As is true for a lot of businesses, the ability to scale your workforce efficiently can have a profound impact on your multi-site technology rollout. Any technology rollout company should have a large number of jobs under active management. This number can increase rapidly at any time: either through new customers, or because existing customers increase their workload.
When this happens, the rollout company must be able to accommodate the increase without compromising on quality, by applying a scalable personnel model to their Project Management team.
The Issue
As a customer of a technology rollout company, you may see Field Technicians showing up late, not showing up at all, or even Techs who are confused and disgruntled. Regardless of the circumstances, the unfortunate result is an unhappy end user or customer. The easy assumption to make is that the problem is with the on-site Technician, but more often, the problem really lies with the rollout company’s short-staffed project management team. Some red flags that indicate a technology rollout company has these problems are:
- They cannot explain the run rate number of jobs that they deliver weekly,
- They don’t know the personnel threshold numbers (total job capacity as a factor of headcount), of their project management team,
- Their onboarding/training process for new project management personnel appears to be either non-existent or inefficient.
For you to know that you are working with a best in class technology rollout company, you should be getting a response similar to the following:
The 4 Key Factors of an Efficient Scalable Model
Rollout companies can address these red flags, by considering and planning for the following:
1. Know Your Run-Rate
To a have a scalable model for managing multi-site rollouts at high volumes, the rollout company must know its weekly run rate of jobs (typically sites), and understand how variations in volume (both high and low) impact its project management personnel.
2. Know Your Personnel Workload Threshold
Are their workload site numbers and their management headcount operating in harmony? Are their rollouts suffering from an imbalance, e.g. are there too few management personnel to conduct their rollout?
3. Know Your Training Needs
How long does it take the rollout company to adequately train new personnel to manage jobs efficiently and accurately, thereby expanding their weekly run-rate capacity?
4. Know Your System of Processes and Methodologies
Run-rates, thresholds, and training mean nothing if everyone is not reading from the same sheet of music. A proven system of methodologies makes a harmonious performance, much easier to achieve.
The Equation
The technology rollout company can calculate required headcount for their management team, by taking workload run rates and averaging them over a meaningful period of time. It is important to note that the sample period selected should be many weeks, if not months, to make the model statistically relevant.
This number then becomes the performance threshold; for management personnel to consistently achieve the desired run rate, at a high level of customer satisfaction. Of course, the number is subject to the rollout company being able to explain how their scaling model works, and your assessment of its soundness.
Conclusion
Properly understanding workload run-rates and management personnel performance thresholds, enables you to assess the rollout performance information that a company provides. These numbers are key to determining whether the model they use to manage your rollout, can deliver your project to a high level of satisfaction.
Ask your current rollout company if they can walk you through how they plan and manage the workload capacity of their management team. If you don’t like the answers, or they don’t even seem to understand the question, please contact us.
Immediately below, is a link to a video presentation showing how we built our scalable rollout model at Concert.
Alternatively, if you would prefer to schedule a 15 minute presentation on workload run-rates, and management personnel performance thresholds for multi-site technology rollouts. you can request that here.
