August 19, 2026
24-7 Members Hub • Leadership Xchange Groups • Service & Warranty Lifecycle
WHEN DOES DATA BECOME FORESIGHT?
Service and warranty organizations are not short on data. The harder question is whether teams can connect that information early enough to improve a decision, prevent a larger issue and strengthen customer support.
This week’s CONNECT brings that question to life through Valmont Industries and Tavant’s real-world early-warning case study.
It also shares a first-time Summit attendee’s perspective, introduces six more leaders joining the 2026 Service & Warranty Lifecycle Summit, presents the AI OPPORTUNITY MAP and examines Xchange group perspectives on internal alignment in supplier recovery.
TURNING DATA INTO FORESIGHT
How Valmont Is Redefining Warranty and Field Support With Tavant
Across the service and warranty ecosystem, organizations are not struggling with too little data. They are struggling to turn fragmented information into timely, actionable insight.
At the 2025 Summit, Katie Claessens, Global Warranty Manager at Valmont Industries, and Samantha Horton, Enterprise Business Architect at Tavant, shared how Valmont is connecting warranty, quality, engineering and field-support data to identify emerging issues earlier.
The case study explored a move from reactive warranty processes toward proactive intelligence through:
• Unified data lakes that reduce fragmented information
• Warranty insight that engineering teams can use
AI-driven early-warning signals that surface quality issues sooner
• Stronger collaboration across warranty, quality, engineering, field support and dealers
The goal is not simply to collect more data. It is to give the right teams earlier visibility so they can act before an issue reaches more growers, dealers or customers.
A FIRST-TIME SUMMIT PERSPECTIVE
“This was my first warranty summit in my eight years in the field, and it was eye-opening. I’d searched for something like this early in my career and never found anything comparable. Hearing speakers voice the same ideas, concerns, and roadblocks I’ve faced made me realize I’m not alone in these challenges. I’ll definitely be back for future summits and am excited to join the Xchange working groups.”
Global Warranty Manager, Valmont Industries
The value of the Summit is not limited to what happens on stage. It comes from hearing peers describe familiar challenges, comparing approaches and recognizing that difficult service and warranty questions do not have to be solved in isolation.
6 MORE LEADERS JOIN 6th ANNUAL SUMMIT
The 2026 Service & Warranty Lifecycle Summit speaker community continues to grow with six additional leaders:
- Ben Bergman — Director of Customer Service, Crown Equipment
- Justin Brookman — Director, Technology Policy, Consumer Reports
- Uma Boddapati — Senior Warranty Manager, Sensata
- Arnon Shafir — VP Data Intelligence & AI, Upstream
- Jimmy Bynum — CEO, Garde Solutions
- Eric Bloink — Warranty Performance Manager, Interior and Exterior, General Motors
Their experience expands the conversation across customer service, consumer technology policy, warranty management, data intelligence and AI, financial products, program design and warranty performance.
MEET THE SPEAKERS
https://www.mapconnected.com/vehicle-service-and-warranty-summit/
14 CONFIRMED VOICES ACROSS THE LIFECYCLE — AND WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED
Together, these fourteen voices reflect the connected nature of the Service & Warranty Lifecycle. Customer service, product quality, warranty operations, technology, policy, data and financial performance all influence one another.
- Daryl Kreskowiak Director North America Warranty Recovery | Stellantis
- Graham Swan Executive Director Global Warranty | Cummins
- James Kiriazes Director Customer Quality Engineering | Bridgestone
- Jordan Tauriainen Senior Director of Global Automotive Go-To-Market | ServiceNow
- Tim Turvey Former Global Vice President Customer Care & Aftersales | General Motors
- Peter Dentler Warranty Program Manager Lead | Mack Trucks Volvo Trucks North America
- Bryan Tracy Warranty Manager | Slate Auto
- Wayne Mitchell Global Senior Vice President Business Development | Sedgwick
- Ben Bergman Director of Customer Service | Crown Equipment
- Justin Brookman Director Technology Policy | Consumer Reports
- Uma Boddapati Senior Warranty Manager | Sensata
- Arnon Shafir VP Data Intelligence & AI | Upstream
- Jimmy Bynum CEO | Garde Solutions
- Eric Bloink Warranty Performance Manager Interior and Exterior | General Motors
AI OPPORTUNITY MAP: 10 HIGH-IMPACT PROJECTS
Stop Guessing Where AI Fits. Build a Defensible Action Plan.
AI is already reshaping the Service & Warranty Lifecycle, but not every project deserves the same investment, urgency or resources.
The AI Opportunity Map, developed by MAPconnected with Mike Roberts, President of MR Insights, gives service and warranty leaders a practical framework for deciding where to begin.
Inside, you will find 10 actionable AI opportunities across claims, diagnostics, technical assistance, field service and customer experience.
Each project is evaluated against five critical decision factors:
Potential return on investment
Ease of implementation
Data availability
Organizational readiness
Strategic value
Use the OPPORTUNITY MAP to compare potential projects, identify realistic starting points, support internal investment discussions and build a phased AI roadmap aligned with your organization’s capabilities.
This is not another report about what AI might eventually do.
It is a decision-making tool designed to help you determine what your organization can do next.
MAPconnected members: $495
Non-members: $695
THE RECOVERY CHAIN: WHY INTERNAL ALIGNMENT MATTERS
The third Purchasing & Supplier Cost Sharing Xchange Group meetup brought together leaders from Stellantis, General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Cummins, Logisnext, Volkswagen and Bridgestone to benchmark internal stakeholder alignment and its effect on supplier recovery.
The central question was simple: what happens when the recovery team knows what should be recovered, but engineering, purchasing, quality, finance, legal and parts-return teams are not aligned?
A key takeaway was that recovery begins long before a decision reaches the supplier. Failure identification, parts analysis, root-cause work and technical responsibility all shape the eventual outcome.
When those steps are disconnected, recovery teams can be held accountable for results they did not control.
The group highlighted six practical priorities:
- Align objectives across engineering, quality, purchasing, finance and warranty.
- Educate stakeholders on how their decisions affect recovery.
- Connect root cause to recovery, particularly around No Trouble Found findings and parts analysis.
- Clarify roles and escalation paths.
- Use data and financial impact to make consequences visible.
- Build recovery expectations into supplier agreements from the start.
Designed By Warranty Leaders For Warranty Leaders
October 19-21 | Westin Southfield Detroit
Reserve your tickets now before 8/31 when the ticket prices increase again!
Bring your team and benefit from 25% discount.
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