Innovation

Jade mentioned, "Smile Serve's sustainability programs revolve around maximizing digital technologies and giving back to the community. With the help of customer recommendations, Smile Serve was able to formulate the following programs that boost their contributions to their social responsibilities.":

1. Waste Management Program – Waste collection, transport, and disposal are appropriately monitored and regulated through recycling and segregating materials. During the installation process, the service engineers ensure they arrive and leave the site as it was. They also ensure that no waste is left behind upon rendering service. Any form of waste generated from the installation process is returned to the headquarters for proper disposal and recycling. This innovation supports the company's mission of treating every Filipino home with utmost care.

2. Paperless Receipts – E-receipts and e-signatures via email are utilized to significantly reduce the use of natural resources without compromising KYC and regulatory compliance. Smile Serve initiated this program to reduce the use of plastic and paper. This innovation supports digitalization as Smile Serve tends to adopt automated processes in order to remove manual and inefficient processes.

3. Route Optimization – Smile Serve owns a system that automatically assigns the ideal routes for the service engineers according to their schedule while minimizing their use of resources. This significantly reduces the company's fuel consumption with consideration of the number of trips taken daily. Furthermore, this aligns with the company's agenda to reduce its carbon footprint.

4. In-house Care Tips and Support – Smile Serve, through its service technicians, provides customers with industry expert knowledge, appliance life hacks, and proper energy-saving strategies upon rendering service and through the company's website. Jade said: "The objective is to provide consumers knowledge on how to properly and responsibly handle appliances and equipment as well as know practical and safe ways to care for them to prolong their lifespan and reduce carbon footprint." Current examples on the website are the effects of having a dirty aircon, how to save appliances when it gets wet, and how to clean the oven using natural ingredients.

5. Smile Serve School – Smile Serve provides free training and coaching to their technicians and employees through this program. This provides them with opportunities to become authorized installers as Smile Serve can offer accreditation. The objective of Smile Serve when they launched this program was to strengthen and support employment and job creation.

Sustainably Serving Every Filipino Home

Inspiration

The inspiration behind the Smile Serve programs indicated above started from the suggestions and recommendations of their customers. For a while now, Smile Serve has included a rating system after every service in order to hear the voices of their customers. Compared to other organizations, Smile Serve considers all the points for improvement as management creates action plans for each. Jade commented, "Through further understanding the root cause of the concerns, Smile Serve noticed that most stem out due to the number of manual systems in the operations. It leads to unforeseen delays and customer dissatisfaction."

Aside from its original goal of bringing the good life to every home, Smile Serve highlights the importance of cleanliness and maintenance, which is a process not focused on most appliances. Customers tend to forget to take care of their appliances. This leads to an unhealthy environment which may cause health issues in the long term. As for the in-house care tips and support, this innovation was initiated because most customers are not knowledgeable about appliances.

Moreover, Jade also highlighted, "The increase in fuel prices has motivated Smile Serve to be more efficient since fuel has also been one of the main contributors to pollution. The route optimization innovation prompted due to the increasing number of trips without considering the traffic in Metro Manila." There was an opportunity not only to lessen gas consumption but also to save the service engineer's time, who needs around 3 to 4 hours to complete a service.

At the height of the pandemic, many Filipinos lost their jobs due to organizations laying off their employees. Since manual labor is needed in Smile Serve operations, they took advantage of the need for these people while strengthening and supporting job creation. It also gives opportunity and a chance for unemployed Filipinos to provide a living for their families and growth for their future careers.

Overall impact

Jade shared her research, "The appliance service industry has been growing the past few years, and the global home services market is expected to grow 18.91% per year until 2025." A big part of the growth will depend on the quality of service and the number of innovations companies introduce.

The short-term impacts of the innovations affect mainly the business and societal sides. There were immediate changes as the innovations were introduced and implemented. Jade said, "For the impact of the innovations on the business organization, these programs led to operational efficiency as investing in digital technologies promotes faster operations and a more seamless back-end system journey." The costs of purchasing paper and gasoline consumption were lessened as these innovations were implemented. As a whole, Smile Serve creates a higher purpose through its mission. More businesses and service centers are looking into partnering with Smile Serve, especially non-government organizations with the same social intentions. To cap this off, Smile Serve generates a more prominent brand name in the industry, as studies show customers tend to support companies that care extensively for the country.

For impacts on society, Smile Serve promotes awareness of innovations in hopes that society slowly adapts and trends into promoting waste management and going paperless. Similar to the effects in business, customers tend to have fewer expenses since the organization uses fewer materials. The prices of services were lowered to allow more families in lower classes availability to their service. The use of digital technologies promotes more accessible and straightforward transactions.

The long-term impact of the innovations is felt in the environment. Air pollution is one of Asia's most significant health emergencies, with the Philippines recording 45 air pollution-related deaths for every 100,000 people. According to the World Health Organization, this is the third-highest in the world in 2018. Since the Philippines is known to be one of the more tropical climates in the world, the effects of heat caused by greenhouse gases have been evident. These innovations promote less waste, less of a carbon footprint, and a cleaner living space.

Business benefit

With these innovations, Smile Serve was able to fulfill its responsibility to its stakeholders and the community by driving business growth. The innovations led to the recognition of its brand name to the community. Jade stated, "In the past, Smile Serve started just to serve as the service arm of its mother store. Now, it has grown its own platform and website to enable customers to book service requests." It has created a name for itself through numerous daily services and has continued serving customers with above-average treatment. VIPs and celebrities now trust and contact Smile Serve to book their cleaning services. Through the years, there have been innovations and changes within the operations but one thing remains, the quality of service to the customer. Therefore, repeat customers reflect the customers' brand loyalty.

Since the innovations were implemented, Smile Serve has grown its sales month over month. Customers continue to praise and appreciate the overall efforts of Smile Serve. Since customers are rising due to the increase in brand recognition through word of mouth, Smile Serve partnered with more service centers to accommodate their clients, especially in other islands outside Metro Manila. Smile Serve is continuously sharing its innovation and operations in hopes of going fully nationwide. In 2022, service centers are now reaching out to Smile Serve for accreditation.

Expenses decreased after implementing automation since both paper materials and gas consumption were minimized. Despite this, the total assets remained similar while the quality remained reputable. Quality audits are done daily to ensure that the technicians perform according to Smile Serve's service standards. These innovations also separate themselves from competitors since most do not offer various services. To end the interview, Jade wanted to underline that "Smile Serve does not only care about the customer during the transaction but even after, as regular checkups have become part of their operations."

Social and environmental benefit

Smile Serve aimed to grow its business in a way that can impact society and the environment. The innovations contribute most to SDG 11 and 12 or sustainable communities and responsible consumption respectively, since waste management programs and paperless receipts contribute to a cleaner environment. As part of the innovations, the company believes in its role is to ensure that all materials are correctly disposed of. Any wastage and other tools that were already used but can still be replaced are returned to headquarters for recycling. Smile Serve believes that recyclable materials can still be used in other forms of services or other parts of the business. In addition, services are usually properly surveyed before any construction or destruction is made. The use of paperless receipts can also promote responsible consumption of paper.

Overall, the innovations promote SDG 3, or good health and well-being. The pandemic has traumatized millions of people, forcing some to stay at home out of fear. The services that Smile Serve provides involve entering people's homes. Therefore, it is essential to keep the environment clean and that protocols are being followed thoroughly. The innovations involve respecting and preventing the spread of dirty environments.

The innovation of Smile Serve School promotes SDG 4 and 8 or quality education and good jobs & economic growth, as it provides an opportunity for skillful workers to become accredited technicians. Not only are they exposed to big manufacturers but are also equipped with proper education, providing them equal opportunity to grow their careers. With the unemployment rate in the Philippines moving to an all-time low of 5%, the innovation can help support families as well as provide labor for the company.

Interview

Rona Jade Santos, Business Development Manager