TSIA didn’t start with a product or a business plan. It began with a problem—one that no one else was solving.

In the 1990s, as services became an increasingly critical part of the tech industry’s revenue model, J.B. Wood noticed a major disconnect. While support and maintenance agreements generated significant profits, professional services were often running at a loss. Despite this, services were treated as an afterthought within product-driven companies—tacked on, underdeveloped, and poorly understood.

There was no go-to source of guidance on how to run a services business well. Not from the analysts. Not from the consultants. Not even from academic journals. So, Wood began asking the obvious question: Why wasn’t anyone helping these companies figure it out?

Key Takeaways

• TSIA was founded to fill a critical gap in the tech industry: the lack of data-driven guidance for running profitable services businesses.
• Built on real-world benchmarking and research, TSIA redefined what an industry association could be for services and support leaders.
• Today, TSIA continues to evolve, providing insights to executive leaders and AI-driven businesses that are shaping the future of technology services.

The Missing Blueprint for Technology Services Excellence

While leading a company that worked with service leaders at large tech firms, Wood repeatedly encountered the same challenges: inconsistent performance benchmarks, unclear best practices, and limited support for growing services into strategic revenue engines.

He began to envision a model where companies could come together to share data, learn from one another, and build a collective understanding of what “good” looked like for services. The idea was simple: treat services as a serious business function, and create the tools, frameworks, and benchmarks needed to improve it.

This thinking led him to a small organization called the Service and Support Professionals Association (SSPA). Though limited in size and scope at the time, it served as proof of concept. What if, instead of focusing just on individual support reps, the model was re-purposed to address the business needs of senior leaders across all types of B2B services?

Turning Vision Into Reality

To bring this idea to life, Wood knew he needed someone who could create real intellectual leadership—someone who had already thought deeply about the services space. That person was Thomas Lah.

Wood found Lah through a book recommendation and cold-called him from the road during a snowy trip in the early 2000s. At first, Lah wasn’t interested. He had seen his fair share of industry associations and wasn’t impressed by any of them.

“What Wood proposed was a very foreign concept,” Lah recalled. “I was completely underwhelmed by the industry associations I had seen.”

But Wood painted a bigger picture: this wouldn’t be a traditional association. It would be a data-backed, insight-driven organization that delivered real value through research and benchmarking. Slowly but surely, the idea started to take hold, and Lah joined the mission.

Together, they set out to build something new: a modern association designed for services leaders who wanted more than conversations over cocktails. They wanted the data and insight they needed to drive improved business outcomes.

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Building TSIA: The First Chapter

From the outset, TSIA has been focused on delivering practical, data-driven insights. That meant doing the hard work—knocking on doors, collecting metrics, and asking tough questions.

For many companies, the concept of an industry association for services sounded more like a networking club than a strategic asset. Early conversations were often met with polite support and modest checkbook offers. However, as Wood and Lah began to deliver real benchmarking data, adoption started to grow.

TSIA didn’t just gather people. It offered services leaders the tools they needed to answer performance questions, justify investments, and make informed decisions—things no other association had done at the time. What set TSIA apart was a clear and unwavering belief that data should guide decisions—a belief that became the foundation for everything to come.

What We Stand For

From its earliest days, TSIA has been guided by a few core principles that still define the organization today:

• Data over guesswork: Every insight is grounded in real-world performance metrics from actual companies.
• Actionable research: We don’t just identify trends—we provide guidance on how to address them.
• Service-first thinking: Services should be treated as a strategic growth engine, not a secondary add-on.

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Today’s TSIA: Evolving With the Industry

The technology industry has continued to change rapidly, with XaaS models, AI advancements, and evolving customer expectations reshaping how companies operate. And TSIA has kept pace every step of the way.

What hasn’t changed is the need for smart, strategic services leadership. The shift toward service-intensive business models has only made TSIA’s role more critical.

TSIA now supports a broad range of functions, including Customer Success, Managed Services, Education Services, CRO Council, Executive Leadership, Offering Management, Customer Growth and Renewal, Field Services, Professional Services, and Support Services. Through our benchmarking, research, and advisory services, we help companies address the most pressing questions facing their businesses today.

Looking Ahead: Expanding Our Impact

TSIA isn’t standing still. Our focus is expanding beyond operational leaders to reach executive teams and next-generation tech companies, including AI-native organizations redefining how services are delivered and monetized.

“Our biggest goal is to get all the lessons we've learned in front of CEOs, CFOs, and AI companies, because it's part of a bigger journey. The need for TSIA has never been greater. We have a lot to add, and we’re continuing to add value.”—J.B. Wood, President and CEO, TSIA.

As the industry evolves, TSIA remains committed to helping companies lead with confidence, grounded in data, focused on outcomes, and prepared for whatever comes next.

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TSIA was founded to solve real problems. It was built by people who saw a gap and decided to fill it, not with theory or buzzwords, but with meaningful insights and a commitment to helping others succeed.

If you lead a services or XaaS organization, this story is also your story. Because at its core, TSIA exists to help you perform better, grow smarter, and deliver lasting value to your customers.

And we’re just getting started.