Steve Downton, Downton Service Management Consultants Ltd, Noventum Group
Today's Service Managers and Directors have a growing list of requirements and responsibilities to face. They have to be strategically aware, supporting their boardroom colleagues in driving the business, while focusing on raising the performance of their own operation. They need to help the business differentiate itself from competitors by introducing new productivity tools, as well as better utilise their working capital, people, and inventory.
As business managers, when introducing these new tools and investing in technology, they have to be very aware of the Return on Investment (ROI), and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE).
These returns are eroded as the customer demands grow, and it is proving necessary ( if the returns are to be maintained and margins sustained) to move away from service solutions providing semi-informal "Best Endeavours" promises, towards contractually enforced Service Level Agreements (SLAs), where the business must make sure it is adequately paid for the service it delivers, while very mindful of what the customer really values.
This has meant re-evaluating the various tools available, from the perspective of what is the business's real need, as opposed to buying a solution sold by a salesman keen to earn commission and move on.
These statements are very easy to say, but much harder to deliver in practice, so how do successful service directors achieve these targets? One tool that is gaining more attention, and in the past was often overlooked in this regard, but is particularly enhanced by developing technology, is that of forecasting parts and people requirements to respond to service needs.
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