There is little doubt that providing post-sale service is becoming more complicated than ever. OEMs are, by default, tasked with supporting all products currently being manufactured. They are also charged with servicing all the obsolete products still in operation.

This creates a service management challenge that is much more complex than any supply chain planning problem faced by the manufacturing side of the business. Plus the number of partners used in service operations for most companies is also growing, and every partner can either negatively or positively impact the end-customer experience.

As such, in addition to managing upstream suppliers and in some cases downstream dealers and distributors, managing partners who provide technicians, maintenance and repair, or logistics services only adds to the challenge. Visibility into partner operations is often critical to successful service delivery.

As a result of these inherent complexities, service operations present a fundamentally different set of operating challenges from those that exist on the production side of the business. These challenges require a different paradigm; they demand an integrated, commitment-centric, closed-loop approach that can provide a single view of all business processes involved in defining, funding, and meeting service level commitments.

The advent of 3 rd party service logistics (3PSL) from AKAL intends to achieve all this. This new initiative would enable companies to outsource their underperforming service businesses and boost profits while effectively delivering on customer commitments. 3PSL can help leaders break the rules of competition in rising markets and can shield companies caught in industry downturns from financial distress or ruin.

3PSL can lead an overall business strategy. It can create significant competitive differentiation that is much harder to replicate than any product strategy. The value of 3PSL can be gauged by the financial and operational results it can help deliver.