High-performing technology can only be as good as the service operations supporting it. For example, if customer downtime is a problem with the services surrounding your product, your brand and reputation will suffer no matter the quality, innovation or necessity of your products.
Outsourcing service operations enables companies to more easily maintain their brand image and commitment to customers at a lower cost — and often with more efficiency and better outcomes. And with the right outsourcing partner, the transition can be even more seamless than you might expect.
Key Benefits of Outsourcing Service Operations
When you outsource services, you’re trusting both your reputation and your customers’ outcomes to someone else, which means it is vitally important that they represent your company adequately and deliver the same level of service quality — or even higher — that your customers have come to expect from you. A quality partner earns that trust from both you and your customers, as Fujitsu America, Inc. discovered by teaming up with Shyft Global Services.
When Fujitsu pivoted to focus solely on its core digital products and services, it needed a strategy for its Technical Maintenance Services (TMS) business, including multi-vendor Retail Managed Services and Product Related Services. Outsourcing field, integration and repair services to Shyft generated a myriad of benefits for Fujitsu.
Seamless Customer Experience
In addition to benefiting your business, outsourcing service operations offers impressive potential to your customers, too. During the outsourcing transition process, the right partner can help ensure there is little to no service interruption to your customers, keeping business running smoothly and efficiently.
After the transition of TMS to Shyft, customers kept their same points of contact and service levels. Shyft also acquired and brought in-house repair capabilities that Fujitsu had previously been outsourcing to another provider, ultimately giving customers a best-in-class experience by working with a single provider.
Accelerated Transformation
Current operations shouldn’t hold a business back from the next big move. A trusted outsourcing partner handles the services that are too cumbersome or simply no longer a high priority for your business goals, which allows you to focus on and increase the pace of your business transformation.
While TMS was a successful operation (and continues to be under Shyft), it no longer aligned as well to the broader goals of the Fujitsu team. By transitioning TMS to Shyft, Fujitsu was able to increase its focus on its business transformation.
Reduced Costs
Naturally, outsourcing service operations management is a cost-effective move, reducing fixed costs and potentially improving the bottom line. And when done right, it can also release capital for other key business initiatives — without a loss of quality or efficiency — thanks to your partner’s infrastructure, expertise and implementation strategy.
By transitioning its TMS business to Shyft, Fujitsu was able to reinvest capital back into other areas of its business and toward its goal of focusing solely on core digital products and services.
Revenue Growth
Outsourcing service operations provides a way to better manage your sales channel as well as business relationships with your existing customers. Your partner becomes an extension of your team, finding new opportunities and developing recurring revenue strategies. In turn, revenue improves and more capital is released back into your business to devote to growth.
The seamless transition of TMS to Shyft proved to be a positive experience for Fujitsu customers, creating more opportunity for increased revenue from those satisfied customers.
Scalability
Business growth goes far beyond just registering more sales. The logistics involved — including service operations management and customer support — can expend your resources and require expertise you don’t readily have available. By outsourcing managed services, you get to take advantage of a technology partner’s experience, resources and facilities, allowing for efficient scalability across the organization and across the globe.
Shyft transitioned more than 300 TMS service and support professionals into its operation. Combining the teams expanded Shyft’s field coverage to 99 percent of the U.S. and Canada population, reaching more customers than ever before.
Custom-Tailored Solutions for Outsourcing Service Operations
By entrusting its TMS business to Shyft, Fujitsu ultimately reduced costs and streamlined business complexities. Additionally, Shyft greatly expanded both its market reach and geographic reach, with more technicians in more locations, enabling customers to enjoy faster service request response times — with same-day response in many areas. Another benefit of working with an outsourcing partner is the potential to add additional capabilities to your current service portfolio, which means customers will more often look to you for solutions to their technology needs.
Every company is unique, which means its outsourcing needs and strategy are, too. An experienced partner like Shyft can help you chart a path into the future, no matter what your objectives are or where you are on your transformation journey.
Learn more about the outsourcing partnership between Shyft and Fujitsu, and discover how your company can utilize similar — yet custom-tailored — service solutions to meet both your organizational goals and the goals of your customers.
About the Author
Ron Brinckerhoff serves as Senior Vice President of Shyft Global Services. He is responsible for the strategic direction, global operations and overall profitability of Shyft, which provides outsourced technology services for both the product and customer lifecycle. With more than 30 years of industry experience, Ron is a results-driven executive skilled at consistently building strong teams, growing revenue, driving operational excellence and exceeding customer expectations.
