Pitman Training mixes tradition and technology

Citation

(2002), "Pitman Training mixes tradition and technology", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 34 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2002.03734gab.005

Pitman Training mixes tradition and technology

Pitman Training mixes tradition and technology

Pitman Training Group has provided an online database to improve the knowledge of its network of 90 franchises throughout Britain and Ireland.

The company's centres are run independently but supported by head office at Wetherby, West Yorkshire, UK. They need round-the-clock access to accurate, consistent and current information.

"Our offering to our franchisees or partners is all about total support. By working under the Pitman Training name they are tapping into our heritage and experience and the fact that the brand has been trusted for generations," said James O'Brien, managing director.

Late last year, the company's steady growth began to take its toll and headquarters staff became stretched to the limit with inquiries and requests for information.

Some of the information the franchisees need is specific and can only be answered on a one-to-one basis, but many of their questions are straightforward and predictable.

The company doubled the number of staff, but they still spent most of their time answering the same routine questions. Pitman Training therefore began to work with RightNow Technologies to develop a customer service site as part of its main Web site. This was designed as an online training centre, giving its managers and training consultants access to a continually developing and expanding knowledge base.

To put a human face to the site, Pitman returned to its past, and used the company's founding father and the inventor of Pitman shorthand, Sir Isaac Pitman. The site is named "Ask Isaac".

The site uses self-learning database technology to predict and anticipate customer support questions and automate e-mail inquiries. The site also automatically tracks whether the franchisee thinks his or her questions have been answered satisfactorily.

The site has four main areas. "Find Answers" is the main self-service centre where all resolved problems are stored in a solutions database. This provides a dynamic and constantly updated source of information which users can search by product, category, keywords or phrases. The most useful answers are tracked and pushed to the top of the list so that subsequent inquirers can retrieve them more quickly.

If a question still is not answered, they can turn to the "Personal Assistance" section and submit a question to the network support team. Powerful workflow rules save time and money by prioritizing, categorizing and routing the e-mail to the member of staff best qualified to handle the question. The answer will then be published in the database to appear as an FAQ for future visitors.

"Centre Profile" is a restricted access section where franchisees can log in to check the status of their own questions, modify their answers and update notifications or centre details.

"Ask Isaac Announcements" is where Pitman Training headquarters can post up any information it wants the franchisees to know.

James O'Brien commented: "It has certainly proved its worth. Before Ask Isaac was in place, all our staff were doing was answering routine, repetitive questions. The new system enables us to use staff more effectively. It has allowed our support-centre team to turn its focus from routine administrative inquiries to active customer support."