As a small business owner in the 21st century, I have recently been exposed to the overwhelming amount of new technologies and processes that I could use within my business. In the last few years, there has been a surge of software and connected tools that are entering the marketplace. All of them promise to make my business better, faster, and more efficient. What am I supposed to do with all these options? Should I use AI in my business somehow? Will I be left in the dust as a company if I don’t? Looking back six years to when I started in the trade, I can see these same underlying questions at work.

Some of the old-school technicians I started working with were very resistant to even trying digital gauges. I was strongly “encouraged” to get a set of analog gauges first before going digital. There was a sense that you should be able to calculate superheat and subcool before using a tool that could do it for you. I would say there was a degree of suspicion surrounding new technology. You can see this not just within the digital tool sector of the HVAC industry but more broadly as well—the suspicion towards communicating systems, inverter technology, and connected wifi thermostats. I never really got a sense of why there was such deep suspicion towards this new technology beyond the idea that what we had worked just fine. New technology was the problem, not the solution.

Swing over to the other side of the pendulum, and you have the technology-loving millennial who uses every digital tool there is. He rolls his eyes at the “old school” generation who is stuck in the past. They are afraid to move forward. Their bias towards new technology is unwarranted and slows down progress within the company and industry. New technology is the solution, and resistance toward it is a problem.

I can see both sides of the coin; I started out using Yellow Jacket analog gauges and a type K thermocouple clamp from my meter to measure subcooling and superheat. I did have to do the simple math to calculate things and was forced to run around with my infrared temperature gun to get my temperature split readings. Now, I use Fieldpiece probes and can see all the data from a screen on my phone. Heck, with an app like measureQuick, I can see delivered BTUs and get troubleshooting tips at the tip of my fingers.

I’ve written a couple of other articles arguing that we need to have a deep sense of the values of our business in order to determine what we are willing to do in order to make a sale, how we will train people, and for the purposes of this article, to make a choice about technology use.

In his article about technology use, author James Heim notes there are many benefits to technology. He goes on to say:

“However, to receive such benefits, something must be “given.” In other words, the benefit is one side of a trade-off. We still ignore or belittle these trade-offs, as fully acknowledging them questions some key pillars of our current technology culture. But recognizing the trade-offs of technology use is crucial for creating a technology culture that can sustain a free and diverse human experience.”

The challenging thing about implementing technology is that many times, the options are framed as self-evident. Don’t you want to be faster, more efficient, and more productive? Who wouldn’t? However, as we may be more quick to notice in the physical world, everything has tradeoffs. A car can’t be boxy AND aerodynamic. A car can’t be heavy AND fuel efficient… unless you make a tradeoff somewhere else. Here is a popular and familiar Venn diagram that illustrates the point:

So let that sink in: as much as we would like to frame technological adoption as a win all around, there will always be something lost. Now, this doesn’t mean we won’t still make the choice to adopt the innovation. Many times, we will. But what it does mean is that framing all technological adoption as a “no-brainer” is missing a crucial part of the conversation. 

Let’s take a look at a few different realms of technological tradeoffs and discuss the pros and cons of each for an HVAC company. 

Tradeoff Areas

Simplicity vs. Complexity

There are a lot of great things about simplifying and integrating your business processes. If you can streamline your business by using a single interface that handles customer data, accounting, sales, etc., then you can eliminate a lot of data double-entry, etc. But what happens when your software goes down? If everything is connected to one central location, like an app or website, a single point of failure can take down your entire business. That didn’t happen with paper invoices.

Many of us carry two electrical meters for this same reason. We want to have redundancies built into our businesses and service practices. I use digital probes every day for service, but I still carry a set of analog gauges in my van, just in case. And I have had to use them a time or two.

There are other considerations as well. The homeowner may now get a streamlined experience from start to finish from your company, but is there any personal touch? If all notifications and emails are automated, the experience a customer has with your company could be efficient but feel cold. From a bookkeeping perspective, you may not have to enter data manually, but do you have a deep understanding of the finances of your business?

Variety vs. Uniformity

Adopting technological practices means streamlining and creating procedures using technology adopted across the board. For example, you may decide you want to have all of your technicians use Bluetooth tools and reporting software so that data can be collected consistently on every service call. Instead of having technicians call each other for advice on difficult problems, you may have them use an AI troubleshooting service. 

Again, this may save time and make your company more efficient and profitable, but it also diminishes your technician’s ability to make autonomous decisions and think for themselves in the field. All calls must be done the same way for efficiency’s sake, at the cost of the technician’s own personality and preference. Technicians may struggle to thrive in this environment, and the cut-and-dry system that they are expected to follow may not transfer over to complex, real-world situations.

Risk vs. Certainty

In his classic book on workmanship, designer and craftsman David Pye articulates the difference between workmanship of risk and workmanship of certainty. Workmanship of certainty is when the quality of the work is determined before the process begins, like a factory. Workmanship of risk is where the quality of the outcome is determined by the skill of the laborer. Machines, technology, and processes tend to focus on the workmanship of certainty. However, if the outcomes are predetermined, the only place the system can be improved is from outside of itself—meaning the workers in a highly regulated job don’t have any control or say in how the work is done. 

When Henry Ford invented the assembly line, people hated it. Workers quit in droves. Ford could not find people to staff the lines because many of those workers had previously been machine shop workers with high skill. They got bored doing the same thing over and over. 

Control vs. Autonomy

What a lot of this boils down to is the end goal of our business and service. Efficiency is important, but is it the only thing that is important? If we prioritize efficiency, what tradeoff will we be forced to make? We cannot have our cake and eat it too. 

Again, so much of this comes back to our values. What do you want your service and business to be about? Following the advice of industry experts and sales gurus will get you their results, but are those the results you truly desire?

I implement a lot of technology in my business. I use the most advanced diagnostic tools I can. However, I don’t use an answering service. I personally send out requests for Google reviews through text. A lot of this is driven by how small my business is. But these are intentional choices I make. I know some of it makes me less professional, but it also makes my business more personal. That is what I value, so I made a choice.

Understand the choices you’re making. Don’t let others convince you that just because you CAN have an AI answering service means you should. Maybe you will choose to get one because it will give you more time at home with your family. Great choice! Maybe you like using analog gauges because you don’t like being on your phone any more than you already are. That is also fine!

Spend some time thinking through what is really important to you. Then, write those things down. As you see new technology come into the field, run it through the filter of your values and decide what is best for you and your business. 

—Matt Bruner