In the current Italian industrial context, companies are facing a number of challenges, including rising energy costs and delivery delays, which are driving a growing interest in adopting digital solutions and innovative technologies. In this context, the Industry 4.0 paradigm - also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution - represents a radical transformation in manufacturing and industry through the integration of advanced digital technologies. This transformation aims to create smart, efficient and highly automated factories that can rapidly adapt to changing market needs and the challenges of the digital age.
Among the many emerging solutions, servitisation emerges as a crucial, if not uncritical, approach for companies wishing to remain competitive and adapt to changing market needs.
Servitisation: A New Industrial Paradigm
Servitisation represents the shift from models based on the sale of products to new paradigms that integrate the product concept with related services. This may take the form, for example, of the sale of machinery to a customer, followed by the provision of services related to that product, such as preventive maintenance, personnel training and technology upgrades, through a multi-year service contract.
The benefits for industrial manufacturers are manifold. In addition to the additional sale of product-related services, such as technical support and monitoring, servitisation allows them to harness a vast amount of data to offer advanced solutions, such as predictive maintenance. This not only improves operational efficiency, but also promotes energy savings and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the customer-oriented approach promotes long-term partnerships with customers, helping to retain them and enhance corporate reputation.
Despite its many advantages, servitisation also presents several challenges. The transformation requires a cultural and organisational change within the company, involving all departments, from design to sales. In addition, critical issues related to data management, privacy and IT security must be addressed. Some companies may encounter resistance in moving from a product-based model to a service-based one, while others may find it difficult to determine the right pricing for their new services.
The New Financial Solutions to Support Servitisation
To overcome the financial challenges associated with servitisation, companies can resort to innovative solutions such as asset securitisation and bond issuance.
In the Italian industrial landscape, alternative finance instruments play an increasingly crucial role in supporting companies that engage in servitisation. The issuance of minibonds, for example, takes the form of an alternative or complementary financing option to traditional bank credit, offering companies a flexible and diversified source of capital.
Minibonds, in particular, allow companies to access medium- to long-term financing without diluting their equity, providing the liquidity needed to invest in new technologies, infrastructure and human resources needed to develop and deliver innovative services.
In addition, the issuance of minibonds offers companies greater flexibility in debt management, allowing them to tailor financial terms to their specific needs and the life cycle of ongoing projects.
Minibonds are often issued through the creation of digital bonds, also known as 'digital bonds' or 'tokenized bonds', bonds that use blockchain technology instead of traditional paper or electronic bonds.
The use of blockchain technology offers several advantages when issuing digital bonds. First, it provides greater transparency and traceability of transactions, as all transactions are permanently and immutably recorded on the blockchain. This increases investor confidence, as they can independently verify the provenance and history of each token.
In addition, the issuance of digital bonds reduces the costs and time associated with trading and exchanging securities, as it eliminates the need for intermediaries and complex manual procedures. Moreover, the digital nature of tokens allows investors to easily participate in bond offerings from potentially anywhere in the world and at any time, increasing market liquidity.
Conclusions
Modern technologies have evolved so fast in recent years and have made available tools that were previously unthinkable to deploy on an industrial scale and enabled the spread of Industry 4.0 on a planetary scale.
In parallel, technologies have also made adoptable a business model that shifts its focus from the sale of goods/product to that of service.
This leads to undoubted advantages for both those who adopt it (vendor) and those who use it (customer), but this transformation cannot take place through the simple adoption of new technologies but through a profound review of the roles and new responsibilities that derive from it and that propagate to the main corporate functions.
Servitisation represents a significant opportunity for Italian industrial companies to improve their competitiveness and sustainability in the long run. Despite the challenges ahead, adopting innovative financial solutions and investing in the necessary skills can facilitate a successful transition to a service-oriented business model, enabling companies to capitalise on added value and consolidate their position in the global Industry 4.0 market.