Managing Automation- July 2008

[ INTEGRATION ] Transformation TechWatch Integration Industries ice exceptions and allows customer-to-customer interaction, customer-to-partner interaction, and customer-to-moderator interaction,” he says. “The system acquires knowledge by capturing this activity and feeding it into the product or service design process.” Manufacturers can use the product to put customer service experience into a product design knowledge base and then apply that knowledge to product management and development engineering change processes, Smith says. KNOWLEDGE HARVEST GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, part of GE Enterprise Solutions, has taken Smith’s service data management message to heart. “The benefits to managing service data are many and include a deeply satisfied customer base that stays with the product throughout the entire lifecycle,” says Scott Duhaime, product manager for GE Fanuc Intelligent Plat- “Those [customer-suggested] feature/ forms’ GlobalCare technical support and function sets that make the most sense to maintenance service. GE Fanuc uses the InQuira tool to col- improve the product are included in the lect valuable “voice of customer” data from next release cycle.” — GE’s Duhaime various sources, including case data captured in each service request. If, for example, a vant and current content is available to meet customer or systems integrator requests a feacustomer needs. A closed-loop feedback system ture or function that is not supported in the curis critical for capturing and harvesting data. rent GE Fanuc product, InQuira records the Using such a system, a manufacturer can take request. Then, as part of its new product introthe information gathered and put it to work by duction process, GE Fanuc reviews information creating feedback that loops to service, prodfrom InQuira when deciding what new features uct marketing, and product development in a to include. continuous and systematic way. The closed-loop “Obviously, every request cannot be included, process will be supported by GE Fanuc’s Siebel but those feature/function sets that make the most call center software, the online vBulletin service sense to improve the product are from Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd., and InQuira. included in the next release cycle,” The GE Fanuc project is expected to be commanagingautomation.com Duhaime says. pleted within the next five years, and the company InQuira’s system is capable of anticipates payback on the initial implementation RELATED ARTICLES: Keeping Your Customers Waiting? collecting an ar ray of ser vice in 18 months or sooner. www.managingautomation.com/service5 information data — such as probDuring the current, initial phase, which conInnovating the Service Chain (Beyond lems that customers may be ensists of re-engineering the company’s automated Repair and Replace) countering — by har vesting support Web site, GE Fanuc expects customer www.managingautomation.com/innovation5 knowledge from sources such as satisfaction to improve and maintenance renewals If It Ain’t Broke, Fix It? call center calls, self-help interacto increase. According to the company, there is www.managingautomation.com/warranty tions, and chats. InQuira can then anecdotal evidence to indicate that these things set up analytical reports, and the are already happening. As the implementation COMPANIES MENTIONED: knowledge harvested from these continues, the company expects to discover new Baxter Planning Systems www.managingautomation.com/baxter reports can be fed into InQuira’s and innovative ways to use InQuira’s software product quality index and a man— using customer feedback to make future prodInQuira www.managingautomation.com/inquira ufacturer’s product or service deuct enhancements. sign processes. It doesn’t take the inductive reasoning Oracle www.managingautomation.com/oracle3 With this type of service data prowess of Bacon to understand the power that at its fingertips, a manufacturer GE Fanuc and other like-minded manufacturServigistics www.managingautomation.com/servigistics can determine exception root ers have unleashed as a result of acquiring causes, such as what’s driving knowledge from service data. ■ product failure or quality problems, and then make adjustments for current issues, pre-emptively solve future issues, and also influence the next iteration of the product design. As part of its initiative, GE Fanuc has revamped its automation support Web site, which involved replacing its legacy back-end systems and centering the new solution on InQuira’s natural language search, knowledge management software, and integrated analytics. The new support site features self-service enhancements, including a knowledgebase repository for documentation and downloads, as well as online case management features, user forums, and content ratings. InQuira’s knowledge management software provides GE Fanuc with content authoring, publishing, and approval workflow processes. InQuira’s integrated analytics will eventually provide closed-loop feedback to ensure that both rele- maonline ma July 40 2008 http://managingautomation.com http://www.managingautomation.com/service5 http://www.managingautomation.com/innovation5 http://www.managingautomation.com/warranty http://www.managingautomation.com/baxter http://www.managingautomation.com/inquira http://www.managingautomation.com/oracle3 http://www.managingautomation.com/servigistics

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation- July 2008

Managing Automation- July 2008 Contents Take 1 HP's Acquisition of EDS May Face Integration, Global Delivery Challenges Rimini Plans to Woo SAP Support Users Rockwell Steps Up Its Activities in Software Microsoft Targets the Process of Innovation Supply Chain Standouts Honored by AMR Notes Who Are Today's Influential Thinkers? The Robot Revolution Is the Price Right? Without a Trace Harvesting the Suggestion Box Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

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