Good service is good business: This is the adage that tells industrial enterprises in no uncertain terms that it pays to place an even stronger focus on smart services. Taking a user’s-eye view and developing business models strictly from the customer perspective is what it comes down to. Successful companies today sell not just plant and machinery but solutions and value added. In short, value for the customer. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, around the globe.

We have for years seen services as a separate business area, and we are able to convince chief executives and business managers ever more frequently that positioning services as a USP pays off in the competitive environment. As prices come under pressure in new business contexts and margins on spare parts erode, as the costs of resources and innovations increase, as products grow ever more complex and product cycles ever shorter, well-thought-through services keep business partners loyal, growth profitable and earnings on the rise.

This is the subject of our latest edition of COO Insights on service excellence (find the PDF for free download below).

Service excellence is an asset in its own right

We invite you to hear Dr. Mathias Kammüller, Executive Vice President of TRUMPF, one of the world’s leading companies for machine tools, lasers and electronics for industrial applications in Germany, tell us how services have the potential to one day account for half of its business. In addition, experts from General Electric, Satair Group, ContiTech, SEW Eurodrive and Siemens lay out their interpretation of service excellence. We also discuss in depth how data can be condensed into services and why international services are vital if companies are to survive in global competition.

All of the perspectives above have one thing in common: Customers focus not on products, but on what products do. That is why providers must take special care to create service portfolios that showcase their own skills, and that always correspond to the individual needs of the customer. That is how they add value that is worthy of the name. Service excellence is an asset in its own right.

Read about our stance on service excellence as consultants in our cover story starting on page 8 – as you will see, we believe “It can be done”! We wish you an enjoyable and stimulating read!