News
The 'tech' in technician
As the worlds of ATMs and IT continue to converge, how will it affect the role of the ATM service technician?(Part 3 of 3).by Dr. John Bennett, chairman of the TBG Reliance Corporation
October 15, 2000
In my third and final article, I continue examining ATM industry field service capabilities by talking to the two largest ATM manufacturers. Neither is experiencing ATM service technician shortages at this time.
Across the Internet, I find there is a wide divergence of opinion as to whether there is a significant information technology (IT) labor shortage.
In the ATM industry, only non-bank ATM distributors seem to be experiencing service technician shortages, and I attempt to explain what I think causes this problem. Based on what I read and observed, I conclude with some thoughts about the future impact of technology on the ATM industry.
Big boys
NCR in 1999 sold $1.1 billion in self-service products (ATMs). It has continued to grow ATM market share over the past three years.
Through its Worldwide Customer Services division, NCR is the fifth largest hardware support and installations service company in the world with 15,000 employees at 1,100 locations in 130 countries. Revenue for its IT Support Services was $1.78 billion in 1999.
Dave Fechter, vice president, Americas Customer Support Services, said NCR is not experiencing a shortage of ATM service technicians.
"If faced with a field technical shortage, we can quickly gear up to overcome the deficit. We can train new hires in as little as three weeks at our facilities in Dayton (Ohio)," he said. "NCR is continually upgrading its field service capability, particularly in terms of ATM remote monitoring and management. This helps customers minimize ATM downtime."
At Diebold, the leader in ATM units shipped in the U.S. in 1999, it is the same story: no service technician skills shortage. With sales of $1.3 billion in 1999, Diebold has increased its sales 15 percent over each of the last three years. The company employs nearly 10,000 people in 75 countries.
"Diebold is a service company. We employ 2,400 field service technicians, mostly trained inhouse. Our workforce has an average tenure of over 20 years with the company," said Robert Reho, vice president, North American Services and Support.
"Diebold relies on an input of technical personnel from local community college two-year associate degree programs or equivalent military experience," added Bernard Libertore, manager, Technical/Systems/Customer Training and Administration. "We have a close relationship with a local community college and, in fact, share facilities with Stark State Community College at our training headquarters at Canton, Ohio."
NCR and Diebold share some common characteristics:
• Both are relatively large, global service-oriented companies which have experienced changes in strategy and focus in recent years.
• Both have made recent acquisitions and rely on alliances and partnerships.
• Both have major training and service infrastructures and strictly control assets and the means for service performance.
• Both have on-going field service engineering and management improvement programs, particularly in terms of customer satisfaction and now, in use of the Internet.
• Both have low single-digit turnover rates.
Potpourri of opinion
In April 2000 it was widely reported that the nation's unemployment rate slid to 3.9 percent, its lowest level in 30 years. Over the past seven years, 21 million jobs have been created. The available labor pool narrowed, as the proportion of the population over age 16 with jobs hit a record high of 64.9 percent.
No one is saying that this won't continue. In fact, many media and trade association surveys, articles and reports find that the IT shortage is real and may be severe.
In summary form, here is what the IT media is reporting:
"Frankly, if you are in the IT area today and you're not working, it is because you don't want to work," said Bruce Hatz, Hewlett Packard's global staffing technology manager in InternetWeek (July 2000).
"In the next five of six years, employers (in Massachusetts) will actually run out of workers in their mid-20s and 30s," said Boston University professor Peter Doerringer in TechWeb News (May 2000).
"The IT landscape is changing so quickly that we no longer can afford to have technology as a core competency," said Deb Nukherjee, chief technology officer at Farmer's Insurance Group in Los Angeles (TechWeb News, June 2000).
U.S. Bureau Statistics estimates that by 2008, more than half of all jobs in the U.S. will be IT-related (2000).
Some 60 percent of IT staff and 67 percent of IT managers have been contacted by a headhunter in the past 12 months, according to a survey by InformationWeek Research (May 2000).
More astounding, labor shortages will be a permanent phenomenon, according to The Interbiznet Bugler Internet periodical, the Electronic Recruiting News (July 2000):
"We know of a number of companies who have 20 percent of their desks unfilled. In the short term, staffing problems create a very negative spiral of morale problems that lead to attrition increases followed by more staffing problems. In order to manage shortages effectively, very different thinking (than in the past) is required. In spite of the damage done to the concept, people really are the organization's most important asset. The tools that mine, cultivate, repackage, maintain, refresh, identify, track, lubricate and retain these assets are just starting to be developed."
Not all agree
Winn Roach, on Planet IT Networking Opinion, compares today's talk on shortages to the situation 20 years ago, saying, "Page back about 20 years and you will see essentially the same stories. Missing only is the mention of dot.coms, which have taken the place of MIS shops in sucking up the supposed few computer science graduates."
"What high Tech Worker Shortage?" asks Mary Mosquera of TechWeb News. "Some software workers don't think there's a shortage of U.S. high-tech talent, just shortsightedness on the part of company managers and executives. Some workers say companies intensify any shortfall with age discrimination, generational attitudes, pay issues and experience demands" (December 1999).
Joe Devers, a consultant based in Massachusetts, in TechWeb News quotes a software engineer saying, "Many companies hire foreign workers instead of spending money training the people they have. The big trend in IT right now is outsourcing, meaning fewer people with these skill sets are going to be working directly for these firms"(December 1999).
Who's right, who's wrong?
Some IT observers suggest both are right. Four aspects seem to emerge.
First, there has been media hype by a group which stands to make money on the issues -- in this case, the new Internet-based recruiters. A shortage does exist, but not to the extent proclaimed and not at the IT entry level that feeds field service maintenance and repair functions.
Second, surveys that were taken earlier in the year were based on forecasts that were adversely affected by the demise of a large number of dot.com companies. While many people were shifted from one company to another and from project to project, it did not solve the forthcoming labor shortage, it only delayed it. New companies are a lot more cautious now.
Third, many companies have been caught napping in keeping up with business management changes. This accounts for different reactions and a high degree of shortsightedness. The Internet, which will take time to mature, is expected to loom large in terms of changes yet to take place.
Finally, short-term fixes such as importing foreign labor are needed, but vast strategic and structural changes in human resources management will be required in the U.S. over the next three to five years.
The majority opinion I see emerging is "we haven't seen anything yet." Overall, technology research, journals, and new business initiatives seem to confirm that we are only at the beginning of the "new economy." Industrial and business stability is a long way off, if ever.
IT and ATMs
Companies using the ATM business model wherein distributors own, operate and maintain the machine are experiencing a significant service technician shortage. Collectively, these service providers cover ATMs installed in almost every city in the U.S. with a c-store or mall.
A large number of these ATMs are installed in remote cites and/or are serviced by very small companies or one-person subcontractors. The increasing number of small company and independent employees pursuing better employment opportunities, combined with the continued growth of ATM locations, appear to be driving the distributor service technician shortage.
In my opinion, this will lead to greater collaboration between non-bank ATM manufacturers and their distributors and service providers. As a group, these distribution networks probably will need to find a more stable and plentiful field service resource.
Strategic alternatives include using an independent or developing an in-house national service provider capability; seeking arrangements with closely allied service provider companies such as computer or office equipment services at the local level; and outsourcing or entering into partnerships with large providers such as Sears or a local utility company.
The ATM industry as a whole is not immune from the forthcoming IT skill shortage. It is more a question of when, rather than if, a shortage will occur. It's all in the numbers. The U.S. cannot continue to create more than 1.5 million IT jobs annually and not fill half of these positions without it impacting both our workforce capability and our financial well being.
Where are we headed?
Here are some of the things that I predict will affect ATM field service management in the near future:
• In the short run, the ATM will be more PC-based and, later, will be affected by other technology developments. Each phase could require more complex maintenance and repair skills,
• The Internet will be a major source for recruiting personnel. Human resource strategies will need to change to accommodate structural changes in the workforce.
• Continuing and distant education will be widespread. It could have an availability and utility impact on the ATM technical workforce of the future.
• Internet customer care management, including call dispatch and tracking, customer self-help procedures and links to internal information systems, will drive ATM maintenance and repair.
• Web-based training, system updates and fault diagnostics will be the principal tools of the service provider and technician of tomorrow. Certification will definitely be considered.
• New sophisticated ATM (computer) trouble diagnosis and repair software, computer appliances and smart devices, and outsourcing and hosted services may play important roles in future ATM field service management.
I'm listening
Do you agree with my findings and conclusions? Why not add or amend my comments based on what you think. We all benefit from sharing ideas with each other. Email Jack Bennett or call him at 609-368-2541
The author, Dr. John J. Bennett, DBA, is the former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Logistics and Installations, and founder and former CEO of ANADAC, Inc. a public management, engineering and technical services company, now a fully-owned subsidiary of Identix, Inc., and a leader in the biometrics field.
He is currently chairman of the TBG Reliance Corporation, providing hosted and customized Internet-based service management systems in the ATM and Petroleum Equipment industries.
Included In This Story
Diebold Nixdorf
As a global technology leader and innovative services provider, Diebold Nixdorf delivers the solutions that enable financial institutions to improve efficiencies, protect assets and better serve consumers.
