Technology today is generous enough to reduce the challenges, be it for setting new warranty policies on products, or finding whether existing warranty policies are feasible to continue implementing. Warranty management systems today are also equipped with logic that enables improvements in necessary parts and products.
To understand how modern software systems are easing the noose on brainstorming responsibilities, we must first understand how data is used in warranty processing becomes useful at a later stage, often for redesigning or creating a new policy.
Managing warranty claims-processing data for an organization
Being a product-centric discipline, warranty administration adds various parameters while processing a claim. And those parameters are unique to the product or part for which the claim has been placed.
Each time a claim is placed, the OEM may not be directly involved “in action”. The implications of a customer’s grievances may only transit up to the local dealer. However, with the right technology, the OEM should be able to trace every move made from the point when the claim is placed. From detecting the validity of a claim, to how efficiently the local dealer is able to set it right, warranty management is all about tracking the process by identifying the essential parameters.
In the case of a product or part needing replacement, the process may extend to the OEM or its supplier. In the case of repair work, which may be completed at the customer’s site, the technology in place should have adequate transparency for the OEM to approve all transactions.
In the processing of all claims, there needs to be the direct implication or at least timely approval for the delivery of the service promised in the warranty. In some cases, the validation of a claim may require manual intervention. Sometimes, a claim may be flagged for later scrutiny. When an organization finds fraudulent claims, it should be able to record them accordingly as well.
Given the intricacy of warranty technology at some OEMs, personnel are able to get a comprehensive picture of each claim and each product or part type. Such details include the frequency with which products have been found defective. Software systems keeping a tab on such aspects are also equipped with a system to warn employees if it finds that a product has faltered a certain number of times. Such a system allows personnel to identify which parts, subparts, and products need reworking. In some such cases, the OEM may find its supplier at fault and take the necessary action.
Early warning systems and policy design
Warranty data generated in claims processing is a large gamut of parameters telling if a product, part, or business party has something going wrong. For example, if the system is able to tell that dealers in a certain area are regularly failing to satisfy customers, the OEM can take a decision on dealing with them. Besides, improvements in products, checks on suppliers become easy to implement.
Software systems aiding in warranty operations are capable of identifying spikes – that is abnormal trends, be it pertaining to a product, location, person, or organization. As a result, it is able to warn administrators early enough before they feed in values to determine what rules will govern a product’s warranty.
Even before the management decides how a particular warranty policy will take shape, they can refer to alerts and the underlying warranty data to identify critical issues. Whether they choose to address them with suppliers and dealers prior to programming the specifics into a system, they can always make a decision depending on the transparency available.
Today’s warranty modules are created to enable decision-makers make important insights. Therefore, it is inevitable that warranty technology, which proves useful, will have to score high on accuracy and be able to remove redundancies captured from an event. Without the complete removal of redundancy, the accuracy of the warnings and alerts can be contested.
Additionally, it is interesting to note that cloud-based warranty systems are in use, and they enable real-time interaction between OEMs and dealers. Sometimes, organizations need to package their products with warranty and service contracts to enable superior customer satisfaction. That is where the latest systems are making inroads.
All in all…
While some products have retained their old popularity, new products in the manufacturing sector need the backing of high-level warranty expertise for attractive packaging. Considering that buyers put minimal trust in products untested in the market over an adequately long period, setting a high-value sales target for a no-warranty package could be just like building castles in the air.
Maintaining a warranty comes with a cost risk. Every time an organization mulls over how much extra it can offer its customers, it has to go through the nitty-gritty of feasibility. Setting new warranty policies is tricky business. At the same time, many organizations fail to earn respect in spite of commendable products, because their after-sales management operations simply lack control. As in the case of legacy systems, such problems arise from a lack of transparency in warranty operations. And monitoring and regulating of existing warranty policies is therefore an undeniable necessity.
Modern technology with data mining capabilities enables decision-makers and administrators to regulate their warranty decisions and operations for the benefit of all business parties involved. A distant possibility less than a decade ago, cutting-edge warranty technology today enables not just customer satisfaction, but sound policy designs and product improvements. They are proving to be greatly beneficial for everyone involved on a turf riddled with complex probabilities and imperfect estimations about service quality, feasibility, and wear and tear.
About The Author:
Preethi Vagadia is the Marketing Executive. She worked in several process improvement projects involving multi-national teams for one of the best companies based across the world. She has over 5 years of experience in Warranty management solution, and as a practicing manager of Business analysts successfully executing several projects in terms of Logistics management, Logistics Integration, Reverse logistics, Warranty software and Warranty claims management.
