During a 20-hour audit of AutomatSpec’s processes and technological infrastructure, we identified business areas that AI could streamline. We proposed specific IT solutions aimed at speeding up customer service, unlocking the potential of company employees, and increasing customer satisfaction with how their inquiries are handled.
AutomatSpec
Since 2000, AutomatSpec has supplied and serviced vending machines for businesses throughout Poland. The company has 38 branches, employs over 300 staff, and offers over 5,000 active devices.
In Search of Process Improvements
The company has carved out its niche, becoming hard to match in Poland or even Europe for its understanding of the B2B vending machine sector. Focusing on the business core has yielded excellent results but has also led to certain company areas receiving less attention than others.
Our mission for AutomatSpec was to identify these areas within the company. We looked for sectors that could be accelerated and enhanced through artificial intelligence.
During our 20-hour workshops, we assessed:
- The company’s current technological infrastructure,
- Customer communication channels,
- Existing customer service processes.
We sought to answer the question: Can the quality of employee work and customer satisfaction be improved through AI?
The Area with the Greatest Potential for Improvement
We delved deep into the company’s processes and engaged with the management team and the longest-serving employees. We inquired about the most troublesome aspects of their daily work and where they saw the potential for speeding up and enhancing their tasks.
We identified customer service as the area with the most significant potential for optimization. The company receives dozens of daily reports on machine operations, such as missing products or a coin jam in a machine.
We noticed that the inquiries could be more varied, and the company’s current processes and technology do not support the employees handling them as much as possible.
We saw improving customer service with the help of AI as the biggest lever for business and a priority for implementation.
21st Century Complaint Handling
AutomatSpec received a list of specific AI technologies they could apply to their current processes to:
- Free up employee time,
- Automate daily repetitive and manual tasks,
- Resolve reports and malfunctions more quickly,
- Increase overall customer satisfaction.
The solutions we proposed included:
An AI chatbot for the text communication channel, designed to handle the most common fault scenarios customers report automatically.
A voicebot for handling telephone calls, leveraging AI and natural language processing to understand, categorize, and respond to typical vending machine faults customers report.
A Summary Generating Application focused on transcribing conversations and automatically summarizing reports to assist customer service representatives.
Crucially, since AutomatSpec wasn’t looking for a technological revolution, we suggested integrating all the above solutions into the company’s existing processes and technology framework.
Next step? Implementation!
Stermedia dug into how our customer service operates and understood where most of the work could be automated. We trust that their proposed solutions will positively impact the entire company – the management, employees, and customers.
-Lukasz Plebanczyk, Chief Operating Officer, AutomatSpec
