With distribution in 80+ countries, BUNN-O-Matic Corporation (BUNN) manufactures beverage dispensing equipment, service, and digital solutions. Striving to build out their service business as a profit center, BUNN turned to Help Lightning to implement AR-enabled remote visual assistance technology.
SVP & GM of Service Operations for BUNN Tim Spencer, explains how the company reevaluated metrics to determine what ROI of profitable field service looks like. Realizing the company required technicians in the field doing billable work, they focused on how to optimize and leverage technicians’ time. The goal was for field technicians to be able to handle more work orders in a day and generate more revenue without increasing the company’s cost base.
“We’ve grown our business by double digits since we’ve implemented this tool,” Spencer says. “We’ve been able to augment our training and reduce or shorten calls into our call center. That’s part of how we’re measuring success. We’re handling more business, more calls, and more work orders, but we’re receiving the same or fewer calls into our tech support center. It delivered on our expectations.”
Help Lightning enables BUNN field technicians to dedicate more time to high value work, and also receive dynamic real time training and support while in the field. Technicians can work smarter and faster, all while improving the overall customer experience.
Increase Field Service Profitability
Effective utilization of technician time is considered vital to BUNN’s profitability. With many activities that are not billable, such as training, meetings, cleaning equipment, and doing inventory, BUNN aimed to ensure the company could be smarter with technicians’ time. In choosing technology to support this, BUNN determined ROI based on technicians’ ability to take on more work orders and generate more billable service.
“We’re seeing reduced on-site time for our technicians, which has improved their ability to be better utilized and complete more work orders per day,” Spencer explains. “All of that is helpful not only in building our top-line revenue but also in reducing our bottom-line costs.”
AR-Enabled Technology for Remote Field Support
Spencer points to a 2016 and 2018 survey from The Service Council (TSI), in which technicians indicated a need for mobile solutions, alongside easier knowledge base access, customer service history, live video support, and other types of training materials. BUNN found Help Lightning’s AR-enabled video streaming answers these needs, allowing technicians to instantly engage expert help right from the job site.
BUNN aimed for technicians to have all of the information they required right from their mobile device. Help Lightning’s AR-enabled platform makes that possible, allowing for training to occur in a live environment. It creates an in-person experience, which BUNN calls “a mentor in your pocket.” With virtual reality, technicians can engage a help session right from the field before closing calls. Experts are available to validate the quality of their work, and to help resolve issues in real time.
“When working on a specific piece of equipment, we can bring in an engineer from our engineering department. The engineer that literally built the equipment can get on a session and engage in a three-way conversation, bringing equipment up to operating condition and solving the customer’s issue faster,” Spencer says.
BUNN technicians now have the tools they require for optimal use of their time, while also being able to enhance their skill sets.
Quick Field Service Resolution and Response for Customers
“There’s not a single time that I talk with a customer that I don’t mention the technology that we’re bringing to the table to be a better service provider for them — to bring them more value,” Spencer says.
With AR-enabled remote visual support, customer issues can be resolved quickly, in real time. BUNN’s customers heavily rely on their equipment for optimal operations, and quick resolutions translate to minimal business disruption.
“Most of what we work on is equipment that generates revenue for our customers, so when it’s down, they’re not generating any revenue,” Spencer explains. “The faster we get it up, the more work time they’ll have to generate revenue, and they become much happier.”
Use Help Lightning to Identify New Profit Centers
“We’ve been at it well over a year and we’ve been successful at achieving our goals,” Spencer shares. “We’ve also been very successful at reducing our costs. We have many examples of situations where a technician was about to replace a part, then engaged in a help session to validate that they were doing the right thing — only to find out that they were not using the right part after all.”
Companies around the world use Help Lightning to increase profitability and reduce costs within various business segments including field service, customer support, and to help identify entirely new profit centers.
Connect with Help Lightning to discuss potential use cases for your company, and for a demo so that you can see Help Lightning’s AR-enabled remote visual support platform in action.
