Harlequin is a leading manufacturer of innovative polyethylene storage tanks and systems. One of the fastest growing manufacturing companies in Northern Ireland where it is headquartered, the company has a 40-year heritage and exports to over 10 countries internationally.
With a team of over 110 employees committed to doing the best for their customers, Harlequin Manufacturing has developed a diverse and innovative product range. One of the company’s core values is to continually question and, if there is a better way to do something, to be willing to change and that is borne out in one of its most recent innovations – the new Harlequin Tank Centre app.
Born out of a desire to engage more with their installers, the app also makes their life easier by giving easy access to product information, regulations, installation specifications and warranty registration.
Why did you decide to launch the app?
Looking at what oil tank manufacturers offer through their apps, we realised that our only direct interaction with installers, other than phone calls to our office, was through engagement with the local area sales managers. It became clear that we needed to develop something that improved the level of interaction and gave them instant and easy access to all the relevant information required for the successful completion of their job and staying connected with us.
It also brings the opportunity for insight from those involved in installing the tanks.
It’s about being even more customer- focused and moving with the times to take advantage of technology to be closer to our installers.
What are you hoping the app will provide?
Many of our installers are not solely tank installers; they’re also heating engineers. With a gas boiler, they know the regulations because it’s something they’re doing day in, day out. When it comes to an oil tank, it’s much more infrequent so there are questions on regulations, or the size of the base needed.
We developed the app so that this information is readily available.
They can just log onto the app via the phone, and everything is there without them needing to call our team for the right information.
You obviously had a clear idea of what you wanted so how long did it take to develop?
We knew what we wanted to achieve with it but finding the right format was the key. After doing intensive research, we decided to go with a web-based app. It took us around five months to develop and launch the app.
We launched, initially, by meeting with our installers face-to-face so that we could explain why we were doing this, show them how it worked and invite them to use it.
What are the key features of the app?
The main purpose of the mobile app is to provide relevant product information and make it easy for the installer to register the warranty while on site.
Key benefits include:
- Product information at the click of a button
- Quick Access to technical specifications including base sizes
- Ability to register product warranty while on site
The app has 2 main parts to it – product range and warranty registration as well as FAQs and the ability to contact us.
Product range
We have our standard domestic range of Bunded Oil Tanks up to 3500 litres, Diamond Tanks and Underground Oil Tanks listed on the app. You can click on any product to view the relevant information including dimensions, capacity, weight, base sizes, product features and videos. You can also download the specification sheet for future reference or share with your customers. If a specific product is of interest and you’d like to place an enquiry, you can do so via the app and someone from our team will get in touch with you.
Warranty registration
Warranty registration was never this easy.
You can register your warranty via the app as well. All you do is go to the warranty tab, click on register warranty which takes you to our warranty registration portal where you can register it while on site. It won’t take you more than 3 minutes.
By the time an installer has finished a job, filled in all the customer paperwork it’s easy to forget the warranty registration so that became a key component of the of the app. Once the installer completes his job, he can register the warranty on the phone while on site, so it’s all done in one go.
Would you say the app is still evolving?
Absolutely. The app is constantly evolving. Once the product information and warranty registration parts of the app were up and running, we added concrete base size required for varied sizes of the tank, videos of the tanks, merchandise etc…
