What is the challenge?

Maintaining customer loyalty requires the ability to nurture a close relationship long after a sale is completed. The problem for many suppliers is that their contact with customers often becomes less frequent over time.

When a machine is first delivered, the supplier knows more about the product than the customer and spends time teaching them how to use the equipment. But as the customer’s knowledge and familiarity with a machine increases, they require less support. And eventually, the customer knows their individual piece of machinery better than the supplier, who is not working with it every day.

So if something goes wrong and a machine needs repairs, the customer may now have to teach the supplier about their particular machine – creating an impression of poor service. When a warranty expires, the customer may then choose to use a local repair service in the future rather than extending an agreement with the supplier.

What is the solution?

Every supplier dreams of creating life-long relationships with customers and being able to provide a service that boosts productivity for their clients. But how do we get there? The key is to have an efficient way of communicating and exchanging information that adds value.

By using solutions made possible by connected devices, data science and machine learning, the supplier can get instant feedback from machines around the world that highlights possible issues before they happen and give exact error reports when something goes wrong.

That way, they maintain the same degree of knowledge of an individual machine as the end-user, leading to a level of support and service that cannot be matched by any competitor.

One can even go as far as offering a performance or outcomes based contract (i.e. servitization) with the client promising productivity levels matching their targets and ultimately help them reach their goals.

How can TECHNIA help?

With the help of our R&D center, OptimData, which focuses on developing applications based on connected devices, data science and machine learning, TECHNIA now offers an innovative new application called ProductInUse. Its ultimate goal is to help suppliers transform their business of product selling into a business of value-added services.

The application, which is delivered to the client, gives the supplier a real-time overview of how their machines around the world are performing, thus helping suppliers understand their customers and the usage of the machine they have bought. It enables them to build new innovative service offers tailored to the market segmentation of the supplier´s expertise.

The application will also help customers get the best out of their production systems, thus increasing their loyalty to your brand.

ProductInUse can be branded under a supplier’s own name, giving an added competitive edge when it comes to aftermarket sales.

The ability to guarantee a certain productivity level and address any problems quicker will help create loyal customers who will return even when a warranty period expires.

 

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