Georg Fischer Piping Systems Enhances Global Support Operations with Freshdesk

Georg Fischer Piping Systems (GFPS) is a subsidiary of Georg Fischer, a leading supplier of piping systems with roots dating back to 1802. Despite the constant technological changes and economic upheavals in its 200-year history, Georg Fisher has grown to a 140-company conglomerate with a presence across 33 countries, thanks to its focus on customer-centric innovation. GFPS develops, produces, and markets piping systems that are used worldwide to transport water, gases, and aggressive media. Its solutions touch the lives of millions across the world, who either directly or indirectly depend on them for their day-to-day needs. GFPS's global customers rely entirely on its 30 sales offices and 20 production companies to execute their large-scale projects.

Georg Fischer Piping Systems (GFPS), a subsidiary of Georg Fischer, a leading supplier of piping systems, was facing challenges in managing its global support operations. GFPS's global customers relied entirely on its 30 sales offices and 20 production companies to execute their large-scale projects. The Global Service and Support (GSS) Team, led by Jürgen Harsch, was responsible for handling any technical queries, documents, certificates, project pricing, tender, and audits. However, the complex nature of the queries and the need for lengthy explanations, attachments, and images determined that email was the best form of communication for this purpose. The team was using shared inboxes for this purpose, but it soon became apparent that this system had its shortcomings. Once a team member forwarded an incoming query mail to his own Outlook mailbox to answer it, it disappeared from the view of others. This made it difficult to track the speed of response, learn from the answers, and identify recurring questions or regions with specific problems.

To address these challenges, Jürgen initiated the search for a tool that could help them manage their support operations more effectively. They chose Freshdesk in 2019. With Freshdesk, the GSS team's support service became easier to execute. The sales team now routes customer queries through Freshdesk, where they are picked up by members of the GSS team. This system allows all requests and answers to be visible to the entire team, enabling them to create FAQs, take over questions if someone is out of office, and gain more clarity on where most questions come from and in which product area they have most requests. The team can also get in touch with their colleagues and subject experts from within the same platform to collaborate and respond rapidly to more specialized queries. For example, when customers have questions about chemical reactions within the piping material, agents can pull in their Chemical & Material specialists into a conversation within Freshdesk for a more qualified response.

• The implementation of Freshdesk has significantly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of GFPS's global support operations. The visibility of all requests and answers has facilitated learning within the team and enabled the creation of FAQs. It has also allowed for better management of queries, especially when a team member is out of office or when a question recurs. The team now has more clarity on where most questions come from and in which product area they have most requests. The ability to collaborate with colleagues and subject experts within the same platform has also enhanced the speed and quality of responses to more specialized queries. Overall, the process of answering technical and complicated queries has become much easier with Freshdesk.

• First Response SLA adherence improved to 95%

• Average Response Time reduced to 9 hrs 13 mins

• Support operations streamlined across 6 channels