Customer
One of the nation’s largest retailers with locations in every state.
With thousands of heavily trafficked locations, it’s essential for the retailer to preserve a strong brand image with clean, functional stores that serve daily consumer needs. Due to challenges with previous facilities management software, the operations team turned to ServiceChannel to help reduce delays in repairs and cut significant spend to achieve budget goals.
Here are three of many ServiceChannel levers the retailer leveraged that led to significant savings through streamlined work order and vendor management:
Challenge #1
Before ServiceChannel, the facilities management team would initiate service requests by phoning a centralized call center, and managers didn’t have the option to create a work order on their own via desktop or mobile. This required managing a fully-staffed call center operating 24 hours per week, 365 days per year. Additional steps were also needed to route or escalate issues and add pictures to work orders, leading to delays in service that caused a negative impact on the overall brand experience.
Solution
Upon implementation, the retailer rolled out the ServiceChannel Mobile app to all store teams, allowing for on-the-spot work order creation. Decision tree workflows further streamlined the process by ensuring the correct trade, category, priority level, and provider were assigned, helping to eliminate unnecessary provider trips.
Results
Store teams now efficiently create work orders and upload supporting photos, so they can focus on serving customers. With the decision tree workflow in place, work orders are processed more accurately, and the right service provider gets dispatched the first time, leading to quicker resolutions.
In addition to adding efficiency and speed to workflow submissions, the ServiceChannel Platform allowed the retailer to significantly reduce costs required to maintain a 24/7 call center. They also experienced a 35% reduction in calls from vendors looking for clarification on work order submissions.
Challenge #2
When stores contacted the call center for assistance in placing work orders, representatives relied on generic questioning that failed to address the retailer’s specific issues, hindering effective troubleshooting and accurate work order routing. As a result, unnecessary work orders were created, leading to avoidable service calls, trip charges, and additional provider costs.
Solution
To streamline routing, facility teams used ServiceChannel interactive troubleshooting and decision tree logic to guide accurate work order creation and ensure providers received clear, complete instructions for service calls.
Results
Empowered store teams now use ServiceChannel to reliably reroute and resolve issues, leading to over 6,000 adjusted work orders per year. This shift allowed for significant cost savings by ensuring service providers had accurate information the first time, avoiding additional charges for extra visits or reassigned providers.
Challenge #3
Lacking detailed historical invoice data to set informed not-to-exceed (NTE) price limits, the retailer frequently overspent on repairs. Limited bandwidth also prevented thorough proposal reviews, further undermining cost control.
Solution
ServiceChannel’s Customer Analytics Solutions team performed a comprehensive analysis of the retailer’s historical invoice data, identifying opportunities to reduce NTE price limits while avoiding excessive proposal reviews for optimal results.
Results
By setting optimal NTE price limits, the retailer saved over $650 on repair expenses per location annually.
