Rob England describes the basics of Service Management “whether you are in manufacturing, trades, retail, IT, public sector, or not-for-profit… in realistic pragmatic terms” It is a quick read because the author has limited the book at 50 pages. It talks to the fact that we are all in the “Service Business” where customers demand a “nice easy experience with added value – to be served.”
In the spirit of sharing Rob has provided some interesting links – http://www.basicsm.com/resources-basic-service-management
Rob has defined checklists for getting service management right. Checklists are an essential tool to minimise errors and maximise efficiency when the heat is on and you need to act. Anyone may refer to them for free or print a copy. If you register, then the checkboxes become active – check them off as you go – and it will save your progress on the checklist for when you come back later (but you can only have one copy of any checklist, for now).
Please respect his copyright on these checklists. You may distribute them freely within your own organisation, but note that the smart thing to do is to distribute only the link and access them on demand as you need them, as we want to see these checklists improve over time through input from you the users.
Rob says – “If you don’t see what you need here, be nice and define one of your own (you will need to register first), or send the list to him and he will create a checklist for you”. These checklists are inspired by the book The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande.
Lastly check out Tipu: a framework for service management Continual Service Improvement (CSI) – link
5 top tips for using his book. Tip # 4
“you need to decide at what point and in what way it is more cost effective to bring in experienced and knowledgeable people instead of inventing learning it all for yourselves “
Sound advice for example if you work in an internal service provider and your CIO is looking to cut costs and transfer the service to a third party what should you do?
You need to think and act like an external service provider and deal with the low hanging fruit.
You should also consider engaging with an outsourcing advisory firm to formulate a defender strategy. A comprehensive guide related to outsourcing has been announced by Alsbridge Inc. Apart from understanding common terms used in outsourcing, the guide also explains the concepts used in the outsourcing industry. Anyone involved in outsourcing can learn and gain insight with this guide. Link
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