Customers know more today than in the past and customers expect more today than in the past, which is why recurring customer care is required to maintain loyal customer relationships. Back in June, we wrote about Servitisation and how service has become more prevalent in many manufacturing companies with the aim of standing out, but what can a company do to achieve this goal?
To meet customer expectations, many companies have expanded their business model to offer service on the products they offer, which has also played an important factor in securing future growth. This is primarily due to the continuous contact through inspections and remediation of acute problems, where customers have repeatedly communicated with the manufacturing company, which has helped to create a strong relationship. For these inspections and corrective actions, the technicians need to be able to report, post different types of information and troubleshoot in the company's digital ERP system.
Because of these needs, for many today, the ERP system has become as important as the hammer and screwdriver to perform services quickly and efficiently. To this end, IFS has introduced the new cloud-based platform, IFS Aurena, which allows technicians to take IFS Applications on the go and work anywhere, anytime, on the mobile device that best suits the user and the tasks at hand.
You can look up customer information on your mobile phone or tablet, be notified of new jobs that have come in and report on a job. The ability to report while the technician is already at the customer's location also provides a better snapshot at the office, allowing planners to dispatch technicians to the most urgent tasks, taking into account the individual technician's current geographical location. This in turn creates efficiency, where customers receive faster service and the company optimises its processes. Furthermore, a new source of revenue has been created as the portfolio now also includes service, which is a service that will be recurring rather than a one-off sale of a product.
At Curit, we have also noticed the increasing interest in being able to offer service as a manufacturing company, with interest in the EAM module, which is the module used in IFS Applications to support service and maintenance, doubling in the past year.
”We are increasingly seeing a desire among our customers to be able to offer after-sales service for the products they produce, because they want to expand their customer relationships so that the relationship does not end when the product is sold. At the same time, several have experienced being able to optimise their internal processes by including their ERP system in this process and thereby being able to deliver a higher quality of service.” comments Melina Fonnesbæk, Project Manager and Service and Maintenance Consultant, Curit.
What's next?
If you want to know more about service management, join us 28 October 2021 from 14:00-14:30, where, in collaboration with DIS/CREADIS, we provide an introduction to the many possibilities IFS offers your organisation within service management and maintenance.
Link to the webinar: https://www.linkedin.com/events/enterpriseassetmanagement-etnyt6854069609134354432/