Manufacturers today are focused on improving product quality, optimizing customer value, and enhancing operational efficiency. When a manufacturer develops a product, they will put a guarantee on that item to ensure to the customer that the item will remain in working order until a specified period. If an issue arises during those parameters outlined in the warranty, the buyer is eligible for a repair or replacement from the manufacturer.
Product warranties are not only a reflection of product quality but of the manufacturer’s ability to provide good customer service. While stipulating the terms of a warranty is typically straightforward, the actual management of the warranty process can be quite complex and manually intensive. For example, simply maintaining a complete record of warranty transactions is not an out-of-the-box feature in most ERP and CRM solutions.
Common Problems with Tracking Products and Managing Warranties
The warranty process can include everything from defining warranty coverages and managing product registration to tracking claims management and viewing related assets.
In many organizations, warranty services and claims procedures are typically handled internally and impact a number of different departments, from the supply chain to customer service. If you’re not all using the same system and viewing the same data, this can cause many problems. Here is an overview of some of the most common issues that manufacturers without a dedicated warranty solution are facing:
- Manual Processes
Time-consuming administrative processes, like data entry, require a lot of resources and can lead to inaccuracies and errors. This, in turn, impacts a customer service rep’s ability to provide the right information and resolve any issues.
- Customer Service
When a customer calls, and you have to search through multiple databases to find the answers about their existing product warranties or current case, it can lead to serious delays in response times and issue resolution.
- Disparate Data and Visibility
Many manufacturers use different systems for tracking inventory and managing customer service. This lack of visibility into products, customers, and their associated warranties and cases can negatively impact customer satisfaction and product confidence.
- Product Improvement
Without the ability to track recurring issues and analyze product failures, manufacturers are missing out on an opportunity to make improvements to their products.
- Mobile Accessibility
Between customer service reps and field technicians, not everyone is in the office at all times to access customer, account, and case data. However, when you’re dealing with customers who have a problem with their product, you need access to real-time data from anywhere.
- Interdepartmental Communication
Once again, you’re dealing with many different moving parts when it comes to warranty management. If the product team has resolved an open case with a customer, a customer service rep needs to see that if the customer calls in again.
The Benefit of Consolidating Warranty Systems and Processes
Warranties can serve as competitive differentiators in the manufacturing world. The effective management of these contracts can lead to improved customer relationships, additional revenues, and an overall edge over your competitors.
That’s why an efficient and automated warranty management system is essential to streamline your warranty and case management processes. With a solution that integrates with your existing ERP and CRM software, you can eliminate all manual processes and start tracking all aspects of warranty management, including product registration, claims, parts return, and analytics – in one location.
Here are some of the ways that warranty management software can transform your current warranty management processes:
- Provide consistent customer service and reduce waiting times
- Access data from anywhere in the field
- Increase communication between sales, supply chain and customer service departments
- Improve visibility of the entire warranty and case management process
- Analyze the causes of product failures and make improvements
- Enhance productivity with a seamless, automated workflow
- Reduce costs by eliminated manual processes
iWarranty Manager for Dynamics 365
Many of our clients are global manufacturers that have struggled to manage their warranty processes within Microsoft Dynamics 365. OnActuate Labs, our innovation team, worked with these clients to identify the biggest issues they faced during this process and developed a solution to streamline these operations, increase customer satisfaction, improve product quality, and cut costs. The result? iWarranty Manager for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement.
iWarranty Manager is a leading warranty management solution specifically designed to streamline your asset creation and warranty process, improve the customer experience, and reduce customer service costs. Built for Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, and Project Service Automation, iWarranty Manager is an end-to-end warranty lifecycle management solution that is quick to install and easy to learn. It is available for free on Microsoft AppSource, so you can start setting up warranties, tracking progress, and responding to requests immediately upon installation.
Here is what iWarranty Manager can do:
- Manage the entire warranty process for your customers inside Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement
- Easily process warranty requests, track case progress, and set warranty periods and statuses
- Get full visibility into all related assets and cases with Account Cards
- Use Customer Asset for a full view of related warranties and returns
- Automate warranty creation with details including start date and end date
- Effectively track and manage asset and warranty cases in Accounts
READ: iWarranty Manager Documentation
Download iWarranty Manager for Free on Microsoft AppSource
By using warranty management software that seamlessly integrates with your existing Microsoft Dynamics 365 solution, you can more efficiently receive claims, verify coverage, and initiate repair without ever leaving your application. If you’re a manufacturer that could benefit from a better warranty and case management workflow in place, download our app for free on AppSource and give it a try!
Download iWarranty Manager Today!
