Every transformation starts with a question.
For many field service leaders, the question isn’t “What can we do better?” It’s “Are we doing enough?” That kind of reckoning was at the heart of the Vision 25 session Industry Hour: Fueling Your Field Service Business, where leaders from HeartLand LLC, Davey Tree Experts, and Aecon Group unpacked the real-world decisions behind modernizing their operations.
For enterprises like these, technology isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s core to how they protect their workforce and position their businesses for growth.
HeartLand’s wake-up call: The vehicle is a ‘means to an end’
Landscaping may not be the first industry that comes to mind when you think of digital transformation. For HeartLand, a network of 23 operating companies across several states, that was exactly the point. Legacy tools had hit their limits.
“Through the leadership of our CEO, we felt a civic responsibility to protect our community and our employees,” says Don Kelley, HeartLand’s VP of Fleet Operations. “Our vehicles are driven by crew leaders, not by professional drivers. In our business, the truck is a means to an end. It gets workers to the jobsite. Investing in safety technology was an investment in the safety of our employees.”
Until their partnership with Motive, HeartLand had never used an integrated operations platform. Today, data isn’t just informing their decisions — it’s changing behaviors.
“We knew idling was a problem,” Kelley says. “But once the data came in, we saw the extent of it: 58% idle time. When you tie that to fuel costs and your ESG targets, the issue becomes real. Having that visibility with Motive led to measurable change.”
Davey Tree’s shift: From seven inches of paper to real-time insight
For Paul Milano of Davey Tree Experts, the shift was equally as stark. Managing 8,000 vehicles across the U.S. and Canada, Davey’s fleet “could circle the globe every 4.5 hours,” he notes.
The sheer scale of that raised a critical question from Davey stakeholders and insurers alike: What are you doing to manage risk?
One early moment underscored how much the organization needed to evolve. “I asked a business analyst for all of our Q1 2015 vehicle data,” Milano recalls. “A few days later, she handed me a stack of paper seven inches thick. I thought, ‘What am I supposed to do with this?’”
The contrast between manual processes like those and Motive’s AI-powered platform couldn’t be sharper. “Now, I can look at our data and get real-time results,” Milano says. “That changes everything. My department has quadrupled in size since 2015. A big part of that growth is due to the data we have access to and the AI that’s helping us make sense of it all.”
Aecon’s perspective: Tech with union support and cultural buy-in
At Aecon Group, where Sandra Adat is the general manager, the company had been evolving its telematics program for five years. But scaling across a growing fleet, while respecting a complex labor environment, required a different approach.
“We were pleasantly surprised during our trial,” Adat says. “People were excited. We had volunteers wanting to try the technology. Yes, we’re unionized in many areas, but through transparency and partnership with our unions and government stakeholders, we were able to get buy-in.”
Aecon’s outreach included a roadshow across the organization to demystify how the technology worked and why it was needed.
“People get scared about being recorded,” Adat says. “So we reiterated the core message: We’re here to get you home. We’re continuing that engagement. That’s how you keep programs going. You get out there, ask people for their feedback, and keep moving forward.”
Coaching at scale: The promise of AI
In the discussion led by Motive Product Marketing Director Sam Steinwinder, one of the most pressing challenges shared by the leaders was coaching at scale. With so much data flowing in, how do you make it actionable without overwhelming teams?
“That was probably our biggest pain point,” Kelley says. “We had a flood of data and so many employees who needed coaching. Getting supervisors into a rhythm was difficult. But through automated coaching tools, that burden is being lifted.”
For Adat, the efficiencies of automated coaching were becoming clear even during the pilot phase. “We haven’t started coaching through the app yet, but we’ve already seen huge benefits,” she says. “Before, reaching that many people took hours, even days. This is going to change that.”
Coaching also means confronting hard truths dogging the fleet. For Kelley, one of those reckonings was cell phone usage. “I was shocked when I saw the data,” he says. “It wasn’t just an individual being put at risk. It was one driver and three or four other crew members. That’s the kind of behavior we can address immediately. Now we know what’s happening, and we can communicate and correct it right away.”
The road ahead: Autonomy, visibility, and a global mindset
Looking to the future, the leaders shared what excites them most about how technology is reshaping their operations and their business models.
“During the pilot, we saw our close-following events drop from one every 261 miles to one every 15,000 miles,” Davey’s Milano says. “That’s staggering. And when I look at the roadmap ahead — what AI is unlocking — it’s going to change everything.”
At Aecon, Adat is focused on scalability, not just in Canada but beyond. “We’re moving across the border and aiming for a global footprint. We need visibility into our people, our equipment, and our units. Five years ago, we’d be out of luck if a vehicle was stolen. Now we have full visibility into our assets and a flexible, scalable system.”
And Kelley described a shift from darkness to daylight. “Six months ago, if a crew left the property, we had no idea what was happening. It was like they went to the dark side of the moon. Now we have full visibility. And with autonomous mowers and other technological advances, the whole landscape industry is about to change.”
A new era of field services
Ready to bring your field service operations into the future?
To see how Motive helps companies like Davey, HeartLand, and Aecon improve safety and unlock real-time visibility, check out our Field Service industry page.
And to start transforming your operations with data that drives results, request a demo today.
