Demand is way up for technology installation services and systems integrators are cranking out more proposals than ever, they just need the manpower to perform the installations. Not having the skilled technicians in place because you are swamped with work is a “good problem to have,” but a frustrating situation. As integrators look to hire new talent, it highlights the need for them to have a structured onboarding and training process.
In this episode of the D-Tools “What’s the Buzz” podcast, one of the industry’s leading consultants and a process expert – Jason Sayen of I Am Sayen – discusses the steps that integrators need to take to establish a process-driven business that will result in high efficiency not only when they are onboarding new employees, but during all operations.
“From a high-level perspective, if you’ve outgrown your systems and processes, it’s time to relook at them,” advises Sayen. “For the single person operation… as soon as they hire their first employee, they have outgrown their processes. Now they need to take what’s in their head—because I am sure don’t have checklists and standard operating procedures for their self—and translate that to the person they have hired.”
"If you've outgrown your systems and processes... it's time to relook at them." -- Jason Sayen, I Am Sayen
Sayen notes that one of the telltale signs that an integrator needs to have processes in place is when they believe they can’t sell any more projects because the company can’t handle the workload. Any time a company is refusing sales just because it will overburden the company is not a positive situation.
He says there are common bottlenecks that almost every integration company encounters and needs to address.
“The first bottleneck is that hand off from sales to production,” he notes. “Most companies sell the project, get the deposit, then immediately start ordering the equipment and scheduling. Technicians show up on the jobsite and they spend a day or more just determining what it is they need to do.”
Sayen uses a Lean Six Sigma process called Value Mapping that captures a company’s processes as they exist today and maps it to a future state. That process allows him to evaluate the needs of a company. He has also developed a program he calls the Client Journey and G.U.I.D.E. (Great Utility and Documented Experiences) Workflow Activation System. These programs offer a step-by-step approach for integrators, manufacturers and distributors on how to get started in creating honed processes.
