Looking at the industry trends, it appears that IoT, Industry 4.0 and product digitalization will substantially affect competition, profitability, and the structure in many industries, as did the previous wave of internet-enabled IT. To be prepared and to define their strategy, companies must understand how smart, connected products impact industry and their service organizations, in terms of competition, profitability, and the way companies do business. Service business is an essential part of most new business models that companies are implementing. Within the service business, it appears that Customer Business Related Services are driving the growth, while Product Related Services will shrink, if not managed very differently than today. The major trends that drive the development of advanced services are: (1) Manufacturing companies shift value proposition from Product Related Services to Customer Business Related Services (2) Everything as a Service: Customers want to consume technology, instead of owning it (3) The increasing importance of Brands (4) Customer Experience Design in B2B (5) Globalization (6) The Internet of Things (IoT) (7) Industry 4.0 (8) Big Data Analytics.
