesn’t seem as particularly real as it should for many.

However, whilst the systems and technologies are certainly available to overcome these challenges, implementation and realignment of processes will take time and unless companies act soon, the ageing workforce crisis and rapid evolution of the FSE in a millennial guise may just catch them unawares and then the risk may just still live up to the hyperbole after all.

Some of the key statistics from the findings:

• 48% of field service companies believe the threat an ageing workforce poses to their field service operations is either significant or severe
• 18% of field service companies believe their exposure to an ageing workforce will be limited
• Only 10% of field service companies have redeveloped their training methodologies to be more attuned to Millennials entering the workplace
• 78% of field service companies are in the process of or are planning to overhaul their training processes
• 20% of companies actively use their senior engineers in a remote expert capacity to guide younger Field Service Engineers in the field
• 98% of companies are prioritising softer, inter-personal skills as key attributes more now than they have done in the past when hiring new field service engineers[/unordered_list]

Want to know more? There is also a detailed white paper outlining the wider findings of this report which is available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers...

Not a subscriber yet? Click here to apply for a complimentary industry practitioner email and get this resource sent to you instantly

(Please note that by applying for your subscription via this link you accept the terms and conditions here and a plain English version is available from our main subscriptions page here) 

 

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