It’s important also to note that Pew Research has reported more than 70% of customers stop doing business with a brand due to a poor support experience. As connected maintenance and other customer support processes become more sophisticated due to AI and IoT, the definition of “poor” may become defined as those manufacturers who are simply “disconnected.”
According to a Verizon 2016 report, 76% of manufacturers “early movers” say that IoT is increasing insight into customer preferences and behaviours. As more of the manufacturing commerce cycle moves to a digital customer experience, the ability to personalize the customer experience becomes critical both as a competitive and an efficiency factor. Digital interactions offer scores of data about the past, present and future behaviour of customers. IoT for manufacturers provides even more data from personal interactions, in many cases from devices we’ve never had the chance to capture before. Personalization is the biggest opportunity to use that data to capture new customers and retain them. As manufacturers become adept at hybrid sales models where some customers are direct and others are delivered to valued distributors in the form of leads, IoT data will become the competitive edge where personalization is concerned.
Perhaps one of the most exciting disruptions from IoT for manufacturers is that they can begin to experience real-time engagement. Instead of waiting for data to be crunched, many manufacturers are already gaining information in the present that can be used for re-orders, service requests, lead generation, and many other pieces of the complex B2B commerce landscape.
If planned well, IoT for manufacturers provides the most exciting disruption that will not only lower costs and increase efficiencies, but provide manufacturers the ability to enhance the experience of every customer they meet throughout this unique, complex buying journey.