I have likely already caught your attention with the headline. And, I am also reasonably certain that you were intrigued by 3.2 billion dollars, didn’t care about/don’t know who Twilio is & are unequivocally invested in the future of Industrial OEMs.
So what really happened a couple of weeks ago? Forbes broke the news that Twilio (a digital communication company – think SMS, Voice, Videos) was planning to acquire Segment (a Customer Data Platform) for a princely sum of 3.2 Billion Dollars.
So, why should Industrial OEMs care about this news? It’s not like Industrial OEMs were flocking in droves to either company for running their business. On the other hand, I could confidently say that the vast majority of either company’s customers happen to be a B2C company.
I think you should care for the only reason that the B2C world has reliably predicted major trends that play out in the B2B world years in advance. It’s like The Simpson’s Effect – the veteran animation show that has probably predicted more world events than Nostradamus has. B2C companies have to churn innovation rapidly, just as The Simpson’s writers had to keep their audiences hooked consistently in the past three decades. These companies innovate frequently, fail frequently & learn much more rapidly.
This brings me to the more significant point – should B2B companies emulate short-term trends from B2C companies? One could also argue that innovation in B2B companies is muted & slow because our assets have to last sometimes up to three decades (incidentally, the lifespan of the entire Simpson’s series). We can’t possibly innovate faster or latch onto every trend.
But there’s power in numbers. And 3.2 Billion USD is a powerful number. It’s indicating two things –
- The recessionary consolidation of markets is in full play (every recession is proof that the larger, visionary company would devour the smaller innovative fish)
- Customer Data Platforms are here to stay – in reality, they are redefining the way to the next wave of sales & marketing strategies, customer engagement, NPI, and customer satisfaction.
So I’ve covered 3.2 Billion Dollars & Twilio & Customer Data Platform so far. You must be wondering, what’s the moral of the story for Industrial OEMs here?
It’s simple – Data will guide the way to your next big win.
So how will data change your business? Simply put, it will help drive productivity and improve the customer experience significantly. As mentioned above, CDPs focus on consolidating user/individual information for marketing and product personas in B2C companies, but this doesn’t work for Original Equipment Manufacturers(OEMs) without a perfect tool. Instead, OEMs require an Installed Base Platform (IBP) that consolidates all the information at the asset, site, and account level.
This brings us to the next question- How does the use of an Installed Base Platform affect the future of Industrial OEMs?
Just Like CDPs, an IBP can help OEMs personalize every customer interaction. It uses data to drive various decisions and recommendations to help OEMs deliver the best experience to their customers. An IBP can help sales teams understand their customers better, and recommend the best leads and opportunities for them to go after within their Installed Base. It can help service teams quickly look at detailed asset-level information, past purchase history, and existing service agreements, and hence improve the first-time resolution rate. Customer support can now become incredibly more productive with all customer information at their fingertips. Product managers can drive better upgrade or service Go-To-Market strategies by easily segmenting the Installed Base based on equipment type and product line.
Today, forward-thinking OEMs are already reaping the benefits of an IBDP. On average, we see 20% increase in productivity within the first month of launching an IBP. Not only that but segmenting the Installed Base to drive lead generation has also resulted in over $2 MN in sales opportunities within the first quarter itself. Companies generally maintain this increase in sales, quarter over quarter. Finally, with a retiring workforce, we see large-scale adoption of an IBP across newer employees allowing them to ramp up faster than ever before. In many instances, we hear that this is a tool used daily by OEM frontline workers.
Now, the number one problem today with adopting an IBP is that OEMs think their data is beyond redemption. The best-of-breed IBP solutions typically come with strong data quality engines that can create value from dirty data. Addresses can be enriched, company names can be deduplicated, unique identifiers can be standardized, and records from multiple systems can be linked to create a golden record. Yet, there are some data problems that computers cannot solve, and those will require organizational shifts in how data is tracked today. Regardless of data quality, however, the right time to invest in an IBP is now.
As the famous Chinese proverb goes,
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
With Entytle Insights you get access to the world’s first Installed Base Platform (IBP) made exclusively for Industrial OEMs. Entytle helps OEMs to unify, organize & analyze their customer information while significantly improving available data quality. Entytle, a SaaS platform, incorporates purpose-built AI/ML analytics to identify sales and service opportunities to increase wallet share from the OEM’s installed base. Entytle is trusted by Industry leaders including Johnson Controls, Baker Hughes, Peerless Pump, Dematic, ColeParmer, and many more who use Entytle to drive organic growth at scale.
You can learn more about an Installed Base Platform at What is an IBP.
To learn more about Entytle’s IBP solution, go to Installed Base Platform.