Siemens holds its Automation Summit this week in Boca Raton, FL, and it kicked off its media program with a round table discussion with the Financing group.
Siemens Financial Services exists as a sales support group to assist customers who perhaps require assistance financing a project. This could involve helping with cash flow or giving the customer some operational flexibility. This often helps smaller businesses as they adapt to the changing business and technology conditions they are facing today.
“Siemens is a one-stop shop.”
They brought back memories of my early sales training on solution sales when they mentioned that Siemens Industry is getting adjusted to solution sales (rather than product sales) and the Siemens sales teams are learning that financial can be a key component of a solution sale.
Siemens is not the only company in this space, by the way, adjusting to a new way of life beyond “selling boxes.”
ROI
Where can Return on Investment (ROI) be found in a digitalization project? Siemens suggests several ways:
• Increase manufacturing productivity
• Reduce energy consumption
• Reduce downtime
• Shorten setup and changeover times
• Improve quality
• Improve planning and forecasting—which leads to
• Reduced inventory
• Reduce waste
What are Industry 4.0 financiers offering that supports this new mindset?
Industry 4.0 Finance can:
• Embed financing options into the initial value proposition, opening a wider range of affordable digital transformation possibilities
• Flex financing periods to suit the pace at which each manufacturer will reduce costs or increase sales as a result of the company’s digital transformation
• Cover the total solution and total cost of ownership (hardware, software, services), allowing manufacturers to secure digital transformation at a guaranteed and sustainable monthly cost
• Employ machine data to ensure finance is based on usage or outcomes, aligning technology capabilities with their resulting commercial benefits
• Use cost-saving or money-making outcomes to fund enabling technology, making digital transformation
• cost neutral
• Build in technology upgrade options so manufacturers do not become trapped in technology obsolescence in a world of quicker innovation cycles
• Bridge the cash-flow gap between technology investment and the resulting benefits to make digital transformation more financially sustainable
Adding fincining assistance as part of a solution sale to help customers overcome a potential obstacle to implementing digitalization and reaping the benefits seems like good business sense.
