From offline to AI-enabled: Transforming Field-Ops to deliver better services to users.
We redefined the role of Activation Coordinators (ACs) in our field-ops team by implementing new service processes and AI-powered digital tools, enhancing workflow efficiency and enabling data-driven decisions to encourage user transactions.
To enhance effectiveness, we upskilled the ACs and introduced support staff to handle non-essential tasks, allowing ACs to focus on their core responsibilities.
These efforts fostered productive relationships between ACs and our users, improved the quality of service, and reduced the overall cost of service delivery.
Context of the project
Activation Coordinators (ACs) are Jiva's field-ops employees who provide on-ground support to our users, Micro Collectors (MCs), enabling regular engagement and transactions.While facilitating a Service Blueprinting workshop we found that ACs had taken on additional responsibilities, creating bottlenecks and negatively impacting the business.
As a result, 'redesigning the role of the ACs' became a key focus for the organization in H1 2024.
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🔍 The Researcher, 🎯 the UX Strategist, ✍️ the Service Experience Designer, 🦮 the Facilitator, 🎬 the Orchestrator and 📱the UX/UI Designer.I collaborated with Users, Leadership team, Field-ops teams, Operations leads, Business Strategist, Front & Back-end Developers, Product Managers, Researchers and Service & Product Designer.
ACs had unintendedly taken on multiple roles.
Impact on ACs
ACs struggle to balance meeting their KPIs and supporting all MCs, leading to ineffectiveness in their roles.
Impact on users (Micro collectors - MCs)
MCs with potential miss crucial support, weakening their trust in Jiva.
Impact on Jiva (business)
ACs can only support a limited number of MCs, hindering scalability due to high costs in serving users.
We sought to understand the activities, needs, and challenges of the ACs.
This included their daily context, task execution, decision-making processes in managing their network of MCs, and how they prioritize which MCs to serve and visit in person.
All we heard was, "Everything is good, sir! No problems!"
However, we knew that wasn't the case; the numbers told a different story.
During our research, we discovered that culturally, they hesitated to complain or share negative experiences. They also found it challenging to articulate their problems.
To address this, we adjusted our approach. We enlisted a local to accompany them and modified our questioning to encourage storytelling, helping them better articulate their challenges.
Social hierarchy instills in ACs a sense of responsibility for the entire journey of MCs in Jiva.
ACs, often younger college graduates, manage relationships with older MCs who expect visits as a sign of respect.
This blurred the lines between personal and professional interactions as MCs become over dependent on them for everything.
Jiva lacked visibility into on-ground activities and the quality of service provided by ACs to MCs.
ACs relied on memory, and used manual & offline communication channels to get info, manage MCs and their activities & visits.
High-friction for new MCs to get started with Jiva, requiring significant effort from ACs and leading to prolonged dependency on them.
We also spoke to the MCs that the ACs served to understand their traits, motivations and needs.
This allowed us to understand what was expected of the ACs when it came to managing the different MCs profiles.
We mapped the current end-to-end experience of the AC to identify pains, inefficiency points & opportunities for redesign.
ACs should be holistically empowered with the tools, processes, support, and capabilities needed to make their workflows efficient and their interactions with MCs productive and effective.
Involving the different teams created significant alignment challenges.
The unstructured growth of the AC role was partly due to internal team silos within Jiva.
We made the process tangible and enjoyable by organising ideation and alignment workshops across various regions in Indonesia.
Our goals were to bring together different perspective, encourage feedback, and foster ownership within the ACs to deliver the experience to MCs.
The incentive structure sparked heated debates.
We identified a critical gap in how we recruited ACs and defined their incentives.
The current incentive structure caused ACs to prioritise MCs unfairly and unsustainably.
To address this, we engaged HR teams, recognising the direct impact on AC behavior and the indirect impact on the user journey.
Alongside the framework below, we assessed initiatives based on desirability for ACs & MCs, viability for business, and tech & ops feasibility.
Multiple prototypes were designed and tested with a select group of ACs.
ACs were pleasantly surprised by the idea of using AI tools to enhance efficiency and productivity in doing manual tasks.
They saw AI as a potential strategic ally for generating insights and suggesting next steps.
However, they found it difficult to trust AI recommendations, doubting a lack of consideration of on-ground nuances, their relationships with MCs, and personal expertise.
Additionally, they worried about job loss if AI handled tasks like analysis, decision-making, and strategy.
We turned AC's fear into an opportunity.
We incorporated on-ground nuances and AC experience into our AI model to build trust.
This was achieved by enabling ACs to efficiently record MC interactions through text, voice, and image capture.
We also developed new upskilling programs to familiarize ACs with technology and AI methodologies.
We became the glue to bring the different work streams together.
Team owners for different phases of the AC's journey were assigned.
To ensure seamless implementation, we set up weekly/monthly cadences, critique & feedback sessions, and energy-check routines.
We streamlined the workflow for Activation Coordinators (ACs) with advanced digital and AI tools, including a mobile app, and improved both online and offline processes.
The AI voice bot reduced on-ground task time and enabled comprehensive recording of interactions with MCs.
Enhanced on-ground visibility allowed Jiva to generate actionable insights through AI, guiding ACs in their MC interactions.
This empowered ACs to make data-driven decisions, prioritize effectively, foster productive relationships, and drive transactions to meet incentive targets.
Real-time access to MC transactional and operational data eliminated the need for offline coordination, boosting AC efficiency. While, delegating low-value tasks allowed ACs to focus on high-value MCs, optimizing their efforts.
A new AC-supported onboarding experience increased activation rates and reduced credit risk for Jiva.
Customized upskilling programs made ACs knowledgeable and reliable, enhancing engagement with MCs.
ACs now provide quick, personalized services, improving overall service quality and solidifying their value as on-ground assets.
These improvements resulted in increased wallet share from MCs, higher average transactions per MC, and reduced service costs, enabling Jiva to scale operations in a cost effective way.
Thank you & keep optimising your internal team's workflows 🙌🛠️
