Building Professional Services: The Sirens' Song

How to build a winning professional services organization.

Companies worldwide are discovering outstanding growth opportunities in professional services-but building professional services organizations at "product-centric" firms can be extremely challenging. Now, three leading experts present a comprehensive guide to creating professional services organizations, managing them to maturity, and delivering both quality services and superior margins. Building Professional Services introduces a complete, practical framework for delivering the full spectrum of professional services—from support and education services to managed, consulting, and productized services.

• Managing the professional services business at every stage of its lifecycle
• Focusing on the key factors that drive success: revenue, references, and repeatability
• Responding to the unique challenges faced by professional services in product-based companies
• Aligning services with the rest of the organization
• Establishing effective metrics and business review processes
• The four phases of building a successful professional services organization
• Frameworks for organization, project delivery, solutions development, and operational infrastructure
• Customer engagement models and workflows

Drawing on their experience working with leading technology service providers, the authors cover every aspect of professional services: strategy, tactics, and operations. From financial models to customer relationships, Building Professional Services will help you transform the promise of services into a profitable reality.

"I can't imagine anyone starting a professional services organization without first referencing this work."

—Dave Nestic,
President, NezTech Corporation

"This book is a significant contribution and a practical guide to a fast-evolving frontier. With clearly expressed views and recommendations, it will stimulate both thought and action."

—David H. Maister, co-author of First Among Equals

"Extraordinary insight into the issues faced when building a professional services business unit at a product company."

—Kenneth Coleman, Sr.
Vice President of Silicon Graphics
and retired CEO of K&S Solutions

Harris Kern's Enterprise Computing Institute SeriesSolutions for IT Professionals

Table of Contents

Introduction.
Why Product Companies Jump In.
The Sirens' Song of Services.
The Product-Services Wheel.
Good Reasons to Offer New Services.
1. Mapping the Voyage.
2. Setting the Parameters.
3. Levers for Profitability.
4. Organizational Overview.
5. Selling.
6. Delivering.
7. Productizing.
8. Promoting.
9. Operational Infrastructure.
10. Putting It All Together.
11. Customer Engagement Workflow.
12. Four Phases of Building PS.
13. Unique Issues.
14. Summary of Key Concepts.
Appendix A. Evaluating Your Service Vendors.
Appendix B. Key Financial Models.
Appendix C. PS Business Review.
Appendix D. Sample Project Review.
Appendix E. Solution Portfolio Management.
Appendix F. Customer Request and Qualification Form.
Glossary.
Glossary of Terms.
Selected Bibliography.
Index.

如何建立一個成功的專業服務組織。
全球各地的公司都在專業服務領域發現了卓越的增長機會，但在以產品為中心的公司建立專業服務組織可能非常具有挑戰性。現在，三位領先的專家提供了一個全面的指南，教你如何建立專業服務組織，將其管理到成熟期，並提供優質服務和卓越利潤。《建立專業服務》介紹了一個完整的實用框架，用於提供全方位的專業服務，從支援和教育服務到管理、諮詢和產品化服務。

- 在專業服務業務的每個階段管理專業服務業務
- 關注推動成功的關鍵因素：收入、參考和可重複性
- 應對產品型公司專業服務面臨的獨特挑戰
- 將服務與組織的其他部分對齊
- 建立有效的指標和業務審查流程
- 建立成功專業服務組織的四個階段
- 組織、項目交付、解決方案開發和運營基礎設施的框架
- 客戶參與模型和工作流程

作者們根據與領先的技術服務提供商合作的經驗，涵蓋了專業服務的各個方面：戰略、策略和運營。從財務模型到客戶關係，《建立專業服務》將幫助您將服務的承諾轉化為有利可圖的現實。

“我無法想像有人在建立專業服務組織之前不先參考這本書。”
- Dave Nestic，NezTech Corporation總裁

“這本書是對快速發展的前沿領域的重要貢獻和實用指南。它清晰地表達了觀點和建議，將激發思考和行動。”
- David H. Maister，《First Among Equals》合著者

“這本書對在產品公司建立專業服務業務單位時面臨的問題提供了非凡的洞察。”
- Kenneth Coleman，Silicon Graphics高級副總裁，K&S Solutions退休CEO

Harris Kern's Enterprise Computing Institute SeriesSolutions for IT Professionals

目錄：
- 引言
- 產品公司參與專業服務的原因
- 服務的誘惑
- 產品-服務輪
- 提供新服務的好理由
- 1. 航程規劃
- 2. 設定參數
- 3. 提高利潤的槓桿
- 4. 組織概述
- 5. 銷售
- 6. 交付
- 7. 產品化
- 8. 推廣
- 9. 運營基礎設施
- 10. 綜合起來
- 11. 客戶參與工作流程
- 12. 建立專業服務的四個階段
- 13. 獨特問題
- 14. 關鍵概念摘要
- 附錄A. 評估服務供應商
- 附錄B. 關鍵財務模型
- 附錄C. 專業服務業務審查
- 附錄D. 樣本項目審查
- 附錄E. 解決方案組合管理
- 附錄F. 客戶請求和資格表
- 术語表
- 术语解释
- 選擇性參考書目
- 索引