Don’t Get Eaten by the Robots: A New Era for Service Businesses

In this episode of Leap to Scale, Justin Davis and Greg Ross-Munro explain why service businesses are at a critical inflection point—and why now is the right time to rethink how they grow. They explore how shifts in technology, culture, and customer expectations are opening new opportunities to increase margins, scale beyond headcount, and deliver services in fundamentally different ways. This conversation sets the stage for the podcast, outlining who it’s for, what problems it tackles, and how service companies can stay ahead of disruption instead of reacting to it.

Episode notes

Why service businesses make up such a large portion of the economy—and why they’re especially vulnerable to disruption
How recent advances in technology (including AI) are changing what’s possible for efficiency and scale
The role of cultural shifts in technology adoption and customer comfort
Three levers for service business growth: revenue, cost reduction, and customer experience
What it means to break the “headcount ceiling” in service companies
Who Leap to Scale is for and what listeners can expect from future episodes

Episode Transcript

Don’t Get Eaten by the Robots: A New Era for Service Businesses

Justin Davis:
Hey, welcome in. This is the Leap to Scale podcast. This is the podcast where we help service businesses and companies grow beyond their boundaries and use technology for explosive growth. My name is Justin Davis. I am a user experience designer and engineer for the past 25 years, and I am joined here by Greg Ross-Munro.

Greg Ross-Munro:
I am Greg Ross-Munro. I am a reformed engineer and spend a lot of time doing service work for people. So hopefully we can have a podcast that is actually useful to human beings.

Justin Davis:
There are a lot of podcasts out there. This is probably the third or fourth wave of podcasts at this point. So the question is why now? Why another podcast? Why do people want to listen to us talk about this? What is so important about doing a podcast about accelerating service businesses right now?

Greg Ross-Munro:
Service businesses are everywhere. Almost everything is a service unless you are a pure product company, and even then you are often still delivering a service in some way. That is a huge percentage of the economy.

I think services are especially ripe for disruption right now with technology. This is not about jumping completely on the AI bandwagon, but we have already seen how technology has disrupted things like grocery delivery with Instacart.

If you are an attorney or running a professional services firm, delivering advice, contracts, or legal counsel, those areas are now ripe for innovation as well. If people are not paying attention and trying to stay one step ahead, there is a real risk that profitable service businesses get wiped out by smaller teams using new tools.

Justin Davis:
Yeah, I agree. We are in a unique moment in technology. The last time we saw a shift like this was probably the rise of the World Wide Web in the mid 1990s.

What is different now is that recent advances, including generative AI, have opened up a broader conversation about automation and efficiency. Businesses have been trying to do more with less for decades, but suddenly there are things that are possible now that were not possible even 18 or 24 months ago.

This feels like turning the page into a new era of technology. AI is part of that, but there are other technological advances happening in parallel that matter just as much.

Greg Ross-Munro:
Culture plays a big role too. You are starting to hear people say “I will ChatGPT that” the same way they say “I will Google that.” When language shifts like that, it usually signals a larger cultural change.

People may not yet want AI fully delivering services like legal contracts or medical advice, but they are already comfortable using it for things like meal planning, code generation, and code review. Over time, that comfort grows.

Justin Davis:
That cultural shift controls how quickly technology diffuses into society. It is one thing to be able to do something technically, and another for customers to be ready for it.

If you want to lead rather than react, it is important to think ahead of where that comfort level is going. The culture will catch up, and being prepared instead of surprised is a competitive advantage.

Greg Ross-Munro:
Even in places where disruption is not immediate, technology still creates opportunities to increase profitability. Service businesses can grow by adding headcount, or they can reduce costs and increase efficiency through automation, offshoring, nearshoring, or better tools.

The third piece is customer experience. How do you deliver better service and more attention? All three of those areas are changing because of technology.

Justin Davis:
That is a big part of what we want to explore on this show. We want to talk to business owners and operators who are actually doing this, not just theory.

For transparency, we do this work through a company called Sourcetoad. We help service businesses use technology to improve margins, efficiency, and customer experience.

Greg Ross-Munro:
So who should be listening? Service delivery is a broad category. It could be professional services, accounting firms, consulting companies, or even lawn services or road crews. Anyone delivering value through time and effort.

The people who will get the most value are those who can actually make change in an organization, especially owners and leaders.

Justin Davis:
One of the core challenges we will talk about is the headcount ceiling. Service businesses often hit a wall where revenue is directly tied to people and hours.

We want to explore how to break that relationship and scale beyond headcount so you can grow without simply adding more people.

Greg Ross-Munro:
And we want to keep this fun. This is not about doom and gloom. The robots are not at your door yet.

Justin Davis:
We are also going to talk about productizing services. How do you take what you already do and turn it into repeatable, scalable products?

Whether it is lawn care, pothole repair, or professional services, we want to give a fresh perspective on how value can be delivered in different ways.

Greg Ross-Munro:
If you run a business like this, or know someone who does, share the podcast with them. Let us know what topics you want us to cover.

Justin Davis:
If you want to be on the show and you have used technology to scale or productize a service business, we would love to talk to you.

Thanks for listening. Make sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts, leave a comment, and tell your friends. We will see you next time on Leap to Scale.