Maximize Bologna, the first of Servicemax’s series of customer events, included client case studies, company announcements and (very good) coffee. It also heralded a hit re-set for the company following a period of acquisitions and changes in the board room. Mark Glover sat in on the conference and saw what the future holds for one of the key names in service....

It’s been an eventful 12 months for ServiceMax. In April, Scott Berg relinquished his CEO position making way for IPC System’s Neil Barua. In December, parent company General Electric sold their majority stake (held since 2017) followed by SeviceMax’s own acquisition of real time communications outfit Zinc.

It all meant that the Maximize Bologna, an event consisting of a day of presentations from company figures and client case studies - and the first of four events in 2019 taking in London, Chicago and Tokyo - would represent something of a re-set for ServiceMax, an opportunity perhaps to usher in a new era.

With all this in mind, these are the five key threads I picked-up while in Italy:

1. Service Execution Management
Lubor Ptacek, the company’s SVP of Product and Solution Marketing, gave the first major presentation of the day, and following a brief run-through the firm’s 19-year history including their start-up origins to the role GE played in their development, he forecast where the sector is headed, aligning changes in the industry to ServiceMax’s new software category Service Execution Management, a new type of approach that includes field service and asset service management respectively.

2. Platform Is Now Managing 200 Million Assets
In the same presentation, Ptacek revealed a significant landmark in the firm’s growth, telling delegates that ServiceMax’s cloud-based platform is currently managing 200,000,000 assets. It’s an extraordinary statistic affirming the company’s core-service goals are statistically being met.

3. Real-Time Communication Will Play A Key Role
The firm’s integration of Zinc’s mobile-based app as a module into its own software platform signals their commitment to real-time communication in the service journey. Text, voice, video, handsfree, push-to-talk and broadcast features will all be possible on the mobile-first solution which encourages interaction across groups to share issues and offer knowledge. “The perfect combination of Zinc’s modern, real-time communication with ServiceMax’s cutting edge and comprehensive suite will be unparalleled in the market,” Zinc President, Stacey Epstein said at the time of the acquisition affirming the strategy. 

4. Automation And Anxiety
“Competencies are by far the main obstacle according to companies undertaking a path to industry 4.0,” Nicola Saccani, Associate Professor at Brescia University told audience members during his presentation. Professor Saccani, a specialist in service and digital transformation, suggested that employers are struggling to keep up with the pace of which technology is progressing. This, along with the growing competency gap created from retiring engineers and new blood coming in, presents one of the biggest challenges to the sector.

5. An Excellent Keynote
Maximise events always draw a special keynote speaker and this year was no exception with Fausto Gressini, the world’s most successful MOTO GP and MOTO GP manager in superbike history sharing his thoughts on the evolution of his sport.
Superbikes, Gressini explained, have become data sponges.

They absorb reams of information from its tyres and engines, from its brakes and exhaust; an endless spout of data that needs to be interpreted to the team’s advantage. Furthermore, the rider, as well as navigating bends at a hair raising 140mph, is expected to understand the information coming through and relay any trends back to his mechanics.

It was an excellent keynote and entirely relevant. On the surface a field engineer and superbike rider may not have a huge amount in common but when it comes to data collecting and refining there is a definitive link. It was a fascinating session and one that delegates appreciated and could genuinely use in their own processes going forward.

A Final Thought
ServiceMax is in a transition period, albeit a positive one and the event nodded towards another interesting 12 months. We’ll be following their progress in these pages as well as fieldservicenews.com. Stay tuned!

The next ServiceMax Maximise event takes place 7 to 8 October in London. Click here for more information.