A multinational tobacco company was facing increasing fragmentation in its warranty management model for device-related services. In the Portuguese pilot market, customer journeys lacked consistency, responsibilities were unclear, KPIs were poorly structured, and replacement costs remained only partially visible. This situation weakened both customer experience and the overall economic sustainability of the model.
The intervention focused on designing and structuring a Warranty Services Management Framework centered on execution, governance, and customer experience. The objective was not limited to improving a single market, but to establish a scalable operating model capable of standardizing practices, increasing management discipline, and reducing operational inefficiencies at a regional level.
Context
The client aimed to evolve its after-sales service and warranty management model within a more demanding environment, characterized by rising customer expectations, increasing operational complexity, and stronger cost control requirements. Portugal was selected as a pilot market to identify gaps, test a new governance framework, and prepare for regional scaling.
- Pilot market: Portugal
- Multi-channel environment: retail, contact center, digital, and partners
- Business challenge: simultaneous improvement of customer experience, governance, and cost control
- Strategic ambition: build a global warranty management framework scalable at regional and international levels
Diagnosis
The diagnostic highlighted an insufficiently structured warranty service model. Customer experience remained reactive and poorly managed across the full journey. Governance operated mainly in a tactical mode, with limited centralized ownership, few structured review routines, and inconsistent KPI definitions. At the same time, cost and replacement management suffered from weak classification, insufficient controls, and incomplete feedback loops.
- Lack of centralized ownership across the warranty journey
- Reactive governance focused on issue resolution rather than structural improvement
- Incomplete and biased voice-of-customer tracking, poorly linked to root causes
- Misalignment on metrics, definitions, and reporting mechanisms
- Insufficiently framed replacement decisions generating avoidable costs
- Limited visibility on actual costs, replacement drivers, and supplier performance
Key indicators before intervention:
- Unstable NPS results with partially biased survey methodology
- First Contact Resolution below expected operational potential
- High stock-out incidents on replacement devices
- Limited ability to connect customer performance, warranty costs, and operational decisions
Approach
The intervention focused on designing a global, structured, and execution-oriented warranty management framework. The work was built around five pillars: strategy, execution, governance, performance management, and compliance. The objective was to institutionalize management routines, clarify roles, strengthen KPI reliability, and transform warranty services into a true managerial capability rather than a transactional function.
- Design of a global Warranty Services Management Framework with scalable deployment logic
- Implementation of multi-level governance with weekly, monthly, and quarterly routines
- Definition of a standardized KPI framework linking customer experience, processes, costs, and operational fundamentals
- Redesign of CX tracking with improved verbatim classification and survey calibration
- Strengthening of replacement controls, reason codes, and validation loops
- Improvement of swap stock management and cross-functional coordination
- Formalization of a target operating model balancing global discipline and local adaptation
Portugal served as a validation ground. The framework demonstrated that tangible improvements could be achieved early, even before full SOP deployment at scale.
Results
| KPI | Before | After | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand NPS | 2024 Baseline | +10.5 pts | Significant improvement |
| First Contact Resolution | 2024 Baseline | +5 pts | Faster and more effective resolution |
| Out-of-Stock Incidents | 122 stores | 10 stores | -92% |
| Governance cadence | Ad hoc | Structured rhythm | Improved coordination and control |
Beyond the initial gains in the pilot market, the main outcome was the creation of a more robust operating model. The client gained visibility, management discipline, and scalability. Warranty services evolved from fragmented practices into a structured and manageable function aligned with the standards of an international organization.
Key Insights
- Warranty service performance depends more on governance quality than isolated local efforts
- Without standardized metrics, comparison, accountability, and cost control remain limited
- Customer voice only creates value when structured, codified, and integrated into decision routines
- Replacement and stock management are direct levers for cost control and experience protection
- A well-used pilot market can accelerate regional transformation if a scalable model is formalized quickly