by In the technology world, speed, flexibility and customization are the name of the game. Playing off of that need, technology company Service Technologies, Inc. is working on a consumer app to help retailers stay connected to customers.
Service Hub, the main software created by Service Technologies, allows retailers to optimize their back-end services with their customer relationship management (CRM) system with a simple plug-in. The new customer app, slated to launch in the first quarter of this year, can be used to help consumers with services like private label modules, claims processing, virtual technicians on demand, and transparency into the overall service process.
“Customers should know where their part or technician is during the process in the same way food delivery apps provide consumers with that information today” says Andre Kwasnik, director of sales for Service Hub. “We feel that our partners and their end customers should have the same visibility into their service process and all those involved in assisting with their issue. This also provides all involved a full transparent and ‘true time’ expectation.”
“True time” is a term coined by Service Hub for its dispatching and routing feature. Kwasnik explains that while we always hear the term “real time”, that can be misleading based on how you define it. “‘True time’ keeps everyone on the same page throughout the entire process and adds transparency into our partners business processes.
“The ability to create routes and functions within the system on the fly based on user requirements and permissions also gives it a lot of flexibility to manage the routes and the performance of the business at a granular level,” Kwasnik says. “It’s also able to take a lot of data and provide it back to our retail customers so they can do further analysis on how their business is performing, either from a technician or cost standpoint, or even product standpoint.”
Furniture is Service Hub’s core, but the system is designed to expand into other products that need service as well, from appliances to electronics to HVAC to mobile electronics. Building on his past experience in the furniture services and warranty industry, Service Technologies Founder Bryan Lysaght created the technology with the ability to be built on a go-forward basis based on what a company needs.
Features like field service management, delivery management options, parts management, routing optimization, and others can be added to a retailer’s system as needed. Retailers can also request specific features that Service Hub can create, and the company looks to see how those needs can apply to past and future clients.
With packages including basic, executive, professional and enterprise, retailers can expect to pay anywhere from $39-$99 a month per user for the service. And Kwasnik says they can set retailers up in 24 hours.
Kwasnik explains that Service Hub understands that their customers got into the business to sell products, and then by default ended up in the customer service business. With that in mind, Service Hub has some big plans on the horizon.
“We’re working on some of our greatest ideas now and we plan to deploy them in the first quarter, and later this year” Kwasnik says. “And a lot of it is based on feedback from our clients and feedback we get within the industry about what they want to see in the software. We understand the position our clients are in and that’s why we’re here to help.”
