Service Council inService™ Podcast Series

According to Service Council research, service leaders have their sights set on service innovation to redefine value delivery through primarily predictive and proactive approaches that aim to meet customer demands, combat the consequences of talent and workforce shortages and increase operational efficiency. However, as service leaders plot their course to shift left, they’re hitting a common obstacle: translating the ever-growing data availability into correspondingly incremental value. How can service organizations progress from data overload to applicable insights that drive their shift left strategy?

Tune in to the inService™ Podcast Live as Sidney Lara, Service Principal at Aquant, stops by the studio. An expert at shifting left, Sidney will talk about how Aquant customers are tackling data challenges to optimize efficiency-increasing insights that empower both field service technicians and end users.

Sidney Lara is a Service Executive with over 20 years of service experience ranging from new product development, product support, and field service operations. Sidney is a visionary leader skilled in driving change and leveraging innovative technologies to drive operational improvements.

AI may be the buzziest buzzword in field service right now. However, we are still seeing organizations struggling to leverage it in impactful and actionable ways. According to the 2024 Voice of the Field Service Engineer’s survey, the frontline is eager and ready to embrace AI, and the 2024 Service Leader’s Agenda survey shows that AI is the #1 technology investment priority for executives. So where is the breakdown in successful implementation occurring?

Join the inService™ Podcast as hosts John Carroll and Gerardo Pelayo welcome guest, Scott Chrismer, Senior Vice President – Field Service & EAM Center of Excellence. Scott will talk about how he’s seeing IFS clients such as Rolls-Royce achieve top-down buy-in, impact bottom lines and drive customer and employee experience.

Scott Chrismer is the Senior Vice President of Field Service & Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) for IFS. With more than 25 years of Enterprise Software, SaaS/Managed Cloud, IT Infrastructure & Consulting, Scott has held leadership roles at Salesforce, ClickSoftware and Oracle. Scott has worked with some of the largest names in the technology industry and has delivered value for many of the largest companies in the world, solving complex business challenges, driving significant cost savings while improving the customer and employee experience.

According to the 2024 Service Supply Chain: Service Parts Management survey, poor visibility continues to be the most frequently reported challenge by supply chain leaders, including a year over year increase from 43% to 49%. The industry is currently in a golden age of technological innovation thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), analytics tools and business intelligence (BI), so why does transformational visibility continue to elude organizations, despite increased investments? For many, the answer lies in people.

Join the inService™ Podcast Live on Tuesday, July 2nd at 12:30PM ET as hosts John Carroll and Gerardo Pelayo tap into the supply chain expertise of our guest, Scott Allison, Chief Customer Officer at DHL Supply Chain Global Service Logistics. Scott will explain how true transformation starts with organizational readiness, not just the implementation of tools. He will share insights on how DHL customers successfully incorporate the human element into their digitalization efforts by using enhanced visibility tools and control dashboards to improve decision-making processes. Additionally, he will offer advice on how you can achieve similar results.

Scott Allison is Chief Customer Officer – Service Logistics at DHL Supply Chain. He is a member of the DHL Service Logistics and DHL Customer Development Boards and is responsible for all commercial activities within DHL Service Logistics. Scott is a supply chain professional with more than 35 years of experience and has been with the DHL Group since 1992, working in several DHL divisions. His current role involves helping many of the world’s top enterprise companies ensure they offer their customers maximum uptime, mainly in technology, medical or industrial applications.

Technological transformation within field service has exploded in recent years. What was a paper-based industry only a decade ago now finds itself at the forefront of innovation. As organizations eagerly trial new solutions and tech stacks grow more complex, many service leaders are seeing episodic challenges emerge among their most important assets – their field service teams. According to the 2023 Voice of the Field Service Engineer survey, 38% describe the volume of communication received on their mobile device as excessive, and 48% report having to spend too much time on their mobile device when out in the field. While technicians are open and willing to embrace technology, they are also running up against “app fatigue”. Streamlining your technology – and effectively involving the frontline in the process – to enable a single pane of glass on the jobsite has never been more critical.

Join the inService™ Podcast Live on Thursday, July 18th at 12PM ET as hosts John Carroll and Gerardo Pelayo, Ph.D. tap into the expertise of our guest, C. Aaron Salow, Founder and CEO of XOi . Aaron will talk about how service leaders can create a singular experience on the jobsite that enables technicians to find support and capture necessary information without requiring extra touchpoints and navigation between solutions. He’ll also discuss how to build a use case and engage stakeholders to make the single pane of glass a reality.

Aaron Salow, Founder and CEO of XOi, launched his Nashville-based business to help field service companies overcome a formidable challenge: a glaring shortage of skilled trade workers. This passion led him to create a system of intelligence for technicians and service teams to ensure work quality and effective asset management. Powered by AI-driven insights, XOi enables contractors, OEMs, and distributors to make informed decisions based on data captured and enriched from each job.

Join us on the inService™ Podcast as host Gerardo Pelayo, Ph.D. sits down with Tas Hirani, Aquant’s Director of Revenue Operations and Enablement. In this episode, Tas will share real-world personalized AI use cases and reveal how to ensure these technologies lead to long-term success in service operations.

An AI expert, Tas has guided companies like Comfort Systems USA, Hologic, Ricoh, and Beckman Coulter in successfully implementing personalized AI at scale.

What’s perfect for today's needs might not suit tomorrow’s demands. Don't miss this insightful discussion that will prepare you for navigating the evolving landscape of AI in service.

In a business context which is so broadly and rapidly transforming, including the expectations of customers and service providers alike, the available data, or the emerging technologies, effectively managing change is unquestionably critical. Yet, the fact that over 80% of initiatives keep falling short of expectations denotes a systematic flaw in how change is being managed.
Join the inService™ Podcast Live on Thursday, May 23rd at 12PM ET as hosts John Carroll and Gerardo Pelayo welcome Alan Schaefer, CEO and Founder of Banding People Together. An expert at change management and cross-functional team building, Alan will share what he’s learned from helping some of the biggest brands successfully influence their teams and accelerate results. He’ll discuss common barriers service leaders face when it comes to the “people” element of change management and offer prescriptive ways to get the whole team in the groove.
Alan Schaefer is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Banding People Together, a supergroup of scientists, strategists, former C-Suite executives, and rock stars who help teams and organizations get in the groove by tuning up soft skills that get in the way of results. His music-centric, data-driven approach is designed to help C-suite leaders understand how their individual characteristics influence their interactions with others, while also identifying quick "mix moves" to enhance collaboration, find your organization’s groove, and amplify outcomes.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to rise in priority among service organizations. The 2024 Service Leader’s Agenda survey revealed that it would be the most invested-in technology this year, with 62% of service leaders indicating investment plans. This is also a massive 32% leap from last year, surpassing investment in Business Intelligence (BI) and Field Service Management (FSM) technology. However, while organizations seem initially eager to invest, service leaders still have a complex journey ahead of them to translate the promise of AI’s benefits into a “beyond the pilot” reality.

Join the inService™ Podcast as host John Carroll welcomes guest Sarah Rose, Vice President of Global Services for Daktronics. Having recently overseen Daktronics AI initiative, Sarah will reflect on her journey to date, with an emphasis on what has gone well, what adjustments were needed, and the lessons learned having the benefit of hindsight. She’ll discuss Daktronics’ evaluation process, working with their data structure, and the challenges of implementing AI for the first time in enterprise organizations.

As an experienced Global Services leader, Sarah has spent the better part of her career supporting customers whose systems are mission-critical to their operations. As Vice President of Global Services for Daktronics, Sarah’s team is accountable for the installation and support of over 5.6B installed products across the globe. She was the driving force behind the standardization and improvement of global service foundational approaches that (1) facilitated the development and execution of global service processes, (2) increased the service team's performance, execution, and productivity with development teams, tools/technology, and data and (3) led the era of customer self-service. Sarah holds an MBA from Western Governors University.

The talent shortage continues to beleaguer service leaders. According to the 2024 Service Leader’s Agenda survey, 64% say this is having the biggest impact on their business. Organizations are being forced to think outside the box when it comes to recruitment and retention strategies, while qualified workers are fielding multiple job offers. How do service leaders set themselves apart from competitors and build a talent strategy that will withstand the ever-widening talent gap?

Join the inService™ Podcast Live on Thursday, April 18 at 12PM ET as host John Carroll welcomes guest Tom Parker, CEO of RL People. Tom will share what he’s learned in his years as a recruiter in the aftermarket space, including what makes companies appealing to potential recruits, how he is seeing organizations stand out in a tight labor market. He’ll also talk about the strategies he recommends for future-proofing your talent strategy and building up the team of tomorrow.

Prior to setting up RL People in late 2016, Tom spent the previous 20 years working across global reverse logistics and service supply chains. Tom led sales teams in EMEA, APAC and the Americas, delivering turnkey solutions encompassing recovery, returns, repairs, refurbishment, recycling, spare parts management, logistics and fulfilment, to clients ranging from global OEMs to regional providers. With a genuine passion for the fast-growing, dynamic landscape of service supply chains, Tom launched RL People to provide talent & recruitment services to these markets globally.

Industry trends, research and insights play a critical role in a service leader’s ability to make impactful business decisions. However, as service continues to evolve at a rapid pace, translating those insights into practical innovation is becoming more of a challenge. How can service leaders bridge the divide between research and action to forge a more transformative path forward for their organization?

Join the inService™ Podcast Live on Thursday, April 4th at 12PM ET as host John Carroll welcomes a very special guest: Gerardo Pelayo, Ph.D., Service Council™’s new Vice President of Research and Advisory. The pair will talk about Gerardo’s background in academia, the value his addition brings to our community and some common themes he’s seeing in initial partner and member discussions. They will also discuss the preliminary findings of our recent research effort around service supply chain and parts management.

Gerardo Pelayo, Ph.D. is the VP of Research & Advisory for Service Council. With a hybrid background that integrates cross-industry hands-on experience with his depth as an analytical modeler (Ph.D. in Logistics & Supply Chain from the MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program) built on a process-driven foundation as an Industrial Engineer, Gerardo brings to the table a prescriptive communion between dynamic innovation and operational pragmatism.