Ardo culture
The power of internationalization: how the Ardo Customer Excellence team aims to elevate customer experience all over the world
10 July 2024
With firm roots in Ardooie, Belgium, and branches all over the world – to supply its ever-growing global market with high quality fresh frozen vegetables, herbs and fruits, Ardo has expanded its operations accordingly. As customers prefer to be served in their own language, preferably by someone with local expertise, Ardo's Customer Excellence team has also developed to serve these different markets. But how do you maintain uniformity in a team consisting of different nationalities? And how do you ensure smooth cooperation between all branches? Our Customer Excellence team explains.
What does the Customer Excellence team do?
The Customer Excellence team has two main areas of expertise: customer service and sales support. The Customer Service Officers ensure the smooth operation of the order-to-cash flow, striving to maintain the highest possible service level for the customer.
Group Sales Support is a separate branch within the team, created to function as a center of expertise. Ardo’s Sales Support Officers ensure correct customer data and prices in our ERP system, manage product portfolios and respond to reporting requests, all in strong collaboration with the Key Account Managers.
As we want to serve our customers in their local language, most of our teams are located in close proximity to our factories on one hand and our customers on the other. For that, we rely on our international network of customer service and sales support teams that cooperate with each other.
How does Ardo foster collaboration between the teams?
Inge Struye, Team Lead Sales Support, explains. “When new sales support colleagues are hired, they first visit the headquarters in Ardooie to personally meet the people with whom they will have the most contact. They receive extensive first hand training from the people in the field, so they are able to put a face on the names of the colleagues they meet. Next to mail communication, ad hoc calls and occasional visits, we have fixed monthly meetings to discuss the broader Customer Excellence topics.”
For me personally, it’s enriching to be able to spar with the team leads of other sales organizations. Remaining in touch on a frequent basis keeps the lines of communication open, and it helps foster a sense of community and belonging within our global team.
How do we keep uniformity within the team?
With a more global approach towards our operations, we want to bring more uniformity and transparency in how we deliver our service. Annelies Colpaert, Customer Excellence Manager based in our Belgian headquarters and responsible for all international teams, explains. “We are standardizing specific workflows, roles and responsibilities in order to increase efficiency. We also share our best practices within the group.”
“The differences mainly exist in the first place because we are still in the middle of the process of harmonizing and improving our business,” Patricia Van Schendel-Roggeveen, Customer Excellence Teamlead & Business Process Owner order-to-cash based in Zundert (NL), adds. “By working with templates, we make progress every day towards speaking one Ardo language, with the goal to serve our customers in an excellent way.”
However, there are still differences in the ways different teams work, which is something that is appreciated by the teams themselves.
Of course there are still differences between the teams, but that makes our job more interesting, because we can learn from each other. I have given training to both new employees in Ardooie and newcomers in the other Ardo sites, and have met some very nice international colleagues as a result. Although they may be far away, they now feel a bit closer.
Edward Corcoran, our Customer Service Excellence Teamlead based in Ratingen, Germany, agrees. “There is a real sense of ‘a global Customer Excellence team’, which I experience strongly in the cross-collaboration between the teams: whether it's covering for a colleague, providing support or advice, working together on projects... Recently, we encountered a few issues, but fortunately our colleagues in Belgium and the Netherlands provided great support to help address these challenges. For me, this was a great example of global collaboration.
I think it is important to recognize that ‘the same way of working’ may not be completely possible due to cultural nuances and different customer needs in each country. As a result, there will always be certain aspects that cannot be fully standardized across all regions.” But there’s a certain strength to that, according to Edward.
What stands out for me is that people from different cultures and countries think differently – in a very positive way – and therefore come up with alternative suggestions and ideas that exceed the creative norm, allowing your business to be more adaptive and innovative.
Annelies adds: “Working with reporting lines within the group does not mean that all local initiatives or best practices are replaced. On the contrary: we use those best practices as an example across our different countries.”
What is the strength of working together with a global team?
The rich diversity of colleagues is appreciated by many, according to Inge. “One of the most exciting aspects of working in the international environment of Ardo is encountering the rich diversity of colleagues, customers and cultures. It not only offers a tremendous amount of different perspectives and ideas, it’s also a never-ending source of inspiration and growth. The ultimate strength of working together within a global team is the ability to combine diverse perspectives to create innovative solutions. By embracing different backgrounds, experiences and cultures, we not only build a stronger company, but also reinforce relationships between colleagues and partners all over the world.”
Or as Patricia puts it, ‘none of us is as smart as all of us’. “There is an immense willingness and ability to support each other abroad, learn from each other and share knowledge. Ardo’s Customer Excellence team is a great community of smart, eager, and supporting team members.”
If you also enjoy working in an environment that stimulates growth and embraces diversity, be sure to take a look at our numerous job opportunities in all our different branches.
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Ardo culture