Tag: customer service

Grab rider in Vietnam
Digital Supply Chain

Digital Transformation and Sustainability in Southeast Asian Logistics

In this episode of the Digital Supply Chain podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nick Bartlett, Director of CBIP Logistics. Nick shared his wealth of knowledge and expertise about the logistics industry in Southeast Asia, and specifically, the role of digitization and sustainability in shaping the future of the industry.

One key insight that Nick emphasized throughout the episode was the importance of digitization in streamlining logistics operations. He noted that CBIP has been at the forefront of incorporating digital solutions into their operations, which has helped them to stay ahead of the curve in the highly competitive industry. By utilizing digital tools, CBIP is able to offer their clients a more efficient and cost-effective solution, while also reducing waste and improving sustainability.

Another key aspect of the episode was the discussion of CBIP’s work with Deliveroo, a food delivery company with a complex supply chain that includes everything from restaurant equipment to ghost kitchens. Nick highlighted how CBIP has supported Deliveroo over the past five years, starting with just a few delivery points in Hong Kong and growing to a full regional logistics program that includes forecasting, replenishment, warehousing, and delivery across four markets in Asia.

This case study is a prime example of the value that CBIP can bring to businesses looking to streamline their logistics operations. With their expertise in digital solutions and sustainability, they are able to offer a centralized 4PL model that is both cost-efficient and easy to manage.

One of the most striking quotes from Nick during the episode was when he said, “we’re in this industry to provide something different, a different type of operating model and solution for our customers.” This statement truly encapsulates the innovative spirit of CBIP and their commitment to delivering the best possible service to their clients.

In conclusion, this episode of the Digital Supply Chain podcast provides a wealth of information and insights about the logistics industry in Southeast Asia, and the role of digitization and sustainability in shaping its future. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, I highly encourage you to listen to the full episode and visit the CBIP Logistics website for more information. You can also connect with Nick on LinkedIn and Twitter.

So, what are you waiting for? Join me in exploring the exciting world of Southeast Asian logistics and the role of digitization and sustainability in shaping its future. Tune in now to the full episode of the Digital Supply Chain podcast.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider following the podcast and sharing it with others who may be interested. And as always, if you find the podcast of value, and you’d like to help me continue to make episodes like this one, you can go to the podcast’s Support page and become a Digital Supply Chain podcast Supporter for less than the cost of a cup of coffee!

And if you’re interested in having your brand associated with the leading Supply Chain podcast, don’t hesitate to check out these sponsorship packages and how I can help your company gain exposure and establish yourself as a thought leader in the supply chain industry, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Thank you!

Photo credit Tim Caynes on Flickr

Clothes dryer
Digital Supply Chain

From Assembling IKEA Furniture to Streamlining Supply Chains: Zuper’s Journey

As the host of the Digital Supply Chain podcast, I’m always thrilled to bring you exciting and informative interviews with industry leaders. Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Israel, Head of Field Service Evangelism at Zuper, a powerful platform for managing field service operations.

According to AMR, the global field service management market was valued at $5.2 billion in 2021, and is projected to reach $29.9 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 19.2% from 2022 to 2031.

In our conversation, Michael shared the story of Zuper and how it has revolutionized the field service industry. Zuper is a cloud-based platform that provides field service organizations with the tools they need to manage their operations more efficiently. The platform streamlines work orders, schedules, and dispatch, making it easier for field service teams to get the job done and improving customer satisfaction in the process.

One of the things that sets Zuper apart from other field service management platforms is its commitment to customer success. Michael shared how the Zuper engineering and product design teams respond to customer requests for new features and functionality in an incredibly fast and efficient way. As a result, Zuper has been able to add new capabilities to the platform that have been extremely beneficial to their customers.

Another key feature of Zuper is its ability to capture a vast amount of data about the customer’s experience. This information can be used to analyze the customer’s service history, the reliability of the equipment, and the profitability of the service contracts. With this data, field service organizations can make informed decisions that improve their operations and provide a better experience for their customers.

Throughout the episode, Michael also spoke about the importance of the “completed service work” philosophy. This concept is about anticipating the customer’s next need and addressing it without being asked. Michael shared how Zuper has integrated this philosophy into the platform, allowing field service teams to be proactive and provide a higher level of customer service.

In conclusion, this episode of the Digital Supply Chain podcast was a truly enlightening experience. Michael’s insights on the field service industry and Zuper’s innovative approach to managing field service operations were truly fascinating. I encourage you to listen to the full episode and to check out Zuper’s website at zuper.co to learn more.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider following the podcast and sharing it with others who may be interested. And as always, if you find the podcast of value, and you’d like to help me continue to make episodes like this one, you can go to the podcast’s Support page and become a Digital Supply Chain podcast Supporter for less than the cost of a cup of coffee!

And if you’re interested in having your brand associated with the leading Supply Chain podcast, don’t hesitate to check out these sponsorship packages and how I can help your company gain exposure and establish yourself as a thought leader in the supply chain industry, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Thank you!

Photo credit – HS You on Flickr

customer service, Technology

Circuit City needs to stop insulting customers

I’m in Las Vegas for the EnergyCamp conference.

I had a couple of hours today so I decided to check out the local Electronics stores. When I went into the Circuit City store I was approached by a member of staff who informed me that I “needed to leave my rucksack with customer service near the front of the store”!

I resent being told that. I resent the implication that because I have a rucksack, I am a thief. My rucksack contained my laptop and several other items of value to me. If Circuit City don’t trust me with their valuables, why should I trust them with mine?

I said nothing and simply walked out of the store fuming and into the Best Buy which is conveniently placed next door (as you can almost see in the picture below!).

Circuit City and Best Buy in Las Vegas

The staff in Best Buy had absolutely no problem with my having a rucksack. I browsed the store for about 45 minutes, had several interactions with various staff members, all of whom were very helpful, and I left Best Buy having purchased some electronics goodies I have been looking for for sometime. Goodies which I have no doubt Circuit City also stock.

Are Circuit City always so insulting to potential patrons? And if so, how are they still in business?

customer service, Microsoft, onecare, Windows

Microsoft give up on trying to fix Windows Live OneCare

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about how slow Microsoft’s Support people were in getting back to me to resolve an issue I have with Windows Live OneCare.

The other day they sent me an email which said:

Case Reference Number: 1039327169

Dear Mr.Raftery,

Unfortunately we have been unsuccessful in resolving your issue at this time; therefore I can confirm I am closing this case as unresolved.

I’m sorry, what? That’s it?

Microsoft are just giving up?

Windows Live OneCare is such a piece of junk that Microsoft themselves can’t even support it?

This doesn’t auger well for the rest of their Windows Live offerings.

Incredible.

customer service, Technology

Telephone hell with Dell…

Tom’s on holidays, I’ll be your host for today. My name’s Frank P, you might remember me from such blogs as “BifSniff.com”,” FestivalShirts.net/blog” and “Aonach.com/chatter”.

If you fancy being bounced around in telephone hell for a little while, try and call up the Irish Dell Outlet Store about the possibility of purchasing a machine on the UK outlet Store…

First you go through the usual press 1,2 or 3 etc… you’ll get through to teleperson one who will half listen to you and put you through to ‘someone who can help’… teleperson two will then half listen to you in a very bored manner and explain that you are through to the wrong person and if you want to buy a refurb machine you need to speak to someone in the Outlet Store. After you explain that you were through to the Outlet Store originally, you will be put through to teleperson three who turns out to be from the UK Outlet Store. He will listen to your question and explain that if you’re in Ireland you need to call the Irish Outlet Store – this is the UK Outlet store. He will patch you through to where you started, and after pressing the appropriate numbers you will be through to teleperson four – an Irish lady who talks to you as if you are stupid, stupid, stupid. At this point you will be bored and frustrated and, because of the day that’s in it, somewhat amused. The Irish lady will explain that there are two sites. One for the UK, and one for Ireland. No, of course you can’t purchase a machine from the UK Outlet store, that’s for people in the UK. There are no words to describe the patronising manner in which she will explain this to you.

If you’re in the mood, you can pretend to be as stupid as she believes you to be and keep her on the line for at least as long as you were in telephone hell for.

Blogging, customer service

Sky Handling Partners engage in fraud and libel against blogger?

Sky Handling Partners lost Damien Mulley’s bag recently.

When Damien called to complain, they lied to him on the phone and showed a level of customer contempt which begs the question of how they are still in business.

Damien blogged about his treatment by them and their poor customer relations.

What do they do in return?

They sign him up for a load of gay dating websites with, as Damien put it in his own post, “rather interesting profile descriptions” – I can only imagine.

Damien phoned them to ask them about this. When he was getting nowhere he reminded them that:

signing up to dating websites using my details was fraud and I could happily call the Gardai and let them sort it out. Quoting from Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act,. 2001 to the lady seemed to make her take the matter seriously. I also pointed out I felt that posting untrue details about me on at least 3 websites was not on, especially what was written and I said I felt I was libeled

Fraud is a criminal offense so Damien would be well within his rights to call the Gardaí and have them investigate. The fact that he feels he was libeled means that he can sue as well.

Sky Handling Partners have exposed themselves to being sued for libel and a criminal investigation for fraud.

Why didn’t they just apologise?

customer service

Remarkable customer service

Regular readers here will be aware that I bang on about customer service on this blog from time to time (occasionally to my cost)!

For that reason, I was delighted to read Joel Spolsky’s comprehensive post on Remarkable Customer Service this morning.

Everyone in business needs to read this post.

Some quotes from it:

Most people’s experience with tech support and customer service comes from airlines, telephone companies, cable companies, and ISPs, all of whom provide generally awful customer service. It’s so bad you don’t even bother calling any more, do you?… when someone does call, look at it as a great opportunity to create fanatically devoted customer, one who will prattle on and on about what a great job you did.

It’s completely natural to have trouble saying “It’s my fault.” That’s human. But those three words are going to make your angry customers much happier. So you’re going to have to say them. And you’re going to have to sound like you mean it…. You may think that admitting fault is a strict no-no that can get you sued. This is nonsense. The way to avoid getting sued is not to have people who are mad at you. The best way to do this is to admit fault and fix the damn problem.

There is only one way to survive angry customers emotionally: you have to realize that they’re not angry at you; they’re angry at your business, and you just happen to be a convenient representative of that business.

Read the whole post. Adopt Joel’s customer service principles and watch your sales increase.

Having read it I almost wish I were a software developer so I could be one of Joel’s customers for his FogBugz bug tracking system. Almost!

customer service, hosting

Hosting 365 and customer service

I haven’t written about Hosting365‘s customer service before now as I have no direct experience of it. I don’t host with Hosting365. However their reputation for customer service has been far from stellar. Almost as bad as Irish Broadband’s, I’m told.

Recently appointed marketing director of Hosting365, Ed Byrne is determined to change that.

In a comment on a recent post on this site, Paul Walsh of Segala said

Hosting 365 probably have the worst customer services I’ve come across. Not only are they ignorant, they’re technically crap.

Now, instead of attacking Paul, or throwing him off their servers, Ed contacted Paul privately by email and said:

I read your comment on Tom Raftery’s blog about Hosting365’s service.

First of all I am very sorry you have that opinion of us. 2005 was a tough year for Hosting365 – we’ll be putting up a long blog post about that soon – we went from 16 to over 30 staff and built 2 new support teams. I hope that customers now start seeing positive results from this.

I’m not going to try and pretend we had a perfect customer experience in 2005 – we didn’t – and we’re working to build back customer trust and deliver BETTER support – as we see it as our core driver of growth…

I would like to extend an invitation for you to come in and have a quick chat – show you around the facility. For our business – any business – reputation is absolutely key, so I’d really like to show you the investment we’ve made and get feedback as a customer, on what we should be focussing on.

When I spoke to Ed after my falling out with Blacknight, Ed very generously offered to help move all my sites and host them until I got sorted with a more permanent host, free of charge.

I told Ed that I really appreciated his offer but that if I did ask for his help I would insist on paying.

Now that is customer service – keep it up Ed.

UPDATE: – Just to clarify, I have no intention of moving to Hosting365, I just thought Ed’s attitude to customer service should be highlighted.