There are many industries where we strive to offer an improved service to our customers. Why do we feel there is a need do that?
On many occasions we all find we are competing with other organisations sometimes locally sometimes internationally. Whether it is the local shop competing for our weekly shop against the big out of town superstore, the restaurant near the station versus one 0.5 a mile away or the hub airport in the US on our way to a key business meeting there is competition in every walk of life. Competition drives innovation commercial pressures drives change.
Does competition affect Amor – yes, whether it is the service we are competing with others to deliver to clients such as Glasgow City Council or whether we are working with Glasgow City Council to jointly help them deliver a better service to their customers, we are driven to make improvements in the level of service offered.
How do we measure improved service is one of the most frequently asked questions. Frequently we rely on subjective opinions which can in many ways be canvased and influenced by couching a question in a specific way. The more reliable approach is to identify quantifiable metrics which are realistic and measurable. We can however, only measure improvement if we collected and monitored these metrics before we make changes in the service delivery approach.
These metrics need careful consideration as they need to provide meaningful data such that we can do something with the answer we get. There are many occasions where we find organisations measuring things because they can or where they have an opportunity to use sexy new technology in a different way. Here in Amor we look at measurements in a way that says “OK we’ve asked the question, we’ve got the answer so now what are we going to change as a result of this answer?”. It is this challenge that leads to the development of meaningful metrics.
There is still a place for face to face communications to obtain feedback on service quality – it makes the customer feel valued and special because you have asked them a question. What will make them feel really special is when you tell them what you are going to change as a result of the answers the customer gave – they will feel they are part of the service improvement cycle. This approach is true whether it is a customer of council services or multi-national corporations each should engage fully with their customers.
One source of feedback that we here at Amor are adept at interpreting is via social media. There is a vast array of real information being communicated over social media between customers. What we do is use data analytics to interpret this information to establish a clear picture of what our customers are saying. We need to recognise the demographics of the social media users and validate our findings accordingly.
The types of information that is interpretable included passenger feedback on public transport, service provision of the health service, cleanliness of our streets, state of the road network and personal security aspects. The software tools available today can enable us to gather information and present it in a way that can be used to inform our spend decisions with the subsequent monitoring of customer feedback to determine the success of the money spent. The same social media channel can then be used to promote the good things done to improve the quality of service provided to the customers.
How often do we get frustrated by queues? Whether it is at an airport waiting to go through the X-ray machines or to get into the shops at an out of town complex we get frustrated and it leaves a bad taste in our mouths which we remember when someone suggest going to that location again. At Amor we use standard technology to monitor queues, people movements and dwell times. From this data we can help our clients schedule the staffing levels/equipment availability to reduce queue lengths thereby enhancing the experience of their customers. At shopping centres we can support changes to floor layouts to enhance the customer experience. At airports we can help reduce the time in queues giving the customers increased time in the shopping outlets relaxing them, before they board their flights.
While many of these aspects do have a commercial cost the business benefits of measuring, auctioning and re-measuring will pay benefits in increased customer loyalty a very valuable commodity in the competitive environment we find ourselves.
There are many situations where there is a captive market of customers such as those who attend doctor surgeries, hospitals, council premises, advice centres etc. We should not however take these customers for granted. In the same way industry should not treat any regular customers it has or those with which it has long term contracts in a complacent manner. If a customer is getting a service that is seen to improve over time (perhaps it needs to be pointed out to them!) then the way they interact with the service provider is, in the main, likely to be more relaxed and tolerant. This is generally the same with industry clients. Unfortunately there will always be the exception that proves the rule and no much how the service has improved it will never fully satisfy some customers. We all need to remember the good experiences and positive feedback at those dark moments we experience from time to time.
In summary it doesn’t matter what our role in the service delivery chain we need to consider how we can improve the service to our customers. At Amor we certainly pay particular attention to this aspect of our overall service delivery approach.
Perhaps what we should do more of is sharing our experiences on how changes we have made have had a positive outcome and conversely those changes which didn’t improve things – both lessons are equally valid.
David Bonn, Business Unit Manager – Transport
www.amorgroup.com
@morefromamor
Glasgow for Business Week 