Keep calm and build your effective DPS
Have you started to turn your products into connected products but your are still not satisfied with the value they generate?
Have you started to develop your custom DPS system but you have doubts that it is not yet effective?
Let's dive in!
What is a DPS?
A DPS is a new kind of information system. It is at the core of the data valorization strategy of equipment manufacturers building connected products and delivering connected services.
The main function of a DPS is to process and extract value from raw data received from your connected products and distribute that value to all stakeholders in your product-service system.
Put simply, it is the digital companion of your product-service system.
Check out the entry "What is a DPS (Digital Product-Service) system?" in our Academy to learn more
You didn't know it, but probably you are already developing a DPS system
If you have already implemented a Web application that:
1. lets you manage the after-sales life cycle of your connected products (installation, activation), where they are installed (sites, locations) and their association with customers and partners (technical assistance centers, installers, distributors, resellers)
2. collects IoT data and monitors health, performance, efficiency, consumption of your products
3. grants different users access to data, information dashboards, alerts and notifications
4. allows remote control, configuration, recipes management
then you have already developed your custom DPS system even though you have never called it that so far.
But how can you be sure that your DPS is really effective?
To assess whether a DPS is effective or not, we analyse each component of its architecture. Let us take as a reference architecture that of Servitly DPS.
The architecture of a Servitly DPS system is divided in 5 elements:
The system interacts at the bottom with your connected products and at the top with your stakeholders.
Check out the article "Servitly DPS Architecture" in our Academy to learn more
PRODUCT DIGITAL TWIN
The (Product) Digital Twin layer is responsible for creating and managing the digital copy of each of your connected products. It collects, organizes and stores the raw data sent by them, and also manages the transmission of parameters, commands and updates.
An effective DPS
- consistently manages your entire product catalog
- deals with all phases of the after-sales life cycle of your products (eg. installation, activation, failures, repairs) and keeps the history
- enables 1-to-many, two-way communication with your products (eg. bulk updates of firmware, configuration parameters, recipes)
Conversely, a DPS will be less effective if
- offers siloed applications for different product types
- has a "short memory" of life cycle events
- does not allow two-way communication or it is limited to deal with only one product at once or it is limited only to firmware updates
SERVICE INTELLIGENCE ENGINE
The (Service) Intelligence Engine is the core section of the DPS system architecture, which adds the intelligence needed to transform data into value and deliver it through a connected service.
An effective DPS is not just about displaying raw data in dashboards; it creates new information and knowledge and orchestrates processes to make stakeholders act.
In particular, a DPS is the more effective the more it helps the user to:
- Understand what happened
- Evaluate the overall situation, beyond the single point
- Determine whether it is worthy of attention
- Decide if some action is needed
- Perform the action
Conversely, a DPS will be less effective if it shows users directly the raw data, even if using beautiful graphic layouts.
USER INTERFACES
The User Interfaces layer is responsible for distributing to all stakeholders any data, information and digital capability managed by the underlying layers.
An effective DPS provides all the roles involved with a specific user interface, designed precisely to help them meet their needs and do their job.
Conversely, a DPS will be less effective if it shows users the same data and functions.
There are at least 2 main User Interfaces that a DPS system must offer.
Customer Portal
The Customer Portal is the user interface addressing your end customers.
The Customer Portal of an effective DPS quickly and clearly helps your end customers achieve the results they want, so they can’t live without it.
Control Room
The Control Room is the user interface addressing your service front-office workforce.
The Control Room of an effective DPS gives all members of the team clear indications on priorities, cases to be managed, actions to be performed, so that they can save precious time and resources.
INTEGRATIONS
The Integrations layer is responsible for connecting your DPS within your information systems.
An effective DPS is deeply connected to your FSM, CRM and ERP systems. It automatically triggers business functions and processes such as opening support tickets and ordering consumables or spare parts and it aligns information across the other information systems, especially customer-related information.
Conversely, a DPS will be less effective if it is a standalone application.
BACK OFFICE
The Back Office element is responsible for managing all the business entities involved in your product-service system.
An effective DPS manages products, end customers, subscriptions and contracts, partners (distributors, resellers, technical assistance centers) and their relationship with end customers, your organization + your sub organizations.
Conversely, a DPS will be less effective if it manages only product-related data.
In this video, we outline, at a glance, how our Servitly Console can support you in building your own unique and effective DPS.
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