Digital servitization and who owns the data
Servitization and digital servitization appear on 50 recent papers, mostly in management, with 15 in the last quarter against about 12 per quarter before. Manufacturers now sell uptime, outcomes and subscriptions instead of machines. Do the service contracts earn more than the products did, and what happens to the data the machines generate?
What prompted this
Since October 2025, 50 papers carry a servitization, product-service-system or as-a-service keyword (30 in management journals): "servitization" on 28, "digital servitization" on 10, "product-service systems" on 4. The quarter to September 2026 had 15 such papers against about 12 per quarter earlier.
Questions
- Do manufacturers that shift to outcome-based contracts earn higher margins over the equipment's life, or do they take on risks they cannot price?
- Who owns and can use the operating data from connected equipment, and do customers pay for services with their data?
- Do service revenues make manufacturers' earnings steadier through downturns, as the strategy promises?
Data that could help
Segment reporting of manufacturers that disclose service revenues, contract terms from case firms, and equipment telemetry agreements.
Next step
Compare the margin and revenue volatility of manufacturers with high and low service revenue shares through the 2020 and 2022–2023 downturns.