Digital value-added services in goods-centric companies: Customer perceived value and value capture logics

Abstract

Physical and digital worlds are becoming more and more connected in business-to-business products and services. Goods-centric companies are now leveraging the technological development and enhancing product offering with digital value-added services. These novel services are targeted to, for example, support the business decision making and reduce risks by offering adaptive solutions. Digital services in this context are usually delivered to customer using digital service platforms which have the characteristics of bringing also multiple different service providers together. As the make-to-order (MTO) manufacturing companies are digitalizing their products and services there is a current need for researching the digital servitization in this context. Also since the digital services are not the main business for the companies in the context of this research, there is a need for thorough understanding on the possible value capture logics. These are not only the monetary values but also non-monetary values such as value from the data.

This research is done with a collaboration of a target company but is exploratory in nature. The goal is to identify the wide range of the customer perceived value in digital value-added services as well as value capture logics for the service provider. In the empirical part a qualitative data was collected with semi-structured expert interviews. The respondents were chosen to work as key informants to represent the target company’s environment. Each of the respondents represented a company that has already digital services in their offering or were seen as otherwise valuable informants for the target company and its current situation.

The results show that the customer perceived value of digital services is related to real-time and reliable data, risk management, enhanced usability of the tangible product and business related benefits. The product usage data works as a base of all these customer values but eventually the digital service platform will enable unified customer experience that create sustainable and adaptive value for the customer. Service provider’s role in value creation depend highly on the level of intelligence in the digital service offering. For early phase of digital service development monetary value does not play a big role. Instead, the value capture logics are based mainly on the product usage data. The data can be used for e.g., product development and customer behaviour analysis. However, as the context is in tangible product providers, ultimately the digital services create indirectly more sales and thus more monetary value.

The findings contribute to the current literature by highlighting those aspects that are especially interesting in the context of MTO manufacturing companies that does not offer capital goods. For the target company and companies in similar situation this research offers an overview on what values do the customers esteem in digital services as well as how to leverage the usage data. Also, this research offers practical roadmap for the target company on what activities should be done and which customer values are critical. However, more research is needed in terms of mar- ket related differences in customer value and the service offering itself. In addition to that, the concept of digital service platforms needs deeper research especially on the financials and multiple service provider collaborations.