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More About Product Service Systems  Rodger October 8

Last year, I exchanged correspondence with Jeff McIntire-Strasburg at Green Options about Product Service Systems.

Today, I am thinking a lot more about Product Service Systems. By the very definition of Product Service Systems, they are both more sustainable AND more cost efficient for the consumer.

Wikipedia has a great entry on the definition of Product Service Systems. The definition basically explains how the real value of a good or service are the “results”, and not the actual “goods” themselves. Manufacturers are interested in providing these results, while consumers are interested in consuming them.

The real value of a good or service are the results.

Types of Product Service Systems (according to Wikipedia):

Product Oriented PSS
This is a PSS where ownership of the tangible product is transferred to the consumer, but additional services, such as maintenance contracts, are provided.

Seems to be the least distinctive PSS, where the only change is that services are layered on top of goods.

Use Oriented PSS
This is a PSS where ownership of the tangible product is retained by the service provider, who sells the functions of the product, via modified distribution and payment systems, such as sharing, pooling, and leasing.
Now, this is the closest analogy to rental. The function of the good is sold as a service, rather than requiring consumption of the good itself. It’s plain and simple a more sustainable route to results in so many ways, possibly the simplest of which is reducing overall footprint and waste.
Result Oriented PSS
This is a PSS where products are replaced by services, such as, for example, voicemail replacing answering machines.
As a techie, I also want to point out that SaaS (Software as a Service) replaces products with services. It’s no wonder Google is so interested in green technology: organizing the world’s information is a herculean task of computing apparently, and sustainable practices are job one of a large responsible corporation.

As I’ve said before, rental resembles the Product Service System in many ways.

The world is going this way. Consuming itself is “so last decade”, and we all must do our part. Find responsible rental stores at iLetYou, and support the businesses, technologies, and leaders that are promoting Product Service Systems.

There are many studies showing that Product Service Systems are ecologically friendly, while serving the needs of consumers in a more efficient manner. That’s a trend we can all support, and hope for us and for our future world.


 

Top Event Rental Companies Expect Growth in 2009  Rodger October 1

A survey of the Top 30 Event Rental companies notes that after a robust 8% growth in 2008, there is an expected slowdown in 2009.

With everything going on, this is simply expected. However as companies mention in the article, there are plenty of opportunities to continue to grow if you know where to look, albeit at a more moderate rate.

For rental companies large or small, one such opportunity is very clearly originating rental orders online. Every company should take advantage of free tools available at iLetYou or elsewhere on the Internet. If you don’t, your competitors will. Both the iLetYou rental search engine and online store system give you additional opportunies, free and low cost, to find new customers online.

And as always, share your stores and approaches online or offline to growing your business in 2009!