Inefficiency transforms to strong “heartbeat”
Situation and problem
The customer service function must relate with the customer, with the sales network, with internal sales, and with production and logistics. A lack of integration, standardization and digitalization was leading to waste, reduced efficiency and effectiveness of the operators. Some customers were disoriented.The service area is also an important “anchor” for stabilizing the business and generating sufficient profitability.
Actions
A big potential to improve B2B aftersales service processes was identified.The offering was structured, the data, workflows and responsibilities were put in proper order. More defined interfaces and handover points were established between commercial (front end) and service desk (back end) with data/info/documents structured in the ERP and e-commerce systems. It was success critical to trace the boundaries between commercial and service activities by digitizing processes. Further work was done on the side of spare-parts preparation and realibility of on-time delivery to the customer.
Results
Reduced time, increased turnover and margins, increased connection and cohesion, increased customer satisfaction and engagement of commercial field operators and distributors.