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Diane Brundage, SVP Marketing & Volume Operations
TPSA
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dbrundage@tpsaonline.com
New Consortium Formed To Address Critical Gap in Services Research, Innovation and Education
IBM, Oracle, TPSA, SSPA and Top Business and Academic Leaders and Institutions Work Together to Create the Service Research & Innovation Initiative
LOS GATOS, Calif., March 29, 2007 –IBM and Oracle are working with the Technology Professional Services Association (TPSA), the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) and 15 leading technology companies and academic researchers to help create the Service Research and Innovation (SRI) Initiative. The mission of SRI is to increase the amount of funding for service research, development and innovation in the technology industry.
In the United States alone, services now account for 80 percent of the total gross domestic product according to the National Academy of Engineering. According to TPSA and SSPA, services revenues have now surpassed product revenues for the largest 50 companies in enterprise technology. As services become a leading economic driver, businesses, government and academia must increase service research and innovation. Without research and innovation, the gap between customer demands and the industry’s ability to deliver value poses serious competitive and economic threats.
"Just as business worked with the government and universities at the dawn of the computer age to both define the discipline and create the field, the reality of the rise of a service-led economy calls for the same kind of diligence, study and creation around the idea of service," said Irving Wladawsky-Berger, vice president, Technical Strategy and Innovation, IBM. "We, at IBM, have focused on service research for several years as a way to cultivate and capture service innovation. And we have promoted an educational agenda focused on service and new skill needs for the 21st century. Now, IBM is proud to be a founding member of the SRI initiative to work with others in industry and universities to help promote service research, education, and innovation together."
“Customer relationships are the key to sustained business results,” said Juergen Rottler, executive vice president of Oracle Customer Services. “Service cannot be an afterthought in today’s competitive marketplace. Customers expect the latest technology advances to be coupled with innovative services. We are very excited to be a founding member of the SRI Initiative to help promote service innovation.”
The founding SRI Initiative members have formed an advisory board whose members include Accenture, Cisco, CSC, EMC, HP, Microsoft and Xerox. Academic participants include top researchers from UCLA, Cranfield School of Management, Wharton School of Business, Arizona State University, University of Maryland and University of California Silicon Valley Center at Santa Cruz. Government and research institutions include the European Commission and the Fraunhoffer Institute in Germany.
“Nations that were on the forefront of the industrial revolution were the ones who invested in research and innovation in manufacturing,” said J.B. Wood, CEO of TPSA and SSPA. “There is a sense of urgency that we, as corporations, government and academia, must come together to fundamentally change our approaches to service innovation. For technology companies this will mean delivering better value to customers and dramatically improving margins.”
The SRI Initiative is striving for the following commitments:
- Corporations – Commit to funding a permanent service R&D budget; active involvement in the SRI community and work with government and academia to develop service research;
- Governments – Sponsor research in universities and applied research centers; get involved in the SRI community; work with industry and academia to develop service research;
- Academic Institutions – Increase core research in services, establish curricula, programs and degrees for service disciplines (e.g. management, operations, design, etc.); collaborate with industry to develop research in commercially relevant areas; get involved in the SRI community.
By joining SRI, companies can pool their R&D dollars with other organizations, governments or institutions, and have the opportunity to influence the direction of SRI. SRI members will also gain access to a portal of information, including existing research, funding recommendations and market analysis papers. As the consortium gathers more industry data and participation, SRI anticipates periodically issuing reports on the state of the industry and further recommending best business practices.
Services Symposium and SRI Membership
SRI’s first symposium, “The Challenges and Opportunities of Services Research and Innovation,” will take place at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California on May 30, 2007. Keynote presenters include Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm; Sophie Vandebroek, president of Xerox Innovation, John Seely Brown, author of The Only Sustainable Edge and Irving Wladawsky-Berger, vice president, Technical Strategy and Innovation, IBM.
For more information about the SRI Symposium or to become a member of SRI, visit www.thesri.org or email info@thesri.org.
About the SRI Initiative
Jointly founded by IBM, Oracle, the Technology Professional Services Association (TPSA), and the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA), the SRI Initiative is a consortium of technology companies, government agencies and universities dedicated to fostering advancements in service research. The organization will accomplish this by raising awareness of this issue through conferences, symposia and the SRI Web site – the informational hub for the effort. Members include HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Arizona State University, University of Maryland, the European Commission and the Fraunhofer Institute. The SRI Initiative is headquartered in the Silicon Valley. Organizations who are interested in participating in and getting involved with the SRI Initiative should visit the Web site for more information - www.thesri.org.
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