Zenpark startup offers Europe’s largest network of smart shared car parks, with over 1000 registered car parks. Its website and in particular its app makes allow you to book a one-off space or a monthly space at a special rate. Interview and advice from Florian Gilles, Zenpark director of operations (COO).
Zenpark allows owners of car parks (property owners, hotels, supermarkets, administrations, etc.) to open them up to the public to make them profitable. Simply and securely, drivers have access to parking spaces that are not normally available. Zenpark technology allows authorized motorists to access private or public car parks without modifying existing opening systems or duplicating means of access. This startup is aiming at wide range deployment at the level of European towns and cities. It was launched in January 2013 by William Rosenfeld (CEO) and Fabrice Marguerie (CTO), later joined by Frédéric Sebban.
What led Zenpark to join The Nest by Webhelp?
At Zenpark, we were aware that we are not experts in customer relations, but we wanted to offer our customers premium solutions in a context of strong growth. So we felt a need for support from a recognized expert like Webhelp.
However, we were slightly apprehensive given the size of the Webhelp Group. We quickly found that the operating methods based on agility, flexibility, test and learn, etc. were suitable to a startup like Zenpark. This has been one of the key factors in our collaboration with Webhelp.
This collaboration began even before The Nest by Webhelp program was officially founded. Overall, everything went well from the outset in 2017… and since then the number of Zenpark customer contacts has more than doubled.
How are interactions with The Nest by Webhelp going?
There are several formats for interaction, such as workshops organized on a variety of subjects. This framework allows us to engage with other startups through The Nest by Webhelp program, even though their projects relate to other lines of business and whose pace of development is different from ours. Sharing best practices of customer experience are very informative and useful.
With Webhelp, discussions focus on classic startup issues, including those arising from strong growth. The Nest by Webhelp experts is proactive in proposing how to approach the Zenpark experience. They clearly take our issues seriously, as well as those of our customers, thus helping the Zenpark experience be the best it can be.
How is customer experience central to your growth?
Our mobile app allows you to find a parking space, book it and after identification opens the car park gate. In fact, we have revolutionized customers’ use of parking. This of course involves the need for high-quality support in the use of our service. We have set up a 24/7 phone line and email channel to answer questions from customers and potential clients.
To cope with our growth, we outsourced level 1 services to dedicated Webhelp teams. Upstream, we are also working together on areas for improving the app and the Zenpark site. This will help us reduce the number of level 1 contacts and has shown very positive results.
What form does the Webhelp customer advisor support for Zenpark take?
They have complete knowledge of our product. They are real experts in our solution. They’re almost an integral part of the Zenpark team! They also listen to our constraints and problems. Customer advisors are in touch with our users every day and are also proactive in improving the responses to be provided. We have seen a marked improvement in the quality of these responses compared to those we were able to provide prior to this partnership with The Nest by Webhelp.
On a day-to-day basis, how is activity driven by Zenpark and The Nest by Webhelp?
We provide a daily update on the monitoring of KPIs and additional indicators. If necessary, a more in-depth interaction can be triggered by Zenpark or The Nest by Webhelp. Once a week, we take stock of activities with supervisors in two areas: the quality of processing customer requests and updating information related to our mutual activities, activities that evolve very quickly on both sides.
In addition, a monthly steering committee and a quarterly update provide an opportunity for momentum and future planning.
What are some examples of jointly solved problems?
Initially, the number of level 2 requests received by Zenpark was too high: it was difficult for us to react in a sufficiently responsive manner. So we worked together to make the level 1 teams more independent.
We are satisfied with the result. Today only 10% of requests are channeled to Zenpark at level 2. Internally, the workload corresponded to about 2 full-time people.
Giving autonomy to client advisors who respond to our members is a real challenge because our status is constantly evolving. It is therefore crucial that the exchange of information between Webhelp and Zenpark is as smooth as possible. We are optimistic that we will reach our 2019 target of reducing these exchanges from 10 to 5%.
What can a large group like Webhelp bring to a startup like Zenpark?
Our case is probably not an isolated one. At some point, a startup realizes that it lacks the experience or expertise to manage the customer relationship as best it could. An expert like Webhelp has this expertise and knows how to pass it on.
The ability of a company like Webhelp to innovate in a given field of activity is also a valuable benefit.
What is your advice to startups?
The most important thing is not to neglect the customer when constructing their service or product. Customer experience and satisfaction must be the focus of the product and must drive all teams on a daily basis. This inevitably requires perfect customer service!
