HVAC users are spread across the globe, living in diverse climates with increased maintenance requirements. The service contract for each machine often excludes vital parts, and that can be a cause for great customer grievance especially before certain seasons. Service charges also ply, as manufacturers are unable to provide free labor to their sizeable markets. As in many other sectors, the HVAC aftermarket can feel burdensome, leaving little scope for CXOs to launch new offers and improve services.
Need of the hour
HVAC manufacturers need to plan for improving aftermarket satisfaction at a competitive cost meticulously. Predicting service requirements, utilizing resources cost effectively, and finding better techniques to improve product life are essential for that purpose. It can lead to long-term advantages, as more customers are likely to buy from a manufacturer that has a good reputation for its aftermarket services.
The good news
HVAC manufacturers need not offer free services to the aftermarket but should strive to provide lower costs and better outcomes than their competitors. It requires streamlining the workflow for every HVAC maintenance date in the calendar through early preparation.
Customer satisfaction
Customers expect maintenance services to lead to lower electricity bills, better durability, improved performance, and above all – peace of mind. Using historical data related to services, you can identify frequent problems, and their root causes to improve future maintenance. It is also important to have seamless data connectivity over a shared platform in your value chain so that you can help prepare your suppliers and service teams well in advance of scheduled maintenance. Customers also want transparency during the service and around the year. A mobile app with customized interaction can live up to their expectations.
Value-chain satisfaction
As a result of optimizing the workflow based on data-driven analytics, you can ensure a less stressed-out workforce. You can acquire better leads for equipment and accessories by looking at intuitive dashboards conveying and predicting the requirements, based on real-time data, including everything from weather patterns to customer budgets. Staying prepared for service deployment also lets you offer flexible work hours.
Social impact
The HVAC sector has a tremendous opportunity to make a difference to the global energy spend. While the primary focus will always be on more profits, what matters is the path they choose to achieve it. Service and product design improvements, to control energy spend, can be carried out based on service history. All you need is a technology to convert those huge piles of data into insights for engineers.
Sustainable growth will be the result of competitive aftermarket services and how you use the data generated there. If your database has the relevant details, technology can continuously give you the right insights to make your products more reliable, improve savings during services, and market the right offers to the right people cost effectively.
