CUSTOMER SERVICE UNDER THE LENS

OLYMPUS ALIGNS IT WITH CUSTOMER NEEDS

Designing the perfect customer service infrastructure was the goal of Olympus. And they achieved just this with a simple yet revolutionary idea: Olympus had its employees trade places with the customer. Repair department employees swapped roles with stressed doctors who needed endoscope or microscope repairs; customer service experts were forced to understand the pressure nurses face; and sales staff got a firsthand look at the tasks of hospital equipment managers. Employees who had never worked in any of these areas personally walked through every process. In doing so, they discovered many redundancies and identified issues that slowed down service delivery to the customer.

The customer is key

Olympus determined that it was time to completely rebuild its customer service. Senior managers decided to align IT with real business processes and customer requirements. Instead of creating the perfect process for the company, Olympus created the perfect process for its customers. To achieve the necessary transformation, the company looked to SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM).

In the past, each Olympus service department had its own IT system. If customers returned a product for repairs, data was handled by a dedicated repairs system. If it turned out that the product needed to be replaced altogether, a separate system for product replacements came into play. As a result, customer data could not be accessed across the various systems, forcing hospital staff to repeat their repair needs to the individual Olympus departments at every step. Meanwhile, sales staff were not informed of customer complaints and could not enter the latest information into their own customer databases.

Informed at every stage 

SAP CRM has put an end to time-consuming and redundant work. Now, if an endoscope is beyond repair, the service order is automatically transferred to the replacement department. With up-to-date data, Olympus can now coordinate repair processes with service part procurement. “With SAP CRM, we can better share information within our group and our distributors,” says Masahito Kitamura, IT General Manager of Olympus.

While the IT system previously only supported repair processing, Olympus can now call up the current repair order status and keep customers informed at all times. The system can even provide hospitals with a specific repair delivery date and complete cost breakdowns – important given the ever tighter budgets in the healthcare sector.

With the detailed information provided by SAP CRM, Olympus has gained valuable insights into how its customers use its products. If, for example, Olympus notices that a particular doctor has recurring endoscope problems, there is a good chance that the doctor is not using the product correctly – an opportunity for Olympus to step in and offer training.

Unlimited growth

The company’s IT General Manager is positive that SAP solutions will help the company realize innovations faster. “Our industry is changing rapidly. We need to change our products and business processes to maintain speed and the SAP system helps us to keep up the pace,” says Masahito Kitamura.