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Consolidating Customer Touch Point for a Branded Customer Experience
CEM in Telecom
Ms. Sandra De Zoysa
Group Chief Customer Officer
Service Delivery & Enterprise Contact Management
Dialog Telekom PLC
www.dialog.lk
With special thanks to Ms. Sandra De Zoysa, Certified Attendee of the Global CEM Certification Program, who grants us permission to publish this case study report, for her sharing and demonstration on how she applied the two-day program knowledge into day-to-day business practices.
About Dialog Telekom PLC
Dialog Telekom PLC is Sri Lanka's flagship telecommunications service provider, which operates Dialog GSM - the country's largest mobile network. A subsidiary of the Axiata Group Berhad (formerly TM International), Dialog is one of the largest listed companies on the Colombo Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalisation, valued at Rs. 116.05 billion (as at 15 September 2008).
Dialog holds the distinction of being the first and only company in Sri Lanka to achieve a market capitalisation of USD 1 billion.
In addition to its core business of mobile telephony, Dialog Telekom operates a wide portfolio of multi-sensory connectivity services. This includes Dialog TV, a direct-to-home satellite television service, and Dialog Global which operates a wide portfolio of international telecommunication services. In addition, Dialog Broadband offers fixed-line services and broadband internet, whilst Dialog Tele-Infrastructure is the company's National telco infrastructure arm. Dialog holds leadership position in almost all its business spheres, with innovation, superior technology solutions and world-class customer service serving as catalysts for growth.
Background
Dialog offers customer support through multiple customer touch points. Our Retail Service Centre's and Franchise outlets span across all provinces of the country whilst Dialog Enterprise Contact Centre provides 24 x 7 Customer support via Web Chat, E-mail, Fax, SMS and Voice, IVR & 3G Video. Dialog also provides an array of self-help channels for customer convenience and accessibility.
Branded Customer Experience
"An experience is not effective unless it's remembered, branded and contrasted" - G-CEM, Effective Experience Framework 1.0
A branded customer experience works to amplify a brand through intentional and consistent delivery of on-brand experience across all touch points. To optimize the branded experience, an organization has to deliver most unique brand values and meet or exceed the most critical needs and expectations of its target customers through peak and end experience.
Effective Customer Experience: Peak - End Theory
Noble prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman pointed out that people remember only two things during an experience: Howe they feel at the peak (whether the ultimate experience was good or bad) and at the end.
These peak - end feelings summarize the whole experience process and are stored in the brain at subconscious level - G-CEM, Effective Experience Framework 1.0
Project Scope
This paper will outline the initiatives to measure existing customer experience across multiple touch points and recommend changes in order to ensure that Dialog Telekom delivers a unique & consistent Branded Service Experience.
The following customer touch points have been identified for this project
- Retail Service Centre's
- Franchise Outlets
- Enterprise Contact Centre
- Website
Introduction of Dialog Telekom Brand Values
Dialog brand values are aligned with its revolutionary 4A strategy of making its products and services more Accessible, Available, Applicable and Affordable to as many people as possible whilst ensuring a futuristic service experience as espoused in its signature, "The Future. Today."
Accessibility
We have made available our brand through our network of retail service centre's across all nine provinces of the country. We have facilitated extended working hours with 24 x 7 operations and self-care services to make our brand more accessible with convenience.
Affordability
Our approach is to make our brand affordable to a majority of SriLankan consumers with minimum entry barriers by introducing reduced tariffs, value added services targeting diverse segments, easy payment schemes and special packages which cater specific needs. We take extra care as to how consumers perceive our band in terms of affordability without any economic boundaries.
Availability
We have ensured the presence of our brand in an assortment of ways. Our coverage spans across 70% of the country's geography and 90% of inhabited land mass, owning over 1045 base stations. Through an extensive network of Roaming partners and strategic alliances, we have gained market leadership in International Roaming coverage with over 200 countries and 400 operators.
Applicability
As a final ingredient to our brands success story, through continuous innovation and cutting edge technology solutions our brand has succeeded in transforming the paradigm of simple mobile communications to solutions that meets a variety of consumer needs.
E-channeling, Handset insurance and phone plans, emergency and blood donor network, National Disaster and Emergency Warning Network and roaming services, daily news alerts etc. are offered in order to cater to diverse customer requirements
Our Brand promise - "The Future. Today"
As espoused in our signature, "The Future. Today", we have designed our customer interaction points to deliver cutting edge products and services on par with global technology enhancements in an atmosphere which is truly world class. We have consistently met this challenge by introducing and delivering pioneering products & services in country and as well as in the region.
Measuring Current Service Experience
Retail Service Centre's: In-store Service Experience
It was a busy Friday at office for me and I was glad that I could leave office at 5.00PM so that I could go home a bit early today. There were many options but I finally decided to a supplementary connection for my line so that we can talk to each other for a cheaper rate.
I wanted to visit the service centre in Duplication road but then changed my mind and decided to go the newly opened branch in Darley road mainly because of the traffic at that time.
Entrance:
After reaching the location I noticed that I didn't have a proper space to park but then I was given the option of parking at the Excel World car park. I was surprised to find an entrance to the service centre from the car park. When I entered the branch I was welcomed with a "good evening" by a lady who inquired what my requirement was, I told her that I need to get a couple package and she gave me a token number and wanted me to take a seat until my number was called. As I happened to look around the outlet which was fairly large I happened to notice that there was a Dialog TV zone for customers, I felt as if I was. All the counter staff was serving customers and there were a few customers seated which made me wonder whether I might have to stay for long. After about 5 minutes I heard my token number being displayed on the screen.
Serving:
A smartly groomed customer service representative called out my token number and as I walked up to the counter I was welcomed with a warm "Good Evening" from the customer service representative who offered me a seat and asked me "How can I help you sir?" . I told him that I need to buy a new phone & get a couple package for my wife. Then he briefed me on the initial payment & and also the call charges, but for completeness sake I wanted to get a brochure but unfortunately they didn't have one for the package that I required. Then he wrote down the charges on a piece of paper and gave it to me which made me feel that he was going the extra mile for me. The he took my NIC and filled out a few forms and told me to sigh in a few places. I was then directed to the cashier to make the required payments. Then as I was about to stand up to go to the payment area he asked me "Is there is anything else I do for you sir?" but I didn't have anything else to know since I was in a hurry to go home There were only 2 customers in queue since it was almost closing time but it took some time for my turn to come because the cashier was too slow, after making the payment I was directed to another counter where I had to handover the documents and the gentlemen there informed me that the connection would be activated in 8 hours. At that time I felt that the procedure was too long since I had to go to 3 different places to complete my transaction
Overall:
On my way back to the car park I thanked the CSR who wished me a good day. I was totally satisfied with the service that I received because it took me not even 20 minutes to get all my requirements done.
According to the Emotion Curve identified for Dialog Retail Service centre's, it is clearly evident that the perceived Branded Service Experience is delivered to customers with an effective PPG (Pleasure, Pain gap)
Franchise Outlet: In-store Service Experience
It was a Saturday morning; I was not in the best of mood because I had lost my phone the following evening at a party. So I decided to go to the Dialog franchise outlet in Mount Lavinia because it is only a 5 minute drive from my place to the outlet.
Entrance:
When I arrived at the outlet it didn't take me too long the figure out that I will have a problem to find a proper place to park my car therefore I decided to park inside a close by lane and walk the rest. As I walked in to the outlet at least 5-6 customers seated waiting for their turn to go to a counter. The surrounding atmosphere was pretty good but there were only two people to serve customers. I was in hurry because to get my connection back because my mobile phone plays a massive role in my day to day life. Finally my turn arrives after being in the queue for almost 15 minutes.
Serving:
When I walked p to the counter the customer service representative greeted me with a good morning and asked me "How may I help you sir?" Then I explained to her that I had lost my SIM and need the connection as soon as possible. She told me that I need to pay 300 rupees and that I won't be able to get the contacts that I saved on my SIM which was a bit disappointing for me. She asked for my NIC and filled out the forms for me and wanted me to sigh. She took a bit too long than I expected but it was convenient for me since she accepted the payment and I didn't have to go to another person to pay. She informed me that the SIM would be activated within 24 hours but I told her to make it as fast as possible and she told me to check within 4 hours. At the end she asked me whether I had anything else to know and I smiled at her and said "thank you that's all". Then she thanked me for visiting and wished me a good day.
Overall:
I put the SIM on to my spare phone just to check whether the SIM was activated and to my surprise it was activated in little less than 4 hours. I was contacted the following Monday by an individual from the head office with regard to a survey on the service I had received and all that I told him is that it was excellent.
Following gaps were highlighted for Franchise Outlet service experience when compared with Retail Service Centre Emotion Curve.
1. Only two Brand Values are represented at peaks. (Availability & Affordability)
2. Store outlook which represent "The Future.Today."brand promise is significantly low
3. Franchise Outlets have scored extremely well with regard to "Availability"
4. Lower PPG
5. Moderate satisfaction level towards the end of the service experience
6. Slightly linear Overall Emotional Curve
7. Inconsistency shown at some Franchise Outlets
Enterprise Contact Centre : Voice Call Service Experience
Entrance:
I was on my way home after a tiring day at work and the traffic was not at all helpful so I decided to download a few themes for my newly bought phone. I was inside a bus therefore I needed something to do in order to get my mind away from the traffic and noise. I took my phone from my pocket & when I tried to login to GPRS I got an error message saying "Connection failure contact your operator for support", I tried logging in a few more times but it didn't work. Then I thought to myself "things can't get any better for me today" and decided to call the Contact Centre and get this issue sorted out. I dialed the hotline 0777678678 and selected the 3rd option to continue in English & then option 5 to speak to an agent. I had to be on line for roughly 2 minutes and it was the same background music that was playing since the last time I called to check on my bill.
Serving:
An agent picked up and greeted me with a good evening and introduced himself. Then when told him that my GPRS doesn't work he asked for my name & number in order to check on the issue. Then he asked me whether I had used GPRS before and I said yes and told him that I changed my phone recently to a Sony Ericsson K850i. He asked me whether I had got the GPRS settings done on my new phone and I replied saying "I don't think so", then he informed me that he will be sending the settings via SMS in a short while and I need to enter a PIN number as 1111 and save the settings and then switch off the phone and switch it on in 5 minutes. Then he asked me whether I was aware of the GPRS charges and I said "Yes". At the end of the call he asked me If there is anything else I would want to know about Dialog, I didn't really have anything else to know at that time other than being able to browse through GPRS. Then he thanked me for calling and wished me a good day and I wished him the same in return.
Overall:
As he promised I did receive the settings within 2-3 minutes and saved it after entering the PIN number 1111. I switched off my phone and switched it on in 5 minutes and then tried logging in and I it did work. I was really thankful to him and happy in the manner he served me
Emotion Curve for Enterprise Contact Centre highlights the following gaps,
1. Brand Values are represented at the beginning of the service experience (Availability. Accessibility. Applicability & Affordability)
2. "The Future.Today." brand promise is significantly low
3. Very Low PPG across the entire service experience
4. Slightly linear Overall Emotional Curve.
5. Less impactful and memorable service experience
6. Good service experience delivered by Contact Centre staff
An Online Experience on www.dialog.lk
Being no stranger to online transactions or internet payments, I decided to visit the Dialog website to settle my GSM bill.
First impression
The design of the website home page was very structured and methodical with clear segmentation of information about the different products and services. But at first impression, I was a little disappointed about the very static appearance of the website. Dialog has always tried to be true to their tag line "The Future. Today" and the appearance of the website seemed out of character for the personality I had in mind for "Dialog" as a Brand.
Another striking feature that made the website a bit dull was the resolution of the website. The website resolution seem to have been designed to fill the screen at a low 800x600 or 1024x768 pixel screen resolutions that used to be the norm for most monitors in early Pentium machines. This made almost 2/3's of the screen empty for someone, like me, browsing at a higher resolution on moderate to powerful computers and monitors widely used today. Again, I felt this to be a backward step for tech savvy Dialog.
Navigation
Navigation through the website was very easy with the structured and segmented approach. The site has an excellent 'site index' feature. The layout was such that navigation was straight forward even without the help of the site index. I also noticed that navigating through products easy with the menu (tabs) under the site index. The weakness I noticed here was that there was no link to come back to the Dialog home page.
Payment hosting & security
Finding my way to paying my bill was very straight forward and it was directly accessible from viewing my bill. I managed to complete a hassle free transaction.
As for payment security, the site linking up with Sampath bank and data validation gave me the ease of mind to be confident in paying online. The weakness I noticed under payments was the lack of options to procure a payment receipt for the transaction unless you are in a position to print it at the time of payment. An option to have the receipt emailed or on SMS would be a very handy addition.
Browsing through products
Since I have multiple products (DTV & GSM) from Dialog and time on my hands, I decided to browse for other products and services on the website. Having just paid my GSM bill for the first time on the website, I was keen to find out what Value Added features I could purchase for GSM and pay my DTV bill. But I was disappointed to see the DTV payment feature being unavailable. So I just browsed to see what other services are on offer.
One noticeable difference between the different products pages (DTV, CDMA, etc) was that information layout and distribution was not uniform. While most product pages followed the layout of a static main picture and the smaller pictures with products links, the GSM and DTV pages showed an explosion of information to an extent of being overloaded with information to follow. Biz solutions showed yet a different outlook with a dynamic & clickable animation as the main picture.
Information availability
The depth and detail of information available on products on the website was excellent. The site detailed about the different products & services and self help of their activation and deactivation. The only area where the self help created confusion was under Value Added Services under CDMA.
Product demonstrations
Other than the steps of VAS activations, it was disappointing not to find demonstration of products. For example, the user manuals and graphical demonstrations of DTV remote control unit, CDMA phone, Blackberry devices, etc would add great value to the website.
Transaction availability
The most disappointing characteristic about the website was the lack of transactional activities. Except for GSM bill and GSM value additions under "Download Zone", the rest of the website is purely informational and one way.
Contact details & directing complains
It was great to see the contact details of Dialog and partner outlet contact details. The online chat with a customer service agent is another great feature available to clarify any doubts on the site or communicate my concerns on products and services. An added feature under customer service where lodging a complaint by selecting the product and related division under the products (e.g. DTV and installation) would make the site much more user friendly.
Emotion Curve for Website highlights the following gaps,
1. Low first impression
2. Some inconsistencies with brand promise "The Future.Today."
3. High PPG at one instance in the service experience
4. Very Active emotional curve
5. Poor exit - end
Bridging Gaps to Deliver an Effective Service Experience
"An Experience is NOT effective unless it's Branded"--G-CEM
The following Branded CEM Basics were considered as guidelines for identifying measures to bridge the service experience gaps.
Branded Experience
Amplify the brand intentionally and consistently in order to deliver 'on-brand' experiences across all customer touch-points.
Experiencing the Brand
Reinforce an established brand by delivering 'on-brand' experience.
Branding the Experience
Build a new brand by delivering 'on-brand' experience.
Branded CEM Optimization
Peaks & End, Brand Values & Critical Needs
Propose Recommendations
D - Dialog Service centre's, F - Franchise Service Points, C - Enterprise Contact centre, W - Website
Branded CEM Optimization
The following metrics is used for branded CEM optimization
D - Dialog Service centre's, F - Franchise Service Points, C - Enterprise Contact centre, W - Website
Suggested Corrective actions
Conclusion
The recommendation highlighted in this paper will ensure that Dialog Telekom delivers a unique & consistent Branded Service Experience.
About the Author
Sandra De Zoysa has been a Customer Service Practitioner within the Mobile Industry for 20 years. Sandra joined Dialog Telekom in 1997 and currently functions as a member of the Group's Senior Management team, which defined and subsequently led the execution of Dialog's "Vision of Leadership".
She was responsible for establishing the Group's Service Delivery Function, Enterprise Contact Management and Front Line Service Delivery related Shared Services and the Business Process Outsourcing Operations. Sandra is the Chairperson of the Company's Service Delivery Group Leadership Committee since 2005. She was appointed the Group Chief Customer Officer in April 2008. Under her stewardship, Dialog's Customer Service team has grown from a skeletal outfit servicing 25,000 customers to a 1000+ workforce currently servicing 5 million subscribers across multiple businesses of the Dialog Telekom Group. Dialog's Customer Service is currently recognized as the undisputed leader in Service Delivery in Sri Lanka and has won many awards and accolades for their competence and professionalism.
Dialog won the overall Gold award at the Asia Pacific Customer Service Consortium's
(APCSC) Customer Relationship Excellence Awards in 2007 and followed that by winning the Customer Management Strategy Award in 2008 organized by the Global Customer Experience Management Organization (G-CEM). They won the Best Customer Service Centre Award 2008 at the Asia-Pacific Customer Service Recognition of Excellence awards organized by the Asia Customer Service Association (ACSA). In addition to gaining ISO 9002 certification the company also won the National Quality Award and the Asia Pacific Quality Award, Dialog also became the first company in South Asia to be awarded CSQS Level III certification for its Service Delivery function.
Apart from her work, Sandra is also an avid Conference Speaker and a visiting lecturer at the University of Colombo School of Computing, specialising in CRM. She is a Certified CEM Professional and a Customer Service Quality Standards Certified Manager & Auditor. Sandra is a founder member of the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) and the IT enabled Services Association of Sri Lanka (ITeSA)
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