Bonnier Solutions Focuses on Customer Service

When Bonnier Solutions was formed in late 2009/early 2010, it was based on a clear need to simplify and expedite systems within Bonnier companies in the Nordic countries - payroll and finance in particular, where there were 60 different systems among 40 different finance and payroll departments. Bonnier Solutions pulls together administrative functions under one roof, with staff from throughout Bonnier and a well-defined process for migrating functions from the companies to Bonnier Solutions.

"We started with the first finance and administrative functions in May 2010," says Pia Gyllvik, project manager who has worked with the migration.  Approximately 1/3 of the planned migration is done, with a goal of mid-2012 for completion. The number of employees continues to grow as new companies migrate - the current number is 84.

For Bonnier Solutions' customers, migrating services can be a scary prospect, but the reality shouldn't be. Eva Stoppel, chief financial officer for Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, was involved when the newspaper migrated its financial and accounting and credit control to Bonnier Solutions. She had worked earlier with a smaller shared service center, Bonnier Office, which was a precursor to Bonnier Solutions.

"Despite our previous experience with a shared service center, there were some complications and a few problems in the beginning, mostly in changing to a new financial system," says Stoppel. "But now that we've gone through a number of end-of-month reports, on the whole it works well. We have a great customer contact, Elisabet Nord, and our relationship with her is incredibly important."

Stoppel's advice to others who will be migrating is not to underestimate the time it will take and to start early in figuring out which tasks will be migrated. "The biggest challenge is understanding the actual job functions you're migrating, then you can decide how your own organization should look," says Stoppel. "The best with Bonnier Solutions is that you get support for your business and you have the opportunity to focus on analysis."

In order to offer the best support, Bonnier Solutions is also constantly working at improving how it provides services and migrations. "We have been working hard building up our competence so that each migration is better than the previous one," says Pia Gyllvik. "That includes competence in the new financial system Agresso, in which we initially had no direct knowledge."

An important key to improved service is the establishment of the new Service Management and Development department, which started up Feb. 1. "The new department is part of our aim to focus more on customer contact," says Gyllvik. "We're looking at how we meet with customers, how often, when, etc. And starting March 1, we'll have a dedicated customer support function with staff members working solely with customer support - Swedish-speaking, English-speaking, Danish-speaking and Finnish-speaking. They will be the first line of support, providing customers with the help they need and taking it to a next level directly to the specific service area team if needed."

Along with the specialized customer service staff, the other approximately 30 Bonnier Solutions employees who work with Nordic customers have taken part in a special course, "Customers in the Nordics" specifically to address cultural issues.

"The class looks at the concept of culture, behavior and communication in the various Nordic cultures - Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland - addressing questions like what unites us? What separates us?" says Eva Ritsinger, HR manager at Bonnier Solutions. "The goal is to build a close and open relationship with our customers despite the geographic distance. Understanding different conditions and expectations as well as cultural differences and similarities is key to success. The seminar is one way of preparing our staff who will be working across national boundaries."

The seminar was held Feb. 16 and was led by Eva Gyllensvaan, behavioral scientist and former head of Human Relations Training at the SAS Flight Academy.

The next big Nordic step for Bonnier Solutions will be bringing in Bonnier Publications, which includes all four Nordic countries.