JB Hi-Fi’s installation division has automated its scheduling, route planning and customer updates by rolling out a new field management platform.
The team of 150 employees and contractors who set up customers' new computers, TVs and smart homes adopted the Salesforce Field Service mobile app in four weeks.
The new capabilities are “much like Uber,” JB Hi-Fi installations product manager Stuart Walker told this year's Salesforce World Tour in Melbourne.
“The technicians can manage their availability within that app; they can accept or reject opportunities and get everything they need to know about where they need to go and what they need to do, including uploading photos and so on.”
Walker said JB Hi-Fi needed the upgrade to relieve technicians from “having to write out their route at the start of each day,” and to ensure that the right team member was dispatched for the right job based on their expertise, vehicle and location.
“There are complexities around the different work types; we don't just do TV audio-visual systems; we do IT as well and smart homes; and you throw package capacity on top of that as well like 75-inch or 85-inch [products] - these things could be really tall and exceed van heights in some areas.
“So we need to be able to match the attributes of the job to the right technician at the right time in the right area.”
The upgrade automated responsibilities previously managed by JB Hi-Fi’s call centre as well like updating customers about cancellations and rescheduled appointments.
“As soon as that booking’s received, the customer receives an SMS with a URL that they can use to track their job, so they can cancel or reschedule their appointment," Walker said.
"We also then send that information to the technicians as well.”
Salesforce’s automated “appointment assistant feature” also relieved JB Hi-Fi’s call centre employees and technicians of having to update customers on their location and arrival times, Walker added.
“From the moment the technician is en route to the customer, they'll receive a notification that their technician is 15 minutes away and a reminder to be prepared for their arrival; as well as a geofenced location when they're within one kilometre."
Keeping customers up-to-date about installation times was good news for the company’s net promoter score.
JB Hi-Fi’s installation technicians and call centre employees were also happy about the automation of manual tasks, which improved productivity, Walker added.
‘At a technician level, they're happier because they spend less time travelling and they can fit more jobs in per day - and obviously time is money," he said.
“And for our [call] centre, being able to implement some of these tools has seen their job satisfaction increase as well, which is something I’m really proud of.”
Walker said that JB Hi-Fi is planning to use Field Service Mobile to provide customers with more personalised instruction content and to automate how frontline workers document their work.
“We want greater personalisation and to be able to help inform customers about options that are available,” he said.
He also saw opportunities to potentially utilise generative AI to streamline the preparation of summaries "at the end of the job; to help make those faster to complete for the technician at the end of the job - as well as pre-work summaries".
"That would be really handy," he said.
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