Analysis Of Customer Service Strategies For BNB

Business Requirements for Meeting Agreed Service Level Performance

PQ1. What needs to be considered when determining the business requirements to meet the agreed service level performance?

To determine the requirements of the business in meeting the agreed performance of the service level, organizations should ensure that they have experienced and skilled human resource personnel to enhance the hiring of the best talent. Additionally, the company should invest in the best technology through proper budgeting to ensure that the organization’s financial plan is dedicated to the provision of the best customer service. An organization should also set goals and targets and ensure that employees work towards achieving the goals. Furthermore, customers should be served efficiently by establishing support services to maintain happy customers, while ensuring that the customers can access the services at their own convenience (Seo, Ranganathan, & Babad, 2008).

PQ2 Describe the implications of the businesses recruitment practices in relation to workforce planning to meet service level strategies for the following categories

If a business has a lower hourly rate and staff are employed fulltime then it becomes easier for the human resource to plan and strategize on the time needed to clear a workload, and also helps in the determination of the resources needed for managing staff. Furthermore, the low hourly rate with the implication of annual and sick leaves acts as a way of providing job security and motivating employees to be committed to the business full time hence the business becomes in a position of meeting service level strategies (Appelbaum & Schmitt, 2009).

Although the business incurs huge costs due to the huge benefits and compensation in order to retain skilled workers, employees should be trained and made accountable, as they always remain empowered and their productivity is increased. The implication of causal worker increases the flexibility of operations as all duties are delegated to unprofessional tasks which occur in the organization. Part-time employees incur a high cost due to the training of organization technologies used and operations and assist the organization on workload clearance although it might be costly to an organization as a result of high hourly rate. Agency and shift work or weekends results to the organization incurring more costs as hourly rates differ and some employees earn more than others.

PQ3 Describe the reporting requirements that you would require from your information management system to measure the effectiveness of the services level strategy.

The response time will determine the speed by which the interactions of customers are handled. Basically, vital metrics are measured by hours, days, or minutes which determines the number of resources required to field calls effectively. In addition, the accessibility of self-service which the customers have embraced and which are used often are important when measuring the efficiency of the services level strategy. The number of times the calls are abandoned and how long they wait on line. Moreover, satisfaction surveys reflect how customers have been satisfied with the services (Joachim, 2008).

PQ4. What technology is required to support the gathering and timely reporting of customer service data?

Real-time analytics tracking and reporting mobile data collection system technology is used in reporting on the team, customers and individual employees.

Websites technologies are also used to collect customer service efficiency rates as the majority of them have feedback systems and also gathers and reports data automatic.

Automatic call distributor technology is used to check call resolution timelines and logging of contact times.

Roadmap technology is used to check to the log of weight and real-time activity reporting.

Time-to-reply technology is used for tracking email responsive times.

PQ5. What regulatory requirements need to be addressed through the service level strategy? (If you do not have a specific industry body, research requirements for telecommunications carriers.)

According to Gerpott (2011) regulatory requirements which need to be addressed include complying with access regulations which the telecommunications access regime has imposed, and ensuring that reporting has been handled accordingly. Additionally, where a service provider supplies standard telephone services, obligations for the provision of itemized billing, operator services, and directory assistance must be addressed. Furthermore, the ease of access to telecommunication services by the sick and elderly is a vital requirement which needs to be taken into account.

PQ6. Describe the industry best practice standards for your service?

The best practice standards for service determines the competition threat of a business.

Competitors consist of existing and new firms in the market which enters with new marketing strategies of attracting loyal customers from other firms. Availability of substitutes in the market has also enabled the company to practice effective customer care, product improvement, and business expansion so as attract more customers. Furthermore, through assessment of competitor’s strengths and weakness, the industry has provided opportunities for benchmarking and developed professionalism as consultations from expert’s results to innovation hence leading to customer satisfaction (Bergek et al., 2008).

PQ7 What are the potential consequences of not establishing and/or meeting accepted industry benchmarks?

By not meeting the benchmarks accepted within the industry, telecommunication companies may lose customers due to the availability of more established organizations with better services. In addition, clients may view the services provided by the company to be inferior, while at the same time the organization may fail to retain the customers due to the reduced impact on the market. Customers are always going after the best product and service in the market hence not meeting industry benchmarks may lead to the organization losing customers (Gershon, 2009).

PQ8. Explain how benchmarking principles assist businesses to develop customer service strategies.

Benchmarking principles assist in understanding the expectations of customers by assessing the position of the company in the product cycle (Ajelabi & Tang, 2010). If sales are declining it means the products do not meet the expectations of customers. Market shares and sizes assist in performance comparison between business and targets as the organization becomes aware of the environment it is operating hence setting goals and surveys to determine customer satisfaction rates. Indicators also assist the company to establish KPI’s for staff as they level of customer service is derived easily. Through assessment of the business growth and determining areas that need improvement benchmarking principles assists in the development of business functionality and improvement of existing strategies for customer delivery and satisfaction (Ruggie, 2011).

PQ9. Describe potential methods that can be used to determine if customer service expectations are being met and overall service level satisfaction

To determine the level of satisfaction of customers by the services, organizations should get feedback from the customers to weigh on their experiences while using the services, through the use of questionnaires, and satisfaction surveys after the customer have ended the call. To encourage customers to participate in the surveys, some rewards should be offered after the completion of the surveys which may lead to the organization getting more feedback after every call (Jyh-Fu & Bailey, 2012).

PQ10. What changes could you make to the data collection process to improve the collection and accuracy of survey data?

I will set monitoring tools to monitor data which is collected online. For example, if there is duplicate data it can be retrieved hence the final data will be the actual data. Other technologies like recaptcha are also used to detect data from robots and human beings. I will also make sure data from mobile phones and apps is monitored using an IP address to make sure the final data comes from the same user destination. Through rewarding bonuses, vouchers and redeemable points into commodities more people will be influenced to participate in the data collection process and surveys (Casimir, Lee & Loon, 2012).

PQ11. Describe the principles of financial planning in relation to implementing customer service strategies

According to Wong (2010) effectively implement the best strategies so as to ensure efficient customer service, telecommunication organizations should understand and make plans on the level of investment required for the process, then establish a budget to cater for the financial needs. Additionally, the time period to be taken for the strategies to be implemented should also be considered, while at the same time determining the cash flow and measuring the return on investment. Effective implementation of financial plans will ensure that customer service strategies have been successfully implemented in accordance with the organization’s financial plans.

Analysis of service level data (P3)

PQ12. List other diagnostic measures that you could use to monitor services at PCBT?

Using appropriate data tracking tools

Frequently Measuring of reliability and validity of data collection tools

Comparison of BNB Service Performance to Other Benchmark Companies in the Industry

The higher rate of call abandonment, call wait and call abandonment rates indicates that an organization has low-level standards of data transmission as compared to Proptus, Texla, and Vocall. From the case study, it is clear that from 2014 to 2017 BNB had higher contact-wait abandonment rates as compared to all the competitors meaning that its standards service level data is low and customers are not satisfied.

The breakdown of waiting time acts as a determinant to the average speed of answering calls that the service level data has and if data is not automated it can be corrupted or become inconsistent. The rate of call transfer is also high at 78% in 2016 as compared to Proptus at 14%, Texla at 16%, and Vocall at 22%. Therefore, BNB should aim to minimize the need for call transfers and improve the general customer service so as to stay on a competitive edge in the industry.

Defining Service Level Targets for BNB to Meet Competitor Standards

BNB should target to hit a call volume of over 100 in order to stay on a good competitive edge. Since the company is a medium organization, the number of staff per shift should be increased from 8 to around 12 staffs so as to ensure that there is enough staff to handle all incoming calls. The availability of more staff will reduce the number of times calls are abandoned due to lack of contact, and the number of time calls takes before being answered.

Furthermore, the percentage of call duration taken to resolve customer complaints should be reduced to the range below 20 minutes per call so as to attend to more customers and improve efficiency. The aspect will also reflect the effectiveness of the customer service employees, hence the company should hire highly experienced employees to minimize the need for call transfers to second-tier service assistants. BNB should also target to have a conversion of customers to survey of more than 1% in order to keep up with the competition prevalent in the industry.

Provide Suggestions on How Efficiencies Could Be Made To Improve Service Levels

To meet the standards of competitors, BNB should have a target of making a top-down commitment which is centered on customers so as to ensure that subscribers’ satisfaction and loyalty has been maintained. The company should consider hiring an advocate for customers into the C-suite, for example, a Customer Experience Officer (CXO) or a Chief Customer Officer (CCO). The executives have the power to oversee the efforts of customers’ experience throughout the business lines.

Implications of Recruitment Practices in Relation to Workforce Planning

To make the achievement, the executives need full visibility across business units and departmental silos as it’s an aspect which is short in supply in competitor organizations like Proptus, Texla, and Vocall. Additionally, BNB should track customer-related metrics which are emerging so as to have a high Quality of Experience (QoE) which is a measure of the KPI dashboard. Furthermore, services should be personalized with Omni channel experiences which are true since today’s telecom customers are digitally fluent and expect to change communication channels seamlessly on a single engagement.

Moreover, service issues including rates of call abandonment, wait and duration should be resolved faster by enhancing that the first and second tier support personnel are informed. By effectively harnessing customer data customer service can be improved through customer centricity. As a result, the number of times calls are transferred will be reduced which will increase the satisfaction of customers and place the company on a competitive edge among its competitors.
Research and Identify Potential Technology That Could Be Used To Help Automate Call Centre Activities and Improve Their Reporting Functionality

Ameyo’s FusionCX Customer Experience Platform is a potential technology which can improve BNB’s reporting functionality and assist in the automation of call center activities. Benefits of the technology can offer to the company include a 360-degree view of customers, smart insights, and artificial intelligence power hence improving customer service effectiveness through the automation of call center activities.
Provide a Summary of the Key Function That a New IT Platform Could Offer

Improved features where customers can get online support including online chats, immediate email responses. Additionally, recent company’s activities can be accessible covering geographical areas which are diverse, and most customer issues can be solved from the website, for example, through frequently asked questions. Furthermore, billing issues which customers raise regarding rates, mobile money transfers, and payment methods can also be solved through the implementation of a new IT platform and reduce the need for human contact.

The Relationship between Contact-Wait Characteristics and Service Level Data

The relationship that exists within contact-waited characteristics and service level data has developed data abandonment rates as the data may be skewed based on recording methods. Call-wait consists of indicators of caller responses to the waiting period, and service level data contains percentages of all calls answered within a defined waiting period. This makes both contact wait and service level to depend on each other and in case the indicators and percentages differ then it means there were incorrectly defined call wait profiles that resulted in incorrect data. Additionally, service level data adheres to contact escalation policy.

Event	Likelihood of event occurring	Impact on business	Priority	Solution to deal with the event	How	Who	By when
Hacking of Student Management Database IT system	Low	High	2	System Hardening	Ensuring the system is tested by hiring ‘white hat’ hackers.	Student management system	23-Sept-2018
Power failure affecting the online training platform	Medium	High	3	Power back-up	Installing a backup generator	Online training platform	22-Oct-2018
Errors with the finance system leading to data loss	Medium	Very high	1	Data back-up	Backup data into a remotely handled and encrypted hard disk	Finance system	17-Sept-2018
Floods damaging computer hardware hence corrupting the email system	Low	High	4	Reinforcing the building	Ensuring the building is stable and reinforcing the eaves and roofs to avoid water leakage	Email system	27-Dec-2018

References

Ajelabi, I., & Tang, Y. (2010). The adoption of benchmarking principles for project management performance improvement. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Techniques, 1(2), 1-8.

Appelbaum, E., & Schmitt, J. (2009). Low-wage work in high-income countries: Labor-market institutions and business strategy in the US and Europe. Human Relations, 62(12), 1907-1934.

Bergek, A., Jacobsson, S., Carlsson, B., Lindmark, S., & Rickne, A. (2008). Analyzing the functional dynamics of technological innovation systems: A scheme of analysis. Research policy, 37(3), 407-429.

Casimir, G., Lee, K., & Loon, M. (2012). Knowledge sharing: influences of trust, commitment and cost. Journal of knowledge management, 16(5), 740-753.

Gerpott, T. J. (2011). Tariff-type suitability’s impact on satisfaction of Mobile Internet customers in Germany. International Journal of Mobile Communications, 9(3), 243-260.

Gershon, R. A. (2009). Telecommunications and business strategy. Routledge.

Joachim, A. A. (2008). Customer service in the retention of mobile phone users in Nigeria. African Journal of Business Management, 2(2), 026-031.

Jyh-Fu Jeng, D., & Bailey, T. (2012). Assessing customer retention strategies in mobile telecommunications: Hybrid MCDM approach. Management Decision, 50(9), 1570-1595.

Ruggie, J. (2011). Report of the special representative of the secretary-general on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises: Guiding principles on business and human rights: implementing the United Nations ‘protect, respect and remedy’framework. Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, 29(2), 224-253.

Seo, D., Ranganathan, C., & Babad, Y. (2008). Two-level model of customer retention in the US mobile telecommunications service market. Telecommunications Policy, 32(3-4), 182-196.

Wong, K. K. K. (2010). Fighting churn with rate plan right-sizing: A customer retention strategy for the wireless telecommunications industry. The Service Industries Journal, 30(13), 2261-2271.

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