The Tragedy of Placebo Service Parts Management

Welcome to the roaring 20s -- the 2020s! As I recently shared in my LiveWorx keynote, there is a tsunami of technology innovation rushing toward us. The next 10 years will have more technology innovation than the last 100. We are living during exhilarating times, even if under quarantine from a global pandemic. There is at least one consensus; technology will be a principle force of change in our lives and dramatically usher in exciting opportunities for service innovation.

Looking back on 35-plus years of innovations in our Servigistics technology, we take pride in never cutting corners and always working closely with clients to develop the most impactful solutions possible. We’ve invested over $1 billion rooting Servigistics in advanced data science, maturing the algorithms, and establishing a sturdy backbone that will leverage this coming wave of technology innovation and drive even more value for global business and service.

IDC predicts that by 2023, over half (52%) of global GDP will be accounted for by digitally transformed enterprises. Gil Press summarizes it well in his Forbes article: Not only will technology radically transform industries, organizations, and products, but also consumer expectations will continue to elevate. Service must transform with these technologies for organizations to remain competitive. Software is essential today and will become crucial tomorrow as the technology tsunami hits.

In the face of these predictions and realities, it’s still surprising that some organizations cut corners in their service business, and with service parts management, in particular. Ed Wodarski said it well:

“If you compromise in your parts planning solution, you compromise every process it supports.”

Servigistics clients have the benefit of 3rd party validated, proven results. The absolute best data science, math, and capabilities available to maximize value and return on investment. Sadly, we see some organizations cutting corners, and their service business suffers because of it. It’s a familiar story -- as surprising as it seems -- that some organizations do nothing to manage their service parts network. Some organizations still use spreadsheets. Others settle for stale ERP capabilities that lack the basic functionality needed to produce value. The greatest tragedy we see is vendors peddling service parts management software lacking basic capabilities but presenting it as innovative. It’s not, it’s placebo service parts management. Therein lies the tragedy, their customers think they are getting a solution to maximize value, but in reality, they are promised a feast and given scraps. When uncertainty spikes, these systems crumble under pressure.

For those service leaders staring straight into the raging tsunami of technology, and using an inferior service parts management solution, the iconic quote from the 1980s film JAWS comes to mind:

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

There is too much at stake! It’s one thing to use a generic pain reliever like ibuprofen as an acceptable alternative to Advil. However, you would never install a generic infant car seat or ask for generic medical supplies during surgery?

Servigistics has a distinguished legacy of innovation characterized by these achievements: multi-echelon optimization, big data, machine learning and advanced algorithms, as well as 3rd party validation.

1. Multi-Echelon Optimization:
   • Servigistics multi-echelon optimization stands alone capable of simultaneously optimizing all parts, all locations, for the entire planning horizon in one run – and process in a short time window. Ed Wodarski summarizes this succinctly in his recent blog.
2. Big Data, Machine Learning & Advanced Algorithms:
   • Decades of R&D closely aligned with leading academic research, our client thought leaders and experienced partners, has produced numerous industry-exclusive capabilities, including:
     • First commercial multi-echelon optimization solution (2001)
     • First product uptime defense MIM/RBS commercial solution (2005)
     • First connected service parts management (IoT) solution (2018)
     • First machine learning-based forecasting (2020)
   • Vipul Agrawal, author of Harvard Business Review article Winning in the Aftermarket and Servigistics VP of Product Management, details these milestones during his recent LiveWorx presentation..
3. 3rd Party Validation, and the Strength of our Partner Network:
   • Capgemini, Boeing, LMĨ, the United States Air Force and many other 3rd parties have conducted rigorous assessments of all available vendors and determined that only Servigistics exceeds the highest standards of compliance, security, and service parts optimization capabilities.

Tools matter. Prepare your organization now. Contact us. We’ll gladly introduce you to the power of Servigistics and quantify the added value far above any other solution. Tomorrow can’t wait, 2023 will be here sooner than we realize!