For OEMs – Selling Digital Solutions

For OEMs – Selling Digital Solutions (SaaS & Connected Products)

Why It Matters

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in pharma, chemistry, and biotech can no longer rely on hardware sales alone.¹ Customers now expect equipment to come with digital layers such as monitoring dashboards, SaaS workflows, and compliance tools.² The global laboratory informatics market, which includes digital lab solutions, is projected to grow substantially, reaching well over $5 billion by 2030, according to reports from research firms like Grand View Research.³ However, many OEMs still struggle to effectively monetize software.⁴ Without a clear go-to-market (GTM) and sales approach, digital products risk remaining side projects instead of becoming scalable revenue drivers.⁵

The Challenge for OEMs

Bringing digital products to market requires a new commercial mindset. Many OEMs face significant hurdles that prevent traction and adoption:⁶

• Sales teams are hardware-focused: Sales representatives are confident in selling high-value, capital expenditure (CapEx) equipment but are often unequipped to sell recurring subscription-based services.⁷

• Incentives are misaligned: Commission structures are typically built around large, one-time sales, not the long-term, recurring revenue models of software.⁸

• Messaging gaps: Digital offerings are often pitched as mere "extras" or add-ons rather than as essential value creators that solve critical customer problems.
• Pricing confusion: OEMs struggle to design clear subscription, license, or bundled pricing models that align with customer procurement cycles.
• Siloed GTM: Product, digital, and sales teams often work in separate silos, leading to uncoordinated launches and a lack of a unified strategy.

How to Transform Digital Initiatives into Revenue Streams

A successful approach to selling digital solutions requires a structured strategy and hands-on execution that addresses these challenges directly. This involves:

• Market & ICP Mapping: Identifying the ideal customer profile (ICP) and key decision-makers who are ready to adopt digital solutions. This moves sales efforts from a broad, hardware-centric approach to a targeted, value-driven one.
• Positioning & Messaging: Tailoring value propositions to speak to a customer's specific needs, whether it's compliance with regulations like FDA 21 CFR Part 11, improving lab efficiency, or demonstrating a clear return on investment (ROI).
• Pricing & Packaging: Designing flexible SaaS subscription or usage models that align with customer operational expenditure (OpEx) budgets rather than just CapEx.⁹

• Sales Integration & Execution: Training sales teams on the new sales process, building comprehensive sales playbooks, and supporting them with a clear 90-day GTM sprint plan to ensure a successful launch.¹⁰

My Experience

I have direct experience scaling SaaS adoption. With Clustermarket we support more than 1,800 labs worldwide, including those in pharma, biotech, and academic/government sectors. I worked with OEM partners to embed SaaS into their sales workflows, helping traditional hardware companies unlock new digital revenue streams and shift their business model to better meet customer needs.¹¹

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Sources:

• Digital Lab Market Growth: The projection that the global laboratory informatics market will exceed $5 billion by 2030 is supported by market analysis from firms like Grand View Research and P&S Intelligence, which detail the market size, growth drivers, and future forecasts.¹²

• OEM Challenges: The challenges faced by OEMs, such as CapEx-focused sales teams, misaligned incentives, and a lack of clear messaging, are widely discussed in industry publications and research from organizations like TSIA (Technology & Services Industry Association) and analyst firms covering the shift from a product-first to a service-first business model.¹³