Hi there,
Many machine builders who have invested in their own IIoT capabilities are struggling to sell the value from these services to their customers.
Selling digital services is not the same as selling machines. Doing so requires a certain level of organizational change.
This edition is the last one of a 3-part series where we’re going to delve into the key organizational challenges machine builders face when launching a digital product. Each edition will cover one challenge.
By drawing inspiration from SaaS companies (my background is in SaaS), we’ll look into how you can adopt best practices that are proven in the digital services space versus trying to reinvent the wheel.
Part 3: Elevating machine connectivity to a strategic decision
The machine builder of the future is a service provider. Developing after-sales services through machine connectivity empowers machine builders to deliver better support, optimize machine performance, and enhance the overall customer experience.
Shifting away from the “build, sell and forget” model
The very foundation for these services is the physical connection with your customer’s machines. Whether it's for basics like remote access, or developing more proactive services based on machine data: without this connection, nothing is possible.
Yet some machine builders view machine connectivity as a feature rather than a strategic imperative. This short-term perspective leads to treating machine connectivity as an optional add-on. They allow customers to easily opt-out resulting in missed opportunities to deliver remote support and develop data-driven services.
Read more: The 5 reasons why machine builders struggle with machine connectivity
How you can leverage connectivity
Just like in SaaS there are two ways machine builders can leverage connectivity to stay connected with customers throughout their lifecycle:
- Through continuous engagement: You can maintain connectivity with customers throughout the lifecycle of their machines, providing proactive maintenance, remote support, and upgrades to enhance performance and address evolving needs.
- By leveraging data insights: You can collect and analyze data from connected machines to gain valuable insights into equipment performance, usage trends, and maintenance needs, allowing them to optimize operations and provide personalized support to customers.
Staying connected as a strategy
By leveraging connectivity to stay connected with customers throughout their lifecycle, machine builders can enhance customer relationships, drive business growth, and differentiate themselves in the market.
Thanks to enhanced connectivity, machine builders can anticipate customer needs, minimize downtime, and drive continuous improvement, ultimately contributing to increased efficiency, productivity, and sustainability in manufacturing operations.
Key-takeaways
- The machine builder of the future is a service provider and machine connectivity is the foundation for those services.
- Staying connected to your machines and customers is therefore a strategic decision, and not just an operational one based on the need for remote access.
- Machine builders can leverage connectivity to stay connected with customers throughout their lifecycle, and strengthen customer relationships.
I hope this three part series has inspired you and your colleagues.
In two weeks I’ll be back in your inbox to talk about security and how end-customers hesitate to accept connectivity due to fears of potential vulnerabilities, data breaches, and cyber attacks.
Thanks for reading this. I really appreciate it.
- Steven