A Servispart Consulting engagement is designed to help your aftermarket organisation to solve a problem or realise an opportunity of strategic importance.
When you come to us to start a conversation about how we might help, this is how we’ll proceed to engage with you. We call it our SERVIS methodology and it ensures we deliver consistency, robustness and continuous improvement.
All of our engagements involve stages 1 and 2 and usually 3. Stages 4, 5 and 6 are entirely at your discretion and depend on the nature of your challenge and whether you have the capability and desire to perform these activities without us.
Scope
This initial stage gets called many things but it’s always free of charge from us. It’s where our conversation starts and may comprise one or more phone calls, sales meetings or a “free consultation” of some kind. We try to keep this stage as short as possible (to keep costs down for us both) but it can only conclude when we both have a clear understanding of your needs and we’ve agreed to work together. Typically, it covers:
Your situation, problem or opportunity
Probable root causes of your situation
Why you need a solution
Why you need our help
Potential solution options
What a solution might cost
How long the solution might take
The skills and resources needed to ensure success
When you want to get started
Who has the budget and authority to engage us
A written offer from us and signed by you
Examine
The first thing we do when we start any new consulting assignment is to examine your situation thoroughly and perform a diagnosis of what needs to be done. This will either confirm your own understanding that we discussed at the scoping stage or, quite possibly, uncover additional root causes or things we must consider. As before, we try to keep this stage as brief as possible but it can only conclude when we have a qualified understanding of the situation, problem, implications and needs. Typically, it requires some or all of the following:
Interviews with key people
Process walkthroughs
System demonstrations
Service partner appraisals
Collection of data and management information
Commercial contract appraisals
External site visits e.g. operations or warehouses
Meetings with customers or suppliers
Facilitated workshops
Proven evaluation methodologies
Use of our own proprietary analysis tools
Resolve
After defining the problem or opportunity, we explore the various solution options. This involves defining your business requirements first, which leads to definition of the selection criteria for your ideal solution. Information is then gathered on potential solution options and the criteria applied to test viability and resolve the preferred solution for your business. Typically, this requires some or all of the following:
Facilitated workshops with key people
Involvement of partners, customers or suppliers
Proprietary methods and tools
Production of a statement of requirements
Contact with new system providers
Contact with new service providers
Request for Proposals exercise
Request for Quotation exercise
Solution option documentation
Selection of preferred solution
Value
When you’ve chosen your preferred solution, the investment often needs justifying and signing off before it can be developed and implemented. This is done using a value proposition of some kind, usually in the form of a business case, to articulate the value to the business, timings, resources, etc. Typically, this stage includes:
Strategic objectives
Vision statement
Options and solutions considered
Justification of the chosen solution
Specification of the solution in business terms
Expected business benefits and their timing
Resource requirements and management plan
High-level programme plan
Risk assessment
Funding requirements and management plan
Investment appraisal
Recommendation
Formal request for approval
Implement
This is the stage that usually takes the longest and involves the most resources. It is also the stage where clients try to cut corners and get themselves into problems. Implementation is not easy – it requires skilled resources, proven methods, strong governance and leadership ability. If you’ve not developed or implemented a solution of this kind before then please think very carefully before you go it alone. We’ve lost count of the number of times our consultants have had to clean up other people’s mess! We don’t mind doing that – it’s good business for us – but it can cost you more time and money than it would have done if we’d helped sooner. This stage might include:
Detailed solution design
Process development
System development
System selection and implementation
People recruitment, training and development
Selecting and appointing new service partners
Infrastructural development e.g. warehouses
Equipment purchase and installation
Overall business solution integration
Management of capability projects
Overall programme management
Business benefit realisation and tracking
Stakeholder engagement and management
Programme risk and issue management
Programme quality and assurance
Formal programme closure
Statement of value created
Sustain
The solution has been embedded in your business and should be delivering the expected benefits. The key thing now is to make sure the new way of working sustains itself. We therefore stay in contact with you and provide ongoing sustainment support on a periodic basis to ensure the solution continues to add value to your business. This is particularly important if some of your business benefits take time to be realised, as is often the case. This stage might therefore include:
Structured or flexible sustainment programme
Steering meeting attendance
Quality and assurance assessments
Health checks or reviews
Business benefit evaluation
Solution tweaks or adjustments
Improvement suggestions and ideas
