Revamping customer success at a hi-tech sound equipment company

In the competitive field of hi-tech sound equipment, a California-based company with a five-decade legacy stands out as a global leader in creating award-winning AV&C solutions. Employing 800 people, this company has consistently pushed the boundaries of innovation and excellence. 

However, despite its notable achievements, it faced significant operational challenges that impacted its efficiency and customer service.

The company was having issues in shipping and invoicing that were severely affecting its revenue recognition, inventory management, and the calculation of sales commissions. 

The root of the problem lay in the inconsistent or missing information across its source systems like Salesforce and Oracle, as well as in ad hoc quotes and authorizations. This lack of consistency meant that orders which were ready to be closed were not being shipped to customers on time. Sometimes it was due to a missing address; other times, it was a pending update on the ordering system, or a mismatch between the quote and the order altogether. 

Moreover, orders would remain in limbo for weeks. There wasn’t clarity about who was supposed to do what, which systems needed updates, and what was blocking shipments. This resulted in a blame-game among teams, lengthy email threads, unhappy customers and costly audits —all of which called for a drastic transformation in how the company managed its processes.

The goal became to increase accountability, gather data about blockers, accelerate orders, reduce noise and email volume, and improve decision making and management. 

In response to these challenges, the company partnered with Pact, a leader in workflow automation. Pact worked closely with the company's team to define a set of standard processes that reflected the best practices of their team. This helped them encode tacit knowledge that only existed in a few experts into repeatable, agile processes that could be easily tracked, managed and updated. This "process as code" approach not only streamlined operations but also made them transparent and reproducible.

Pact's Data Activation Platform automated the initiation of workflows based on real-time data from Salesforce, ensuring that the appropriate steps were triggered at the right time. Furthermore, Pact's integration into the company’s calendars and mailboxes provided every individual with clear tasks and deadlines, including all necessary details to complete a task—right from their daily tools.

The implementation of Pact's solutions marked a significant turning point. The revamped processes went live within weeks as opposed to their traditional months-long internal development process. Managers were able to access reports about progress and performance, and got notified only in case of exceptions, gaining peace of mind by knowing that the process was working. 

The company now enjoys over 90% on-time completion of its workflows (involving hundreds of pacts), with many tasks being completed ahead of the anticipated deadlines. This newfound efficiency has prompted the company to extend Pact's workflow automation to other areas of the business where accountability, clarity, and visibility are needed… and where they need to execute with fast speed.

For other companies facing accountability and speed issues, Pact offers a proven solution that not only resolves operational inefficiencies but also enhances overall business performance.

Book a demo today to see how Pact can streamline your operations and help you achieve similar success.