Collaboration: Design, iOS/Android Engineering, IT Backend Engineering (APIs), Customer Service
Collaboration: Design, iOS/Android Engineering, IT Backend Engineering (APIs), Customer Service
Collaboration: Design, iOS/Android Engineering, IT Backend Engineering (APIs), Customer Service
Driving Efficiencies Through Better UX
Role: Product Manager
When: March-November 2013
With hundreds of thousands of sales orders processed every year, Nestlé Waters North America faced several issues with off-line tools at their call center for retail. This project aimed to understand how end-users performed their tasks and to tailor the solution to drive efficiencies related to average handle time and training of new employees.
Design Thinking and other user-centric techniques were used for research, ideation, and prototyping. We improved overall usability, and as a result, we created efficiencies by reducing training time, user errors, and average handle time for calls.
This project was submitted for the Nestlé CIO awards where it was selected in the top fifteen (among almost 100 projects submitted).
Business Challenge
-
Hundreds of thousands of orders, multiple sales channels and thousands of retails stores that required on-time delivery of Nestlé products every week.
-
Off-line tools -> frequent maintenance causing delays, no historical data and intense training required for new employees.
Approach
-
We followed different user-centered design techniques as well as Design Thinking workshops to quickly gather insights and promote end-user engagement.
-
Before starting the engagement, we used surveys (SUS and open-ended questions) to prepare our team before user observations and interviews. We also used the SUS score to measure before and after results.
User Research
Measure current usability score of the solution.
Gather initial insights of users' perspective and pain points.
Observations & Interviews
Observed users at their workplace while performing their tasks. Conducted one-on-one interviews.
Analysis of Findings
Consolidated and summarized observations/interview data. Identified pain points. Defined scope for ideation session.
Prototyping
Built wireframes and prototypes to solve pain points. Included development team in discussions for technical feasibility.
Usability Testing
Tested concepts with end-users for initial feedback and prototype iteration.
Development & Build
Documented findings and functional specifications. Discussed and planned development with engineering teams.
KPIs
Increase in productivity
-
By following a user-centric approach, we were able to learn more about the Customer Service Team’s daily journey, helping us to provide a more efficient and simpler solution that improves productivity by over 40%.
-
Before the improvements, the team’s target was to process 17 orders per hour/per representative. The target has increased to 25, with some agents scheduling over 40 orders per hour.
Training
-
Nestlé Waters relies on seasonal (summer) resources to support the high demand. Prior to the implementation, each resource required 2 weeks’ worth of training and preparation to be ready to work. With the new solution in place, new employees are ready to schedule orders within 1 ½ days, with some employees working in the system the day they start at working at Nestlé.
Usability:
-
The System Usability Scale (SUS) is the industry Standard to measure the usability of a solution. The new solution received a score of 94.3 based on the usability survey with our end-users four weeks after our enhancements were implemented; 26.3 above the target of 68.
USERS' FEEDBACK
CUSTOMER SERVICE REP
“The new solution groups all orders and everything I need in one page, so I am not flipping screens all day”
CUSTOMER SERVICE REP
“All the enhancements are the best thing that ever happened to us. I feel I am much more efficient and can use it with great ease. Knowing what to schedule first with the traffic light where you don’t have to go down the list (Awesome)!”
CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER
“I did not know the enhancements were going to be so impactful to my team. The efficiencies we have gained have made us so much faster."
Other Results: Engagement with customers and employees
By following this user-centric approach:
We have empowered our employees to be more efficient by implementing a tool that provides information all in one place. The user-centric approach allowed us to have the “Voice of the Users” where the design of the product was based on the user’s needs, in a simplified and effective way. As a result, we delivered a user-friendly solution that brings efficiency to the process and increases end-user satisfaction.
Our customers have benefitted by being able to schedule multiple orders in one phone call with our Customer Service Team. With all information about our customers in one location, it is much easier for our Customer Service Representatives to access all of the information that they need; therefore improving the customer experience and the level of service provided.