Recently, I came across a post on LinkedIn that really made me think, “If I could hire for one position, but I had to choose between a technician or a data analyst, what would it be?”

Hold that thought for just a bit, and let's insert some real-life scenarios here. Alright, so here's the scenario, and to no one’s surprise, this is every day in Fleet. 

Your team is short-staffed in the shop, with asset availability suffering, but you are also struggling in the front office to sort through the firehose of data being ingested (and requested) every day.

The Tech-Data Crossroads: Where to Start

So, I’ll ask the question again: hire a tech or a data analyst?

Tough one, I know. Or maybe not. I’ll share some of my thoughts based on some recent shop visits. 

Last spring, I visited a shop in the Southwest, and despite their challenges, I was excited about their potential, but they needed help. They had great leadership and great techs, but…you guessed it, understaffed all around. 

Here’s the challenge: Hiring more techs could potentially get work turned around faster, but the non-technician staff was also overwhelmed. Imagine in this case you bring in an extra tech, creating a larger workload. Now, all of a sudden, you add that one extra thing that creates too much chaos for the quarterback. 

Wouldn’t you agree that creating more issues at the QB level would impact just about every aspect of your offense?

So, what was my recommendation to them?

Get your non-technician staff better organized, then look to bring in more techs…saying this in a different way now: 

“It’s critically important that you work ON your business right now instead of IN the business.”

Balancing Your Fleet Needs in an AI World

A data analyst can give you that exact advantage, help you work on your business today and into the future. 

While a technician can help get work in and out of the shop, most technicians would not be able to identify trends in fleet data without proper training, or project replacement cycles for the next five years, or, most importantly, they likely cannot justify their existence as a technician using data.

Oh, and there is just one more thing, and I am so sorry for doing this, our friend AI wants in on this conversation.

AI is certainly disrupting the workforce and will likely replace a data analyst before a technician. It may take several more years for this to happen, but it’s coming. 

My final thought, at the fleet level, we may look for a tech. But let me be the first to tell you, at your boss’s level, they need data, so I am sure you can connect the dots.

So what do you think?