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  Esteban Kolsky 12:40:21 am on January 14, 2009 | 1 | # |
  Tags: business process, business process management, business processes, CRM, customer service, enteprise feedback management, feebdack management, feedback, process, twitter, Voice of the Customer

  So, They Finally Learned Customer Service, Right?

  If you hang around twitter these days, well – you are wasting precious time.

  No, seriously – if you do you will notice people tweeting more and more about the “new” Customer Service at most large corporations.  You will see how Telco X was much better than it used to be, or Bank Y has finally gotten it right.  The impressions are that since the economy turned south, these companies learned the true value of their customers.  If you are going to base your perceptions on that datum only you may end up with the idea that these large organizations that used to be terrible at customer service have finally, finally learned how to do Customer Service right.  And you may be happy about the prospect of finally getting decent or good service from your service providers.

  Well, hate to burst the bubble – but that is just not the way it is.  Sure, some of them may have improved some – even more than that depending on where they started.  However, there are three reasons why this is not going to be a long-term trend:

  1. Nothing has Changed.  It takes months and large investments of resources (people, time, money) to make changes to customer service.  Takes long re-training and hiring processes, changes to processes, systems, and rules, and lots more.  This is not accomplished in a short period of time.  Even if the changes are implemented the time it takes to extend to the entire organization is more than you can imagine.  It is not uncommon for these initiatives to be implemented in multiyear projects.  Corporations have not yet changed anything (or not enough), they simply have more idle time due to less business and those CSRs can spend more time with customers.

  2.  It is Event-Driven.  Economy goes down, we need to keep the remaining customers happy.  Tell everyone that they need to keep customers happy, empower them to offer more, let them satisfy the customers, change our business rules to reflect that.  All that will get short-term results: shorter transactions, better feedback scores, more satisfied customers.  What it does not do is make those changes permanent.  Once things go back to “normal” (meaning you realize the costs of this “good” customer service vs what you used to do is higher and go back to the previous state) theses initiatives will likely cease.  It won’t be overnight, but it won’t take that long either.  Businesses tend to have keen-jerk reactions only to change soon thereafter to something more moderate.  Expect the same here in about 4-6 months.

  3. Tactical is not Long Term.  That’s right, there is no vision, no strategy, no plan.  Simply a “liberalization” of the business rules and inflection points in favor of the customer.  Being simple tactical means that it carries the burden of proof without expectations.  In other words, there is no expected ROI or benefits in this move.  Alas, if there is no show of value (that is long-term value) in the decision to change within a relatively short time-frame (1-2 months) things will go back to normal (read as they were before) in no time.  There has got to be some expectation of a return of some type before it is made permanent – and a strategy sets those expectations (btw, it also takes a long time to set those expectations, not that easily done).

  So, have these large corporations finally learned customer service done right? Probably no.  Actually, highly likely no.  However, if they are smart they will see this as a good first step and continue down this path.

  Don’t you agree?

   

• Esteban Kolsky 06:35:06 am on January 9, 2009 | 0 | # |
  Tags: business process management, CRM, customer service, proactive service, process, processes

  Forget Parallel Computing…The Money is in Parallel Servicing

  I know this will be hard to believe – but I am a nerd, a geek, a lover of all things technology.  Why, in the old days when Windows 3.x was just beginning I made a few extra dollars building computers from spare part for fellow students (hey, it was way cheaper and popular back then), not to mention that I am certified for Novell and Microsoft networks (yes, I was a sysadmin at some point in life).  I love technology and I use my knowledge as much as possible.

  As I was cleaning one of the hard-drives in my computer last week I came across a paper I had written at some point in life contrasting the use of parallel and serial ports in computers.  Now, this is not a big deal these days with USB and Firewire and the myriad other connection options – but back then it was the only way to connect.  In this paper I looked into the technological considerations, including speed, of using one or the other.

  Here is the summary you need to know for the purposes of this post.  Parallel ports work, as their name implies, by sending data at the same time through all possible pins or channels with no interruption.  This translates into a top speed of around 4 Mbps.  Serial, on the other hand, work by sending data bits one at the time and waiting for confirmation before continuing.  This reaches a top speed of 115 Kbps.  The difference is somewhere around 12 times faster for parallel ports once you count in things like hexadecimal conversion, acknowledgments and enhanced ports and accelerators.

  Why am I bringing this up?  I am not trying to date or label myself, I am using this as the starting point for a new model for customer service – parallel servicing.  All the customer service we do today is in serial form.  A customer contacts us, and they wait.  We take one action, they wait.  We solve their problem, we think, and then we wait to make sure it was solved, or we wait for them to come back.  Not only that, but we cannot serve multiple customers at once unless we deploy more “ports” or resources.

  The concept of parallel servicing is not having to wait, to be able to service customers at a higher speed, with certainty of delivery and better results.  How would you like to be able to service more customers with just your current resources but faster?  Three steps to get you there:

  1. Proactively Service Customers.  I wrote about this many times, talked about it for a long time – and no one listened (it’s OK, I am used to it).  You have the tools, technologies, and know-how to implement proactive service today – with no major investment.  As simple as writing a few triggers for your database, then letting them run their course.  As you get more comfortable you can get more courageous — the sky is truly the limit.  A new patch released? Send an email to people who own the product you are patching.  Complementary product created for your best-selling product? Up-sell.  You can even charge for it in a subscription service!  So many ways to do this… so easy to do.

  2. Change your Processes.  Yes, I am telling you to change your processes. No, I don’t know how (but would be glad to do the work for you if you want, just call me).  The secret here is to find serial processes that can be converted to parallel processes.  Why would a customer have to wait for one action to take place before a second starts?  Look, you know your processes, you know where you can find actions or functions to improve.  Once you get used to the idea of parallel servicing you will notice more and more areas where it makes sense.

  3. Automate. Nothing makes processes go faster than automation – and you can run multiple instances at the same time (sorta like a parallel communication bus).  Look for areas where you can automate to improve the speed of your processes.  In lots of cases, you can turn long processes into sub-second actions on the computer – virtually parallel servicing if there is no delay!  Think about where automation makes sense, and do it.

  Final words: you don’t have to do all this at once.  I am a firm believer in evolutionary changes, not revolutionary ones.  Go slow, little by little, and notice the results.  Get more courageous as you succeed.  Do more and see the speed of your service processes improve, then end up with a great example of parallel servicing.

  What do you think? Interesting enough to try?  Leave me a comment, let me know how it goes…

   

• Esteban Kolsky 01:16:29 am on December 24, 2008 | 1 | # |
  Tags: 2009, customer centric, Customer Experience, LinkedIn, predictions, process, process improvement, process management, social media

  I Spy, I Spy with my Little Eye… a Very Interesting 2009

  I have been feeling odd, weird the last couple of months.  Was not sure why, until I finally realized – I had not written my predictions for 2009!  Seven years writing predictions, year after year, it becomes second nature.  You have to figure out what will happen next year, write it down, publish it, and then become thoroughly humiliated 12 months later when you review your predictions.  Or, in my case, become satisfied of the wonderful job you did predicting the year 12 months before (yeah, right).

  This is going to be a very interesting year.  There are three major forces converging:

  1. Despite what you think or believe, we are deep in the middle of a global recession and no one knows when we will come out of this one.  The effect that this recession will have on all our lives, and our jobs, is not quite clear.  One thing is for sure – there is a financial consideration that will rule most of the decisions you will make in 2009 – regardless of other considerations.
  2. The role of IT in the organization has changed dramatically in the last few years.  While ten and 15 years ago you would have been very hard pressed to find any organization willing to place their IT above any other necessary function – or even call it a necessary function – we are now facing a world run by geeks (pardon the expression, run by technologists).  In addition, the value of IT in the organization has been proven time and time again (even if you choose not to ignore those 5-year, 50-million dollar CRM implementations to nowhere) as critical for the better working of the organization.  Finally, as the amount of data that needs to be processed increased by leaps and bounds with the complexity of the operations of most organizations, IT is not the place where you are likely to see cuts.
  3. Customers are driving decisions. Yes, we have said this many times in the past, almost to make it meaningless… but the social revolution is changing things.  Customers are in control, and they are realizing that.  They know they can make changes happen by blogging, tweetering, and expressing their views.  And they are keen on taking that forward.

  So, where does a business turn in 2009 when it has to use less money, rely on IT, and bow to customers?  There are two things that will happen in my opinion, and both make for a great and interesting year.

  The Corralling of Social Media. Ah social media, the last frontier.  The place where new technologies, at least these days, seem to go.  This is a conglomerate of many things (blogs, tweeter, social networks) and most organizations have taken the blind approach to it.  Either they ignore it or they try something without a real strategy or purpose.  The idea is that it will somehow profile itself better as time goes by, and more organizations will be able to figure it out.  After all, that is the way it has happened so far – right?  Well, this time is different.  See, in all those previous technologies we saw time being an aid since the organization had to discover the technology, figure out how to use it, and then make decisions about implementation.  This time, it is the users who are driving the progress.  Your customers have already adopted blogs, and communities, and social networks, and tweeter and all those technologies – they are now waiting for you to join them.  See, this about truly working with your users – not just saying it.  You dive into the social ether and take charge – and there are rewards.  All you have to do is have a purpose and a strategy.  This is what is going to happen in 2009 – a very large majority of organizations will figure out their purpose and create a strategy for social media.

  The Real Improvement.Really, we are going to change for the better – and that is not just another promise!  I promise (no pun intended, but well achieved).  See, we are getting to the point where we are constantly telling clients how we will change for the better – yet, we never get around to it.  The focus on the organization above the customer (away from customer-centric and customer-driven) means that we will only push so far in improvements, but they tend not to cause a change in either the corporation’s behavior or the customer experience.  And that is not real change, it is lip service.  Smart organizations are beginning to see that delivering on promises to customers, monitoring their needs and providing for them truly pays off by making customers more loyal and resilient to competitors.  The return on not having to regain customers (read my previous blog series), or get new ones to replace exiting ones is invaluable.   Now, in 2009 we will see more and more organizations become smarter about their processes, about their customers’ needs, and about their execution — they will become smarter, flexible, and will truly improve their processes to match their customers’ needs.

  And one more thing.  I keep getting asked whether 2009 will bring drastic cuts across IT, how deep they will be, whether they will be equal to the ones following the Internet bubble explosion.  I truly, honestly don’t know.  However, I know what I learned in seven years at Gartner – two make a pattern, three make a trend.  That means that if any data item is repeated three times or more, then it is likely to be the answer.  Why am I bringing this up?  One of the most valuable services Gartner offers their clients is as a repository of information.  By talking to vendors, providers, consultants, and end-users we get the truth about the market.  Alas, if my conversations with customers, colleagues, and my research through the last few months proves true (and I am way past three similar data items by n0w), then projects with true return on investment (that means, impacting the bottom line directly) will continue to be funded for as long as possible – regardless of the department or process they support.

  What did we learn in the last downturn that is proving valuable this time? That life continues and you have to continue funding your mission-critical processes.  In other words, make sure the projects you undertake next year have an impact on the bottom line and document (through continuous improvement, measurement and metrics) before, during, and after.  I know that is sounds simple and basic – but are you doing it?

  What do you think?  Am I wrong?  Of course, I don’t think so… but would love to hear what you have to say… did I miss something?

   

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