The document discusses AAC's development of a Customer Portal to address issues like price erosion, slow turnaround times, and the need to better serve global customers and improve competitiveness. The portal aims to automate parts of the customer process to accelerate service and increase satisfaction. It integrates tools like ERP, CRM, marketing automation, and reporting to allow customers to place orders, access projects/training, and get feedback all in one digital space. Since launching in 2015, the portal has over 3,000 registered users and helped win a large global contract. Further development focuses on utilizing it more for marketing all of AAC's services.

1. AAC Customer Portal
Stuart Reynish stuart.reynish@aacglobal.com
Petri Lehmus petri.lehmus@accglobal.com
Image from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wcdumonts/15199375038/

2. Motivation: The Issues to be Solved
• Price erosion for services such as translation and language
training are forcing AAC to find new, more automated
methods to deliver the same services more efficiently
• Turnaround time too slow from AAC with too much overhead
resulting in non-profitable projects or projects that were too
expensive for the customer
• How to efficiently serve global customers more
comprehensively from AAC’s Nordic base
• To improve AAC’s ability to compete in the market with better
customer experience
• AAC only known for certain types of services. How to re-
position the company and promote the other services that
AAC does.

3. The Prototype: Customer portal-
For accelerated customer service and increased satisfaction
through a more automated service
• AAC will develop and deploy a Customer Portal which will be
integrated to backend systems to enable acceleration by automating
parts of the process
• Orders can be done directly in the Customer Portal providing
information directly in the ERP, initiating the appropriate workflow
automatically, reduces the need for emails
• Resourcing can be partially automated by providing a group of
resources a list of tasks that they choose. This happens
automatically in the system
• Information on the status and progress of the project as well as
reports for the customer are automatically updated in the Portal
• A channel to promote and market other AAC services than those

4. Customer Portal Architecture & Interfaces

5. Tools used and integrated in the project
XTRF
• ERP solution for T&L and Content businesses enabling
automation
Salesforce
• CRM for common contact database for all businesses
Hubspot
• Marketing automation tool in order to generate leads, manage
campaigns and assist in marketing of services
Learning Cloud
• Allowing the distribution of training material digitally through the
Portal
ClickTools
• Survey tool to gather customer feedback
Vainu
• Business Intelligence tool to provide information on potential
target customers

6. Tools used and integrated in the project
Reporting Tool
• AAC developed own reporting tool to be able to analyse the
financial details of projects. This provides KPI data on whether
projects via the Portal are more efficient than those ordered via
other channels.
Learning Goal Management system
• System that assists in setting, monitoring and reporting on the
learning goals, visible in the Portal
GoogleAds
• Paid marketing to improve visibility via Google Search
Social Media (LinkedIn, Twitter)
• Channels to increase awareness of campaigns and services
Google Analytics
• To analyse the customer behaviour on the Customer Portal

7. CUSTOMER PORTAL: Main functionality for
acceleration that was achieved (1/2)
• Place orders and request quotes
• Provide customers with dashboard on their projects/orders
• Delivery channel for receiving and sending files
• Generate reports on projects and total spend
• Customer can review on-going projects/orders and give
valuable feedback of completed projects/orders
• Fully automatic workflow from customer’s order through
project work tasks to delivery to the customer

8. CUSTOMER PORTAL: Main functionality for
acceleration that was achieved (2/2)
• Self-evaluate language skills, receive automatic language level
tests, needs analysis, course content selection, and training
schedule functions
• Customer can access course material and digital exercises
• Enable cross-marketing of other services
• Receive data on customer behaviour to be able to target certain
users with services of relevance. Provides vital information in
order to develop certain services
• Integration with backend systems

9. Current situation
• Customer Portal went live with features to support the Training
business in April 2015 and Portal with all services went live
1.9.2015
• There are 3492 registered users who are currently using the
portal
• Large factor in winning a large global contract with an
international company
• Onboarding campaigns for target customers using Hubspot +
content marketing practices
• The development continues.......

10. Further Development
The basic functionality in the Customer Portal is working well but it
is in a state of continuous development based on:
• New customer requirements
• New internal requirements to enable more efficiency
Main development item
• Utilizing the Customer Portal as a marketing channel for all AAC
services
• Technical integrations have been completed but the content
and other mechanisms need to be futher developed