Confectionery company Cadbury SA has implemented HEAT, the service management application from FrontRange Solutions, to drive performance improvement in customer service.
Implemented as part of the Cadbury Schweppes call centre based in Port Elizabeth, HEAT is used to ensure deliveries are made to 12 500 retail and wholesale customers within 48 hours of a customer placing an order with the call centre.
"By enabling us to track delivery queries and automatically escalate unresolved queries to senior colleagues in other divisions of the business, HEAT positions us to manage performance to the benefit of the customer," says call centre manager, Shereen McKenzie.
"Once an order is logged, we can see at a glance how long a department has taken to respond to the placement of an order. Sometimes, for instance, there are delays in loading new prices in time for delivery or in the way the logistics of delivery are handled. So, we can step in promptly with sales (for the prices) or distribution (for the logistics) to resolve the problem.
"Also, the call centre logs feedback from customers with regards to the effectiveness of sales reps, again, means we have access to crucial information that the sales department couldn't otherwise obtain.
"In addition, we're the front end of the consumer complaint system that routes complaints to the customer service department. So we have important insights into feedback from our consumers with regards to our products.
"We track customer details and we follow up on customer queries with our accounts department.
"In other words, HEAT is a repository of objective information and highlights priorities in terms of resolving issues. Because the information is objective, it's that much easier for other departments to buy in to the need to act on it."
FrontRange Solutions (SA) product manager for Africa, Paul Bornhutter, says HEAT's advanced reporting capabilities make it an ideal solution for smaller organisations looking for some of the benefits of business intelligence.
"For instance, when it comes to driving performance improvement, you need to be able to identify trends and exceptions that allow you both to spot issues and take action to address them that is within the context of the rest of your business.
"HEAT collects, analyses and reports on exactly that kind of data because it focuses on processes. When a process doesn't flow smoothly, you have an exception. When certain processes keep repeating themselves in a given way, you have a trend."
Cadbury South Africa's HEAT implementation, completed in March 2007, involved some customisation of the solution to meet the company's particular service management methodology and incorporated two separate month-long periods allocated to user testing to ensure familiarity with the solution before it went live.
"We're very happy with HEAT," McKenzie says. "It's performing the way we want it to. And it's very easy to use - which was our over-riding reason for choosing it rather than a competitor product. In most cases, I can make enhancements to it myself, based on the administrator training provided by FrontRange. That allows me to save on the cost of having consultants write changes for us in all but the rarest of situations."
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