Is the lack of Installed Base visibility costing you aftermarket revenue?

Lalit Bhatt

For industrial Original Equipment Manufacturers(OEMs), the Installed Base represents a goldmine of aftermarket revenue opportunities. Yet, many OEMs are leaving money on the table due to poor visibility into their Installed Base data. Investing in Installed Base visibility is not just about seeing machines; it’s about seeing the future of your aftermarket business.

The cost of this invisibility is staggering. Missed service contracts, delayed part replacements, and inefficient resource allocation all contribute to lost revenue. Moreover, the inability to proactively address customer needs can lead to decreased satisfaction and potential churn.

Installed Base Visibility – Opportunities

Implementing a system which can provide a unified view of the Installed Base data across multiple systems can uncover this invisible landscape. By consolidating and cleaning data from disparate sources, the system provides a 360-degree view of every asset in the field. Installed Base visibility enables OEMs to:

• Centralized data repository: Unified Installed Base visibility provides a single source of truth by consolidating Installed Base data from multiple systems like CRMs, ERPs, and field service management software.
• Improved data quality: System has the capability to clean, deduplicate, and organize data, ensuring its reliability and accuracy without extensive manual effort.
• Enhanced visibility: OEMs gain a comprehensive view of their Installed Base, from broad overviews to specific equipment details at customer locations.
• Increased efficiency: Sales and service teams can quickly access accurate information, eliminating the need to search through multiple databases.
• Revenue growth: The unified system helps in identifying upsell opportunities, predict maintenance needs, and optimize spare parts inventory, leading to increased aftermarket revenue.
• Better customer experience: With detailed information readily available, OEMs can provide superior customer support and create tailored service plans.
• Data-driven decision making: The system facilitates effective analytics and AI applications, enabling OEMs to make informed decisions about product enhancements and customer support.
• Predictive maintenance: By analyzing historical data, OEMs can develop predictive maintenance models to forecast when components are likely to fail.
• Lifecycle analytics: OEMs gain insights into how their products age and perform over time, aiding in product design improvements.
• High ROI: Companies implementing such systems have reported ROIs as high as 10x within 3-4 months of implementation.
• Reduced churn: Analytics with unified Installed Base can help decrease customer churn by 20-50%.
• Improved customer satisfaction: Companies have seen an 8-10% improvement in customer satisfaction scores after implementing such a system.

Challenges in achieving Installed Base visibility

But why getting a unified Installed Base visibility is difficult? Here is the list of main challenges OEMs face while trying:

• Data fragmentation and silos: Information about the Installed Base is often spread across multiple systems like CRM, ERP, and field service management software, preventing a holistic view.
• Poor data quality: Data entries may be incomplete, outdated, or inaccurate, hampering decision-making and reducing service operation effectiveness.
• Complex integration: Integrating data from various sources requires robust processes and governance.
• Scalability issues: Maintaining data quality becomes more challenging as the volume of data grows.
• Lack of centralized responsibility: Multiple business functions often share the data, with no single function responsible for managing and maintaining all of it.
• Resource constraints: Companies may lack the resources to compile, curate, and maintain reports needed for Installed Base insights.
• Reliance on tribal knowledge: Many OEMs heavily rely on a few senior subject matter experts who possess invaluable but unrecorded knowledge.
• Legacy systems: OEMs often have to deal with huge portfolios of IT systems from different technical generations that have accumulated over time.
• Evolving infrastructure: The Installed Base is not static but constantly evolving, making it challenging to keep information up-to-date.
• Balancing old and new: OEMs must navigate the constraints of existing installations while implementing innovations and changes.

Addressing these challenges is crucial for OEMs to unlock Installed Base visibility to understand its full value and capitalize on aftermarket revenue opportunities.