As a premium appliance brand, Fisher & Paykel consistently challenges conventional design to create products which are tailored to human needs and inspired by how and where people live as well as New Zealand’s rugged landscape. The DishDrawer™ invented by Fisher & Paykel is a striking example. A world first, the modular DishDrawer has revolutionised kitchen design and provided an ergonomic solution to dishwashing.

The brand continues to innovate with a vision to be the most human-centred appliance brand in the world. This necessitates a deep understanding of how people live along with respect for the planet and a commitment to sustainable design.

“We’ve always been focused on human-centred design and making products that are beautiful to use, designed to fit our homes and deliver perfect results. We’re equally focused on ensuring our products are built to last and can be disposed of in a responsible way when the time comes,” said Rudi Khoury, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Customer Experience at Fisher & Paykel.

Salesforce plays a key role in this innovation and is helping Fisher & Paykel to get closer to customers and provide them with seamless experiences, tailored to their needs.

Fisher & Paykel’s transformation has also made a tremendous difference to the post-sales experience for end users. In the past, many of these customers' interactions with the company were impersonal and inefficient. In-bound calls began with requests for serial numbers, and often involved customers repeating themselves as calls were escalated. Also, when an issue required an on-site technician, the customer would need to stay home for a half day or longer, not knowing when the technician would arrive.

Today, all of these pain points are reduced and Fisher & Paykel is using Service Cloud to provide smarter, more personalised support to customers all over the globe. With Service Cloud integrated with the brand’s call centre technology, operators have instant insight into the customer at the end of the phone. They can also continue the conversation where the last operator left off – avoiding the need to ask the same question twice.

“One of the biggest frustrations for customers is being asked to repeat themselves. And while our operators would try and piece together information and avoid this, it wasn’t always possible before Salesforce,” said Khoury.

Now, operators can spend more time listening to the customer and troubleshooting new issues. Service agents can also book an on-site service technician, then and there on the phone, using Field Service Lightning. Appointment confirmations are sent automatically the evening prior and include a link where customers can track the arrival of their technician.

Once the technician has come and gone, customers receive a feedback form where they can rate the service provided. If the rating is less than ideal, it triggers a new case, allowing the business to find out what happened and resolve any issues.

These new processes have transformed the service experience for customers who no longer need to waste time repeating themselves or waiting for technicians.

“We know that sometimes things go wrong and products can have issues, but that’s why customer service exists. The most important thing we can do is make it easy and that’s been our strategy with Salesforce,” said Khoury.

While focused on the customer experience, Fisher & Paykel’s transformation has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on efficiency. Operators can use the same processes to service customers from all over the globe, reducing training from an average of nine months to just 3 weeks per operator.

“In the past, operators would need to learn how to use a number of different systems and switch between them to support customers in each region” said Khoury.