Guardian Protection Eliminates Service Calls with Virtual Appointments

The Challenge: Costly Service Calls and Customer Inconvenience

As one of the nation's largest and most highly regarded security companies, Guardian Protection is committed to keeping customers safe and protected. However, their traditional service model for resolving security system issues created significant challenges:

• Unnecessary Truck Rolls: Many customer issues that seemed to require an on-site technician visit could actually be resolved remotely, but phone-based troubleshooting lacked the visual context needed to diagnose and fix problems accurately.
• Customer Inconvenience: Customers had to take time off work and schedule service appointments, often waiting days for a technician to arrive for issues that could be simple fixes.
• Service Call Costs: Both Guardian Protection and customers bore the expense of on-site service visits, even for problems that didn't require a physical presence.
• Communication Barriers: Phone-based troubleshooting relied on customers describing complex security system components and issues verbally, leading to miscommunication and extended resolution times
• Technician Resource Constraints: Field technicians spent valuable time traveling to service calls for simple issues, making them less available for complex installations and repairs that truly required on-site expertise.

Guardian Protection needed a solution that would enable their customer care agents to visually assess security systems remotely, guide customers through troubleshooting, and reserve truck rolls for situations where an on-site presence was genuinely necessary. 

The Solution: One-Click Virtual Appointments

Guardian Protection selected Blitzz Concierge—an app-free mobile video platform—to launch Virtual Appointments, a new service offering for the majority of its 250,000+ residential customers. 

Key features utilized by Guardian Protection:

1. App-Free Access: A Guardian customer care agent sends a link via SMS text message to the customer. When the customer clicks the link, the agent instantly gains a secure, real-time view through the customer's smartphone camera—no need to download or sign into third-party apps like Zoom or Teams.
2. Visual System Assessment: Agents can immediately see the security system and its components, enabling accurate remote diagnosis without relying on verbal descriptions from customers who may not be familiar with technical terminology.
3. Augmented Reality (AR) Collaboration: Both the agent and customer can use AR features to draw, highlight, and annotate directly on the live video stream in real-time, making it easy to identify specific components, point out issue-related areas, and guide troubleshooting steps.
4. Guided Self-Installation: Agents can walk customers through self-installing previously shipped parts, such as replacement batteries, using live video guidance to ensure successful installation and system restoration. 
5. Convenient Scheduling: Virtual Appointments are scheduled at times convenient for customers, eliminating the need to take time off work or wait at home for a technician.

The implementation process was seamless: Guardian Protection launched Virtual Appointments to customers in September 2023, with agents and customers able to connect easily via smartphone without any app downloads or complex setup.

Guardian Protection's work is extremely important as they are responsible for keeping their customers safe and protected. With our live, app-free video support, they can simplify security system maintenance and troubleshooting, to the delight of their customers.

— Rama Sreenivasan, Founder and CEO of Blitzz

The Results: Higher Resolution Rates and Improved Customer Satisfaction

By leveraging Blitzz Concierge for Virtual Appointments, Guardian Protection transformed its customer service approach, leading to measurable improvements in efficiency, cost savings, and customer experience:

• Exceptional Resolution Rates: 93% of customer issues are successfully resolved through Virtual Appointments, eliminating the need for on-site service calls in the vast majority of cases.
• Faster Service: Virtual Appointments average just 24 minutes in length—significantly faster than scheduling and conducting traditional on-site service visits that could take days to arrange. 
• Customer Convenience: Customers no longer need to take time off work or wait at home for technician visits, and many avoid the cost of on-site service calls entirely.
• Optimized Technician Deployment: Field technicians can now focus on complex installations and repairs where their on-site expertise is truly needed, rather than spending time on simple issues that can be resolved remotely.
• Strong Adoption: Guardian Protection exceeded its initial goals for customer acceptance of the Virtual Appointment option, demonstrating high satisfaction with the service.
• Enhanced Customer Engagement: The visual aspect of Virtual Appointments helps customers become more familiar with their security systems, while agents can deliver a more personal and engaging service experience.

Key Success Metrics

Conclusion

By integrating Blitzz Concierge into its customer support operations, Guardian Protection eliminated the time and cost barriers associated with traditional on-site service calls. Customer care agents can now see exactly what customers see in their homes, enabling instant, accurate assistance that resolves 93% of issues remotely in an average of just 24 minutes. 

This transformation has allowed Guardian Protection to strengthen its customer relationships, reduce operational costs, optimize technician deployment, and uphold its 70+ year legacy of exceptional customer care. Virtual Appointments have become an essential tool in Guardian Protection's mission to keep customers safe and protected while delivering outstanding service, convenience, and efficiency.