Aberdeen research shows that leading service organizations are adopting centralized management and business processes to better manage people, parts, and data within their service organizations to deliver a cost-effective service experience to customers across multiple geographic regions. A survey of 180 global service executives conducted in December 2007 and January 2008 found that Best-in-Class firms are centralizing knowledge management and logistics functions, developing local service models that can be integrated into a global service function, and leveraging technology with global functionality to address an expanding international customer base.

Aberdeen identified Best-in-Class as firms performing in the top 20% of firms surveyed based on key financial, operational, and customer-facing metrics most frequently cited as indicators of balanced service performance. Best-in-Class firms reported:
1. 39% profitability as a percent of service revenue
2. 88% overall workforce utilization
3. 50% two year Service Level Agreement (SLA) compliance improvement

Survey results show that the firms enjoying Best-in-Class performance shared several common characteristics:
1. They are three-times more likely than Laggard firms to evaluate and compare service operations on a region-by-region basis
2. They are almost twice as likely as Laggard firms to store customer information in a global centralized knowledge base
3. They are almost twice as likely as Laggard firms to have a global parts planning and procurement process in place

Best-in-Class service organizations operating on a global scale have adopted a centralized management approach for a majority of service functions. Only workforce management, scheduling and routing, and repair functions are managed on a regional basis by the majority of Best-in-Class firms.
In addition to implementing centralized management and reporting of key service functions, the Best-in-Class have embarked on a set of strategic activities designed to foster seamless operation across their service landscape. From creating a blended workforce of permanent and contract labor to efficiently managing customer demand, establishing a common knowledge warehouse to facilitate centralized data capture and distribution, and centralizing logistics functions to build economies of scale, the Best-in-Class are taking action across the major elements of the service supply chain: workforce, parts, and information. Best-in-Class firms are also more advanced in the adoption of technology to aid service operations with solutions in place for asset and workforce management, parts pricing and inventory management and overall service management among a majority of firms.
The complete Impact of Globalization on the Service Supply Chain benchmark report provides additional information on the actions, capabilities and technology enabling solutions that separate Best-in-Class from less mature organizations and offers specific recommendations for firms at all market maturity levels.
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Astea and Caterpillar Logistics Services. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com