Yann Toutant
Yann Toutant has been implementing subscription-based models for hardware in the ICT industry for 25 years, 12 years of which as CEO of Econocom’s Dutch operations. Today with his own company, Black Winch, he helps CEOs and their teams to focus on the user experience by incorporating all components of an As-A-Service offer into a single in-house comprehensive, scalable subscription model.
The doorway to circular economy is one of the main drivers, making it possible to centralise ownership and to industrialise the circularity at large scale.
Yann is a European from France; he has lived and worked in the U.S, Spain, Belgium, Scandinavia. He now bases from The Netherlands whilst embracing the location independent entrepreneur leadership style. Yann is a strong believer that the ‘location independence’ movement, focusing on impressions versus possessions, offers new opportunities to corporates and is a great booster for As-A-Service offers, especially in these post pandemic times. From his own experience, he knows that many CEOs are dealing with three major stones in their shoes: shifting business models, integrating startups and attracting the “Y” generation. The mind shift from possessions to impressions provides solutions from the inside. He loves to integrate this way of working in the projects he runs, as well as in his personal lifestyle.
Yann’s first Book, ‘As-A-Service’ – How to turn your product based business into a subscription model was published in early 2022 with the aim of spreading his commitment to connect As-A-Service and circularity.
Yann is a passionate advocate for the circular economy and believes manufacturers have the power to make steps towards preserving our earth’s precious resources. One way to do this is to shift their business from being product-based to an “As-A-Service” subscription model. As-A-Service allows manufacturers to remain owners of their products, transferring “usership” instead of ownership to their customers. This means being responsible for creating a good customer experience and service, as well as reusing and recycling materials – something customers are increasingly requesting.
But how do you turn a product-based business into As-A-Service? How to navigate from using this buzzword to actually implementing a successful and scalable in-house AS-A-Service business model? There is a large selection of books available about software As-A-Service, but none of them addressed product-based businesses. This, along with Yanns years of experience both personally and within his career lead him to the decision to write his first book.