Nick Frank, a specialist service management consultant with Noventum Service Management continues his series of case studies outlining best practices in field service...
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Feb 21, 2014 • Features • Management • Nick Frank • Noventum • case studies • service excellence • Service Management
Nick Frank, a specialist service management consultant with Noventum Service Management continues his series of case studies outlining best practices in field service...
Previous case studies showed some of the steps companies can take to understand the value of service to their business. Companies have deep dived into their customer’s journey, gained insight into what the customer’s perceive as value, as well as determined what their own corporate strategy is to make money. Secure in this understanding they are ready to implement their GO To market strategy. And the first step is to develop and deploy service propositions that speak to the customer.
What is he talking about you may be asking yourself? Go look at your website or those of your competitors and see how the services propositions are described. I looked at a company I used to work for and found what is typical for many. Descriptions of what they do!
If you are an engineer or product guy, it kind of makes sense, because its what we do! But think from the customer’s perspective. Managers are interested in outcomes. In most commercial organisations this is how they are paid and what they do.
So if you are really a customer led organisation should you not also focus on the outcomes? This is what Yokogawa did. In our previous blog we talked about how they developed a clear view of the value their customer’s perceived they could offer. Well they took this view and designed their propositions around it.
They literally tried to design service propositions that would speak to their customers.
So if you look at their vigiplant (http://www.yokogawa.com/vps/vps-index-en.htm) service offering, you will notice that the language they use to describe their portfolio has a very marked customer orientation. They group their services in terms of outcomes:
- Opportunity Identification Services
- Solution Implementation Services
- Lifecycle Effectiveness Services[/unordered_list]
They try to use a language that describes the value. In other words they talk of ‘Production Excellence’, rather than how it is might be delivered through ’Software Products’.
Now this is quite a different approach and one that took me a long time to really appreciate. That the words we use are a reflection of our own values. So if we look at how companies describe their services, what we see is their true culture and attitudes towards their customers and clients.
At Noventum we call this ‘Service Thinking’. To learn more about this and how to successfully deliver service propositions that really speak to your customers, why not look at this case study on Service Thinking (http://www.noventum.eu/cases/believe-in-service-thinking)
Nick Frank is a service specialist with Noventum Service Management
Read part one of Nick's series here
Jan 31, 2014 • Features • Management • growthrough services • Nick Frank • Noventum
As we come to the end of January, Nick Frank, consultant with Noventum Service Management looks a little further ahead at what the rest of the year may yield.
As we come to the end of January, Nick Frank, consultant with Noventum Service Management looks a little further ahead at what the rest of the year may yield.
At the backend of 2013, did you notice that the field services community was increasingly talking about the critical role of knowledge in creating a thriving and profitable services business. Solution providers were all telling us about analytics, transparency and the benefits of working in the connected world. Buzzwords such as ‘Big Data’ and ‘The Internet of Things’ were being bandied around as if we all should be experts.
Companies started talking openly about their development of remote solutions to improve their customers OEE and create new revenue streams. This ‘enlightenment’ I am sure will continue into 2014, but with it I believe will come the realisation that it’s NOT AS EASY as purchasing the latest IT system or implementing some workshop/training programmes.
No, I think that although companies will increasingly see the possibilities that future corporate growth will be in a large part enabled by new services, they will realise that to participate, they must do something different! More and more we will hear companies talking about the need for a step change or transformation.
This is because to gain the full value from these technologies, companies need a fundamental shift in their People, Culture and Processes!
Knowledge savvy People and Culture:
The bulk of the value to be won lies in the customer’s process and operations. Developing services that help the customer’s business be more effective requires a shift to an OUTSIDE-In culture. The customer’s processes and how they experience our Brand must be at the heart of our own product and service strategy. Easy words, but not so easy when you consider that most of us whose careers have grown through products, do rather have an INSIDE-Out view on technology, manufacturing and making things work.
But in developing this understanding we have to change our whole view of knowledge and how we manage it. The first step is to appreciate its importance to our own organisation and customers. What is important to protect, and what can be shared. I say this because to achieve change in an increasingly complex technological world, the concept of co-creation and partnering is becoming stronger. We are seeing companies and customers coming together to form eco-systems to solve complex problems. But this requires the management of knowledge and knowing what and how it can be shared; a capability that many businesses struggle to deal with.
Processes for a new paradigm:
Mind-set may start transformation, but it’s the execution of processes that will bring value. To really benefit from these emerging technologies, it’s logical that processes will be re-engineered for the new technology paradigm. And we are not just talking about the flow of activities. This must include the management rules that underpin the processes, the KPIs to manage performance, the competencies of the people, as well as defining the businesses functional requirements for it’s IT and support systems. Get this last factor wrong, and all the latest technologies and concepts will not help your business move forward.
Sounds complex and expensive. This is where some recent research findings from Noventum bring some interesting insight as to what is needed to move forward. Between April & December last year, we talked with over 150 business leaders and service professionals about which strategies were driving business growth and the role of services.
Two findings stood out in relation to this discussion:
- Service is becoming recognised as a strategic solution to facilitating a company’s growth strategy.
- Companies have an increasing desire to develop more advanced services that address their customer’s processes, but show a reluctance to move forward until Product related services are mastered.
We believe the insight these findings provide for 2014 is that, as companies recognise the role that Knowledge and Technology can play in their future profitability, they will get excited….
….and then there will be a sharp intake of breath as they start to evaluate the implications.
However, if they begin to see service as a strategic lever to support the company growth goals, then the investment implications actually becomes more manageable, and are probably smaller than for many product R&D projects.
Secondly by breaking down the transformation into smaller steps, and re-engineering their delivery process and functional requirements, they can harness the technology to achieve results today, but which are scalable to their future growth vision.
At the end of the day, time will tell if this view of the world will be true, but if you would like to get a head start and develop your own thoughts, Noventum will be running a series of events on this topic which can be found at http://www.noventum.eu/calendar
Jan 23, 2014 • Features • Management • management • Nick Frank • Noventum • Service Delivery
This is the 3rd article in a series of case studies which examines how companies can improve their understanding of there own Value, create more effective GO-TO Marketstrategies and drive profitability through efficient Service Delivery models.
This is the 3rd article in a series of case studies which examines how companies can improve their understanding of there own Value, create more effective GO-TO Market strategies and drive profitability through efficient Service Delivery models.
‘If you want customer insight to develop new services, go ask the sales force’….uh oh …probably not completely the right idea. Sorry guys but customer’s talk to sales people in a different kind of way. So while sales input is essential, there are many factors that influence the accuracy of the feedback.
If you really want to understand what your customers value, probably its best to go direct to the customers themselves. That’s why many senior managers insist on visiting customer. But how many times have you heard the CEO call for a change of direction based on a recent visit to an unhappy customer. A more balanced approach is needed to make informed decisions, if you do not want to fall into the trap of this frequently used quote, ’8% of companies think they deliver superior experience…….only 8% of their customers agree!’
The solution to a balanced & informed analysis is often to involve impartial 3rd parties.
Take Yokogoawa, an industrial leader in automation solutions for process industries. Back in 2010 they wanted to know what services their customers thought they should offer. They had talked to the sales force who came back with a pure price, price, price argument. To the Benelux service manager Ton van den Ham, this did not add up, and he felt that perhaps they were asking the wrong questions in the wrong way. So he engaged a 3rd party to help structure a set of visits and interviews aimed at getting under underneath the skin of their customers. Why a 3rd party. Well he wanted an impartial perspective that did not carry Yokogawa baggage.
The interviews were done jointly with the 3rd party acting as a coach and sometime lead. To Yokogawa’s amazement they found that their customer’s really appreciated the technical competence of the application engineers. That the customer’s challenge, was not in fact lower prices, but to have more stable and predictable processes for their chemical plants. The customer’s wanted Yogokawa’s technical experts to be even more engaged at a much deeper level in their business to help keep their processes at the optimum performance.
Armed with this feedback Yokogawa, started to develop their services programme which has developed into what they refer to as ‘Vigiplant Services’
At a recent conference Ton described his his experience of this programme as: ‘You don’t know what you don’t know. It’s worthwhile talking to your customers to get a different perspective’
So the moral of the story is that when you are developing your services business, forensically clean customer insight is key to truly understanding the value you offer. Don’t be afraid of getting outside people that you trust involved in this process as the results may be surprising. If you would like to learn more about this case study, you can see a video of Ton’s presentation at: http://smc.noventum.nl/smc2011/service-track-video-presentations-2011
Nick Frank is a service specialist with Noventum Service Management and can be contacted at nick.frank@noventum.eu
Read part one of this series, Creating value through services: Where to Start? here
Read Part two of this series, Ouch! getting the profit/cost centre call wrong in your service business here
Jan 27, 2013 • Consultants • Noventum • Field Service News directory consultants
Contact information for Noventum:
Phone: +44 (0) 203 355 6667, + 31 297 566 241 Email: info@noventum.eu Web: www.noventum.eu
Contact information for Noventum:
Phone: +44 (0) 203 355 6667, + 31 297 566 241
Email: info@noventum.eu
Web: www.noventum.eu
Services Provided by Noventum:
- Service Innovation Programme
- Consulting
- Service IT Solutions
- People Development[/unordered_list]
All services interlinked with the Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards
All About Noventum:
Noventum is a globally operating firm specialising in strategic service solution management and providing management consulting, training and service IT solutions.
Our mission is to use our expertise to unlock the unlimited potential of Service Business in organisations.
We help companies develop strategies for profitable and sustainable service-driven growth. Using these strategies, we then help with their design and implementation through our Service Transformation Programmes, while we share the risk and provide hands-on assistance. With over 200 successful projects and several Fortune 500 clients in our portfolio, Noventum has what it takes to galvanise your Service Business. For more information about Noventum visit our website www.noventum.eu.
To stay up-to-date with our research findings, publications, and events join our Service Innovation Community
Latest video from Noventum:
Resources from Noventum:
White Paper: Increase customer loyalty and differentiate from competition - Be your client's Trusted Advisor
This white paper highlights the importance of turning your people into Trusted Advisors and explains what that means for the company, as well as for your people. It also demonstrates some practical examples of how this can be achieved and the benefits it can bring to an organisation.
Click here to access this resource
Executive Summary: The service revolution of the manufacturing industry
Moving from reactive to proactive service business enabled by IoT. An executive summary of Noventum’s new publication, co-created with the participants of Noventum’s Service Innovation Programme and the Aston Centre for Servitization Research and Practice.
Click here to access this resource
How Tennant increased and initiated growth through services
How a new Service Director was introduced to the Service Business through Noventum’s Service Executive Leadership Course and then encouraged his team to also attend the course. This way they were all able to align their way of thinking and work together towards achieving a common goal.
Field Service News is published by 1927 Media Ltd, an independent publisher whose sole focus is on the field service sector. As such our entire resources are focused on helping drive the field service sector forwards and aiming to best serve our industry through honest, incisive and innovative media coverage of the global field service sector.
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