Why Covid Has Accelerated Field Technology Adoption
Covid-19 has changed many aspects of our personal lives. It has also changed many organization’s operating models and increased the emotional stress that frontline employees experience daily.
Neuroscience shows that stress corrupts our thinking brain and increases the opportunity for quality and safety mistakes as people are more distracted by the direct and indirect consequences of Covid-19.
Many technology trends that predate our current conditions were ready-made for widespread adoption. This is especially true for businesses and companies with large field workforces that have historically faced unique challenges when it comes to technology implementation and adoption.
As of now, daily health check screenings can be done remotely by personal devices notifying employers of any symptoms or illnesses prior to leaving home to commute to work. Heat cameras and testing equipment have been installed in brass alleys and work entrances to measure temperatures and report any findings to ensure safety of the workforce. Drone flights have been used for site inspections and progress updates to limit the number of unnecessary personnel at work locations. Mobile applications have been used to request materials, tools, equipment, and PPE; allowing project warehouses to prepare and deliver material without the requirement of face to face interactions.
In ways big and small, both culturally and technologically, the pandemic will go down as a turning point for industries with large field workforces. The current environment provides a catalyst for technology adoption because the people on industry’s frontlines are open to new ways of doing work and are looking for ways to keep themselves and their coworkers healthy during the pandemic.
New tools for a new environment.
Today, we find ourselves in a new work environment — the Covid-19 workplace demands implementing new requirements and processes, including protocols for social distancing, new personal protective equipment requirements, self and peer wellness identifications, and new safe practices that change the way we conduct work activities.
These changes require us to alter ingrained work habits resulting from years of training and experience.
A change this significant and immediate in itself can bring on emotional stress and send a once performing workforce into disarray. However, the use of technology can support not only that change management but also aid in the evolution of how we traditionally execute some work tasks.
Teleconferencing takes center stage.
For example, technology has played a big role in communication in the field during social distancing. Planning meetings that were once held in conference rooms are now being done remotely through the use of technology. Experts that were providing support in person are now dropping in on field devices rather than commuting to a job site.
In 2018, Microsoft did a study that asked 14,000 people from seven countries to name the form of communication that makes them the happiest. What people revealed was that they preferred social connections with face to face meetings over things like chat and email. This need has played out as physical distancing requires people to move their work remotely.
Recent usage statistics show that Microsoft Teams daily active users have quadrupled from 20 million to nearly 80 million between 2019 and 2020. As the company represents one of the largest SaaS providers, this increase undoubtedly includes the many companies with large field workforces who are accelerating the implementation and adoption of this technology.
Remote field collaboration also benefits from another trend that predates the pandemic — better connectivity. This is seen in the increased use of mobile devices like phones and tablets, which are the types of devices most used by field employees.
E-ticketing steps up.
Change and uncertainty can have a fight for life response in employees. Many times, we establish a cadence and a blueprint for how we execute tasks. When the same task requires a new process, new technology, or when our process needs to meet a new requirement, it suddenly takes more time, attention, and a complex method of processing that engages both our conscious and subconscious mind. As a result, change can be very difficult for many individuals and organizations.
One trend that has navigated this tendency well during Covid-19 is material readiness using contactless invoicing. These are paperless systems that allow producers and subcontractors to move material in a frictionless way and encourages social distancing.
E-ticketing has a number of benefits to the work crews and operators who no longer need to leave the cab and expose themselves to traffic and other hazards. It also reduces payment time, decreases the delay in administrative paperwork, and improves the quality of project documentation.
The reason e-ticketing works so well is that these paperless use cases succeed at a human level — helping people accomplish their work safer and more easily. By adapting to an existing process and moving it into the digital realm, the natural fear and hesitancy around change can be mitigated.
Robotic helpers take the leap.
Research suggests that people make up to 3 to 6 errors each hour and that the number of errors can increase when employees don’t have the right mindset or focus. Consequently, companies are looking even further into how they can use robotic technologies to assist the workforce in executing their jobs and identifying potential errors and double checking their work.
Similar to some of the current use cases, robotics made their first appearance decades ago with products designed to keep people out of hazardous environments. These have since become much more general-purpose, more user friendly, and ready for new uses.
The current needs are still ones that have historically held traction — things like inspecting unreachable areas and extending sensing into an environment that would otherwise put a person into harm’s way. But the technology itself has stepped into new realms of advancement due to localization and path planning that have made the products newly flexible and safer to be around.
Robotics is succeeding in the age of Covid-19 because the technology is helping people perform work that would otherwise be impacted by safety and quality issues. As people are distracted by the new environment, robotic helpers are changing the way we traditionally execute some of our work tasks.
During a pandemic, physical distance matters less when an expert is available remotely. Field inspections are becoming increasingly automated. And the most efficient way to record information is not with pen and paper — it’s zero-touch and paperless.
The more we can make the adoption of this technology feel natural in our daily work activity, the more successful it will be.
Nate Fuller is Managing Director of Placer Construction Solutions, advising leadership teams to transform their organizations in ways that improve performance and agility at the field level.
He provides construction companies with a field assessment that delivers transformative information about their field operations and is proven to accelerate innovation & technology adoption for Top ENR contractors.
Roger Lis is a Senior Consultant and Leadership Specialist who partners with clients to build sustaining cultures that drive safe, quality performance. Learn more about Kintla.
