Context

As B2B manufacturing services shift to remote and digital delivery, building lasting, trusted partnerships requires new approaches to service design, delivery, and customer interaction.

The shift toward advanced service models—such as predictive maintenance, remote monitoring, data-driven services, and outcome-based contracts—is transforming the landscape for B2B service delivery.

Traditionally, services were defined by onsite visits, where human interaction played a critical role in building trust, ensuring visibility, and delivering value.

However, the rise of digital and remote services is disrupting this approach. This is impacting customers, who now seek new ways to engage, and service providers, who must adapt to meet evolving expectations.

Service organisations must rethink how to deliver a compelling customer experience, foster trust, and build partnerships—all without the physical presence that was once the hallmark of high-touch service models.

The challenge

For customers

As services shift to digital and remote delivery, customers face challenges in understanding and valuing the service they receive.

• Traditional onsite visits, where trust was built through face-to-face interaction, are now replaced by digital touchpoints.
• Customers struggle to gauge the true quality of services when they can no longer see or interact with service providers in person.
• The shift leaves customers questioning how to measure the effectiveness and value of services.

For service teams

Adapting to a digital-first service model is a tough challenge for many teams.

• The shift requires a fundamental change in how services are delivered and experienced.
• Service teams must rethink everything—from their mindsets to their competencies—to engage customers in new ways and deliver consistent value.
• This transition demands new skills, new tools, and new processes to maintain customer trust and satisfaction.
• While teams are focused on innovating for the future, they must still deliver high performance today, balancing the needs of the present with the demands of tomorrow.

A Path Forward Should Be Clear

This shift shouldn’t be as difficult as it is.

• Customers increasingly expect personalised and seamless service experiences, even in digital formats.
• The digital transformation across industries is pushing up expectations.
• Digital-first companies have already proven that this shift can be done successfully.

The Real Threat: Commoditisation

The enemy here is commoditisation.

• As services become more digital and remote, they risk being seen as interchangeable.
• When services lack differentiation, they often get reduced to a commodity, with price being the primary factor.
• This makes it harder to build long-term customer loyalty and can erode profits.

The stakes are high

This is why building trusted partnerships with customers is mission-critical.

Risks

• Erosion of customer loyalty due to a perceived loss of value.
• Increased risk of commoditisation, leading to price competition and reduced margins.
• Falling behind in developing and growing new (digital) service offerings.

Opportunities

• Strengthening differentiation and customer value.
• Increasing customer lifetime value through deeper, more strategic partnerships focused on shared goals and outcomes.
• Thriving in the digital service transformation ahead, becoming a strategic pillar of your company.

The solution

To navigate these challenges, service organisations must redefine how they build and maintain trust in a digital, remote-first world.

This includes embedding the core drivers of trust—credibility, reliability, intimacy, and low self-interest—into digital interactions.

Achieving this requires a strategic focus on transparency, visibility, customer success management, and high-value touchpoints like periodic business reviews.

Transitioning from a trusted solution provider to a trusted partner involves a shift in mindset: moving from transactional relationships to deeper, more interdependent engagements with customers, focused on shared objectives and long-term co-creation of value.

The Service Transformation Summit on Building Trusted Partnerships in a Digital and Remote Service Era is designed for service leaders, executives, and developers who are seeking to accelerate the pace of their service transformation.

If you are involved in a service business undergoing transformation, on a mission to drive the service transformation with remote, online and digital services and looking for practical strategies and insights to drive differentiating customer experiences and trusted partnerships, this summit is for you.

The typical roles of participants in this summit are:

• Global Heads of Services
• Regional Heads of Services
• Field Service Managers
• Remote Service Managers
• Customer Experience Managers
• (Digital) Service innovation managers
• Service portfolio/product managers

Focussed & Purpose-Driven

Our summits are designed to tackle a specific, high-impact topic within service transformation. This ensures that discussions remain relevant and productive, avoiding generic or surface-level conversations.

• Each summit has a clear and specific theme, aligned with pressing industry challenges.
• Moderated sessions ensure discussions stay on point, addressing key obstacles and opportunities.
• Participants engage in targeted exchanges, rather than broad, unfocused networking.

Actionable & Practical

The goal is not just to exchange ideas but to translate them into real-life impact. Every participant leaves with tangible outcomes for their organization.

• Participants’ own challenges are embedded in fictive case studies, making discussions highly relevant.
• An online assessment before the summit helps map maturity levels and key challenges in advance.
• Findings from discussions are translated into practical takeaways applicable to real-world business scenarios.
• Each participant articulates short-term actions or strategic adjustments they can immediately implement.

Continuous Learning & Global Reach

The journey doesn’t end with a single event. Our structured approach ensures ongoing development and opportunities to reconnect.

• Five summits per year, each covering a different critical track:
  • Strategy & Business Models
  • Innovation & Service Development
  • Revenue Generation & Commercial Capabilities
  • Service Delivery & Operational Capabilities
  • Digital & Data Capabilities
• New focus areas are introduced each year to avoid stagnation and repetitive discussions.
• Summits take place in Amsterdam, Chicago, and Singapore, fostering global connections.
• Participants can deepen their engagement through peer groups, academy programs, workshops, and benchmarking studies.