Customer Story
Stelrad
Achieves fast and accurate order management with Esker’s AI-powered touchless processing
- 64%of orders now processed as touchless
- Reducedaverage order entry time to 55 seconds per order
- Increasedemployee motivation
- Decreasederrors and complaints
- Improvedcustomer relationships
Stelrad has been the UK’s number one radiator manufacturer since 1936. The radiators are made at its factory in South Yorkshire on three manufacturing lines, operating daily. Stelrad produces over 2.5 million radiators for homes and industry each year, serving the UK and Ireland.
CHALLENGES: Inefficient manual processes cause roadblocks to growth
In 2019, due to an increase in orders, Stelrad reviewed its processes and recognised the need to improve its order management to support future growth. They also required a solution that integrated seamlessly with their current SAP® ERP system.
The former order management system was very manual, with all orders printed and entered into SAP® by hand by the Customer Service (CS) team. Orders then had to be checked before processing. This was time consuming, labour-intensive and prone to errors.
After months of researching different solutions on the market and a recommendation from a colleague in the industry, Stelrad deployed Esker’s Order Management solution in mid-2020.
“We wanted a solution that would make it as easy as possible for our team and our customers, and one that aligned with our strategic values,” said Chris Harvey, Stelrad’s Head of Marketing UK & Ireland.
OBJECTIVES
- Automate order management to allow for growth
- Use AI technology to eradicate errors
- Upskill staff to take on more customer service work
- Reduce customer grievances
SOLUTION: Automating order management to free up time and improve accuracy
Stelrad processes up to 800 orders per week, these are received in differing formats and can sometimes be 10 pages long and contain up to 20 lines per page.
In early 2021, Stelrad enabled touchless processing for all customers and within the first week post-launch, 9% of orders went through touchless processing (week 3 of 2021), this increased to a staggering 67% in week 52. Stelrad finished 2021 with a touchless processing average of 46%.
As of October 2022, Stelrad was operating at a year-to-date figure of 64% of all orders being processed through touchless processing by Esker - a significant increase on the performance of 2021.
“Esker’s solution functionalities are key to helping Stelrad grow. I have worked closely with Esker’s CX team to reduce and eradicate errors and warnings and to enable the switch to touchless processing. This considerable investment in time has allowed our CS department to operate more efficiently,” said Cherie Bradford, Customer Service Manager at Stelrad.
We could immediately see a dramatic reduction in errors, which had a knock on effect by decreasing customer complaints. This translated into happier staff, who were freed up to perform actual customer service roles by communicating directly with customers, instead of manually entering orders.
RESULTS: Impressive increase in touchless order processing
Esker’s solution has helped the team simplify laborious tasks by enabling them to concentrate on customer calls and queries. This helps Stelrad maintain the high standards of customer service for which it is known, as well as its accreditation with the Institute of Customer Service.
The team’s motivation has increased immeasurably due to Esker’s ease-of-use, the clear dashboards, accurate reporting, and KPI analysis.
One especially notable benefit is the significantly reduced processing time. Esker’s Customer Experience team assisted in allowing more orders to go through touchless processing, facilitated by teachings and mappings for the AI functionalities.
The team at Stelrad continue to work with their customers to standardise the ordering process and to further augment the touchless processing rate. As a result, Stelrad is operating at an impressive 64% YTD touchless processing rate.
Greater accuracy and speed have led to greatly improved customer relationships, creating new growth opportunities for Stelrad. In addition, in alignment with the company’s strategic values, Stelrad has reduced its environmental footprint by eliminating the need to print each order.
HIGHLIGHTS
- 64% of orders now processed as touchless
- Reduced average order entry time to 55 seconds per order
- Increased employee motivation
- Decreased errors and complaints
-Improved customer relationships
Customer orders are processed quicker and more accurately with Esker’s automation, which in turn has improved the service delivered to our customers. This has also enabled our CS department to operate more efficiently.
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