In a new podcast from the Cambridge Service Alliance, Dr Mohamed Zaki, talks about his new role as Deputy Director, of the Cambridge Service Alliance, University of Cambridge.
Dr Zaki, explains how the Alliance has grown and by building upon its collaborations with industry it has produced some of the most trusted management tools and frameworks in manufacturing today to help firms shift from product based services to offering complete solutions to their customers. Dr Zaki says:
“The CSA began in 2010 when two big firms IBM and BAE systems wanted to collaborate with Cambridge University to build a consortium to explore how firms could shift to services and a solution offering. By doing research with us we have come up with a lot of tools and frameworks to help make them make that shift. We now have other industry partners like Caterpillar and we are able to go into these companies and see how they are working and how their services can be improved.
“Customers are looking at the whole solution and they are rethinking their business models from being production orientated to solutions orientated.”
[also available of the University Media Service]
Dr Zaki goes on to talk about the future of manufacturing in a digital age. He explains:
“The digital era has opened up a lot of opportunities for big firms like Google and Facebook who have managed to offer a good service to companies but in return they capitalise on the data. One of the things we know is that data is a key resource to drive a lot of opportunities specifically in the business model. Firms that collect data will have the right insight to advise their customers and also to come up with new opportunities.
“We are looking at data as a key business resource and how you can use it to drive business opportunities and revenue for your firms. We now have the IOT and Industry 4.0 and if you think about the data that comes from customers and mobile applications and platforms if you have a way to put all this together into one platform that gives you huge power. That is where firms are investing at the moment, people are looking at new revenue streams and business opportunities.“
Dr Zaki, ends by giving his elevator pitch to enlist other companies to join the CSA:
“The CSA is a unique consortium and we are a global brand. We are thinking about some of the biggest challenges in the shift to services, especially in the digital era. Here at the CSA we have global-minded research that helps in this transition. All our collaborators love our research and we are happily trying to work with them to build tools and frameworks in order to help them to address their challenges in the service world.”