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August 26, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

The Case for a Chief Service Officer

August 26, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

The Case for a Chief Service Officer

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By Tom Paquin

I know what you’re thinking—The last thing that your business needs is another top-down decision-maker imposing their vision on a staff. But hear me out. I have two questions about service at your business.

Here’s the first: Where does the direction of your service business come from, on the executive level, today? Perhaps, if you’re a pure service business, it comes from product. For others, it may be a function of operations. For others still, it may sit solely with the CEO. Perhaps it comes from nowhere. At Future of Field Service, we’ve seen, interacted with, and learned from service leaders, whose titles included these roles, and countless others. The second question is this: Who makes the go/no-go decision on service technology for your business? Does it come from the same department? When is your CTO, CIO, or VP of BI, brought in to advise? Is there already some degree of incongruence within your business, here? Then a Chief Service Officer may be the bridge that you need to bring everything together. There is, of course, a little more to it than just that. Recent news impacting the service delivery industry is a symptom of a shift impacting businesses globally: Service is becoming the centerpiece of business growth. The 2010’s, for many, was the age of the customer. That mindset evolved over the decade based on several trends, including:

  • A shift away from ownership towards products-as-a-service.
  • An oversaturation of products entering the market from new, global entrants and decreasing barriers to entry.
  • A fundamental shift in the economy away from product-focused businesses towards services-focused businesses.
  • The need to diversify product portfolios with low-overhead add-ons that simultaneously offer value to the customer beyond your competitors.
  • Best-in-class manufacturers, retailers, and suppliers creating pathways towards completely upending business practices with service.

There are dozens of other considerations to go along with these. All of these elements come together to make service an urgent consideration, if not for all businesses, then certainly for most. If you’re servitizing a legacy business, or just looking to enhance the service offerings that you have today, a Chief Service Officer is an ideal steward to help navigate your business through difficult waters. Service is a natural outgrowth of operations, but operations, as a function, is generally oriented towards minimizing overhead. This, traditionally, is a key function of service, but in the new service economy, becomes secondary to making service a growth agent for a business. In that way, service decisions may seem to fit more comfortably on the product side of a business, and for many, that might be enough. For businesses where their products aren’t exclusively service, though, the operational elements needed to make service run properly could weigh down the role. Enter the Chief Service Officer. The position that straddles the operations and product world, interfacing with both sides of the business, making service a continued discussion, and helping bridge the gap between the technical elements of successful Service Management adoption and the actual work of field and back-office employees. So what does the Chief Service Officer do? This will obviously differ from company to company, but on a high-level, here are some general ideas:

  • Own the technology rollout for all of service.
  • Work with product to set rigid parameters for service execution.
  • Develop benchmarks, roadmaps, and dashboard to measure service’s impact on the whole company.
  • Set up and execute on service business development efforts within sales.
  • Own the service management platform, tie it to all areas of enterprise resource planning, asset management, and customer experience management.
  • Make the push that your company provides service because it wants to faster a stronger relationship with its customers.

This is by no means a silver bullet for businesses looking to redefine service, but with the right person, and the right organizational outlook, it could be what sets your business on the track towards end-to-end service transformation.

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August 22, 2019 | 4 Mins Read

Are the Results of Cloud-based Outsourcing Projects Perceived Differently by Men and Women?

August 22, 2019 | 4 Mins Read

Are the Results of Cloud-based Outsourcing Projects Perceived Differently by Men and Women?

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By Dr. Marlene R. Kolodziej

In the May, 2014 issue of The Atlantic, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman wrote an article “The Confidence Gap”, and how evidence shows women are less self-assured than men, and in order for women to succeed, confidence matters as much as competence. My doctoral research explored the decision-making process, and particularly the criteria used by executive decision-makers, for identifying and selecting organizational competencies when engaging in Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) using cloud-based services. As part of that study, participants had the opportunity to describe the effects and actual outcome of their outsourcing decisions on organizational processes, capabilities, skills, and performance; and to note how the results of the outsourcing decision differ or are the same from the expected outcome of the ITO engagement for cloud-based services. One of the findings from that study was an apparent difference in the perception of the success or failure of the outcome for ITO for cloud-based services based on participants’ gender.

But what if the outcome of the cloud-based outsourcing didn’t matter, but the perception of success or failure was real? And what if that perception differed between men and women, regardless of the actual results?

Expectation versus reality. Known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, it is the tendency for some people to substantially overestimate their abilities. The less competent people are, the more they overestimate their abilities. In 2003, David Dunning and Joyce Ehrlinger furthered this research and focused on women, delving into the connection between confidence and competence. Their findings indicated that the women did not pursue opportunities when they were less confident in their abilities, even when performance was equal to men. According to Forbes (2018), a Hewlett Packard internal report found that men apply for a job or promotion when they met 60% of the qualifications, whereas women applied only when they met 100% of those same qualifications. There were 15 participants interviewed individually for the published research, Exploring the Role of Organizational Competencies in Information Technology Outsourcing: A Holistic Case Study on Decision-Making for Outsourcing of Cloud-Based Services, and of those fifteen participants, two identified as female. Only those two females expressed they experienced a negative outcome from their ITO engagements for cloud-based services.  In contrast, while still citing challenges faced by their organizations, male participants in individual in-depth interviews appeared to be more positive when evaluating the outcomes of their ITO engagements for cloud-based services. Male participants in this same study categorized their outcomes as successful, whereas female participants expressed a negative outcome. So with similar outcomes for both male and female executive decision-makers for their ITO engagements for cloud-based services, why such a difference in reported outcomes?  

The Confidence Gap. Stephanie Thomson (2018) discussed a theory known as the “confidence gap”, where women are assumed to feel less confident than men, and are encouraged to be more like men by promoting their accomplishments. While women do self-promote less than men in the corporate world, a wide body of research shows that women have as much confidence in their abilities to lead and perform as men do. Recent research suggests that for a woman, confidence and assertiveness without classic feminine traits such as empathy and altruism will not result in professional success. Research has also shown self-confidence is not awarded equally between men and women, and that men simply could simply increase their organizational influence based on their self-confidence, women could only do the same if they could display their motivation was to the benefit of others, appearing both confident and modest simultaneously. According to Dina Gerdeman (2019), women are more likely to dismiss praise and discount their abilities. One of the biggest problems with closing the confidence gap is the expectation that women are the issue, and the fix is to be is to be more like men, when in reality, normalizing self-promotion, reducing instances of well-documented backlash for women who do self-promote, could bring awareness to implicit gender biases. Early in my career, there was an issue with how my interactions with others were perceived. With representation from both Human Resources and from Leadership, along with my direct Manager, a meeting took place to discuss the issue and come to resolution. My Manager was able to analyze the situation and see through to the core of the problem, and asked those in attendance a simple question: “If Marlene was a man, would her actions be an issue?”. Suddenly it was if a light switch had gone on and each one of the attendees realized that their perception of how I should act was based solely on gender, and not on the actions themselves.

Where do we go from here? While more research is needed in gender-based decision-making and perceptions of outcomes, particularly when outsourcing to the cloud, recognition of these differences and the impact to corporations and their employees is significant. Confidence, self-promotion and extra encouragement are all areas where corporations and managers can focus to close the gender gap. Business leaders need to consider how confidence levels, especially for women, impact organizations, and recognize, reward, and encourage engagement and self-promotion equally.

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August 19, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

Need, Skill, Will: The Path to Successful Technology Adoption

August 19, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

Need, Skill, Will: The Path to Successful Technology Adoption

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

I had the good fortune last week of interviewing Paul Joesbury, Commercial Operations Director at HomeServe, for an upcoming episode of the Future of Field Service podcast (his episode will air August 28th, and it’s a must listen!). The conversation produced a wealth of valuable points, and as we prepare the episode for your listening pleasure, I thought I’d start by sharing Paul’s thoughts on what it takes to get employees to adopt new technology.

Paul and I discussed the evolution that’s taking place with field technicians – the younger technicians joining the workforce are not only comfortable with technology but lost without it. “The new technicians coming on are digital native – they were born with a phone in hand,” says Paul. “For those technicians, if a process is outlined cleanly on their devices, it is second nature to them to follow along and use it correctly.” The older generations of technicians struggle, however. “Some of the challenges companies like ours face with technology adoption among older workers would surprise many. You may not think you need to teach someone how to swipe on a device, but in many cases, you do – that’s just the reality of it,” says Paul. In these cases, it is imperative to put a change management strategy in place in an effort to get these workers to truly embrace the tools you’re introducing. “You can’t just impose new technology onto your workforce – it doesn’t work. Imposition causes resistance, and that resistance will inhibit any of the progress or forward motion you’re looking to make by introducing that technology,” says Paul.

3 Keys to Change Management

In Paul’s experience, successful change management and fostering adoption of technology comes down to three factors: need, skill, and will. “By focusing on the need, skill, and will, you can create the buy-in you need among employees to achieve successful technology adoption,” says Paul. Start with the need. Is the new tool necessary? Does it provide value? If this sounds ridiculously obvious to you, that’s great – but the reality is that many organizations make investments and force new tools for reasons besides the fact that the workforce and the business actually needs them. Your strategy must be centered around the needs of your workforce in meeting the goals you’ve set forth for the business. Deploying tools that will provide real value and make their jobs easier gets you on the path to success. You also need to focus on communicating with your workforce on the “why” for the changes you’re making and the technologies you’re introducing. If they understand the root cause for change and have an opportunity to weigh in and feel heard, they will have an easier time stepping outside their comfort zones. Next comes skill. To Paul’s point earlier, you may need to start with training more basic than you’d assume. Pay attention to what employees’ concerns or questions are around and address them quickly and extensively. Think about the full extent of education and training you will need to provide to ensure that your employees will feel comfortable using the new tools you’re introducing. If you encounter hesitation or resistance, take this as your cue to begin again. I know it can be frustrating to spend time, money, and energy on training that seems basic, but making this investment up front will ultimately pay off. If you take the time to focus on conveying the need and developing the skill, you should be able to create the will among your employees to embrace the change. “Your goal is to create the desire within your workers to use the tools you’re introducing, to embrace the changes you’re making within the business,” says Paul. “You can’t be successful without their buy-in, so following these steps and working diligently to create it is really the key to any successful transformation.”

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August 15, 2019 | 4 Mins Read

Scroll Vs. Search: Investing in Efficiency

August 15, 2019 | 4 Mins Read

Scroll Vs. Search: Investing in Efficiency

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By Greg Lush

My day started in the normal manner — start my computer, go get a cup of coffee, come back to the Windows 3.1 boot screen, enter my credentials and make a lap around the office spreading my morning cheer. The final leg of my journey would be to connect to our local file server and begin my work. However, today was special, I have been asked to explore the Internet. Some of our competitors had been using the Internet for a few years but my organization was, let's say, conservative. Waiting for me was a nice U.S. Robotics modem, a phone line, connected to my computer exclusively. As the modem attempted to connect the Internet to my PC it seemed as if it was teasing me with its odd melody. The suspense was over when I finally connected and greeted with a single rectangle and a "search" button. Now, this was quite an accomplishment. I thought to myself; "can't wait to show everyone else, if I could just locate the file and folder structure, browsing the internet would be a cinch." Yet, the comfortable structure I was accustomed to for so many years was nowhere to be found. Could it be that this new Internet wanted me to just type what I was looking for? What happens if I don't really know what it is that I want? Suddenly my excitement captured earlier turned into anxiety. Is it possible this damn computer and Internet were going to make me feel inferior?

Ridiculous is the thought going through my brain as I typed the first paragraph. Not the story above, as that happened everyday across the world years ago. Instead that organizations still suffer with the challenge employees face between scrolling and searching. Somehow, and I have yet to understand the conditions which cause this phenomenon, when folks walk through their organization’s doors, they seem to mysteriously forget how to search. For me, when helping companies expand their digital enterprises, I will often group users into two buckets, each having their own approach regarding transformation, they are scrollers and searchers.

  • Scrollers: It stands to reason that workers which are accustomed to finding files on a file server or local hard drive are comfortable with scrolling. The company configures a logical folder structure and teaches their employees how to access, upload and lightly search this file management environment. Prior to the cloud, and robust search tools, this made sense; however, this practice today is like a person using an abacus instead of a calculator. Not to mention that the logic of any file structure is only understood 100% by the file/folder creator, everyone else is compromised. We are not suggesting that all folders and cloud libraries be eliminated, and one big-ass file bucket be used instead. However, you should challenge yourself and your organization with one of two quick questions:
    • Five times "why" | popularized by every child between the ages of four and seven. Examine your file structure and ask why five times over. Each time you cannot answer why, trim the structure.
    • Four by four | challenge your team to think about their file structures, for any given discipline, as only four on the initial layer and no more than four deep. This exercise will force you to look at things differently.
  • Searchers: For those comfortable in these modern times, search may already be a subconscious activity: need something, open an internet browser, and enter what you need. However, for many, searching content is an overwhelming ask. Within an enterprise, creating a predictable behavior from search, and getting folks comfortable is key. You may consider a couple activities to help folks get proficient in searching the enterprise:
    • Load it up | get as much information as possible in your cloud platform BEFORE you begin promoting the power of internal search. You will not be given many chances to win over your audience, each time they come up empty handed will be strikes against your efforts.
    • Consistency | although some would argue that modern search engines can search every piece of data, file name, description, and all the file's contents, you should still have a plan. For instance, if you organize your digital collateral starting with the customer and then work into any related information, the searcher will be relieved as in their mind if they find the customer, they may have the chance to scroll through related content.

To succeed in recalling digital collateral in the enterprise you must get your associates comfortable with search. The transformation is a deliberate activity, well-planned and sequenced. In my recent experience, especially with cloud platforms, they can be overwhelming for the user and I like to start with:

  • Comfort before full commitment | let's say that you are moving from a shared file server or local file storage culture to the cloud. Ten days prior to your cutover suggest ten minutes a day for ten days prescription, like someone taking antibiotics. At the conclusion of the ten-day period, set the shared drives to a "read-only" mode, focusing on getting as much of the information as possible into the cloud platform.
  • Immersion training | get your hands on a demo environment loaded with content and teach searching techniques within that test data set. The key is to have folks find what they are looking for immediately, show the search function (predict successful searches PRIOR to attendees arriving) and have the attendees search with success.

Invest the time in search, it may seem unnecessary at first blush seeing as we all search for content, continuously. Yet, each minute spent with internal employees raising their comfort levels will pay off exponentially in adoption and efficiency.

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August 12, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

Field Service Getting the Attention It Deserves

August 12, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

Field Service Getting the Attention It Deserves

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

I was on vacation last week sipping a Pina Colada by the pool (OK, wrangling toddlers is a more accurate description) when I read the news that Salesforce had acquired ClickSoftware. To me, this signals exciting times for any of us involved in the world that encompasses field service. A function that was once viewed as a cost-center, and often an afterthought, is getting its turn to be recognized as the wealth of opportunity it really is for any company.

I’m coming up on twelve years covering field service, and the evolution I’ve witnessed is something that I’ve personally found exciting for quite a long time (if you’d asked me if I’d find “field service” exciting before I happened into it, I’d have looked at you with a blank stare for sure – but I’ve grown to love it). I’ve witnessed a shift – slow at first and gaining speed – in how companies view and utilize field service. Last week’s acquisition, in my opinion, illustrates the fact that field service has arrived. No longer is it an afterthought or a necessary evil, but rather it has become a strategic arm of the business. A path to differentiation, a valuable way to delight and endear customers, an opportunity to grow revenue. Salesforce’s interest in ClickSoftware is validation of just how much potential exists in field service – not just for field service management providers, but for companies ready to embrace what field service can do for their businesses.

This excitement has been building for some time. At this year’s Field Service Palm Springs event, the buzz was different than ever before. Attendees were no longer skeptical of the need to invest to advance their service efforts, but ready to learn how to do just that. They were more excitedly sharing their strategies for becoming more strategic with field service and listening closely to hear what their peers are doing. The companies I’ve interviewed for the Future of Field Service podcast since we began in April are more passionate than ever before about where the industry is headed, the journey their organizations are on, and their personal roles in it all. I’m thrilled to be covering this space and to uncover along with you all the potential that unfolds in the next couple of years.

In light of last week’s news, and news yet to come, I’d urge you to work diligently to educate yourselves on the potential for your organization around field service as well as your various paths for reaching that potential. I’ve always been a staunch proponent of learning from your peers – I think hearing what people in similar positions in other service-based businesses are doing can provide greater value than any other form of content, which is why I’ve worked hard in my career to focus on providing exactly that. There are companies leading the charge in achieving the full potential that is field service – you can find a few examples here and here. Consuming content like this, attending events like Field Service and The Service Council Symposium, and looking for other ways to network one-on-one with your peers are some of the best ways to collect objective insights. As the hype around field service continues to build, which it will, the onus is on you to do your due diligence on the strategy, technology, and change management that will allow you to embrace the potential that exists.

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August 8, 2019 | 4 Mins Read

Ten Quick Tips for Customer Journey Mapping Success

August 8, 2019 | 4 Mins Read

Ten Quick Tips for Customer Journey Mapping Success

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By Laurence Cramp

A customer journey map is a visual or graphical interpretation of the overall story from an individual's perspective of their relationship with an organisation, service, product or brand, over time and across the channels they utilise. The story is told from the customer's perspective, but also emphasises important intersections between user expectations and business requirements.

No two journey maps are alike, and regardless of format they will allow you to consider interactions from your customers'points of view, instead of taking a business outwards focus. They can be used in both current state review and future state visioning to examine the present, highlight pain points and uncover the most significant opportunities for building a better experience for customers. The process of customer experience mapping is a joint activity - the process itself being just as important as the actual artefact. The discussions that experience mapping fosters and the consensus it builds are important building blocks to any future customer experience transformation action. There is no single way to map customer journeys nor is there any one right answer. In this blog we give you ten quick tips to improve your journey mapping sessions.

Tip One - Set clear objectives for the workshop

You need to make these clear for your customer journey mapping workshop (just like for any well run workshop!) Be sure to communicate (perhaps in advance) the focus for the session; your intended timings; the planned attendees and any success criteria for the workshop including the outputs intended. Make sure you have set clear expectations to manage any resistance that may occur in advance.

Tip Two - Set the context

Typically this will be some form of group orientation to the problem space, customer personas and to brief the group on prior discovery and customer research activity. This will help to get workshop attendees aligned to any prior work and ensure they are thinking in the right way for the workshop session.

Tip Three - Form the teams

Dividing participants into teams of four to six and ensure each has a balance of roles, seniority, customer experience and functions. Get the team working together as this will be crucial to your success.

Tip Four - Persona orientation

Focus attendees on exploring the dimensions of the persona (s) to be used as the lens for the customer journey, including any verbatims from real feedback. They need to be aware that this will be lens through which they will conduct the journey mapping.

Tip Five - Starting the journey

Encourage each team to go through the research notes and their understanding systematically and pull out the post-it-note points for each of the customer journey map areas following a well structured process.

Tip Six - Assemble the journey map

Use nominated people from each team to move the post-it notes to a large form template of the customer journey outline. Success here is all in the preparation!

Tip Seven - Consolidate

Depending on how you are structuring your outputs, work together as a large group to consolidate, challenge and iterate the emerging journey map, seeking relationships amongst the findings of each group. Keep a spirit of openness and constructive discussion rather than criticism.

Tip Eight - Finalise

By the end of the session, start to draw out insights and opportunities structured around an agreed (or draft) Journey Map for the nominated persona.

Tip Nine - Summarise

Towards the end of the workshop be sure to review achievements and highlight next steps and how the work will be progressed (whether by the same team or not).

Tip Ten - Sketch the map

Building the map itself will take time. Whether in or outside of the workshop be sure to walk it through with others and iterate and edit as you go. For longer sessions (ideally 1.5 days) the second half day can be used to develop and refine the sketched draft of the map itself. Map the experience from beginning to end and be as comprehensive as you can. Ideally one touchline will cover the entire experience but if this is too complex you can map a touchline for each key customer interaction. Try to think beyond the obvious and look before and after the immediate touch points with your organisation.

Get more help

We love customer experience and can help you to improve how your organisation delivers more customer-centric products, services, processes and technologies. We can help you run your next customer experience programme or we can help to give you the tools and techniques to do so yourself. Why not get in touch with us to find out more?

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August 5, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

The Agility Imperative

August 5, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

The Agility Imperative

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

Field service organizations historically haven’t been known to be very agile, and the reality is that many likely still aren’t. That absolutely must change, though, and in short order. Gone are the days where set-in-stone processes, siloed strategy, and outdated technology can help you just “get by” and do what you’ve always done. Companies that refuse to evolve will simply cease to exist in today’s competitive landscape.

As service becomes viewed more strategically and recognized as a competitive differentiator by wise businesses, the call for agility arises. Becoming more agile may force many service businesses to step out of their comfort zones, but those that hope for a fruitful future are embracing the need to change and working diligently to adapt. Agility must become the lifeblood of the service organization in order for you to thrive in today’s fast-paced, increasingly competitive experience economy. While agility needs to become woven into all you do, there are three major categories for which you need to examine just how agile you are and adjust accordingly.

#1: Meeting Customer Demands

What your customers want from you and the type of interactions they value are evolving quickly and on an ongoing basis. To keep up, you must become more adept at collecting regular data on what those wants and needs look like to determine how you will deliver. Not only do you need to be proactively seeking this input, but you have to be ready and able to act on it and give your customers what they want. This is where agility becomes important. Let’s say your business is home security, and you’ve gathered significant data from your customers that they highly value the ability to schedule appointments online. If you’re asking for this feedback and they are providing it, but then it takes you 18 months to be able to deliver this experience – your customers will become frustrated. I realize you can’t deliver on every whim in an immediate fashion, but the points that are universally important need to be assessed and then executed on fairly expediently.

#2: Operational Readiness

The only way you can quickly and effectively execute on demands you feel from the market is if your business operations are aligned. You need to create a culture where evolving and optimizing processes is more fluid, rather than a once-a-decade exercise that causes all parties involved massive pain. To be able to make ongoing changes and tweaks to business process, you must be sure your entire company is working toward the same core objectives and that your view of service as a strategic arm of the business is shared by top leadership. You also have to manage change so that your employees become comfortable with a process of continual evolution and embrace their ability to provide key insights and opinions on what will help you be successful. To this end, recruiting, hiring, and retention are areas where most service organizations need to adopt more agile practices and work to make wholesale changes to long-standing existing processes to better align to today’s talent pool.

#3: Technology Evaluation & Use

The third core area that needs to become more agile is around technology evaluation and use. Historically most field service organizations have deployed technology using a waterfall approach, but with the changes in the industry as well as the changes in technology, that approach doesn’t make much sense anymore. Rather, you need to look to become more agile both in how you evaluate technologies as well as how you deploy them. Cycles that used to be five or ten years have shortened to mere months (and often are just continual). The need for agility with technology applies, too, to making changes once it is deployed. As you get feedback from users, it should be able to be incorporated quickly. You also need to be regularly assessing your use of the systems you’ve invested in to ensure you are deriving the full value from them and learning how to leverage new capabilities as they are introduced. Keep in mind as you evaluate your need to become more agile that agility isn’t simply speed. Being more agile doesn’t just mean racing along – it means being nimble, not overthinking decisions or ignoring the need to change, and realizing that it’s okay to try things and fail then use those lessons to improve and forge ahead to success.

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Contextual Computing: From Apps to Outcomes

August 1, 2019 | 5 Mins Read

Contextual Computing: From Apps to Outcomes

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By Greg Lush

The implementation of cloud platforms in recent years has become, well, a bit pedestrian. Now, the challenge seems to be in experimenting with different approaches to get folks to recognize the value. For many years we have been driving the use of applications. An application-based approach worked, the financial model for software manufacturers and the licensing clarity for businesses was effective. It all started with the box of software, floppies, CDs, and even DVDs. Nobody had any question which app did what — it was crystal clear that Word assembled sentences and Excel crunched numbers. This concept of applications extended into the workplace as well. Remember back when your company decided to deploy a new accounting system? Not a problem. Heck, for good measure, let's throw in an inventory and PO system. Still not a problem, until someone started to talk about integration, or heaven forbid the deployment of a one-size-fits-all Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Suddenly this idea of an abstraction layer between our comfortable applications created confusion and anxiety. When mobile devices started to hit the market and gain momentum, what did we see? You got it, a sea of applications. So many applications and so little value; however, the race to win the mobile consumer and business would be won by the software company with the broadest set of applications.

Much different than today, when one could argue that applications are simply a collection of micro-services bundled together — especially if you are leveraging cloud platforms. All these services stitched together, using the newest form of dynamic integration known as graphing. Set the book down for a minute, open your computer, launch Outlook and compose an email. Heck, send me an email with feedback to greglush@lastmileworkersolutions.com. Now, when you are composing your message, notice the rich text features (bold, italic, formatting, etc.), the ability to drop in a picture or render a small sketch. Yep, you guessed it, these are all micro-services found in Microsoft Word, split up into little functional components leveraged across the Microsoft suite of products. In this example, they surface in Outlook. You can see similar logic within many software manufacturers’ tools. One that comes to mind is the brilliant progress made by Adobe and their Creative Cloud, wow. This behavior is not exclusive to the software giants — you can see, at varying degrees of sophistication, these tools across most cloud providers products. When the graphing term was introduced a couple of years ago, I thought, now that is a silly name. Yet, much like the seemingly chaotic genius of cloud platforms, it makes perfect sense when you consider that literally every feature of any given application may be graphed to one another. Brilliant! Enough of the quasi-technical background, are you ready to change the way that you think about computing? If your brain just jumped to thoughts of which email client to use, then we are not on the same page. Come on, man, think past email and file storage in the cloud. If that is your only destination, then I only have one thing to say: shame, shame. Talk about a great sales job…  "Mr./Mrs. Customer, let me move you into the future, we will move your email and files into the cloud. You may proclaim to your clients how forward-thinking you are, phooey." Before I jump off my soapbox let me get this straight, you moved from a networked solution, to a cloud network riddled with variables and latency, and decided to keep business as usual? Have I offended you just a tad? Great, now we are ready to start discussing the solution to this comfortable yet totally absurd stalling point of email and files to the cloud. As mentioned, we MUST change the way that we think about computing, and specifically a transition from apps to outcomes is paramount. Focusing Not Only On Outcomes, But Micro-Outcomes It is a rare event when an organization contemplates an investment and does not discuss the desired outcomes, I get it. Yet, what if you turned the conversation around and started with "what" you are trying to achieve? Staying with the modern approaches from above, take the outcomes to micro-outcomes, small changes within the business which can collectively have significant impact. While this makes sense to many, it is much easier said than done. Context seems to be the biggest challenge when asking the question, how are things going? Subconsciously humans will adjust their responses in conversation to align with common points of understanding between all parties. Thus, when a technologist initiates a business conversation, folks often respond in terms of applications or software, and this will simply not work. Instead, you must encourage discussion surrounding "why" things are happening, good and bad, inside of the business. In my experience, this is a tough approach as our memory recalls only the latest details. When things are bumpy, a discussion about extracting the value of a cloud platform will be deferred. All is working well, our immediate memory says, "we are good" and change is also re-prioritized. The key is to extend past the recent memories to value-packed areas within the business, untapped veins of gold, mined easily with a deliberate use of modern digital tools. In order to transform an organization, where we change institutional habits, a new set of tools must be used. My recent experience suggests that starting with relevant "best practices," or what some refer to as accelerators offer the most comfort. The best practices may be as simple as; sign off approval, or modern meetings. Each best practice, which I refer to as a transformation element, align to high level business groupings; business performance, sales, workforce, margin, and industrial IoT. Certainly, your business categories would be focused on your business and the transformation elements would capture your micro-outcomes. Over time I learned that the number of elements could be a bit overwhelming and do not show expected outcomes before and after the transformation. Thus, a level above the elements was created, I lovingly refer to as transformation triggers (suggesting action). Triggers are based on business conditions such as control field spending, project delivery, sales not selling value, etc. Transformation elements are bundled within triggers helping folks see the magnitude of effort required to alter an existing business condition or challenge. Depending upon the organization, they will be more comfortable starting with triggers or elements, either works. Your goal is to have a conversation which extends past our short-term memory. The trick is to have a different discussion, focused on changing the way that we compute. Driving outcomes, and more specifically micro-outcomes, is the only path to finding hidden profits and undiscovered efficiencies. Remember, everyone can provide what and how, those ready to transform will always start with "why.”

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July 29, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

To Thrive (Or Even Survive) In Today’s Service Landscape, You Must Master the Art of The Experience

July 29, 2019 | 3 Mins Read

To Thrive (Or Even Survive) In Today’s Service Landscape, You Must Master the Art of The Experience

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By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

I had the good fortune of interviewing Joe Pine, co-author of The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage and Co-founder of Strategic Horizons, this past week for an upcoming episode of the Future of Field Service podcast. It was such a good conversation that not only could I not wait for you to hear some of Joe’s wise words, but it was worthy of a written post as well to really drive these points home. Don’t worry, I am not giving it all away – consider this a sneak peek of more extensive conversation that is incredibly relevant to your business.

The premise of Joe’s book is a reality that field service organizations are living out today – customers are demanding more than products, even services – they are demanding experiences. You hopefully have accepted by now that continuing to provide even outstanding service will not be enough – you have to dig deeper to determine how to differentiate your business. Joe would argue, and I would agree, that thinking hard about how you can deliver experiences to your customers is a viable path to differentiation (as is considering how to deliver outcomes, which we get into on the podcast – so stay tuned!). So while I’d argue the entire conversation is necessary listening, I am sharing here my top three points Joe made during our chat and why they are imperative to your business today.

  • Service is the “what;” experience is the “how.” This distinction was helpful for me in framing the Experience Economy concept in a way that allows you to begin brainstorming exactly how your service operation would need to evolve to shift from providing services to staging experiences. So if fixing a broken refrigerator is your “what,” how do you reach beyond this and add on your own unique “how?” Is this done through some sort of unique branding (Joe mentions the Geek Squad as an example) or to-do at arrival? Is it a personalized conversation during the visit? A hand-written thank you note? Doing some real thinking on what your “what” looks like, and how you can add your own “how” is how you begin moving from service to experience and begin setting yourself apart from the competition.
  • Understand the difference between service characteristics (nice, easy, convenient) and experience characteristics (memorable, personal, time well spent). This is an important point, because I’d argue that adjectives like efficient and productive are familiar and comfortable to most service organizations while adjectives like personable, relatable, and empathetic may not be. The art of experience is far different from the art of service, so this takes a concerted effort to really change. Yes, your customers value those service characteristics – there is always a place for ease and convenience. But the point is, in today’s service landscape, those characteristics are becoming table stakes. Mastering the art of the experience is where you’ll begin to differentiate, and this takes a different skill set than many service firms currently foster and value.
  • The subtitle of Joe’s book is Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage. To progress beyond services and offer experiences, you have to look at each interaction as being on stage. How do your employees perform? What feelings are your customers left with when that performance is over? Fixing an air conditioning unit isn’t a performance – what are you adding to that service visit to evolve that interaction into an experience that will be remembered? As Joe talked through this, it made me think quite a bit about what this means for field service organizations that are working on recruiting and hiring. As I said, the art of staging experiences requires a different skill set than providing service alone. It’s important to think through what this means for your business – how can you upskill the technicians you have so that they are capable of providing these experiences? What types of training and coaching does this require? What sort of characteristics should you begin looking for in the hiring process?

These are just three of countless great points Joe makes during our conversation. Be sure to check out the full podcast which will be live on August 7th!

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July 25, 2019 | 5 Mins Read

Getting More Value from KPIs and the Balanced Scorecard

July 25, 2019 | 5 Mins Read

Getting More Value from KPIs and the Balanced Scorecard

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By Laurence Cramp

Regardless of its exact origins, the fact remains that many organisations of varying shapes, sizes and industry sectors still rely on balanced scorecards to drive their operational performance. Let's consider some of the main takeouts and benefits of the approach:

Measure what you want to manage

Kaplan and Norton's 1992 article opens with the phase "what you measure is what you get" highlighting the need for a balanced presentation of both financial and operational measures. The model of cause and effect does make a big difference but organisations tend to try to shape their performance around the things that the think they can measure or the KPIs that are easily accessible or available in existing dashboard reports. Rather they should be basing their measurement on the outcomes they are trying to achieve. So we would advocate you start with objectives rather than measures - hence measure what you want to manage.

Scorecard measures aren't in isolation

When organisations originally implemented the balanced scorecard, it was assumed that each of the four areas were independent of the others. Over time, however it has become evident that the way they are ordered can be important. If you train your employees and build a pervasive culture of information sharing they’ll make your company perform better internally to deliver better outcomes for customers who will in turn buy more of your products and services.

Don't track too many measures

It’s important to choose a small number of the right measures to track. By focusing on one or two measures per area you'll be better able to focus on the things that matter most. All of your desired behaviours must be considered and a balanced set of KPIs produced that gives equal weight to all factors. Where you would like additional metrics these can be used to inform coaching and individual or organisational performance but should not be included within a balanced scorecard.

Be aware of strategy and operation

It's important to note that the balanced scorecard is not a strategy-development tool. For organisational performance to be more than the sum of its parts (or indeed the sum of its measures) the activities each scorecard area must be linked and comprehensively considered via your organisational strategy. Strategic themes will help your organisation reflect what must be done internally to achieve the strategic outcomes you are targeting; and provide a way of segmenting your strategy into several flavours or initiatives (transformation for example). The balanced scorecard can be useful when developing strategic themes, as a tool to crystallise what is important to your organisation (i.e. what outcomes you want to achieve) and the associated values, ideas, beliefs or actions that might be required to help achieve it. Your scorecard (particularly when developed at a Corporate level) can be shared throughout different departments and business units, and may stimulate individual business areas to define their own contribution to overall strategy execution (in achieving the balanced scorecard).

Get employees involved

It can be all too common to view the balanced scorecard as a corporate, top-down initiative that is all about demonstrating company performance to the internal business, or indeed outwardly to shareholders. Kaplan and Norton emphasise the importance of all employees understanding the strategy and going about their business in a way that contributes to its mission and objectives (and measures). To make this happen you need to communicate and educate your employees and make them feel a part of its implementation (and overall success). Personal and team objectives (that link to the balanced scorecard) also help to reinforce the individual benefits, alongside incentives and rewards based on shared performance.

Keep it fluid

A balanced scorecard, and the strategy it relates to isn't set in stone. As your internal or external operating conditions change your business strategy and measures may also change with it. Companies who get the most benefit from balanced scorecards implement a structured continual process for strategy management, supported by objective assessment of the measures and outcomes they are looking to achieve. Remember that if the strategy is inappropriate or invalidated a balanced scorecard approach should allow for organisational learning as it will be an indicator of where the strategy is underperforming. The  performance measurement system will provide appropriate information to help management challenge and amend existing assumptions, so resist the temptation to through the balanced scorecard out with the old strategy!

Don't stop the process

We've seen a number of organisations who kick off a company-wide exercise involving leadership and management staff, workshops, roadshows and events to develop a new target operating model, transformation programme or cost saving initiative, only to halt the process (and the engagement) when it has been designed or initially implemented. We recommend that once developed and fully delivered into your business, you use the balanced scorecard to continue to improve performance and review performance levels and metrics over time. Stick with the process and get your performance management system working like a well oiled machine that is embraced by your employees.

Keep testing your strategy in real terms

There is very little benefit in setting yourself targets that are too easy to achieve (or aren't benchmarked against how your competitors are delivering). Likewise if your strategy isn't working there is no real value in delivering against the balanced scorecard that supports it. Use a range of analytical methods and scenario modelling to keep testing your thinking and use external thinking to avoid getting entrenched in your approach.

Be sure to get senior staff involved

As Kaplan and Norton have been keen to emphasise, a balanced scorecard can represent a fundamental change in your underlying assumptions about performance measurement. Senior managers (who have the most complete picture of your organisation's vision and priorities) must be involved in this to help put strategy and vision, not control, at the center. A scorecard should establish goals and assume that people will adopt whatever behaviors and take whatever actions are necessary to arrive at those goals, effectively pulling your staff toward the overall vision. As a result your senior staff and managers will need to be involved and stay involved to make it happen.

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