I came across creative evangelist Debbie Millman’s “Love letters to what we hold dear” a few weeks ago and immediately had the thought to write this piece. I then went on to second guess myself, wondering is “love letter” too much? But I’m going with my gut because, no – I don’t think it is. First, I do love this community. I never thought I’d say that when I entered into it in 2008 not…
I discussed earlier this year my thoughts on how COVID will speed Servitization progress and that belief has only been strengthened since. While an incredibly unfortunate and taxing situation, the pandemic is creating more openness to change both within companies and from their customers; greater appreciation of the digital tools that enable not only business continuity but also set the stage for business transformation; and affirmation of the role service plays in more resilient revenue…
When we began lockdown in March of this year, I thought – maybe naïvely – that the pandemic would be in our review mirror by year end. Here we are, however, with cases rising in many regions across the world and second waves of lockdown in certain areas. While we all long for our lives to normalize, we must find fortitude to wait this out with safe practices and patience. I recently held a Focus…
Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, companies across sectors were moving toward service-based strategies due to a number of challenges such as commoditization, price pressure, technological disruption, stagnant growth, and untapped market potential. Over recent months, and due in large part to the pandemic, priorities have continued to shift, making servitization more relevant than ever. As a global consultancy focused on topline strategy, we at Simon-Kucher & Partners recently surveyed more than 200 commercial function leaders…
Bill Pollock, President and Principal Consulting Analyst at Strategies for Growth, weighs in on how he feels organizations need to evolve how they measure progress and success in today’s service landscape. Sarah Nicastro: Welcome to the Future of Field Service podcast. I’m your host, Sarah Nicastro. Today, we’re going to be talking about new metrics for a new world of service delivery. We’ve talked a lot lately about how many things are changing…
We have a pretty good idea now that, especially among some change-resistant businesses, Covid-19 has dramatically accelerated digital transformation. There are questions about how quickly it’s accelerated it, but the general consensus is that we’re probably about five years further along than we would have been had things remained on their pre-Covid track. We’re seeing this play out as retail stores like Best Buy take their brick and mortar footprints and turn them into fulfillment…
Sarah talks with Dr. Marlene Kolodziej, Vice President of Centralized Services at RICOH USA, Inc. about the company’s creation of a centralized services division, the journey from product to services provider, and her experiences leading virtually. Sarah Nicastro: Welcome to the Future of Field Service podcast. I’m your host, Sarah Nicastro. Today, I’m excited to welcome back to the Future of Field Service podcast, Dr. Marlene Kolodziej, who is now Vice President for…
Rodger Smelcer, Vice President/Owner of United Service Technologies discusses with Sarah five ways that COVID-19 has brought clarity to his business and what changes he’s made as a result. Sarah Nicastro: Welcome to the Future of Field Service Podcast. I’m your host, Sarah Nicastro. I’m happy to welcome to the podcast today Rodger Smelcer, vice president and owner of United Service Technologies. Today we’re going to be talking with Rodger about five ways…
Alfa Laval is a Swedish company founded in 1883 that is a world leader within the key technology areas of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling. With more than 3,700 patents, Alfa Laval provides worldwide solutions in areas that are vital to society, including energy, pharmaceutical, marine and food. The company has over 17,000 employees, including more than 700 field service engineers, that help customers in nearly 100 countries. As a product manufacturer with deep…
Forrester, in partnership with Bloomreach, recently published a report on the state of commerce experience for, in which they take a look at how both B2B and B2C sellers have realigned their channel strategies in direct response to COVID-19. There’s a lot of illuminating material in the report, especially on how the rate of adoption of digital channels has picked up dramatically in the face of necessity (unsurprisingly), but what is particularly interesting is that…
