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The current service environment is in a high state of flux with major changes in the offering. In these circumstances predicting the future is a very imprecise science and gathering ideas from those within the industry that are pioneering the thinking and leading the way provides the best insights for progressive businesses to build their strategies upon.
There are many examples of companies heralded as excellent, which have subsequently fallen from grace. Experience would indicate that success might become the biggest barrier to change, as the business has no apparent reason or need to change. However as the market and environment changes around these businesses, previously successful methods may become inappropriate. Benchmarking and comparative analysis helps companies to put their own performance in perspective against competitors, but also against other sectors, and will help to prevent complacency. Through our templates and best practice understanding, we are able to rapidly undertake this type of exercise and help businesses adapt more effectively.
Downton Consulting in partnership with AFSM International have just fininshed ‘Benchmarking and Future Trends V – Mapping the Future of S Business: Benchmarking Today’s Footprints’.
What the future holds is something we would all like to know, however building up a probable vision of the future can be achieved by gaining a consensus opinion from those directly involved in what the future could hold and to some extent influencing the future by their decisions. Our latest research on the Future trends in the service industry was developed in this way and represents the summarised opinions of the senior officers of today’s leading edge companies and gives us an insight into the types of actions to be taken to survive and grow.
Driving businesses from the top down requires that key performance metrics are in place, and key indicators of those performances are measured. Unless a business performs in line with its strategy it will quickly lose direction and momentum. Knowing how to achieve this goal and gaining the benefits is a key part of our support to businesses.
Effective business measurements can no longer rely on a few simple financial statements. The modern extended enterprise needs measurements to be more broadly based across the business, to provide a balanced view of the whole business, and this means considering customer satisfaction as an important measure, as well as employee retention and shareholder value. Establishing an effective Balanced Scorecard is not easy and we have helped a number of clients to produce the most appropriate for their respective needs.
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