PODCAST #2 What is a Service?

By Simon King

Hey - it's getting near Christmas and I really wanted to get this podcast out, so here we go ...

A couple of weeks ago, Anthony Orr and I started these podcasts to explore the role of ITIL in Service Management.

At the end of our first blog, we decided we should talk next about Services.

In this second session we recap how we got to the discussion of what Services really are, and explore the implications of IT managing technology and processes instead of business outcomes.

This time our conversation is just under 20 minutes - please take a listen and let us know what you think Podcast #2 What is a Service?

Please let us hear your questions and feedback in the comments

What are your major Disruptors?

By Simon King

In the article "Disruptive Innovation Comes to Healthcare" Thomas Lee, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Business School, suddenly realizes that the emperor has no clothes.

"We instantly understood that our heads had been in the sand."

In seeing how other industries have been completely transformed by lower cost options for what look like simpler needs take hold and expand to command significant market share.

This has happened many times before. A good example is what happened to the US steel industry in the 70's when the innovation of minimills started to take hold.

"It was like World War I trench warfare, where a 1% shift in market share was a big deal. "

Initially the minimills targeted the lower quality segment of the market with a much lower cost product. Then they gradually improved the quality and volume of their product to serve the high quality and higher margin segments of the market. In time they totally changed what had been an industry controlled by large vertically integrated steel manufacturing.

"1% shifts in market ... trivial .. compared to possible 20% movement ... to lower cost disruptive innovations." 

With Salesforce and Amazon driving tremendous innovation, Cloud and SaaS are looking like the next major disruptors for the software industry. What are your plans to avoid unpleasant surprises and to be ready to take advantage of the opportunities they offer? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Podcast #1 Introduction to The Service Experience

By Simon King

Working at BMC I have the great delight to work with dozens of really smart people.

Today I finally managed to convince our own Anthony Orr (member of the CTO office, contributor to ITIL V3, a BMC book on Service Modeling and a recent book on Service Lifecycle) to sit down and have a conversation with me about Service Experience.

He and have have the fortune to meet a great many of BMCs customers, and we wanted to share with you some of the common observations we hear from them and some of the recommendations we provide in response.

In this first session we explore a number of different avenues as we consider why customers should really consider Service Management and what the key benefits are.

It's about a 30 min podcast - hopefully you have time to listen in
Podcast #1 Introduction to The Service Experience

Please let us hear your questions and feedback in the comments

A Burning Bush for Change

Interesting article by Forrester analysts, Ted Schadler and TJ Keitt, outlining 4 company's uses of Social technologies to transform interaction inside and outside the business.

http://bit.ly/TjCua4

Over the next few posts they plan to document in more detail what they found

A key observation was that the traditional model of technology deployment that relies on organizational change for adoption is likely to run into trouble for Social apps.

The four companies who succeeded had one thing in common - A Burning Platform for change.

Sound familiar to successful ITIL implementations, anyone?

Zappos - Driving employee engagement

Live. Love. Enjoy?

Todays knowledge worker is a prized employee. But keeping these smart employees engaged is a constant challenge.

To drive the Service Experience so often missing in Retail, Zappos fosters a culture that encourages employees to live and work according to their personal values.

Zappos hires based on 10 Core Values as well as fit for the culture. CEO Tony Hsieh is so serious about this approach that you can find this in their hiring FAQs:

Is it true that Zappos offers new-hires $2000 to quit?
Yes, we do offer new hires $2000 to quit. We really want everyone at Zappos to be here because they want to be and because they believe in the culture. If they know they don't quite mesh with our culture, we don't want them to feel stuck here, so we give them an option. Less than 2% of all prospective employees end up accepting the offer.

Yep - It's all about them!

Taking a page right out of Daniel Pink's inspiring book on motivation, Drive, Zappos provides employee autonomy with the 10 Core Values that aim to foster naturally engaged employees:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Purpose

The Zappos mission is clear and simple. 

• One day, 30% of all retail transactions in the US will be online.
• People will buy from the company with the best service and the best selection.
• Zappos.com will be that online store.

Does employee engagement matter?

You can read more about Zappos in CEO Tony Hsieh's book - Delivering Happiness. But how does your company culture stack up against Zappos and what actions are you taking to drive engagement in your team? Share your thoughts in the comments.


 

Focus groups not always that focused

Definition: focus group

According to Wikipedia " focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging".

Not all focus groups are equal

Alan Cooper is widely recognised as the Father of Visual Basic. In his book "The inmates are running the asylum" he acknowledges that focus groups may be useful in some industries. However, he is emphatic that they should not be relied on for software user interface.

Take a chance

This leads the most innovative leaders to appear to us as the ultimate risk takers.

Steve Jobs openly admitted that the night before the launch of the iPad that he was petrified of market rejection. Yet, 100m iPads later, the risk taker looks like a genius.

Understand the real risk

So how can we learn to take more risks, but manage the downside? This is something that Google and others understand well in their 20% time model. Employees are encouraged - even required - to spend time innovating in areas that aren't on their ToDo list.

What are the key risks? Well it turns out that during market changes, the key risks are in fact the opposite of what we would expect. Examples that innovators often cite are

• Not going far enough
• Not going quickly enough
• Not trying enough options

All of which in fact translate into too much waste.

How can we Manage risk ...

Fail quickly - Attempt multiple options and evaluate for solution effectiveness

Fail cheap - Create Mockups and evaluate for efficiency at scale

And reward?

Plan the Total experience - Define the total experience from identification to selection, buying, deploying and upgrading.
Ritz-Carlton look for WOW moments to exceed customer expectations. When I went for a run and returned with an empty Gatorade - the next day I found a fresh one in my room.

Define the unstated need - Look under the cover to see what users are really trying to do and why they can't succeed with today's solution.
BMW understood the time and cost associated with owning a car - so they include maintenance for free.

Test. Test. Test. - One size doesn't fit all. Consider discrete market segments and distribution channels. Collect feedback and act on it.
You may only launch into a new market once. Unhappy customer may tell ten others. Define your target audience and stay focused on them to ensure success - and word of mouth references.

Separate innovation organizations - The main organization may consider the innovation a threat. They may take implicit or even explicit action to inhibit a new innovation. Create small focused teams.
IBM separated the PC development team from others at Boca Raton to ensure success.

Are you only listening to existing customers?

What mechanisms do you use to expand feedback beyond existing customer groups. Please share your ideas in the comments.

Communicating Innovation Simply

K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple Stupid has long been a mantra for those that understand the power of Focus.

But I'm not sure how many of us realized that it should be applied to all our presentations.

Check your slides At-a-Glance

Nancy Duarte runs a presentation and design firm, in Mountain View. The firm has a long list of credits, but have a major claim to fame in their support of of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth".

In this recommended post <Do your slides pass the Glance Test> Duarte makes a great case for the Glance Test to verify whether you're on track.

Recommended checks include:

1. Slide elements
2. Flow on the page
3. Contrast
4. White space
5. Visual hierarchy
6. Unity

Marketing innovation

There is as much to be gained in the simplicity and clarity of a message as there is in the product or service itself.

After all, how are you going to explain to the masses what the capabilities and benefits of your offer are?

Having just watched the live blog of Apple's recent iPad mini launch, I couldn't help but see the similarities in approach on communication as those recommended by Duarte.

So whether you're preparing an update to an Executive or to your Business Service customer ... Yes - I am saying that in marketing as well as service, Subtraction is the new Black.

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The power of Disruptive Innovation

Watching the live blog of Apple update today from Gizmodo

Some very impressive stats - highlighting the power of disruptive innovation

Over 200m devices updated to iOS6 already

700k iOS apps

35B app downloads

Over 125m documents in iCloud

Paid out over $6.5B to developers


Sold over 100m iPads now

iPads 91% of tablet web traffic

#1 US notebook

#1 US desktop

And a new iPad mini for Christmas

Subtraction is the new Black

Complexity is everywhere

Applications and processes have become ever more complicated as vendors and organizations attempt to do more of value. As customers ask for more, the natural tendency has been to deliver more of what the customer asks for.

The problem comes when resource constraints are applied. 2000 and 2008 haven't been kind to IT investment - so now we're routinely operating in a cost constrained environment.

The Alignment Trap

Suddenly overkill in complexity and functionality doesn't help. It's more expensive to support complex products. More expensive to run complex processes. And even customers have limited resources when it comes to selection. 

As Bain noted, Schwab found themselves with multiple technologies integrated in a patchwork that increased the cost and reduced the customer experience. A lose - lose value proposition.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication

The real problem comes when we end up with too much complexity and cost incurring capabilities, and not enough of the core and value adding capabilities.

In his quote, what DaVinci was highlighting was that to succeed in the new world of excess and complexity success is defined more by subtraction than continued addition.

Subtraction is the much harder discipline of removing anything exceeding requirements, consuming unnecessary resource, confusing interaction models. Especially hard when you have existing customers demanding more complexity.

Three keys to success

1. Define the new target user
2. Drive lower cost and raise efficiency
3. Avoid re-adding complexity

Are you caught in the Alignment Trap?

What are your inhibitors and value drivers for driving Simplification. Please respond in the comments.

Lots of data - no insight by MIT Sloan

(Sorry for the wrong attribution in the original post!)
Another good insight on the opportunity for big data.

Clear issues to ensure insights gained are effective -
Simple data capture
Easy to comprehend recommendations
Available for frontline workers

http://sloanreview.mit.edu/improvisations/2012/09/21/data-analytics-and-the-information-transfer-gap

Little things

#iOS Do Not Disturb single biggest improvement in iOS6 upgrade?

Big data - lots to love about what could be

Big data - big insight? You bet.

Hopefully you've all heard about the opportunities of Large data sets to analyze.

Thought I'd share a couple of cool ones to stir the innovation pots (ed No Halloween jokes)

Super Crunchers eat Terabytes for breakfast

Super crunchers have the answers. I highly recommend anyone interested in this to read of Ian Ayres in Super Cruncher to get more insight.

Evaluate a Baseball player without ever seeing him play?
Sabermetrics

Need to know if an airline ticket will go up or down in price before you fly?
Bing/travel (formerly farecast.com)

A simple formula that outperforms wine experts in selecting vintages?
NYTimes 

Collaborative filtering 

Easy for you, I can hear you say. But we're actually all familiar with this mathematical approach. This is the  concept that shows us Movies liked by others like us (Netflix) or artists similar to the ones we listen to (iTunes) and can provide more accurate predictions of heart health than a doctor with 3 questions.

The results are incredibly accurate.

Uber gets around - learning as they go 

For the real opportunity - check out what Uber is doing with their private taxi data. The map shows where the drivers were when they accepted a fare. Which puts their cabs closer to the customer. Unfair advantage?

http://bit.ly/RdN7PD

What do you think?

Something you could take advantage of to improve Service Experience or IT operations? Please let me know in the comments or subscribe to the blog.

Samsung & Google don't understand

Apple and Oranges

When Apple adds a new feature they first identify a real customer problem to solve.

Pepsi (TM) scores in the taste test

By comparison Samsung creates a really attractive device. Big display. NFC. MicroSD support.

Notice the very basic functional marketing.

http://www.samsung.com/us/article/the-next-big-thing-galaxy-note-ii

CocaCola (TM) the long term winner

A device that's used the most get's more air time. More peer reviews. Supports a higher sales price.

Thinner and Lighter.

Bigger screen. That still works with one hand.

Ultrafast wireless. While preserving battery life.

Notice the outcome oriented copy that my Mum can understand.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/

So how do they do it???

#1 Define the job you do for customers

Who are your target customers?

What jobs do these target customers do?

#2 Understand your ecosystem

Who helps do this job today?

Who builds the product?

Who distributes?

Who build enhancing products?

Who supports the product?

#3 Complete the job

What can you complete alone?

What needs partners?

As a customer

Watch out for products that taste great in the sip test, but don't solve long term problems.

• Identify the problems you need to solve.
• Define how you will measure success.
• Thoroughly test that potential solutions solve the problems.

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SaaSonomics - the new world of IT economics

The Old World

Software publishing used to be a small team in a garage creating a new killer tool or widget and then scaling out the distribution model to monetize it.

Sales models evolved from direct to channel sales, and Borland successfully introduced an innovative Mail Order model.

But with the steady wheel of progress, software vendors have come and gone as mega vendors such as Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP have expanded their boundaries.

The New World

In the late 90's we had a brief foray with ASPs (App Service Provider). But these were essentially an idea before their time.

After the dot com bust and intense cost cutting, ASPs have made a come back with improvements that we now call SaaS (Software as a Service).

SaaS no longer means take existing software and running it in a shared data center.SaaS providers have established a new model delivering "good enough services" that are fast and reliable ... and cheap.


I don't know if any of us were prepared for the changes that SaaS vendors are exposing vendors. But SaaS is also creating challenges for IT procurement. It's not uncommon to see the business do an end around their own IT group, and and subscribe to SaaS services directly.

What does it all mean?

For Software publishers 

Change from a being a means to an end (getting high cost software to IT customers) - to an end unto itself (providing value directly to subscription paying business customers). Quickly.

Imperative - develop simple value proposition for end users with a specific business problem and provide easy access to basic features with frequent updates.

For Business users

Change from dependency on corporate IT (to guide project implementation) to self sufficiency in identifying business opportunities (and evaluating SaaS solutions).

Imperative - identify business analysts who can recognize business problems and evaluate solutions.

Who dares wins (for IT)

Success comes to those who dare ... and Act!

Change from Old IT (manager of apps and infrastructure) to New IT (broker of services that support the business).

Imperative - initiate IT transformation project for new services. Mandate a SaaS first policy for new services when possible and only fall back to public / private cloud delivery when business needs dictate.

What's your strategy?

Are you implementing a transformative approach? What were the drivers?

If you found this post interesting please subscribe to the blog.

Make sure you're solving the RIGHT problem via HBR

A key part of innovation in Service Delivery is to drive value that the customer cares about

This HBR article clearly highlights the steps to ensure you're solving a relevant problem






Recommended read : Solving the Right Problem


For Service Management a key trap to avoid is solving the most recently raised problem, the issue of the loudest team member, or the idea of the highest ranking executive.

To make sure that you're addressing something with high impact, make sure you have an organizational structure that supports the objective.

You need a Service Owner on the IT responsible for continually meeting the customer needs

But you also need a Customer Representative accountable for prioritizing the capabilities / performance and cost tradeoffs of the service being delivered.

Another innovation from Apple

Each thing that Apple does they try to include a major innovation.

First the Why?

Rumor is that Google was holding back on turn by turn instructions, even though it had been on Android for years.Google presumably not wanting to give back an advantage to their rival.

Then the What?

Innovation #1
Vector graphics with full tilt and pan

Innovation #2
"Siri - how do I get to San Francisco?
And where can I eat Sushi on the way?"
With Yelp integration

Innovation #3
Apple’s Maps uses up to 80% less data than Google Maps on iOS http://news.yahoo.com/apple-maps-uses-80-less-data-google-maps-225010946.html [via @YahooNews] 


Tell us what you think. What else could they have done?

Execution as Strategy via HBR

I've been writing about Service Experience here at TheServiceExperience.blogspot.com, and the need to innovate to continue to deliver Service Excellence.

Thought I would share this excellent article from Harvard Business Review about Execution as a core competence.

Recommended read: Execution as Strategy

Test your innovation mettle. With a Marshmallow?

This post is based on a recent brown bag session on Driving Service Innovation

You know you need to change - but how?

IT organizations are aware that they need to change in order to keep up. But major transitions in IT, driven by SaaS and Cloud, are showing that old responses to linear change are not enough - as the dinosaurs found out! IT needs to find non-traditional responses to keep up or risk being irrelevant.

Which reminds me of a story. Two managers are in the jungle when a Tiger roars, sending them running.

After a sprint one of them stops and gets out running spikes. The other manager laughs, "You can't outrun the Tiger."

She replies "I don't need to - I just need to out run you!

What's needed is a new Try faster, Fail cheaper mindset.

Test your ability to innovate with a game

This game is a fun way to allow teams to learn about collaboration, creativity and innovation.

The task : teams must build the tallest freestanding tower.

Equipment :

• 20 sticks of spaghetti
• 1m string
• 1m tape
• 1 marshmallow

The trick : the marshmallow must be on top.

The results

We had 5 teams of 4 players competing. It was interesting to see which groups did well and which stumbled.

One team was complete after 10 mins and sat waiting.

Team #2 was able to construct a tower of about 30" - albeit very unstable.

The three other teams failed to beat Team #2, and there were some wobbly Eiffel Towers!

The lessons

Our teams spent time "designing" then attempted a single build - how do they compare with peer groups?

Practiced innovation improves results
Teams that typically do the worst? Recent business school grads!
Teams that do the best? Recent kindergarten grads !!
Why? Kindergarten kids make 4-5 attempts for MBA grads single Hail Mary.

Specialized skills + Facilitation skills = Success

Kinders do well on their own - beating out CEOs.
But CEOs improve when teamed with exec admins!

Incentives + Low skills != Success
Running the game with no incentives produces a distribution curve of tower height.
Describing a significant incentive ($10,000) before the game = NO towers standing!Re-running with the same teams 90 days later (informed activity). Significantly beat the norm.

Planning on playing yourselves?

To get more on the details of the game, read more <here>.

Please feel free to share your experience with others in the comments.