5 STEPS TO AUTOMATE YOUR PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

A guide produced by Sweet Systems

The foundation of the Internet of Things

The foundation of the Internet of Things - IoT - is about device-to-device communication. It is built on cloud computing and data-gathering sensors. It is mobile and instantaneously connected. And everyone says it will make everything in our lives “smart” - from our equipment in our homes, to our cars and entire cities.

Now you can harness the power of the Internet of Things by turning data generated by all of your machines and devices into meaningful action.

So, how can IoT improve your B2B company? How could data gathered from products and other devices improve sales and after sales processes?

Simply, we want it because it can proactively offer us better resource allocation, lower operational costs and improved interaction with our customers.

Table of contentIn this guide, we aim to give you some practical insights into how IoT and digitized business processes become integral components to your product life cycle.

We will also show you how to create automated business rules in order to interact proactively with your customers.

1. Collect data from your products and integrate with customer and organizational data

2. Set up a Product Life Cycle (PLC) for sales and after sales

3. Follow up adherence and coach your organization

4. Include customers in the proactive cycle

5. Start learning from your data and add predictive analytics

Products implemented for success

1. Collect data from your products and integrate them with customer and organizational data

Data collected from your connected devices, such as product usage, can be used for a myriad of different purposes.

In order to maximize insight, device-data must be combined with customer data, most often found in CRM and ERP systems, or why not in the Cloud? Examples of this is may be customer segments, agreement details, product details, sales and/or service transactions and contacts related to products and other commercial relations.

Once your data is combined, you are good to go!

Products implemented for success

2. Set up a Product Life Cycle (PLC) for sales and after sales

A product life cycle is an insightful description of a set of interactions and business rules that your customers, your organization and/or systems should act on during the total life cycle of the product.

2.1 Design a timeline with touchpoints

Design a timeline (e.g. on a board, paper or power point) and mark certain touchpoints where you plan on interacting with your customers - for example new products sold, new customer agreements, warranty periods, usage alerts, service actions, spare parts sales.

Touchpoints shall be designed with the aim to be proactive.

2.2 Prioritize and automate

After designing touchpoints of the PLC, prioritize between the ones you want to automate and look into where you can use relevant IoT data.

Next, you can start automating customer interaction programs for each process.

Example of interactions:

After X months we shall call all our customer

After X hours of usage we shall suggest a first service action

When non recommended usage occurs, a notification shall be sent

After 1 year we shall visit the customer

2.3 Design a flow

The customer interaction program is then designed in a stream of business rules called a flow. The data can be scheduled or based on real time events, such as customer warranty expiration.

To the right is a flow example, based on data from products and customers.

In each box, predefined actions may be performed:

Send e-mail

Send text message

Update social media

Update other system

Create phone lists

Create service orders

Update customer portals

Create customer visits

Products implemented for success

3. Follow up adherence and coach your organization

In a PLC initiative, it is crucial to measure adherence. By adherence we mean “the act of doing what is required by a rule”.

How well does your organization act on your business rules?

An example of PLC adherence process:1. Three months after product sales, your automated process notifies your sales rep to contact

a customer.

2. The sales rep calls the customer and checks off the activity as done. If not, we can not be sure the interaction has been executed. The sales rep is awarded 100% adherence.

At this point, you need to have a dashboard and system to follow-up the adherence measure by employee, group, region etc.

The automated flow system can create a phone list and distribute it to the right sales rep, but coaching , a human process, will be a key factor for success - at least in the beginning.

Your mid management teams must follow-up and coach the sales and after sales reps in order to enforce new sales behaviour.

Dashboard view of the analytics tool in Sweet Performance

4. Include customers in the proactive cycle Give the customers access to role based information and actions by including them in a customer portal or trigger customer specific notifications.

A customer portal typically includes information about products in use. Such as agreements, manuals, self-service information and alerts.

By logging in to the portal, customers can easily follow the process and take action in order to reduce service costs, ensure product up-time etc.

Use situation based learning and problem solving to understand when a customer is in need of a specific answer - in real time. Include a chat in the customer portal to be able to help the customer when he/she asks for it.

Products implemented for success

”Your customers don’t wantto call you - they want to findthe answers themselves or get notified if there’s an issue. ”

5. Start learning from your data and add predictive analyticsLearn based on the data that the system provides. Many companies are now striving to add machine learning algorithms to their data.

We want to know and predict when a product of a certain model will need more service or fail to operate.

We want to know and set up automated processes for when a customer is most likely to buy a new product.

In this you want to gather data and add predictive analytics tools to start understanding patterns on how customers buy and interact with your company during the PLC.

This will lead to faster decisions, better customer and product insights and you will feel more confident in your decision making.

What’s nextSoon we will see more of automated systems, not only in the product itself, but also in the customer service such as chatbots and virtual reality service centers. The sales process will also be increasingly automated through customer self-learning programs and “repair/order on demand”. Are you ready?

Products implemented for success

About Sweet Systems

We develop smart and business-critical solutions that streamlines the operations for sales, after sales, customer service and marketing units. We aim to make your everyday life easier, and make your customers happier.

www.sweetsystems.se

info@sweetsystems.se+46 (0)8 23 08 30