A Digital Product-Service (DPS) system is a software system that enables and supports equipment manufacturers in developing and operating their connected services.
The system acts as the backbone of the connected product-service system. It relentlessly processes and analyzes the large amounts of data received from connected products to detect events, such as failures or executed jobs, and recognize patterns of good or bad product usage, It generates valuable insights, such as KPIs, trends, and benchmarks, and highlights situations requiring attention, such as anomalies or potential predicted failures. Additionally, the system provides recommendations, such as running a cleaning cycle, and automates various actions, such as placing an order for consumables or spare parts, or dispatching a technician when necessary.
The system also acts as a central hub, distributing relevant information to all stakeholders in the product-service system according to their roles, jobs, needs, and goals.
The system also establishes two-way communication with connected products, enabling and facilitating the remote delivery of commands, parameters, recipes and updates.
Put simply, a DPS is the digital companion of a product-service system.
A new software category
DPS systems are a new software category whose need arises from equipment manufacturers’ growing interest in servitization and connected services.
If you have already started the development of your connected product-service offering, probably you have already started building a custom DPS system by yourself
Business Benefits of a DPS System
By leveraging this type of software, manufacturers are able to provide their end customers with a wide range of data-driven services, with the goal of:
- maximizing expected outcomes: a DPS system empower end customers by providing them with valuable insights and recommendations based on data analysis. By leveraging this information, customers can optimize the use of the product, improve operational efficiency, reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and achieve better outcomes.
- minimizing risks and costs: for suppliers, a DPS system offer significant advantages in terms of risk mitigation and cost reduction. By proactively monitoring connected products, manufacturers can detect potential issues before they escalate into major problems, minimizing downtime and costly repairs. Furthermore, data-driven insights enable predictive maintenance, allowing suppliers to schedule service interventions efficiently and reduce overall maintenance costs.
Users of a DPS system
Potentially, any stakeholder of a product-service system is a user of the DPS system.
A sample list of roles could be:
- Roles inside a B2B end customer entity:
- product / machine user
- plant / shop / office / process manager
- internal maintenance operator
- internal maintenance manager
- purchasing department
- Roles inside a B2C end customer entity:
- home owner
- family members
- guests
- Roles inside a Technical Assistance Center (TAC) entity:
- maintenance operator
- maintenance manager
- Roles inside a Reseller / Distributor entity:
- sales representative
- Roles inside the Manufacturer entity:
- service department
- R&D department
- sales department
- board
Main capabilities of a DPS system
A DPS system typically has the following main capabilities:
- Receiving, organizing and centrally processing data from connected products. The data flows in a continuous, uninterrupted stream.
- Establishing two-way communication with products, to allow remote delivery of commands, parameters, recipes, and software / firmware updates.
- Detecting events, such as failures or executed jobs.
- Recognizing patterns of good or bad product usage.
- Generating valuable insights, such as KPIs, trends, and benchmarks.
- Highlighting situations requiring attention, such as anomalies or potential predicted failures.
- Providing recommendations, such as running a cleaning cycle.
- Automating various actions, such as placing an order for consumables or spare parts, or dispatching a technician when necessary.
- Distributing relevant information and providing digital capabilities to all stakeholders in the product-service system according to their roles, jobs, needs, and goals.
- Managing the after-sales lifecycle of products and services.
Integrations
A DPS system typically is not alone. It stands above the layer of IoT technologies responsible for establishing the connection with products and beside the manufacturer's information systems such as the ERP, CRM, and especially the FSM.