Customer Story
Britvic plc
Taking a Big Swig of Efficiency with Order Management Automation
- 66%fewer order entry errors, despite volume increase
- 100%visibility of entire order process
- HappierCustomer Service team
- Highly satisfiedsuppliers
Britvic was founded in the 1930s and has grown into a global organisation with 39 iconic soft drink brands sold in over 100 countries. These brands include Robinsons, Tango, J2O, Fruit Shoot, Purdey’s and many more. In Great Britain and Ireland, Britvic has the exclusive licence with PepsiCo to make and sell Pepsi MAX, 7UP, Rockstar Energy and Lipton Ice Tea.
CHALLENGES: Complex processes lead to errors
The orders Britvic receives are extremely complex, often 20-50 lines long. The Customer Service team would manually key in every product code and all other data and print out each order. This meant that there was a potential for errors, expensive product returns and order delays.
The principal focus for implementing an automation solution was to reduce manual touch points and errors, which would in turn speed up order processing.
OBJECTIVES
- Greater visibility for Customer Service team
- Improve workflows
- Decrease manual interventions
- Reduce errors
- Increase team morale
- Enhance supplier satisfaction
SOLUTION: Achieving volume growth & cost savings
Error reduction during manual data input was the main reason to automate the order management process for the hospitality, licensed retail and British wholesale arm of Britvic.
Esker was first recommended to Britvic a number of years ago by a colleague who worked at Walkers PepsiCo, another Esker customer. After a rigorous selection process, the team chose Esker for its AI and auto-learning capabilities. “The fact that Esker integrated directly with SAP was a large tick in the box, too,” said Pam Salisbury, Business Solution Manager for IT, Finance and Procurement at Britvic.
Britvic went live with Esker Order Management, part of Esker’s Customer Service solution suite, in 2021. Order volumes then were approximately 1,300 orders a month but have increased to approximately 3,000 a month in 2023. With training and time, errors have dramatically decreased and the orders go through much smoother.
According to David Cullen, Deployment Controller at Britvic Ireland, the time saved on processing orders frees him up to process more direct sourcing from the production facility, instantly saving the company €500 per week, or €26,000 per year. “The potential for cost and time savings with Esker is very exciting,” said David.
The team highly appreciate the visibility they have of all orders and their ability to track conversations directly on the orders. With clearer dashboards and metrics, query management and reporting are much easier. This has led to much improved and simplified workflows, which has eliminated situations where work was unevenly distributed between team members. Britvic Customer Service representatives can see clearly which orders have inconsistent quantities or invalid customer numbers and deal with them quickly and efficiently without holding up other orders that are correct.
Following the excellent results, Britvic is rolling out Esker to its Irish and other teams internationally, which will mean much bigger volumes of orders going through Esker, estimated at an additional 43,300 orders per year.
“The Esker team has supported us with our Customer Service automation. We had a very smooth implementation process and we particularly loved the Agile methodology,” said Pam.
The efficiencies that we have brought in with Esker have been showcased internally as a fantastic example of using AI technology!”
RESULTS: Recording significant efficiencies & impressively low error rates
The order input process has become much faster, offers more visibility and runs more smoothly, as Esker automatically picks up the information from the multiple order lines. Two years ago, around 5% of fields required manual inputs, whereas today this has decreased to 1.5%. Although order volumes have grown, Britvic has seen the error rate decrease by 22% over the last two years. This constitutes an overall reduction of 66% as a percentage of that increased volume.
“The efficiencies we’ve achieved using Esker are fantastic. Even in our busiest time over the summer, the whole team feels much more in control,” said Emma Allsop, Customer Service Team Leader at Britvic.
This has led to a team with improved well-being, who work together better and are ultimately less stressed. Esker also frees up the team to focus on value-added activities and other customer queries, enhancing the all-around customer experience at Britvic.
“Esker has provided a significant return on investment and we are now looking at other Esker solutions within the business,” said Pam. “Our Esker Account Manager is the best we have ever seen, and the Esker Professional Services and training teams are amazing. The whole Esker team has really supported us with our customer service automation,” concluded Pam.
Esker also had a positive impact on our customers, in that they haven’t had to do anything! The AI capabilities brilliantly translate orders no matter which formats they are sent in, and our Customer Service Representatives take care of the rest.”
HIGHLIGHTS
- 66% fewer order entry errors, despite volume increase
- 100% visibility of entire order process
- Happier Customer Service team
- Suppliers highly satisfied
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