12.15.21 -- Manufacturing - The Move To Servitization And Circularity

Customer expectations have shifted rapidly due to the pandemic. Combine this with the ongoing talent shortage, the wave of retiring baby boomers, and the growing complexity of equipment, and customer satisfaction ratings can feel like a constantly moving target.

Field service management software products help in planning, dispatching, and mobilizing users to job locations, providing installation, troubleshooting, or service for equipment and customers.

In Collierville, Tennessee, stormwater inspections relied on manually transcribing data from paper-based forms into a digitally managed database. When updates to the database form were needed, no one knew how to fix it, and the budget wouldn’t support hiring someone. An easy-to-use mobile data collection app supported a digital transformation of the inspection workflow, saving time, boosting data accuracy, and reducing inspection times more than 50 percent. 

A mobile workforce, as part of the broader global deskless workforce, comprises people who are on the move and may work at multiple locations, even in the course of a single day. With more and more industries relying on a mobile workforce to deliver services and products outside of the office, it is crucial to understand the trends, challenges, and solutions associated with mobile work.

The servitization megatrend is upon us. Industrial machine manufacturing companies are adding service revenue streams and changing their business models, usually to augment but sometimes to replace product-based business, in an aim to win and retain their customers and markets. This, coupled with the trend of moving away from a linear economy to a circular one, is changing the thinking of leading manufacturers of industrial machinery.