The St. Gallen EaaS Navigator
66 pattern cards to guide the development of customer-centric product-service systems
By analyzing over 200 manufacturers that offer EaaS, we have identified 66 fundamental patterns that are core to EaaS business model innovation. This knowledge is what we share with The St. Gallen EaaS Navigator. Not all patterns will be helpful for your business and the patterns are certainly not exhaustive. But we believe that every manager should be aware of them in order to sustain competitive advantage.
Leverage powerful EaaS patterns …
What is it good for?
“I was really skeptical about EaaS. It is just so hyped, and we are quite successful with our existing product business. The playbook gave me a new and very fruitful perspective on EaaS. EaaS will have a lasting impact on our business and we will start exploring EaaS offerings.”
Timo Gessmann, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), SCHUNK
“We are in the process of developing a product-service business model for a completely new product. Before we used the playbook, we already had developed a fundamental business model based on customer insights. Hence, we used the patterns of phase 3 to 5 to operationalize and execute on our primary use case. We will continue applying the playbook!”
Sebastian Budischin, Vice President, Bosch
“Asset as a Serivce is an important element to serve our clients with regard to more flexible and platform based working capital solutions. The St. Gallen EaaS Navigator provides exciting and broad insights into the topic. It helps to answer the critical questions to make the topic Asset as a Service successful.”
Jochen Siegert, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank
How to apply the navigator?
I. Set the scope
The patterns in this section outline the diverse nature of EaaS. EaaS is not only about machines, but also about fleets of machines, components, and consumables. Use the patterns to identify a broad set of EaaS opportunities that you can challenge and refine in the next steps.
II. Identify core value drivers
This step is an unconventional way of identifying important customer value drivers by looking at customers’ preferred payment schemes. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and identify what matters most to them. Use the patterns to discuss how your customers want to pay and thereby identify promising revenue models.
III. Explore customer gains and pains
In this section, the patterns capture common customer pain points along the equipment lifecycle. Use the patterns as a starting point to identify where your customers experience pains and might benefit from an EaaS offering.
IV. Investigate strategic rationale
The patterns for this step outline strategic rationales for offering EaaS. Clear strategic rationales are a must to justify EaaS investments and to manage progress. Go through the patterns and discuss whether your company should offer EaaS.
V. Define service offering
The underlying patterns of this section outline service elements that can be included in the EaaS value proposition. Go through the pattern cards and pick those which are necessary to turn your customers’ pains into gains. Discuss the feasibility of offering these services and get customer feedback as early as possible.
VI. Apply proven management tactics
These patterns represent best practices to turn EaaS ideas into action. Explore winning management tactics to get answers to the following questions: Where should you start with EaaS? How can EaaS solutions effectively be marketed? How can EaaS offerings be run and scaled successfully?
VII. Leverage enabling technology
The enabling technology patterns provide an overview of use cases that help you to offer EaaS in a sustainable and profitable way. Browse through the patterns and discuss which technologies and use cases are core to your EaaS offering.
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Working Group
Ing. Claudio Lamprecht, Prof. Dr. Felix Wortmann, Prof. Dr. Heiko Gebauer, Dr. Wolfgang Bronner, Prof. Dr. Elgar Fleisch