Elekta’s annual survey seeks customer input to enhance performance

Year to year, Elekta leverages critical insight to increase customer satisfaction and guide product development

In February 2024, Elekta will once again invite customers to take part in its yearly survey. The survey takes only ten minutes and can be completed on a mobile phone, tablet or PC. Elekta disseminates the annual survey results to all its business units, including executive management, boards, business lines, sales and marketing.

The 2023 survey yielded critical, actionable insight for Elekta personnel in software/hardware, service and support, and customer training. In this article, five Elekta employees share their impressions of the importance of the survey and the key findings from the 2023 audit.

Raniel Sarmiento, Vice President and Head of Sales & Marketing, Oncology Software Solutions

At the heart of effective customer relationship management is the ability to respond to customer needs and their voice promptly and efficiently, Sarmiento says.

“When customers share their thoughts and feedback, they’re steering the wheel for us to continue to improve on areas in which we excel and to identify areas for improvement that are important to them.”

“In today’s competitive landscape, customers have a multitude of software options,” he notes. “When customers share their thoughts and feedback, they’re steering the wheel for us to continue to improve on areas in which we excel and to identify areas for improvement that are important to them. Doing both of these things in a timely manner fosters deeper trust, promotes customer retention and increases the number of delighted clients.”

Sarmiento observes that Elekta understands – from the 2023 survey results – the need for a faster cadence of software releases without sacrificing overall experience, usability and stability.

“We continue to focus on these areas with the introduction of Elekta ONE*,” he says. “In parallel, we prioritize an ongoing investment in service and order fulfillment. Capabilities to address the timeliness of new versions of MOSAIQ®, Monaco® and Smart Workflows.”

The 2023 audit also showed that the voice of the customer has been consistent – emphasizing their desire for enhanced user interfaces, as well as better integration and reliability.

“Elekta ONE, for example, demonstrates our attention to personalization and integration, while introducing a streamlined user experience,” Sarmiento explains. “The increased adoption of software-as-a-service [SaaS] provides easy customer access to solutions that boost their productivity and prioritize what matters: providing world-class patient care.”

He adds that as a direct result of Elekta's focus on personalization, integration and a streamlined user experience – as well as software investments – MOSAIQ earned the “Best in KLAS” designation in the 2024 Best in KLAS: Software and Services Report. MOSAIQ ranked first in the Oncology (Radiation) category.

Patricia Makarian, Customer Success Manager, Region South America

Customer Relationship Management is vital because it shows customers that Elekta cares about their needs and consequently they feel appreciated for that.

“It is rewarding to see the Net Promoter Scores growing every year, which shows that customers feel that we really value them and recognize our efforts to make their experience even better over time.”

“It is rewarding to see the Net Promoter Scores growing every year, which shows that customers feel that we really value them and recognize our efforts to make their experience even better over time,” Makarian says. “Having a bond with customers also demonstrates to them that they really have a voice within Elekta as they strive to pursue the best for their patients.”

She adds that every year the local leadership team reads surveys answer-by-answer and establishes an action plan to resolve whatever is reported by customers. The action plan is monitored via weekly follow up meetings.

Important findings from the 2023 survey included pending software upgrades and telephone support service time.

“This didn’t surprise us, as we were aware of these issues and have been working to resolve them,” Makarian says. “Our service team, along with the global team, was able to work on most of our software upgrade backlog. Regarding telephone support, a customer emailed us saying: ‘I would like to register the efficiency and commitment of Carolina Brito, one technical support staff member, both in the opening of emergency calls [machine down], as well as to follow up and make connections of cases in progress. It is very important to be able to count on a person of such efficiency and involvement with our demand.’

In the final analysis, she says, an annual survey is the customer’s “superpower,” as a feedback-driven decision essentially puts the customer at the “center of everything.”

“I’m very hopeful and excited to receive lots of feedback from our customers in 2024, and I feel energized to start working on them to guarantee an even better journey for our customers,” Makarian says.

Liz Raspa, Vice President & Head of Marketing, Region Europe

Customers are at the center of everything Elekta does and in Region Europe, Elekta employees work very closely with them, according to Raspa.

“Nurturing a strong relationship with our customers is key to ensuring they are realizing the full potential of their investment in Elekta solutions and for us to enable customer retention.”

“Nurturing a strong relationship with our customers is key to ensuring they are realizing the full potential of their investment in Elekta solutions and for us to enable customer retention,” she says. “In Region Europe we read each and every comment that is made in the survey. Our customers’ feedback – both positive and the areas for improvement – enables us to understand where our areas of focus need to be.”

To leverage the survey findings on customer support/service, one of the Region Europe clusters ran a program on effective service delivery to ensure Elekta employees have the right soft skills to support customers. Another cluster focused their work on how to better respond to customers’ needs and track their feedback more closely throughout the year.

Fa Kong, Senior Vice President & Operations Director, Region China

Building customer relationships and regularly auditing customer opinions about Elekta products and services are key to improving the company’s after-sales business competitive advantage and to help the business sustainably grow, Kong says.

“The customer survey is the principle and most effective channel for customers to provide input about our products, solutions and service in the clinical arena.”

“The customer survey is the principle and most effective channel for customers to provide input about our products, solutions and service in the clinical arena,” he says. “The results will help solve problems customers encounter and support the development of upgrades to meet their needs.”

The results from the 2023 survey – recording a nearly 14 percent response rate versus seven percent the previous year – indicated that Chinese customers are still expressing a desire for more clinical training.

“This reminds us that supporting our training efforts is always one of the vital elements to help customers make good use of Elekta products,” Kong observes. “This was no surprise in the 2023 survey, and we’ll continue to invest in clinical training and education for Chinese customers to boost their satisfaction.”

He adds that satisfaction increased or remained stable for nearly all touchpoints.

“That means we have assimilated customer feedback and have kept improving,” Kong says.

Satish Ramachandran, Marketing Director, Customer Solutions, Region Americas

Being a partner with the customer in the latter’s patient care mission is crucial, according to Ramachandran.

“To support customers in the best way possible, we need them to tell us what works and what needs work,” he says. “Together, we can bring more hope for everyone dealing with cancer.”

The findings from the previous Elekta survey indicated that customers wanted Elekta to improve response time and communication about upgrades, as well as enhancing access to training, Ramachandran says.

Based on this input, Elekta launched many Region Americas initiatives, which are already showing positive results that Ramachandran hopes to see reflected in the 2024 survey responses. These include:

• A simplified training registration process
• Additional service training modules to enhance the skillset of service engineers
• Improved capabilities to address and resolve support issues with remote engineering services
• Expansion of the field service team to expedite on-site support availability; an approximately 15 percent increase in field service engineer headcount
• Simplified escalation pathways for faster issue resolution
• Reviewed and enhanced region-based spare parts availability and delivery; significant increase in post-pandemic global stock levels
• Multiple software releases throughout 2023 to address functionality and user-friendliness
• Updated site readiness checklist to improve install process
• Introduction of a Monthly Service Report
• Creation of Customer Success Management team to enhance customer experience and value realization
• Introduction of “leave-behind” program to improve communication between Elekta Service and the customer

“All of us at Elekta are focused on ‘Customer First,’ and hearing first-hand from them is so important for us, as we continually improve what we do to increase access to cancer care.”

“All of us at Elekta are focused on ‘Customer First,’ and hearing first-hand from them is so important for us, as we continually improve what we do to increase access to cancer care,” Ramachandran says.

Read further about how other regions and product groups have used the feedback you’ve provided.

*Elekta ONE is comprised of multiple Elekta solutions, some of which may not yet be available in all markets.

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