In industries where products, equipment, or machinery are delivered, installed, and serviced over time—like manufacturing, telecommunications, utilities, and field service—tracking and managing Customer Assets and Installed Products is vital. These components provide the foundation for service planning, proactive maintenance, and exceptional customer support.
Customer satisfaction increasingly depends not only on delivering a product but also on the services provided after delivery—installation, support, repairs, and maintenance. This is where understanding and managing customer assets and installed products becomes essential.
This article will dive into what these terms mean, their strategic value, how they’re managed within CRM and field service platforms, and the best practices for leveraging them to streamline operations and deliver superior service.
What Are Customer Assets?
Customer assets refer to any product, system, or equipment that a customer owns and is tracked by a business for the purposes of providing ongoing support, maintenance, or warranty coverage. These assets may have been sold, leased, or provided as part of a service agreement and are often physically located on a customer’s site.
Customer assets may include:
- Industrial machinery
- HVAC systems
- Telecommunications hardware
- IT equipment
- Medical devices
- Elevators or escalators
- Energy meters or transformers
In business systems such as CRM platforms (like Dynamics 365, Salesforce, or ServiceNow), customer assets are often stored as records tied to specific accounts or locations. These records contain details like:
- Serial numbers
- Product models
- Installation dates
- Warranty information
- Maintenance history
- Software/firmware versions
- Configuration details
What Are Installed Products?
The term Installed Products is often used interchangeably with customer assets but may also refer specifically to a subset of assets that have been formally deployed and installed at a customer location.
An installed product may be:
- A product sold and delivered by the business
- A third-party item the company services
- Part of a larger system (e.g., a component within a smart home installation)
Installed products may be tracked as part of a hierarchy. For example:
Customer → Site → System → Installed Products
This hierarchical structure allows service teams to understand complex configurations at customer sites.
Why Are Customer Assets and Installed Products Important?
1. Improved Service Delivery
Knowing exactly what product is installed at a customer location enables service teams to plan more efficiently. Technicians can arrive on-site with the correct parts, tools, and knowledge to resolve issues quickly.
2. Proactive Maintenance and Support
Tracking installed product lifecycles helps businesses plan preventive maintenance, identify products nearing the end of their life, and offer upgrades or replacements before failure occurs.
3. Faster Issue Resolution
Access to product specifications, historical repair logs, and warranty information streamlines troubleshooting. This leads to faster case resolution and happier customers.
4. Warranty and Contract Management
Customer assets are often linked to service contracts or warranties. Having clear visibility into what’s covered and for how long helps reduce billing errors and customer disputes.
5. Field Technician Empowerment
When dispatched, technicians can access details about installed products—including past service visits, manuals, and known issues—directly from their mobile devices.
6. Sales and Upsell Opportunities
Sales teams can use asset data to identify customers using outdated or unsupported equipment, opening the door for upgrades, renewals, or new services.
Key Data Elements of Customer Assets and Installed Products
To effectively manage assets and installed products, businesses need to maintain accurate and detailed records. Common fields include:
- Asset Name / ID
- Product Type / Model
- Serial Number
- Customer Account
- Location / Address
- Installation Date
- Status (Active, In Service, Retired)
- Warranty Start/End
- Service Contract Association
- Last Service Date
- Upcoming Maintenance Date
- Custom Attributes (e.g., software version, configurations)
This data allows service organizations to make informed decisions and take preemptive action.
Real-World Use Cases
1. Field Service Management
A company maintaining industrial cooling systems logs each installation as a customer asset. When a service call comes in, the technician can review the unit’s history, recent issues, and parts replaced before visiting the site.
2. Customer Self-Service Portals
Customers log into a portal to view installed products, track warranty status, and schedule maintenance for their devices without contacting support—streamlining communication.
3. IoT-Enabled Asset Monitoring
Connected assets send performance data to the provider, which triggers proactive service visits when anomalies are detected, preventing downtime.
4. Service Contract Automation
When a warranty is about to expire, the system notifies the customer and sales team, prompting a renewal conversation based on actual asset usage and condition.
Challenges in Managing Customer Assets and Installed Products
1. Incomplete or Inaccurate Data
Without a formalized process, asset records can become outdated or incomplete. This results in service inefficiencies, missed warranties, or billing errors.
2. Disconnected Systems
If sales, support, and service teams are using different systems, asset data may not be shared effectively, leading to inconsistent information.
3. Complex Product Configurations
In industries with custom installations, products may include multiple components, software versions, and integration points—making asset management more complex.
4. Manual Tracking
Relying on spreadsheets or manual logs introduces human error and limits scalability.
5. Change Management
Keeping up with changes—like moves, upgrades, or decommissions—requires diligent record-keeping and real-time updates across systems.
How CRM and Field Service Platforms Support Asset Management
Modern business platforms have dedicated modules to manage assets and installed products effectively.
In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service, for example:
- Customer Assets can be automatically created from work orders.
- Assets are linked to accounts, service locations, warranties, and contracts.
- Mobile technicians can update asset information in the field.
- Assets can be organized in hierarchies (e.g., parent-child relationships).
- Preventive maintenance schedules can be generated based on asset criteria.
In Salesforce Field Service:
- Installed products are linked to cases, work orders, and entitlements.
- Field agents can update products in real-time.
- Reports and dashboards help analyze asset performance and support trends.
Best Practices for Managing Customer Assets and Installed Products
1. Standardize Data Entry
Use templates and mandatory fields to ensure consistent and complete asset records at the time of creation.
2. Automate Asset Creation
Auto-generate asset records when a product is sold, installed, or activated. This reduces errors and ensures all assets are captured.
3. Maintain Asset Hierarchies
Organize assets by location, system, or component to reflect real-world relationships and improve service visibility.
4. Use Barcode or QR Code Scanning
Allow technicians to scan assets on-site for fast identification and data retrieval.
5. Schedule Regular Audits
Conduct periodic reviews or physical inspections of customer assets to verify accuracy and update records.
6. Link Assets to Contracts and Warranties
Make sure every customer asset is associated with its relevant agreement to ensure accurate service coverage and billing.
7. Leverage IoT Where Applicable
Use smart sensors to monitor equipment health in real-time, triggering automatic updates to asset status or service alerts.
The Strategic Value of Installed Product Insights
When properly tracked, customer assets provide more than just service data—they deliver strategic insights that can inform broader business decisions:
- Product reliability trends: Which models require the most support?
- Geographic asset distribution: Where is demand for service highest?
- Service technician effectiveness: Who resolves issues the fastest or logs the most issues per asset type?
- Revenue opportunities: Where can service contracts be renewed, upsold, or upgraded?
These insights fuel smarter decisions in product development, customer support, and field service strategy.