The world of retail and service is changing fast. Currys, the UK’s leading omnichannel technology retailer, is demonstrating how a bold vision and innovative technology are transforming customer support, making repairs smarter, faster and more sustainable.

In a recent Vynners Community Masterclass, Grant Halsey, Operations Development Manager, and Rishikesh Askoolum, Senior Project Manager at Currys, shared the remarkable story of launching an industry-first: Vyntelligence Video AI for smarter, faster appliance repairs.

In just six months, Currys moved from a simple idea to full commercial deployment and system integration, leveraging Vyntelligence to give technology a longer life and reduce environmental impact.

A Vision for SmarterService

Currys' primary challenge was simple: accurately diagnosing complex white goods issues when relying on vague customer descriptions. As Grant Halsey explained, products develop faults, and "customers can sometimes be unsure of what that actual issue is, and how to relay that back to a colleague..." This often led to multiple engineer visits and extra time.

The goal was to introduce a simple digital layer for white goods to ensure the engineers had the right information to succeed on the first visit, improving both efficiency and sustainability.

Right Tool, Right Now

To validate their vision, the Currys team collaborated with Vyntelligence to roll out a retail-first video intelligence solution for their team and the customers. The platform focused on key features like:

• AI Summary: Automatically summarising the customer's reported fault from their speech.

• OCR (Optical Character Recognition): Pulling crucial product details like the model and serial number from a photo of the product plate, ensuring the exact part is ordered.

Moving the Needle on Success

For any major operational change, success is ultimately measured by the metrics it moves. The implementation of these Video AI workflows delivered immediate success, directly improving Currys' core business outcomes and moving the needle on the most critical areas of service operations.

"Customers that were doing the video uploads… it was meaningful, and we proved that we could drive benefit, we could improve our first visit fixed rate, and reduce our write-off rate..."

Grant Halsey, Operations Development Manager, Currys

The Power of People

Vyntelligence is all about improving the experience for everyone involved. The Vyn platform provided clear visual diagnostics transforming the engineer's approach, making their jobs easier, more effective, and more successful. It ultimately helped customers to participate in a simple video-capture process paid off with faster, more reliable service outcomes and higher satisfaction.

Achieving a six-month concept-to-deployment timeline was a feat of agile project management. With a highly focused, cross-functional team, Currys tackled the full system integration, weaving the Vyn platform into their existing CRM and repair systems.

"The engineering team... were excited straight off the bat. They knew straight away that this was going to be a game changer for them."

Grant Halsey, Operations Development Manager, Currys

What's Next for Retail?

The journey is far from over. Currys is already exploring new applications, such as integrating video capture for repair collections to get visuals before a product is brought into their central warehouse.

Looking ahead, the ultimate goal is to augment the experience even further. As Currys team concluded, the most exciting frontier is to "make it self-serve for customers," linking video-captured faults to a fix and giving the customer an instant outcome without the need for an engineer to intervene.

With Vyntelligence, Currys now delivers more than just efficiency, it delivers delight: happier customers, empowered engineers, and a greener way to service technology.

Key Takeaways from Currys

• Bold Vision and Purpose – Start with a clear vision that aligns with sustainability & customer-first goals to give the project a strong foundation.

• Agility and Fluidity – Be fluid and plan collaboratively. Execute a rapid pilot and engage in adaptive problem-solving.

• Power of Collaboration – Empower teams and develop trusted partnerships for success.

• Transforming Experiences – Clearly communicate the benefits to customers, engineers and business.

• Leadership that Inspires Innovation – Secure leadership that drives change with passion giving people autonomy and accountability.

Watch the Full Session

https://youtu.be/zCXT3ACDqJQ?si=NHRZPwN1Ie55mWzW

Thinking about joining the service revolution?Book a call with us and find out how Vyntelligence can be the game changer for your business and customers.