Case Study: Green Made Easy

Case Study Outline

In late 2008, The SMART Group embarked on developing a custom–built Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for our commercial partner Green Made Easy. Green Made Easy provides environmental solutions to households to help them save energy, save money and reduce their impact on the environment. Green Made Easy works with leading energy retailers, water companies and other environmentally conscious businesses to help them meet their environmental obligations.

Green Made Easy was launched in December 2008 and granted accreditation from the Essential Services Commission of Victoria to undertake energy-efficiency services (as part of the State Government’s Energy Saver Incentive Scheme) in February 2009.

The organisation was successful in winning a tender with a major energy retailer to retrofit around 50,000 homes with energy efficient-lighting, energy – and water-efficient showerheads and a range other environmental services. Operating across Victoria and South Australia, Green Made Easy now employs more than 60 staff and provides services to more than 1000 homes across Victoria and South Australia every week.

Problem

Initially, Green Made Easy were tasked with the responsibility of setting up a complete end-to-end process to manage all associated customer interactions – from lead generation via outbound sales channels, inbound calls and appointment requests, to managing job allocation for installers, dispatch, stock, warehousing and inventory. Due to the Government regulations that ruled the environmental services industry, a large amount of focus was also required in quality control, compliance and ensuring administrative processes met regulatory guidelines.

Solution

The SMART Group were required to implement a solution to handle all associated work within a timeframe of three months. As part of the solution, a web-based CRM system was developed to allow Green Made Easy to effectively and efficiently manage leads, appointments, installer scheduling (across multiple states),and territory planning.

By implementing a centralised address database based on the Geographic National Address File, the system was able to automatically determine the available installer for the territory, and if no appointment was possible, automatically present the user with contact details for alternative installers. Extract Transform and Load (ETL) data processes were developed using Microsoft Integration Services to seamlessly deliver data back to the Essential Services Commission (ESC). Finally, sophisticated reporting tools provided management with ongoing visibility to all associated operations within The SMART Group.

Success

• Over 15,000 households serviced by Green Made Easy as at July 2009.

• Green Made Easy successfully passed their first regulatory audit.

• A custom-built CRM was developed and delivered to the Green Made Easy business within 3 months of commencement of the project.

• More than 14 concurrent users using the system and making appointments.

• Installer’s productivity has been maximised by the scheduling and territory planning tools which ensure

• Installer schedules are optimised.

• Travel times have been reduced significantly due to the automatic assignment of appointments.

• High levels of customer satisfaction through the Quality and Compliance program.