Finding the Service Value in Your Connected Strategy

With all of the news and excitement around the Internet of Things (IoT), have you had a moment to pause and take a look at everything that’s going on around you? Have you thought about where your service organization will see the most benefit in connecting products and service or how other companies are taking advantage of their connected opportunities?

Some of you may already have a connected service strategy in place and you may be struggling with how to execute. For others who are deep into the process of building your company’s connected service strategy, it’s crucial to think through the answers to these questions and understand which connected capabilities make the most sense for your organization to implement and offer to your customers.

There’s no doubt in the market right now that using IoT to enable product connectivity will continue to determine many important business model and strategy changes as we move forward into the future. The technology available has a remarkable ability to rapidly improve productivity, efficiency, and the overall way we do business in an infinite number of ways. Organizations are now recognizing the potential to develop capabilities that we never knew were possible, causing an incredible impact on the interactions and services delivered to customers.

“With smart, connected products, service technicians can obtain all “first pass” information remotely, and may even be able to perform the repair remotely if the failure can be remedied via software. The savings associated with reduced service calls can be substantial… These approaches allow a manufacturer to transform its service business from reactive to proactive and create substantial gains in both service and operational efficiency.” states Jim Heppelmann, PTC’s CEO, in a recent interview with Enterprise IoT.

Additionally, Jim discusses an extremely valuable point with regards to the many connected capabilities available for your service strategy. It is necessary to identify which capabilities will bring the most value to your company, not to simply implement a capability just because you can. When considering your strategy, you must keep this in mind as your ultimate goal is most likely reflected in the feedback you receive from your customers. If you approach your strategy in the right way by first determining where your connected service focus should be and then implementing those that make the most sense, customer satisfaction should come naturally as your service delivery will improve with your connectivity capabilities.

Today we can start to collect metrics on the impact of a connected service strategy. In the past, the many benefits could not be measured because of a lack of available data and information. We are beginning to see proof of the benefits from a connected solution in almost every aspect of an organization’s service strategy. Customer satisfaction, first-time fix rates, remote fixes, and prevention of machine downtime, just to name a few benefits, all reveal the endless opportunities that are possible with IoT.

According to a recent survey of the marketplace conducted by Strategies for Growth^SM, service organizations that are currently optimizing a connected products strategy are experiencing a 37% higher likelihood of achieving profit margins of at least 30%. This is only one of the economic benefits that accompany business changes as a connected strategy is adopted and optimized. So, it’s no surprise that now is the time to not only connect your products with a smart, connected strategy, but also to link your service people, products and technology across your organization. These necessary steps will enable your organization to take advantage of all possible connected service benefits.

Have you started to discover and measure the potential value that your service organization can achieve from IoT connectivity?

If you are interested in service trends, best practices and technology solutions from PTC and our partners, you should attend PTC Live Global featuring the Service Exchange, June 7-10, in Nashville, Tennessee.