Service Council inService™ Podcast Series

Hosted by Service Council™

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Episodes

114

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

Interviews uncovering best practices by world-class Service, Customer Experience, and Customer Support Executives

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60 recent

August 21, 2026Episode 11235 min

Next-Gen Service Contracts for the Post-Warranty Period w/ Ben Groeneveld, Syncron

How can OEMs retain customers beyond warranty, protect service revenue and grow their margins? Customers are increasingly looking beyond the OEM channel after warranty for multiple reasons including the rising cost of service parts and labor, or the ripple effects from ‘right to repair’ regulations. In this context, the ability to understand and contractually adapt to the customers’ perception of value as well as the speed to confidently provide a risk-based quote can be the critical differentiators for customer retention, predictable revenue and healthy margins. But operationalizing these concepts is anything but simple. Join us on Thursday, August 20th at 12pm ET for the next episode of the inService Podcast Live. Host Gerardo Pelayo, Ph.D. will sit down with Ben Groeneveld , Industry Principal at Syncron , to explore how leading manufacturers are moving from estimating transactional service costs to predicting and shaping contract profitability over the asset’s lifecycle. We’ll look at how a better use of trusted data, smarter risk modeling, and more flexible contract design can help manufacturers price their agreements with greater confidence, respond faster to customer needs, and unlock more profitable service growth. Ben Groeneveld is a supply chain and aftermarket strategist with more than 20 years of OEM and enterprise software experience. As an Industry Principal at Syncron, he partners with manufacturers, dealers, & distributors to strengthen service parts performance, modernize legacy environments, and unlock profitable aftermarket growth. Previously, Ben has held multiple positions in parts organizations at two OEMs including leading dealer inventory optimization & collaboration initiatives. He holds CSCP and CPIM certifications and specializes in turning operational complexity into measurable margin impact.

August 20, 2026Episode 11138 min

Breaking the AI Paradox: “Adaptive Guidance” is the Next Service Model w/ Roshan Pinto, Tavant

The next competitive advantage in service won't come from having more AI. It will come from delivering the right guidance to the right person at the right moment. Join us on Thursday, August 13th at 12pm ET for the next episode of the inService Podcast Live. Host John Carroll will sit down with Tavant 's SVP of Manufacturing, Roshan Pinto , to explore why “adaptive guidance” is emerging as the next service model. Whether it’s supporting a field technician, providing guidance for complex warranty claims, or navigating alternate parts inventory, AI becomes more valuable when it adapts to the person, not the other way around. Rather than relying on one-size-fits-all platforms, service organizations are beginning to use AI to connect existing systems and business knowledge into purpose-built solutions that deliver value faster. Join us as we explore why adaptive guidance may represent the next operating model for AI in service and how designing technology around people could redefine the future of service operations.

August 20, 2026Episode 11038 min

Think Bigger: Building AI Teammates That Make Service Teams Superhuman w/ Niken Patel, Neuron7.ai

AI is increasingly demonstrating it can improve efficiency, with a third of respondents to the 2026 State of AI and Service Technology survey saying they are ‘already experiencing significant benefits’. Going further, what happens when organizations stop thinking about AI as a tool and start treating it as a teammate that makes them better? Join us on Thursday, August 6th at 12pm ET for the next episode of the inService Podcast Live. Host Gerardo Pelayo, Ph.D. Pelayo will sit down with Neuron7.ai Founder and CEO, Niken Patel , to explore the rise of industry-specific AI agents, and why organizations will gain the most by thinking big rather than settling for incremental improvements. Together, they discuss how agentic AI is transforming service with teammates that make field technicians, remote support engineers, and service leaders superhuman. Niken will spotlight Neuron7's agent library, where agents come prebuilt for specific industries, and its low-code/no-code Agent Builder. From compliance and parts ordering to sales quotations and customer retention, these agents unlock new ways to build trust in AI, improve productivity, and drive growth. The discussion will also look ahead to predictive service, where getting ahead of failures unlocks a higher tier of ROI than resolution alone, and why organizations that go bold today will shape the future of service, not catch up to it.

July 24, 2026Episode 10938 min

Shifting the Focus from AI to Decision Intelligence w/ Edward Krzysik, Circuitry.ai

AI is everywhere, but how do service organizations move beyond capabilities-centric and right-fit conversations and towards a focus on quickly achieving measurable business results? Reframing the conversation as decision intelligence is a subtle, yet powerful lever. If you’re evaluating AI investments for service, you’ll want to tune into our next episode of the inService Podcast. We’ll be delving into how organizations are connecting and integrating tribal knowledge, service history, parts, and warranty data to increase the confidence, scope and speed of actionable intelligence. Join us as host Gerardo Pelayo, Ph.D. welcomes Edward Krzysik, MBA, VP of Customer Success & Value, Circuitry.ai, to the podcast studio. We’ll look at how AI-powered decision support can help organizations improve their frontline’s experience and retain talent, while improving on measurable operational and financial results such as increased technician productivity or driving market share growth. Edward will also offer practical insights into where to start and how to maximize impact. Edward Krzysik brings more than 24 years of experience leading enterprise adoption of AI, augmented reality, and remote expertise solutions that modernize service operations and improve measurable outcomes. Prior to joining Circuitry.ai, Edward served as Vice President of Client Strategy at Help Lightning and held senior leadership roles at Xerox and RICOH, where he pioneered remote-resolution models and scaled large field service organizations. He has been recognized for innovation in remote service delivery, including receiving the CIO Top 100 Solutions Award. At Circuitry.ai, Edward leads Customer Success & Value, ensuring customers define, realize, and expand measurable ROI from Service Decision Intelligence.

July 10, 2026Episode 10838 min

EP108 - Priorities’ Paradigm Shift: Going for the Gain Before the Pain w/ Pulin Kumar, Pyxtech

Every service leader knows modernization is important—but when budgets are tight, priorities are competing, and new technologies seem to emerge every week, how do you know what deserves your attention first? More importantly, how do you distinguish between investments that simply solve today's problems and those that create long-term business value? Join us as we welcome Pyxtech CEO and Founder, Pulin Kumar to the podcast studio. Together, we'll explore why leading organizations are shifting from pain-driven modernization to opportunity-driven transformation: building trusted data foundations, connected intelligence, and scalable workflows that not only improve operations today but also position the business to capitalize on AI and future innovation. Drawing on industry research and real-world examples, we'll discuss how service leaders can prioritize investments, avoid costly modernization missteps, and build the confidence needed to turn modernization into a true driver of growth and competitive advantage. Pulin Kumar is Co-Founder and CEO of PyxTech, where he is helping define the AI-driven intelligence layer for the secondary IT asset ecosystem. With more than 20 years of experience spanning technology, supply chain, finance, and business transformation, Pulin has led large-scale initiatives, built global teams, and partnered with Fortune 500 organizations to drive measurable business outcomes. Beginning his career as a software developer and later earning an MBA in Finance, he developed a passion for solving complex business challenges through data, automation, and intelligent system design. Today, he helps organizations unlock greater value from their technology investments by improving decision-making, operational efficiency, and AI readiness.

June 19, 2026Episode 10735 min

EP107 - 3 Strategic Actions Service Leaders Must Embrace for Next-Gen Service

For decades, service leaders were measured primarily on operational execution, such as managing technicians, controlling costs, and getting customers back up and running. Today, that mandate is fundamentally changing. As the scope of service becomes increasingly tied to revenue growth, customer retention, workforce strategy, and business profitability, service leaders are finding themselves responsible for far more than service delivery. They’re being expected to influence commercial outcomes, drive productivity at scale, preserve critical expertise, justify technological investments and ensuring their adoption and translation into tangible business outcomes. Join us as we welcome Tas Hirani, Global Director of Enablement, Aquant to the studio. We’ll address the ways in which the evolution of service has significantly expanded or reprioritized the role of service leaders, and discuss three critical actions service leaders must take to succeed in this new era of service leadership. Drawing on more than a decade of experience working with service organizations worldwide, Tas shares practical insights on how today's leaders can evolve from operational managers into strategic business leaders.

June 5, 2026Episode 10639 min

EP106 - AI and the New Frontline: Rethinking Technician Enablement in Service w/ Leila Rookstool, ServiceTitan

Traditional training models are struggling to keep pace with modern service demands. Service environments are growing more complex, and asset sophistication continues to rise, while organizations are facing mounting pressure to prepare technicians faster without sacrificing quality, safety, or customer experience. At the same time, experienced workers are retiring, workforce expectations are evolving, and frontline teams are being asked to solve more advanced problems earlier in their careers. Join us as we welcome Leila Rookstool, Senior Industry Advisor – Commercial for ServiceTitan to the studio. Together, we’ll examine how AI-powered guidance, diagnostics, and knowledge access are helping organizations accelerate onboarding, shorten training timelines, and enable technicians to troubleshoot and resolve issues with greater speed and confidence. The discussion will also explore the evolving role of the technician in the AI era, including how organizations can support continuous learning, improve technician engagement, and create career paths that encourage long-term retention. Leila Rookstool is a Senior Industry Advisor, Commercial, with more than 13 years of experience helping service organizations modernize operations, scale growth, and strengthen commercial service execution. A fourth-generation trades professional, Leila combines deep industry roots with expertise in end-to-end commercial service workflows, service sales strategy, estimating, and service innovation. Her career includes leadership roles within a Comfort Systems USA subsidiary and later at the corporate level, where she supported enterprise-wide service growth and technology adoption initiatives before serving as Vice President of Sales and Service for the Southeast region, overseeing organizations representing approximately $250 million in annual service revenue. She later transitioned into consulting, helping contractors align technology strategy with operational performance, before joining ServiceTitan, where she now advises contractors on scaling service operations with confidence.

June 5, 2026Episode 10539 min

EP105 - How Video Intelligence Turns Service Expertise into Scalable AI Knowledge w/ Thomas Cottereau, SightCall

What happens when critical service expertise exists only in the minds of a few veteran technicians? As experienced workers retire and service complexity increases, organizations are struggling to scale expertise across the workforce fast enough to meet rising service demands. Join us for the next inService Podcast Live as Service Council research and real-world examples reveal how video intelligence is emerging as a powerful new layer in AI-driven service operations — helping organizations capture expert knowledge, transform it into scalable visual intelligence, and make it accessible across the enterprise. Thomas Cottereau , CEO of SightCall , joins host Gerardo Pelayo, Ph.D. to discuss how service organizations are evolving beyond basic remote assistance and using video to operationalize expertise at scale. From ride-alongs and technician training to AI-generated tutorials, contextual guidance, and accelerated onboarding, the conversation will explore how organizations are reducing the skills gap while creating faster, more scalable paths to service excellence.

May 21, 2026Episode 10433 min

EP104 - The 5 Ps of Service Transformation: A Blueprint for Becoming the Benchmark w/ Emrah Ercan, Hitachi

What does it take to become the benchmark in service? Join us on Thursday, May 7th at 10am EST, as we welcome Emrah Ercan, VP of Service – North America at Hitachi Energy. He’ll share his firsthand experience transforming a traditionally reactive service organization into a proactive, digitally enabled lifecycle partner. Drawing on lessons from the field, he unpacks the critical elements behind that shift - aligning people, process, platform, and parts, all anchored by a clear sense of purpose. If you're a service leader aiming for step-change, this episode offers a grounded, experience-driven look at what it really takes to get there. Emrah Ercan is Vice President of Service North America at Hitachi, with more than two decades of executive leadership experience across global industrial technology and services organizations. He specializes in building and scaling service businesses across large installed bases, combining field execution, commercial discipline, and digital enablement to improve asset reliability, availability, and lifecycle economics. As a global P&L leader, he has driven profitable growth, margin expansion, and international scaling while maintaining strong performance in reliability, quality, and safety. He specializes in the development of high-performing teams and service-led cultures.

May 21, 2026Episode 10335 min

EP103 - Executive in the Passenger Seat: A Ride Along with Service w/ Patrycja Sobera, Unisys

What happens when executive leadership steps out of the office and into the field? Gaining firsthand insight into the day-to-day realities of field technicians is essential to ensuring that strategy, technology, and execution are aligned where it matters most. Patrycja Sobera, SVP and GM, Digital Workplace Solutions at Unisys, shares first-hand insights from her own ride-along experience with a field technician. Together, we’ll unpack how frontline realities shape the success of tech investments, AI adoption, and service innovation. From the unexpected challenges onsite to redefining the role of the modern field engineer, this conversation highlights the critical importance of designing service strategies with the frontline, not just for them. We hope you’ll tune in to watch and share your own ride-along experiences and lessons learned with us! Patrycja Sobera is Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Workplace Solutions at Unisys, where she leads teams focused on modern, user-centric technology experiences that drive client success. An award-winning service delivery expert and recognized thought leader in Experience Level Agreement (XLA) delivery, she has over 20 years of experience transforming technology services across industries including banking, capital markets, and telecommunications. She was named one of HDI’s Top 25 Thought Leaders of 2024 and holds a Master’s degree in Modern Languages and French Literature from the University of Wroclaw.