Manufacturers of all shapes and sizes are ever more often to confront the realities of Industry 4.0, the industrial revolution evoked by profound digitalization of all processes. There is no doubt that transferring to smart factory practices and digitalizing your supply chain can help you cut down costs and waste in the production process. However, the effects of digitalization, mainly due to the power of data analytics, don’t stop there. They extend from the production line all the way to the end consumer.
Why should you care about the and consumer — especially if you focus on business to business sales? Well, firstly, thanks to the rise of ecommerce, more and more b2b business are transferring to the b2c business model as this helps them to create a tighter more personal bond — a business-customer bond pivotal to the decision-making of millennial consumers. Secondly, even if you stick to selling your product to retailers or other businesses, the customer experience matters more than ever before.
In an interview with Telegraph, Mark Curtis, Accenture’s Fjord consultancy co-founder, and the chief client officer and co-founder, pointed out that increased customer service expectations cross industrial boundaries. It doesn’t matter if you are a bank, b2b manufacturer or a retail store — your customer service will be compared beyond the limits of your sector. Bank services are no longer compared with other bank services; they are just compared with customer service standards in general.
So, what are the effects of Industry 4.0 technologies on overall customer experience and how can you leverage them to boost your business?
Customer lifecycle offers plentiful opportunities to better interact and engage with customers as well as partners. The trick lies in being able to identify these opportunities and leverage them effectively. To do that, you need to understand what to apply Industry 4.0 technologies to your current customer practices and move from traditional to a digital enterprise.
Digitalization enables you to improve all stages of customer lifecycle:
1. Stage I: Discover & Shop
For many years, customer-oriented brands have been at the forefront of creating the compelling digital customer experience. Equally, many ecommerce platforms took part in shaping consumer expectations based on the possibility to easily search, evaluate, compare, and buy services or merchandise across all devices. Manufacturers, having to deal with primarily with other businesses, have somewhat lagged behind in this area. However, factories and other b2b businesses start to change their strategies and evolve their customer approach. All this mainly thanks to the technologies brought about by Industry 4.0:
Ecommerce Platforms & Data Analytics
First and foremost, you can completely transform your customer experiences leveraging two simple technologies: online platforms and data analytics. Ecommerce platforms and systems are becoming more and more elaborate and easier to set up. They not only allow you to introduce and offer your products to a much wider public online but also gather customer lifecycle information from the initial website visit to purchase. Thus, you will be able to detect patterns in customer behavior, purchase intent, and thus, make a more compelling product and service recommendations and offerings.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Another tech advantage that can transform customer experience in the initial stage of buyer journey is the application of artificial intelligence. Many companies are applying various forms of AI technology around their services and products to improve the dialogue and interaction. This category includes, for instance, intelligent chatbots or intelligent data analytics that can adjust your email or social media strategy, offerings, or applications according to customer needs without your intervention.
Augmented & Virtual Reality
Again, more and more companies devote time to improving the physical experience of their product or try to bring it closer to their customers. AR and VR are two technologies that allow consumers “try out” your products and make the online purchase process more realistic and immersive. Both technologies give you an opportunity to show off your products or manufacturing process and increase your company profile and trustworthiness often before potential clients contact you.
Benefits
At this initial stage of buyer journey, the main advantages of transferring to digital systems include:
- Better grasp and evaluation of customer data and behavior through ecommerce platforms
- Improved customer retention thanks to greater transparency data-driven customer service
- Better understanding of effects the quality of product and service can have on your potential and existing customer base
2. Stage II: Buy & Install
In the second stage of buyer lifecycle, the technologies of Industry 4.0 can have an immensely positive impact, especially regarding managing your channel partner relationships and supply chain. Tech solutions at this stage can help you share real-time information, enhance coordination and, in general, address challenges that hamper communication.
Relationship Management Platforms
PRM (Partner Relationship Platforms) can help you synchronize communication and processes between you and your partners. They often also allow you to anonymize certain critical data so, as a manufacturer, you can, for instance, avoid compromising competitive advantage of your partners while still receiving the necessary information to optimize your production.
RFID & GPS Technologies
Radio-frequency identification and GPS play a significant role in supply chain, including warehouse & inventory management as well as shipping. These technologies feed software such as payever Shipping App with up to date information. They allow you to work with real-time delivery updates and thus, help all stakeholders coordinate their activities with customer demands as well as improve customer experience through increased visibility and availability of merchandise and information.
Predictive Analytics
Thanks to predictive analytics you will be able to give the real-time data you collect from your channel partners or end-consumers an entirely new dimension. Predictive analytics can help you accurately predict upcoming issues and catch malfunctions or quality defects before they become a big problem that can hurt your business. Indirectly, they ensure the end-customer is always satisfied.
Benefits
The key benefits of leveraging the technologies mentioned above include:
- Real-time and reliable information regarding shipping and delivery to end customer
- High-quality, transparent, and consistent experience for your channel partners and thus for their clients.
- Reduced costs of selling and administration as all processes and interactions happen in real-time, are digitized, and quicker.
3. Stage III: Use & Service
The effects of Industry 4.0 technology on customer experience doesn’t end with the sale and delivery. The group of services, spare parts, and consumer interactions that happen after the sale are encompassed in the term “aftermarket.” While aftermarket occurs in both b2c and b2b business transactions, it’s the industrial manufacturers who have often built their profit around this market where the customers must use their products or solutions to run their businesses. Hence, the willingness of your clients to pay for the right experience is very high.
The aftermarket is a golden opportunity for any manufacturer as maintaining the functionality of your product reflects in high client retention.
Digital Exhaust
The biggest player in the last stage of customer lifecycle is digital exhaust AKA a bundle of information that includes data on usage (cycles, speed, uptime), process characteristics (pressure, temperature, energy consumption) or environmental factors (moisture, vibration, ambient temperature). All this information, when gathered and analyzed, can provide you with exceptional analytics-driven insights that will allow you to improve your aftermarket experience significantly.
For instance, a few years ago, General Electric has started to equip their engines with intelligent sensors that supplied them with real-time performance data. They were able to increase productivity and efficiency continually and even provide a personalized maintenance schedule. So, for instance buying a GE jet engine did not just mean buying an engine, but also hours of airplane availability.
Benefits
The leading customer-oriented advantages in the third stage of the lifecycle transform the aftermarket experience and allow you and other manufacturers to capture new sources of value. The benefits include:
- Optimizing client use (If you can help your clients achieve better products due to your aftermarket services, you won’t have hard time finding clients willing to pay for such integrated product offering)
- Improving client uptime (maximized uptime is chance for differentiation many businesses are willing to pay for)
- Increasing services (the analytics give you an insight into industry allowing you to offer personalized services)
To Sum Things Up
Industry 4.0 technologies take customer experience to a whole other level. Whether you are selling to channel partners or end consumers, digitizing your processes from the start to the end of your supply chain can bring your business an immense competitive advantage. Customers are getting more and more demanding.
The only way to stay ahead of your competition is to meet and surpass these demands — Industry 4.0 makes that possible.
