How OEM's Can Budget Aftermarket Service Processes in a Recession

Rising interest rates, supply chain issues, limited labor pools, inflation, and a potential recession have caused Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to struggle with their aftermarket service delivery needs.

From the expense of finding and hiring in-house employees to tight budgets many OEMs are working with limited resources. OEMs need to understand where they may be able to save and how to think out of the box given these circumstances.

One way that OEMs can save during a recession is by outsourcing or augmenting various aspects of their aftermarket service needs.

Let’s discuss how OEM’s can manage aftermarket services to their clients with limited budgets without impacting customer experience.

What Are OEM Aftermarket Services?

Original Equipment Manufacturer (or OEM) aftermarket services are professional service provided by the OEM to their end user customers on products they produce and distribute. These aftermarket services can include anything from installation and training services, advanced exchange and loaner programs as well as onsite corrective and preventive maintenance services to maximize product uptime.

Today, many OEMs handle these tasks internally with dedicated infrastructure and resources to meet customer service delivery expectations while ensuring the quality and compliance requirements are adhered to. Recently, there has been a higher adoption rate to outsource some or all of these aftermarket services to 3rd Party Service organizations and White Glove Service Partners, like Quest. Why? Outsourcing your aftermarket service processes can help OEMs save money and improve efficiency and productivity during tight labor markets or potential looming recessions.

Let’s discuss some additional benefits of outsourcing your aftermarket service processes.

The Benefits of OEMs Outsourcing Aftermarket Services

There are many benefits to outsourcing your OEM services.

Help Reduce Overall Costs

Outsourcing aftermarket services can help OEMs reduce their overall costs and improve scalability. When outsourcing, OEM’s will have better control of how often a resource may be required in various geographies regions to support customers enabling OEM’s to pay for actual services needed versus having to keep idle staff available to meet demands.

For example, if an OEM has systems installed in two major metropolitan cities which require a field service resource only 50% of the time, they are often faced with the issue of flying resources to cover vacant territories. With this first scenario, OEMs can expect high travel expenses and also anticipate losing at least 2 days of productive time due to travel just to cover these vacant territories.

Improve Efficiency and Productivity

Another issue OEMs face is when placing dedicated resources in the specific geographies not needing a full time field service resource. In this scenario, OEM’s can expect to have a higher than normal carrying cost as there is not enough work in the geographical area to keep the resources productive.

Outsourcing or augmenting can help improve an OEM’s efficiency and productivity by crafting a program that allows the use of a fractional field service resource based on the anticipated usage, this method allows OEMs to obtain a trained resource based on the estimated 50% usage metric required to cover these additional territories without the overhead cost. When you outsource to a reputable 3rd Party Service Provider or White Glove Service Partner you can be confident that your services will be delivered on time and to the highest standards.

Moreover, this partnership can free up your internal resources so you can focus on other essential areas of your business.

Build and Maintain a Competitive Edge

Lastly, outsourcing can help an OEM build and maintain a competitive edge. By partnering with a leading service provider, OEMs can access the latest technologies and best practices while quickly scaling services operations. This can provide a vital edge over the competition.

OEMs Can Enhance Aftermarket Service Delivery by Partnering with Quest

Quest is an expert team with the talent and experience to enhance your business. We recognize that outsourcing provides OEMs significant cost savings when compared to hiring a full-service team in-house.

As a White Glove Service Partner, Quest’s "train the trainer" or “master training” process allows us to understand the ins and outs of your products, so we can service them as your own employees would while training and growing service teams autonomously impacting your training teams busy schedules.

If you’re looking to reallocate your budget for aftermarket service processes in a recession, working with a white glove service provider like Quest is a great option. Reach out to us to us to augment your service staff with our white glove technical service solutions.

Read on to learn more about our processes and how Quest provides white glove service to customers.

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