Finland-based Konecranes is a world-leading provider of heavy lifting solutions for manufacturers, shipyards, ports, and terminals. The business has three components: industrial equipment, service and spare parts, and integrated port solutions for container handling. The company has 18,000 employees in 50 countries, with total sales in 2019 of €3.3 billion.

Konecranes saw the benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) for their business. From smart lifting equipment, to predictive maintenance services, to the automation of its port systems, digitized offerings were a clear opportunity to grow its business and stay ahead of the competition.

As Raheel Farhat, Digitalization & Transformation Lead at Konecranes notes: “We had 47,000 users who could benefit from the data of 29,000 customers. The question was, how do we monetize these benefits?”

The heaviest lift in Konecranes’ transition to the IoT turned out to be their subscription contract model. After all, subscriptions weren’t new to Konecranes. They had been providing maintenance services for years via a one-size-fits-all annual contract.

The problem was, this model didn’t provide enough flexibility. Digital services are subject to constant change, as customer needs change and improvements are made in technology. And because the digital services were new, customers were reluctant to make a substantial upfront investment without knowing how to quantify the value of the services.

So Konecranes decided to break down the one-size-fits-all annual contract into individual component subscriptions available on a monthly or quarterly basis. This gave customers the chance to mix and match services based on the specific needs of their businesses. And the shorter subscription durations made customers more willing to experiment with new services.

However, their finance system struggled under the weight of the increased complexity.

“Our existing ERP system was not able to address our needs in terms of flexibility,” explains Farhat. “We needed a solution that could handle a much larger number of product types and subscription durations on the same platform. That’s why we went with Zuora.”

Using the Zuora platform, Konecranes shifted all of their customers to the more flexible subscription model. In addition to overcoming the willingness-to-pay factor, the transition has helped build better customer relationships. By understanding exactly which parts of the package each customer uses, Konescranes is able to segment customers and target opportunities to upgrade or sell new products more effectively.

The Zuora platform has also enabled Konescranes to allow subscribers to make changes to their subscriptions, which results in a better customer experience and, typically, higher growth.

“Making it easy for the customers to subscribe to these digital services means a higher quality of service is more accessible to them,” says Farhat. “And they are willing to pay for that value.”

And that recognition of value shows up in the data: In just one year, Konecranes was able to go to market with 100% more product rate plans which helped contribute to a YoY increase of 29% in active subscribers and 10% increase in new subscribers.