Enterprise Service Transformation: The Holistic Approach that Increases Efficiency, Revenue Writwik Nanda, Gobal lead, SAP CRM, Business Transformation Group, Wipro Technologies March 5, 2012 no comments Wipro Voice Enterprise Service Transformation Writwik Nanda, global lead, SAP CRM, Business Transformation Group for Wipro Technologies explains why using consumerization to transform an organization s service business can increase customer loyalty and turn this support area into a revenue generator, as well. In most companies, the service organization is an island, a self-contained operation separated from the sales organization. The sales function has a strategy, a customer relationship and the benefits of SAP CRM to fine-tune its messaging. Service is reactive, responding to customer calls, handling repairs or taking care of other issues. It is purely a support function. According to Writwik Nanda, the global lead, SAP CRM, Business Transformation Group for Wipro Technologies, this siloed sales and service approach is costing companies more than just efficiency. Studies show that better, more holistically aligned service costs less, is more efficient and cements the relationship businesses have with their customers, he said. More importantly, when service is segregated from sales and marketing, it is unable to contribute to revenue. So, with a siloed service organization, companies are missing a good opportunity to add to their top line. The answer? Enterprise Service Transformation a holistic approach that integrates service into the total enterprise continuum. 1
Enterprise Service Transformation changes the way companies look at the service business line, Nanda said. By integrating service within the business functions and SAP CRM, companies have the opportunity to provide best-inclass service while giving personnel the tools they need to expand the company s marketing initiatives. If you think about it, the person who just fixed my fan on a hot day has the best opportunity to sell me something else be that a service contract or an add-on product. By taking advantage of the consumerization of technology and the resulting mobile applications that can push customer intelligence and tools historically saved for marketing or sales to the client-facing service personnel companies improve service and customer loyalty. At the same time, using technology to automate and seamlessly respond to service requests can measurably accelerate productivity. The Three Layers of Enterprise Transformation Wipro has identified three layers of Service Transformation: Strategy, Tactics and Operations. Each of these must be aligned with a company s people, processes and technology for a truly holistic, cohesive environment to be created 2
For example, if a company strategically wants to fine-tune a technology product, it can run a marketing campaign, incenting customers to upgrade. Instead of sending those upgrade requests to service, as a separate step to handle those upgrades, the software can automatically download when the request is received, Nanda said. The strategy is the desired technology upgrade; the tactic is the marketing campaign giving customers an incentive to upgrade, and the operations aspect is the automatic software download. Everything is tied together. Going one step further, by using mobile technology, this strategy can be tied to field service personnel. Now, they receive notices to tell the appropriate customers about the offer while on their service calls and can sign them up from their mobile device. This information is immediately fed to operations, which downloads the software automatically. This approach eliminates multiple steps and engages the service team to solidify the company s relationship with the customer. 3
How Transformation Happens Enterprise Service Transformation happens at a different pace for every company, depending on both goals and the current connectivity of its service value chain. Wipro follows a three-step process to help customers define specific targets for transformation. Step One: Identify Maturity Models During this phase, we identify the key areas of the service value chain, which can include service marketing, selling, human resources, logistics anything that impacts that service environment, Nanda said. Then we rank the maturity level of the customer, on a five-point scale, based on the cohesiveness of their service organizations, their current use of consumerism and other technologies, as well as the infrastructure they currently have in place. This step provides a baseline of where the company is versus where it wants to be. Step Two: Create the Maturity Roadmap The maturity roadmap is a documented strategy of how to get from point A to point B; a list of initiatives and the means of achieving each of these goals. After identifying where each company is in its own maturity model, the Wipro team uses this data to and clearly defines the next steps required to move to the desired maturity model. 4
It s important to note that the idea is not to immediately move to maturity level five, Nanda said. In most cases, it makes more sense to achieve a slightly higher maturity level, stop and reap the benefits of that change, then continue to advance the maturity level further. Service transformation is an ongoing process. Step Three: Break the Initiatives Down into Individual Projects The third step is translating the large initiatives into individual projects and prioritizing these. For example, if a company is losing revenue because it is often out of spare parts on its mobile fleet, one project might involve creating a mobile app that enables service personnel to check inventory before going to a call. Then, when the inventory on that particular part reaches a certain threshold, procurement is automatically notified. If a particular device gets multiple service calls that end up being the result of customers not properly using the device, training could solve the problem. The company could create product training boot camp designed for customers and marketed through the service personnel. When the service person is on site, he or she can tell the customer about the boot camp, use the mobile device to communicate the different times and dates for the event, and sign the customer up on the spot, Nanda said. When that customer goes back to his or her desktop, the confirmation and calendar reminder is already there. Companies can also use SAP CRM to take customer data and create appropriate service contract bundles, offering long-term maintenance contracts on the mix of products its high-value customers have. Other types of projects are focused on increasing efficiency. For example, a company may want to move from a more manual system to a mobile service option where the service tech accepts the customer signature on a mobile devicethat immediately transmits the invoice to the back office for processing. At the same time, the system sends a duplicate invoice to the customer s designated email address perhaps with a special offer on a service or product, based on that customer s demographic or current product mix. These are only a few examples of what can happen when companies integrate service across all the business functions of the company, Nanda said. The End Result The consumerization of technology is driving dramatic change. Customers expect more personalization, faster response and a more consistent experience from the companies with which they do business. By integrating service throughout the organization and applying tools like CRM SAP to deepen customer understanding, your service area can gain efficiency and add more value to your company. 5