Top PS Session Picks for TSW Santa Clara

Before every TSW conference I get asked to provide insights on what are likely to be the best sessions to attend.  And every year I struggle and hem and haw and scratch my head and have trouble doing this.  It’s like being asked which of your children is your favorite … to which every parent since the beginning of time has of course responded:  “I love them all equally.”  You may not realize this, but we get a lot more requests to present at TSW than we can accommodate.  That’s an embarassment of riches, which means that every single one of the sessions is hand picked through a formal process in which I closely participate.  In short, I expect ALL of the sessions to be excellent!!!  But make a list of “top picks” I must and so here goes.

Get Your PS Organization Recognized as a “Star”

For the last couple of years, TSIA has been offering “Star Awards” for PS businesses, leveraging a brand and a program that has been a mainstay of the customer support services realm for many years.  But the coolest thing is that the recognition comes mainly from your peers, who judge the applications and help decide who wins the awards.  The overall program, how it works, the benefits and much more information can be found by clicking here.

As for the PS-specific awards, we’ll be sponsoring two competitions for the Spring TSW conference:

1. Professional Services Excellence in Enabling Customer Success (Details here)
2. Innovation in Professional Services (Details here)

The Customer Success category willl recognize the PS organization that has the most extensive, most impressive and most effective customer success/satisfaction program specifically optimized for technology professional services.  A very different award is the one for Innovation in PS.  This could be any kind of innovative approach to managing or delivering professional services:  a cool technology, a new and different incentive program, a new and effective approach to field development of PS offerings … you name it. 

So get your applications in and get recognized!!!!

 

 

Got (Tech Services) Blogs?

Among the wonderful side effects of this year’s TSW Las Vegas conference is that it provided a catalyst for the emergence of THREE (count ‘em) THREE new technology services blogs by our three newest research area leads at TSIA.  I know, you’re a PS person and that’s why you read my blog and Thomas Lah’s Service Visions blog, and also why you check out John Ragsdale’s Eye on Services blog now and again. 

But the fact is that many of you also have your hands (and feet and heads) in other services disciplines.  And — unless you’ve been in a cave for the last few years — you’re probably also very interested in how to generate new revenues for any services business that you’re involved in.  Well, have we got some new blogs for you! 

TSW Las Vegas 2011: Why Are We Here?

Every time I write one of these blogs at the tail end of one of our conferences, I invariably claim that it was the best, most interesting, most exciting conference we’ve ever had.  And every time I make this claim, I make it sincerely.  Every time I make the statement, it’s true.

All of that said … this conference has been without any doubt the biggest, coolest, most energizing TSW that I’ve ever attended.  I’ve never seen this much energy, this much interest, this much engagement … this many people … at one of our conferences. 

That’s an amazing thing when you think about the context within which this is taking place.  Think about it … we’re weighed down by concerns about the future and fear about the economy.  We don’t have anywhere near the line of sight for our businesses that we’re accustomed to having.  We’re drinking from the cloud fire hose and don’t know how to shut it off.  And yet, here you are, in Las Vegas, with TSIA at Technology Services World.  Why is that?

If I had to say, I think it’s partly because of all of these doubts and fears that you are here.  You lack line of sight.  You’re worried about the economy.  You don’t know how “cloud” is going to impact your services businesses.  And … you believe you are going to learn something useful about these things either from us, from your peers or both.  And so you come.  How else to explain that more of you have come than ever before?

Well, that’s a question for you really.  And I would love to hear from you.  So here’s my call to action.  Please chime in and let me know why you came to TSW Las Vegas 2011 and what you got out of it.  Did you get out of it what you were hoping?  Did we and your peers help you gain a better line of sight?  Did we are you peers help you understand the impact of cloud on services better?  Did you come away with new things to think about, new ideas about initiatives? 

I look forward to hearing from you and to seeing you next May at TSW Santa Clara!!

Defend and Protect Tactic: The (Repeatable Solutions) Holy Grail

Here at TSW Las Vegas, there was quite a bit of buzz generated yesterday by the keynotes. I have to say, after JB Wood and Todd Hewlin got done laying out the basic principles of Consumption Economic in the opening keynote (already available for on demand viewing at www.tsia.com) there appeared to widespread looks of consternation in the audience.

So you can imagine the looks of relief that emerged when Thomas Lah followed up with lots of specific guidance on how services executives can “Defend and Protect” their current businesses even as they transform them to adapt to the new rules of tech.

One of the tactics he highlighted for PS businesses has become a virtual holy grail: the use of repeatable solutions or packages.  And on that topic Mark Kayserman from Alcatel-Lucent and I conducted a “workout session” yesterday at TSW.  These are interactive sessions that begin with content that the facilitators put on the table, but then focus largely on the issues the audience wants to explore, both with the facilitators and with each other. 

In this session, Mark talked about his experience building repeatable solutions or “PS Assets” at Alcatel-Lucent.  It was clear from the session that PS managers understand the value of PS Assets and that many of them are running this ”Defend and Protect” play already.  However, adoption is still low.  So based on this experience and data that we have from our various sources, I’d say that most PS businesses need to step up their move to repeatable, packaged solutions.  Luckily, we have lots of content on this topic and others related to services engineering available right now for TSIA members.  Go here for a compendium.

And see you today for the last day of this great conference!!!

TSW Las Vegas Day 1: Consumption Economics and PS Update

I really hope that you’re here with us in Las Vegas for TSW Fall 2o11.  I’ve never seen such attendance and such buzz around any conference that we’ve ever had before.  And if you were here, perhaps you attended my “Power Hour” session today in which I unveiled the results of TSIA’s first survey on the impact of Cloud on Professional Services.  What were some of the highlights from this session?

“Consumption Economics” Primer for Professional Services

TSIA’s leadership will soon release its latest book, Consumption Economics, which documents the rapidly changing world of technology services, as on premise technology moves to the cloud, and as up-front application and user license fees are replaced by micro-transactions. Consumption Economics is a must read for everyone in the technology services industry, serving as a rallying cry for services leadership to take action now to avoid being classified once again as a “cost center” as the market evolves.  The book and its pathbreaking ideas will be the driving theme of our upcoming Technology Services World conference later this month.

As the Vice President of Professional Services at TSIA, I advise member companies on a wide range of topics related to PS operations, financial performance, delivery and the entire spectrum of issues related to running and optimizing a technology professional services business.  The trends identified in Consumption Economics will undoubtedly have a major impact on PS businesses.  I have tried to lay out these impacts in a new white paper: “Consumption Economics and Technology Professional Services:  Defend and Protect as You Prepare to Adapt and Transform” which will be released at TSW.  Here’s a handful of tidbits to prime the pump and get you thinking.

Cloud and Tech Professional Services: Sorting out Fact from Fiction

“Cloud” is the hot topic in Tech today.  We’re all talking about it, seemingly all the time.  But the talk falls far short of helping us understand the actual impact of cloud computing on Professional Services businesses.  Well, TSIA is launching an exciting new survey that will help us bridge that gap.

Today, TSIA is announcing the availability of its 2011 Cloud Impact on PS Member Survey.  If you are a TSIA PS Member, you can complete this free survey, and get answers to the following questions:

• How is the cloud impacting PS businesses today?
• What has been the impact on offering development, offer pricing, and customer demand?
• What are the drivers of change?  Competitors?  The market?  Customers?
• What is the future impact likely to be?
• How is the PS business model changing?  How are companies most commonly calculating margins and allocating costs?  How have these processes changed?

Would you like to understand current industry experiences and practices on these topics?  Would having access to this kind of data help you figure out whether your PS organization is leading, lagging or something in between when it comes to adapting to the Cloud revolution that is happening in technology?  Well, as far as I know, there’s only one way to find out.

COMPLETE THE SURVEY!!

I will collect data throught September and distribute a report on the survey findings to the study participants in October.  Don’t miss out.

Top Market Rates and Pricing Issues Facing PS Businesses Today

During July of 2011, Tim Matanovich of Value and Pricing Partners and I interviewed business leaders at 10 TSIA member companies on their most pressing pricing challenges.  The purpose of the interviews was to provide specific guidance in refining the survey instruments for the 2011 Market Rates Study, a global study of market rates and pricing practices at technology professional services organizations.  In 2010 the study gathered rates and practices information on 25 firms in 34 countries.  The study is now in its fifth year and is still open at the time of writing for TSIA member participation.

Below is a summary of some of the key findings from these interviews.  Note that our purpose here is not to in any way evaluate these issues.  Rather our goal is to simply report on the issues as they were presented to us.

Building a Case for PS Solution Centers

The TSIA PS Project Performance Study is the gift that keeps on giving.  Using this data set, we have created detailed business case documents for PMOs and for including project management in engagements (click here for a list of TSIA PS research documents).  In both of these business cases, we have applied the “Best in Class” project criteria to test whether there is a positive correlation between the factor we’re trying to isolate, and project performance.  In both examples, we found a very strong correlation and thereby helped provide business case data to our members.  Does the same motion provide the same kind of information about Solution Centers?