OK - The 6 AIM Service Fellows have had our first meeting and it's time to get started on the research. I also have to blog everything because at the end of 2 years, I will need to write a full report on my journey - difficulties, challenges and achievements. So I'll have to blog every milestone I guess.
My main difficulty has been to juggle the S4T project as a huge report is due the end of this month. But that has largely been written up now so I hope to move on to start on the AIM projects.
Under the AIM project, I was meant to get access to Vodafone, Selex and Lloyds Cardnet. Of the 3, only Lloyds Cardnet is now willing. The person in Vodafone who said yes left Vodafone UK, Selex is restructuring and lost interest. So I started engaging with Fujitsu and BT who seemed interested in the topic. I went in to present my research to Fujitsu and they sounded really keen. Now the guys comes back and said, sorry, they're not going ahead with it. Maybe the current economic climate isn't the best time for them. who knows.
So finally down to BT and Lloyds and probably BAE Systems although I'd like to keep BAE Systems as part of the S4T project as I got the feeling that they would like to only work with Cambridge. their loss. BT and Lloyds are huge projects on their own - hoping that they allow access to their B2B contracts and their customers - we'll be meeting them on the 11 Nov.
Our research in CServ has really pushed the boundaries on so many dimensions that I seriously do not think there is any institution out there that has this capability - both UK and US. I believe we can be equivalent to service what CERN is to particle physics (my friends call it Irene's global domination agenda). It's a bit of a race, as all scientists are in, to ensure that breakthrough models and ideas are yours first. Rolls Royce wants in on 2 of our models (and they are one of the top companies in service support engineering) and BAE Systems have recently been presented with another and they are really keen. The fact that some big companies in the world are adopting our models are a great testimony to our work but much more needs to be done. We've been shortlisted for the Leverhulme grant which is £2.6m and funds some 5-6 posts. I am negotiating with the university to see if they can give us part of a building to house what I'm calling the new Service Research Institute, if we get the grant. This is such an exciting area and I can't believe no one sees what we see in terms of research and insights!
The team is starting to really build up. Nicky moves into becoming a full time academic Research fellow on 1 Jan, Laura and Louie and really uppping their knowledge and their game in this area. Jason is a new entry, but I think he has potential. Guo Lei is in her 'quiet phase' (all PhD students need that time and space) With Andi and Rog on the process and Systems side, we will certainly break some new ground....!
It's exhausting having to nurture and impart knowledge to 6 apprentices but it's very rewarding when they're quick to grasp it and can extend the thinking further. It's such a high level type of thinking and it takes so long to reach that thinking that it takes so much mental and emotional energy from me. I think being patient has to be the hardest - deciding when I need to say something and when they need to figure it out themselves is a real challenge. But then, the reward is that they get to be so close to the cutting edge where you know no one else has the answer and you might be close to it....it's a real buzz... I know Laura, Louie and Nicky get a real kick out of it... they stayed with me in Cambridge listening to my seminars .. sometimes I wonder if I still have this energy for apprentices in a few years...but then they should reach new heights themselves and have their own students...
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