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Si2 Partners consultancy is launched to help industrial companies leverage services and take advantage of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or Industry 4.0 to beat the competition and win in their markets. Founding Partner Nick Frank tells us more 

Si2 On-Demand is a new way for managers and their teams to get advice and the support they need to get things done – as they need it, when they need it and as much as they need!  Managers engage with Si2 to solve problems, get new ideas or validate their thinking.  If they have capacity constraints, they use Si2 specialists as an extended workbench to complete their tasks -virtually, rapidly and cost effectively, wherever they are in the world. An innovative smart platform enables access to expert practitioners and consultants as well as a growing Insights Library, 

Leading industrial manufacturers have long seen the installed base as a business opportunity and as a way to moderate economic cycles. Faced with intensifying competition and limits to growth from product sales in developed markets, after-sales services provides ways to drive new revenue streams, improve margins and ward off competitors.

Today, services are an anchor business for many companies and have evolved from pure product support to encompass sophisticated offerings to help customers better manage or outsource industrial processes, including asset management, maintenance or parts of production and logistics. Nevertheless, even more companies have either not taken part in this evolution or failed to realise its benefits due to a flawed strategic approach or implementation. The well documented “service paradox” phenomenon, where profits decline even as volumes increase, is something that managements must learn to overcome.

 

Forward-looking companies have gone on to drive competitive advantage by bundling products and services into integrated solutions, delivering outcomes to customers demanding functionality and performance.

When outcome displaces the product from the centre of focus, transactional relationships with customers become more co-operative and longer term, as both sides work together to co-create value and share risks.

With customers locked-in and competitors locked-out, price pressures are moderated through value- based pricing. Currently, outcome-based services or performance contracting are viewed as a way to bend cost curves to improve performance in many industries, including healthcare, infrastructure, technical services, aerospace, defence as well as large machinery. Nevertheless, while customers have benefited from these business models, the same cannot always be said for suppliers.

Companies contemplating outcome-based services must overcome a number of hurdles, including assessing and managing risks as well as understanding how to measure value. Their challenge is to blend their value chain into customer operations, integrating ecosystems of suppliers and partners into value networks. They must invest to scale their business, but ensure that demand is sufficient and customers are open enough to try new approaches.

 

With technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things enabling more productive service operations, there is now increasing evidence that digitization, is also sparking a ‘revolution’ in thinking, driving servitization and new business models. By enabling companies to collect and analyse data on an unprecedented scale and granularity, new services are being designed to improve products, process performance and customer experience.

Data is becoming a key new asset class, perhaps even more valuable than the underlying physical assets and processes. It is crucial for competitive advantage, and necessary for OEMs to avoid commoditisation of their products. Those with real vision are investing in new digital service platforms (“Anything-as-a-Service”),  to drive disruptive growth and new customer demand while dramatically reducing costs.

Si2 Partners reflects this new age of disruption. With the ambition to help industrial companies leverage services in increasingly digital environments, Si2 Partners offers On-Demand Advisory and Support, delivered through collaboration technology by people who know how to make things happen, Si2 helps companies not only shape their servitization transition, but focus on all the critical issues affecting their service businesses, including strategy, business models, organisational development, sales, marketing and operations as well as technology.

 

Operating across many industries and all geographies, Si2 Partners is uniquely placed to deliver solutions to problems or work successfully on major business transformational issues, such as business building, operational improvement, change programs or new go-to-market initiatives. Si2 combines a deep understanding of service business, a unique blend of top management and consulting expertise and strong industry experience.

Each business and the context within which it operates are unique, requiring a bespoke approach. Si2 works with management teams to understand their views, requirements and objectives, while bringing industry insights, proven methodologies and services thought leadership to the table.

 

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Service organisations who have integrated field service and reverse/service logistics processes report a higher level of service performance than those who have not, reports Michael R. Blumberg, President and CEO, Blumberg Advisory Group, which has conducted a survey of 250 field service companies companies in the high-tech sector.

Much attention has been given in recent years to the need to automate field service and service parts logistics processes through the implementation of Enterprise Service Management (ESM) systems, . Although the benefits from improved automation are well documented, there is a segment of the market that faces challenges to achieving measurable gains in productivity and efficiency as it relates to key performance indicators (KPIs). This is especially true for KPIs associated with service parts logistics activities. We believe these shortcomings are due in part to lack of integration between field service and reverse/service Llogistics functions.

In order to validate this hypothesis, we conducted a survey among a cross representative sample of companies in the high technology service and support industry. Over 250 respondents participated in the survey, which was sponsored by IFS.  The survey results reveal a number of very interesting trends:

1. Greater reliance on remote support: The survey results support the growing trend toward resolving service requests remotely without the need to dispatch a field service engineer. 40% of companies can resolve more that 25% of service requests remotely by sending out a replacement spare part. Over one quarter of respondents expect this trend to continue to increase over the next 18-24 months.
2. Best of breed solutions outperform integrated solutions: Despite the breadth of functionality found within integrated enterprise systems, our results indicated a higher level of satisfaction with Best of Breed solutions than with Integrated ESM platforms. Over one-third of respondents were extremely satisfied with their Best of Breed ESM solution compare to 14% with integrated ESM platforms. We believe this is because best of breed solutions are more focused on the detailed processes and transactions involved in managing a field service and/or reverse logistics operation.
3.  Perceived gaps in reverse logistics functionality: Many companies perceive their ESM solutions have gaps in the ability to deal with reverse/service logistics issues particularly when it comes to depot repair activities. For example, 27% of respondents claim that their ESM is not very effective in tracking the results of depot repair test and screening activities. Another one quarter indicated their systems are not very effective in automating the work flow or business rules associated with processing returned materials.
4. Integrated automation is critical to success: The level of integrated automation between field service and reverse/service [ogistics functionality has a direct impact on ESM effectiveness. More importantly companies with a high level of integrated automation perform better on key service performance metrics than those who do not. Companies with some level of integrated automation experience a higher SLA compliance rate than those have no integrated automation (93.4% v 87.9%) as well as a lower no-fault-found rate (26.1% v 38.3%).[/ordered_list]

In summary, our research findings reveal that companies who have been able to successfully integrate field service and reverse/service logistics processes report a higher level of service performance than those who have not. The most effective integrated solutions are those that incorporate integrated, best of breed functionality for both field service and reverse/service logistics processes. More importantly, the data reveals that these integrated, best of breed solutions are not only highly effective in managing ongoing service requirements but essential to overcoming critical business challenges such as improving remote resolution rates and improving field service engineer productivity rates.
We’d like to thank IFS, a leading provider of ESM systems, for sponsoring our research study. IFS has made available the results of our study in a 14-page whitepaper that can be downloaded at Whitepaper Download. To better understand the implications of these findings to your organization or to define requirements for a best of breed, integrated solution, schedule a free strategy session with us today by clicking here.

 

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Contact information:

Key Contact: Bill Pollock
Phone: +1 (610) 399-9717
Email: wkp@s4growth.com 
Web: www.PollockOnService.com      www.s4growth.com

Services Provided:

• Custom market research and analysis
• Consulting advisory support
• Customer/market surveys
• Content development (e.g., white papers, case studies, publications, Webcasts, blogs, collateral)
• Services improvement strategies

Company Bio:

Strategies For GrowthSM (SFGSM) is an independent research analyst and consulting firm that supports service organisations with strategic, marketing and services planning; customer, market and supply chain surveys; satisfaction measurement & tracking programs; services marketing & promotional support; research-based Webinars, white papers, publications and case studies; and general services consulting.

Bill Pollock is President & Principal Consulting Analyst at Strategies For GrowthSM (SFGSM), the independent research analyst and consulting firm he founded in 1992. Previously, Bill served as President & Chief Research Officer (CRO) at The Service Council (2011 - 2013); Vice President, Principal Analyst, heading up Aberdeen Group’s Service Management Practice (2008 - 2010); and Managing Analyst, Services Industry at Gartner (1995 - 2001). He has had more than 250 articles published in services trade journals including Field Technologies, Field Service News, Reverse Logistics, TSIA's Inside Technology Services, 24x7, Integrated Solutions, TAWPI's TODAY and AFSMI's Sbusiness, among others.

News & Features:

Resource: Strategies for Growth's Field Service Management benchmarking report 2013

There are very few people in the global field service management industry with the breadth of experience and depth of understanding of Bill Pollock. With a career in the service industries spanning over twenty five years Bill has been commenting, advising and educating the field service industry.  Read about his latest benchmarking report here. 

 

Resources:

Services Organisations Are Investing in Mobile Tools and New Technologies:

This exceptional report is based on the findings of an exhaustive survey, which comprised of over 1,000 respondents and is perhaps the most comprehensive benchmarking exercise available, giving the truest indication of the mood and needs of the industry on a global scale. Click here to download the report now. (no registration required) 

Contact information: 

Phone: +44 (0) 845 330 6457
Email: enquiries@sgsa.com
Web:  www.sgsa.com 

Services Provided by SGSA:

• Health Checks
• Re-Engineering,
• Strategic Planning
• Service Marketing Programs
• Call Centre and Help Desk Consolidation
• International Support
• Requests for Proposals (RFPs)
• Assistance in Selecting

About SGSA:

SGSA has the expertise, knowledge and tools available to help your support organisation deliver the level of service your customers expect.

Our team of qualified consultants have support industry backgrounds and understand your business. We offer a support centre health check that will enable these practitioners to identify exposures in your support business that left unchanged will impact your customers, company or employees.

Our senior consultants are available to help you implement and manage changes that will help you develop a highly productive support operation achieving superior levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty. The result is an improvement in the levels of service delivered to your customers that establishes a benchmark for your competitors to meet.

SGSA instructors deliver public and private classes developed by Service Strategies Corporation, the Consortium for Service Innovation and Alexander Consulting throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.