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Clarity

Dave Paolicelli

Vienna, Virginia

I help organizations transform their operations, strategic position, and culture. I specialize in enabling transformation through technology and also have done a considerable amount of traditional business transformation work (identifying and selecting strategies, aligning processes with mission/vision/goals, positioning for innovation, etc.) over the past 20+ years. I founded Vivakos in 2001, an open source systems integrator, which was acquired in 2009.

www.linkedin.com/in/paolicelli

$3.33/min

Dave donates to National MS Society ($111.60)

3 Calls

13 Reviews

24 minutes
Avg. call

Ideation SaaS Business Strategy Early-stage Startups Cloud Applications Professional Services Enterprise Content Management Google Apps Business Transformation Enterprise Collaboration

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Evaluating, Selecting, & Using Collaborative Tools

I've been doing this for a while. 9 years were spent building a company focused on this space. I also launched the collaboration practice for the world's leading Google for Work partner.

Packaging Professional Services Offerings

A lot of consulting firms, and other professional services, tend to market their services as skills and capabilities. An alternative that makes sense in many cases, is to bundle (package) those capabilities into discreet, well-defined service offerings that meet very specific challenges. This can improve targeting, win-rates, profitability, and grow your sales pipeline. I help with this process.

Formulating Business Strategies and Go-to-Market Tactics.

I have 20+ years of experience to draw upon as both a management consultant and entrepreneur. I get very excited about ideation and strategy. On the Go-to-market side, packaging professional services offerings is a specific topic in which I would consider myself an expert.

Answers 2
Reviews 13

Answers

Dave Paolicelli answered

What is the process of productizing a service? Also what are some good examples of productized services that have scaled?

I like to use the term “packaged” services, but I think it’s essentially the same thing you’re referring to when you say “productized” services. I think Mark’s suggestion of H&R Block is a great example.

A good packaged professional services offering has these characteristics:
1. Addresses a specific business challenge or set of related challenges that is experienced by many (or enough)
2. Service delivery follows a more prescriptive approach
3. Accomplishable within a known, finite timeframe
4. Can be offered at a fixed price
5. Has defined outcomes/work products for the buyer

The process of packaging a service is, roughly:
1. Identify a set of capabilities or services you deliver (or can) that are in relatively high-demand and target a common challenge
2. Define a standard, repeatable process for addressing the chosen business challenge along with the specific work products (interim and delivered)
3. Decompose this process based on the main payoff events to the customer to define one or more packaged service offerings
4. Identify prospect characteristics and specific candidates/targets
5. Market the service offering and test your pricing model
6. Deliver, learn, and improve

There’s obviously a lot more behind each line item and it isn't necessarily linear. This is a favorite topic of mine. So, reach out via Clarity if you’d like to discuss!

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Professional Services

Product Development

Product Marketing

Dave Paolicelli answered

How do we decide which cloud applications to run our business on?

Trying to match up your needs with available cloud apps is a common challenge, especially if you have hardened requirements that may be very unique or tailored to your organization. In that case, barring a 1:1 fit around each discrete app, you'd want to include configuration flexibility (to include solid APIs and/or integration add-ons) in your assessment of potential tools.

You'll definitely need to go through the grunt work of establishing a set of selection criteria and evaluate your potential solutions against that criteria, as well as factoring in the tradeoffs associated with loosening "requirements".

This can be a pretty complex exercise, so you may need outside assistance. But, I'd start by determining what your true critical requirements are and examining whether you can find any 1:1 fits for requirement categories. It sounds like flexibility in app configuration and the ability to develop modular extensions to the app would be important selection criteria (in order to accommodate tailoring options). For capabilities where you find no (or a very weak) fit, you'd want to be able to integrate with apps that you build on a solid, compatible platform-as-a-service offering.

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Cloud Applications

SaaS

Reviews

Dave is very knowledgeable about cloud computing and really went above and beyond to make sure I had the answers I needed to move my organization forward. I would definitely use him again any time I need to advice about cloud services.

Mike Rucker Source: Clarity

I worked very closely with Dave while he was at VRI, and on and off since that time. Dave Paolicelli is one of the most innovative and insightful people with whom I have worked. He has a mind for recognizing core business problems and the ability to bring strong technology solutions to the real issue at hand. I could not recommend someone more!!

Neal Levene Source: LinkedIn

Dave Paolicelli is a creative, analytic, and pioneering thought leader in the tech industry. I had the pleasure of working for Dave while he was at Cloud Sherpas where he led the Collaboration practice. He was able to carve a completely new path for the company by creating service packages and working externally to build awareness around the new services. Today we benefit greatly from his accomplishments. As a leader, he is well organized and focuses on the delivery of high quality services. He can easily discern client needs in a consultative manner, and present the challenges and solutions in a simple and effective way. He can also detect systemic issues across many industries and present frameworks for addressing those challenges. Along with those skills, his jovial attitude and strong work ethic make him a strong leader for any company!

Mariana McCready Source: LinkedIn

Dave is a fantastic individual who creates a dynamic and enjoyable work environment and is an understanding boss. It was a pleasure to work for him.

Richard Żak Source: LinkedIn

David was a great manager and mentor during the 3 years that I worked with him. His door was always open to his team and he encouraged their feedback. His visionary and hardworking attitude inspired his team to try new things and work hard to overcome challenges. I highly recommend him.

Niloufar Marandiz Source: LinkedIn

David is an engaging manager who likes to keep himself and his team up to date with emerging technologies. He is always on the look for opportunities to make improvements to existing solutions and processes. I have really enjoyed working for him for 5 years and have learned a lot from him. He would be a great asset to any firm.

Ismail Seyfi Source: LinkedIn

I joined Vivakos, Inc in 2002 because I knew his leadership and vision he showed in the previous job would give me an exciting and interesting opportunity. While serving as the technology architect in Vivakos, Inc, I got to know him better both personally and professionally. He demonstrated a unparalleled vision on where he wanted to take us and guided the team to build a technology platform that was light years ahead of the time. It seems the market is still catching up with what he envisioned years ago.

Not only he made the company successful financially but also created a fun environment that made people highly motivated and enthusiastic about the work, which is hard to maintain without a strong leadership, integrity and character. One of the key reasons for this success was he consistently encouraged everyone to collabore, participate in key decision making which gave everyone a strong sense of ownership and accountability. Not to mention, his deep understanding of both technology trends and business acumen really made us believe in his vision and got us excited about the work we were doing.

I would highly recommend David for a senior executive role.

Yujin Kim Source: LinkedIn

David created a comfortable while efficient and effective work environment at Vivakos by hiring people with the right skills and personalities and setting a tone for teamwork and collegiality. He and the entire team made what could easily have been a very high-stress job enjoyable, providing even more motivation to work hard and produce results. While working at Vivakos I saw the company grow and succeed according to David's plans. They were specific enough to provide direction and motivation but flexible enough to handle the rapid changes a small company would expect to face. I was extremely fortunate to work for David and with the Vivakos team, and only my deep desire to do scientific research took me away.

Todd Gillette Source: LinkedIn

Dave provides a great mix of practicality and business acumen as a business partner. In each instance where I've worked with him, he has provided creative solutions that meet not only the budget parameters, but more importantly reflect his understanding of our target audiece and how they interact with technology. I highly recommend Dave if you are looking for someone who has extensive experience with emerging technologies and the acumen to know how and when to apply.

Stephanie Christopher Source: LinkedIn

I had the opportunity to work with Dave on multiple client engagements. He is a friendly, result orientated person and capable of managing multiple complex projects and at the sametime very customer-focused. He gives enough freedom, latitude and opportunity to grow and prove oneself. I enjoyed working with him.

Jisy Joseph Source: LinkedIn

I worked closely with David's firm, Vivakos, when I was employed by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. I found him to be engaged, bright and innovative. Throughout a difficult RFP process, David was patient and resourceful, placing the needs of the organization well above his desire to secure the contract. I would hire David again, without reservation.

Kelly Clark Source: LinkedIn

Member since May 2012