Business use cases

Problem: Missed SLA targets

The number of software services provided by this company are complicating fault diagnosis.

They provide software services to many corporate clients. When a client reports a problem the support team needs to find which service the fault occurred in and which team to contact to fix it. Faults can be attributed to the wrong team, and it can take a day to trouble-shoot and report back. The more teams incorrectly assigned the fault the longer the delay to a fix.

Solution: An instruction guide that can deal with complex decision logic for the support staff to determine which service has errored and which team to contact. The guide must be easily updateable by support, so new problems and any number of variations of existing ones can be readily added to the tool. Saving on time + costs spent on incorrectly assigned problems, missed SLA penalties, improving client satisfaction.

As seen in a betting services company.

Problem: Training new consultants takes months

And handicaps this company capitalising on the sector's dramatic expansion.

The company needs to get new people in and delivering as quickly as possible. Training also consumes precious experienced consultants' time.

Solution: An instruction guide that walks a consultant, step by step, through collecting data from many sources, with different techniques, then running actions it, to finally generating reports. Whilst accommodating detours and pitfalls; security, compliance or cultural hurdles, and any permutations and variations thereof.

So a new starter can get productive very quickly, without drawing on your experienced team's time.

Furthermore, it locks in your expert knowledge, so if an experienced member of staff is poached by a competitor, their knowledge remains. Shorten training, reduce mistakes, time, costs, and opening up faster growth.

As seen in an environmental services company.

Problem: Phoning helpdesk for a paper form

Clients are phoning the helpdesk to ask for a paper claim form.

Tens of thousands of these calls are made each year.

Solution: A plugin to their support chatbot that offers the client the option to get sent out a claims form, or be walked through, step-by-step, filling in a claim, without leaving the app.

By presenting a form as discrete steps with just the information needed to complete an input, you reduce information and choice overload, and the client stress.

For instance, a first step could ask the client to enter their name, the second their postcode, and so on. This builds on the Typeform.com approach of one input at a time.

Netoftrees guides however, go much further. They can drill down with probing questions, to gain nuance about the claim only a human agent could otherwise uncover - yet with a full digital trail and easily queryable for reporting. Building up a deeper picture of the claim, saving on costs, human agent time, and improving reporting.

As seen in an insurance company.

Problem: Sales expansion limited by service network

Expanding sales relies on first expanding the service network.

Training technicians takes time and resources, significantly increasing the cost of a sales expansion.

Solution: An in-depth online, step-by-step, diagnostics guide / manual that allows authorised technicians to access detailed knowledge about how to diagnose and fix vehicle faults correctly: which parts are involved, the steps needed to replace them, with diagrams, part numbers, prices etc. Including the obscure faults that are hard to chase down, but rarely included in manuals.

So an experienced technician with minimal training in the new vehicles, can deliver the highest standards to customers. Making expanding sales to new regions more competitive, and scalable. Reducing costs, saving time, and improving customer satisfaction.

As seen in a motor vehicle manufacturer.

Problem: Helpdesk agents vary in ability

A source of frustration with customers.

Who can spend not only a long time getting through to an agent, but then spend hours on the phone to diagnose something that the agent hasn't accumulated the knowledge yet to solve.

Solution: An online guide that will walk a customer, step by step, through diagnosing their problem, drilling down, by a process of elimination, to where the fault lies. Then investigating potential solutions. If those don't work, they'll then open up another set of questions, until they know what the problem is and how to solve it. Just as if it were an expert human agent leading the process.

If a customer needs to be forwarded to a human agent, perhaps because the problem has no solution in the guide yet, then the human agent can see the full path attempted and make sure they don't repeat it. As guides are easily editable, once the agent has finished the call they can add the solution to the relevant guide, and the next customer with that problem won't need to speak to an agent.

The same guide can be also used by the agents as they help customers over the phone. Knowledge is locked into the company so isn't lost with staff turnover. As a digital service it can scale to meet emergencies - which human agents can't. And queueing is reduced, or eliminated. Shortening training, reducing costs and improving consumer experience and satisfaction.

As seen in an internet service provider.

Problem: Helpdesk retraining after product changes

Infrastructure changes result in extensive retraining of call centre agents.

Broad changes across the product range lead to significant training disruption for call centres. They support 350 handsets with customer queries ranging from hardware, to network, to billing.

Solution: A knowledge bank of guides to lead customers or agents, step by step, through diagnosing and fixing any problem related to the telecom operator's business. Guaranteeing consistently high standards of service to customers. Shorten the training needed for human agents, and reducing queues.

A knowledge bank that is easily and quickly updateable as the business or regulations change - cascading those changes immediately to helpdesks and the human agents advising clients, without retraining.

Knowledge is locked into the company so isn't lost with staff turnover. And as a digital service it can scale to meet emergencies - which human agents can't. Shortening training, reducing costs, improving consumer experience and satisfaction.

As seen in a telecoms operator.

Problem: Multiple site visits to fix a fault

An engineer sent out to diagnose and fix a fault might find they don't have access, the right part, tools, plant with them, or a specialised engineer needs to take over. Adding to delays and costs.

Solution: Because the maps behind guides are modular, you can build guides specific for each site. With diagnostics common with other sites referenced rather than duplicated.

As the knowledge bank is easily updateable, if an engineer encounters and solves a problem that is related to the site, e.g. a tendency to flood, they can update that site's instruction guide for the future. So yard assessments are faster and more accurate. Saving on time, costs and improving customer experience and satisfaction.

As seen in a utility services.

Problem: Supporting users with limited resources

They are expanding fast and need to support growing users with limited resources.

They will provide code quality analysis on GitHub repos through the GitHub App they are building. It is highly anticipated, as it does not need to baseline to ideal code. The team want to focus on growth whilst providing consistent and high standards of support from the start.

Solution: A self-help support for repo developers, built using diagnostic guides, that can be updated as issues come to light. So the tool can deal with the repeat support queries, and be updated with new queries as they come in and are solved. Saving on time and improving client experience and satisfaction.

As seen in a GitHub app startup.

Problem: Developer support and documentation

For a SAAS.

They want to provide integration support for many programming languages, where each is treated as a first-class citizen, but without the maintenance nightmare of duplicated instructions across them.

Solution: Help files built using instruction guides. Where edge cases for specific languages can be added onto the main guide, avoiding duplication, whilst still providing full instructions for each language. Saving on time, costs and improving customer experience and satisfaction.

As seen in a SAAS company.

Problem: Training for building bespoke installations take years

It takes years to train a craftsman to build custom installations - impacting potential to grow.

The buildings are made of interlocking panels, sides, roof, floor. Each panel is made up of hundreds of pieces of timber. They have to calculated, cut and assembled. Mistakes are common, and cost time and materials. The loss of an experienced carpenter hurts.

Solution: Construction guides, with input and JavaScript plugins. The guides collect the building type and dimensions, then the timber dimensions (50+). Then calculate the panel sizes, the timber counts, lengths, cut angles and spacers. Finally they step the craftsman through each panel with assembly instructions.

One craftsman can cut another assemble, mistakes and waste are reduced. A craftsman can walk in off the street and start building. Production becomes scalable. Shorten training, save time, reduce mistakes, costs.

As seen in a bespoke garden building manufacturer.

Problem: Architect quotes are expensive

Taking 3-5 hours, yet a high percentage are for people just browsing.

They carry out installations and servicing of specialist utility systems on residential and domestic properties. The calculator needs to ask the customer questions about the premises to provide an accurate quote. It needs to capable of nuance and accommodate edge cases. They also need instruction guides for fitters, and support for installed systems.

Solution: An embeddable guide for their website that will walk a customer, step by step, through determining the building type (single dwelling, flats, construction materials etc), with drill down, to finally inputting room measurements and calculating a quote. Using input and JavaScript plugins for inputs, calculations, submitting updates to their systems through a service layer and sending emails.

An in-depth, online, instruction guide that allows fitters to access detailed knowledge about how to deal with the many situations they may encounter.

An in-depth, online, diagnostic guide to lead customers or buildings managers through troubleshooting.

A knowledge bank that is easily and quickly updateable as the business or regulations change - cascading those changes immediately to the website, fitters or customers. Providing accurate immediate feedback; saving time, reducing mistakes, callouts, costs, shortening training.

As seen in a utilities specialist.

Problem: Automatic tailored training courses

That react to a student's deficiencies.

They provide training on regulations for staff of leading conglomerates. They want to provide courses tailored to the individual, using assessments to determine the deficiencies in a student's knowledge, then deliver the lessons to fill the gaps exposed. It must be straight-forward for a trainer to build the course system.

Solution: A diagnostic guide to determine what the student knows, with drill down. Followed by the courses, modules, lessons, steps, built using instruction guides, to fill out the gaps in their knowledge. With plugins for progress, indices, breadcrumbs, assessments, quizzes, videos, markdown and html.Saving time, shortening training, reducing regulatory mistakes, and costs.

As seen in a training company.