By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

Last week, Otis reported its Q2 earnings. Via LinkedIn, Chair and CEO Judy Marks credited “strong momentum in our service business helped drive a solid second quarter.” She also shared that “as we look to the second half of the year, we are taking a measured approach while remaining confident in the durability of our service-led growth model. Continued investments in service quality, pricing initiatives and digital technology are strengthening execution across our global operations and creating a foundation for sustainable growth and long-term value creation.”

On the company’s website, the news release states that for Q2, net sales were up 7% and organic sales up 6%, driven by service net sales up 11% with organic sales up 9%. In the release, Marks also states, “We remain confident in the long-term growth opportunities across our service portfolio. An aging installed base and our customers' increasing focus on reliability, uptime and service quality are driving favorable demand in both modernization and repair, contributing to drive sustained growth and value creation."

The Delta Between Service Potential and Execution

Reading this news took my mind right back to the findings of the joint research we conducted in late 2025 with Simon-Kucher. That research, worth digging into if you haven’t, illustrated the following:

• The positive sentiment about the opportunity for service-led growth
• The gap between the potential that exists and the services being delivered today (only 2% of respondents currently offered outcomes-based services)
• The challenges that exist in bridging that gap, which range from business identity and digital sophistication to workforce woes and commercial immaturity

That research acted as a springboard for a variety of discussions on the themes throughout, including a series of podcast conversation where leaders across industries weighed in and shared insights from their businesses:

• Sasha Ilyukhin shared Tetra Pak’s Approach to Service Growth
• Ravichandra Kshirsagar relayed Lessons in Commercial Excellence from Schneider Electric
• Vivek Swaminathan spoke to How Unisys is Closing the Value Gap in Field Service

Understanding Common Challenges

While it’s been really interesting to learn more about how different companies approach service-led growth, it’s particularly insightful to understand where the common challenges lie. In a leadership summit at Simon-Kucher’s NYC office in February, the conversation homed in on a major one: defining the field technician’s role in the sales process.

This topic became the premise for a workshop that the Simon-Kucher team ran at our Future of Field Service Live event in NYC in June, again sparking strong engagement from the leaders in attendance and a variety of ideas on what works best (and what won’t work at all). The Simon-Kucher team recently published this article on how to design field service compensation that drives value without breaking trust.

While the role the frontline plays in sales growth is a big decision, it’s far from the only challenge to solve. Foundationally, a business has to agree and align on the service potential and what service-led growth will require and entail. The research also showed how businesses who are lagging in digital sophistication will struggle to achieve growth goals without a modern and capable tech stack in place.

What More Motivation is Needed?

Let’s revisit the quote above from Marks:

We remain confident in the long-term growth opportunities across our service portfolio. An aging installed base and our customers' increasing focus on reliability, uptime and service quality are driving favorable demand in both modernization and repair, contributing to drive sustained growth and value creation.

She speaks directly to what customers are seeking: reliability, uptime, and service quality. Those demands are not unique to Otis’ industry. Nor are the long-term growth opportunities that she references.

I’m not sure what more motivation businesses need to seize the service potential – to invest in service-led growth. While some continue to ponder the opportunities or the path or the play or let strong emotional ties to the business’s product legacy prevent forward progress, companies like Otis are doubling down.

And there are very clear cues in Judy’s wording to what it takes:

• A measured approach
• Continued investments
• Digital technology

See, service growth doesn’t come without proper investment. Of mindset, vision, strategy, digital capabilities, change leadership, workforce development, and so on. The businesses of tomorrow will reap the seeds they are sowing today - what will your service investment yield?