Since September 2023, Jeroen Kuiper has been responsible for quality and supplier management at enviolo, an innovative company specializing in bicycle transmission systems. Facing significant challenges in their warranty and goodwill processes, Jeroen and Cynthia initiated an improvement project that led to impressive enhancements and stronger service to bike makers and manufacturers worldwide.
Jeroen explains: In my role, I ensure that our products are developed, produced, delivered, and appropriately supported. We have two target groups: bike makers and bicycle factories, the latter being global. It’s an interesting field.
Challenge in the Warranty and Goodwill Process
We faced several challenges in our warranty and goodwill processes, needing to send accurate information to producers for reimbursements and support our customer care team effectively.
Ideal Improved World
Initially, it was clear that a lot of work was needed. The various teams weren’t aligned in communication, systems, and processes. From my quality role, I envisioned an ideal improved world,
addressing customer problems efficiently from start to finish. This involves processing data, identifying trends, and ensuring quality teams and engineering receive accurate information. For this, I needed someone with expertise, and that’s where Cynthia came in.
Immediate Enthusiasm
From our first meeting, I was impressed by Cynthia’s knowledge. She quickly identified the problem and generated actionable advice. She wrote an advisory report including deliverables. We initiated improvements swiftly, moving from analysis to testing and implementation in no time.
Go-getter
Cynthia’s strength lies in discussing broad issues while tackling specific areas. She focused on team efficiency, process dynamics, and tool optimization. And that last part goes even deeper. and interfacing between tools to create a single source of truth.
Jeroen Kuiper
“In a relatively short period, we have created insight and transparency at various levels and implemented improvements. This has garnered a lot of appreciation from the team. Very exciting!”
Recruitment Process
In parallel, Cynthia supported our recruitment process for a permanent customer care team member, defining the role and assisting in selecting the new manager who started on May 1st.
Exceeding Expectations
Reflecting on our collaboration, Cynthia exceeded my expectations. The clarity in our ticketing process was anticipated, but her detailed knowledge of our systems and market trends added significant value, particularly in automation. But there’s more.
AI and the Future
Cynthia also helped us explore Artificial Intelligence (AI) for immediate and future improvements. Our goal is to enhance, not replace, our customer care team, allowing them to focus on problem-solving and better customer communication. That’s where the real added value lies. The initial AI steps have shown promising results. We see the first proof that it is actually working, and will continue to support us in the future.
Jeroen Kuiper
“The steps we’ve already taken with AI are, in my opinion, very exciting. We are seeing the first evidence that it works – and that it can continue to work in the future.”
Old vs. New Situation with AI
Let me give you an example. Previously, email communication often missed essential information. Now, AI automatically fills and checks data, reads invoices, and warranty terms, ensuring complete information for our customer care team. Customers appreciate the swift, automated responses, improving satisfaction. The next step is to identify more areas of automation.
From 17 to 2 Steps
Another area where we achieved significant improvement is the goodwill process. This process involves many fact-based responses that we need to provide, but there is always an element of judgment: ‘What is the best response we can give to make the customer happy again?’ In our initial approach, we spent a lot of time helping these customers by manually preparing discounted orders for them. However, after Cynthia’s analysis, it turned out that in most cases, a discount voucher for our webshop suffices. The customer receives confirmation that a product is out of warranty but is provided with a solution they can quickly move forward with. To illustrate, the goodwill process initially consisted of 17 manual steps performed in two different tools. With Cynthia’s help, we reduced this to a maximum of two steps, all within a single tool. A significant win for the customer, the employee, and enviolo. These are impressive and measurable steps. All in all, quite a few improvements and changes have been set in motion.
Change = Resistance. Or Not?
Change often meets resistance, but not here. Our young, smart team embraced automation, The repetitive, tedious work is now effectively managed, allowing them to focus on what truly matters.
Moreover, Cynthia’s hands-on approach ensured their involvement and enthusiasm. She engaged with employees, understanding their ideal workflows and incorporating their feedback. Everyone agreed: the manual work was a pain point. Because Cynthia spends a lot of time on the work floor and involves employees in every step of the improvements, you often heard her calling colleagues over to show new process steps (“Guys, come check this out, it’s awesome!”) or asking them for advice. In this way, she ensured that employees were involved in the improvements, could share their input, and saw with their own eyes how their dream world was gradually becoming a reality.
Customer Care Team’s Role
Let’s be real. Our customer care team handles challenging roles, receiving all customer complaints. By involving them in improvement projects, we boost their motivation and retention. Our young team, eager for growth, benefits greatly from these enhancements. We have a young team, and they have high expectations for the future. They want to stay actively engaged and continuously improve. And we are well on our way, thanks to all these improvements!
About Jeroen Kuiper
With over 25 years of international experience in product development, quality management, continuous improvement, and customer care support, Jeroen transitioned to e-mobility after 8 years in the consumer products industry. As Director of Quality & Supplier Development at enviolo since September 2023, he focuses on end-to-end process improvements in customer care, quality, and engineering.
About enviolo
MOVE PEOPLE BETTER. Enviolo’s products and services help bike manufacturers build bikes that change lifestyles, encouraging more cycling and less driving. Their range of smart, continuously variable transmission systems caters to various cyclists’ needs. Over 100 bike manufacturers use enviolo’s products, with over 1 million enviolo-equipped bikes on the road.
This customer story was created through an interview. Judith de Jong conducted the interview and wrote this article. For more information about Judith, visit her website.
