Flexible management of digital sales and customer service process – Digital Product Center

Dynamic changes of the situation across the world require the entrepreneurs to quickly adapt the ways of selling their products, contacting customers and the service models to the new conditions and customer purchase paths. Selecting the technology to support the company in the process is one of the key business decisions. Solutions ensuring that the change implementation time is as short as possible while maintaining the maximum value in terms of the required functionalities and the flexibility of integration with the proprietary IT environment will be most desired.

From this point of view, it is worth to learn about Digital Product Center — a solution that perfectly meets these requirements. It is presented by Sławomir Chincz who together with the DPC team implements it and develops it for our customers on a daily basis.

What areas of digital customer services are provided by DPC?

Digital Product Center is a process platform for the purposes of sales and customer service support using electronic channels: on-line, mobile, call center, IVR or chatbot. It makes it possible to define the product portfolio, prepare the course and logic controlling the sales process and to parametrize it, and then to publish it in a chosen digital channel, i.e. on an internet portal, in a mobile application, in the call-service support system or using chatbot communications.

Therefore, with the DPC it is possible to carry out the complete process of purchasing a given product or service from the perspective of the end-customer — and this is possible fully digitally and remotely, practically without leaving one’s home. And from the perspective of a company, implementation of the process and measurement of its results is very efficient. In addition, high configurability of the solution makes it possible to quickly modify the process and adjust it to the changing requirements or needs of the customers, without the need to implement a new version of the process from the IT part.

The main supported areas of digital service in Digital Product Center include:

1. PDesigning and modelling products and digital sales processes

2. Automation and integration of systems as part of the digital sales process

3. End-to-End Process Automation Monitoring and Reporting
(End-to-End Process Automation Monitoring and Reporting)

During the 5 years of dynamic development of the Digital Product Center we have prepared, for each of the above areas, dedicated functional modules for various user groups involved in the preparation and support of digital processes. From analysts, designers to developers to customers’ business users in charge of product configuration, process support, their monitoring and reporting.

Already at the design stage, with the following solution dedicated to business users: Product Catalogue, BPMN Process Modeller with comprehensive launch environment, On-line Form Configurator and Portfolio Presentation Mechanisms within the Digital Market, we provide the company with tools for quick prototyping and development of an MVP digital process backbone, so as to view the product and process from the customer’s perspective.

The process prototype developed in such a way can be tested and flexibly modified to fulfil the specific requirements of the product/service, including official and legal requirements, while ensuring the best Customer Experience or Customer Journey without huge spending on development or technical modifications.

After establishing a product/service version and process course in the MVP that can be accepted, it is necessary to continue with the second area of works, i.e. system automation and integration. This is also an area, where Digital Product Center provides opportunity for quick completion of technical tasks thanks to the JAVA-based Camunda BPM open technology and a very efficient BPMN workflow engine supported by Front-Office (TaskList) and Back Office (Cockpit) process handling applications.

In terms of integration, Digital Product Center is based on microservice architecture.

Automation and integration in the DPC can be supported with a dedicated API Gateway module. This is a very efficient set of scalable access points for external systems, enabling integration with individual modules of the DPC using REST interfaces.

Successful competition in a business environment changing so fast, requires, when it comes to implementation of digital processes, comprehensive monitoring and reporting for the management team from the very beginning of the process platform implementation.

For the Digital Product Center we have developed a concept of Analytical and Reporting Dashboards, based in the back-end on high-performance solutions for event and message capturing, transformation and indexation of large volumes of data (Big Data) and providing sets of mini-applications (widgets) dedicated for the given business area in the front-end.

Such combination of data processing technologies and modern graphical interface for its visualization, analysis and business interpretation allows DPC Dashboard to provide ready-made functional mechanisms supporting the business processes and preparing managerial information and reports in real time.

What are the possibilities of DPC in terms of flexible definition of processes and multi-area integration?

Each digital process is first and foremost dependent on various product or service requirements that need to be fulfilled in order to satisfy the key purpose of the process, e.g. to make product/service available to be purchased by interested customers or partners, to conduct all the tasks and actions related to its purchase or starting and to ensure settlement of the transaction.

These requirements vary in their nature. From strictly product requirements related to product or service features, types, versions or packages, to official and legal requirements — which must be satisfied so that the product can be purchased — to requirements associated with the sales channel and its features.

Our Product Catalogue provides many modelling, configuration and parametrization possibilities already at this stage. It enables business representatives to prepare data sets on the product or service for sales processes without requesting development from the IT. This applies, e.g. to creating subsequent product versions, special offers or combinations of products — product packages — as well as rules for segmentation and placing in the available sales channels, e.g. on-line mobile, call center, chatbot or sales desks at branch offices.

Everything is available in a graphical console that can be adapted to the needs of the company and products and services it provides.

Thanks to its great flexibility and dynamic configuration mechanism based on the “Asset Repository” model, the Product Catalogue available in the Digital Product Center enables quick adaptation and support for many domain models, not only the banking domain.

The Product Catalogue makes it possible to freely compose the digital products available and their descriptions using a set of features that can be assigned with different values: numerical, text, logical as well as graphic and appendices integrated with CDN (Content Delivery network) or values chosen from pre-defined dictionaries.

In addition, features can be grouped to build a complete tree of features describing all the aspects of the product. This design of the description model makes it possible to model product features from any industry.

Digital product definitions can be divided into the main areas:

• Product – information on functional and technical aspects of a product, such as price, margin, interest rate, variants, etc.,
• Content – product description in different variants, e.g. in different languages. Apart from the functional and technical aspect of the products, appropriate marketing content must also be ensured. It can be developed and be dedicated to a language variant or channel.
• Channels – definition if, when and how a product will be available in individual sales or support channels.
• Segmentation – for each product, it is possible to define the group for which it will be proposed, e.g. according to user features, it is possible to prepare an individual product offering for the particular user based on their features, e.g. loaded from CRM, central system, transaction systems or other sources, e.g. data warehouses.

In terms of process design, Digital Product Center uses visual modelling function according to BPMN provided by Camunda Modeler which makes it possible to efficiently model the flow and edit all the properties of the tasks necessary to complete the process from the technical point of view.

In terms of process design, Digital Product Center uses visual modelling function according to BPMN provided by Camunda Modeler which makes it possible to efficiently model the flow and edit all the properties of the tasks necessary to complete the process from the technical point of view.

The created BPMN/XML files can be then implemented in the Camunda platform and the process so-prepared can be launched and executed using BPMN and DMN engines. In addition, it is possible to use the so-called element templates that enable creation of pre-defined configurations in the JSON files to allow the user to work with the adapted properties panel.

For example, an “E-mail Task” can be configured, which will always require entering the sender’s e-mail, recipient’s e-mail, subject and content. Once implemented, the task will be executed based on the pre-defined execution logic, e.g. in Java.

This makes it possible to provide an environment adapted to the customer’s needs with ready functions and components (programming code) for developing and modifying workflow in an organization. Thus, enabling the business users to easily indicate their needs of changing part of the process, while giving the IT a lot of freedom in terms of technical implementation.

What is the support from DPC for managers when it comes to making the change decisions and then to monitoring its progress?

The above Dashboard work environment allows defining the views used to present the data collected from the processes supported in DPC and in the integrated systems.

Dashboard is a modular application providing the functionalities for monitoring the performance and quality of sales and aftersales processes as well as multi-dimensional business analytics. Its architecture is capable of processing Big Data while generating reports in real time.

This allows the people in charge of the process to make dynamic decisions based on the current data. In a long-term, it makes it possible to analyse the course of the process, discover bottlenecks and areas for improvement.

Data aggregation and flexible monitoring of statistical summaries and KPI based on the local data repository makes it possible not only to track and monitor in real time the efficiency of the sales activities using the Dashboard, but also to correlate the customer behaviour patterns at the critical stages associated with the sale of products in the area of offering selection and customer activity after product purchase is completed.

Sales funnels, available from the BPMN diagram, are a very useful, configurable function for any process running on the platform.

Presentation of example results in the form of a sales funnel and conversion rate.

What industries and companies and benefit most from the implementation of DPC?

Currently it is the financial industry. The Digital Product Center platform enables, for example, a complete process of banking products sales, from presenting them to the interested customer to signing the contract to activating the product along with possibility of further self-service in the on-line banking, mobile banking solution or through the call center.

Our solution enables selling, e.g. term and investment deposits, savings and current accounts, cash loans, debit and payment cards or credit cards as part of the so-called “onboarding” processes for new customer as well as “x-sell” processes for the current customers.

However, this does not necessarily mean that DPC is dedicated only to banks. Each company offering digital sales can benefit from implementing such a solution. The most benefit comes for any industry that offers service packages and then processes contracts remotely and assures aftersales support. Improvement and digitalization of the selling process increases the chances for winning customers and the company’s competitiveness. Being able to make the decisions based on data aggregated from multiple sales channels and then to make flexible changes on the basis of such data must not be underestimated.

If you wish to discuss how DPC could help with the digitalization of processes in your company, please do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail:

Sławomir Chincz
Digital Product Center Team Director
slawomir.chincz@altkomsoftware.com

Presentation of DPC modules and functionalities.

The main areas of digital services supported by Digital Product Center include:

1. Designing and modelling products and digital sales processes (Design & Configure Products and Processes) using functional modules:

1.1. Product Catalogue — an expandable configurator supporting multiple domain models (including banking, leasing, insurance) that enables management of product parameters and their preparation for the sales processes, e.g. creation of types, categories, product features, marketing and service descriptions as well as their combinations (e.g. product packages), rules for segmentation and making available in the sale channels, e.g. on-line mobile, call center, chatbot or at the sales desks in branches. In addition, the product catalogue provides a visual communication template creator, for e-mail, text messages and push notifications (for mobile applications).

1.2. BPMN Modeler — makes it possible to define and design business processes with a graphical creator for modelling BPMN workflows and DMN decisions in a user-friendly manner, both in business and technical term, allowing multiple people involved in the design to collaborate on the same diagrams. Used in the Digital Product Center

Camunda Modeler supports BPMN 2.0, CMMN 1.1 and DMN 1.1 (including decision tables and decision requirement diagrams).

1.3. On-line Forms — graphical form editor and mechanism for generating on-line applications with Responsive Web Design (RWD) support for mobile devices, enabling to prepared applications for customers in a quick, functional and modern way to gather the data and information required to commence the sales process.

1.4. Market — web portal (with RWD support) focused on presenting the product portfolio and on acquiring new customers and on on-line sales; providing content management (HeadlessCMS) and portfolio presentation along with the tools for sales support in terms of simulations or comparison of different products and services and then enabling access to on-line forms to commence the sale process.

2. Automation and integration of systems as part of the digital sales process (Integrate Data & Automate Processes) with the functional models:

2.1. BPMN workflow engine — based on high-performance Camunda Workflow Engine ensuring efficient implementation of business requirements and IT standards in projects that required organized, multi-stage workflows or tasks, integration of multiple systems as well as use of dynamic business rules or data processing automation.

What is important, the use of Camunda Workflow Engine enables immediate launch of the process designed in the Modeler according to BPMN 2.0 and verify its correct operation without additional coding.

2.2. Apache Camel integration platform — constitutes the integration layer that ensures separation of the BPMN process logic from the communication means and availability of external systems which are integrated a part of the digital sales process and with which communication is ensured.

The use of Apache Camel integration component with such flexibility, our Digital Product Center solution can be integrated with external systems in a way required by e.g.: REST, WebSerivce, JMS, JMS.MQ, JDBC. Other dedicated connectors for third-party systems are implemented according to the needs of the particular implementation.

2.3 API Gateway — a dedicated component providing a set of scalable access points for external systems, enabling integration with individual modules of the DPC using REST interfaces. Reactive implementation based on Apache Kafka.

2.4 Process support applications (Front Office / Back Office) — provide support for and management of business processes within dedicated teams of the company, both those in contact with customers and those in charge of internal workflow (BPMN Tasklist & BPMN Cockpit).

2.4.1 Task management (BPMN Tasklist) — it is a ready-made web application enabling the employees involved in the digital sales processes to perform the particular tasks in accordance with the BPMN process logic and to have full and continuous overview of the process (diagram, flow history, steps completed and steps to be completed, data entered and its changes) so that the customers can be served in the quickest and most efficient way.

2.4.2 Process monitoring (BPMN Cookpit) — it is a dedicated web application that makes it possible to monitor workflows and decision variants in order to control, and analyse and solve if necessary, the technical problems.

2.5 Document generator — an application enabling configuration of document templates, confirmations, contracts or other elements associated with the digital sales process, that need to be dynamically filled in with customer, product or service details and saved as pdf, excel, docx, html, csv, providing support for electronic signature for binary files.

3. End-to-End Process Automation Monitoring and Reporting with the functional modules:

3.1 Dashboard — a dedicated working environment for the company’s management and employees involved in monitoring of digital processes efficiency using a management dashboard concept, which are based, in the back-end, on high-performance solutions for event and message capturing, transformation and indexation of large volumes of data (Big Data) and providing sets of mini-applications (widgets) dedicated for the given business area in the front-end, as well as functional mechanisms supporting the operation of business processes and real-time preparation of managerial information and reports.

The use of analytic and reporting Dashboard enables the management of the company not only to monitor the operation of the processes in terms of their reporting, but also to detect bottlenecks and areas or elements susceptible to improvement and optimization.

If you wish to commence digitalization of processes and introduce process-based management to your company, please do not hesitate to join our webinar. Contact us if you have any questions about our products or if you wish to learn a solution to another problem associated with digitalization of business processes.