Transforming the Field Force: How Accenture Can Help Companies Improve Service Quality While Reducing Operating Costs

Transcription

1 Transformng the Feld Force: How Accenture Can Help Companes Improve Servce Qualty Whle Reducng Operatng Costs

2 Introducton Companes today face many challenges n ther pursut of growth. For some organzatons, one of the bggest s buldng and mantanng a hghly productve and effcent feld force that provdes hgh-qualty customer servce at a cost that doesn t erode proftablty. That s why many companes are turnng to Accenture for help n transformng ther feld force operatons. In the past two decades, we have worked wth some of the world s most nfluental organzatons on feld force ntatves that have helped these organzatons to delver a superor customer experence that fosters customer loyalty and satsfacton whle reducng overall feld force costs. 2

3 Contents Optmzng the Feld Force: A Crtcal Challenge How Accenture Can Help Case Studes Why Accenture Tap or clck con to jump to that secton. 3

4 Optmzng the Feld Force: A Crtcal Challenge Although companes have made great strdes n streamlnng customer servce va dgtal channels, many ndustres stll need workers who physcally vst customers premses to nstall and servce equpment. For companes n such ndustres, those workers must be able to do ther jobs as effectvely and effcently as possble to help enhance customer loyalty as well as proftablty. In the pursut of greater servce qualty and lower operatng costs, many organzatons have nvested n feld force enablement management systems to automate work allocaton, asset management, and customer servce. However, they stll face a varety of challenges that can erode the overall performance of ther feld-based workforce. For nstance, lmted access by workers n the feld to mportant nformaton n legacy systems often leads to neffcent work executon, whch not only degrades servce qualty but also ncreases operatonal costs. Furthermore, sub-optmal work schedulng and ntra-day routng can result n stranded capacty n the feld, whle lmted vsblty nto thrd-party labor can prevent companes from optmally leveragng these workers and controllng the qualty of ther work. These and other shortcomngs can make t dffcult for a company to meet customers ncreasng servce expectatons and respond to contnued pressure to reduce operatng costs. 4

5 How Accenture Can Help Our pror work on numerous feld force transformaton ntatves has helped companes around the world to acheve the followng: Generate greater effcency n the feld by brngng real-tme ntellgence to the dspatch center. Such ntellgence enabled dspatchers to track techncans status and locaton, revse job allocatons on the fly, and quckly address avalablty shortages, outages or unplanned work. Empower techncans and supervsors by extendng backoffce capabltes to the feld. Tools that provde techncans and supervsors wth nformaton from back-end work and asset management systems supported faster, more nformed and more effectve decson-makng n the feld. Deploy supervsors to focus on mprovng techncan profcency and work qualty. By freeng themselves from admnstratve work, supervsors were able to spend more tme n the feld and brng ther expertse onste to help ncrease feld techncan competence and, as a result, reduce repeat vsts due to poor qualty. Improve the work labor mx accordng to busness objectves. New capabltes helped supervsors to better plan and dynamcally adjust work allocaton across dfferent streams of labor (for nstance, n-house and external) to better balance servce cost and qualty. Montor and control contractors work delvery. Usng a sngle dspatch center to optmze and montor the feld operatons of both n-house and thrd-party labor, supervsors ncreased schedulng effcency. Improve customer servce. By more effectvely plannng and managng resource capacty, companes were able to keep tghter appontment wndows for customers and resolve ssues more quckly. 5

6 Case Studes The followng are some specfc examples of how Accenture has helped clents transform ther feld force operatons and the benefts those ntatves have generated. Systems Integraton and Applcaton Outsourcng at Portugal Telecom. Portugal Telecom s the largest telecommuncatons carrer n Portugal and a global operator wth more than 97 mllon customers n 11 countres. Wth a workforce of more than 4,500 techncans and dspatchers, the company asked Accenture to help mplement a new workforce management system as part of Portugal Telecom s operatonal transformaton program. Accenture played an ntegral role n the ntatve, managng and coordnatng the overall program as well as handlng the scopng phase, functonal desgn, development, mplementaton, testng, tranng and rollout of the new technology. Currently, Accenture s managng for Portugal Telecom the applcaton support and mantenance of the workforce management platform over a mult-year engagement. As a result of the project, Portugal Telecom realzed sgnfcant mprovements n servce qualty, customer satsfacton, operatonal effcency and productvty whch, n turn, are drvng hgher proftablty. Specfc benefts nclude a 21 percent ncrease n on-tme techncan arrval, a drop n mean repar tme by up to 50 percent, and a 43 percent ncrease n techncan productvty. Operatons Outsourcng n a Large South Amercan Telco. One of the largest telecommuncatons companes n the world wth a servce portfolo that ncludes voce, data, moble telephony and TV needed help mprovng the servce beng delvered to ts voce, ADSL and drect-tohome customers. Specfcally, the company had determned that the feld workforce, almost exclusvely run by thrd partes, was plagued by poor qualty and low productvty because t was beng managed n a fragmented way wth lttle nternal control. Workng closely wth the clent, Accenture mproved key aspects of 6

7 the feld servce process that had a drect mpact on servce effcency and qualty. We also assumed responsblty for runnng the company s schedulng and dspatch operatons and mplemented custom talored tools for the feld force operaton that enabled operatons management to maxmze workforce capacty. Wthn a year after completng the project, the telco s operatonal KPIs showed sgnfcant mprovement, ncludng a 23 percent reducton n rework, a 25 percent reducton n servce backlog, and a 10 percent ncrease n feld productvty. Integraton and Applcaton Outsourcng at GDF Suez Savelys. Savelys, a branch of global utlty company GDF Suez, s a leadng heatng-systems nstallaton company n France that servces a varety of bolers, heat pumps and ar-condtonng systems for prvate homeowners, publc-housng agences, and professonal buldng managers. Each year, techncans from Savelys make approxmately four mllon mantenance calls across France to nspect or repar systems. Ths work was beng scheduled and managed through a largely paper-based process that was tme-consumng and made t dffcult to track work and mprove processes. To streamlne ths actvty, Savelys decded to work wth Accenture, Avanade and Mcrosoft to mplement a moble nformaton system that could support ts techncans. The project resulted n a fourfold reducton n admnstratve processng tme for servce call reports. Savelys has also seen an ncrease n feld force productvty of 15 to 20 percent, whch means techncans can do one or two more mantenance jobs per day. Back-offce staff has seen a 75 percent reducton n repettve, routne tasks, such as enterng servce-call data. Today, mantenance records and bllng are more accurate, and the company s better able to optmze techncan work schedules and adjust them n real tme, as needed. System Integraton and Change Enablement n a European Wrelne Telco. One of the largest telecom operators n southern Europe and a provder of fxed telephony, broadband and IPTV servces ntated a strategc feld force transformaton program to modernze the operatons of ts workforce. The goal of the effort was to automate the schedulng, assgnment and executon of work performed manually by 500 dspatchers and 3,600 feld techncans. Through ths program, the clent sought to ncrease feld force productvty 7

8 and to mprove effectveness by ntroducng on-ste testng and asset management capabltes through ntegraton wth BSS/OSS and ERP systems. Accenture handled the end-toend desgn, confguraton and deployment of the new feld force management platform, whch was based on a leadng software package. We ntegrated the platform wth 10 external systems, as well as ntroduced automatc work schedulng, brought moble capabltes to techncans to replace paperwork, and enabled resource plannng based on the projected workload. Accenture also managed a parallel stream of change-enablement actvtes, a crtcal success factor n the transformaton. These actvtes ncluded defnng the natonal rollout strategy and plan, the communcaton strategy wth the dfferent clent stakeholders, and the target framework for busness reportng and performance assessment of the feld force. Wth Accenture s help, the telco has acheved a fundamental change n the way the feld force performs ts daly work: from fully manual job management and zero vsblty nto ndvdual performances and productvty to a new operatng model of full transparency of who does what, when and how. As a result, feld force productvty ncreased by 15 percent, fuel consumpton declned by 9 percent, and paper consumpton was slashed by 1.8 tons per month. 8

9 Why Accenture Accenture can help companes transform ther feld-based workforces by applyng a unque array of capabltes and assets ncludng moblty-focused tools, operatonal dagnostcs, organzaton and process desgn, systems ntegraton and deployment, and outsourcng of schedulng, dspatch and thrd-party management. Strategy, Systems Integraton, Dagnostcs and Outsourcng servces can be deployed separately or combned to delver an end-to-end servce that algns to each clent s busness objectves Strategy Systems Integraton Dspatch Center Operatons Outsourcng Servces Desgn Buld Operate Opportunty dentfcaton and busness case development Implementaton of feld force systems ntegrated wth legacy source systems Optmzaton of schedulng/ dspatch center operatons and system confguraton Management of end to end feld force systems 9

10 Accenture also has the capabltes to enter nto long-term, valuebased deals wth clents, so that we desgn, buld and then operate workforce solutons provdng a truly end-to-end servce that algns to our clents busness objectves. Through ths servce, Accenture manages the full spectrum of feld force operatons, ncludng the early defnton of the feld force transformaton strategy and busness case development, technology mplementatons that support techncan schedulng, pre-dspatch qualty checks, tcket trage, and busness operatons for techncan support desks. Accenture also provdes capabltes for long-term demand forecastng and resource plannng. Our servce s bult on a robust analytcal foundaton through whch we develop nsghts on how to contnually mprove feld force operatons performance and ncludes a vendor marketplace that can enable clents to optmze ther blend of nhouse and external labor. Snce the md-1990s, Accenture has been helpng clents ncrease the effcency of ther feld force operatons. In the past two decades, we have completed more than 150 feld force management mplementatons n numerous ndustres around the world. These programs have been supported by leadng edge feld force management technology as well as ndustry-leadng tools, busness practces, and methodologes that organzatons need to help transform ther feld force organzatons nto hgh performers. 10

11 Accenture s feld force transformaton work s dstngushed n four key ways, whch enables Accenture to delver sgnfcant busness benefts to our clents. We have a dedcated practce and global delvery centers Wth more than 1,500 feld force practtoners, Accenture brngs the sklls and experence requred to rapdly transform clents busnesses. A part of Accenture s Global Delvery Network, the Accenture Innovaton Centers for Moblty provde extensve functonal feld force management mplementaton experence across multple ndustres and technologes, allowng Accenture to more quckly brng project resources to bear, apply and adapt leadng busness practces to better sut an organzaton s needs, and delver more cost-effectve solutons. We possess deep ndustry knowledge and access to ndustry benchmarks Accenture s professonals have unque ndustry-specfc knowledge, bult through the delvery of large-scale feld force management projects for some of the largest organzatons n the communcatons, utltes, manufacturng and retal ndustres around the globe. Ths experence s accompaned by unparalleled access to and understandng of operatonal benchmarks that can help assess a busness s maturty and algnment to leadng practces. 11

12 We understand the fragmented software marketplace The emergence of cloud computng and software-as-a-servce has further ncreased the complexty of workforce management optons avalable to organzatons. Accenture helps navgate the fragmented landscape of competng vendors, standards, technologes and products to help clents understand what functonalty, technologes and vendors are best suted to ther organzatons; what quantfable benefts can be acheved through an nvestment n a specfc functonalty; how to best mgrate from a legacy landscape of mxed systems to a new platform and strategy; and how to complement any technology mplementaton wth the rght transformaton ntatves that wll best enable full beneft realzaton. We collaborate wth clents to provde an end-to-end servce that algns wth busness objectves Accenture s feld force enablement capabltes focus on creatng long-term valuebased deals that are lnked to tangble, measurable busnessmpactng mprovements n feld operatons performance results. Accenture s nvested n collaboratng wth clents to not only defne strategy, processes and organzatonal change or mplement technology, but also to operate clents feld servce operatons, thus algnng our own objectves wth clents operatonal effcences. 12

13 For More Informaton To learn more about how Accenture can help you buld and mantan a more cost-effectve, hgher-performng feld force that can enhance customer satsfacton and loyalty, please contact: Crag McNel North Amerca Lead crag.a.mcnel@accenture.com Trent Mayberry APAC Lead trent.a.mayberry@accenture.com Mchele Marrone EALA Lead mchele.marrone@accenture.com s the offcal home of Accenture Enterprse Moblty provdng news, trends and nsghts to CIOs n relaton to the everchangng moble ecosystem. Moble App Download the Accenture Moblty app and get mmedate access to a wealth of nformaton about Accenture Moblty offers and related clent successes across ndustres and geographes. Ths app features Accenture s most recent news and latest thought leadershp on moblty - ncludng ponts of vew, research reports, vdeos, and podcasts. Download from Wndows Phone Store 13

14 About Accenture Moblty Accenture Moblty, part of Accenture Dgtal, plans, mplements and manages moblty solutons for busnesses and publc organzatons, ncludng developng and mplementng enterprse moblty strateges; ncorporatng applcatons and managed servces; creatng and delverng mcommerce solutons; and supplyng credble, busness ready Connected Product offerngs. Accenture Moblty servces are based on deep ndustry nsghts and techncal expertse that helps clents across all ndustres acheve growth, effcency and manage a successful transformaton as they adopt the tools of a dgtal busness. Fnd out more by and vstng About Accenture Accenture s a global management consultng, technology servces and outsourcng company, wth approxmately 289,000 people servng clents n more than 120 countres. Combnng unparalleled experence, comprehensve capabltes across all ndustres and busness functons, and extensve research on the world s most successful companes, Accenture collaborates wth clents to help them become hgh-performance busnesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 bllon for the fscal year ended Aug. 31, Its home page s Contents Cover Copyrght 2014 Accenture All rghts reserved. Accenture, ts logo, and Hgh Performance Delvered are trademarks of Accenture. Ths document s produced by consultants at Accenture as general gudance. It s not ntended to provde specfc advce on your crcumstances. If you requre advce or further detals on any matters referred to, please contact your Accenture representatve. Rghts to trademarks referenced heren, other than Accenture trademarks, belong to ther respectve owners. We dsclam propretary nterest n the marks and names of others. Aprl