Are your colleagues in other departments already benefiting from aftersales data? If not, it's time to act! This is your opportunity to become a knowledge ambassador. Here you can find out what your managers and employees in aftersales, service, and maintenance can do to make their information smart and keep your company competitive.
A recent German study has revealed a dilemma that is faced by many companies, including representatives of the mechanical and plant engineering sector: Over 40 percent of all their internal information is stuck in data silos.
It’s true that the data quality of many organizations has improved slightly in recent years. However, in 2023, 65% of the companies surveyed still complained that data silos restrict the use of information throughout the company.
Data silos occur when information is stored in systems that are not networked with one another. There are many reasons for this, ranging from rigid departmental boundaries and strict security requirements to established structures from the pre-digital era.
For a long time, there was no urgent reason for machine manufacturers to break up data silos. Today, however, data silos stand in the way of digital transformation. If information remains unconnected and trapped in data silos, this has far-reaching consequences:
The digitalization of information is progressing at the departmental level. Teams in marketing, sales, and design have understood the importance of digital information. However, company-wide added value that secures the competitiveness of the entire organization in the long term only arises when information is integrated across all departments.
It’s not enough to collect information at the departmental level and store it digitally. The next important step is to bundle it, network it bidirectionally, and use it strategically in all areas of the company.
This creates a knowledge pipeline that benefits all teams equally and forms the basis for data economy in the company — i.e. the use of data as a value-adding resource.
This will enable your company to become part of a larger digital ecosystem in the future — for example, as part of the Manufacturing-X initiative, in which machine manufacturers will be able to use and share data across the entire production and supply chain in the future. The prerequisite for this is smart information.
Companies already have large amounts of data at their disposal. However, big data doesn’t always mean smart data. Information only becomes smart when it is put into context. For example, if data records from marketing are compared with aftersales data records, synergies are created that help both teams to become more efficient and reduce their workload.
In order to create synergies, data records must be combined, duplicates must be eliminated, and correlations must be visualized. This is nothing new for many employees in aftersales & service. Technical editorial teams, for example, have long relied on consolidating information from departments such as development, design, and sales.
The teams responsible for aftersales and service, as well as the creators of spare parts catalogs, can become smart information pioneers. They can enable the employees responsible for technical writing, marketing and sales, training, support, logistics or product management to use the power of smart information holistically.
Aftersales teams generate great added value for themselves and others when they network across departments and promote the exchange of knowledge and information.
Information is often stuck in decentralized software solutions. The first step is therefore to bring it together in a central location so that every employee can work with it. Managers and employees in aftersales & service contribute to this process by
Your team sits at the interface between various processes and departments and is therefore the ideal technical point of contact for everyone who requires information. You can do the following:
You can make information mesh as smoothly as cogwheels. By linking data from your editorial system, your spare parts catalogs, and software systems such as Quanos SIS.one, your department will also become more productive.
The data economy offers important opportunities for the German economy. The Federation of German Industries (BDI) forecasts that its value creation potential may be as high as 425 billion euros by 2025. If machine manufacturers also want to benefit from this potential, they need smart information.
For example, they need to enable new business models — especially in aftersales, which is taking on the role of a revenue driver in times of stagnating sales of new machines. With smart information, the path to Service 4.0 is no longer far away. Smart data
When information is networked, valuable specialist knowledge flows seamlessly through all departments of a company. A great deal of data flows directly into the machines and systems or into interactive step-by-step instructions instead of being stuck in the heads of prospective retirees. This enables machine manufacturers to respond to the shortage of skilled workers and the digital transformation.
KAMPF, a supplier of slitting and winding machines, demonstrates how the networking of information works in practice. This customer has developed the IIoT service platform the@vanced. All of the data about the company’s machine performance is bundled centrally in this platform.
The company's specialist departments can find a wealth of information in the platform, including service information and important customer data in addition to data from machine operation. To this end, the@vanced combines information from PDM, ERP, and CRM and makes it available to the sales department, for example, for improved customer communication. That’s pretty smart!
When you leave data silos behind and work towards more data sharing, you can have a network of information that offers your team and other departments real added value.
Smart information that can be viewed by anyone at any time gives your company a decisive competitive edge. We’ll be happy to help you make your information more accessible. Contact us now — without any further obligations.