Strategically designing warranty and field services is important even if you know your product is reliable and seldom fails. Warranties are a signal of quality and they serve as elements of marketing strategies.

An effective warranty and field services process is built on a set of well-defined and clearly stated business objectives. Key objectives articulate the ideal performance results that the company expects from that process. When determining what process improvements are needed to reach the next level of maturity, evaluators should consider the importance of the process being addressed. As the importance of a process increases, its desired capability increases.

This tool features a number of leading practices for the warranty and field services process, including:

• Manage the warranty/field services process in a way that enhances the company’s mission.
• Use the warranty/field services management process to enhance customer satisfaction.
• Employ key performance indicators to continuously improve warranty/field services handling.
• Provide customers with a single contact empowered to resolve the claim.
• Make available the necessary information to resolve customer calls immediately.