Wilhelmsen slashes customer response times with new online platform
Developed by their Marine Products division, the FRED™ integrated platform enables customers to securely access their transaction information, including invoices, delivery notes, their order history and view the current delivery status of orders. It also allows customers to retrieve certificates for products such as ropes, along with providing an instant overview of which cylinders they have on board, and where.
The numerous calls and emails, typically required to track current orders, chase down invoices, retrieve certificates, or get transaction overviews, will become a thing of the past. Slashing the time and effort needed from days and hours, to minutes. Quite simply Wilhelmsen’s development of FRED™ is a genuine customer service game changer for the Marine Products business.
Nakul Malhotra, Vice President, Technical Solutions & Marketing, Wilhelmsen Ships Service says, “Whether it’s online banking, or e-commerce, as consumers we take for granted that we can access our account details, or ordering information anywhere, anytime with just a few keystrokes. But shipping, as an industry is typically slower to realise and effectively harness the power of new technologies. We’re focused on changing that, and especially when it can totally transform our customers’ experiences and interactions”.
Allowing customers to get the information they value, wherever and whenever they need it, via computer or mobile, in addition to transactional data, FRED™ is inbuilt with alert settings relating to order status, or usage such as, highlighting when cylinder assets have been on board for extended periods. Designed to be personalizable, FRED™ also features 24/7 support, via a dedicated rope selector tool and Voice-Activated Chatbot.
He adds, “The foundation for co-creating value-driving applications and easy to use tools FRED™ eliminates real pain points with the current transaction mechanisms in our business and the wider industry”. Currently available as a limited release, FRED™’s development is constant, with Cargo Hold Cleaning selectors, the next generation of Waterproof, Wilhelmsen's water treatment logging and reporting tool, and a host of other applications and tools in the pipeline.
A bold, but intuitive step for a company renowned for its customer service, that’s quickly building a reputation for itself as a hotbed for maritime innovation, Malhotra is adamant FRED™ and its latest iterations will become an invaluable part of Wilhelmsen business.
He says, “ FRED™ was developed as a direct response to customer feedback and it cures an established and totally avoidable pain point. Transactional data on demand frees up an enormous amount of time. But more importantly it allows us to provide customers invaluable insight into specific needs and create efficiencies related to the pre-purchase/purchase and post purchase processes for the management of marine products for customers. It’s a massive leap forward for us, our customers and the industry”.