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Time for Standards?

01 July 2012

Anne Marie Forsyth, Chief Executive, CCA

 

Recent blog posts

 

My first thought on hearing the unfolding news about the banking LIBOR scandal and other related headlines was how difficult it must be for front-line agents dealing with customers at any of the organisations involved.  Equally how difficult it must be for those responsible for planning the operations which are already often stretched, during this period of unprecedented turmoil.  

Whilst many large organisations, like Tesco and National Savings and Investments, have committed to CCA Global Standard, I am continually amazed at the number of organisations that fail to do so due to "time constraints" and "change initiatives".  As Nicky Campbell said at last years Convention: "why aren't all organisations with a contact centre doing CCA Global Standard?"

Whilst the Standard alone won't provide the WOW factor for customer communications, it does allow organisations to anchor a set of robust processes around multi-channel management, legislation and regulation, and resource planning. 

As those brands that have adopted the Standard will testify, its a hugh return for a very small investment.  

So here's a thought: A basic subscription to CCA gives you access to the full Standard and the chance to do your own internal audit before committing to external assessment - why not take a look?  


 

 

 

 

 

tags: Standard, multi-channel, customer, contact centre, regulation, banking,

Driving down complaints and boosting trust

16 March 2012

Anne Marie Forsyth

Last week saw the launch of the most recent quarterly energy complaints data compiled by Consumer Focus. This reported that during the last three months of 2011, complaints about the Big Six energy firms fell by 4%. It means that the level of complaints now stands at 83 for every 100,000 customers.  This is particularly significant as the number had increased by 26% during the third quarter of the year, showing that many customers were dissatisfied with the service they were receiving. 
 
Despite these improvements, there are still specific problems being faced by consumers and considerable mistrust of providers amongst the public. In the context of these challenging economic times, there are also particular concerns around vulnerable customers who are facing increasing levels of general and energy related indebtedness. According to Ofgem whilst the number of customers repaying energy debt has remained largely unchanged, the amount customers owe has risen over the last couple of years as customers try to manage on increasingly limited resources . Ofgem and CER, in Ireland, have produced guidelines around assisting vulnerable customers, but there is considerable complexity in this area around definition, appropriate support and where the responsibility should lie. In many cases the supporting role is being undertaken by the charity sector through organisations like the Citizens Advice Bureau, St Vincent de Paul and Age Concern with energy companies often making donations to these charities in recognition of their important function. 
 
More broadly, the nature of customer experience within many sectors, influenced by the context of an increasingly risky economic environment, is being shaped by the role of regulation, particularly within utilities, telecommunications, financial services and the public sector. Regulation is crucial to promote open and competitive markets; provide people with the skills, knowledge and information they need to become demanding consumers; and encourage responsible businesses to follow good practice, but it creates complexity for customer experience programmes. One way CCA can help with this is through our Global Standard© programme which can help support organisations to avoid spikes in their complaints and regulatory issues.  
 
The nature of these issues highlights the importance of hitting bullseye within the measurement of customer experience to facilitate the process of analysing and diagnosing underlying causes of complaints. This week a select group of our Customer Experience Network, made up of 52 organisations committed to best practice, met for a definitions day at CCA headquarters in Glasgow. One key issue probed at the day was reviewing how to find robust ways of capturing the Voice of the Customer in our measurement techniques. Often it was felt that the message could be at risk of being lost in translation when communicating to the board, especially if there is reluctance by them to look beyond a purely operational focus.  Our current research agenda is focusing on these issues and discussion with members has highlighted a number of key opportunities and challenges in this area – we would love contributions in this area – please contact us with any thoughts. 
 
tags: Complaints Regulation Global Standard Customer Experience Network,
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