Technicians Do Not Resist Technology; They Resist Technology That Does Not Help Them - ACHR News

A survey of 181 commercial HVAC service technicians was conducted to test the widely held assumption that field technicians resist digital technology, and to identify what separates the technology they value from the technology they do not. The study found that willingness is not the constraint. It is high and does not vary with tenure: 78% say digital tools make their work easier, 96% want more training, and technicians with more than 10 years in the trade are no less receptive than those with fewer than three. Yet the typical technician reports that technology has helped as much as it has hurt—a net return of zero—and only one in seven works with both the information and the connectivity that deployed software assumes. Technicians consider technology useful when it helps them arrive at the job with key information, and when the technology shortens diagnosis. Technology that makes coordination easier (e.g., paperwork and dispatch, which represents the majority of current field technology) showed inconclusive results on its helpfulness or harm. FTL concludes that technicians benefit most from technology that helps them solve problems in the field.