Cleaning is in the headlights as we head back to work in offices. Enter BIC Services’ “game-changing” solution manages infection control and delivers a new level of customer-centricity.
Traditional cleaning follows a repetitive schedule, with deviations from this schedule mostly driven by service complaints. It is a reactive and opaque process in an era where proactivity and transparency are mission critical.
But BIC’s Interactive Customer Experience Platform, or ICXP, uses advanced technology to match cleaning resources to where they are most needed.
ICXP uses ‘customer experience kiosks’, or tablets, to capture real-time feedback and service requests from building users, with the nearest cleaner notified immediately. Bluetooth beacons track the location of service delivery staff, and that data is fed into advanced analytics that aid decision-making and long-term planning.
ICXP is averaging around 6,500 service requests a month – and these go straight to the service delivery team, freeing up helpdesks and facility managers.
“The cleaning industry has always promised proactiveness, but this is the first system that can deliver on this promise,” says chief executive officer of BIC Services, Tony Gorgovski.
“We are putting the customer at the centre of every decision we make to match our resources to the requirements of the building.”
Facilities managers have a new tool to complement annual tenant surveys, Gorgovski says. “Data is delivered on a daily basis, not at the end of the month, to provide a picture of everyone’s experience on a floor. Real time data can help with tenant conversations. Through transparency we deliver true and open partnership.”
Innovation acceleration
ICXP was developed 12 months ago but has rapidly evolved to meet the challenges of COVID-19, BIC’s chief information officer Tino Stanojevic explains.
Voice commands have been integrated into the tablets to deliver a touchless experience and “virtual kiosks” can be deployed using QR codes. ICXP also connects with the Australian Government’s COVIDSAFEapp, which has been downloaded more than six million times.
“This means that we can receive information if a location has been visited by an infected individual and we’ll be able to tell which areas need to be disinfected. We have no way of knowing who it was and we don’t want to know – we just want to know the workplace is safe,” Stanojevic explains.
To maintain social distancing requirements, the system can also count the number of phones within a closed area, alert people when a bathroom is over capacity, and direct them to the nearest available facility.
ICXP is also useful in end-of-trip facilities. The system uses small motion sensors to detect and record usage in shared showers, which SafeWork Australia says should be cleaned after each use. A kiosk displays the shower status and the system sends notifications to cleaners accordingly.
BIC also recently switched from smartphones to wearables “because cleaners already have their hands full”, Stanojevic explains.
While BIC’s speed of innovation is extraordinary, Stanojevic says “it’s just the beginning”.
“As long as the ICXP infrastructure is in place, we can build on the platform.
“Even though the cleaning industry is very labour intensive, if you are focused on innovation there are a lot of things you can do to improve client satisfaction and outcomes. We’re showing how real time service management and service delivery can help with re-occupancy and improve staff satisfaction,” Stanojevic says.
Total transparency
What do staff think of ICXP?
“They love it,” Gorgovski says.
A member of the Cleaning Accountability Framework advisory group, Gorgovski is committed to fostering transparency in the industry and supporting workers. He says he was “intrigued” to discover sick leave among cleaners has dropped from two per cent to 0.82 per cent in buildings where ICXP is in use.
“We’ve found job satisfaction is up because people can work more effectively. Our cleaners aren’t concerned about the ‘Big Brother’ aspect. The system delivers total transparency, so there’s no question that cleaners have been doing their job.”
Gorgovski is passionate about partnerships. “When we start work with a new client, we establish a working committee under a charter and work it out together. Our only prerequisite is that we share ideas,” he says.
“Every managing agent and owner I talk to says the same thing – ICXP is a gamechanger.”
Find out more about BIC Services and the Interactive Customer Experience Platform.