In this fifth workbook in the PROTEUS series the organisational challenges related to the transformation from being a manufacturing based company into an integrated product/ service-oriented company are described and addressed. The main section of the book presents a seven stages structured approach on how to define and implement a PSS organisational strategy.
As for every transformation process, allowing what is emerging to take place is as important as well to visualise the desired situation. But what does a PSS organisation actually look like? That's why the workbook starts by presenting
a number of characteristics, particular to the PSS organisation, that the empirical research at PROTEUS project has uncovered. These are:
Network Thinking
User Centered
Shared Understanding
Horizontal integration
Actionable Data
The workbook follows by outlining organisational challenges related to both organisation and employee level. These challenges fall into categories such as time and resources, company culture, customer touch-points, internal processes and capabilities, internal communications, etc.
Then main section is presented, a seven stage framework for navigating the transformation towards service-oriented business. The basic idea of the stage approach is to make sure that the PSS transition is being handled as a planned and structured process.
Seven Stage Framework
The Explore stage is almost a constant phase for any company. It is the stage where the company explores different business opportunities, tests new technologies and identifies user and customer needs. Related to PSS organisation the Explore stage is where the company starts investigating the possibilities of PSS, upon which basis new initiatives are started, regarding the assessment of its organisation’s PSS potential.
The
Engage stage is where commitment from management is established and the decision to invest in a PSS strategy is made, in terms of both a new PSS business strategy and also a commitment to carry out necessary organisational changes. It is at this stage that the company decides on the level of servitisation they want to reach and how they are going to move the organisation to that level.
The Initiate stage is where the company starts to act, based on the strategy decided on in the second stage. Employees are notified about the coming changes and are included in the process. The organisational changes are being structured and responsible employees are organised for the execution of the organisational transition. An important part of this phase is to set up performance goals and KPIs for measuring the effect of the organisational transition.
The Analyse stage is an important but often overlooked stage. In this stage the existing processes are documented and studied, in order to identify possible root causes for problems and non-value adding activities. By conducting a diagnosis of the existing processes across the organisation, potential barriers and problems can be avoided in the further transformation process.
At the Redesign stage new internal processes are developed, in order to match the strategic objectives. This task includes development and evaluation of alternative solutions and the selection of the ones that best meet the desired PSS strategy. Related areas such as IT-infrastructure and human resource strategy are typically also subject to change within the redesign stage.
Organisation performance in relation to stages
In the Launch stage the organisational PSS transformation is carried out in the company. This stage relies heavily on change management techniques, which must be applied to ensure a successful transition of employees’ roles, and a likely necessary reorganisation of the employees. Roles and responsibilities are assigned, together with the definition and allocation of new human resource roles. It is also at this stage of the transition process that new technology is typically implemented and training of the employees is executed.
The Maintain stage is an on-going stage, which is initiated at the end of the transformation process. The stage ensures an on-going assessment of the performance of the new organisation in relation to the desired PSS strategy, which includes reporting systems and metrics, necessary to keep the organisation on track. At the same time the organisation is kept agile and ready for further adjustments, if necessary.