Drive Key Customer Satisfaction KPIs with Remote Condition Monitoring

In service, the most important metric is customer satisfaction. A customer whose equipment is up and performing to specification is a happy one—but your team might lack the insights they need to improve first-time-fix rates (FTFR), mean time to repair (MTTR), and other key KPIs.

This article explores how remote condition monitoring unlocks actionable data insights that drive real-world results in customer satisfaction. You’ll learn:

• How your peers in service use remote condition monitoring to drive key customer satisfaction KPIs such as FTFR, MTTR, and more
• IoT platform capabilities that lead to customer satisfaction benefits such as increased equipment uptime and advanced problem-solving
• How the IoT is a competitive differentiator in service

Table of contents

Customer Satisfaction as a Sellable Product
Remote Condition Monitoring: Solving Problems Before They Happen
Happier Customers with Predictive Service
Remote Condition Monitoring: Faster Solutions to Complex Repairs
Improved Customer Satisfaction with Optimized Field Service
Remote Condition Monitoring: Future-Ready Service Ecosystem
Industry-Leading Reputation with a Revenue-Driving Service Model
IoT Is Your Customer Satisfaction Differentiator

Service professionals have a lot to worry about. First-time fix rates (FTFR), truck rolls, and speed of service are key because they all impact the most important metric: Customer Satisfaction. A customer with equipment that is up, available, and performing to specification is a satisfied customer.

Remote condition monitoring gives your customers’ equipment the ability to tell you what’s wrong—or what’s about to go wrong—so you can fix it before your customer experiences any inefficiencies or downtime. Remote condition monitoring through an Internet of Things (IoT) platform enables your business to increase customer satisfaction by improving:

• FTFR
• Mean time-to-repair (MTTR)
• Predictive maintenance
• Customer-centric service models

Customer Satisfaction as a Sellable Product

With remote condition monitoring through IoT, you can sell your customers on more than just products—you can sell them improved uptime for a more profitable and productive factory, at a lower cost of machine ownership.

Here are just a few of the ways that remote condition monitoring drives higher KPIs in customer satisfaction.

IDC predicts that 50% of manufacturers will leverage predictive field services to speed delivery and enhance customer value by 2024. Source: IoT-Connected Service Drives Innovation and Customer Value, citing IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IoT 2019 Predictions

“Remote data, which can track performance, failure reasons, and potential fixes, provides service technicians with the answers to solve customer problems faster.” – Evolution of Smart Service: Connected to the Future of Resolution, Aly Pinder Jr., Senior Research, Analyst, Service Management, Aberdeen Group

Remote Condition Monitoring: Solving Problems Before They Happen

What It Looks Like

Machines that seamlessly send real-time performance data allow service professionals to assess, analyze, and act on issues before they become problems. With a centralized remote condition monitoring platform, service teams can easily leverage the sensor data and diagnostics they need to become more proactive and less reactive. Data insights from remote condition monitoring better enable technicians to understand and monitor usage, performance, target parameters, productivity, and more. These patterns enable technicians to detect faults and prevent downtime before it occurs—and often before the customer is aware of any issue.

Real-World Results

With IoT remote data monitoring through ThingWorx, Flowserve avoided a costly cavitation problem in a customer’s running pump ($1.6 million or more if not solved within 30 minutes; $16 million or more if not solved within 45-60 minutes). Now, with their IoT solution in place, Flowserve decreases costs, limits emergency work orders, improves profit, and enhances safety. Most importantly, they exceed customer expectations with improved equipment availability and efficiency.

IoT monitoring helped Flowserve prevent a $16 million cavitation problem—before it impacted the customer.“In Flowserve, we truly had an a-ha moment when we saw some of the first information come back from the field in the IoT platform…That was the moment where we thought, ‘Oh my gosh. We’ve got something incredible here.’” – Aric Zurek, Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Flowserve

Happier Customers with Predictive Service

Technicians get a call from an unhappy customer whose machine is malfunctioning and causing downtime. The technician makes their repairs and the problem is resolved—with no further analysis of trending issue data or insight into contributing factors that could further impact the machine or other equipment.

With predictive service, technicians monitor equipment based on data sent directly from machines and can address malfunctions before they happen. After maintenance, technicians continue to collect data for trend analysis and gain insights into a wider picture of general maintenance and service needs— both across a single customer’s toolset and across all deployed equipment.

Catching issues early, or preventing them altogether, means less overall wear-and-tear from breakage and invasive servicing. Equipment runs smoother and lasts longer. Customers gain more ROI from their tools—and recognize your service as a critical piece of that success.

Remote Condition Monitoring: Faster Solutions to Complex Repairs

What It Looks Like

Technicians always have real-time utilization, performance, and failure data at their finger-tips. They receive in-depth product performance information from all deployed machines, so they can go into the field with data-based readiness, instead of relying on customer analysis of machine issues. With real-time data—and the ability to interact with the equipment fully remotely, for some issues—technicians can maximize repair efficiency for fewer interruptions to customer’s productivity.

Real-World Results

Global beverage equipment manufacturer Celli Group used IntelliDraught—a connected beverage distribution system—to help improve their customers’ quality, sales, service, and inventory management.

Celli’s service team leveraged real-time access to remote data and predictive and preventative maintenance solutions to help their customers reduce service costs by 10%, limit downtime, and increase profit.

“Our goal was to change the way we serve customers in our industry, and our long-term vision was to create services around our equipment. IoT was a key pillar to support our strategy.” – Paolo Cavalsassi, Global Commercial Director, Celli Group

Improved Customer Satisfaction with Optimized Field Service

Technicians need to visit the customer’s site in order to accurately diagnose and address problems. But often, when a technician arrives on-site, they don’t have the exact parts they need because they were given partial or incorrect information about the issue. And if it is a complicated or unexpected repair, the time and money sinks can increase exponentially.

With optimized field service, technicians can identify the correct issue, part, and solution before they get on-site—saving time and money for you and for your customers.

Technicians and customers struggle to prevent downtime and preempt product failure. Incorrect diagnoses, slow resolution times, and low FTFR lead to poor customer satisfaction.

With optimized field service, technicians come fully prepared, leading to improved FTFR, MTTR, and overall customer satisfaction. Customers’ uptime rates increase in turn, adding value to your service reputation and securing contract renewals and high customer satisfaction rates.

Remote Condition Monitoring: Future-Ready Service Ecosystem

What It Looks Like

Technicians optimize their remote condition monitoring processes and gain confidence in role-based customizations. They find creative new solutions to old problems—adapting and improving service in ways that support each unique mission. And as they discover new benefits to remote condition monitoring and IoT connectivity, they unlock deeper analytics, more profitable contracts, and better service opportunities for their customers.

Real-World Results

Building on their remote condition monitoring solution, Trane—a leading manufacturer of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems and building management systems—has improved the profitability of their service business by enabling new service levels and higher-tiered service contracts that improve margins. Trane now delivers guarantees of 99% uptime and a reduction in client energy costs—huge gains for their customers.

Trane achieved 99% uptime with remote condition monitoring and IoT data.

“Now we describe our mission not in internally focused terms of product quality, profit goals or market share, but as ‘helping our customers make their buildings better for life.’ That’s the life of the building as well as the lives within the building.” – Dane Taival, Vice President of Building Services and Customer Care, Trane

Industry-Leading Reputation with a Revenue-Driving Service Model

Stagnant, traditional service meets customer needs but doesn’t anticipate how those needs will change and grow with new technology. Remote condition monitoring initiatives open the door for advanced, scalable operational processes that create revenue and are ready for next-gen servicing opportunities.

While meeting customer needs is vital and valuable, keeping goals steady can really mean falling behind as competitors on-board remote condition monitoring and IoT technology. An advanced service ecosystem positions your servicing department as a revenue-driving leader across the company. Customer satisfaction becomes an ever-stronger differentiator as you begin to raise the bar for competitors.

IoT Platform Capabilities That Improve Customer Satisfaction KPIs

IoT Platform Capabilities:

• Real-time asset monitoring
• Critical alert notifications for service issues
• Diagnostics to assist with issue resolution

Customer Satisfaction Benefits:

• Increased equipment uptime
• Advanced problem-solving before an issue impacts the customer
• Speed MTTR and FTFR

IoT Is Your Customer Satisfaction Differentiator

Remote condition monitoring through IoT empowers technicians to provide predictive and condition-based services that minimize MTTR and maximize FTFR—driving higher KPIs in customer satisfaction.

Source: PTC