Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Welcome to the clear impact podcast brought to you by P G T I university. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor and I am your host.
Speaker 2 00:00:20 Definitely. I think it's a game changer and I think it will be amazing for them again, to be able to, to access those requests and not have to deal with outlook, uh, and, and emailing and all that stuff. Right. Um, and really being able to find all of the information that they need in one area. Wouldn't
Speaker 1 00:00:35 It be great to have fewer emails? We think so too, as we continue in our customer success series, Eliana veto, our customer care manager shares the details about ProConnect. This system is your one stop shop for all things relating to service and customer care. Good afternoon. We are here on the clear impact podcast and we are continuing in our customer success podcast series. Today. We are meeting Eliana, Acevedo, our customer care manager, and, uh, this is your first time on the podcast. So welcome.
Speaker 2 00:01:07 Thank you very much. It's great to be here.
Speaker 1 00:01:09 Thanks for taking the time out to speak with us today. I'll let you just introduce yourself. Talk about your area of responsibility and maybe how long you've worked here. Anything else that might be interesting?
Speaker 2 00:01:20 Sure. Uh, I have been here for about 11 years, started as a customer care rep and went to team lead and then eventually got into projects and kind of helping the customer care department with requests and which kind of leads us into, you know, how these requests are coming in and how else we want to be able to help our dealers and make things easier for us to respond back and make sure that we are completing our requests on time.
Speaker 1 00:01:46 Excellent. 11 years. That's awesome. Yeah. Congrats.
Speaker 2 00:01:49 Thank you.
Speaker 1 00:01:50 So my understanding is that there is a new system that's going to be taking the place of service now, and that system is called ProConnect. And I know from experience as I'm sure most do that new systems can be challenging. And so we wanna talk through this upgrade. So I guess the first question is why, why did we change from service now to ProConnect? Well,
Speaker 2 00:02:13 When we actually changed to ProConnect a few years ago, we actually went to Salesforce with customer service, not necessarily service, uh, or service was with service now, or what we're really trying to do is focus on our customer experience and how to make things easier and how to allow requests to come in and be fluid throughout customer care. Um, and in order for us to do that, we really needed to move ServiceNow into this case management system so that we can allow this ProConnect to come and for us to be able to receive requests for either warranties or services or rushes or whatever that might be, it really allows a one stop shop for our dealers and pro connect also allows almost a self-service. Um, so what that means is that they can log into ProConnect and essentially submit any requests that they need, whether it's service. Um, as I mentioned, warranty really anything so that, you know, those cases can come to us and, and we can respond back and, and they have trackability on those cases as well.
Speaker 1 00:03:16 Hmm. So it sounds like it might be a little bit more streamlined than just sending an email and then having, you know, tons of emails back and forth and, and all of that.
Speaker 2 00:03:26 Exactly, exactly what ends up happening is a case will be created. And of course, assigned to that person who will be able to complete that request. And instead of emails being back and forth as a customer, they will be able to view those cases. They would also be able to view those statuses and they would be able to ask questions within those cases, again, like a, a one place for them to view all the requests that they currently have with us. And that also allows them to have conversations within those cases, with that particular rep that they've been working with. So it's a, a very different, a better way of communicating and, and ensuring that emails aren't lost and that things are getting done in a timely fashion.
Speaker 1 00:04:06 Mm that's awesome. So how do our customers access this?
Speaker 2 00:04:10 They can actually click on the link for ProConnect within our website, and then it's just a matter of them logging in. So once they are able to, to get access, um, which they can do by, uh, requesting it with their rep or their sales rep, um, we can enable their log on and then once they have all the information, they can go ahead and log right in and start submitting their requests.
Speaker 1 00:04:31 Okay. So they receive a log in and a password from us in order to get into that. Exactly.
Speaker 2 00:04:37 Yep.
Speaker 1 00:04:38 Okay. How long will it take for them to see a response?
Speaker 2 00:04:44 Yeah, we usually like to be able to respond initially if they have any questions probably within the first few hours. Right. Mm-hmm <affirmative> but we usually like to have those requests completed between 48 to 72 hours.
Speaker 1 00:04:55 Okay. So how does a system improvement like this help our dealers?
Speaker 2 00:05:00 I believe it'll help our dealers because they will be able to log into one spot and review all the current requests that they have with us, regardless of brand, they would be able to view every request. And again, it would also allow them to see the statuses of those requests. And again, communicate with each one of their representatives with those specific requests. I think what we see sometimes are email duplications and Hey, did I send you this? And did I actually send this to you? And ProConnect is a different, whereas, you know, as a dealer, you can go into ProConnect and you can put in a, let's say a job name. And if you submitted any request to us with that job name, you can view all those requests. So I think it makes it a little bit easier for us. Um, and instead of going through outlook nightmare, uh, which we like to call, but, you know, it avoids duplications because you'll be able to see exactly what requests we currently have in front of us right now mm-hmm <affirmative> and whether those were submitted or not. Mm.
Speaker 1 00:05:53 And then that probably cuts down on their email traffic as well. Right. It does. They're not receiving replies back and then being copied on, you know, back and forth when it has to be elevated up or whatever. I know one simple thing can result in like 25 emails. So
Speaker 2 00:06:10 Yeah. The nice thing about ProConnect is that because the communication can be done within that case. That very last communication is always there for you to see. So if you're unsure of where you left off on that specific request, it's just a matter of clicking into that case and taking a look at what point that's at, when was that last communication is PGT. Are they waiting for me for something, or am I waiting on them? And so and so forth. So it's just a different way to view those requests instead of second, guessing yourself and having to look through volumes of emails to see whether or not you, you know, you actually responded or, or are they waiting on a picture or are they needing more information? Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, it's an easier, more efficient way of working. Oh,
Speaker 1 00:06:47 That's awesome. I hope they're as excited about this as you guys are mm-hmm <affirmative> is there anything else that you'd like to share about ProConnect?
Speaker 2 00:06:55 Yes. I think what dealers will notice is that it really gives them a, a larger range to see kind of what we're doing aside from just being able to, you know, submit requests into customer care or into service. There's also great marketing videos in there. There's a marketing tile that you can go into and they've got, you know, a bunch of different marketing videos that you can access and download. ProConnect also will hold a large knowledge database so that you can review articles. So you can get the latest information on product or installation guides, or maybe you're looking for information on new NOAs or warranties, all that stuff is there and available. It's kind of like a Google search field. So you can go in there and kind of Google for, you know, maybe you're looking for a Windguard aluminum NOA. So all of that stuff will pop up for you kind of like your Googling for it really. And that information is consistently updated to ensure that that newest information is available to
Speaker 1 00:07:44 You. That sounds fantastic. So, so the pain of a new system will be well worth it because it's just gonna be so much easier for them to communicate with us and us to communicate with them.
Speaker 2 00:07:53 Definitely. I think it's a game changer and I think it will be amazing for them again, to be able to, to access those requests and not have to deal with outlook, uh, and, and emailing and all that stuff. Right. Um, and really being able to find all of the information that they need in one area. And for them also to be able to submit, you know, any kind of requests in one spot, whether it's to service or whether it's, to customer care for warranty, all of that can be done in, in one area and tracked in that area.
Speaker 1 00:08:19 Mm that's amazing. Well, I think this has been a helpful episode and I really appreciate your time and sharing with us a little bit more about how this is gonna work. What's the launch date?
Speaker 2 00:08:30 Uh, 8 29, August 29th is the latest launch date.
Speaker 1 00:08:34 Okay. So I think this episode is scheduled to air somewhere by the end of September. So they'll be feeling the pain of service now being gone <laugh> by the time they hear this episode. And so, uh, for anybody that's been, you know, asleep at the wheel or on a lovely three week vacation somewhere, they'll get this when they get back and they'll know what's happening. Perfect. Ana, thank you so much for your time. It was a pleasure chatting with you today and, uh, have a great afternoon. Thank you. All right. Take care. PG C I university is the customer education team for an entire family of brands. We began with the original easy breeze porch en closure line then became PG T America's leading brand of impact resistant windows and doors. We then added CGI C G I C window, Western windows, new south windows, echo windows, and doors, and our latest acquisition and Lynn windows and doors. We create products built to withstand major storms, keeping people safe, secure, and prepared. Our exceptional brands give you the protection you need without compromising design or functionality. PG T I university is here to educate you our listener so that you can be more informed about window and door products.
