Network News Volume 46 Issue 2
Service Industry Executive Summit - SIA &
AFSMI join forces
By: Claudia J. Betzner
The
SIA annual Conference and the annual AFSMI Executive Forum will be
combined for a first time Executive Summit in the Service Industry
to be held March 2, and 3, 2003 at the Mirage. SIA will have Tuesday
March 4 for the Association agenda where we will have the state of
the association, the election for the new 2003 - 2005 Board of Director's,
the Legal Update, and the Group breakouts where we hold the roundtable
discussions by group.
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SIA's conference has historically been directed to and attracted C-level executives - CEO's, CFO's, CIO’s, Chairman with over 80% of those attending being this level. On an annual basis AFSMI holds a forum for the top level executives within the AFSMI organization so over the last several months we have been exploring the opportunities both organizations bring to the other’s group. As a result the SIA Board of Director’s and the CEO of AFSMI have been in discussions on how we can team on certain projects and events to benefit both groups. While we have had simultaneous conferences with a Medical Association (IAMERS), this is the first joint event with the SIA annual conference. |
On Sunday March 2 we will hold a joint Golf Tournament with John Rinas, Chairman of the event followed by the welcome reception on Sunday evening. The one-day Summit on March 3 will be directed to cLevel Executives with discussions and presentations on Business Strategies in this Challenging Market with another reception on Monday evening which will close the joint event. On Tuesday, March 4 SIA will hold it’s "Association" program. The preliminary agenda is included.
Other
SIA - AFSMI affiliation benefits for our members include passing
along member discounts for each other’s events. In other words as
a SIA member you now can get the AFSMI member discount to attend their
seminars, webinars, or their annual conference in October. AFSMI has
long been known as a primary educational venue in the service industry
and they have many educational opportunities which you can access
through their website at afsmi.org.
Finally, SIA and AFSMI will offer a joint membership for those companies not currently a member of both organizations. For SIA member companies - Managers and Supervisors can now join AFSMI for a reduced rate and will get access to their Newsletter’s, all publications, webinars, etc. We have not agreed on the rate but we are considering a range of $125 - 150 for each additional person from an SIA member company to access the information in AFSMI. The AFSMI current Corporate members will have access to a SIA membership for a reduced rate of $500.
New Sponsor & New Members
New
Sponsor
New Sponsor
NovaMed Corporation
David Reihl, President
Trumbull, CT 06611
Ph.: (203) 380-6682
Fax: (203) 380-8992
www.novamedcorp.com
NovaMed Corporation is a national independent provider of healthcare technology management services. Established in 1983 and headquartered in Trumbull, Connecticut, NovaMed provides comprehensive multi-vendor service management, on-site biomedical and imaging equipment service, environmental testing, temporary technical staffing, and in-house Biomedical Engineering department support throughout the United States. NovaMed also provides new and used equipment sales, as well as equipment installation, de-installation and relocation services. NovaMed's mission is to provide world-class service that is professional, flexible and cost-effective, while at all times demonstrating a commitment to quality and value. NovaMed's senior management team is comprised of: David Reihl, President; Robert Constantine, Chief Financial Officer; Stuart Pattison, Vice President of Operations; and Carl Welch, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. The management team possesses decades of experience working with the medical equipment industry's leading OEM's and independent service providers, as well as prominent healthcare facilities. NovaMed enjoys a reputation for providing the highest quality services earned over a twenty year history of partnering with healthcare facilities to satisfy their technology management needs.
New Members:
Regal Technology Partners, Inc. (Computer Group)
Chris Duncan, Pres.& CEO
Mission Viejo, CA
949 583 7400
Toho Technology USA (Copier Group)
John Coomes, President
Elgin, IL
847 464 5961
Pembroke's Inc. (Copier Gp)
Mike Pembroke, President
Salt Lake City, UT
801 521 0450
Clayton Technical Services, Inc. (Medical)
Paul Senson, President
Ontario, Canada
905 361 5000
Renova Technology (Computer)
Jonathan Pine, President
Atlanta, GA
770 448 4778
Integrity Medical (Medical Gp)
David Denholz, President
Ft. Meyers, FL
941 454 9555
PartsSource (Medical Gp)
A Ray Dalton, Pres. CEO
Cleveland, OH
440 735 5060
SIA Sponsorship Opportunities
Platinum
$20,000
This level sponsor can design his own benefit program but Benefits
could be unlimited conference attendance, Exhibit at conference, unlimited
ads in Newsletter, Prominent on first page of Website with hotlink
and ad, Permanent member of the Executive Advisory Board, Prominent
listing in all PR and conference program. Insert in Conference Program.
Permanent banner on first page of Web site One day advance notice
of "Service Request" from web.
Gold Plus
$10,000
All Benefits from Gold plus an additional six people attending the
conference and more prominent exposure on web, hotlink on first page,
1/2day advance notice of "Service Request" from web.
Gold
$6,000
Benefits include 4 ads per year in newsletter, hotlink on website
and listed as a sponsor, listed in Newsletter and Conference Program.
Exhibit space at conference plus one attendance. Permanent member
of Advisory Board. Each additional person attending conference receives
an additional $100 discount or currently $395.
Silver
$3,000
Benefits would include two ads per year in Newsletter, listed on web
with hotlink, listed in Newsletter and conference program, tabletop
at conference, insert in program, plus ad in program, plaque.
Bronze
$1,750
Benefits include two ads per year, listed on web with hotlink, plaque
and tabletop display including one conference attendance to man the
space.
Reinforcing the Frontlines.... Donald & Michael Blumberg
If the customer is king, why do companies pay so little attention to the service technicians who represent them at customer sites? The field-service staff that brings parts and repairs to customers is a key conduit of your products and promises to the outside world. Perhaps more important, it's also a strategic business unit--and managed effectively, it can be a profit center that brings significant revenue to the bottom line. Over the past couple of years, a wide variety of companies have begun strategic projects to better manage their field service and optimize its return. The trend began in the IT and telecommunications sectors, at companies from Avaya to Verizon and from Compaq to Unisys, as well as at those with a high volume of corporate customers, such as GE. Like all good management techniques, the best practices have begun to filter down to companies in nontraditional market segments, like material-handling equipment (Caterpillar), heating and air conditioning (Enbridge), and restaurant-equipment repair (Ecolab). These organizations see a new way to manage the parts, people, and processes that bring companies to the end customer's home turf. Executives are just beginning to understand the practical implications of maximizing their field-service and service-logistics operations, but the next 12 months will see CEOs and CIOs take over the leadership role for these projects because of the following facts (1) In a service economy, service can be a profitable business in its own right. The results at GE and IBM have forced many senior executives to pay more attention to service optimization. (2) CRM initiatives skew attention away from the value of field service to customer satisfaction, profit, and revenue. Perhaps that's precisely why CRM projects haven't had as high a payoff as promised. (3) Technology designed to bolster field operations is finally ready for prime time, from enterprise-system vendors such as SAP and Siebel as well as single-solution suppliers like Click Software, Service Power, Servigistics, and Xelus.
Many executives believe that an efficient, productive, profitable, and quality field-service operation is impossible to achieve; that service businesses don't follow normal business rules and are too complex to manage. But our extensive benchmarking and research--with companies such as Amdahl, Asea Brown Boveri, Compaq, Fujitsu-ICL, IBM, Lucent, and Siemens--suggest that not only is it possible to improve service staffing, but to ensure they have the parts they need from technology improvements to the infrastructure and new strategic concepts.One capital-equipment manufacturer was facing declining sales and profit when its management team took a close look at its service operation. Market research suggested that customers not only were happy with the service, but were willing to pay a premium for broader coverage and more rapid response. Customers also wanted a single source for all their equipment-service needs. The company began an assessment of its field-service operations using benchmarking data as well as customer-satisfaction/market-research studies from a consulting firm and from professional associations, including the Association for Services Management International, the National Association of Service Managers, and the Service Industry Association. This exercise forced management to recognize how grossly inefficient its operation was. There was no call screening; field engineers simply were dispatched to every call. Field engineers handled calls in the order in which they were received, often driving miles to the customer site only to find that the necessary parts were not available.
>Your SIA Board in Action
One of the first acts at the recent SIA Board of Directors meeting held in Chicago the end of June was to appoint Doug Stephens, President and Founder of Stephens International as an interim Board member to replace a seat recently vacated by Rory Scheiving, V. P. of Patriot Medical. For personal reasons Rory has stepped down temporarily and may again become active when his time permits. We at SIA thank Rory and Patriot for their valued service to SIA and their past Sponsorship and will welcome them back in the future should they decide to again become active.
Additional actions included approval of the SIA Business Plan and Budget, 2003 Conference Planning and forming an affiliation with AFSMI for the March annual conference, passing along joint discounts for members and providing a joint membership.
This
month we celebrate our independence and freedom from tyranny. Life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness is our god given right. Let us
all celebrate this and never take it for granted. Our grand lady stands
strong, proud, a true American spirit.
The Board also spent a great deal of time on the agenda for the annual
conference which is included in this newsletter.
Finally, the Board voted unanimously to again retain me Claudia Betzner, as the Executive Director for this association. Every two years the Board gets an opportunity to decide this. It is an honor and my privilege to serve you, the Membership, and the Board, to promote our industry and association and the important work we do in making a difference in the industry for the good of the customers we serve. Being dedicated to the customer having "Choices" in the service industry is this association's primary goal.
Service Industry Executive Summit - Joint SIA and AFSMI
March 2, 2003 Sunday
12:00 Noon Annual Golf Tournament - John Rinas, Northrop Grumman
Chairman
6:30 P.M. Welcome Reception with Exhibitors
March 3, 2003 Monday
| 7:00 A.M. | Continental Breakfast with Tabletop Exhibitors |
| 8:00 A.M. | Welcome - SIA and AFSMI |
| 8:30 A.M. | Keynote Address (SIA and AFSM to determine) |
| 9:15 A.M. | State of the Industry
& Future Trends, Changes, Vision, Historical value - Panel: Gartner/IDC gives overview of Industry; A Medical ISO, AFSM OEM Member/multivendor service provider IT ISO - |
| 10:15 A.M. | Break |
| 10:30 A.M. | Resume Panel in
an Interactive cLevel Roundtable discussion with audience participation. Moderator will be Gartner/IDC |
| 11:30 A.M. | Speaker |
| 12:15 A.M. | Lunch Possible afternoon topics: Strategic Business issues such as Inventory/Accounting Practices, Employee Benefit Packages, eBusiness & Technology, Partnering for Profit |
| 1:30 P.M. | Speaker (AFSM to determine) |
| 2:30 P.M. | Speaker (SIA to determine) |
| 3:30 P.M. | Speaker (AFSM to determine) |
| 6:30 P.M. | Reception with Exhibitors - close of Joint Sessions |
March 4, 2003 Tuesday SIA annual meeting
| 7:00 A.M. | Continental with Exhibitors |
| 8:00 A.M. | State of the Industry - John Walker & Vote on slate of officers |
| 8:45 A.M. | Information Superhighway
& Other Legal Landmines - Website protection, patent &
logo infringement, trademarks/copyright infringement, Section
508 free access to website, CA law use of Social Security Protection Act, identity theft, HIPPA, Privacy & Security |
| 9:45 A.M. | Break |
| 10:00 A.M. | Legal Update - Ron Katz |
| 10:30 A.M. | Speaker - Possible Ray Dalton on Changing Business Strategy |
| 11:15 A.M. | Speaker |
| 12:00 | Lunch |
| 1:00 P.M. | Speaker |
| 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. |
Breakouts of Special Groups: Medical, Computer, Copier |
| 6:30 P.M. | Grand Finale |
Growing Revenues, Maximizing Profits by: Al Hahn
They say that you can never be too rich or too thin. The business version is that you can never have too much revenue or too much profit (until you file your taxes.) This is not only generally true, but may particularly get your attention in today's business climate. Many companies have been struggling with flat or declining product sales for over a year now and are desperate for something positive to work with. To this I offer two vehicles: professional services for growth and better negotiating to improve profits.
Throughout 2001 and through the first quarter of 2002, the greatest growth in high technology has been achieved by professional services. Most product markets have declined in sales during this time and traditional maintenance services that follow products have generally been flat. Professional services have been the only area that has had any growth worth discussing. This continues long-term growth trends for professional services that have been in effect for the past five years or so in information technology markets. What has been interesting is the extension of professional services into other markets such as medical equipment, process control, and semiconductor manufacturing testing equipment. Companies in these markets have noted that professional services have become the growth engine of IT and have begun successfully introducing these services to their customers....
New
Bill in Automotive Industry may help Independents
across many industries
The Motor Vehicle Owner's Right to Repair Act, introduced last month by Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn) would require manufacturers to give consumers and repair shops the information necessary to diagnose, service or repair a car. Wellstone called the issue a case of "blatant collusion" adding that thousands of small independent repair shops are being threatened. The big manufacturing companies are acting like a cartel. Wellstone's bill is a companion to one offered in the House by Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) Edolphus Towns (D-NY) and 39 co-sponsors. At the same time, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed its own plan requiring manufacturers to publish on the internet the codes related to emission repairs. Everyone agrees that a car's systems - including brakes, air bags and engines - are increasingly controlled by computers. You might remember Senator Wellstone was a supporter of the ISNI copyright bill which was passed a few years ago. Hearings are expected on this later this summer and when the time comes I highly recommend we do a friend of the court brief in support of this important legislation.
As far back as 1990, the Clean Air Act mandated that all cars built after the mid-1990s be equipped with a computer-controlled emissions-monitoring system. Computer Diagnostics are a key part in determining what is wrong with a car today just like in computers, high end Copiers, etc. Basically computer generated diagnostics are used in most industries now to determine problems be it control systems, elevators, refrigerators.... so these diagnostics are important to determine the problem.
According to the Automotive Service Association, which represents more than 12,000 independent U.S. repair shops, at least 10 percent of the cars brought into independent shops can't be repaired there because adequate information isn't available. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an industry group, has issued a "letter of intent" to make diagnostic codes available to independent repair shops by early next year. This legislation has also garnered the support of the American Automobile Association.
In Canada, they also utilize the "Consumer" as the whip to make sure Customers who purchase high end copier systems get to keep their diagnostics as part of the original purchase through a court order where a customer brought suit against a manufacturer on this issue. This means independents who service these high end copiers in Canada do not pay diagnostics fees, a tremendous advantage which the U. S. independents who service the same type equipment from the same manufacturer do not enjoy. Some of the smaller regional companies providing independent service are going out of business due to the exorbitant license fees being charges by some manufacturers in the copier industry. Looks to me like our advantage may be to get the consumers much more involved.
Legal Update - Battle intensifies over printer ink
Computer printer prices are falling. But ink prices have remained
high, and big printer makers want to keep it that way.
They're taking steps to curb the growth of second-tier ink cartridge
makers, including generic brands and recyclers, who are winning consumers
with lower prices. At stake is one of the few sure moneymakers in
the tech industry -- and consumer choice.
An inkjet cartridge that retails for $35 costs about $3 to make. At
the same time, inkjet printers, now averaging about $150, are often
sold at a loss. The No. 1 printer maker, Hewlett-Packard, for instance,
relies on ink sales to prop up several money-losing divisions.
But recycled and generic ink cartridges save consumers money. They
cost about 30% to 50% less than a refill cartridge from H-P or other
big printer makers. On average, home users replace cartridges every
three months. Business users do so more often.
The second-tier players claim more than 13% of the inkjet cartridge
market and will own 22% by 2005, Lyra Research says. They've gotten
more popular as printer prices have dropped because consumers are
less fearful of damaging printers. Also, the Internet has made used
cartridges easier to find.
Big printer makers, meanwhile, are making it more difficult for the
second-tier players, especially those that sell recycled cartridges
filled with new ink.
"There's a war that's waging," says Tricia Judge, executive
director of the Imaging Technology Council, a trade group. "We've
only begun to see how seedy it's going to get."
From 'killer chips' to prices
Steps
printer makers are taking:
* H-P and Epson, another big printer maker, have started putting computer
chips into cartridges that render them non-reusable.
Dozens of small companies -- often found in the back of neighborhood
copy shops -- collect used cartridges, then clean, refill and resell
them. Most often, the companies get the cartridges from consumers
who bring or mail them in.
The chips, called "killer" or "smart" chips, tell
the printer how much ink is left in a cartridge. When the chip says
there's no more ink, the printer stops until a new cartridge -- with
a new chip -- is inserted. This means recycled cartridges won't work.
H-P and Epson say the chips benefit consumers because running a printer
on an empty cartridge can damage the printer. They also say the generic
ink used by the refillers can be damaging to printers. "We don't
believe the quality control they're using is as high as ours,"
says Rajeev Mishra, an Epson manager.
The second-tier players dispute that. They also say the chips are
meant to put them out of business. And, they've caught the attention
of the European Union. Last month, it announced an investigation of
the competitive practices of major printer makers, including use of
the chips.
* Lexmark, the No. 3 printer maker, is trying to get consumers to
send empties back to it -- as opposed to others. For some printers,
it sells two versions of the same ink cartridge. One costs about $30
less than the other. The difference: Customers who buy the cheaper
cartridge must agree to send the empty back to Lexmark.
Lexmark doesn't actively enforce the agreement. It says it encourages
recycling. The used-cartridge resellers say it's a way to frighten
customers away from sending the empty to a company other than Lexmark.
Last year, the Arizona Cartridge Remanufacturers Association (ACRA)
filed a lawsuit in California to stop what it says are Lexmark's anti-competitive
practices.
"The best way to target remanufacturers is to cut off their oxygen
-- the supply of (empty) cartridges they need," says Ronald Katz,
the lawyer representing ACRA. The Lexmark program "is one of
the great rip-offs of all time."
The case is pending. Other printer makers, including Panasonic, Toshiba
and Xerox, are considering similar programs, the association says.
* Panasonic revoked Sacramento fax machine retailer JRS Products'
license to sell Panasonic products when the store started selling
refilled ink cartridges. JRS sued for wrongful termination of contract
and won $3.2 million. Panasonic spokesman William Pritchard said the
company "strongly disagrees" with the characterization of
its actions and is disputing the settlement in court. A ruling is
expected this month.
Holding tough
The second-tier players say customers have remained loyal. But they
worry that new ones will be hard to come by.
"It's not that sales are off. It's that potential sales are unfound,"
says Mark Ansier, president of Albaat Ink Jet Fills in Austin.
The debate is likely to intensify as the industry grows. Refillers
are gearing up for the fight.
Last
year, they formed the Imaging Technology Council. That's a first for
an industry made up of mom-and-pop shops. ACRA is soliciting support
from companies nationwide for its fight against Lexmark.
| Service Industry Association 518 San Andres Drive Phone: 619 221 9200
The Network
for High Technology Service Promoting Customer Choices
|
Service Industry Association is a non-profit organization made up of high technology service companies promoting customer choices. |
