Are you navigating the complexity of industrial equipment (IE) services? Whether you're a seasoned service executive at an industrial equipment company or an innovative leader within an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), the “The State of Services for Industrial Equipment Manufacturers 2024” report is your guide to mastering the current landscape.

This report explores the critical challenges and untapped opportunities in industrial equipment services. It provides actionable insights to confront and leverage these challenges for profitable service revenue and margin growth.

Discover how leading service executives are pioneering digital transformation, steering their organizations toward a future enriched with predictive insights and the capability to provide services remotely, all powered by the cutting edge of AI technology. But that’s not all. With 2023 marking a pivotal year for market orientation and the resurgence of offer and portfolio management as the primary hurdle, this report lays out the strategic moves you need to make to stay ahead.

Moreover, in a year when economic volatility has seen product margins shrink, the report unveils groundbreaking data from the TSIA Industrial Equipment 40 Index, highlighting a historic shift: Service margins are not just growing but surpassing product margins for the first time. This isn't just a statistic; it’s a clear indicator of where the future of profitability lies within industrial equipment.

If you want to create value for your customers and grow your services profitably, understanding the insights and strategies detailed in this report is imperative. It’s tailored for service executives like you, who are looking to navigate the present and are eager to shape their organizations’ future. Unlock the full potential of your services with “The State of Services for Industrial Equipment Manufacturers: 2024.” Dive into the report now and start transforming challenges into opportunities for growth.

This blog will explore: 

• Harnessing Disruption: The Evolution of Services in Industrial Equipment
• Tackling the Challenges: Your Path to Overcoming Service Business Hurdles
• Charting the Course to Excellence in Industrial Equipment 

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Harnessing Disruption: The Evolution of Services in Industrial Equipment

In recent years, the industrial equipment industry has undergone a seismic shift, primarily driven by the complexities of modern equipment and the accelerated adoption of digital technologies. The services landscape has dramatically transformed, steering companies toward an era of unprecedented innovation and challenge.

The Rise of Complex Systems and Digital Transformation

Today’s industrial equipment and devices are far from simplistic; they are intricate systems where hardware meets software, embedded within customer ecosystems, and spanning from edge to cloud connectivity. This complexity is further amplified by the diverse environments across different verticals and the unique technology adoption rates among customers. Such a scenario presents a multifaceted challenge for service organizations: efficiently providing services for both hardware and software, especially when customer hesitance toward connectivity remains a substantial hurdle.

As seen in the past few years, the answer has been a profound and ongoing acceleration towards digital transformation. Integrating the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI technologies into industrial equipment has become more common and has spearheaded new service offerings. These offerings focus on generating recurring revenue through innovative business models like premium contracts, subscriptions, and even equipment-as-a-service (EaaS) models. This shift has disrupted traditional business models, transitioning from a pure-product focus to a robust service-centric approach, emphasizing the importance of digital services in driving value and growth.

Navigating Economic Pressures with Service Growth

The backdrop of this transformation is the relentless pressure on product revenues and margins. Industrial equipment companies increasingly rely on their service segments to buffer these economic challenges. The expectations are clear: Grow the service business and do so profitably. This has led to a strategic pivot toward launching new digital and analytic services designed to create higher customer value and foster a more profound market orientation. Despite the slowdown in the global economy and shrinking backlogs in 2023, service revenues not only continued to outpace product revenues but also saw a notable increase in their share, growing by 2.4% year-over-year.

This growth is a testament to the sector's resilience and ability to adapt to changing market dynamics. With the total revenues in 2023 not matching the highs of 2021, the focus on enhancing service offerings has become even more crucial. The drive toward more remote services, spurred initially by the pandemic and subsequently by strategic investments in digital capabilities, has paid dividends. The TSIA industrial equipment 40 data reflects this success, showing a consistent pressure on product margins, while service margins have seen a 3.2% increase over the last three years.

A Historic Shift in Margins

The most striking development of 2023 was the historic moment when service margins exceeded product margins for the first time in the history of the TSIA IE 40 Index. This landmark achievement underscores the pivotal role of services in the current and future landscape of industrial equipment manufacturing. It marks a definitive shift toward a service-oriented approach, where digital transformation and service innovation are not just strategies for growth but are essential for survival.

As we look toward 2024, the momentum gained in the services industry offers a golden opportunity for industrial equipment companies. It’s a chance to accelerate their digital and services transformation further, leveraging the lessons of the past to navigate the challenges ahead. With a clear focus on addressing the top services business challenges, the future looks promising for those ready to embrace the evolving dynamics of the industrial equipment industry.

Tackling the Challenges: Your Path to Overcoming Service Business Hurdles

The industrial equipment landscape is evolving unprecedentedly, bringing to light various challenges that directly impact your role and responsibilities. Understanding and addressing critical challenges in industrial equipment services allows you to stay afloat and leverage them to propel your company to new heights. Here’s how the prevailing challenges can personally influence you and the steps you can take to navigate through them effectively to reach profitable service revenue.

Unpacking the Challenges: A Closer Look

TSIA has distilled critical insights from extensive data and numerous industrial equipment company inquiries to highlight the industry’s significant trends and challenges. Offer and portfolio management and digital transformation stand out as the most pressing issues. The surge in service sales and margins is a testament to the strategic emphasis on these areas, showcasing the direct correlation between addressing these challenges and achieving financial success:

• Service Offerings and Digital Transformation: Expanding service offerings, especially those enabled by digital technologies, is both a challenge and an opportunity. For you, this means navigating the complexities of integrating new digital services into your portfolio, ensuring they meet current market demand and anticipate future needs. The transformation toward digital requires a keen understanding of your customers’ ecosystems and the ability to tailor services that enhance their operational efficiency.
• Setting and Achieving Ambitious Goals: Utilizing KPIs/metrics and leveraging industry data to set realistic yet ambitious goals is crucial. This challenge directly impacts your ability to measure performance, identify gaps, and implement strategies for improvement. It’s about balancing ambition with attainability, ensuring your team is aligned and motivated to achieve these targets.
• Marketing and Sales Initiatives: The need for improved marketing and sales initiatives to address customer needs in specific vertical markets must be balanced. This directly influences your approach to market segmentation, the development of targeted marketing strategies, and the alignment of sales efforts to meet the nuanced needs of different customer segments.

As a leader in your organization, your ability to adapt and innovate in response to these critical challenges in industrial equipment services not only shapes the trajectory of your company’s service offerings but also positions you as a visionary leader in the industrial equipment sector. Here are a few of the top strategies from this report:

• Enhancing Operational Efficiency: Focusing on improving operations and optimizing pricing strategies is a direct call to refine your operational playbook. It involves streamlining processes, adopting new technologies, and implementing pricing models that reflect the value of your enhanced service offerings. This holistic approach to operational excellence directly impacts your ability to increase service revenues and margins.
• Investing in Talent and Technology: Recognizing the importance of talent management and technological investment is crucial for sustaining growth. This means prioritizing developing your team’s skills, especially in analytics, AI, and customer success. Equipping your team with the right tools and platforms boosts service efficiency and fosters an environment of innovation and continuous improvement.
  

By enhancing your service offerings, setting achievable goals, and improving operational efficiency, you’re not just navigating the challenges but setting a course for enduring success and leadership in the industrial equipment industry in 2024 and beyond.

Charting the Course to Excellence in Industrial Equipment 

From the complexities of integrating digital services to the strategic imperatives of marketing and operational efficiency, navigating the industrial equipment industry in 2024 requires insight, innovation, and foresight.

But what we’ve explored here is just the tip of the iceberg. For the full depth of insights, recommendations, and strategic guidance, check out “The State of Services for Industrial Equipment Manufacturers 2024” report, available exclusively through the TSIA portal.

This report is not just a collection of data and trends; it’s a blueprint for service excellence. It is a guide crafted to equip service executives like you with the knowledge and strategies to overcome today’s challenges and capitalize on tomorrow’s opportunities. Whether you aim to refine your service offerings, elevate your operational efficiency, or lead your organization through digital transformation, the insights in this report are your key to unlocking potential and driving success.

TL;DR

The “State of Services for Industrial Equipment Manufacturers 2024” report is a critical resource for service executives in the industrial equipment (IE) and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) industry, aiming to navigate the complexities of today’s service landscape. Highlighting the shift toward digital transformation, the report showcases the increasing significance of service margins over product margins for the first time, driven by advancements in AI and remote service capabilities. Focusing on overcoming top service business challenges, enhancing service offerings, and leveraging digital technologies, this report provides actionable insights to create value for customers and grow services profitably. Dive into the full report on the TSIA portal for comprehensive insights and strategic recommendations to transform challenges into opportunities for growth in this evolving industry.