Transcript
[Image of Alan Dormer, Theme Leader, CSIRO Services Science, appears]
Alan Dormer: My name’s Alan Dormer. I’m the Services Science Theme Leader at CSIRO. I look after a team of about 60-scientists dedicated to the services sector.
[Title page appears: The service economy]
The service economy as we look at it at the moment includes financial services, technical services, government services, transport and logistics and infrastructure.
[Image has changed back to Alan Dormer]
[Title page appears: Services and science]
[Image has changes back to Alan Dormer]
Services and science, I think, have come together because of the importance of the services economy and the new discipline of services science really is a multidisciplinary approach to looking at the problems of that sector.
The services economy really depends on understanding their customer, and there’s heaps of data out there and what I think we bring is insight, so you’re turning data into insight.
We are very much at CSIRO an applied science organisation. We do value our reputation for getting results, but we also value our reputation for doing ground-breaking research, and some times, those two things are quite interesting to put together.
[Title page appears: What makes CSIRO different]
[Image has changes back to Alan Dormer]
CSIRO have got a number of differentiators between management consultants and also the universities. In terms of management consultants, we’re very much scientific based. So, everything we do is scientific and we have a remit or a charter to do original research.
From the point of the universities we have a lot more people, and we also have a much broader capability, so if somebody’s looking for, say a purely, a report on the status quo or an examination of something, they might want to go to a management consultant, but generally speaking we’re looking at more ground breaking research.
[Title page appears: Current projects]
[Image has changes back to Alan Dormer]
The sorts problems that the services economy get tend to be a combination of hard and what you might call softer science and I think there is more of a move towards softer science, because of the importance of customers and customer relations. Having had about seven jobs in my career, I would say this is the most varied job I’ve ever had. On one day I might be looking at outbreak of demand for social workers. On the next day I’m looking at train scheduling in the Pilbara, no two days are the same.
[Title page appears: The research team]
[Image has changes back to Alan Dormer]
My team is quite large, we have about 60-scientists and we have engagements ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars. And in terms of the size of problem, there isn’t really an issue, because we can always draw capability from the rest of the CSIRO.
[Title page appears: Working with clients]
[Image has changes back to Alan Dormer]
Our relationship with customers develops in different ways. Some customers have just one problem they want to solve and then they go away, and maybe they don’t call us again, or maybe they don’t call us for a couple of years. Other customers like the strategic alliance approach, where we map out a number of projects and one project leads to another, and I think that says a lot for our ability to deliver to their bottom line.
When we first start working for a company and they don’t know us, obviously we’re a bit of unknown quantity and often the first couple of insignments is about building credibility. But I think after a while they realise that we can deliver, and I don’t think we ever get to the point of being their outsourced research provider, but I certainly believe we quickly become their trusted advisor and then it’s more natural for them to come to us with further research questions.
[Title page appears: CSIRO’s role in services]
[Image has changes back to Alan Dormer]
CSIRO works in this area, probably for two reasons. First of all, it is a national challenge, improving productivity and job creation services. And secondly, it’s a good compliment to all of other activities.
[Title page appears: CSIRO© 2010]
