DPG Media Increases Employee Satisfaction Thanks to Premium Plus

The Facility department of DPG Media relies on Zendesk to ensure an optimal (internal) customer experience for all employees. This has led to increased employee satisfaction and enhanced efficiency within the support team. Additionally, they have gained better insights into what is needed for further improvement. The success of this initiative led the customer support department to also adopt this platform for handling customer inquiries and issues.

DPG Media is the largest media company in Belgium and part of the DPG Media Group, which is also active in Denmark and the Netherlands. Among its many media brands are VTM, Het Laatste Nieuws, Qmusic, Tweakers.net, and even the mobile operator Mobile Vikings. Together, they provide information, entertainment, and connectivity for millions of Belgians.

The Challenge

A few years ago, the Facility department at DPG Media was using outdated methods to handle employee requests and complaints, says Team Leader Stijn Van den Acker:

Requests came in via email, and in various inboxes, they were tagged with a coloured flag to organise and distribute them. Each facility employee was responsible for a specific colour. This method did distribute the work, but there was no follow-up or guidance on response times or resolution of issues. We needed a solution to optimise communication flows, improve service efficiency, and – last but not least – increase internal customer satisfaction, meaning all DPG Media employees.

The Solution

DPG Media chose the Zendesk platform, combined with services from Premium Plus. “The biggest advantage of the Zendesk platform is its ease of use, both for the end-user and the administrator. We regularly find opportunities to improve the user interface, and we can usually handle these ourselves without hiring an army of expensive experts,” says Van den Acker. “Zendesk itself also continues to seek innovation, regularly adding new functionalities to the platform. This means our employees receive an increasingly better internal customer experience.”

In this ongoing software optimisation, Zendesk partner Premium Plus plays a significant role, Van den Acker emphasises: “Thomas, our contact at Premium Plus, knows our company inside and out and is also a technical Zendesk expert. He can proactively suggest improvements at any time, allowing us to use the software even more effectively, often without long upgrade processes or heavy investments.”

Results

Initially, a strong focus was placed on creating an extensive FAQ section, where all answers to frequently asked questions are gathered. This section is consulted daily and receives an average of 4,000 views per month. Van den Acker states, “Our employees at DPG Media know how valuable these pages are as a source of information. Typical questions like ‘How do I book a meeting?’, ‘What is the Wi-Fi code?’, or ‘Where can I park my car during my vacation?’ are all answered on our FAQ pages. This allows the facility employees to focus on more complex issues.”

Handling and following up on requests and problems is also much smarter and more user-friendly, thanks in part to the workflow that Premium Plus set up with Zendesk, Van den Acker explains: “For example, if a colleague reports a broken door handle in the system, Zendesk automatically assigns it to our maintenance colleague and schedules an appointment in their calendar. For a defective air conditioner, the software contacts the external technician. Afterward, we can see exactly how much time elapsed between the request and the repair, and – thanks to the integration with the time registration system – the correct cost centre is effortlessly assigned. And of course, the person who reported the issue receives a notification that it has been resolved. In some cases, this is even done automatically, saving a lot of manual work and valuable time.”

The new platform has also revolutionised reporting, says Van den Acker: “Thanks to the reports presented at quarterly meetings, we have a perfect view of our internal SLAs. Along the way, we’ve also made discoveries that have led to huge efficiency gains. For example, our warehouse received a lot of personal packages for our employees. A report showed that one of our warehouse staff spent half of their workday scanning these packages. So, we launched an app that automates this process. This has made us much more cost-efficient, and employees no longer rely on the warehouse to receive their packages. We call that a win-win situation.”

And the Coffee?

WhatsApp Image 2019-05-06 at 11.01.50 QR code koffie toestel

To understand how important employee experience is for DPG Media, and how Premium Plus and Zendesk contribute to this, Stijn Van den Acker shares the story of the coffee machines: “At DPG Media, as in any company, coffee is an important perk. A broken coffee machine causes some annoyance, but not enough to immediately send an email about it. That email is only sent when the frustration becomes too much. Now, we’ve ensured that a faulty machine can be reported instantly by scanning a QR code with their smartphone. After selecting the correct defect category, the report is immediately sent to the appropriate partner, so it gets fixed much faster. Meanwhile, it is neatly linked to the correct assets and contracts in the back office, giving us a clear overview of the number and types of issues reported over time. You wouldn’t believe how much this contributes to greater employee satisfaction,” Van den Acker smiles.

Premium Plus Customer Since

2000

Employee Satisfaction

0 %

Employees

Tickets/Month

Everyone Happy

Since the Facility department at DPG Media adopted Zendesk and partnered with Premium Plus, the department has become much more efficient. With a team of just four people, they can handle a flow of 1,500 tickets per month, thanks to efficient and automated processing and assignment to the right person. “And the employees, our internal customers, are enthusiastic too. Not just about the efficiency, but also about the personalised and human approach that this system makes possible,” adds Van den Acker. “For us, it’s important that everything is streamlined in a system. But we don’t want our customers to feel like they’re talking to a ticketing system. So, we don’t communicate ‘ticket numbers,’ the emails have a well-designed layout, and we have a set of standard responses that automatically wish a pleasant weekend on Fridays. If a more relaxed tone is appropriate, we can easily add a ‘gif’ too. This is important in the context of hospitality and experience.” This explains the very high employee satisfaction survey result of 92%.

The success of this project has not gone unnoticed within DPG Media. The external customer service for 12 of DPG Media’s media brands has now also adopted Zendesk. The finance department is also using this platform and Premium Plus’ services.

All these smoother-running services contribute to greater employee well-being in the office. “This fits with the mission we’ve set as a facility management department,” concludes Van den Acker: “In the future, you’ll only come to the office if it offers added value. Office visits will become an experience, and we need to ensure that experience is optimal. That’s why we also want to make our ticketing system as friendly as possible, so that even reporting a problem becomes a positive experience. Thanks to Zendesk and Premium Plus, we are largely succeeding in this.”

In 2024, Stijn Van den Acker won the Facility Manager of the Year Award from the Facility Federation.

Tools & Guidance

Advice and management of necessary Zendesk licenses (Zendesk Support – Zendesk Guide – Zendesk Explore)
Setup & implementation of Zendesk tools
Staffing
On-site training and advice
Aligning the Help Center and associated email templates with the corporate style
Advice on the best integrations with solutions from various Zendesk partners
Development of middleware integrations and custom Zendesk applications
Back-end integrations with existing CRM/ERP tools
Data migration