Technology adoption isn't just about tools. It's about people. Kyle Eldridge interviews Andrew Steele about his World Workplace session, diving into the hidden costs of tech adoption and why culture and change management matter just as much as the software.
In this special episode of Connected FM, Kyle Eldridge sits down with Andrew Steele for a preview of his upcoming World Workplace session. They dive into the true costs of technology adoption in facility management. Andrew shares insights from his research and real-world experiences, emphasizing the importance of understanding hidden costs, organizational behavior, and the need for a cultural change in technology adoption. He outlines four categories of costs that facility managers should consider and provides actionable strategies for successful implementation.
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Andrew Steele: [00:00:00] Stop thinking about technology adoption as a training problem and start thinking about it as a cultural change problem. When you frame it in that way, you start planning for the right things.
Host: Welcome to Connected fm, a podcast connecting you to the latest insights, tools, and resources to help you succeed in facility management. This podcast is brought to you by ifma, the leading professional association for facility managers. If you are ready to grow your network and advance in your career, go to ifma.org to get started.
In today's special episode of Connected fm, Kyle Eldridge sits down with World Workplace Session Speaker Andrew Steele. Together they talk about the true cost of technology adoption and facility management, and Andrew shares insights from his research and real world experiences emphasizing the importance of understanding hidden.
Organizational behavior and the need for cultural change in technology [00:01:00] adoption. He outlines four categories of costs that facility managers should consider who provides actionable strategies for successful implementation. If you're interested in learning more about this topic, don't miss Andrew's session Beyond Hardware True Cost of Technology Adoption in FM on Thursday, September 18th at World Workplace in Minneapolis.
Now, let's get into it.
Kyle Eldridge: Welcome to the Connected FM podcast. I'm Kyle Eldridge, a former facility senior manager at a large aerospace company in the Puget Sound. I'm here today with Andrew Steele, who's presenting the World Workplace Session beyond Hardware True Cost of Technology Adoption. Andrew, you've got both academic credentials and real world FM experience.
Andrew Steele: I've been in facility management for over a decade, including nine years, managing complex industrial construction projects in 2015 as an undergraduate, studying facility management at BYU [00:02:00] won the IFMA Foundation E Poster competition, as well as the IFMA Foundation Scholarship. Then in 2020, as a graduate student at the University of Washington studying construction management, I was privileged to win the ifma Foundation Scholarship again.
So when I was developing my thesis on technology adoption costs as part of that master's program, I thought I had this topic all figured out. I've implemented major projects, developed cost frameworks, and business plans that saved millions annually, and had real operational success. However, my thesis research on smart building adoption cost frameworks completely shattered everything I thought I knew about the topic.
Kyle Eldridge: What were you missing?
Andrew Steele: Like most of us, I was focused on the obvious stuff, the software licensing, the hardware costs, the initial training, the hard costs that typically show up in your budget. Then I started interviewing industry experts across private, academic, and public sectors, and I kept hearing the same thing. [00:03:00] Cybersecurity is the number one concern, not efficiency, not ROI, but cybersecurity, and that was my first hint that I was looking at this all wrong.
Kyle Eldridge: Okay, so you're doing academic research, talking to experts. What framework did you develop?
Andrew Steele: So I actually developed three different frameworks before landing on one that actually worked. The first one, prioritized and organized cost by building lifecycle phases, the planning, design, implementation, and operations. Very logical and structured, but when I started talking to practitioners, they didn't think of it in that way. They didn't think of cost in that way at least. So I tried organizing the cost by nature and scope rec, technology cost, organizational cost, strategic cost, but it was still not quite right. There are costs that are upfront and visible. Everyone sees those coming, but then there are hidden costs that emerge later. The lifecycle costs that span years, and the [00:04:00] organizational costs that are really hard to quantify.
Kyle Eldridge: So gimme an example of one of those hidden costs.
Andrew Steele: Data management. One of my research participants told me, without data scientists, you will fail as a business. Think about that. You're implementing smart building sensors and suddenly you need data scientists. That's not in anybody's initial budget. And that's where this gets really, really interesting. While I'm finishing my thesis, the major aerospace company that I work for decides that they're gonna implement a construction project management tool, a platform, and I'm thinking, perfect. I get to validate my research in real time.
Kyle Eldridge: And did it validate research?
Andrew Steele: Beyond my wildest expectations, but not in the way that I thought it would. So my research predicted that people would need to unlearn old methods and embrace new technology. That's a direct quote from one of my interviews, but watching it happen, it's one thing to read about it. Read about the behavioral [00:05:00] change resistance, and it's another thing to watch seasoned professionals struggle with workflow disruptions for months.
Kyle Eldridge: Months? I would expect it. Weeks, not months. but,
Andrew Steele: Yeah. Yeah. Everyone expects that, right? Here's what I observe. Traditional processes like email coordination and spreadsheet tracking don't just disappear overnight. People run dual systems the old way and the new way until they're confident that the new way works. This creates massive inefficiency that no one budgets for. Experiencing it gave me insights that I could have never gotten from interviews alone, like the impact on what we call the hidden labor force, the administrative staff, the procurement agents, the facilities, maintenance personnel, every role got touched by the technology change, but we only budget for the obvious ones.
Kyle Eldridge: So what was your biggest aha moment during this real world validation?
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Andrew Steele: Honestly, it's realizing that we've been approaching technology adoption backwards. We focus on the technology first, and then we try to fit it to the organization. But typically the technology works just fine. It's the organizational behavior that makes or breaks an adoption. So let's talk about training. Everyone budgets for the initial training, we'll do eight hours of software training and the people will be be [00:07:00] productive. But what I observed was the ongoing support needs that extended for months. Not just how do I use this feature, but how do I integrate this into my actual workflow while maintaining productivity?
Kyle Eldridge: And that's not budgeted for.
Andrew Steele: Never. And then there's the internal marketing. Yes. Marketing to your own people. To encourage the people to actually use the platform instead of reverting to old methods. You need champion networks. You need recognition programs, you need continuous feedback loops. All of this takes resources that not a lot of people think about upfront.
Here's the thing, it's expensive whether you plan for it or not. The difference is whether you manage it proactively or let it derail your entire implementation.
Kyle Eldridge: So for facilities managers listening to this, what is your practical takeaway?
Andrew Steele: So practically there, there needs to be recognized that there are four categories of costs. There's the [00:08:00] upfront and visible, that's your sensors, your software, your installation. Everyone gets this. Number two, hidden and long-term costs. So these are your data management costs, your cybersecurity, ongoing training, regulatory compliance. Third, you have your lifecycle and strategic, your operation costs across the building lifecycle.
Opportunity costs, you know, the costs that you forego, the costs that you can't pursue other initiatives, due to, this particular investment, retrofit challenges, how does this technology integrate with existing systems? Fourth, you have the organizational and societal. The human capital, the interdepartmental collaboration, and the cultural change.
Kyle Eldridge: All right. That fourth category sounds a little squishy.
Andrew Steele: Yeah, and it's the most important one because if your people don't adopt the technology, everything else is worthless, and the organizational change isn't squishy when it comes to the bottom line. It has real measurable costs. You just [00:09:00]have to know how to identify them.
Kyle Eldridge: Okay, so Andrew, what are people going to get from your World Workplace session that they can't get anywhere else?
Andrew Steele: So there are two things. First, it's a framework that's been academically validated and real world tested. I'm not just theorizing about hidden costs. I've watched them unfold real time at a major organization. Second, I have actionable strategies for those organizational readiness and change management , actions that can actually reduce those hidden costs.
Kyle Eldridge: Throw us all a bone. Any previews of those strategies?
Andrew Steele: Yeah. Stop thinking about technology adoption as a training problem and start thinking about it as a cultural change problem. When you frame it in that way, you start planning for the right things.
Kyle Eldridge: So tell me more about what people can learn at your session.
Andrew Steele: So we'll deep dive into assessment tools, implementation strategies, and performance [00:10:00] optimization methods. Plus we'll look at real world case studies of what works and what doesn't.
Kyle Eldridge: Perfect. Thank you for your time, Andrew. Andrew Steele, beyond Hardware True Cost of Technology Adoption in FM at World Workplace. Thanks for the preview, Andrew.
Andrew Steele: Thanks Kyle. Looking forward to continuing this conversation with the IFMA community. And as a note, there will be a link in the show notes, to my thesis, which is kind of foundational to the development of these frameworks. Happy to discuss more and looking forward to connecting. Thank you.
Host: Thanks for tuning into the Connected FM podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show because it really helps us reach more listeners just like you. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. See you next [00:11:00] time.