Episode 364 | UNSCRIPTED

What if the future of service isn’t about fixing products—but maximizing customer outcomes?

In this episode of UNSCRIPTED, host Sarah Nicastro sits down with Ravichandra Sheersagar, Digital Energy Services VP at Schneider Electric, to explore how service organizations must evolve from transactional support models to long-term, outcome-driven partnerships.

As AI, digital transformation, and connected systems reshape customer expectations, Ravichandra explains why services are becoming the primary competitive differentiator—and why companies that continue organizing around products instead of customers risk falling behind.

From designing products with serviceability built in, to reimagining operating models with AI, this conversation offers practical lessons for service leaders navigating the next era of field service.

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Why Services Are Becoming the Core Competitive Advantage

One of the strongest themes throughout this conversation is the idea that services are no longer an add-on to the product business—they are becoming the business itself.

As Ravichandra explains, customers are no longer looking for vendors that simply deliver products. They want partners that can help them design, operate, maintain, and continuously improve outcomes over the full lifecycle of their systems.

That shift fundamentally changes how service organizations create value.

Instead of focusing on:

• Break-fix support
• Transactional service delivery
• Reactive maintenance
• Billable labor hours

Leading organizations are focusing on:

• Lifecycle partnerships
• Outcome-based services
• AI-enabled optimization
• Long-term customer performance

In this model, services become the engine for:

• Recurring revenue
• Customer retention
• Expansion opportunities
• Competitive differentiation

And increasingly, market valuation reflects that reality.

Designing Products for Service From the Beginning

Another major takeaway from this discussion is that service excellence cannot be bolted on after a product is built.

Ravichandra stresses that products and platforms must be designed for service from inception.

That means embedding:

• Connectivity
• Serviceability
• Lifecycle intelligence
• Remote visibility
• Upgrade pathways

directly into product strategy.

Without that foundation, organizations struggle to:

• Understand how customers use their products
• Deliver proactive support
• Create meaningful lifecycle value
• Scale recurring service models

The organizations leading in digital services are the ones building products with long-term service relationships in mind—not treating service as an afterthought.

Why the Future of Service Is About Outcomes, Not Fixes

One of the clearest insights from this episode is that the future of service differentiation will not come from fixing issues faster.

It will come from helping customers achieve better outcomes.

That’s a significant shift.

Customers increasingly expect service providers to help them:

• Improve operational performance
• Reduce risk
• Increase efficiency
• Optimize energy usage
• Support sustainability goals
• Maximize uptime

In other words, value is moving upstream.

The expectation is no longer:

“Fix my problem.”

It's:

"Help me perform better."

That requires service organizations to rethink:

• How they structure teams
• What capabilities they invest in
• How they measure success
• What skills their workforce needs

The Rise of the Customer Performance Engineer

To support this shift, Schneider Electric has introduced a new role: the Customer Performance Engineer.

This role represents a broader evolution happening across service organizations.

Instead of simply dispatching technicians to solve issues, companies are building roles that combine:

• Technical expertise
• Data analytics
• Customer advisory
• Portfolio-level thinking
• Strategic optimization

These individuals help customers understand:

• How systems are performing
• Where value is being lost
• What modernization opportunities exist
• Which improvements will create measurable outcomes

This approach enables organizations to scale value creation without relying solely on linear workforce growth.

It also creates more strategic career paths for service professionals while strengthening long-term customer relationships.

AI as the Foundation for Operating Model Transformation

AI is another major focus of the conversation—but not in the way many organizations approach it today.

Rather than using AI as a standalone tool, Ravichandra explains how AI should be used to fundamentally reimagine service operating models.

One example is AI-driven scheduling and planning.

Traditionally, planners manually coordinate:

• Technician schedules
• Customer requests
• Travel time
• Resource allocation

AI-driven systems can now optimize these decisions dynamically by analyzing:

• Asset criticality
• Distance and travel efficiency
• Customer priorities
• Revenue opportunity
• Technician capabilities
• Historical service patterns

The result is:

• Faster response
• Better resource utilization
• Improved customer outcomes
• Reduced operational friction

More importantly, it frees human talent to focus on higher-value work.

Organize Around Customers, Not Products

A particularly important lesson from this discussion is Ravichandra’s perspective on organizational design.

He argues that companies must stop organizing around:

• Products
• Platforms
• Internal silos

and instead organize around customer segments and customer outcomes.

Because different industries have fundamentally different operational priorities.

For example:

• Data centers prioritize uptime and redundancy
• Healthcare prioritizes reliability and emergency responsiveness
• Life sciences prioritize compliance and traceability

Trying to force all customers into the same service model creates friction and limits value creation.

Instead, service organizations need:

• Segment-specific strategies
• Tailored value propositions
• Specialized expertise
• Flexible operating models

This customer-centric approach becomes increasingly important as service complexity grows.

Why the Existing Service Playbook Is Becoming Obsolete

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this episode is Ravichandra’s belief that the traditional service playbook is becoming irrelevant.

AI-enabled services, connected assets, lifecycle intelligence, and outcome-based partnerships are rapidly becoming baseline expectations—not future concepts.

The organizations that continue optimizing legacy operating models incrementally risk falling behind competitors willing to fully reimagine service delivery.

That doesn’t mean adopting technology for the sake of innovation.

It means:

• Deeply understanding customer environments
• Designing around outcomes
• Embedding AI intentionally
• Connecting products and services
• Building systems that scale value consistently

The future of service belongs to organizations that can combine technology, process, people, and customer understanding into one integrated system.

Key Takeaways for Service Leaders

Services are becoming the primary competitive differentiator in digital industries Outcome-based partnerships are replacing transactional service models Products must be designed for service from inception AI should reimagine operating models—not just automate tasks Customer-centric organizational design is critical for scaling value Specialized roles like Customer Performance Engineers will shape the future workforce Connected systems and lifecycle intelligence are foundational to modern services Incremental optimization is no longer enough—service organizations must rethink the playbook entirely

The Future of Service Is Outcome-Driven

What Ravichandra outlines in this conversation is a much larger shift than simply adopting new technology.

It’s a shift in how service organizations define value.

The future of service will not be measured by:

• How many tickets are closed
• How quickly technicians arrive
• How efficiently work orders are processed

It will be measured by the outcomes customers achieve over time.

That requires:

• Stronger partnerships
• Better data visibility
• AI-enabled intelligence
• Connected ecosystems
• Workforce transformation
• And a relentless focus on customer success

The organizations that embrace that shift early won’t just improve service delivery—they’ll redefine what customers expect from service altogether.

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