The service economy is gaining ground. An increasing number of companies seek to create value by building service-based business models and moving from selling a product to selling a “comprehensive service.” To gain insight into the opportunities and challenges this brings, DLL researched the service-based trend and bundled its findings in a whitepaper to guide servitizing companies.

According to the whitepaper, the service economy is the logical answer to a customer’s changing needs, evolving from equipment ownership to “just in time” access to equipment at the moment it is needed. Today’s customer wants access to equipment without carrying the burdens of ownership.

Frits Engelaer, vice president, Servitization at DLL asserted, “Ownership is less important to a growing customer base, therefore more and
more manufacturers, dealers and resellers move from selling a product to selling a ‘comprehensive service.’ This can range from basic services such as installation, maintenance, telemetry and extended warranty, to advanced services such as training, performance guarantees, life cycle and fleet management.”

DLL’s whitepaper states that as customer needs evolve, so do their expectations of financial companies. Backed by a customer centric strategy, DLL supports its partners move to servitization models by offering financial solutions that enable end-users to pay for equipment as they use it, while the manufacturer remains responsible for ongoing services and maintenance.

Engelaer commented, “Servitization is in fact the best for both worlds. From a supplier perspective, it’s a way to increase sales revenues. From a customer perspective, it offers a way to reduce risk, decrease maintenance, and support costs and make them more predictable.”

In the whitepaper, “Servitized business models: organizing for success,” DLL explores the servitization trend, shares lessons learned from companies that have undergone this journey, looks at the servitization maturity model and concludes with a checklist designed to help servitizing companies learn from their forerunners.

All findings are based on the expertise and experience of DLL and Praetimus, a partner-owned consulting firm serving customers in the manufacturing, trade and service industries. For years,

For DLL, the goal of this white paper is to guide companies through the servitization journey and be more efficient and effective during implementation. “Through sharing key insights based on our experiences over the last few years, we hope to contribute to the commercial effectiveness of companies that are willing to transition towards this kind of business model,” Engelaer said.