Winston Churchill understood that people can be influenced in two ways: either their minds have been opened or their heart broken. Opening minds requires talk, exchange of views and reflection. Service Boot Camp is one of the enablers leaders can choose to help them achieve their goals faster!

 ‘Profitable long term growth comes from having the right people in the right place at the right time.’ Technology although important, usually plays a secondary role. In todays fast moving world this might be an “off-message” statement, but the truth is that it is still people who deliver profits.  As […]

While working at SIX Group, a leading E-Payments provider, Matt Elton used Si2 ON-Demand extensively to help achieve his objectives. In this video he shares his experiences. For more information see the Si2 ON-Demand presentation

Dear Colleague, We at Si2 Partners wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year 2017! The year 2016 saw the coming of age of the “sharing”, “collaborative” or “access” economy and it is already having a major impact on how we work. Essentially it is about achieving desired outcomes […]

A successful solutions business is hard to implement. Whether or not it is the right competitive approach depends on a company’s strength in the market, how well it knows its customers (domain knowledge) and to what extent it is willing to invest in the necessary capabilities (possibly meaning a permanent […]

Within the general servitization buzz the talk is a lot about transitions to outcome or performance based services, where a supplier contracts with a customer for outcomes -not activities- and gets paid accordingly. OEMs often bundle products and services into solutions (product-service systems) to produce the outcome, Rolls Royce’s “power-by-the-hour” […]

The Circular Economy is defined as an economy “where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible, and the generation of waste minimised”. In contrast to a “Linear Economy” which is essentially a ‘take, make, dispose’ model of production, a Circular Economy […]

Is ‘Servitization’ a paradigm shift in manufacturing or simply a manufacturing Business Model to deliver services specifically supporting the customer’s use of the manufactured product?

Based on the reasoning described in Part 1 of this article, we can conclude that for collaboration to make business and economic sense, in particular for smaller and medium sized companies such as most of those operating independently in technical / industrial (after sales) service markets, it must help make […]

Part 1 Collaboration and new ecosystems made possible by technology are in vogue today, but they usually involve either some form of tighter integration along a value chain (supplier to customer), better project oriented cooperation within companies or the coalescing of industry participants around a central platform provider to access […]

We believe Service Executives across the world should see Brexit as an opportunity for increasing their influence on companies growth plans. Most economic commentators believe that the medium term growth prospects for the UK and even the global economy have been severely dented, but these strengthening headwinds should also act […]

Do you struggle to stretch your service thinking in the face of the daily barrage of problems. Lets face it, most of us are driven by the everyday objectives of our boss, organisation and stakeholders. But high performers are not only able to deliver tactical results, they seem to be […]

Practical advice on how to develop Service KPI that drives people to action.  Si2’s Dag Gronevik  and Nick Frank   are interviewed by Kris Oldland of Field Service News on their experiences in setting effective KPI’s.  You can listen to a brief sample of the discussion or download the full podcast through this link to Field Service News […]

The Historical context 50 years ago most companies that made stuff had a product focus sometimes known by academics as Goods Dominant logic, in which tangible products were sold. Now more and more business are moving to delivering outcomes under a Service Dominant logic approach. The change is profound! This […]

The mistake many leaders in industry make, is to believe that defining a clear vision and strategy with ruthless follow up is the only recipe for success. This may indeed initiate change, but rarely do the results last. Often 3-4 years later, the business will be addressing the very same […]

Companies frequently review their approach and discuss how to become more explicit and attentive to their customers’ needs. Almost always this leads to a discussion about services. Service organisations represent the customer and the customer operations better than most other parts of the company due to their closeness and local […]

As a Field Service manager, imagine having one Key Performance Indicator in your business that could predict how your customers will experience your equipment. One simple measure that your teams could use as a focus for their primary mission; to ensure customers remain satisfied, loyal and profitable. The limitations of […]

Managers in all businesses are driven to measure key elements of their performance, because we all know that old maxim: ‘If you can not measure it, you can’t manage it’. In blogs and white papers you will find a raft of must have KPI’s that will give you the control […]

Most discussions regarding geographic or international expansion for industrial companies has traditionally been centered on products. Usually a company starts by positioning a sales force in a territory, either directly or through channel partners, such as dealers, distributors or agents, and, as orders come in, exports from its engineering and […]

Great Asset Management is not just about physics models and analytics. It is a way of thinking involving all parts of the organisation and businesses. Here is a brief summary of some of the key lessons I have learned in my career with leading companies in Asset Management such as Rolls-Royce […]

Workout creates sustainable conditions for fast implementation of solutions, clear accountability, alignment of initiatives with strategic objectives and pinpoints the areas of unnecessary bureaucracy and resource wastage. It enables companies to make full use of the intellectual firepower of all, particularly frontline, employees while forcing leaders… to lead.

Project management is important as change initiatives can be translated into projects and related objectives. As a standardized, and therefore repeatable, process it facilitates learning and development of expertise. It provides an efficient approach for problem solving, informs of sequential steps towards successful completion and reduces uncertainty.

Our approach to BSC recognizes both its strengths and its practical shortcomings. We know that BSC, properly implemented, can provide a robust platform to improve the way a company is managed or transitioned to a new strategic direction; But that the way it is developed and deployed determine its staying power and ultimate value.

The concept of competing through “solutions” has been around for at least 30 years. Numerous „tier 1“ manufacturers / OEMs (power, plant and process machinery, aircraft and engines, earth moving equipment) created solutions businesses to better target vertical markets, particular customer segments and/or large strategic accounts. For example industrial automation […]

The key to monetising the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data is not to focus on the technology itself, but the impact on customers’ business processes and business model. However, many companies do not find it easy to imagine how their business model might change. Many are lost in […]

By the very nature of their history, engineering and industrial businesses tend to focus on technology and processes when developing product related services. However for these services to be enduring and profitable, they must also develop and even change their people as they evolve to a services centric culture. Generally […]

1. Why Story telling and pictures are Critical to Success Developing Advanced Services within a Product Centric environment takes many years of organisational and technical development. Having a clear overview of the key elements required to successfully deliver service transformation over an extended time period is vitally important to a […]

Despite the fact that the majority of product companies offer services as part of their offering, and for many it makes up more than 30% of their revenues, many experience declining profits,weakening market positions and increasing susceptibility to risks. A shift from product to customer-focused services denotes a shift in […]

A successful solutions business is hard to implement. Whether or not it is the right competitive approach depends on a company’s strength in the market, how well it knows its customers and to what extent it is willing to invest in the necessary capabilities and see through the required operational […]

Delivering advanced service propositions can be daunting as they stretch beyond core capabilities 1. Ecosystem Thinking to deliver complex new service offerings In todays connected world, we think less about products and more about solutions and outcomes. Relationship, network and ecosystems are increasingly replacing traditional transaction and supplier thinking. Companies […]

Many companies struggle to extract full value from the products, services and the opportunities offered by new connected technologies such as the IoT.   For example I am always amazed at how many managers when asked to describe their value to customers, respond with bland phrases such as we are […]

Outcome based services and performance contracting are increasingly gaining traction, though the practice in some industries goes back a really long time. The concept can have significant benefits for customers, even an entire industry or the economy by aligning incentives and creating “win / wins”, however things are less clear […]

As businesses begin to embrace the opportunities offered by the IoT, digitilisation and analytics, many are unsure what they are going to do with all that information.   Within product related service businesses, most of the thinking is centred on driving out cost through remote diagnostics and services. But this […]

Nick Frank was  interviewed by FieldOne, a Microsoft company selling service solutions on his views on Service and Organisational change and in particular how he finds pathways to growth, in what can be a confusing world. In this FieldBytes interview, he talks about how through Service Thinking, companies can identify the profit pools in […]

‘I am still making order out of the chaos of reinvention’ said novelist John Le Carre as he penned another cold war spy thriller. Many would say the same is true of manufacturing today. Gone are the days when a manufacturer simply made the product, delivered it to the customer, […]

Is it really true that servitization business models only really work for companies with complex engineering products such as jet engines, trains and wind turbines? My own experience is that it’s not the complexity of the product that’s key. It’s the complexity of the customer’s value chain and the hidden […]

In this webinar, Nick Frank explains how the secret to monetizing the iot is not the technology, but lies in gaining a deep insight into the customers business model and processes. Understand these and it is possible to find the hidden profit pools and release value. This presentation is an excerpt […]

The Internet of Things (IoT) is all marketing hype and of little value or relevance to SME’s It may be a question of perspective, but the fact of the matter is that unless you do something with the data generated by these technologies, then there is no added value. It’s […]

In May 2015’s edition of the The Manufacturer,  Nick Frank is interviewed on why he believes Service Thinking is the pathway to business growth. “I am an industrial person”, Nick Frank tells The Manufacturer and before starting his management consultant career, Frank worked for more than 25 years as a senior manager in industry. […]

“Service Thinking is just for big companies!” WRONG, I suggest you think again! In my experience of the manufacturing industry, those companies that achieve an EBITDA of 20-35% do so because they have found a way to have a significant influence on their customer’s business’s profitability. Partly it is achieved […]

Jim Spohrer from IBM, introduces Nick Frank as he presents the Service Business Model to the ISSIP Education Special Interest Group this month.(http://www.issip.org) Nick was invited to speak to the group on the Service Business Model he has developed to identify key priorities within a service transformation programme. Change is […]

Si2 Partners Nick Frank interviews Dave Gordon on service transformation journey he has been on with Rolls Royce Defence’s business. Although Rolls Royce is a leading global manufacturing business, many people do not realise that over 50% of its revenues are now generated through Services. Initially Services became a strategic […]

Service Management Online speak with Nick Frank, Service Specialist,  about the importance of the customer journey, the impact digitilisation has had on the field service industry, and how often although company perspectives may well differ, often the challenges service managers face across a range of verticals remain the same.