Steps to a better customer experience
Eight Steps to a consistent, high quality shopping environment and customer experience
1. Be flexible, be realistic
Digitally transforming your safe & legal logbooks is all about refining your processes. Start by assessing how you work now and how you want to be working, with a digital solution. Because your data will no longer be in silos, it will be feasible to delete checks that are duplicated across different procedures: as already mentioned one of our clients has reduced the total number of their compliance checks by 63%.
2. Pick your platform
The solution you choose will ideally be made up of a mobile app, a platform, a powerful database and Internet of Things (IoT) network capabilities. You want something that can provide reporting and analytics but be flexible enough to be plugged into existing databases or platforms.
3, Accessible and reliable hardware
Choosing the right hardware for your solution is critical – if it’s unreliable or obtuse then adoption rates will be poor. Accessibility and reliability are your main criteria for devices and you will have to balance security against the practical need for the devices to be readily available for all your employees to complete their tasks. Consider removing barriers to entry such as prohibitive MDM policies. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and SSO (Single Sign On) could also make adoption easier.
4. Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of things (IoT) is an incredibly powerful and smart technology, but it can be easy to get carried away. Sensors can be expensive, so start by being clear on your goals and exactly what you want to achieve. Consider whether adding more sensors will really bring you the return on investment (ROI) you desire. However, deployed properly, IoT sensors can significantly reinforce a number of your key processes, and make the investment more than worth it
5. Connectivity
Connectivity is also critical as any digital solution will require a stable internet connection to send and receive data. Make sure you have the infrastructure in place to cope with this. One simple solution deployed by our client is the use of the in-store WiFi already provided.
6. Adoption
The secret to successful adoption is to really understand your team’s needs and behaviours together with their relationship with technology. Get users involved early in the process to develop the right training for them. Segmenting your workforce can be an invaluable tool for this. Some might want formal training through demonstrations, videos and other online resources, whilst others may prefer to be shown how to use technology by another colleague in a real-life environment.
7. Embrace the cultural shift
Being aware of the cultural shift that adoption will cause can help you to ease the transition. Some employees may be resistant to the change, preferring to do things the ‘old way’, or cautious of a perceived ‘big brother’ piece of software. Digitisation puts compliance at the forefront of daily duties and time and location stamping will make it difficult to leave any logbooks in the ‘to do’ pile. Understanding potential concerns and talking to your teams about the benefits of the new processes for them will ensure an open, forward looking, dialogue.
8. Reporting
Having clear goals for your reporting and auditing is crucial to getting the most out of digital transformation. Knowing who needs what data and in what form, whether it’s a live dashboard for a store manager, a report for the board or an external audit, will help to shape the solution. Ultimately, you will use the data you collect from the shop floor and the warehouse for reports and audits, as well as analysis for making improvements.