Someone takes a picture of an opened banknote processing system with a smartphone

Leveraging digitalization to enhance customer service

As the currency industry’s leading end-to-end solutions provider, G+D views service as a major priority to enhance its customers’ experience. Digitalization has greatly impacted G+D’s service offering across the entire cash cycle in the last decade. New innovative offerings include G+D’s remote solution with visual support and connected solutions tailored to individual requirements. We spoke to a number of experts at G+D to gain better insight into how digitalization can increase customer satisfaction, network security, and overall business success.

Portrait photos of four G+D experts on digitalized service
What forms of digitalized service is G+D working on?

Bernhard Lingenauber, Business Development Manager: G+D’s roadmap for planned digital service products focuses on an array of digital technologies. Cloud-based CRM software enables an enormous shift from paper-based documentation to digital records, which fosters secure and efficient searching, archiving and distribution of documents. Mobile apps using digital media enable field engineers to efficiently document detailed activities. In addition, our remote solutions allow us to communicate safely with customers’ machines from miles away and offer immediate assistance in the case of breakdowns, maintenance, or for virtual classroom training.

Vibhas Jaiswal, Product Owner Smart Maintenance: Additionally, G+D is researching the potential of predictive maintenance, a service strategy that uses artificial intelligence to predict malfunctions and provide parts replacement in advance. This Industry 4.0 use case aims to optimize our core service model.


How does the importance of security affect digital service in the cash industry?

Mathias Kruse, Product Owner Digital Service Products & Tools: Trust in security is paramount in the currency processing industry, and we go to great lengths to assure customers of our secure IT-infrastructure. For example, during an unexpected machine breakdown, the customer often needs quick, detailed and immediate assistance from a G+D service expert sitting miles away. G+D Visual Support offers fast and convenient on-premise high-quality videography that is certified and GDPR-compliant. This guarantees that all sensitive content is encrypted and streamed quickly and carefully.


What aspects of remote service are most important or valuable to customers?

Bernhard: With our remote service – an asset of the G+D Remote Solution – it is possible to help the customer in the event of a fault faster and more effectively. Traditionally, customers would have to wait until a field engineer arrives at the customer site. Using remote service, support staff can access the system immediately after the customer informs G+D of a malfunction. Assuming it is a software issue, the problem can be fixed completely remotely and thus, machine uptime is maximized. In this way remote service increases the so called ‘First-Time Fix Rate’, a KPI of service quality.


What role does software play in enhancing service?

Vibhas: Software enhances our quality of service in two areas – organizational and technical. Organizationally, computerized Field Service Management (FSM) software enables efficient and in-depth documentation of service incidents. This secure pipeline collates feedback from technicians in the field, then curates records, and outputs information needed to estimate costs, generate new work orders, and conclude new service agreements. At the same time, software adds a technical edge to service. For example, feedback from field service teams is regularly integrated in the machine firmware using software releases to assist malfunction resolution. For example, in an upcoming digital services initiative, we hope to automate machine health monitoring, which is critical for early-failure detection.


Does digitalization enhance G+D’s ability to provide ongoing support and training? If so, how?

Dr.Thomas Eibl, Head of Global Training: Absolutely. Enhanced digital connection enables our support to offer assistance on a level close to actual being on-site, even when helping remotely. Through visual feedback, we can actually see what is happening with the customer’s machine and tell the technician what to do and how to do it. With the help of digital tools, we are able to show aspects of our machines, that aren’t visible in real life, like components hidden inside a Banknote Processing System. We can also bring a lifelike model of the machine to service technicians that may not be able to attend a structured classroom training.

 
Can you tell us an example of how digitalized service has helped customers?

Vibhas: Often, the G+D Remote Solution has rescued distant customers who require urgent technical assistance. In one instance, instead of days spent organizing visas, booking expensive flights and traveling, a machine’s software bugs were resolved remotely. We therefore honored our commitment to maximize machine uptime. Similarly, customers are happy to receive faster response and resolution times with G+D Visual Support, an asset of the G+D Remote Solution. This tool seamlessly connects on-site technicians, R&D experts and customers, comfortably from each one’s home office.

Thomas: To narrate a real-life incident: a user operating a BPS® M3 experienced issues with jam recovery. One of our trainers used a self-produced video to provide the necessary theoretical background to help them overcome the problem. This customer exchange now adds value to future training, helping all service technicians around the world through efficient knowledge transfer.


How do digitalization capabilities enable companies to co-create value with customers?

Bernhard: Developing digital service capability is positively associated with value co-creation. By definition, digitalization is concerned with leveraging digital technologies to widen existing business avenues and create new ones. These modern benefits trickle down the supply chain until the user finds the product useful in their way of work – and that is the point of value co-generation.

Mathias: With G+D Visual Support, customers enjoy faster troubleshooting and get more accurate diagnoses. Knowledge transmission over multimedia saves a string of confusing back-and-forth emails or hotline calls.

Thomas: In the sphere of virtual training, digital tools facilitate communication between trainers and trainees in a sustained manner. We can constantly meet customer needs by directly creating tailored learning content – classroom-style teaching, personnel training or a quick refresher.


How does digitalization in service contribute to the overall success of a business?

Bernhard: The ability to digitize and connect organizational processes provides one’s business with a competitive advantage by getting work done better, faster, and more cheaply. Firstly, time and costs are saved. For example, replacing an overflowing paper cabinet with a cloud server saves office space, inventory and countless hours of manual work. Secondly, productivity is increased by eliminating back-and-forth paper enquiries – today’s connected employee uses apps to make critical business data available at their fingertips. Finally, we can promise better data security to our customers. Unlike possibilities of data compromise with physical documents, sophisticated digital restrictions promise greater peace of mind to the customer.

Mathias: Remote digitalized service is the answer to travel restrictions in times of corona. Visual Support gives customers personal technical support for all kinds of issues that could otherwise not be resolved.

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