It is high time for the Artificial Intelligence to take care of your cleaning

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to take care of your cleaning? This may sound like science fiction but actually, this is exactly what we are doing at the moment at SPIC AND SPAN. One day, we have just hit on an idea to apply this cutting-edge technology in such a traditional industry as cleaning. Whatever we do at SPIC AND SPAN., we do it for our clients. After all, by implementing AI we shoot for better customer experience.

How it all started?

A year ago, SPIC AND SPAN. was a small, local platform. Clients could book cleaning services only in the Berlin area. Thanks to our innovative approach and excellent quality we were able to grow at a very quick pace. Cleaning appointments could have been soon booked in most bigger German cities. In the meantime, we have also managed to sign up license agreements with partners outside Germany (Poland, the USA) and replicate our successful business model overseas.

SPIC AND SPAN. Co-Founders could not allow the customer service and cleaning quality to deteriorate because of the expansion. This is why the decision has been made to build an in-house, centralized system that would ensure sustainable growth and smooth operations. Once the new system was up and running, we quickly realized that we needed a reliable technology to remain on the top of things while scaling and immediately thought of AI.

Artificial Intelligence in a nutshell

Artificial Intelligence, also known as Machine Intelligence, is the technology which enables machines to function like a human brain or at least mock its work. By doing so, a computer program or a machine is able to think and learn. It is about making computers smart, capable of problem-solving. Artificial Intelligence has already "outsmarted" human brains in many disciplines.

Nowadays, the main objective is to create systems or programs that are able to think logically, solve problems and learn. Artificial Intelligence may be used in many different fields. In most cases, the desired outcome of implementing AI is to get rid of or reduce the "human error" and make e.g. business processes more efficient.

How can AI actually improve cleaning experience at SPIC AND SPAN.?

AI helps to reduce the "human error" and make processes (e.g. from an operational perspective) more efficient. Our DevOps guys spotted this opportunity to improve right away. We decided to implement in-house AI to make our business more efficient and thus enhance services for our clients. In fact, at the end of the day, SPIC AND SPAN. clients are the ones who benefit the most from these cutting-edge solutions.

AI makes it possible to assign a perfect team to a client within 60 seconds. On the one hand, AI takes into account preferences selected by the client in an online form, on the other hand, it weights up the team's rating, its current location and order history.

Where do we go next?

Once the matching is fully automized we would like to move forward to continuously improve the customer experience. The new technology gives us numerous opportunities to do so. We are currently developing a new system which is believed to automize the communication with cleaning associates, invoicing process and payments. This should be completed by the end of 2017. As far as AI is concerned, our milestones for 2018 are clear. We would like to add new functionalities such as automatic detection of recurring customers and virtual assistance in choosing the right cleaning options based on the client's needs (e.g. cleaning package, number of cleaning associates, exact scope, etc.).

Karl Müller

Acknowledgments:

• "Featured photo": by Ryan McGuire
• "Photo no.1: a property of A&K Ventures
• "Picture no. 2: by Mateusz Dach
• "Photo no. 3: by Wilfred Iven