By Glenn Hansen
Acquired a few months ago by ServiceTitan , Aspire Software has added marketing tools to its library . attended the Elevate event put on by the National Association of Landscape Professionals ( NALP ). It ’ s half product expo , half education , and half networking . Yes , I did that math on purpose . This three-day event in Charlotte in November included a little bit of everything , maybe too much ? I will break down in words and pictures the three themes I followed at this multi-personality event .
Efficiency
Accomplishing more without adding more people , that type of efficiency was on the minds of most attendees at Elevate . From autonomous vehicles to sustainability and plant health to software and AI , companies in attendance worked hard to show how they can help landscape pros increase efficiency .
Robotic lawn mowers were one of the main talking points at both Elevate ( like at Equip Expo ). The discussions here were , according to Ben Houssa , robotics VP for Echo Tools , less about “ what does it do ?” and more about “ how can I implement that ?” Houssa added , “ The pros here are asking better questions .” They are also discovering they will need new skillsets on their teams to fully gain autonomous efficiencies . “ This is not just a new mower ,” he said . “ It requires a different type of logic for its problem-solving gains .”
Husqvarna , Kress , and long-time autonomous enabler Wright Manufacturing among others talked about mowers that require fewer workers . “ This is about both labor and technology , but first it ’ s about labor ,” said Steve Uljua , Kress ’ s head of robotics and technology . Uljua said that robotic mowers will change the way homeowners design their lawns , and the way that landscape contractors work with homeowners . Discussions about robotics happened on the Elevate expo floor and in education sessions .
Technology service providers were well represented at Elevate . Companies including Aspire , Fleetr , MindCloud , Proposify and
Echo reps ( gray shirts ) talk about the company ’ s large robotic mowers for sports and golf use .
Noelle Russell loves AI and talked about its potential for a variety of service companies .
24 OPE + December 2024 www . OPE-Plus . com