TEAM SILVER: Professional Services and Business Services
Team Assignment 1: Discussion Board Facilitation
By: Patrick Knutson and Cinthya Urrego
[Note: Reference List of each Team will be posted in the Student Lounge, as resources available for future assignments in this class or other MBA classes.]
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Professional and Business Services is part of the service-providing supersector group (2020a). Within this sector are three sectors: professional and technical services, management of companies, and administrative and waste management.
Professional services are occupations within the arts and sciences that typically require certifications; examples include accountants, doctors, lawyers, architects, and engineers. Support services like management consulting, tax advising, and payroll are also considered professional services.
Business services are those that allow companies to understand business needs and can help improve customer relationships, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. Marketing, business consulting, and technology services are common business services (2020b).
Team Silver will identify some of the challenges and opportunities within these sectors that can be addressed with creative problem-solving techniques and creative competitive business strategies.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: Legal Services and the Use of Artificial Intelligence
Law firms provide professional services through legal advice and representation when a client faces a complicated, technical problem related to the law. Whether the service comes from a sole proprietorship or a global law firm, professional services staff are highly skilled employees with specialized certifications signifying competence in the profession. The work can vary significantly in large law firms, from aiding a large or small business looking to solve a difficult business problem or perhaps help an individual navigate a personal legal issue.
Since firms must compete for business, they must be conscious of the unit economics of client work. Unit economics is an essential concept in professional services. By carefully monitoring unit economics, firms can “look at how profitable each unit or service [is]” in order to see the overall “revenue and direct costs” – or the profitability of the firm’s sales (Benroya, 2020, para. 3).
Legal firms have learned, and then opted to use, creative ways to both reduce costs to clients and make work more meaningful to their employees in recent years. There is a growing usage of artificial intelligence to drive automation in the legal profession. “Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the ability of machines to interpret data and act intelligently, meaning they can make decisions and carry out tasks based on the data at hand – rather like a human does” (Marr, 2020, para. 1). “Automation is about removing friction, driving down costs, speeding processes up, and generally improving efficiency” (Chace, 2020, para. 1). AI has the effect of sharply reducing the need for legal staff to conduct time-consuming data searches through hundreds of databases.
An expected decrease in available research and paralegal jobs is imminent once the AI usage broadens within the legal profession. This means fewer attorney-support jobs available for people in the legal field. For example, paralegals are currently tasked with explaining their research methods to attorneys, so that the attorneys can clearly build a legal case. With fewer people involved in the data gathering and research, future lawyers will need to understand how AI algorithms work to gather information and make connections in resulting research products.
The accuracy and speed of the research and insights at trial will improve using artificial intelligence. The adoption of this technology allows law firms and the justice system to use AI “to determine every case in which a particular witness testified, what his/her opinions were, and how juries reacted, much faster and more thoroughly than any human investigator ever could” (Sahota, 2019, para. 7).
Discussion Question #1:
Select either Question #1a or Question #1b for your initial response. You do NOT need to answer both questions. Please repeat the bolded portion of the question at the top of your response, so that your classmates can easily respond to you.
Question #1a.
The Isaksen, et al. textbook advises that “effective organizations focus their attention on all four elements [people, content, context and the CPS method used] when they make change happen” (2011, p. 257). List an additional two pros and two cons of implementing artificial intelligence on either the people or the work culture in today’s law firms. Directly cite the Isaksen, et al. textbook, and any other references you may have identified, in APA format.
Question #1b.
Referencing the Magretta text, how can incorporating artificial intelligence impact the value chain of law firms that have adopted the technology, versus those that have not? Are there reasons to not incorporate artificial intelligence and if so, what might they be? Directly cite the Magretta textbook, and any other references you may have identified, in APA format.
BUSINESS SERVICES: IT Professionals trying to keep up with increased demand in digital transformation
Digital transformation is generally defined as “the integration of technology into all areas of a business” (Enterprisers Project, 2020, para. 1). The development of digital technology results in fundamental changes to business operations. Examples of digital technology include websites, electronic transactions, video streaming, and software for various data and project management. These changes affect the experience of customers and require shifts in company cultures, as changes to long-standing business processes are made. As with any change in business processes, it is important that the purpose behind an organization’s digital transformation be identified. Examples may include improving customer experiences, increasing productivity, or reducing environmental footprint.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, organizations have sought digital transformation to quickly adapt to supply chain disruptions, changing customer expectations, and to meet market pressures. At the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, Professor Sandy Pentland at MIT explained that automated systems which faced rapid changes in supply and demand broke down in the wake of the pandemic (2020). Data collected by McKinsey & Company demonstrates the rapid shift that occurred towards online fitness and streaming, and online grocery shopping. “Survey results confirm the rapid shift toward interacting with customers through digital channels . . . at least 80 percent of their customer interactions are digital in nature” (LaBerge, et al., 2020, para. 3). Respondents to the surveys span across several regions, indicating customer interactions have shifted at a global level.
IT technicians, specialists, and engineers are the backbone that support businesses through digital transformations. Therefore, it is critical that IT professionals (a) be familiar with the development of new technologies; (b) understand a business’ processes and industry trends; and (c) understand other areas of an organization beyond its technological systems. With such a rapid demand for digital transformation across all industries, there is more pressure for IT professionals to increase skill sets and knowledge on systems. McKinsey & Company identified the following five traits and abilities IT leaders will need, to be able to meet these increased demands in digital transformation:
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1. Business Leader – having a deep understanding of business strategy;
2. Change Agent – ability to incorporate technology into the strategies and processes throughout the entire organization;
3. Talent Recruiting – focus on attracting and cultivating engineering talent;
4. Culture Revolutionary – build collaborative cultures with IT teams, as well as between IT and other business teams;
5. Tech “Whisperer” – playing an active role in educating business leadership about new digital transformation, applications, changes, etc. (LaBerge, 2020)
Discussion Question #2:
Select either Question #2a or Question #2b for your initial response. You do NOT need to answer both questions. Please repeat the bolded portion of the question at the top of your response, so that your classmates can easily respond to you.
Question #2a:
Consider you are an IT consultant at a law firm, and due to new state health department regulations, your client asks that you help with setting up his staff to work remotely. What CPS tools or business strategies from our Magretta text would you utilize to prioritize business needs and meet expectations with such a sudden request? Directly cite (quote), either of our two textbooks, and any other references you may have identified, in APA format.
Question #2b:
Identify a profession within the Business Services sector and describe two creative ways in which that profession might benefit from digital transformation as they attempt to continue meeting their business goals through the pandemic. Directly cite (quote) either of our two textbooks, and any other references you may have identified, in APA format.
BUSINESS SERVICES: Janitorial services face challenges in protecting employees and customers
Janitorial and cleaning service providers face the challenges of protecting the safety of employees and customers in commercial and industrial facilities. Slip and fall accidents are the most common safety issues in these facilities, requiring that janitorial services ensure spills are cleaned properly, and that signage is properly placed in wet areas. Proper products must be used to prevent strong odors, and proper personal protective equipment for employees is necessary. “Cleaning industry employees may be exposed to potentially hazardous chemicals, may be asked to work with equipment that can present a danger and may be asked to perform various tasks that may cause an injury or illness if not performed properly. Further, the physical environment in which cleaning services are performed can present hazards” (Occupational Health and Safety Administration, n.d., para. 2).).
The pandemic has led to an explosive demand for professional cleaning services. As organizations seek to comply with local and state regulations and guidelines, cleaning services are in high demand as workers begin to return from remote work to office buildings, banks, schools, and so forth. In the state of California, janitorial and cleaning personnel are identified as “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers” (Department of Public Health, 2020, para. 2). According to ZipRecruiter, an online job listing marketplace, the pandemic has caused a 75% increase in new job openings (2020). Maintaining a well-trained workforce is critical to cleaning service providers today, in order to meet the increasing demand for services.
Jim Peduto, a partner at American Institute for Cleaning Services, stated “turnover is systematically high within all service industries, commercial cleaning in particular . . . if you look at surveys of what’s important to people in the cleaning industry, turnover is always in the top five” (as cited in Brereton, 2015, para. 3). According to surveys by Procter and Gamble, in past years cleaning services saw a retention rate as low as 4% in food service settings, 5% in hospitality and lodging, 7% commercial settings, and 7% in healthcare facilities (2013).
The increase in demand currently presents an opportunity for janitorial and cleaning service providers, yet the industry faces challenges in attracting employees during such an unsettling time. With the additional needs in janitorial services since the beginning of 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an even greater need for employees in janitorial services, and yet many may not want these jobs because of the safety risks involved.
Discussion Question #3:
What creative strategies can janitorial or cleaning companies implement to attract employees to janitorial services? Directly cite (quote) either of our two textbooks, and any other references you may have identified, in APA format.
NOTE:
All students outside Team Silver should post your initial response by Wednesday midnight PST and respond to the initial posts of 3 other students on at least three separate days by Sunday midnight PST. A minimum of four (4) posts is required each week, on four separate days during the week.
Note: Extra points are available on the Discussion Board each week for (a) additional responses to the initial posts of peers beyond those required; (b) answering those peers who respond to your initial post (substantive reply, beyond “thank you”), to keep the conversation going; and (c) bringing in additional outside references or applicable direct citations (quotes) from our textbooks, beyond those required.