PS Insights by Kimble Applications

Improvisationstheater, Legofiguren und Virtual Reality scheinen eher in die Welt der Unterhaltung zu gehören als ins Umfeld professioneller Dienstleistungen. Aber Design Thinking Experte Marc Stickdorn ist ein leidenschaftlicher Verfechter von solchen Techniken, um Serviceangebote zu entwickeln, bevor sie auf den Markt kommen. In einem Prozess, den er gerne mit der Marktforschung, Prototypentwicklung und Crashtests bei Autos vergleicht, glaubt er, dass Serviceangebote die gleichen Prüfungskriterien durchlaufen sollten, bevor sie verkauft werden. Gewinnen Sie Einblicke darüber wie erfolgreiche Dienstleistungen entwickelt werden, weniger erfolgreiche schnell und kostengünstig identifiziert werden, und so das Endergebnis auch durch mehr Kundenzufriedenheit profitiert.

Improv theater, Lego figurines and virtual reality may be more familiar in the world of entertainment than in professional services. But leading thinker Marc Stickdorn is a passionate advocate of using techniques like these to design and prototype service offerings before taking them to market. In a process he likens to market-researching, prototyping and crash-testing a car, he believes service offerings should pass through the same kind of rigorous examination before being sold. Gaining insight into how to improve successful services, and allowing others to fail fast and at low cost benefits both the bottom line and customer satisfaction.

In episode 18 of Kimble-sponsored PS Insights Podcast Series, Salesforce’ Senior VP of AppExchange Marketing, Leslie Tom describes how the AppExchange is developing. It is becoming a marketplace not only for apps but for bots, components and other workplace technology. Analysts and VCs as well as customers go there to discover trends and new ideas.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Marc Lacroix considers some of the key development within professional services in recent years and looks at where the sector is going, identifying likely areas for innovation. For instance, after adapting from time and materials to fixed price, many businesses are now moving to offering outcome-based pricing models. In this, the second of his PS Insights podcasts, Marc - managing partner at RTM Consulting - looks at how PS businesses can drive value from AI and big data. Marc looks forward to new developments in commoditization of services, and considers the meaning of ‘agile’ and how it is interpreted in the services sector today.

How should professional services organizations manage risk? In the second of his PS Insights podcasts, services industry guru Shane Anastasi discusses how to identify projects that are heading off track and the kinds of actions that can be taken to keep them in the black. Shane, who has helped many global software companies change how they measure and respond to project risk, shares some of the strategies he has used successfully in the past. Shane Anastasi is CEO and Founder of PS Principles, the professional services training and certification company.

The business guru John Harvey-Jones said: “No-one goes to work wanting to do a bad job we just put so much red tape in their way that they give up trying.” Kimble co-founder and CMO Mark Robinson draws on extensive experience of building successful professional services organizations to discuss this question. Useful business processes help to drive consistent outcomes – but a process that is there for the sake of it becomes red tape. If you can’t easily explain what the process is helping to achieve, it isn’t worthwhile, Mark suggests. Hear his thoughts on this important subject by downloading the podcast.

Is the customer always right? Not in the view of Shane Anastasi. In the latest Kimble-sponsored PS insights podcast, the consulting services thought leader and entrepreneur argues that service professionals are often too eager to keep customers happy.

How has technology changed the ways resources are allocated in top-performing services businesses? What are the processes that support this change? How can resource management techniques drive increased operational efficiency and revenue? Randy Mysliviec discusses resource management disruption in this illuminating podcast, published in advance of the Resource Management Global Symposium in Dallas, Texas on October 3-4.

Kimble co-founder and CMO Mark Robinson has plenty of experience of marketing professional services, having successfully built and sold two consulting businesses. In the latest PS Insights podcast sponsored by Kimble, Mark discusses his approach to building a services brand. For Mark, a key strategy is to focus energy on a specific area – “what you are famous for” – and to establish trust and expertise in this area. Productizing the services you have on offer is an important part of building your brand, as is ‘tuning to the market’ – understanding the problems your clients face and how they change over time.

Recognized as one of the most influential women in the technology industry in the UK, Jacqueline de Rojas is the guest on the latest in Kimble’s series of Professional Services Insights podcasts. Diversity is not always comfortable, argues de Rojas, citing some guests’ reactions to the sermon at the recent Royal Wedding. But it is a basis for building stronger teams – a message borne out by the diverse French side which won the World Cup!

How are US-based businesses likely to be impacted by the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which come into force in the European Union on May 25? What are the implications for professional services businesses which process data for clients? How will data chains be affected and who will manage them?

Founder of aQetas, Dr. Paul Howard is an expert on growing a professional services business. In this fascinating podcast, he looks at how measurement can be used to drive success. But, he also argues, at the end of the day “business aren’t about numbers – they are about people.” The most important thing is having (read more...)

Veteran consulting leader Chris DeBrusk reveals the metrics consulting businesses can use to get a true forward-looking view of the business, and how to pinpoint the projects where the risks and opportunities lie.

Reducing the human effort needed to deliver better results will create new opportunities to innovate, argues consulting entrepreneur Michael Taylor. He sees augmented intelligence as enabling the “creativity, imagination and innovation” of the human consultant and helping them to operate at their best every hour of the day.

Investor Steve Anderson, who has successfully built and sold two IT services companies, and advises many others, lays out the steps he takes to assess and improve the performance of professional services businesses. He goes into specifics about his process and explains why companies often underperform.

Award-winning entrepreneur and business writer Dom Moorhouse kicks off the PS Insights series by discussing his belief that the single most important factor in creating a world-beating enterprise is having a great team.

Next up is management consulting guru David Bailey, who founded and grew the consulting firm Impact Plus which was acquired by Hitachi. Later, he went on to acquire other businesses for a range of companies including KPMG. Bailey discusses what makes a business attractive to an acquisitive bigger firm.

Operations Director Graham Underwood set up GFT in the UK, growing the turnover from 0 to £50 million in ten years. In the three years to 2015, he took the firm from 1,300 to 4,000 staff. For Underwood, making sure the processes are right is a first step.

For managing partner Marc Lacroix of resource management consultants RTM, one of the biggest challenges facing the companies he works with is the rapidity of technological change. Being able to deal with that and to see opportunities within it depends on optimum management of the human resources of the business.

In this episode, Gillian Sheeran, CFO of investment banking consultancy Rule Financial, talks through some of the challenges and successes the company faced from 2010 until their acquisition by GFT Technologies in June 2014. In the course of the discussion, Sheeran highlights the importance of Kimble in creating ambitious and accurate budgets and forecasts.