Customer Care Research

The Nair Group recently did an extensive research on continuous improvement programs to help organizations improve service and support operations within their contact centers. It used a rigorous process to measure the drivers for continuous improvement for these leading organizations. A couple of notable trends were highlighted and became evident as they found that situations for the majority of service operations had worsened within the past year. Staff reductions, deeper budget cuts and declining service revenues have placed a tremendous pressure on organizations to do more with fewer resources. In this economic turmoil and uncertainty, they were expected to maintain service levels and increase shareholder expectations.

However, through this period customer satisfaction rates held steady which is a testament to the dedication and commitment of the service teams and their management which supported them.  There was a cautionary note which should be also mentioned as a corollary to this phenomenon, which was the fatigue and burnout amongst the teams. The results also showed that in the coming year, most organizations interviewed were beginning to address these factors by increasing staffing levels and invest in training for their staff. There would also be additional investment on new technology to continue to help organizations become more efficient and deliver high quality levels of service to their customer base.

200 Executives from around the world responded to the survey which was broken down into 5 categories based on their responses. Participants answered questions about the impact of the recent financial crisis on their environment as a whole and on specific areas such as service revenues, staff morale, performance and customer satisfaction. They were also asked to comment on their outlook for 2012 and beyond.

Key Findings:

Most respondents are likely involved in managing the financial aspects of their service operations and were therefore in a good position to comment on the impact of the downturn on their service business. The cumulative effects of all of these drastic measures taken by organizations shown below had a devastating impact on morale and ultimately the quality of service and support to their customers.

·         70% of the respondents felt that the recent downturn in the US and crisis in Europe had a moderate to significant impact while 28% experienced minimal impact.

·         Staffing levels were impacted the most at 79% and this was due to forced reduction in headcount and not replacing staff lost due to downsizing.

·         68% included furlough programs and a freeze on merit increases while 67% reported that business travel was curtailed.

·         57% reported that investment in service technologies were halted or eliminated altogether.

Out of 48% reporting no change to the customer satisfaction ratings, 27% stated that they actually improved while 18% reported a decline or degradation in their customer satisfaction levels.

As a result, 45% of the respondents see an increase in spending to the overall operating budget for 2012 while 30% expect it to remain the same while 25% expect to anticipate a further decrease in spending which indicates that their market has yet to experience signs of recovery.

Optimizing processes (75%), increasing the technical expertise of staff (60%), implement knowledge management (54%) , improving product quality (47%) and to increase the adoption of existing online services (47%) were the top 5 initiatives where these respondents will be investing their efforts in 2012.

They were also provided insight and commentary on 5 themes:

a)      Execution and Strategy – review approach and strategy for survival in the new economy

b)      Increased Efficiency – focus on streamlining processes and driving high performance

c)      Customer Focus – continue to build lasting customer relationship and loyalty

d)      Resource Management and Development – optimize resources effectively

e)      Survival – develop contingency plans, review and adjust plan accordingly

New Year Wishes

An unprecedented amount of information flows through organizations every day. But to what effect? A recent study by The Nair Consulting Group shows that that most contact center managers have little or no confidence with the information they rely on to assist them in critical decision making especially in a dynamic environment like a contact center. Without the right approach or strategic thinking coupled with precise business intelligence, most of these managers struggle to turn all that noise, sound and superfluous information into sound decisions. Using Lean Six Sigma tools and a empowered leadership team that is driven by the voice of the customer, an organization can access the right information within a reasonable amount of time to make wise decisions that impact the overall customer experience. Lean Six Sigma has helped many organizations within manufacturing over the last two decades and is making significant strides in the past few years within services primarily contact centers which rely on accurate and meaningful data. The key topics of the current business environment is about mitigating risk, making better decisions in real-time faster and most importantly increasing market share in a global marketplace. It is crucial for managers to harness the power of this unique and powerful philosophy of continuous improvement in which the voice of the employee and the customer is not muted. As we head into the next decade and into the new year, there is a lot of hope for technology and innovative solutions within the realm of the contact center environment. Lean Six Sigma is one of the critical solutions that can assist many managers on their way to innovative solutions. Good luck and happy new year!

Coaching and Leading LEAN teams...

There is a growing concern these days in contact centers about sustaining quality improvements after they are made. How to maintain the gains from those improvements and build on them is the burning question for many organizations and their leaders. The fact that has been overlooked by many leaders is that while facilitators and team supervisors are invaluable resources for introducing and implementing tools, training and deployment projects, it is the role of managers and executives to create an environment in which employees can and will take responsibility for the practices, behaviors and thinking that achieve, sustain and build on improvements made. Drawing on observations, practices and values from high performance organizations, a good project leader should be able to examine the role of managers and executives in the development of people and operations capable of a successful performance. This where where LEAN leaders are created in the organization. 

Lean change agents generally have to implement improvements through the work of people they don’t manage. They have responsibility but little authority to accomplish their goals. Getting people to complete the tasks they assign or meet the schedules they set requires constant attention, encouragement, cajoling, and often taking the lead on the activities themselves. There is a better way. Switch from trying to be the person out front leading the charge to being someone with knowledge and experience who’s by the side of implementers coaching when needed. In other words try the "sensei" approach to coaching and leading. What does it mean to be a coach using the sensei approach in LEAN Six Sigma? 

Coaches in athletics do not compete in the sporting events themselves. They have to achieve success through four basic activities: preparation, practice, adjustment, and review. Do these methods work in situations where you’re responsible for lean improvement projects but others have to implement the changes? The answer is yes, if one key condition is achieved and maintained: responsibility for making the changes is given to and kept with the people who have to implement and maintain the improvements. That’s the key to the sensei approach. This approach is to help lean leaders and change agents understand the importance of the role of coach in improving value-stream performance and developing the basic skills and perspectives to function effectively in that role. Over time, the Lean methodology relies heavily on the people to execute the DMAIC framework effectively and without good coaching skills, one will not be able to begin, sustain and complete the journey to Continuous Improvement.