Customer support has greatly evolved over the last decade. Forward-thinking organizations are changing their customer support from traditional help desk models into more meaningful conversations that enhance the customer experience.

To do this, market leaders are investing in platforms that empower customers by providing them with the information they need, when they need it, via the channel that suits them. These same platforms allow organizations to collect and analyze data, and derive insights about their customers. Ultimately, these insights allow employees to provide customers with relevant information at key points along the customer journey.

Rolls-Royce & Partners Finance (RRPF) is an example of such a forward-thinking company that is creating new service channels to provide a better customer experience and gain valuable insight. A joint-venture business of Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, one of the world’s leading producers of aero engines for large civil aircrafts, RRPF provides lease finance services to buyers of aircraft engines. RRPF is the largest lessor of Rolls-Royce and IAE spare engines, and their customers include leading flag carrier airlines. 

We spoke with Ben Hughes, Director of Marketing and Business Development at RRPF, to get his perspective on the new customer portal they built with Bluewolf using Salesforce’s Community Cloud.

MP: How do you think customer expectations have changed in the last five years?
BH: As consumers, we have all gotten used to accessing information and services easily over the internet, especially on our mobile devices. We can check our bank account balances, transfer funds, or even hire a car in just a few clicks. This is our new normal, and it sets the same expectation in a B2B setting. Our customers increasingly expect us to provide services in a similar way.

MP: Why did you feel you needed to create this channel for your customers? What problems were you hoping it would solve?
BH: We have used Community Cloud to build an easy-to-use account management service for our customers. The airline business is very competitive, and our customers are under cost and time pressures. Their expectation is that key information that can help them make decisions should be available real-time 24 hours a day.  We want to exceed our customer’s expectations, so we built a service to give them access to information that they need at all times.

MP: What exactly does this new service do for your customers?
BH: The service gives customers access to their lease documents, invoices, and technical utilization data on the engines that they have on lease from us. Customers can also easily view details of other engines that we have available for lease and make requests to purchase or lease such engines. We plan to continue to build on this and provide more functionality in the near future, especially in the area of engine technical records.

MP: What are some of your favorite features of the app?
BH: I really like the design aesthetic. It’s simple, engaging, and consistent with the values of our brand. I also like how easy it is to find and download lease invoices and documents.

MP: What does Rolls Royce & Partners Finance do to create a positive experience and live up to your customers’ expectations? 
BH: We listen to our customers to understand what they need from us. We don’t want to be just another financial counter-party. We want to be a trusted partner. Before we started this project, we went and talked to several customers about what information they would want to access and how they would want to access it. The feedback we received led us to make some early changes to our design. The plan is to continue to invest in the service and develop more features that will be valuable to our customers.

Ben Hughes will be speaking at Dreamforce ‘15 in San Francisco on Tuesday, September 15 at 4:00PM. To find out more about RRPF’s customer community, and to learn how to build a community within your own organization, register for his breakout session today.