Success Stories

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What we achieved

57%

increase in service revenue
72%

reduction in direct customer calls to field engineers
125%

improvement in onsite machine utilization

To who

Industry Construction, Mining
Products HCL Aftermarket Cloud
Region Global

Overview

Part 1
Challenge

Manual validation of service requests led to ineffective tracking of field engineer and work order status, lack of consistent practices, procedures, tools and reporting, all of which resulted in low customer satisfaction.
Part 2
Solution

Field Service Management of HCL Aftermarket Cloud with centralized helpdesk for remote product support.
Part 3
Results

Implementation of HCL Aftermarket Cloud yielded a 57% increase in service revenue, 98% of customers rated themselves as “very satisfied”, 72% reduction in direct customer calls to field engineers, and 125% improvement in onsite machine utilization.

The Challenge

Business Challenge Story

The company faced a range of operational and customer satisfaction issues in delivering after-sales field service support in emerging markets like India. Service management practices varied widely across locations, and business processes such as validating service requests and tracking field engineer and work order status were predominantly manual.

Also, customers were calling field engineers directly, significantly reducing productivity. Engineers were handling more than 26,000 direct customer calls a month — without recording actions taken, problems fixed, or customer feedback. The location of field staff and status of service and work orders was often incomplete, making it difficult to respond to customer inquiries. The only measure of customer satisfaction was a voluntary customer rating — and only 28% of those customers would rate the service above a 4 (on a scale of 0 to 5).

At the same time, the company was experiencing low billed hours for its milling machines, which were largely sitting idle on construction sites. On average, machine utilization was close to 36.5%, or 8.8 hours a day, when it should have run close to 20 hours a day.

Thanks to the Field Service Management capability of the HCL Aftermarket Cloud, we achieved 100% utilization of field engineer resources and gained strategic focus on revenue realization.

The Solution

Transformation Story

To bring consistency to its after-sales operations and improve field service business outcomes for all stakeholders, the company selected the Field Service Management capability of the HCL Aftermarket Cloud. The solution provides end-to-end tracking of the field service workflow, capturing accurate and complete information at every step.

The Field Service Management solution was implemented as a cloud-delivered responsive web application with native iOS and Android mobile app, making it easy to deploy across company-owned and dealer locations. Easy-to-use mobile apps empower customers, field technicians, and service managers with instant access to the most current and accurate information about machine and service status.

Field engineers are notified of service call assignments and provided complete information about the customer, the machine to be repaired, and the tools and parts required for service. Service managers can easily see which engineering resources are available for assignment, schedule service calls, and track the current location of the field force via GPS updates.

The company also opted for HCL’s outcome-based “white glove” end-to-end managed service, which included a customer service helpdesk. Available via a toll-free telephone number, the helpdesk centralized field service operations, providing remote support for all sales and service locations by taking customer calls, opening tickets, and tracking performance.

The Results

The road construction equipment manufacturer realized significant improvements to field services operations with the HCL Aftermarket Cloud Field Service Management solution. Direct calls to field engineers were reduced by 72%, resulting in 100% utilization. This helped bring to light “free of cost” jobs that were handled by engineers receiving direct customer calls. Thereafter, the company increased its focus on revenue-generating activities, realizing a 57% gain in service revenue and 90% reduction in good will service (free of cost).

Because engineers now arrive at the job with the necessary parts and tools, first call completion rates are significantly higher, and customer wait times are lower. Thanks to overall improvements in the customer experience — from the app to faster, better service resolution — the proportion of customers rating their satisfaction above 4 (on a scale of 0 to 5) grew to 98%. What’s more, the system’s ability to predict the next service due dates and pre-identify parts needed provides early warning for staffing and parts stocking. And average machine utilization rates improved 125%, increasing from 8.8 hours to 19.6 hours a day.

About the company

The multinational off-highway equipment manufacturer delivers after-sale service excellence by improving field engineer utilization and customer satisfaction. Known for its technological leadership in the development and production of machinery for off-highway industries, this international company delivers value and customer success at construction and mining sites around the world.

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