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A few good techs

There is evidence that the ATM industry is facing a service technician shortage, and it may get worse before it gets better. (Part 2 of 3).by Dr. John Bennett, chairman of the TBG Reliance Corporation

March 17, 2002

In my first article, I wrote about shortages in information technology (IT) skills. I pointed out that, according to an October 1998 study performed by a coalition of three IT associations, significant IT skills shortages exist.

Since ATM service provider skills were included as part of the shortage, I asked for comment from ATM industry respondents. Here's what I found out:

• Technician skill shortages do exist at the distributor/service provider level at some ATM companies. However, not all agree there is an industry-wide problem. Different perspectives seem to apply.

• At least one ATM manufacturer recognizes the service technician is its "face to the customer" and has been working through collaborative efforts with its distributors to improve its field service activities.

• A second, more detailed study has been conducted by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and indicates the problem is getting worse, particularly in terms of "service representative" skills. Sounding an even greater alarm, an IDC analytical report contends that the IT skills shortage could impact U.S. economic growth if not alleviated.

It's a real issue

Bob Cannon, CEO of Momentum Cash Systems, emphasizes and confirms that the IT skills shortage as it pertains to ATM service providers is real.

"Service is a major problem. We service three types of ATMs from three different manufacturers and, in each case, we are left on our own to find qualified service providers," Cannon said. "Our only assistance comes from manufacturer factory training, and that is not in all cases."

Like many within the industry, Cannon is leery of using third-party service providers because the quality level isn't always consistent. "You must put reasonable trust in the provider you hire; yet there are varying ethics within the industry. One bad major service call can take away profits for that machine for several months," he said.

Because the industry is fragmented, Cannon added, "The best we can do is work through friendly competitors."

He wishes there was "some kind of ATM Better Business Bureau to identify those service providers and technicians that are fair, do good work and are responsive to the customer needs."

Houston-based Momentum Cash, one of the largest non-bank ATM owners, owns over 1,000 machines and manages another 1,300. While the latest IT shortage study (see below) found that one out of every 12 service technician jobs went vacant, Cannon said he experiences one vacancy out of every five to 10 service technician positions.

One possible solution? Cannon feels that manufacturers should locate and qualify National Service Providers and negotiate a standard fee for servicing their products. He thinks coalitions of interests are possible, perhaps through the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA).

"We have no way to collaborate on service, none in purchasing equipment and none in expendable supplies," he said.

It's a similar story at Card Capture Services, Inc., North America's largest ISO. The company manages 8,500 machines located in 48 states, Canada and Mexico. Eric Muller, director of field services, is on the day-to-day service firing line and shares some of Cannon's experiences and opinions.

"Hiring and retaining qualified ATM service technicians is the number one problem in our company at the present time," Muller said.

Like Momentum Cash, Portland, Ore.-based CCS experiences about five to 10 vacancies for every service technician position it fills.

"We now are constantly playing musical chairs, having one location send technicians to another location. The travel time and cost have mounted," Muller said. "We do this just to satisfy a customer; it's part of our make-up."

Muller said CCS' goal is to build an independent service network using certified technicians who have adequate spare parts to complete their work on the first service call. However, he added, "We encourage and would welcome a non-bank ATM manufacturer to strike out and have its own national service provider capability."

CCS generally relies on in-house training rather than factory training, Muller said. "Most of the ATMs we service involve troubleshooting and replacement. With the simplicity of the equipment we service, technicians can be trained after they are hired."

"The face to the customer"

"We are very sympathetic to the plight of our Triton distributors in being able to hire and retain qualified service technicians," said Mary Edith Dressel, vice president for corporate resources for Triton Systems Inc., the leading supplier of ATMs to the retail market.

"After the sale of equipment, the service technician is the front line person that represents our Triton-distributor team interests," she continued. "Truly, we cannot afford degradation of this technician capability and must work diligently to both reduce the shortage and improve the capabilities of the technical workforce associated with Triton equipment."

Dressel agreed that the IT skill shortage, including ATM service technicians, is a national problem. "It will require a significant national initiative involving government, educational and business cooperation to overcome the deficiencies," she said. "Now that the alarm has been sounded and it's getting louder, I hope we will see some good things happen."

The Long Beach, Miss.-based manufacturer will continue to address service management improvements through collaborative efforts with its distributors, Dressel said, primarily by developing programs aimed at providing service providers with more effective diagnostic and trouble-shooting tools.

Mike Brown, Triton's nationwide field service manager, said that Triton has had an on-going Service Management Improvement Program since late 1998. The company also holds annual distributor conferences and has a distributor panel that meets periodically to discuss service management issues and developments.

Collaborative efforts with distributors to provide after-sales and service functions is a key to Triton's success, Brown said. "World-class service sells machines."

Triton has been working to establish a more visible and viable field service communication network, Brown added. "Our Internet distributor network now interfaces to our ERP system so that warranty claims are processed electronically from service technician close-out tickets. This allows direct payment of technician labor and travel costs and quick turnaround of spare parts replacement."

The company has also established standards for service provider qualification and performance, and is beginning to measure service call transaction activity for quality and performance.

Problem? What problem?

Lyle Elias, CEO of Hurst, Texas-based ATM manufacturer Greenlink Technologies, Inc., and president of the ATMIA, said both yes and no to the question of an ATM service technician shortage.

"Insofar as the overall IT workforce is concerned, I think there is a problem. As a manufacturer we have not yet felt the ramifications of that shortage," Elias said. "Today's off-premise ATMs are very reliable and don't require much second-line maintenance. Greenlink ATMs do not need second-line technicians in the field because they are a modular plug-and-play solution."

According to David Beech, director of service sales and marketing at Mosler, Inc., a provider of electronics and physical security systems, an ATM service technician shortage within Mosler is not a problem.

Why so? Beech cites three reasons: "All of our technicians are qualified as multi-task, cross-functional skills. We have a large base of technician skills throughout the U.S. to work with. And we maintain a substantial training center internally to support our need."

Operating from 70 branch offices and 350 satellite locations in 50 states, Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico, Hamilton, Ohio-based Mosler employs 1,300 service technicians and operates 1,400 service vehicles.

Beech continued, "With our skills base, we have a lot of flexibility in how we operate. We seem to have a 'critical mass,' and we work hard to forecast our needs and then select, hire and train as necessary."

More complexity, more training

Bill Dunn, director of sales for Fremont, Calif.-based ATM manufacturer Cross Technologies, Inc., sees the service technician issue a little differently.

Noting that some machines are simpler to service than others, Dunn said, "For the most part, we work with the same people that maintain Tidel and Triton ATMs. It's a lot easier now with that level of technical capability (in the field) than it has been in the past."

While today's typical retail ATMs feature essentially eight components, Dunn said the hardware will become more complicated as manufacturers and deployers move toward PC-based equipment.

"The ATM of the future also will probably require some programming as part of maintenance. Parts of the training will definitely have to be computer based," he said. "We have a one-day course now and would like to go to three days. With a PC-based ATM, we may see a five-day training course requirement."

And, he added, "It is not too soon to begin to address the changing requirement."

The big picture

A new and more comprehensive study by the ITAA, Arlington, Va., has recently been released. For highlights:
Click here

Among the report findings:

• Employers will create a demand in the country for roughly 1.6 million IT workers in the year 2000, and half of these positions will go unfilled. This means that one in every dozen will be vacant.

• The 10 million strong workforce of IT workers is far larger than one might expect based on past studies. The study provides emphasis and evidence that the Internet and IT have become the twin pistons of the national economy.

• Fifty percent of all IT jobs are in two positions that exist in almost every organization: technical support and network administration. The average IT company has five times as many jobs to fill for tech support representatives.

• Troubleshooting is ranked by 97 percent of study respondents as the most necessary skill required. Training after an employee is hired is rated as significantly more effective than pre-hire methods of training (84 percent).

• Industry certification programs are of moderate importance (more than 50 percent rank as important or very important).

• The most common coping strategy is utilizing temporary or contract employees.

Potential repercussions

Adding urgency to the consideration, IDC, one of the world leaders in business data analysis, had this to say:

"It's time we thought differently about how to identify, develop and deploy IT talent. If we don't, rates of technical innovation are likely to decline and other segments of the economy will be even more talent starved than IT is now."

Citing similar figures to ITAA, IDC states that in 1999 almost 60 percent of the IT recruitments filled existing positions versus new ones. IT attrition and turnover will cost employers $7.6 billion in 2002, the IDC predicts.

"Learn or lag," the IDC says. "If new training initiatives fail to satisfy the need for IT skill, it will reverberate in the stock market, which is already reading the tea leaves. Were a general high-tech slowdown to occur, training budgets would be pinched, widening the skills gap. Under current conditions, more IT workers mean fewer service workers, teachers, firefighters and police officers. College students will increasingly eschew arts and social sciences to insure employability."

The IDC concludes: "How these choices might impact society is not known but should be of urgency to all of us."

I'm listening

There is a degree of uncertainty within the industry as to the extent, degree and future impact of any ATM service technician shortage. While there is not a consensus as to the criticality of the issue, my sense is that the problem is severe enough to warrant attention. Judging by the figures being released, it seems likely that the IT shortage as it impacts our industry will get worse.

In my next article, I will continue to seek out opinion on the possible ATM technician shortage, extend the questioning to explore possible solutions to alleviate the problem and try to determine what barriers to improvements exist.

What do you think? Let me hear from you. Email John Bennett or call him at 609-368-2541.

The author, Dr. John Bennett, DBA, is former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Logistics and Installations, and founder and former CEO of ANADAC, Inc., a public engineering management and technical support company, now a fully-owned subsidiary of Identix, Inc, a leader in the biometrics field.

He is currently chairman of the TBG Reliance Corporation, an application service provider providing electronic-based service management systems for the ATM and petroleum equipment industries.

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