Encouraging ‘servitization’ amongst UK manufacturers

Servitization is the concept of manufacturers offering services tightly coupled to their products. It's about moving from a transactional to a relationship based business model featuring long-term, incentivised, pay-as-you-use contracts. A study by the Aston Business School shows servitization can:

• sustain annual business growth by 5-10%
• reduce costs by up to 25-30%

Professor Tim Baines, leading global researcher in this exciting field at the Advanced Services Group commented: "This game is a quick and fun way to take a snapshot of your current strategy with regards to the add-on services your firm provides to your customers. The tool also challenges you to think about how you will compete in three to five years' time. You can then easily share the experience with colleagues, prompting an informed debate in this critical area, which will result in opportunities to grow your business by providing advanced services."

Mary Hunter, Managing Director at Columbus UK sees this game as part of their commitment to supporting transformative development for manufacturing businesses, she added: "Areas like Cloud, IoT, Big Data and Servitization are driving rapid change through the manufacturing industry and in today's hyper-competitive world, having the ability to adapt quickly is vital to success. Columbus helps our customers innovate their business models and through digital technology transform from being production-centric to services focused. This increases customer satisfaction, which in turn, encourages loyalty and secures long term business growth."