Change Management for Field Service Businesses

In our last article, we took an in-depth look at how field service businesses should go about selecting only the most relevant technology for their organizational needs and not engage in the digital transformation arms race we see so many other brands indulging in.

However, what many companies are also still overlooking is the need for a robust change management program to help facilitate digital transformation in the most effective manner possible.

According to McKinsey, even organizations which define their transformation as successful, estimate they’ve only realized 67% of the maximum financial benefit it could have achieved. By contrast, respondents at all other companies say they captured an average of only 37% of the potential benefit.

There are many reasons for this shortfall, but one of the most impactful is likely to be the lack of a change management strategy.

Leaking Value

While a sizable proportion of value loss (55%) occurs during the implementation and post-implementation stages, 45% is lost before implementation even occurs. This demonstrates that it is of critical importance to manage every stage of transformation, as seen in the diagram below.

Therefore, change management must begin at the very earliest stages of any transformation effort, to reduce the loss of value as much as possible. Change management helps streamline processes, establish direction, eliminate information silos, and remove bottlenecks which can all contribute to the hemorrhaging of value as the transformation process proceeds.

Defining Change

In order to establish a change management strategy which captures the maximum value from the transformation, it’s important to first define the change process itself. This should include:

• An assessment of the current state of the organization
• Comparisons and benchmarking against competition
• A first draft of the transformation timeline and planning phases of any roll-out
• The establishment of clear end goals
• DICE [duration, integrity, commitment, and effort] factors which will impact each stage of the transformation.

Once these factors are defined, the business of creating a change management process can truly begin.

A Note on People

The most crucial factor which will determine the success of any digital transformation – no matter how well change is managed – are the people you have working for you.

You need to identify which are leaders, followers, those resistant to change, healthy sceptics, etc. and make sure they are all placed in appropriate roles to get the best out of their abilities. Understand which skills are needed in which stages of the plan is one of the most essential elements of any change management strategy. Likewise, identifying those who are resistant to change and convincing them of the benefits will also help increase the value drawn from the process.

"People are resistant to change, especially in a work context where they are comfortable doing things a certain way and convinced their approach needs no improvement,” writes NextService. "Unless employees feel excited to use the [technology] and confident their jobs are not in jeopardy, they will never use those tools to the fullest, leading to a smaller (sometimes much smaller) impact than expected.”

The Only Constant is Change

Perhaps one of the most important pieces of advice we can impart when it comes to change management is to be ready and prepared for things to go wrong and to have to adapt on the fly.

Ensuring your change management strategy is malleable and contains contingencies will likely be the single most determining factor when it comes to success or failure and extracting the maximum value from your digital transformation. At every stage of planning, you should be asking what could go wrong and what you will do if it does.

As with so many organizational functions these days, agility is a key determinant of success and nowhere is this more relevant than in the fluid and often tumultuous area of managing change.

"Change management hinges on foresight: the ability to mitigate issues by anticipating them early,” continues NextService. "Take some time before the implementation to think through everything that could go right and wrong during and after the implementation. Bring multiple perspectives into this process, and be willing to entertain any idea, even if it sounds remote. Thorough contingency planning keeps the implementation on track in the face of the unexpected.

Final Thoughts

There are just a few of the principal factors you need to consider when planning and implementing digital transformation in your field service business. Maximize value, leverage the power of your people, define and plan, and be adaptive in the face of challenges, and you will be well on your way to effective change management and digital transformation.

Join us on workshop day to take an active part in addressing digital transformation – a change management journey for the service & support organization with Vice President of Global Services & Support in Genetic Sciences, Life Sciences & Laboratory Products for Thermo Fisher Scientific, Kevin Lowitz, at Field Service Medical 2023, being held in February at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, CA.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.