Exploring the adoption of as-a-Service business models: Opportunities, Challenges and Enablers

In today’s dynamic economic landscape, companies are increasingly exploring "as-a-service" business models as a strategic response to intensifying competition, customers’ focus on cash retention, and the growing relevance of digital technologies. This shift is particularly evident in the manufacturing sector, where the concept of servitization, the transformation from selling products to delivering integrated product-service solutions, is gaining momentum. Nowadays, similarly to what has happened in other sectors, manufacturers are increasingly interested in adopting "everything-as-a-service" business models, where the use or the function of a product is sold instead of the product itself. That enables companies to establish long-term, value-driven relationships with customers by offering continuous solutions in exchange for recurring payments. Beyond economic and strategic benefits, these models also hold significant potential for enhancing sustainability in manufacturing. By promoting product longevity, enabling predictive maintenance, and encouraging resource-efficient usage patterns, this approach fosters more circular and responsible production and consumption systems. Despite its potential to drive innovation, customer loyalty, and sustainable revenue streams, the practical adoption of “as-a-service” models in manufacturing remains limited, primarily due to a lack of operational and strategic clarity. To address this gap, this paper presents an empirical investigation involving four manufacturing companies that have experimented with and/or implemented the “as-a-service” business model to explore the opportunities, challenges, and enablers of this transformation. Among the most critical challenges, companies struggled to build an internal service-oriented culture and to overcome customer resistance to shifting from product ownership to service-based value recognition. The insights from this research thus shed light on the critical factors underpinning the servitization journey and provide manufacturing firms with practical guidelines for navigating the shift toward service-based business models.