Sarah Nicastro

ARTICLES BY SARAH NICASTRO

• Strategic Field Service Takes Hold

  11/10/2018

  I’ve witnessed significant progress among field service organizations this year. If asked to summarize what’s happening, I’d conclude that in 2018 field service has become more strategic. Born from the recognition that field service can be a profit center versus a cost center, companies have begun to realize that being more intentional about how they’re delivering field service can truly transform their business.

• TruGreen Balances Customer Experience Strategy And Tactics

  10/12/2018

  We’ll be featuring lawncare company TruGreen for an upcoming Field Technologies’ cover story, discussing how the company has been on a mission since 2014 to put technologies in place to transform its operations and better serve its customers. While I was talking with Ken DeWitt, CIO of TruGreen, for the article, he spoke about how one of the keys to success with a customer-centric approach is to have a solid strategy that guides every aspect of your tactical approach.

• Orkin Embraces The Field Service Evolution

  9/25/2018

  Orkin revamps processes and updates technology to better meet customer expectations, and in doing so saves between $60,000 and $90,000 per month in fleet costs alone.

• Cloud-Based Field Service Software Improves Efficiency And Inventory Management

  9/25/2018

  The elimination of paper speeds invoicing from one week to essentially same day.

• Q&A: Making Field Service Diversity Intentional

  9/25/2018

  Editor in chief Sarah Nicastro talks one-on-one with Dot Mynahan of Otis Elevator about the opportunities for women in field service.

• Focusing On Cultural Adoption Ensures Field Automation Success

  9/25/2018

  Amano McGann modernizes its field service operations as it looks ahead to IoT.

• Q&A: Challenges To Expect With The Convergence Of Field Service And Digitization

  8/31/2018

  Much of the content I read seems to oversimplify field service innovation. Maybe this is because I have so many conversations with field service leaders that, despite immense knowledge and vast capabilities, are still struggling to get a handle on the best ways to improve their businesses. You read about how companies are transforming with today’s technologies, and in many ways it looks easy, but the reality is it is just that – there are so many competing priorities, a multitude of options (a gift and a curse), and numerous paths to success.

• The 3 Reasons Your Employees Are Resisting New Technology

  8/30/2018

  As today’s field service organizations race to adapt to growing demands and new business models, we see technology after technology being introduced in an effort to maximize productivity, improve the customer experience, and share knowledge across the business. Your technology options today are virtually limitless, which is both exciting and intimidating. But as you evaluate how tools like a new field service software solution, IoT, AR, or AI can help you accomplish your field service optimization goals, you have to keep in mind one critically important thing – any of the technologies you have at your disposal will only have their intended impact if they are embraced by your workforce.

• What Role Could AI Play In Your Field Service Recruitment Efforts?

  8/28/2018

  We’ve published a number of articles recently on the challenges field service organizations are facing with recruitment and hiring. In this article with Robb Origer of DISH and in this article with Roy Dockery of Swisslog Healthcare, we discussed how it is necessary for field service organizations to move away from hiring based on experience and begin hiring based on skills and abilities. However, despite this recognition, the field service industry is still struggling to diversify. You can read here the firsthand perspective of a female field technician on how the industry needs to up the efforts to become more inclusive.

• 5 Practical Actions To Avoid Common Change Management Challenges

  8/23/2018

  Believe it or not, change management often gets overlooked when companies are transforming their businesses. I think this happens for a number of reasons – it seems like a given, so not much time is put into really developing a solid strategy; the team is so focused on the project itself that managing the change gets rushed or overlooked; everyone thinks someone else is in charge of this; and so on. While change management is a topic that is discussed a lot, my conversations with field service leaders have revealed that many times change management in practice doesn’t look like change management on paper.