Service firm 2.0

Much of my work is focused on advising service players on how to capitalise on the digital economy. Here are some guidelines for those looking to pull their business model out of the industrial era:

• You may have gathered from my written and speaking outputs that I believe that the digital economy is not just ‘the industrial era on tech steroids’. It is much more fundamental. I believe that organisations that align their services with anthropological drivers such as mobility, sociality, decision-making and productivity for example, will gain the best market traction.
• This anthropological perspective applies to all stakeholders including your people, suppliers, clients and consumers.
• Address your talent supply chain as a priority. Real talent can be defined as those capable of doing work that computers cannot do, are on a path to mastery, and are strong team players.
• Ensure you provide an environment for the talent to do great work, otherwise they will move to where that is a reality.
• Build an infrastructure that supports flexibility, scalability and the analytics capability to ensure the organisation can respond to threats and opportunities faster than its competitors.
• Thin out your management layers. Digital organisations comprise leadership and experts.
• Structure your business around what the market wants rather than what you have to sell.
• Risk management is no longer about risk minimisation, but about smart risk acquisition. This will require a slightly modified definition of governance and compliance.
• Service players cannot rely on good ideas. Implementation is required.
• Given that service is the new sales, you have a choice of either retraining your sales force or retraining your service personnel. The latter option will significantly reduce your headcount and improve your deal capture.
• There is a tendency to think your expertise solely resides within your organisation. Create a model that enables you to utilise crowdsourcing to significantly increase your market insights. Clients are an important subset. As are prospects, plus those who will consume (the impact of) your services.

The world is grappling with the definition of digital. Don’t get caught up in this. Presume the world, through technology, is getting more human. If you act accordingly, you will increase your market relevance.