Following months of continuous concentration on every negative aspect of the world’s economy, bundled within the overall credit crunch heading, it’s of no surprise to anyone that widespread recession is now predicted to affect various economies for the next few months.

This will, of course, affect some service companies as customers try to reduce their outgoings in various areas. It will, however, benefit others where businesses can achieve efficiencies by outsourcing their service requirements.

Further changes are also being seen in other areas, with customers putting more emphasis on the repair of items to avoid paying out for an expensive replacement. There will, in short, be winners and losers, which is the same in any economic climate.

As long as those companies seeing business activity decline react quickly and positively they have much more chance of weathering the storm. The message that I’ve delivered on a regular basis in both Service Management and our fortnightly newsletters is that life - and business - goes on.

I was involved in several conversations on this topic at SME 08 recently and was once again impressed with the positive attitude displayed by many within the industry. A few were involved in laying off staff - always a difficult and depressing task - but remained confident this would ensure the business survived in the short, medium and long term.

With many companies looking to increase their service offering to grow their sales revenues, the industry is in a far more positive position than various others.

Dennis Flower

Editor

dflower@cmpi.biz