The data that service technicians and after-sales employees collect on a daily basis is of great value to the entire company. In previous articles, you learned what sharing data across departmental boundaries can achieve. Now we will show you the long-term benefits of data monetization and digitalization in service and aftersales.
A recent predictive maintenance study analyzed that predictive maintenance reduced machine builders' maintenance and service costs by 17% while increasing revenue by 10%.
And that's just the beginning. Because there are other business models in "Service 4.0" besides predictive maintenance. The introduction of a spare parts store and the digitization of spare parts catalogs, for example, already enable significant increases in sales. On the one hand, this speeds up and simplifies the creation of spare parts catalogs. In addition, a digitally networked spare parts ecosystem facilitates the search for the right part and the subsequent ordering process.
The result: Convenient ordering around the clock and convenient and reliable order processing - these are not only guarantees of success in eCommerce, but also in the spare parts business. If you manage to implement these points, you increase the chance that customers will leave the competition behind in the future and boost your spare parts sales.
Digitization in service helps your after-sales team to better plan the assignments of service technicians in the field. and If as much data as possible on customers and their orders is available, field service employees have access at all times to important and up-to-date information that they need to complete an order. This optimizes the planning, execution and documentation of service orders.
Combined with Field Service Management (FSM) software and a digital spare parts catalog, after-sales data creates even more benefits. Machine builders thus receive a digital all-in-one solution that focuses on service - and not on the tedious search for information and the right spare parts.
The result: the combination of data, FSM and spare parts catalog increases efficiency in service and helps to solve problems faster. This also improves the important first time fix rate and ensures customer satisfaction.
Centralized and up-to-date data provides everything needed to improve the customer experience. If manufacturers succeed in "reading" their data correctly with data analytics, they are able to identify their customers' pain points, for example. At the same time, they also get to know their own machines and systems even better thanks to usage data.
The result: information about how customers work with their own machines and systems is valuable for product optimization and improving their own service offering. This means that nothing stands in the way of digitization in service and after-sales.
Monetizing data in after-sales service not only requires the development of new business models such as subscription models. It also requires tools that make data analyzable in the first place. The advantage: Systems such as ERP software or service information systems for machine and plant builders set manufacturers up for the future.
The result: Modern software for data analysis and use can not only be linked to other tools in the company. It also helps manufacturers respond more quickly to trends and technological developments. This makes remote services, digital simulations or a Digital Information Twin possible, for example. For service technicians, this makes it possible to work in a completely new and even more efficient way.
Digitization in service and after-sales is not only important for manufacturers in terms of monetizing data. It also brings significant benefits to plant operators. The Predictive Maintenance Study 2021 clearly showed this: Downtimes at customers whose machines are monitored and maintained predictively have already been reduced by 18%.
The result: in terms of costs, this is an enormous gain. According to a report by Senseye, unplanned downtime at manufacturing companies results in 27 hours of downtime per month - almost an entire day of production is lost. In monetary terms, plant operators lose over €8,000 per minute as a result.
Do you want to finally benefit from all these advantages? In the last part of this article series, you will receive recommendations for action and tips to soon be the master of your data and stabilize your sales with monetized data.
