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  • New Zealand

The Clean Crew

We solved the problem of service quality by
image recognition powered AI.

1

Understand the problem

Not everything is as it seems.

The clean crew are a Hastings, Hawke's Bay based commercial cleaning company who have nationwide ambitions. When we met them, they had a problem of perceived service quality. Despite their crew doing a fantastic cleaning job, the admins would often receive complaints about poor service quality. After several internal audits, it was understood that more often than not, the crew would do their job and leave, and an employee(s) from the client would absentmindedly mess things up. The client would unwittingly think that the crew didn't do their job right.

2

Analyse the problem

Every battle is won before it is fought.

Our business analysts had several brain storming sessions with various stakeholders like the owner, the admins and the cleaning staff who actually did the cleaning job. There seemed to be a consensus among the admins & staff that communication was the solution. That if they had an app which would help them communicate better with their clients, they could troubleshoot better than emails and phone calls. Sounded a lot like they needed WhatsApp.

Our business analysts did some digging of their own and figured out that The Clean Crew had an excellent track record of customer service. 93% of surveyed customers rated their customer service highly. The Clean Crew also had a complaint resolution time of just 29 minutes. Communication wasn't at fault, it was the perception of service quality. The analysts concluded that The Clean Crew needed an auditing tool, but not a paper-based tool which can be susceptible to human biases.

Another problem which The Clean Crew had, was money. Any solution would not only have to be operationally excellent, but also cost effective.

3

Draft the solution

No research without action, no action without research.

Our business analysts, systems architects, solutions architects and the rest of the relevant team members of Black Quadrant came up with a mobile based, Image recognition powered AI application which would help cleaners audit their work, in real time.

After the cleaning is done, the cleaner scans the area, clicking pictures and recording video. This is then fed through an AI engine, which analyses the cleanliness of the premise in real time. Once the cleanliness is above a certain threshold, the job is considered completed. An update is sent to the admin, who does one final visual test and send the report of the clean to the client.

Backed by images, video and other recording, The Clean Crew is now empowered to challenge false claims of clients and boast about a job well done. The app comes equipped with several nifty features like geolocation tracking, which helps in time tracking, attendance and others.

4

Begin development

Build!

The product took 38 days to build and costed roughly $70K. During operation, the solution costs $7 per month for 400 users. We followed an agile approach to development, which gave The Clean Crew access to our work and progress from day 1, instead of having to wait 30 days to feedback. More information about our drafting process can be found by emailing us.

5

Launch & support

It's showtime!

The problems which the solution solved were,

  • Quality. Image and video backed audits, the high quality of the clean was evident and indubitable.
  • Communication. By preemptively forward daily audit reports, The Clean Crew not only improved their customer satisfaction, but also eliminated doubts about their service quality.
  • Cost. By our superior solutions architecture, and our expertise in Optimised distributed edge technology, The Clean Crew did not have to invest money in buying any extra stuff. Every crew member already had a company issued mobile device, which did the job perfectly.
  • All updates and fixes are free forever.