After Sales Service: Touching the Nerve Center of Global Business
Even though the business environment the world over is attracted by the profit benefits of globalization, the actual profits come in only when these enterprises have a happy customer at hand. Like the old proverb- ‘A bird in hand is worth many in a bush’ organizations irrespective of size of business dealings need to pay a great importance to managing products or services after they have been sold making scope for customer retention and loyalty.
The process of managing products after they reach the customers are generally referred to as Customer Care service or after sales service. However, these services are also known under new names as After Sales, Reverse Logistics or Returns Management. Regardless of name, this involves numerous people in various locations and more complex in a globalized business environment. In case of a global organization, the after sales service involves numerous parties from geographically distant location with a mix of internal and third parties forming the value network.
Earlier days have seen the after sales services been considered a low priority area by many industries, when compared to the order fulfilment process. However, with the aggressive competition prevalent in recent times enterprises have realised the potential of after sales process in gaining a competitive advantage. With excellent customer care, enterprises can be assured of a higher market share, reduced overheads on products and services sold, and better customer retention, ensuring a vital position for after-sales service in the supply chain management system.
Nevertheless, technological innovation and development of the cloud process has paved way for automating and optimizing the end-to-end after sales business process. Further, by integrating the value networks and its components, facilitates digital management of the after sales service with greater control, end-to-end visibility, real-time reporting and easy access to all the related information.
The after sales service is made up of a number of modules such as Business Intelligence Portal, Operational Report Engine, Notification Engine, Contract Manager, Asset Planning and Forecasting, Admin Manager, Order Manager, Document Generation Engine, Print Manager, Network Optimization Engine, Integration Gateway, Web and Mobile Interfaces etc. Working 24/7 this automated customer care service manages the entire returns process of the enterprise quicker and with lower overheads.
Further, the cloud based after sales service provides the enterprises irrespective of its industry and business a number of benefits. This includes improved customer satisfaction, nearly 50% reduction in lead-time, real-time order visibility; nearly 50% cost reduction, streamlined process, increased control and improved asset utilization.
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