"We want to spread the word of ‘wow’," said Maria Vickholm, Ensto Pro specialist. "We want each training session to be unique for our customers."
Ensto’s tool for spreading the word of ‘wow’ is EnstoPro, a training academy with a mission to ensure two-way communication between Ensto and its customers. Conducted in over a dozen languages, Ensto Pro is a local, customised training effort to get to know the customer and ensure products are installed in the right way.
"Each manufacturer’s products are installed differently," said Vickholm. "We want to train our customers to minimise or erase human mistakes and at the same time, we want to get real-time feedback."
Training is not something new for Ensto, of course. "We’ve trained for decades," said Vickholm. "However, our trainings have been gradually systemised to ensure quality and a uniform approach in all markets for all our clients."
Ensto Pro Training Academy contains training sessions from practical installations to lectures on line design and standard requirements.
"We see to it that our own people are professionals in their area," Vickholm added. "Still, in order to serve our clients properly, we need to listen to them – to hear what they need, what challenges they face, and what comments they have for us. This way we both learn."
Case study: Poland
A programme for network designers carried out in February 2013, in Baranowo, Poland, is an example of how Ensto reaches out to get to know its customer.
Energobud’s Paweł Linkowski, a product manager responsible for connecting new facilities to low-voltage lines, was one participant. His employer, Energobud, is wholly owned by ENEA, a leading energy supplier in Poland. Linkowski says Energobud delivers a variety of services to ENEA.
"If something’s broken, they call us," he said. "If they need something built or designed, they call us. We operate their systems."
What Linkowski most valued was EnstoPro training fordesigners where one of the topics was Ensto Designer Suite software, a product he uses to create specifications for overhead lines. "We use mainly overhead lines in Poland, the PAS, EXCEL, and AXCES systems. Ensto updated and improved the program last year. Now slack calculations are much easier, and now we can represent it in graphic form."
Customer ideas
But in addition to the technical exchange, Linkowski says of equal value was the opportunity to talk with other designers, as well as suggest product improvements to Ensto. "In Poland right now it’s popular to install multiple lines. If Ensto would develop a program for this it would be nice."
Ensto’s Maria Vickholm says all product suggestions are taken seriously. "We get lots of ideas for product development," she said. "A recent example is a client and product manager discussing rural area distribution cabinet and how it should be done. It took a month and we had a new prototype for them. And then at the Jyväskylä exhibition in Finland we had a client order 200 of them. The idea was a customer idea."
Saving your energy
In Ensto Pro trainings, common aims are shared and challenges solved through open discussion and cooperation. This results in mutual success and is the basis of a true partnership. "We truly want to save energy – and the time and money of the customer," said Vickholm. "No double work, no double time."