Iconic Convenience Store Uses One Solution to Manage All Vendors, Work Orders, and Assets

One of the largest and most loved convenience stores in the world, a marketplace leader in customer satisfaction, transformed their facilities management program with Nuvolo & ServiceNow.

The Challenge 

Our convenience store customer had a strategic goal to grow from 10,000 stores in North America today, to over 20,000 by 2027.  Senior leadership recognized that to achieve aggressive store expansion while increasing store operations satisfaction, they needed a complete reimagining and rethinking of how they supported their franchisees.  

When they purchased 1,000 new stores in 2018 and needed a way to quickly onboard them, they decided this was the perfect opportunity for a store maintenance transformation. 

The customer needed a single platform that could manage all types of service requests, allowing for greater efficiency and automation. They wanted:

  • A singular enterprise system to combine 15 distinct helpdesks
  • The ability to track 3rd party vendor quality and speed of service
  • A streamlined and efficient store reporting process for facilities and IT
  • Improved field services through work order and store asset analysis

Their store operations services are outsourced to thousands of local and regional service partners though a single management company. Over time, they lost visibility into their vendor management program. They had zero insight into vendor activity or vendor performance. They didn’t know if they were being overcharged for work, if the work was done right, or even if it was done at all. They were paying expensive vendor invoices without the ability to cross-check against services performed. They were completely reliant on their providers self-reporting performance and making decisions blindly.

Employees had 15 different support center options for reporting a problem. As you can imagine, they didn’t always call the right number. Their support centers were on different unconnected platforms. Transferring a work order over to IT, or an IT ticket over to facilities, was a manual and costly process. They estimated ticket re-routing costs were over $3 million dollars a year.

Another big concern: they weren’t tracking work orders or store assets effectively. They had to find a way to prevent equipment disruptions, like a broken HVAC or coffee machine. Helping to prevent emergency repairs would lower costs and ensure clean, well-run stores.  

The One-Platform Solution: Nuvolo and ServiceNow 

This convenience store is committed to making life easier for their customers. Being on the forefront of innovation, they viewed the challenge of integrating 1,000 new stores as an opportunity to digitally transform store operations.  

They were already impressed with the ServiceNow platform for IT service management. However, they knew the transformation had to start with facilities. Helping their franchise owners and employees with store maintenance was the priority. They needed a high-quality facilities platform to continue to deliver the consistent positive store experience their customers expected.

They found Nuvolo, the only Connected Workplace solution built on the ServiceNow platform. Nuvolo and ServiceNow could provide employees, franchise owners, and third-party service providers a collaborative, cloud-based solution to better manage work, automate routine tasks, and improve service quality.

The Transformation

Today, this iconic brand has an enterprise service management program to be proud of. When dealing with tens of thousands of stores, having all locations, all assets, all work, and all vendors on one platform is powerful.  

Employees now report store issues through a single, user-friendly web portal that encompasses IT, facilities, HR, payroll, merchandising, logistics, network operations, and more. Most facilities work orders and IT tickets are auto-routed to the appropriate support desk. If the ticket is routed to the wrong desk, it’s not a big deal. Facilities work orders and IT tickets are now transferred with the click of a button. Automating this process saved $3 million per year in ticket re-routing costs. And that’s a small number compared to the savings they are realizing with complete vendor transparency and modern intuitive field services.

Nuvolo led the way, and all vendor data and work orders are now part of the service management platform. Our customer has real-time visibility into vendor performance and can automatically generate reports like:

  • Percentage of work orders closed on time
  • Work order travel cost per vendor
  • Service turnaround time

Today, they process invoices efficiently and intelligently. They cross-check original work orders against vendor data and can flag discrepancies. They know if the work was done and can easily check for vendor overcharges. They are no longer blindly paying invoices.  

The facilities team is also using vendor data to negotiate renewals. They reference service-level agreement (SLA) terms against the work order closed time, check for any breached SLAs, and compare contract costs across vendors. This, too, is resulting in significant cost savings. 

Nuvolo reporting and analytics are streamlining field services for the customer as well. Approximately 1.2 million work orders per year are handled in Nuvolo and 1.2 million assets are monitored and maintained, creating a treasure trove of actionable insights. Comparing repair history and warranty details against an asset allows our customer to create logical preventative maintenance schedules. 

Asset management insight coupled with comprehensive vendor information drives smart dispatch routing. For instance, fixing an HVAC requires a skilled technician. Nuvolo will check for the nearest technicians with HVAC certifications and dispatch the right person the first time. Smart dispatching is efficient, effective, and gets work done faster.

Conclusion

A lot of behind-the-scenes work goes into creating a welcoming and inviting store experience. This convenience store brand, along with Nuvolo and ServiceNow, built a store service management program second to none. Within a single year, we created a comprehensive corporate services program for franchise owners and operators. And with the ease of store reporting, work order management, and vendor transparency, store employees can now better concentrate on delivering an enjoyable store atmosphere.