A New Zealand icon in the home ventilation industry, DVS has solved the condensation worries for thousands of New Zealanders over the past decade. On any given day, DVS’s customer service reps work across a wide range of ventilation models and options, from basic DVS models through to climate controlled systems with many optional extras including Econo-Heat flat panel heaters, induct and integrated airwarmers, summer ventilation kits and external air supply units.

While part of DVS’s success has been based on the quality of its product range, the organisation has also realised the power of customer service in creating repeat business and fuelling its sustained growth. However, with over 25,000 customers, being able to track them all from first contact to eventual sale and implementation (plus annual filter replacements) was proving an increasingly laborious task for the organisation’s customer service team.

Prior to implementing a customer contact solution, DVS was managing its Wellington based customer contacts (over 10,000 users), with a Microsoft Access database and numerous manual spreadsheets. As the company expanded, however, the company found it couldn’t effectively track new business opportunities - or the thousands of new customers it was gaining every year.

Recognising the need for change, it put together a business case for its Wellington service reps that succinctly described the problem: its customer tracking processes were inefficient, difficult to maintain and unable to support the need to manage relationships from an initial enquiry through to the generation of a purchase invoice - and then ongoing customer management through annual filter replacements.

As DVS managing director Mark Shepherd explains, “The systems and processes supporting our activities no longer reflected the size of our Wellington customer base or the mix of products on offer. We had huge amounts of knowledge but no central repository for it. The customer contact process really didn’t mirror the rapidly increasing business we were supporting.”

Shepherd says he wanted a solution whereby DVS could track prospective customers throughout their relationship with the company.

The Solution
Following a market evaluation of integrated customer service and support solutions, in late 2001 DVS chose the FrontRange HEAT Service & Support solution provided by Olympic Software.

“We were impressed with the FrontRange’s features,” says Shepherd, “and Olympic showed flexibility and commitment to a long-term relationship with us, rather than just a quick sell.” In terms of its functionality, Shepherd says HEAT software delivers an easy-to-use, full-featured customer service and support solution with a single view of the customer - enabling DVS to control service issues and resolve them effectively.

A key factor in HEAT’s selection, he says, was its ability to integrate with the organisation’s existing Great Plains accounting software package, handle ad-hoc customer requirements and eliminate re-keying of customer sales data.

Since upgrading in April this year to the latest version of HEAT (Service & Support V8.01), has meant service representatives, management, showroom staff and installation coordinators can now also analyse consumer trends using HEAT’s integration with Crystal Decisions.

HEAT has also enabled the creation of customer analysis on which products have been sold in each location - which in turn assists with future marketing activity and the manufacturing cycle.

Specifically, HEAT helps staff log customer responses to marketing campaigns, review the number and frequency of sales signed, monitor installations and handle warranty paperwork, enabling the company to instantly build a customer profile, including location, product purchased, installation date, warranty status and annual filter replacement.

Additional benefits
Olympic Software have also developed an integration package for DVS that transfers information between the company’s Great Plains accounting package and HEAT. After a sale has been completed, a customer account is created in Great Plains and a reference number transferred into HEAT, from where an invoice request can be submitted to Great Plains. This enables service reps to quickly tell from HEAT if invoices have been generated for their product while the customer is on the phone.

In addition, DVS will soon add HEAT’s Business Process Automation Module (BPAM)’ which notifies customer service representatives when a date and time has passed in order for agents to follow up with customers who have requested future communication. In addition, service reps will be notified when a customer’s filter is due for annual replacement. As the module itself operates as an automatic reminder, it enables DVS to meet the needs of its customers more efficiently.

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) adds value CTI software integrated with HEAT enables staff to automatically view a customer’s profile the moment their call enters the network. Customer response fields can be set within HEAT so when the phone rings, the information on the PC screen matches the phone number of the incoming call - all leading to a richer customer experience.

With the process more effective, DVS staff are now free to analyse data and use their time for better management decision making. DVS has literally turned its contact centre, traditionally a customer service touchpoint solely for answering questions, into a sales and service centre.

“HEAT has become a mission critical solution for us,” says Shepherd. “By collating the firm’s customer knowledge into a country-wide accessible tool, it’s helped reduce duplication, promote consistency and streamline administration. We now have a strong focus on what makes our customers tick - which then helps us build stronger, more valuable relationships while maximising return on investment from our marketing campaigns.

HEAT has given DVS the tools to monitor performance, forecast trends and act with the agility we need to stay number one. It’s enabled us to focus on our greatest assets - our people and our customers - and simultaneously deliver bottom line business benefits.”

For more information
www.dvs.co.nz

October 2004

FrontRange solutions expand
FrontRange has recently launched a new suite of integrated contact centre applications designed to provide robust contact centre functionality at less cost than traditional legacy solutions. The new offering provides voice (PBX/ACD), screen pop, data integration, IVR, unified messaging, and reporting capabilities - which FrontRange say provide a solution uniquely designed for a small to mid-sized contact centre (according to Gartner/Dataquest, contact centre solutions for the SME sector (21-75 agents) are the fastest growing market segment).

The product suite integrates with HEAT so agents have complete access to data - reducing discovery time with customers. The company has also recently launched an infrastructure management suite, DiscoverNET, that enables organisations to more effectively manage their network by providing network management, IT discovery, remote control and network monitoring in a real-time environment. DiscoverNET is also integrated with HEAT.