The operations technician role in a digital age

"As an operations technician, you have to be able to embrace new technology. Digital is just part of daily life for a technician now."

Lennart Lindkvist, Head of Operations at Örebroporten

Being an operations technician today looks very different from ten years ago, and a lot will happen in the decade ahead, according to Lennart Lindkvist.

"I hung up my own technician's overalls back in 2011. Back then it was almost high-tech that we read electricity meters over the phone. Now you carry your smartphone everywhere — it's your lifeline. The industry evolves as the technology gets better, so in ten years the role will have changed radically."

Lennart Lindkvist, Head of Operations at Örebroporten

This is something the Head of Operations keeps in mind when hiring a new team member.

"I'm looking for a fully-fledged operations technician who's comfortable with digital tools. They don't need to know every system, but they need to be able to embrace new technology and understand how it works. The old-school caretaker in clogs who just changes light bulbs doesn't exist anymore. We solve a lot of tasks through a computer and phone."

Lennart Lindkvist, Head of Operations at Örebroporten

Örebroporten has come a long way in digitalizing its portfolio. Among other things, many of its properties have been fitted with digital twins to centralize information about spaces, equipment and work orders.

Expanded digitalization responsibility is part of the role

Something highlighted in the company's job posting is the expanded digitalization responsibility that comes with digital development. As an operations technician, you're expected to share your knowledge to help colleagues build their digital skills within operational systems, as well as working in Vyer's digital twins.

"Vyer has made it a lot easier to cover for each other. It's much easier to get a grip on the whole picture, both for the buildings and other things. Filter lists, for example, or how many elevators we have — we can pull that straight out of Vyer. We struggle to get that out of any other system. So we try to put a lot of information in there. For the on-call organization, Vyer is a tool for finding your way around the buildings."

Lennart Lindkvist, Head of Operations at Örebroporten

Lennart Lindkvist sees plenty of upsides to the technology available today.

"There are big time savings to be made by using the technology, and I also see it as a workplace-wellbeing issue. A lot of it is ordinary apps we could just as well use at home, but people are a bit wary of using them at work, and I'm not entirely sure why."

Lennart Lindkvist, Head of Operations at Örebroporten

Preparing for the future

A major challenge going forward is gradually raising digital maturity across the organization to move toward new tools and ways of working.

"I have to prepare for the future. I want to hire someone and invest in them — it needs to be a person who can grow and help develop things. That's why I've adjusted the role a bit. Looking at other large property companies, the trend is heading the same direction — the operations technician is becoming more and more digitally connected."

Lennart Lindkvist, Head of Operations at Örebroporten