Companies that operate in service industries face a unique challenge that sets them apart from product-driven businesses. Service providers must find ways to harness the intellectual capital of their organizations to craft competitively differentiated, yet repeatable, solutions to meet the needs of their customers. A service provider's "product" is essentially a "customer experience." A delightful customer experience can only be delivered courtesy of capable, well-trained, satisfied service provider employees.

To thrive in a complex environment such as this, service organizations must address a number of key questions, including:

• What are the most effective ways to attract and retain your most valuable assets – your people?
• How can you leverage your intellectual capital to structure a profitable services business model to create and maintain competitive advantage?
• How do you drive sustainable revenue growth by crafting "ideas" into tangible solutions to customer problems?
• What features and benefits of a service offering generate customer loyalty?
• What is the role of innovation in creating new services to meet emergent customer needs?
• How can you drive reinvention of your service offering while maintaining a profitable core?

Alliance has experience driving success for services companies in a variety of industries, including information technology, manufacturing, accounting and finance, life sciences, travel and leisure, and consumer services.

Our Capabilities

Our work with clients typically revolves around the following themes:

• "Productize" the service. Consolidate your offering to build a solution that meets the needs of your targeted customers. Often you can create growth from a more focused position.
• Sell value. Anyone can substitute better, faster, or cheaper labor in a services business. Instead create a services solution that delivers value to your clients, and you will be rewarded with a price premium. Your employees will be happier and more productive, too.
• Deliver measurable results. Focus on key metrics and outcomes that are measurable in quantitative terms. Gain agreement in advance as to what you aim to deliver.
• Engender customer loyalty. Loyal customers are profitable customers. Provide "customer delight" in every service experience. Over the long-run, it is cheaper to retain customers than continually acquire new ones. How many of your customers would recommend your services to a colleague?
• Create a process to drive innovation. Harness the ideas of your people to reinvent your services offering, based on both evolution and revolution in customer needs.

Case Study

• A provider of IT outsourcing services consolidates its service offering and "focuses" its way to growth and profitability
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• Accelerating restaurant chain growth through franchising
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