Improving customer experience by alleviating process roadblocks
As a manufacturer of household appliances, Whirlpool knows firsthand the importance of delivering a consistent customer experience, whether that’s an interaction with an employee at head office or a technician that visits customers at home. Whirlpool understood that if they wanted to create consistency across every customer touchpoint, they had to look at the way their processes were created, communicated, and shared across their internal and external teams.
One challenge they had was creating, implementing and managing their standard operating procedures (SOPs). The tools they were using were complex and difficult to use, which meant employees couldn’t access the necessary procedural information to do their jobs effectively.
Additionally, Whirlpool was looking to improve process consistency and adoption within their field service operations. With hundreds of external contractors across Canada, the team needed a solution that would complement all the other tools they were using and could provide real time changes to ensure all technicians had the latest information available at their fingertips.
One portal connecting field service operations
As their field service operations network is vast, Whirlpool needed a tool that was simple to use, accessible from anywhere, and easy to maintain across the entire network.
By leveraging ProcedureFlow, Whirlpool was able to capture every step-by-step instruction, from dispatch to in-home service.
As the team was external, it was crucial for them to understand Whirlpool’s processes and policies, have 24/7 access, and most importantly, be compatible with all the other tools they were using. To make this process more efficient, ProcedureFlow was integrated as a plug-in to Whirlpool Central, the company’s resource center for service providers, allowing easy access for the entire organization.
Whirlpool Central is an internal tool available to all employees. It serves as the intranet where everything is housed, from sales, product, service manual, spec sheets, etc... This portal is accessed by all employees and used to train the service network. With ProcedureFlow now available within Whirlpool Central through single sign-on (SSO), the field services team no longer needed a separate password or link to access their processes. This resulted in a more simplified way to access all company information and a better employee experience.
The impact of procedural knowledge management
The ability to document procedural knowledge had a direct impact on the performance of the field service operations. Once ProcedureFlow was implemented, the results were clear. The solution became an important tool for onboarding and process learning and had a significant impact on both time to proficiency and escalations.
Providing the service network with a self-serve tool where they could access process information in real-time was a game changer. Ensuring the field service operations team has the right information accessible from the field is vital to delivering an exceptional customer experience.
