New opportunities: Don’t miss out on these Aftersales & Service Trends

The year 2020 is almost over, and many companies are already busy planning their strategies and budgets for the upcoming year. Don’t miss out on the following 4 trends, which you better consider in your planning, to remain permanently successful in the Aftersales & Service area.

The importance of Aftersales & Service in the capital goods industry

For several years it is well known, Aftersales & Service contribute to industrial companies’ overall success. Excellent customer service has a positive effect on the margin and overall sales, but it also strengthens the company’s market position. Due to machines and plants’ long service lifetime, there are a large number of possible service options and spare parts sales.

Digitization as a success factor

Although companies have been talking about digitization for decades, only around 12% of all companies in the industrial goods sector are digitized. Most companies use at least ERP, CRM, and field service management systems in their Aftersales & Service departments. Nevertheless, customer communication is still done via fax, phone, WhatsApp, or email. These digitization gaps lead to additional work, longer processing times, higher process costs, and, as a result, lower customer satisfaction.

Companies need to keep up with current technological developments: Innovative service products and digital services are already being used and appreciated by the customers.

To stay globally competitive, you should add these service solutions to your portfolio in 2021:

• Digital Workflows
• Remote Services
• Predictive Maintenance
• Electronic Spare Parts Catalog

Trend #1: Digital Workflows

Digital processes are suitable for daily and special tasks and help companies analyze and accelerate their work processes. Employees can be equipped with mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets and thus always have access to work logs, instructions, checklists, documentation & more. Technicians can reduce walking distances between the factory, warehouses, and the office and save valuable time. During inspections, for instance, the digital checklists help not to overlook any of the necessary checks. They also support reliable digital documentation on-site. No important information will be lost in between different shifts.

Internally, digital workflows offer advantages in terms of time, costs, and personnel. You can stand out with your fast, competent, and solution-oriented service approach on the customer side.

Trend # 2: Remote Services

Maintaining machines and plants remotely by using digital tools is another upcoming trend for 2021. In our opinion, there is no need for complex solutions such as data glasses. Customers are often satisfied with simple solutions, such as booking a (video) support call directly via a smartphone application. So, they can get their machines and plants up and running again quickly. There are also promising mobile solutions for finding and identifying spare parts on a smartphone.

Trend # 3: Predictive Maintenance

Predictive Maintenance has already been known for a few years. This trend will continue in 2021. It is no longer enough for customers if machines and plants get repaired when they are broken. Customers are aiming for new technologies and systems to predict and avoid possible downtimes by maintaining them proactively. Predictive Maintenance saves costs – no expensive last-minute spare parts and component purchases and reduced pressure on maintenance technicians when replacing parts.

Trend # 4: Electronic spare parts catalog

Electronic spare parts catalogs give customers the possibility to access spare parts information, including pictures and prices of the parts, 24/7 and completely location-independent. In addition to the customers who benefit from shorter search times and simplified orders, manufacturers also have many advantages. Examples are a central data organization in the catalog database connected to data sources (ERP, EAM, etc.), automation of data import, only a single database for all media, multiple flexible uses of the data material, etc.

Implementation – one tool that fits it all

If you would like to know how you can implement all four trends quickly and easily with the help of Partium, we recommend downloading the full guide here or get in touch with us directly.