WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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Hello again,

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this is video number five

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about the simple principles of
good service management,

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and today we discuss

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how strategic thinking
helps service providers

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stay relevant in the
longer term.

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Thinking strategically
means that,

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once in a while,
we make some time

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to reflect on our
current situation

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and how the world is changing
around us.

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Based on this assessment,

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we can define a strategy
or road-map,

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for example for developing

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new capabilities
and service offerings.

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So in this video
I want to tell you more about

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what strategic thinking
means

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in the context of
service management,

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and what kind of advice

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you will find
in the YaSM framework.

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Of course,

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in an earlier video

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we already talked about
continual improvement,

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which is mainly concerned
with enhancements

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to existing services
on a smaller scale.

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Such small improvements
can make big differences,

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as they say,

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yet once a while bolder steps
and moves into new territory

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may be necessary
if you want to stay successful.

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Plainly, such moves
shouldn't be based

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on quick decisions

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but require
careful consideration,

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and strategic thinking is
usually done in three phases:

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• First comes an analysis
of our current situation

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• Then we identify
possible opportunities

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and explore their potential
benefits and risks

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• And finally we need to decide

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what we will do and define
an action plan.

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For the initial assessment

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we need quite a bit
of information,

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in particular about

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• Our own capabilities,
weaknesses and strengths

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• The needs and future plans
of our customers

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• Service offerings
by our competitors, and

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• Technological trends
and developments

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What's more,

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since we are service providers,

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the assessment of our current
situation revolves,

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to a large extent,
around our services,

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and to make this point
a bit clearer

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I'd like to show you
a real-world example:

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Maybe you remember that,
in one of my earlier videos,

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I presented a medical laboratory
offering a blood test service

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- in two varieties:

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• A slower
standard service,

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• and a fast
"express service".

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Now, during a
strategic assessment,

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we can ask questions
around this service, like

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• Would it make sense to upgrade
or enhance the service,

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for example by testing
for additional parameters

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or by delivering the results
even faster?

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• Could the service be offered
in new markets,

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such as new customer groups
or other geographic regions?

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• Or how about extending
the range of services

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to include the examination
of biopsied tissues

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or the analysis of
urine samples?

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Of course we should
also evaluate

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if our existing services are
still economically viable,

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and if one of them is not

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we may well decide

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to remove it from
our range of services.

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These considerations are all

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focused on the
customer services,

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i.e. the services visible
to our customers.

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But a lot of things

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need to happen
inside the organization

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before the customers
can use these services,

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so it's important

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that we also assess
our internal supporting services.

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A key supporting service
is the one

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for examining samples,

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and during the assessment
we could check,

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for instance,

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if new technology is available

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that can produce
more accurate results

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or takes less time
for analyzing a sample.

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Then there are a few more
supporting services,

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such as the ones

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for collecting the samples
and for billing.

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Finally, all services

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need information technology
to work,

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which is provided
by an IT service.

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For all of these services

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we should think about
potential savings,

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for example by using
external service providers.

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Typical candidates are
commoditized services

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such as billing,

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where outsourcing may
lead to cost savings.

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With these examples
I wanted to explain

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what strategic thinking
means

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in the context
of service management.

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Sadly, the strategy part of the
service lifecycle

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is not a priority
for many organizations

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- probably because some
service management guidelines

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make the topic look
rather complex and academic.

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Here, for instance,

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I have the official ITIL® book
on service strategy.

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On some 500 pages

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you will find descriptions
of concepts and principles...

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It's all useful
and good information,

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but it's also a bit daunting,

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and that's why the 
service strategy book

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often catches
dust on the shelf.

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And that's why
in YaSM

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we describe a
straightforward strategic process

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that's not too hard
to understand

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and implement in practice.

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If you watched
my earlier videos

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you will know already

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that YaSM has a
clear process structure

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• with five
service lifecycle processes

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• and several
supporting processes.

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We find the strategic process

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right at the top
of the service lifecycle.

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As I mentioned before,

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we need, first of all,

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a bit of information for our
strategic assessment.

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Some key inputs are

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• The service portfolio

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with the complete details
about our services

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• Customer meeting minutes

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that tell us what the customers
think of our services

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• Service review reports
where we may find information

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about issues with our services

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• Financial reports

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with details about the costs
of providing our services

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and their profitability

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• And also ideas and suggestions

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that may come from almost
anywhere in the organization.

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Based on this information,

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we perform a
strategic assessment

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and document its results
in a strategic assessment report.

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Once we have identified
and prioritized our opportunities,

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we can create an action plan

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- which may, for instance, trigger

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the design of a new service.

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These processes and documents

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are described in detail
in our YaSM® Process Map.

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In the overview
of the YaSM processes,

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the strategic process
is right here at the top,

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and we can click on a link
to open the next diagram

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with more details
about the process.

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First, let's zoom in
on the left

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where we have the
list of inputs.

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And here we can see
the information

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we need for the
strategic assessment,

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as mentioned before:

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• The service review reports
from the service improvement process

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• The service portfolio
from portfolio management

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• The customer meeting minutes from
customer relationship management

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• The financial report
from the financial process

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... and a few more.

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In the middle of the diagram
we learn

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that in YaSM,

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the strategic process
is quite straightforward:

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• We perform
strategic assessments,

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• provide guidance
for the use of technology,

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• and then define,

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• start up

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• and monitor
a number of strategic initiatives.

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For each sub-process,

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YaSM contains a
more detailed flow chart.

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Let's click on the link
and check out, for example,

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what needs to be done
during a strategic assessment:

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The service strategy manager,

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the service portfolio manager

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and the steering group

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are involved in this process,
as appropriate,

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and the activities
to be performed include

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• Assessing the existing customer ...

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• ... and supporting services,

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as well as

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• Assessing our capabilities,
weaknesses and strengths.

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During the process,

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we create two documents:

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• A strategic assessment report
and,

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at the end of the process,

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• we compile a
set of strategic objectives.

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In the upper part of this diagram
we can see

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that these two documents
are passed along

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as inputs
to the subsequent processes,

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and YaSM also tells you
precisely

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what information should be
in these documents:

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If we click on the link
for the assessment report,

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for instance,

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this will open a text file
in Word™ format.

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In YaSM, we call these files
"checklists"

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and they describe the typical
contents

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of the various documents
we use in YaSM.

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In this example

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the checklist starts with a
brief definition

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of the
strategic assessment report,

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and then it says that

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in a typical report
there should be sections about

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• The findings from assessing
our customer services

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• The results from evaluating
our supporting services,

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• As well as insights

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from evaluating our capabilities,
weaknesses and strengths.

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As you may guess already,

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you can - of course -

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use this document
as a template,

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so getting started with your first
strategic assessment reports

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shouldn't be too much
of a challenge.

00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:36.860
Now, let's close
the checklist

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and switch back
to Visio® again,

00:08:39.540 --> 00:08:40.760
because I'd like to show you

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that in the top area,

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where we have
the process outputs,

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we can also see
what's supposed to happen next.

00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:49.640
The strategic objectives,
for instance,

00:08:49.760 --> 00:08:54.140
are an input for the definition
of strategic initiatives or projects,

00:08:54.700 --> 00:08:57.120
and we can easily
open the linked diagram

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to find out what's going on
in that process:

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• First we identify
potential strategic initiatives,

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• then we check them
against a set of criteria

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• and define their objectives.

00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:11.720
It's also good practice

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• to create a business case
for each initiative,

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• ... and so on.

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I hope you will agree

00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:21.240
that strategic thinking
is something

00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:23.720
every service provider
should do once in a while,

00:09:24.160 --> 00:09:25.620
and that it
doesn't have to be

00:09:25.620 --> 00:09:27.920
a time-consuming and
academic and exercise,

00:09:28.160 --> 00:09:29.780
because in YaSM
we describe

00:09:29.790 --> 00:09:31.990
a straightforward
strategic process

00:09:32.220 --> 00:09:33.040
and we give you

00:09:33.040 --> 00:09:35.060
the templates you need
to get started.

00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:37.340
And if you have special needs,

00:09:37.340 --> 00:09:38.500
nothing speaks against

00:09:38.510 --> 00:09:40.310
exploring the many
great books

00:09:40.310 --> 00:09:42.690
that have been written
about business strategy

00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:44.500
and combining these ideas

00:09:44.510 --> 00:09:46.800
with the advice
we provide in YaSM.

00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:48.860
Thanks for watching!

00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:49.860
And as always,

00:09:49.860 --> 00:09:51.000
if you have any questions

00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:53.700
we are happy to answer them
in the YaSM community.

00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:55.640
[ yasm.com ]

00:09:55.640 --> 00:09:56.980
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00:09:56.980 --> 00:09:59.260
[ A complete introduction to the 
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00:09:59.260 --> 00:10:01.820
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00:10:01.820 --> 00:10:04.300
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