Cisco Systems - Innovation in Customer Service

Company: Cisco Systems Inc, San Jose, CA
Company Description: Cisco Systems, Inc develops, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software, telecommunications equipment and other high-technology services and products. Cisco specializes in specific tech markets, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), domain security and energy management.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Award for Innovation in Customer Service - All Other Industries

Nomination Title: Cisco System's Intelligent RMA Experience (IRE)

Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):

Cisco’s Customer Experience (CX) Global Centers provide world-class hardware, software, solution support, and other critical services to its Customers and Partners. The CX Centers team is constantly working to simplify digital transformation for its Customers through unmatched technical expertise, relevant insights, and relentless automation on a global scale. With over 12,000 engineers, the team supports thousands of Customers and Partners in more than 190 countries utilizing 17 different languages. They manage over two million Service Requests (SRs) and processes approximately 500,000 Return Materials Authorizations (RMAs) annually. Initial Solution Time (IST) of a SR is a critical metric as it measures efficiency. IST is the time between when a SR is opened and when an initial solution is provided to the Customer. A shorter IST indicates a faster execution on issue resolution as well as less time the Customer was required to manage the open troubleshooting case. Historically, depending upon the product complexity, the IST varied between a few hours to up to five days. With an innovative program called Intelligent RMA Experience (IRE), driven by a powerful Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) engine, the team was able automate the entire transaction without any engineer involvement, reducing IST to just_minutes.

Outline the nominated achievement since July 1 2019 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):

With a modern approach, Intelligent RMA Experience (IRE) has disrupted the way the CX Centers team manages SRs and RMAs. Through this approach, an eligible SR is managed by an AI/ML-based prediction engine versus the traditional, engineer-approach. Using Cisco’s Intellectual Capital, IRE processes the Customer symptoms and log files within minutes to identify if an RMA is needed. If needed, an RMA is created without any human intervention. With IRE, the median Initial Solution Time (IST) has been reduced from hours or days to less than 30 minutes—an absolute game-changer for Cisco’s Customers. Between August 2019 and July 2020, IRE has saved Customers nearly 69,000 hours of wait time. These improvements are delighting Cisco’s Customers, resulting in an increased Customer Experience Satisfaction (CXSAT) score of 95 percent—four points over baseline. As expected with an automated process, scores were higher than baselines: Effort: 96 percent versus 92, Effectiveness: 97 percent versus 94, and Emotion: 91 percent versus 88.

The CXSAT improvement has been beneficial for CX Services business, leading to greater attach rates, renewal rates, and overall Customer Loyalty. IRE has also provided internal efficiencies, including processing over 77,000 SRs, automating 35,000 RMAs, and saving over 20,000 hours of engineering time. By making smarter troubleshooting decisions, IRE provides value by reducing the number of unnecessary RMAs shipped to Customers. To date, IRE has resolved approximately 3,100 cases that were presented as “hardware failures” without shipping an RMA, resulting in more than $25.4 million savings (list_price).

Explain why the achievement you have highlighted is unique or significant. If possible compare the achievement to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):

Intelligent RMA Experience (IRE) is a perfect example of how a cross-functional project should be implemented. Teams in various organizations that had never worked together were pulling data from various functional areas and leveraging a new Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) engine to make Cisco corporate-level decisions and drive internal efficiency. Furthermore, the decades-old process of manual troubleshooting was redesigned with Customer experience in mind. The team solicited input directly from Customers via a journey mapping exercise. Incorporated Customer feedback was critical in designing a process to facilitate their digitization journey. The new process was a simple and quick resolution to their problem with little to no involvement from a human. A new Production Automation Layer was key to this effort, building a bridge from Customer input to the Technical Assistance Center (TAC) engineering workflows and onto RMA workflows. Data from these sources was able to be used anywhere along the lifecycle, creating a seamless experience for both Customer and external engineers. Other unique efforts include the decision engine, an efficient logistics handoff process to the Customer, and a virtual TAC queue to allow for fully automated workflows. These collective capabilities make this program very unique, significant, and impactful as shown by higher CXSAT scores and internal productivity gains for Cisco.