Asset Service Lifecycle management: What you need to know
B2B’s, heres one of the smartest (and potentially quickest) ways to increase revenue in 2025.
Asset service lifecycle management is a strategic approach to managing an asset’s entire lifecycle—from acquisition and deployment to maintenance, upgrades, eventual decommissioning, and in some cases proper disposal. ASLM is the next generation of asset management. It’s focused on revenue generation through ongoing, informed service.
ASLM is beneficial to sellers because it’s a relatively easy way to create more selling touchpoints and harvest more low-hanging fruit. For customers, ASLM maximizes asset performance, minimizes downtime, and extends an asset’s useful life, leading to cost savings and higher return on investment.
Read on to learn a little more about asset service lifecycle management and how to further monetize the assets you sell.
Asset management was once seen as a cost center.
First a little context. Asset management isn’t new. It’s existed as long as the concept of “assets” and the desire to keep track of them. Traditionally, asset management was more about damage control than revenue generation. The perception was negative, “I have to fix a machine” rather than positive, “I have an opportunity to upgrade or sell a new machine.” Also, selling the asset was separate from supporting the asset. Sales offices and warehouses were disconnected in systems and goals. Once an asset was sold, Sales moved on and left someone else to track the asset’s existence. Sales closed the opportunity in CRM and a new, different process began in ERP. From there it was up to technicians to deal with customer problems. This approach to asset management served a valid purpose at the time by creating efficiencies within each part of a business.
ALSM’s evolution to profit center and business necessity.
Today, our thinking and technology have evolved and led to ALSM. Asset service lifecycle management combines selling and servicing. It increases selling touch points, allows unprecedented proactive selling, and rapidly creates new revenue streams. It’s the embodiment of the notion that selling more to existing customers is easier than developing new customers.
ASLM is enabled by asset repositories. They allow you to know exactly what you’ve sold to your install base. That knowledge is priceless. In simple terms, you can give this information to marketers to create product service campaigns. With ASLM, campaigns are no longer built on broad and basic insights like customer addresses. Instead, ASLM enables hyper targeted campaigns with precision. ASLM informed campaigns land where needed most, with customers ready for consumables or maintenance to ensure their success and satisfaction. In more sophisticated terms, IoT enabled assets can provide operational data that lets you further monetize your sold assets. For example, you can sell analytics, insights, and shaped data back to customers to improve asset performance. Tracking assets in real-time is a win-win because with ASLM you can proactively manage customers’ maintenance schedules, help them avoid unexpected breakdowns, and ensure compliance with industry standards.
Here’s a real-world example of ASLM in action today.
A manufacturer of laser cutting machines is using Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud. That enables them to know exactly what models of machines are installed at each customer site, as well as things like when it was sold and customer entitlements.
The laser-cutting company has already configured their various work types. This is a scheduled checklist of service items for each machine. It includes things like changing the filter, replacing the optical mechanism, and cleaning the cutting surface. It also includes entitlements that specify reduced or special pricing for things like service visits and replacement parts. With all this information cataloged, the company uses Salesforce Revenue and Service Clouds to inform pricing and customer outreach.
Additionally, technicians use the built-in ASLM functionality to work through their checklist of selling motions with the ability to instantly price add-ons and spare parts. That means every employee that interacts with customers, including technicians, can make a sale. Everyone can do work-order estimation and turn a customer engagement into a billable (and more profitable) piece of work.
ASLM in conjunction with a trio of Salesforce Clouds has been transformative for the laser cutting company, dramatically increasing sales and revenue. With ASLM they’re no longer just fixing aging machines, they’re maximizing assets for the good of customers and their own bottom line. They’re turning all customer touch points into potential selling channels. By integrating selling into their asset management process, Service is now generating revenue (rather than just taking the brunt of customer problems and discontent).
What B2B companies benefit most from ASLM?
Manufacturers
The most obvious beneficiaries of ASLM are manufacturers. These companies make medium- to high-value items, including complex machines that are serviceable, upgradable, and periodically replaceable. Specifically, these are companies that sell direct to customers and end users and own the service obligation.
Salesforce Cloud Users
Companies that already have Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud, Salesforce Revenue Cloud, Salesforce Service Cloud. That’s because ASLM functionality is built in and basically free to them. In this case, ASLM can be a relatively simple implementation with the help of a specialized system integrator.
Asset Repository Users
If you already have an asset repository, and you’ve taken the time to organize your asset data in CRM, then your company is a great candidate for ASLM, because much of the work has been done.
Think of Pierce Washington when you think of ASLM.
Asset service lifecycle management is dead center in our wheelhouse. Nobody knows Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud, Salesforce Revenue Cloud, and Salesforce Service Cloud better than Pierce Washington analysts and architects. We are certified implementation partners of Salesforce as well as Oracle. And we have twenty years of highly specialized experience in the CPQ/Q2C space, including asset repositories and ASLM. From the beginning, our focus has been on B2B manufacturers and their complex configurations and pricing. Today, we also specialize in the tech and life sciences industries.
Takeaway: Without ASLM you’re leaving money on the table…lots of money.
Learn more about Asset Management by reading our full blog here.