6 steps to get your service team to adopt new technology in the hog barn

Technology is only as good as the amount it’s actually adopted. You could be instituting the most innovative tech products into your barn. But if none of your employees are using those products… what’s the point?

The pork production industry has traditionally been slow to embrace technological change. It’s a high-touch, 24/7 industry, so no wonder. Those in it are taking care of live animals – which rarely leads to much downtime. Who has time to learn new tech?

Still, that doesn’t change the fact that the industry is evolving. There are more technology products than ever that streamline processes, improve animal health, and make life easier for those working in the barns every day.

As an operator, how do you actually reap those rewards? How do you get employees excited about new technology – and able to make the most of it?

Here are six steps to maximize new tech adoption within your operation:

Communicate the end benefit to the team

Nobody – especially employees with full plates already – wants to learn new technology just for technology’s sake. A new tool or system can take a lot of up-front time to learn. People want to know their time and energy will be worth it in the end.

Don’t just announce a change from the top-down – then expect everyone to automatically be on board. Your team needs to understand why this change is happening. Clarify how exactly this new tech will benefit the team. What problems will it solve?

When an operation institutes Distynct technology, for example, managers have a real-time view on their phones of why a barn alarm is going off. No more middle-of-the-night trips to figure out what’s going wrong.

“When they don’t have to drive to a site at 3 a.m. anymore, it definitely helps with some of the initial intimidation about a change,” said Sarah Heiller, Distynct’s Customer Success Manager who manages new user onboarding and training.

Clarify communication preferences up front

As you onboard with a new technology vendor, make sure everyone knows how and when to talk to each other. Would your team rather ask the vendor’s support team questions via email, text, or phone call? Is your management team going to be involved with every step of training? Or do you want the vendor to connect directly with your employees working in the barn?

The earlier you can establish these details with your vendor, the smoother training will go.

Hands-on time is key

As you adopt new technology at your operation, prioritize hands-on training. Those who don’t consider themselves very “tech-savvy” benefit the most from having somebody right next to them, explaining each step.

“Getting time in person versus a phone call or Zoom is always more effective, especially for farmers who usually have more appreciation for meeting someone and building that relationship face-to-face,” Heiller said. “It becomes less of an intimidating tech company leading a training, and more of just a trusting relationship.”‍

Start simple, then build up

Nothing slows down new technology adoption quite like overwhelm. If you try to teach every small detail to your team immediately, they’ll quickly burn out – or check out.

So start small: Make sure your team knows the most basic features, then scale up from there. For Distynct, this usually means making sure everyone knows how to acknowledge alarms and edit basic settings. With more experience and time, teams can integrate more complex features, like customized data dashboards and report generation.

Add quarterly check-ins

No vendor worth their salt will do a one-and-done training, then disappear. There should be ongoing support to help you make the most of your investment. As your team gets more experience with the technology in the real world, they’ll inevitably think of more questions.

After installing Distynct technology and going through initial training, customers will usually come back to us with more specific questions after their first couple alarm events. There’s nothing like a real-life event to remind an employee, “Oh wait, I actually don’t know how to change this setting.”‍

Meet everyone where they are

Each employee has their own comfort level with technology. That’s as true in a barn as anywhere else. There’s a wide range of folks who work in pork production facilities: from fresh college grads who have grown up alongside technology, to 60-year-olds who still carry a flip phone. It’s important everybody feels comfortable – and able to adopt technology.

Distynct, for example, is best used via mobile app. But since not everyone at an operation will have – or regularly use – a smartphone, you can also acknowledge alarms via a phone call. Even those with a flip phone in their pocket can still effectively use the system.

Sometimes, meeting employees where they are can also be cultural. One service manager using Distynct, for example, was initially hesitant to take on new technology, because many of his employees spoke Spanish. He only spoke English and wasn’t sure how to communicate technical instructions to them. But since all Distynct software is available in Spanish – and we offer full bilingual support – he was able to get his whole team on board and comfortable.‍

Be patient

No technology-adoption process will happen overnight. But follow these steps for the smoothest path, so you and your team can fully enjoy the benefits of technological innovation.