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- At Ford SA, Rapid Hubs are mobile teams designed to reduce vehicle downtime.
- Teams work closely with dealers and assembly plants.
- Each province is represented by its own Rapid Hub.
Ford South Africa has introduced a new customer experience system designed to complement its range of Next-Gen products. These include the new Everest, Ranger and Raptor, but the service will also filter through to other nameplates.
While Ford's Next-Gen products speak for themselves, the auto manufacturer fully knows that good products are only half the story. As a result, the company has been bustling over the last few months with modernising customer experience services and tools.
The latest initiative that customers can look forward to is called Rapid Hubs.
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According to Ford, this initiative takes a more proactive approach to the maintenance and repair of customer vehicles and puts resources and expertise in place should a dealer not be able to resolve a technical issue in the recommended timeframe. Rapid Hubs will close the communication loop and provide a holistic customer journey.
Rapid Hubs are made up of highly mobile and qualified teams, including a Zone Manager, Field Service Engineer, Rapid Hub Manufacturing Technician, Customer Relationship Centre, Dealer Sales Manager, Rapid Hub Lead and a Hub Champion.
These teams have the inherent skills and permissions to work across provinces and leverage resources. Part of their unique strength is the ability to unlock and expedite processes within dealerships and ultimately get vehicles back on the road quickly.
Rapid Hub teams are notified of any vehicle entering a dealership for repair within the first four hours. They collect daily reports on these vehicles and can send this information back to the respective assembly plant, resulting in higher-quality consumer products.
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"We want to ensure that our Next-Gen benchmark products come with an ownership experience that understands customers' unique needs and exceeds their expectations," says Ashen Ramdhani, Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD) and Field Operations Manager at Ford South Africa.
"With Rapid Hubs, we are successfully advancing communication, unlocking processes within dealerships, and making our response time faster and more efficient."
