How Does STAEDEAN Support Manufacturers Shifting to Equipment-as-a-Service?

Are you an industrial manufacturing company looking to expand your product portfolio and revenue channels? Do you deal with transactions that include selling but also charge customers for product usage over a defined period, with fixed payments?

If this sounds like your business’s growth strategy, you probably are a manufacturing or rental company with multiple business models and a dynamic customer base. With growing business and operations, you need software that can address these increasing needs.

We offer you a solution in the form of end-to-end software that manages all your business processes from lead to cash flow.

Having nearly two decades of global experience with various manufacturing and rental enterprises, we at STAEDEAN have succeeded in helping international enterprises adopt software embedded in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Supply Chain Management.

This article will share how you can get ahead in the ‘Equipment-as-Service’ (EaaS) trend, also known as multiple revenue modes, or pay-per-use model — and which Dynamics 365 technology you can adopt to make this a smooth transition for your business.

Let me first make this clear — there are multiple ERP platforms and an array of software that you can select to support your changing business needs.

You can read our article where we discuss a quick 8-step guide to implementing EaaS for industrial manufacturing companies.

The solution we will be discussing is a combination of Microsoft Dynamics 365 standard solutions and the STAEDEAN solutions.

How can the combination of Dynamics 365 and STAEDEAN solutions help in the move to EaaS?

Dynamics 365 comes with a long line of world-class solutions to address changing customer needs from all over the world.

STAEDEAN is an independent software vendor, with a strong Microsoft partnership, and a global presence of over 17 years.

A Microsoft Dynamics 365 embedded software can take care of your end-to-end business needs from lead to cash. It can manage your financial, operational, and human resources in a single system.

We offer you a combination of Dynamics 365's standard solutions and our solutions designed by STAEDEAN as a one-stop-shop solution to address all your technology needs while implementing EaaS in your business.

The D365-STAEDEAN EaaS solutions: a one-stop-shop solution for EaaS

The solution — ‘D365-STAEDEAN EaaS solutions’ is three-tiered:

1. Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management

The standard Dynamics ERP solution will be the foundation for your EaaS business model. This platform handles all financial, operational, supply chain, and human resource management in a single system.

You can choose to extend Dynamics 365 F&SCM further with the Dynamics customer engagement (CE) platform.

2. STAEDEAN Rental Management embedded in Dynamics 365 F&SCM

Your business model will be dynamic — with selling, renting, and mixed models running together. Since the standard Dynamics 365 F&SCM solution can support selling but not renting, you’ll need a solution that supports the rental side of your business, where recurring revenue is generated from your product line.

STAEDEAN Rental Management is a rental-specific software, deeply embedded in the Dynamics 365 F&SCM environment, offering key insights around asset utilization, tracking, analytics, equipment maintenance — all of which are crucial to efficiently managing multiple revenue models.

3. Extended EaaS solutions

At STAEDEAN, we offer a suite of multiple solutions, to support each new process you may face while making the move to EaaS. The STAEDEAN EaaS solutions portfolio has been designed from years of experience, a market study of the EaaS trend, and actively collaborating with our existing customer base.

Here is a visual overview of what the D365-STAEDEAN EaaS solutions would look like

Which EaaS strategic steps do the D365-STAEDEAN EaaS solutions support?

As described previously, a combination of the standard Dynamics 365 with our solution offering will be the one-stop-shop solution to manage multiple revenue streams for your business.

Here’s an analogy — consider the standard Dynamics 365 as a building’s deep foundation to your business, STAEDEAN Rental Management as the building structure, and the STAEDEAN EaaS solutions portfolio as the protective finishing of the building.

Each component is essential and interdependent, impacts the outcome, and is responsible for making the manufactured product better.

Here are the 5 major strategic EaaS steps the solution supports

1.    Optimize design, source, and manufacturing processes

You must connect your engineering and manufacturing departments through a PLM-ERP integration to ensure data quality and ‘first time right’ manufactured products. Integrating your PLM and ERP systems is crucial to ensure the right products are being manufactured through properly communicated engineering.

Extended EaaS solutions

• Advanced project manufacturing and planning
• Product lifecycle management integrations with PLM-ERP integrations

2.    Maximize sales with authentic customer engagement

With your customers expecting more information to be available at their fingertips, you need to gear up with technology that offers your customers information in the easiest manner. The STAEDEAN Rental Customer Portal allows customers to get details regarding their products or equipment, check availability, and book or reserve equipment from your portfolio.

The STAEDEAN Rental Management for D365 Sales enables your sales team with quick access to the correct information from both the ERP and CRM systems, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.

Extended EaaS solutions

• STAEDEAN Rental Customer Portal
• STAEDEAN Rental Management for D365 Saless
• EDI Studio
• Connectivity Studio

3.    Streamline order fulfillment with logistics management

Your product fulfillment can be done using the F&SCM inventory management module within STAEDEAN Rental Management. The software will handle and log the journey of your product from inventory to transport to your end customer and back to asset inventory.

Extended EaaS solutions

• Advanced project management
• STAEDEAN Rental Logistics Scanning
• Invoice workflow
• Production execution package

 4.    Provide quick maintenance with end-to-end visibility for top-notch services

When offering your products as a service, the responsibility to repair, upgrade, and maintain it is owned by you. It is therefore important that you provide quick and quality maintenance related to any product or equipment breakdown, shortage, or replacement.

For instance, changing an engine's oil as a replacement service or carrying out routine maintenance of your rented crane.

An efficient way to do this is by using the STAEDEAN Rental Mobile Operations which enables field engineers and service executives to work remotely and have all the vital information about the product on the job.

Extended EaaS solutions

• STAEDEAN Rental Mobile Operations
• STAEDEAN Rental Customer Portal

5.    Maximize customer retention and lifetime value for renewals and upgrades

EaaS is a business model that helps you build stronger and long-lasting relations with your customers, be it distributors, suppliers, or the end customer.

You can count on STAEDEAN Rental Management's contract management module for quick and automated invoicing services. With this module, you can always generate quick quotes and customize the order for any changes, if needed.

Once you have the above key processes addressed and well managed, you can always explore to enhance your overall process efficiency.

This can be easily achieved by utilizing:

• The STAEDEAN Analytics for Rental to gain insights into important KPIs around your asset performance and drive decision-making for future investments.
• Business process management solution to accelerate digital transformation lifecycle and value.
• Integration solutions to integrate multiple systems or third-party software you’re using.

Is the ‘D365-STAEDEAN EaaS solutions’ right for your business?

Now that you’ve understood the D365-STAEDEAN EaaS solutions for easy implementation of EaaS into your business model and the various processes the solution supports, you can evaluate whether it’s the right fit for your business.

If an end-to-end solution, which handles multiple revenue streams and offers complete information by managing manufacturing and rental, is what you’re looking for, then investing in STAEDEAN Rental Management embedded in Dynamics 365 could be the first step you could take.

If Microsoft Dynamics 365 as an ERP has your interest, or if you’re an existing Dynamics 365 ERP user, you could explore more about the D365-STAEDEAN EaaS solutions we offer, by getting in touch with our experts.