As the climate and ESG agenda occupies more space in the strategic decisions of companies, understanding and contributing to their challenges regarding climate change and other ESG topics becomes an increasingly complex task. The topic is becoming a transversal agenda, appearing from daily operations to Board of Directors meetings. Therefore, a trajectory of evolution in these themes must also be followed by the tools and services that aim to be allies in ESG management and support strategic decision-making, as well as in the communication of results that must be in a robust and reliable way, with traceability and transparency.
Aligned with the best practices of the technology market, WayCarbon has been improving its products and its flows and processes, aiming at the best experience and customer service. In this context, Climas service team structured a Customer Success (CS) Program to be on the side of companies, based on active listening and an agile and effective response throughout the journey of using the system.
The Customer Success Program aims to follow Climas customers throughout the journey of using the system, ensuring that they extract all the value that the tool can offer throughout the evolution of their climate management and ESG.
Renata Piassi, Business Specialist – Climas at WayCarbon, who participated in the development of the Program, and has been working for five years in the company, analyzes:
“I realize that the questions and needs have become more complex and elaborate, and now the focus is no longer just collecting the data to prepare the inventory. As the purposes and maturity levels vary for each client, we are adapting ourselves to meet the demands, with a team focused on supporting them in achieving their objectives.”
Mariana Bertelli, Product Manager, and Maíra Ramalho, Business Coordinator, responsible for leading WayCarbon’s Digital Board Program, were interviewed by the blog. The conversation involved the recent advances of the Climas business area, the experience of systematizing the CS program and the importance of listening to what the client has to say, anticipating needs and proactively generating value.
1. Why did WayCarbon create a Customer Success Program?
Mariana Bertelli – Although Climas service team already offers care and support to customers through a consultative service by support, we have identified that the priorities of customers in Climate and ESG management are diverse and depend on the company’s stage in the journey of transitioning to an economy of low carbon.
Therefore, what Climas should enable for a company starting its journey is different from the value the system should delivers to a more mature company in this management. With this understanding, we realized that we should follow the journey more closely and more proactively, optimizing the learning curve regarding the system’s functionalities for an increasingly strategic delivery, focused on the company’s objectives in each cycle.
2.Has there been a change in WayCarbon’s customer profile in recent years?
Mariana Bertelli – For sure. Historically, companies that were already more advanced in climate management hired Climas and it was common for us to contact managers who were familiar with greenhouse gas (GHG) management, with the seasonality of collection and reporting activities, with methodologies, frameworks, and reporting programs.
More recently, WayCarbon has also started to receive companies that are starting their ESG journey. Pressured by the market and with the need for a faster learning curve, these companies end up demanding greater and closer support, in addition to sharing knowledge to enter this path safely. The challenge of serving customers with different levels of maturity was an important driver for the creation of the CS Program. With the development in the maturity of the ESG agenda, companies demand greater support in identifying opportunities for improvement in the strategic management of their results. Our goal is to be closer, regardless of the level of maturity, to offer Climas solutions or other WayCarbon solutions suitable for achieving their goals.
3.How was the process of creating the CS Program? How does this area work?
Maíra Ramalho – We were noticing the changing profile of customers, a new range of needs and we identified that we needed to adjust the way of serving them. In this sense, we seek best practices by benchmarking the market, understanding the flows and strategies of Customer Success teams that were already more structured, of other SaaS (Software as a Service) products. We also expanded and restructured our customer service team, bringing in more people with experience in this type of customer success approach.
One of the biggest challenges was making adaptations considering the reality of Climas, given the strong technical background behind the solution. Consequently, it has been essential to define the Program to be clear about which stage of the journey the client is at when starting a project, so that the team can follow the client from then on and get in touch at the appropriate time, offering directions, training, information strategies or even recommending the most appropriate improvements for each moment of the journey.
4.How is the area organizing data and performance indicators?
Mariana Bertelli – Before the implementation of the CS program, the monitoring of customer satisfaction was already done using the NPS (Net Promoter Score) methodology, through which the user evaluates, from 0 to 10, how much they would recommend the service or the product. With the recent changes, we are keeping NPS and implementing a complementary flow, which allows the evaluation of each point of the customer journey. Furthermore, to ensure more efficiency in responding to demands, we are systematizing metrics based on the Voice of the Customer (VoC).
The survey of these drivers led the team to understand the importance of monitoring the indicators and having a more proactive action, with the aim of ensuring that the tool is delivering solutions that adhere to the objective of the client company at each stage of its transition to a low-carbon economy.
5.What are the improvements that customers will be able to see?
Mariana Bertelli – With the strengthening of the CS area, WayCarbon is even more attentive to identifying how it can support customers in making more efficient leaps in the transition/decarbonization journey. The goal is to ensure that our customers are moving forward, and not remaining static on the journey using Climas over the years just to manage inventory.
On the journey, the organization starts with managing emissions, expanding the mapped sources, advancing towards establishing goals and commitments, developing decarbonization projects, reporting its advances to the market, seeking financing lines to reach the goals, and carrying out the transition to an economy of low carbon, among other actions. In this way, the focus is on identifying these needs and showing the customer that WayCarbon has end-to-end solutions for them.
6.Could you mention the main results you have already had with the implementation of the CS Program?
Maíra Ramalho – CS offers follow-up with a consultative view, allowing the client’s interlocutor to more clearly monitor how the system is being used, showing how a business may get additional value out of the software, sharing tips, identifying demands, and pointing out usage metrics.
One of the actions already implemented aimed at improving the experience and customer service was the dedication of an exclusive team to support service, which we call N1 service, where we have the first service. Comparing the first quarter of 2022 with the same period of 2023, our SLA (Service Level Agreement) metrics showed a 19% increase in first response SLA compliance, 10% resolution SLA and a 5% drop in the average ticket resolution time. These results occurred despite the significant 94% increase in ticket openings. This means that support is already more agile and efficient compared to the same period last year.
Next Steps
All companies that are already Climas customers will be contacted throughout the second half of 2023 by the Climas CS team for conversations with the main interlocutors to initiate the Program. Satisfaction surveys will also be intensified, as this will be an important way of collecting the Voice of the Customer (VoC).
For those companies that are not Climas customers yet, get in touch with our specialists.