How would you describe your approach to digital transformation?
When you are looking to implement digital transformation, the first thing you need to do is look at the way the company operates, then leverage new and existing technologies to make systems and processes more efficient whilst delivering the best user experience. The point is not the technology itself, but rather what it can deliver.
A good example is our Operations Team. They receive customer requests for support, and manage the overall resolution process against the customer’s Service Level Agreement (SLA). At some point they need to dispatch a part: find the closest one and have it shipped to the right field engineer.
At the launch of our new ERP system, they had to complete a number of actions in different parts of the system, replicating a lot of data entry. We’ve since developed a dedicated experience application connected to Invoke SAP, showing automatically where parts are available and performing all the actions required to ship the part.
Business transformation is about freeing our people from time-consuming, repetitive tasks using digital tools, leaving them more time to focus on the areas where they can add real value. A robust approach to change management is key – making sure that we properly prepare, support, and help individuals and teams across the business to make these organisational changes. Our job is to engage with every part of the business and explain how proposed changes will impact and improve day-today tasks, as we seek to ameliorate user experience and business efficiencies overall.
Digital transformation is also about how we deliver value to our internal and external customers by introducing new ways to use existing technology – to help them to perform better and provide a more connected link between ourselves and the customer.
Systems are not a goal. They are a means to achieve our goals.
What is it about customer service that ‘makes or breaks’ a company?
Customer service is the key differentiator between a good business and a great business. It’s what sets Evernex apart from its competitors, and the seamless customer experience we have created with the new portal is one that really resonates with our clients all over the world.
For us,it is all about the customer, from start to finish. We have a diverse range of systems due to a number of global acquisitions, but the digital team has done a wonderful job of integrating and aligning them all to deliver a seamless customer experience and the same quality of service regardless of location.
What will this digital transformation deliver for your customers?
Our digital transformation is an enabler, helping customers to access service tickets and equipment details from any device at any time of the day or night.
Customers can open service tickets on the portal, and the asset information is auto populated to save time. They can view real-time updates from customer support and sort service tickets, with an immediate snapshot of all service records.
There is instant access to SLAs for each asset under agreement, and a built-in tool to track and review critical warranty coverage – including end-of-life details – quickly and simply. Overall, the portal delivers more effective asset management and support journey, and that’s just from Day One. Over the course of this year, we will be adding more complex and enriched services to help customers work smarter.
What are the advantages of dealing with a tpm?
The IT infrastructure in a business usually comes from different manufacturers like IBM, Dell, HPE, etc. And when you deal with the OEMs, you need to deal with each brand individually under the initial warranty period.
When you switch to a TPM supplier, you are able to access support for all of your IT assets. We provide a technology-agnostic, multi-vendor environment that acts as a one-stop-shop to provide support and maintenance for all brands.
TPMs help you delay the cost of replacing expensive hardware, which is both financially and ecologically sound. Customers are increasingly interested in buying refurbished hardware which not only reduces costs (which can be up to 80% in savings), but produces less e-waste and creates less manufacturing to replace equipment that simply doesn’t need replacing.
With a TPM, you have one single point of contact for all your infrastructure needs, including upgrades and replacements, testing, maintenance and warranties.
What drove the launch of the customer portal?
Our objective is for the portal to act as a hub between the customer and Evernex – a private space accessed via the main Evernex website that delivers VIP care for our valued customers. Today, the portal is focused on delivering operational features, and soon customers will be able to access additional features like new asset inclusion in existing contracts. We aim to make all of this day-to-day activity simple to allow customers to focus on business-critical applications.
The client can log on and find out precisely what is happening in real-time or find the right person (a real human, not a chatbot!) to talk to. We are looking to roll out improvement releases – like predictive maintenance, contracts, and invoicing – every month this year. All improvements will take into account our customers’ feedback.
What do you think the impact of 2020 and the pandemic will be on business today – and tomorrow?
In many ways, the pandemic has created an opportunity to do more things from a digital standpoint – like using online collaboration tools, for example. We have discovered new ways to collaborate more efficiently across the various functions and regions of the business.
If you are smart enough in any crisis, you can find new ways of doing things. For example, we became conscious during the pandemic of potential roadblocks with the shipping of parts. As a result, we improved our digital capability to precisely forecast and predict the parts we will need at any given moment across 330+ warehouses worldwide.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and digital innovation over the past 18 months or so has allowed us to find smarter ways of working: looking at challenges, and rethinking the way that we do things. We have found new solutions for ourselves and for our customers, and we are certainly ready to meet the challenges and opportunities that 2021 will bring.
Is there one thing that keeps you awake at night?
There is more than one! Digital transformation is about people and not technology. Employees need to sit at the centre of any successful digital transformation and so finding ways to collaborate with different teams and mindsets and personalities across the various departments can be challenging.
We have had to rethink the way that we engage with staff. The Digital team has done a tremendous job of immersing themselves in those departments, and walking in their shoes, to really understand their unique challenges and needs before tailoring the right digital solution.
It’s our job to help the business understand that reshaping, and articulate what they want to get out of a digital transformation. We are hugely appreciative of the capacity and willingness of employees and managers at Evernex to engage in this process with us, and their commitment to this digital change has been a huge factor in our success.
We also need to ensure complete alignment between the company strategy and objectives, and the digital roadmap. We have to make sure that what we are doing in the Digital team is serving the rest of the business. Digital is just an enabler at the end of the day – but a powerful one – so we need to ensure we have the right people on board at the management level.
What is your prediction for a more successful year for businesses in 2021?
The pandemic has in some ways forced a pause on many businesses, giving CIOs the opportunity to review and reprioritise what’s important. What is certain is that there are new ways of working that will potentially be in place for the foreseeable future, which means CIOs will be looking for new ways to manage IT infrastructure costs and needs.
It will doubtless be a busy year for Evernex with more businesses reliant on IT and digital systems. Companies are more cost-conscious around their IT spend in the current climate, which is where third party maintenance providers like Evernex can help.
Those companies that have managed to transform or ‘pivot’ in the past 12 months – undoubtedly using technology to do so – have not only survived the challenges of the pandemic but look set to thrive in 2021.
