Customer Asset Maintenance in a Subscription-Driven Economy

Posted on by Vinod Menon

Transform your service-based organization without the typical challenges of an integration

There are various software solutions in the marketplace to manage and maintain an organization’s assets. But asset maintenance can be complex when your business provides services to your customers such as warranties, preventive maintenance, and repair. These types of companies include ones that sell and service products or companies that lease equipment for example. Of the many solutions, only a few can work seamlessly for such service-based companies. Another level of complexity that many companies are facing is the popularity of subscription billing and adding this capability to their existing software. Achieving digital transformation capabilities (IoT) and integrating with the existing maintenance systems is another challenge facing by the industry.
 

 

Supporting Complete Service-Based Asset Maintenance

The asset maintenance service is typically triggered for the customer when a product is purchased or leased and shipped to the customer. Another example of asset maintenance is when a customer requires maintenance and repair services for their assets. Let’s look at the different business requirements for supporting customer asset management:

  • Asset Maintenance: Ability to setup and manage the customer’s asset to perform repair and preventive maintenance. Oracle Maintenance Cloud supports customer asset management and performs preventive maintenance. Preventive maintenance work orders generated automatically integrate with B2B Service and Field Service Cloud so that technicians can debrief and execute the work.
  • Service Contracts: Creation of service contracts with the customer for maintenance and repair. Service contracts must include the ability to specify details of what is covered, price/discounts, and the frequency of billing (subscription billing or one-time payment, pay-by-service).
  • Field Service Management: A tool for field service technicians to perform work on the customer’s asset and update details such as materials used, labor charges, etc.
  • Invoicing: Invoicing the customer based on subscription model or regular billing based on each service. Oracle subscription billing allows invoicing flexibility.

In addition, Oracle IoT Service Monitoring for Connected Assets is integrated with Oracle B2B Service and will support the following features:

  • Real-time incident creation when a failure is detected for connect assets which will trigger a service request and synchronize back to close the incident when the service request is closed.
  • Ability to retrieve both the historical and the most current diagnostic information from the device and take remote actions against the device.

The service industry needs to consider solutions that can support the complete service-based asset maintenance solutions with field service, subscription billing, and revenue recognition capabilities. For a complete digital transformation, it is important to take advantage of the latest capabilities to service customers using Internet of Things Service Monitoring.

As you can see there are various business functions and departments involved in the complete solution. Integration capabilities and the availability of features to support these requirements are key for the organization’s success.

Putting It All Together

Oracle’s Maintenance Cloud supports customer asset management as well as enterprise asset management. With our industry experience and the out-of-the-box integration for CX Cloud, Inspirage can ensure that you leverage the capabilities that support customer asset management. Ensuring that your service contracts, service logistics, and B2B/field service is operating with the latest technology is our priority so you can benefit from business transformation. Make your service department future-ready by taking advantage of IoT products specifically tailored for the service industry.
 

 
As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s ERPM (Enterprise Resource Planning & Management) & Supply Chain Management Cloud Partner of the Year (Global) awards in recent years, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you’re upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey. Contact us to learn more.

Vinod Menon | Key Contributor

Vinod Menon is a Senior Manager of Solution Architecture at Inspirage. He has more than 25 years of experience implementing Oracle applications. His expertise includes in-depth knowledge of SCM applications (Order to Cash, Inventory Management, Manufacturing & Maintenance) and experience implementing Asset Maintenance solutions for complex industries including Projects and Service. He also has extensive experienced in business transformation, global implementations, and mergers & acquisitions projects. He has helped customers implement Oracle applications in various industries including: Electric Utilities (Transmission), Steel, Manufacturing, High Tech, Airlines/Defense (EAM/CMRO), and Oil & Gas.