DocuWare Case Studies Better Information Access Improves Customer Service

Edit This Case Study Record

	Better Information Access Improves Customer Service DocuWare

Better Information Access Improves Customer Service

DocuWare

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
Applicable Industries	Automotive
Applicable Functions	Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Inventory Management
Services	Data Science Services System Integration
Challenge	Fletcher Jones Mercedes-Benz (FJMB), the largest Mercedes-Benz dealer in the USA, was struggling with the volume of paper records generated from car sales and repair orders. The company could only store six months of documentation onsite, and the rest had to be moved to a third-party offsite storage facility. This resulted in slow retrieval times, inefficient document management, and high costs, estimated at $40,000 annually. The paper-based system was not keeping up with the volume of records FJMB needed to manage. The company wanted a system that could index automatically without the need for manual intervention, and that had the ability to scan a stack of documents and automatically recognize and separate the pages into individual records. They also wanted a system that stored the images in a non-proprietary format and gave them the ability to backup information on CDs or DVDs that would work as a stand-alone system. Read More
About Customer	Fletcher Jones Mercedes-Benz is the largest Mercedes-Benz dealership in the USA, located in Newport Beach, California. With 580 employees, the dealership sells upwards of 700 cars a month and services 440 cars a day. The dealership is devoted to the lasting satisfaction of Mercedes-Benz owners and the long-term maintenance of their automobiles. The documentation generated every time a car is sold is comprised of a stack of documents about a ½ inch thick. Repair Orders (RO) piled up just as fast with an average RO length of 12 pages. Servicing 440 cars a day caused the ROs to quickly add up to over 126,000 sheets a month. Read More
Solution	DocuWare was installed at Fletcher Jones Mercedes-Benz. After a repair is completed and the paperwork has been processed, the ROs are scanned and automatically indexed. A stack of ROs are placed in the scanner and DocuWare automatically separates the images into multipage repair records. Using OCR technology, the RO number is “read“ from the page and used as a matchcode to pull indexing information from an existing database; indexing the document without manual intervention. For legal reasons, original paper documents are kept for four years and then destroyed. In the event the original document needs to be produced, the electronic record specifies which box contains the record. Sales documentation is scanned and automatically indexed in a similar way. Employees can access the information through the company intranet using a web browser. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage

Applicable Industries

Automotive

Applicable Functions

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Services

Data Science Services

System Integration

Challenge

Fletcher Jones Mercedes-Benz (FJMB), the largest Mercedes-Benz dealer in the USA, was struggling with the volume of paper records generated from car sales and repair orders. The company could only store six months of documentation onsite, and the rest had to be moved to a third-party offsite storage facility. This resulted in slow retrieval times, inefficient document management, and high costs, estimated at $40,000 annually. The paper-based system was not keeping up with the volume of records FJMB needed to manage. The company wanted a system that could index automatically without the need for manual intervention, and that had the ability to scan a stack of documents and automatically recognize and separate the pages into individual records. They also wanted a system that stored the images in a non-proprietary format and gave them the ability to backup information on CDs or DVDs that would work as a stand-alone system.

About Customer

Fletcher Jones Mercedes-Benz is the largest Mercedes-Benz dealership in the USA, located in Newport Beach, California. With 580 employees, the dealership sells upwards of 700 cars a month and services 440 cars a day. The dealership is devoted to the lasting satisfaction of Mercedes-Benz owners and the long-term maintenance of their automobiles. The documentation generated every time a car is sold is comprised of a stack of documents about a ½ inch thick. Repair Orders (RO) piled up just as fast with an average RO length of 12 pages. Servicing 440 cars a day caused the ROs to quickly add up to over 126,000 sheets a month.

Solution

DocuWare was installed at Fletcher Jones Mercedes-Benz. After a repair is completed and the paperwork has been processed, the ROs are scanned and automatically indexed. A stack of ROs are placed in the scanner and DocuWare automatically separates the images into multipage repair records. Using OCR technology, the RO number is “read“ from the page and used as a matchcode to pull indexing information from an existing database; indexing the document without manual intervention. For legal reasons, original paper documents are kept for four years and then destroyed. In the event the original document needs to be produced, the electronic record specifies which box contains the record. Sales documentation is scanned and automatically indexed in a similar way. Employees can access the information through the company intranet using a web browser.

Impact #1	FJMB employees now have instant online access to information and never need to wait for a courier to deliver a box of documents, improving employee productivity and raising job satisfaction ratings.
Impact #2	Moving to DocuWare allowed the company to eliminate the filing room and create one physical location for their call center, contributing to better departmental communication and team unity.
Impact #3	Customer service improved dramatically now that documentation can be retrieved not only by VIN number, but by car model, customer name or date purchased; thus providing the Service Advisor instant availability to the entire repair history for a specific car.

Impact #1

FJMB employees now have instant online access to information and never need to wait for a courier to deliver a box of documents, improving employee productivity and raising job satisfaction ratings.

Impact #2

Moving to DocuWare allowed the company to eliminate the filing room and create one physical location for their call center, contributing to better departmental communication and team unity.

Impact #3

Customer service improved dramatically now that documentation can be retrieved not only by VIN number, but by car model, customer name or date purchased; thus providing the Service Advisor instant availability to the entire repair history for a specific car.

Benefit #1	Reduced costs by over $40,000 annually
Benefit #2	Eliminated the need for third-party storage facility
Benefit #3	Regained premium office space

Benefit #1

Reduced costs by over $40,000 annually

Benefit #2

Eliminated the need for third-party storage facility

Benefit #3

Regained premium office space

Download PDF Version

Overview

Better Information Access Improves Customer Service

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit