Getting Closer to Our Customers

At Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, we recently launched our new customer portal iflybombardier.com. The portal is part of our ongoing efforts to enhance your experience and deliver greater efficiencies. iflybombardier.com harnesses our data digitally and turns it into real intelligence that helps you run your business better. This collaborative online environment features advanced information tools and new services.

iflybombardier.com – Helping you run your business better.

Interview: Todd Young, Vice President, Customer Services and Support, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft

Todd Young shares his thoughts about iflybombardier.com and improving customer services and support in general at Bombardier Commercial Aircraft.

Watch video on YouTube or in Windows Media Player - Length: 2:54

Read Todd's "Getting Closer to Our Customers" interview

 

                                                                        

Why is making Bombardier Commercial Aircraft’s services and support even more accessible to customers so important today?
Increasingly affordable and frequent international travel, along with the explosion of information online, has shrunk our world. At the same time, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft’s fleet demographics have changed significantly over the past five years, expanding from being primarily in North America and parts of Europe to a growing customer base in Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Middle East. New geographies and varying time zones mean that we need to be available to our customers around the clock and understand their specific requirements. Our focus is on increasing our global presence and enhancing the customer experience.
What steps have you taken recently to get closer to your customers?
There are two major steps. First of all, we’ve improved the reach and accessibility of our services and support by delivering them online through our new iflybombardier.com customer portal. Secondly, through our growing network of global Regional Support Offices (RSOs), we are closer to our customers in their own region, speaking their language and responding to their needs much sooner.
Are these initiatives part of a broader strategy?
Yes. Becoming number one in customer satisfaction is one of the priorities of Bombardier’s new “Our Way Forward” corporate strategy. Of course at Customer Services and Support (CS&S), we share this goal.  Being closer to our customers physically at the RSOs and virtually through the customer portal will improve our customers’ ability to interact with us and get answers to their questions or resolutions to key issues more quickly.   Additionally, RSOs are staffed in part by local employees who interact with customers in their language and understand the cultural context, further improving customer satisfaction. Our enhanced physical presence is also aligned with another Our Way Forward priority: establishing local roots in all our key markets. The selection of RSO locations around the world is driven by both Bombardier Commercial Aircraft’s customer base and Aerospace’s global presence strategy.  RSOs ensure we better understand our customers wherever they are located and that we respond to all customers with the urgency they expect.
How is the iflybombardier.com portal different from the previous website launched in 2003?
The online environment is a key enabler of customer interaction and our 24/7 support and service infrastructure. Launched on June 1, 2009, iflybombardier.com represents the next step in our long-term eServices strategy. This advanced interactive portal is aligned with Bombardier.com and based on user feedback, comments and suggestions. Its design and functionality will boost CRJ Series and Q-Series operators’ efficiency and reduce maintenance time. Bottom line, the new portal is more user-friendly, productive and collaborative.
How exactly does iflybombardier.com enhance the customer experience and deliver greater efficiencies?
iflybombardier.com harnesses our data digitally and turns it into real information. This working and collaborative environment offers advanced online information and services to help customers run their business better. Information is easier to find, streamlined working processes improve productivity, and the collaborative working interface with CS&S allows customers to better forecast trends and provide technical fixes.
Can you tell us about some of the portal’s new features and services?
iflybombardier.com includes user-requested features such as homepage refresh, improved aircraft picklists, site maps and discussion forums. Other improvements include enhanced navigation tools and a customizable homepage. It also incorporates a host of new eServices available 24/7 including: Aircraft Diagnostics Solutions improves online access to diagnostic knowledge and experience from across the industry for troubleshooting to get out-of-service aircraft back up and flying faster. Airline Performance Analytics is an industry first. It provides customizable dispatch reliability data and fleet benchmarks with a host of analysis options. Online Technical Requests saves time by enabling customers to submit and track their requests online the same way you track a package, making managing fixes easier than ever. Digital Data Navigator seamlessly merges customer documentation and critical information with Bombardier Commercial Aircraft’s technical manuals in one easy-to-access program.
How are customers responding to iflybombardier.com?
Extremely well. When asked, 87% of users said they would recommend iflybombardier.com to a colleague.  I expect it to exceed our previous site’s 40% annual growth rate in site visits.
How have you improved the delivery of services and support on the ground?
By continuing to open strategically located Regional Support Offices. Our RSOs network currently consists of an office in Shanghai, China (opened in 2005), Tokyo, Japan (2007), Sydney, Australia and Munich, Germany (both opened in 2008). The Toronto and Montreal offices continue to provide core support. As part of our expanding global presence strategy, the next stop will be India in early 2010, followed by additional RSOs in South America, Russia and the Middle East as these markets develop further. Along with the RSOs, we also operate spare parts depots, simulator locations, as well as Bombardier service facilities and recognized service facilities. In addition to our new spares depots in Chicago and Frankfurt, we opened one in Japan in 2007 and increased stocking levels in Australia. Along with our existing service centres in the U.S., we also certified recognized service facilities in Australia, the U.K., Slovenia and China.
Are these investments paying off in terms of improved customer satisfaction?
Our most recent Customer Engagement Survey indicates a steady upward trend in customer engagement. Overall customer satisfaction with in-service support has consistently improved. I am certain that these new services will boost our rating even higher. At CS&S, our mission is to find new ways to add value to the customer experience and keep them flying at their best. This means that more improvements are on the way!

                                                                        

Testimonial: SkyWest Airlines 

Priorities, our Customer Services and Support newsletter, talks with Larry Dew, Maintenance Training Instructor at SkyWest Airlines, about his maiden voyage on iflybombardier.com and its eServices feature, Aircraft Diagnostic Solutions.

Find out more

 

We were very excited about this summer’s launch of iflybombardier.com and the benefits it offers. What were your first impressions of the portal?
iflybombardier.com is a significant improvement over the RACS site. Information has moved under different menu options on the new site, but once you have navigated iflybombardier.com it is very intuitive. I was very happy with Bombardier’s response to the SkyWest request for individual iflybombardier.com accounts. This allowed SkyWest to set up an account for each person in the maintenance department.
We understand that you began using the site’s Aircraft Diagnostic Solutions (ADS) tool, powered by CaseBank, the day iflybombardier.com went live.
Yes, I did. The program is very easy to use and the two tutorials provided on the ADS home page should be sufficient to get most individuals started. As with any program, a little instructor based hands-on training goes a long way. I use ADS in the classroom to get the student involved in troubleshooting simulated squawks as we discuss the aircraft systems. This reinforces the training and provides hands-on training on effective use of ADS.
Were you pleased with the results gained from using ADS?
ADS is an excellent troubleshooting tool. It is the only single source solution that enables personnel to quickly pull up related Service Documents (AOM, ISAR, RIL, and SL) and AMM documents that are related to the current squawk. While all of these documents are available on iflybombardier.com, it would take a considerable amount of time and effort to research each one. ADS also provides the operator with a real-time communication tool. Maintenance technicians can document the initial squawk and then add troubleshooting notes and details as the aircraft move throughout the system. The operator can also efficiently tap into the resources of the Customer Response Centre and Field Service Representative. It should be a part of every operator’s’ troubleshooting process.

 

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