Life used to be simple for manufacturers. You sold a product, and if it broke, you fixed it. Post-sales service was long considered a tactical cost center.
Today, however, aftermarket service is fast becoming a strategic imperative. Some manufacturers, keen to compete in the face of difficult economic headwinds, are focusing on improving the quality of their post-sales service to enhance customer satisfaction, while others are moving aggressively to turn post-sales service into a profit center.
Sixty-one percent of companies recently polled by Aberdeen Group said field service is a strategic operation that has revenue and profit goals in place; another 17% said field service, while not currently a strategic operation, would be so in the future.
"For manufacturers with a service infrastructure, it is becoming essential that service technicians are used to their fullest potential, not sitting idle," says Sumair Dutta, research analyst for the Strategic Service Management Practice at Aberdeen. "Over the last six years, cost issues have become one of the significant drivers in the move to streamline post-sales services."