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One important driver of performance improvement in the service business is the degree in which service business are able to standardise their service delivery organisation. In our 2008 research named “The future of Service Management” (www.thefutureofservice.com) we saw that companies that were able to demonstrate both strong revenue growth and year on year improvements in profit margins were able to deliver high value added services through standardised processes. The less profitable service businesses typically see the complexity of their operations increase exponentially when growth takes of. The intangible nature of the service business with a strong dependency on the performance of individuals makes it one of the most challenging types of businesss to manage.   

One important driver of performance improvement in the service business is the degree in which service business are able to standardise their service delivery organisation. In our 2008 research named “The future of Service Management” (www.thefutureofservice.com) we saw that companies that were able to demonstrate both strong revenue growth and year on year improvements in profit margins were able to deliver high value added services through standardised processes. The less profitable service businesses typically see the complexity of their operations increase exponentially when growth takes of. The intangible nature of the service business with a strong dependency on the performance of individuals makes it one of the most challenging types of businesss to manage.   

Many companies are continuously working to improve their service organisation; like transforming from a product into a customer driven service organisation; standardise service propositions and processes, improve effectiveness and efficiency.

Businesses may desire to optimise their performance to optimise profits, but what is optimisation? A number of senior executives were asked to define optimisation during one of the senior executive forums held at the SME this year and it became apparent that there was no one solution or common agreement as to what optimising a business meant.

Outsourcing their service operations has seemed an attractive option for some companies. Research shows that all the major high tech companies use outsourced operations to some degree for specific regions or products, but generally with a clear strategic objective. Most of the larger companies use outsourcing quite discreetly, as they do not always want to advertise the fact, for a variety of reasons.

Today’s Service Managers and Directors face a growing list of requirements and responsibilities: they have to be strategically aware, supporting their boardroom colleagues in driving the business, while simultaneously raising the performance of their own operation. While coping with the multiplicity of demands, many managers admit they “make do” with the operation already in place, while trying to deal with the challenges presented by a rapidly changing service environment.

Getting paid for what you do

It sometimes takes the obvious to make us realize that we are too close to the problem to see it for what it really is.

I have heard of a man who had a mind to sell his house, and therefore carried a piece of brick in his pocket , which he showed as a pattern to encourage purchasers. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Are we guilty of the same thinking when, as service directors we try and sell value added services by advancing our break-fix capability, as a basis for assessing the value of the additional services on offer?

The various software-planning tools currently available provide capabilities that until recently only existed on the wish lists of most planners.

These various tools are already in use in leading edge businessess to provide the service parts logistics team with the ability to deliver, to extremely demanding high service levels, cost effectively.

There are scheduling tools designed to run on the web that can effectively re-deploy engineers as late as half way through their previous call, or that can allow the engineer to be scheduled on line by the customers themselves through the use of a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) telephone.

This article will examine some of the challenges facing business today, and what businesses need to do to provide the necessary infrastructure and produce suitably skilled personnel, to deliver the broad range of capabilities that will be demanded by the customer over the next few years.

Everyone is aware that in the last few years the service industry has undergone rapid and dramatic change.

Similarly logistics service providers who not only transport, repair and procure parts cost effectively, but will even fund the Inventory and in effect provide a leased part. As a result, the solutions are focused on delivering tangible visible bottom line benefits and not just a single skill.

Once one non-core capability is outsourced, then the question of which one next, and how many departments can be outsourced? If a whole host of capabilities are outsourced, then managing the outsourcers becomes a required skill and one that probably does not exist internally.