Business services are a broad and diverse group of industries that provide non-financial services to other companies. These include advertising, marketing, consulting, logistics (including travel and facilities services), waste handling, staffing, shipping, administration, security services and more.
There is significant untapped growth potential for the business services industry, with average productivity still relatively low and legal barriers persisting, but EU Internal Market legislation and policy actions are now focused on boosting competitiveness in this sector. One of the main targets is removing the legal barriers that are hindering EU companies from establishing and providing services across borders, as part of an integrated industrial policy for globalisation.
Service Design: The key to creating and running a profitable service company lies in bringing together four critical elements that form the basis of a comprehensive working plan: customer focus, operational excellence, enabling technology, and strategic alignment. The four key areas are referred to as the “service model,” and managers must bring all of these together or risk pulling the business apart.
Developing an efficient and effective system for delivering a service requires managing a wide variety of operational aspects, from ensuring adequate staffing to planning logistics, reducing costs, improving communication and integrating business processes. It also requires understanding and addressing the many issues that arise in a service environment, which can be complex, unpredictable and often influenced by the customers themselves.
The most important of these is the customer experience, which can make or break a service business. It’s crucial for service businesses to be transparent about the inspiration behind their creation and what results they expect, as well as the value proposition that will attract new customers and keep them coming back.
Building a strong reputation is an especially critical component of service differentiation, as it can be particularly hard for an abstract and/or complex service to gain brand name identification in the marketplace. This is because the service, by its nature, is an intangible product that cannot be produced or marketed with a high degree of brand name recognition, as can the products that are the primary sources of profit for most businesses.
Sharing Services
Shared services can be a valuable tool for businesses that want to reduce costs, improve productivity, or streamline certain processes. They can help organizations centralize their business services and operations and achieve efficiencies in areas such as human resources, IT, or finance.
By combining the functions of separate departments, shared services can create a more efficient, collaborative environment that makes it easier to complete tasks and deliver service faster to your customers. For example, when businesses combine their HR functions into a shared service, they can improve employee onboarding and benefits management while also reducing costs related to payroll processing.
Pricing Your Services: It’s vital for small business owners to price their services correctly and to monitor and adjust them accordingly as the market changes. This helps ensure that they are earning a profit from their business and that their customers feel satisfied with the services they receive.