Servitization at Volvo CE

Currently, I’m working part time (~50%) as a Business Developer to support Solution Sales in Global Key Account in order to explore new services opportunities that could generate substantial additional revenue streams in the future for Volvo CE.

The work we do is grounded in new validated customer needs, market drivers, competitive movements and technological trends. My work has included describing the business opportunity, a commercialization plans and an organizational structure in order to be able to scale. 

In order to validate the business concept, I have now for over a year aided in driving Solution Sales pilots with customers in Norway, Sweden, France, and the US. The business concept involves Services that improve the customers’ processes and financial performance through utilizing digitalization, automation and material process management.

Different key Value Propositions and related Business Model concepts have been developed and validated with customers, which have been proven valuable, cost effective and scalable over time.

Key achievements

1. Multiple successful Solution designs and deliveries

2. Created a global Volvo CE Solution Sales strategy

2. Helped in advancing Volvo CE's Global Services strategy

Portfolio Management at Volvo CE

In my role, I’m responsible for the Global Services Initiative Portfolio at Finance & Business Development at Volvo Construction Equipment. The responsibility includes leading the work of continuously updating, consolidating, and aligning the Volvo Services Plan across Volvo CE’s different Business Platforms and Sales Regions.

In my current role, I have implemented a best-practice process for analysing and deciding on what products and services initiatives to invest in. Furthermore, I manage the budget breakdown process of the initiative portfolio into the project portfolio, including aligning development programs across Volvo CE’s different entities (Technology, IT, and Commercial Services Development).

The portfolio plan that I manage, and my analysis behind it, is used by Volvo CE’s Executive Management Team in order to analyse and approve the strategic funding levels for Services Development on a yearly basis.

Key achivements

1. Enabling profitable investments in new business models for Volvo CE Services.

2. Enabling profitable investments in more advanced Volvo CE Services and Solution Sales.

3. Implementing a best practice portfolio process and system.

Service Designing at Brᴂnd

During my work with my last Master’s Thesis at Industrial and management Engineering, I decided together with a friend to establish an innovation consultancy. We worked within the field of creative product development, service design and business concept development. We were based in Uppsala, Sweden and provided our services to a range of mid-size companies in the Stockholm area.

Our clients' products ranged from military grade protective breathing equipment to property broker services.  

My role as Product Development Manager gave me the opportunity to work within the exciting fields of creative business development, product development and services development.

Key achievements

1. A new generation of add-on services for a property broker.

2. A new concept of data recovery services.

3. Innovation and creativity consultancy sessions.

Servitization

Successful industrial goods-delivering companies are always looking for ways to develop and grow their business. A strong present trend is to expand the traditionally tangible offering by integrating intangible offerings i.e. services. In academia the term Servitization or Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS2) are being used to describe this paradigm shift.

Key Research Conclusions: 

1. Servitization need to be an integrated part of the company's strategy in order to be financially successful.

2. Servitization can be an opportunity as well as a risk that both need to be manged with focus in order to be successful.

3. Servitization is about creating new corporate capabilities needed to support the new business model setup.

4. Existing decision structures need to be redesigned to support the strategy based on Servitization to succeed.

Decision Performance

In order to continuously improve this capability of developing new products it is important to be able to measure the performance in the development process. The dilemma though is that there are no good performance measurements available to continuously manage projects while they are running.

Therefore, a Product Development Organizational Performance Model (PDOPM) is proposed, consisting of three generic levels of activities: Product strategy, Project management, and Product activities. These generic activities make it possible to conceptually reason about uncertainty, effectiveness, and efficiency at each activity level. 

Key Research Conclusions

1. Performance need to be measured continuously.

2. Performance metrics need to be based on wanted output as well as its key success factors to be useful.

3. Performance metrics need to support the work end-to-end.

Project Management

How are deviations in a highly interrelated project managed in practice? My research reveals the nature of development team’s efforts to make sense of, and decisions on, deviating situations. This research contributes enhanced knowledge of how project managers cope with deviation in order to reach informed decisions involving four different types of sense-making and four types of decision consequences. The results of my research can be used by project managers or other decision makers within product development to reflect upon how to manage unexpected deviations, proactively as well as creatively.

Key Research Conclusions: 

1. Decisions made in NPD projects are mostly non-spoken.

2. Formal decisions are surfaced conclusions based on a long range of unspoken decisions made by project related people.

3. Formal decisions can be used for giving the project room to make choices, get resources, create legitimacy or assign responsibilities in the organization.