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Century
Homes
6 . Outcome
6.1 Benefits for customers
Despite this presumed reluctance to change, customers
are going to get better quality of information, in a
more convenience and speedier manner. This helps to
make their business more efficient and hence competitive
and it is this that Century Homes will be driving home
to their customers. The company motto is “we take
the hassle out of building” and this is another
way that they will be taking the hassle out of building.
Ultimately, the company hopes to create a stronger bond
with their customers, increasing loyalty over their
competitors.
In the longer term, it is hoped that on line order placement
will be the norm. In the meanwhile, the focus will be
on moving major customers on line for post order queries.
For example, a colossal amount of time is spent clarifying
and managing the bespoke details within individual orders
where 200 houses might each have something slightly
different (staircase, extension, etc.) It will be a
big benefit to all parties if a customer can log-on
and see these details live whenever they want.
Likewise, customers are always chasing delivery details.
An additional benefit of the system is that it will
allow for SMS facilities from desktop so once it is
fully automated, it will send automatic email, fax and
SMS messages to customer confirming delivery and hence
ensure no misunderstanding.
6.2 Benefits for company
Growing the business:
The positive consumer reaction to the new web site,
in the four months since its launch, has been phenomenal.
Telephone queries have shifted from general queries
about the Timber Frame process and brochure requests
to specific sales related queries. This is all the more
exciting, because at the end of the day, as Gerry explained,
“we’re selling just about the biggest item
anyone can sell on a web site - we’re selling a
home on a web site!” Coming from a marketing background,
Gerry doesn’t take this success for granted. He
does believe that the interest in the company is genuine
and that the site opens up a route for Century Homes
to reach single unit customers.
This growth of single unit orders since the launch of
the web site is a major benefit. This was an area that
Century Homes tended to steer clear of in the past due
to resource constraints but now this market is wide
open to them and their share is growing fast. An automated
process and online designs have replaced the labour
and time intensive process of designing and constructing
new single units for Century Homes.
Improved efficiency:
Gerry believes the new ways of working are already delivering
efficiency improvements throughout the company, especially
on order processing and general administration and queries.
Additionally, a reduction in the number of errors is
positively impacting the bottom line because of the
amount of cost currently associated with processing
errors. The customer may know nothing about them because
normally they catch an error before it leaves production.
Online purchases:
As well as generating online sales, the team is working
with their largest supplier to streamline processes
and move to online purchasing. Interestingly, new suppliers
have seen the web site and approached Century Homes
with supply offers. Given this ‘like minded’
attitude, Century Homes is happy to deal with these
new suppliers and they see major potential to grow online
purchases on competitive terms.
Employee motivation:
Communicating the project objectives and outcomes internally
proved very important. It created a strong message that
the company is investing in people, trying to reduce
administrative workloads by automating processes and
improving the quality of work. Employees are proud of
the web site, which further supports positive employee
attitude.
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