How MARINI Makes Manufacturing Data-Driven

MARINI, the platform for Customer Intelligence with Data Integration, Data Cloud, and Agentic, connects the SAP-dominated ERP world with fragmented CRM landscapes, CPQ, Field Service, and Asset Management sources across manufacturing. This turns Customer Intelligence Manufacturing from a strategy document into operational reality: Account, Asset, Service Case, and Contract sit consolidated on one platform that serves Sales, Service, and Aftermarket simultaneously. The strategic lever lies in the aftermarket, where 25% EBIT margins outperform the 10% you see in new equipment sales. When you consolidate Installed Base, service history, and contract data, you gain aftermarket penetration, renewal rates, and cross-sell probability. MARINI is the technological foundation on which this data basis is built.

Manufacturing in the Context of Customer Intelligence

Manufacturing in the context of Customer Intelligence encompasses discrete manufacturing industries: mechanical engineering, plant engineering, automotive suppliers, other vehicle manufacturing and component manufacturers, as well as related manufacturing sectors such as chemicals and consumer goods. In the German-speaking region, approximately 5,470 manufacturing companies with 50+ employees exist, with 15,000 to 18,000 companies in the extended manufacturing spectrum. Characteristic features include variant-rich, project-oriented products with lifespans of 15 to 50 years and an aftermarket where margins are determined. In manufacturing, the quality of customer and asset data determines aftermarket margin and therefore the revenue that competes with new equipment sales. Manufacturers who consolidate Installed Base, service history, and contract data achieve approximately 25% EBIT margin in service versus roughly 10% in new equipment business. Manufacturers without this data foundation lose aftermarket business to independent workshops and third-party providers.

Market Data: Why Customer Intelligence Drives Manufacturing Success

These four data points show where strategic ambition and operational data reality diverge in manufacturing. That gap is where your aftermarket lever waits.

A VDMA survey among 248 member companies shows 73% for mid-sized companies and 83% for large enterprises. Strategically, you have digitalization in place; operationally, the gap persists: data is captured but still insufficiently used for analysis. That gap is where Customer Intelligence steps in.

For two-thirds of OEMs, critical customer and asset data sits across three to four enterprise systems according to Field Technologies Online (Blumberg Advisor). Pulling meaningful data together is time-consuming to extremely time-consuming. That costs you the systematic aftermarket business you could otherwise capture.

For large rotating equipment, figures are even higher at approximately 32% versus 8% in new sales according to McKinsey analysis of Aftermarket Services. Service-focused manufacturers deliver double the total shareholder returns of their peers. The lever is right there; you just need the right data foundation.

When you manage your installed base systematically, for instance through consolidated asset master data and service histories, BCG study on Aftermarket Services identifies 20 percentage points of additional penetration as realistic. The prerequisite: a platform that brings together Asset, Account, and Service Case.

What Data Challenges Does Manufacturing Face?

The industry structure creates four structural data problems that cannot be solved through individual system features. You need a platform that consolidates master data across system boundaries.

Long sales cycles and multi-stakeholder buying centers. Your deals typically take six to 18 months from initial inquiry to order. The buying center includes purchasing, production management, plant management, maintenance, IT, and commercial management. Each stakeholder has different information needs. In your CRM, this leads to fragmented customer journey views you can no longer piece into a single story.

Variant-rich, project-oriented products. A single business unit can configure over 40,000 product variants. This complexity breaks your traditional CRM data model. Configuration, BOM, and engineering data sit in CPQ, PLM, and CAD systems but need to be available in the customer context for sales, service, and aftermarket.

High product lifespan. Industrial machinery has useful lives of 15 to over 50 years. The customer you win today remains your service customer for decades. This is where your economically decisive lever lies, and at the same time the greatest data management challenge: maintaining consistent customer and asset master data over decades.

SAP-CRM dissonance. SAP, Microsoft, proprietary developments, and Salesforce share the German-speaking CRM market in a distribution not found globally. Where your SAP ERP is the standard, CRM is mapped heterogeneously: SAP CRM, Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, HubSpot, CAS, SugarCRM, or proprietary developments coexist in the same industry. This ERP-CRM dissonance is your central integration pain point.