Nokia Case Study

Historically the after-service repair landscape of many OEM’s, including Nokia, was primarily nationally focused. Local care organizations would typically be in charge of the contacts and contracts with local repair vendors that in most cases would offer a software solution with the capability to register and manage the full reverse logistics and repair cycle. The repair vendor managed software would offer a local solution facilitating order entry (trough connectivity where needed), transportation management from retailers or even end-consumers to the repair center and vice versa, repair and swap solutions, track & trace and local contact center support. In short, the repair center would take care of the after-sales activities in a way that can be summarized as a “black box” situation whereby the local care organization had limited visibility on the operational flows and would simply pay the claims submitted by the repair vendors.

In an attempt to gain more control over their repair solutions and related costs, Nokia decided to move away from this local “black box” infrastructure and replace it with a global model. Although the detailed strategies have changed over the years, the direction and goals have not fundamentally shifted: By investing in its own global software solution, the aim of Nokia was to get full control and visibility over its repair flows. By concentrating these flows to a more restricted number of repair vendors that focus purely on repair, costs could be saved in several areas and dependencies on local, often instable, repair vendors could be reduced. In this new situation Nokia established connectivity between its global system and the various parties involved in the reverse supply chain; Nokia took control over the reverse logistics flows and created the ability to (re-)route repair volumes to different repair vendors if and when required for costs or quality reasons. In several geographical areas logistics HUB’s were established with the capability of swapping items if needed to meet the repairSLA’s promised to customers. In this new model, the repair SLA promised to customers could be managed separately from theSLA’s agreed with the repair vendors if needed.

The change from local solutions to a single global solution has proven to be a challenge in many ways. As Nokia soon realized, the implementation of a global software solution was not a matter of just a simple roll-out; instead it required a true change management approach whereby specific local requirements would be taken into account if really needed whilst safeguarding the global focus. Over the past decade, ReturnPool has positioned itself as important partner to Nokia to assist in the implementation of the global solution; with our hands-on and goal-oriented approach we have assisted Nokia in implementing the solution in over 30 countries and in making the necessary adjustments to the solution that are required to keep up in the rapidly changing service landscape. Key elements in our success are our capability to perform detailed process mapping, perform hands-on training and on-site implementation, and our ability to bridge any gaps between local requirements and the global solution using our rapid application development.