It's Planning Season for Customer Service and Support Improvement

It's Planning Season for Customer Service and Support Improvement

It is around this time each year when businesses go "full throttle" with respect to formalizing their planning processes for the coming year. The September-October timeframe is typically when internal planning teams are created, planning deadlines are set, and marketing goals and targets are established. But what is the best way to go about planning for service and support improvement? What areas do you need to look at first? Where do you begin make changes? And, how can you ensure that you are focusing on the most important components of your overall business? This is the time when services organizations need to get their acts together, develop plans for implementing customer service and support improvement, and empower their managers to make it all happen! Read on to find out how to build a planning process that will help you attain the desired customer service and support performance goals for next year - and beyond!

The services market is not only continually changing over time - it is also becoming increasingly demanding and competitive. As such, now represents a critical time to develop a strategic plan for facilitating your company’s move into a more demanding services environment. This plan will need to encompass many components, including:

·  Examining the company’s existing customer service and support mission, goals and objectives, capabilities, processes, resources, and infrastructure;

·  Identifying and prioritizing the existing and emerging customer/market demands, needs, requirements, expectations, and preferences for customer service and support, across all classifications of the company’s customer base; and

·  Developing specific recommendations for action with respect to improving internal support operations in an effort to arm the company with a “world class” service and support portfolio.

In more specific terms, the overall goals and objectives of the planning effort, simply stated, should be to:

·  Examine, analyze and assess the organization’s service and support mission with respect to its desired ability to provide customers with the full range of offerings that will position the company as a “world class” product and services provider;

·  Identify, from management’s perspective, what the most important elements of a “world class” services operation would be expected to comprise, and within what framework it would envision such an operation to be created and managed;

·  Determine, from the customers’ perspectives, where the company should direct its primary attention with respect to the creation (or enhancement) of a formal customer service and support organization and operational infrastructure;

·  Define how the desired service delivery organization should be structured in terms of human resources, roles, responsibilities, and functions; organizational components and structural hierarchy; internal vs. outside components (i.e., in-house vs. outsource); strategic partnering and alliances; management and staff training; and other key related areas;

·  Recommend how the optimal services operation should be structured in terms of defining and establishing the appropriate services processes and procedures; logistics and resource management controls; operating targets and guidelines; management control and performance monitoring parameters; and other key related areas; and

·  Provide specific recommendations for the establishment of a formal service organization and operational infrastructure that address all of the key elements consistent with the delivery of “world class” service and support to the company’s present and projected marketplace.

The specific areas where the plan should focus include:

·  Identification of Customer Needs, Requirements, Expectations, and Preferences for “World Class” Service - including recommended goals, targets and desired service parameters based both on input/feedback gathered from existing and potential customers, as well as from an assessment/evaluation of other state-of-the-art service organizations/operations in the relevant marketplace.

·  Composition of a "Global" Customer Service and Support Portfolio - including the recommended development and “packaging/repackaging” of a "global" customer service and support portfolio matched against the specific needs and requirements of customers in key technology, vertical, and geographical segments, etc.

·  Refinement of the Service Operations Structure and Processes - including recommendations for improved service and support operations, processes, and policies that can support the "global" services portfolio, focusing on customer service, call handling, tech support, help desk, on-site support, depot repair, logistics, order entry and call logging, administrative, and other processes (to be determined).

·  Determination of Key Performance Indicators - including the identification, selection, and quantification of the most appropriate industry metrics and guidelines for measuring and tracking ongoing service performance.

·  Definition of Services Organization, Functions and Responsibilities - including recommendations for the general structure, roles, and responsibilities of the services organization; organizational hierarchy and structure; inter- and intra-departmental roles and responsibilities; organizational functions and activities; basic job descriptions; in-house vs. outsourcing decisions; channel management; etc.

·  Selection of Operational Tools - including recommendations for the most effective use of service delivery/management/performance tools, such as Internet/Intranet/Extranet support tools, call handling systems, help desk systems, and other ICT (Information and Communications Technology) tools, etc.

·  Formalization of the Implementation Plan - focusing on system selection, investment plan, organization development, training, etc.; outsourcing, including vendor selection criteria, pilot program development measurement/management definition; and general timeframe and rollout plan.

Your organization can't make it happen next year, if it hasn't planned for it this year - and this time of year is just perfect for planning! If your organization is capable of building its planning process solely through the use of internal resources, more power to it! However, most organizations turn to outside assistance either to support their internal planning teams, or to assure that there will always be an objective approach to populating - and executing - the plan. Either way, the key to success ultimately is to plan what you need to do - and then use the appropriate resources to get it done.

Until next time, keep your customers satisfied!

Bill

William K. Pollock

President

Strategies For GrowthSM

P.O. Box 1024

Westtown, PA 19395

USA

Tel: (610) 399-9717

Fax: (610) 399-9718

E-Mail:

Website: www.s4growth.com