Overview
Our client, a prominent US-based transportation logistics, supply chain management, and fleet management company, caters to approximately 50,000 customers. Seeking improved operational efficiency and customer experiences, they embarked on a journey to transform their rental counter processes.
The Challenge
Navigating complexities for operational excellence
As the client embarked on this transformation journey, they faced a multitude of challenges that needed strategic solutions. The existing rental counter processes heavily relied on paper-based agreements, leading to time-consuming paperwork and administrative inefficiencies. The lack of a streamlined process not only prolonged customer onboarding but also hindered the overall customer experience.
Additionally, the client struggled with limited visibility into the performance of their rental staff and the rental process itself. This opacity made it difficult to gauge efficiency, identify bottlenecks, and make informed decisions. Furthermore, optimizing fleet management while ensuring minimal downtime and vehicle damages presented a complex puzzle.
Balancing the need for process compliance, improving information management, and enhancing dispute management processes further compounded the challenge. The client recognized that a holistic approach was required to address these issues and pave the way for a seamless, customer-centric operation.
The Objective
Elevating the rental counter experience and efficiency
As the client embarked on this transformation journey, they faced a multitude of challenges that needed strategic solutions. The existing rental counter processes heavily relied on paper-based agreements, leading to time-consuming paperwork and administrative inefficiencies. The lack of a streamlined process not only prolonged customer onboarding but also hindered the overall customer experience.
Additionally, the client struggled with limited visibility into the performance of their rental staff and the rental process itself. This opacity made it difficult to gauge efficiency, identify bottlenecks, and make informed decisions. Furthermore, optimizing fleet management while ensuring minimal downtime and vehicle damages presented a complex puzzle. Balancing the need for process compliance, improving information management, and enhancing dispute management processes further compounded the challenge. The client recognized that a holistic approach was required to address these issues and pave the way for a seamless, customer-centric operation.
The Solution
Streamlining rental agreements and damage inspections
To address the customer's BPM transformation journey for rental counters and fleet management systems, we proposed the following solution:
- Process Digitization: Transition from paper-based rental agreements and damage inspections to an automated process using the Appian BPM platform and its native mobile app. All rental agreements and damage inspections will be performed on tablets, eliminating the need for paper documents.
- AS-IS Process Redesign: Redesign the current vehicle damage inspection process, which involves paper forms with line drawings of trucks, for a digital medium. This redesign will optimize the process for tablet-based usage, providing a user-friendly and intuitive interface.
- Enhanced Data Collection: The automated process will improve productivity through enhanced data collection capabilities. Digital forms on tablets will allow rental agents to capture more accurate and detailed information about rental agreements and vehicle damage inspections.
- Standardized Data Collection: Implement a stencil of damage types within the digital forms to ensure standardized data collection. This will help streamline the process, reduce errors, and enable consistent data entry across different rental counters.
- Extensible Solution: Design the solution in a modular and extensible manner to accommodate other varied field usage scenarios beyond rental agreements and damage inspections. This flexibility will allow the customer to adapt the BPM system for different operational needs.
- Operational Reporting: Integrate damage metrics captured during inspections to generate operational reports. These reports will provide insights into damage types, frequency, and severity, enabling the management to make informed decisions for process improvements.
- Quality Assessment: Develop a reporting mechanism to assess the quality of the fleet based on the captured damage metrics. This will help identify patterns of damage and areas where preventive measures can be taken to maintain the fleet's condition.
- Image Performance Optimization: Employ image performance optimization techniques to ensure that the process remains seamless, even when dealing with image-heavy inspections. This will enhance the overall user experience and maintain efficient process performance.
By implementing this solution, the customer achieved a streamlined and automated BPM process for rental agreements and damage inspections. This resulted in improved data accuracy, enhanced productivity, and better operational insights for decision-making.
Furthermore, the flexibility of the solution ensured its adaptability to other operational scenarios, making it a valuable asset for the customer's business transformation journey.
The Impact
Transformative outcomes achieved through SMAC-based rental counter solution
The implemented solution yielded remarkable results for the client:
- Drastic reduction in paperwork, enhancing customer experience.
- Significant decrease in operational costs and inefficiencies tied to manual systems.
- Improved visibility into process performance, metrics and fleet status
- Standardized data collection and damage metrics, leading to better process compliance.
- Data-driven insights into fleet utilization and vehicle damages for informed decisions.
- Streamlined processes, faster user adoption and quicker rollout within just 6 weeks.
