The IoT is pushing previously product-only businesses towards service-based products. One of these companies is Total. In this discussion, Sigfox CMO Laetitia Jay sits down with Total’s Strategy Marketing and Research Digital B2B Director, Gilles Villautreix, to talk about how they are improving customer satisfaction with the IoT.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Customer satisfaction no longer relies on prices and supplies but also on external services. Customers expect companies to deliver additional services.
- IoT offers a unique opportunity for Total to sensor everything, everywhere in order to gather the data needed to improve their service.
- IoT has changed the way in which Total worked. Rather than trying to find something that fits all requirements, they had to learn to work with different solutions for different pain points.
- Total will remain in the Oil and Gas sector but the IoT is playing an increasingly important role in the way that they operate.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
- On why they invest in the IoT: “Total is a very product focused company and as such it remains focused on supplying, delivering, refining, very product/engineer-focused. The company realized it had to shift from a product to a service focus. Also, customer satisfaction will no longer rely on prices and supply but also on external services that it had to supply. Customers also expected Total to deliver additional services.”
- On why Total works with Sigfox: “We use Sigfox for two main reasons: Firstly, the ability for Sigfox to meet customers and explain what is feasible and what isn’t. Secondly, Total works in 140 countries so the company also appreciated the capability of Sigfox to take a use case and replicate it everywhere in different countries and with different products. This duplicate ability is very important and Sigfox is a tremendous partner.”
- On the length of time between idea and market: “Currently, Total has many use cases running and the average time to market is about six to eight months depending on the country and the product. Sigfox helped the company a lot in this iterative approach.”
SIGFOX CONNECT
After a great success in 2017 with more than 1200 attendees and 120 booths, the Sigfox World IoT Expo is back in 2018 and becomes Sigfox Connect. Attendance is also open to the general public during the second day.
