Business Change Management at Huanghe Technology - Essay Example

?Business Change Management Submitted by: XXXXXXX Number: XXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX Submission: XX – XX – 2011 University of XXXXXXX Number of Words: 3076 (Excluding Bibliography) Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Current Issues: 2 Proposal for New Customer Service Department 4 Potential Challenges 7 Short Term Issues 7 Long Term Issues 9 Timeline for Change 10 Monitoring Performance 11 Conclusions 12 Bibliography 13 Introduction As a consultant, the main aim here is to analyze the current situation of Huanghe Technology and to highlight the initial issues that the company is facing. Change is the only constant. Businesses face numerous changes and a new mantra that businesses now follow is ‘Change or Perish’ (Abrahamson, 2003). With the intensely growing technologies and realigned work places, companies need to focus on changing their ways of doing business as well as the relationship between the employers and employees. Organizational change is a term generally used for an extensive change within the organization where companies try to change, implement or also reengineer their processes. In most cases, organizational change tends to be radical and can lead to reorientation of the business. Any change within an organization is generally based on external factors that impact them and form the driving force. Since organizational changes are very deep-seated stakeholders of the company also tend to be impacted. This paper aims at discussing the changes management strategies that can be adopted by Huanghe Technology to overcome the issues that are being faced within the organization. The paper will provide an overview of the current issues, followed by a detailed discussion of the proposed solution and the possible challenges. Current Issues: The rapid expansion of the business has led the company to develop and work as three different and independent units. Although Huanghe Technology has very effectively implemented latest technologies and has also seen intense growth, the lack of clear support for the customers. Since each of the three business units have grown independently and behave as separate entities with different cultures, there has been a lot of information loss. Huanghe Technology is currently being faced with issues like lack of proper customer support, lacking technical support and also numerous call drops between the customer care and sales teams. Hence it is crucial that the company implements a change plan to help develop an organized and effective approach to resolve this issue. The main focus of the change plan is on the customers and their needs. Huanghe Technology currently has its customer service office in UK and the company currently plans to reorganize this by keeping all of the Customer Service Department activities for the Huanghe UK office under the supervision of a new head. This can cause two main issues, i) resistance from the employees, ii) another independent unit to deal with customer service. Hence these are the main issues that the company currently needs to focus on while developing the change management program. Also, in the case of the SOHO customers, the company has set down two different channels to meet the needs of these customers. The first is where the company caters to the need directly and second where the products is sold by retailers like Tesco. In the retail channel, the technical aspects are dealt with by the company directly. However there is a major gap that has been found here and it is clear that the SOHO customers are not getting adequate technical support from the company. Proposal for New Customer Service Department Customer Relationship Management (CRM) plays an essential role in every business and holds an enormous importance in today’s competitive world. CRM is a business strategy that has been built around the notion of being customer-centric (Evans, O’Maley, & Patterson, 2004). The main aims are to have optimum revenue by better customer satisfaction through improved contacts at each client touch point. Here in the case of Huanghe Technology it is evident that the company has focused too much on the expansion while not taking into consideration one of the most important stakeholders i.e. the customers. As explained by McCabe & Wolfe (2000), “Making the Customer king is one way of improving sales. But a better one is making the right customer king. This discipline is called customer relationship management” (McCabe & Wolfe, 2000). Customer Relationship Management as the name suggests consists of three main components of the business, i.e. customers, relationships and management. As a recommendation for the company, it is advised that the company restructures its operations to improve the overall performance and to help in better management of the customers. Here it is recommended that the company develops a new Customer Service Department, Technical Support Team and Sales Support Team. This department will be responsible for all interactions, from the sales up until the technical assistance processes. a) Customer Service Department: The company can implement a Customer Relationship Management system in the customer service department. The department will be a combination of all the three current departments, i.e. the customer service, technical support and sales support. This team will be divided into two main departments, a) Enterprise network, and b) SOHO Clients. i) The Enterprise Network clients being very large companies will be dealt with in a different manner. Here a single person will be assigned to each client and the client (enterprise network customer) will need to stay in touch with the individual for any issues or queries. The enterprise network team will comprise of the most experienced people from the customer support team. Here these individuals will be responsible to handle clients and they will be the only point of contact for the clients that are assigned to them. Here the individual responsible for the client will try to resolve the simple issues directly (Beasty, 2007). However in the case of more complicated and detailed technical issue, the representative will need to raise a ticket to the respective team. Also once the respective team, i.e. sales or technical team resolves the issue, the details will be updated into the systems. The solution for the issues will then need to be communicated to the client through the individual responsible (customer service) for the particular client. ii) The SOHO team on the other hand will be dealt with in a different manner. Firstly, the SOHO team as discussed earlier is divided into two main channels i.e. the direct channel and the retail channel. The first step that the company will need to take here is to ensure that all the customers and customer details of the retail channel are all inputted into the database of the company. Also the sales made from the direct channel will automatically be entered into the company systems (Bose & Sugumaran, 2003). The SOHO client calls and queries will be directed to the customer service department and calls will be attended similar to the call centers where the free representative takes in the call. The representatives of the SOHO teams will be trained on basic details of installation and common issues. Here these individuals will be given scripts to assist the customers with the small and basic technical issues. The scripts will be developed for the most common issues that have been found, like basic installation of all the equipments, basic billing information and other straight forward queries and issues. In case the clients call in with bigger technical and sales queries and issues, then the customer service representative will update the systems with the details of the issue and also raise a ticket to the respective team, i.e. technical or sales support. Once the ticket is raised with the particular team a deadline will be assigned to each ticket. The technical or sales support teams will need to sort out the issue and close the ticket. Here all the details will be updated in the systems. The customer service representative who raised the ticket will then need to call the client and inform them with the solution. b) Core Technical Team: The core technical team will include the most competent and well versed individuals. Here the team will be formed with the employees with the best technical knowledge. These individuals need to have complete knowledge of the products and require being completely competent with every technical aspect of all the products. These people will be chosen from the current customer service team. c) Core Sales Processing Team Again, this team will be selected from the current customer support teams and the sales processing teams. The employees who will form the part of the core sales processing teams need to have detailed knowledge of sales processing and need to be able to handle the detailed issues and problems. A part of the individuals of the current three teams will be divided into the three new teams, i.e. customer service, core technical and core sales processing. Out of the remaining team members, the most effective members will form a part of the enterprise support while the rest will be placed in one large team, of customer service. Potential Challenges Implementing these changes can bring about several challenges to the company both in terms of short as well as long term. Each of these possible challenges have been analyzed and discussed below. Short Term Issues One of the major possible challenges that the company can face is the issue of the varying cultures. Gareth Morgan has described organizational culture as: “The set of the set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and personalities that represents the unique character of an organization, and provides the context for action in it and by it” (Morgan, 1997). According to Schein, organizational culture is, “A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems that has worked well enough to be considered valid and is passed on to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (Schein, 1998). Hence when an organization has number of different cultures, then it leads to issues and confusions and there is a high need to integrate the various cultures to develop a standardized culture within the organization. Considering the culture of an organization, it is also crucial to consider four main aspects, i.e. Sustainability, Commitment and Preciseness, Innovation, and Orientation of the company. It is crucial that the company is able to maintain its sustainability even during the change. Here in the case of Huanghe Technology, it is clear that the culture of the company is presently not stabilized. Hence this will prove to be a potential issue for the company. Here it is important that the Huanghe Technology is able to stabilize the processes and overall culture as well. It is also important that the company focuses on the other essential aspect, i.e. the level of importance given to the precision and the enthusiasm that the organisation shows while performing tasks. This will permit the company to make stronger decisions and better teams as well. Also, in terms of innovation, it is important that the company’s culture supports the innovations. Also, with the diverse cultures and different working styles the main issue that the company can face is the issue of difficulty in working on the new systems and also ease with which the employees migrate to the new systems. Hence it is crucial to develop proper training plans and training sessions to help and assist the employees adopt the new system and to ensure standardization of the processes. The company also clearly requires including numerous diversity trainings and intercultural training. This is crucial as this will permit the company to function more smoothly and will allow the change process to be smooth. Considering the diverse nature of the employees, there is a high change for confusions and conflicts to exist within the company. Hence to overcome these issues, the company requires providing excellent and detailed training to all employees. Also, since the change management involves diverse employees hence the person heading the team should be experienced in change management as well. The new manager needs to also ensure that the roles and responsibilities are clearly explained to all employees and the training is provided to complete all the duties. Finally, it is important that every employee important part in the company. This will help keep up the motivational level of the employees to a great extent. Long Term Issues In the long run, one of the major issues that might arise is the lowered levels of motivation of the employees. Hence it is crucial that the company not only focuses on providing the customers with the best service but also helps the employees improve their skills. This can be done by providing the employees with a chance to take up new trainings and certification courses. This will not only help in improving the motivational levels of the employees but will also permit a chance to improve the staff of the company and the overall performance of the company. As discussed earlier, the main issue of Huanghe Technology is the lacking ability to effectively deal with the customers and the large numbers of dropping calls and lacking clarity of customer information. The use of the Customer Relationship Management systems will allow the company to effectively keep all customer information from over all its locations. It will also help ensure there is a more standardized approach. This can also lead to better retention rates of the customers in the long run. It can also provide customer satisfaction in the short run by improving the overall customer experience. In the long run, one major issue that can also crop up is the lacking ability of the manager to deal with all employees. Here it is important that the new person being employed to manage the customer service team needs to be able to deal with both the Chinese as well as UK culture. This will help the manager deal with the majority of the employees effectively. Finally, it is also important that the company focuses on the employees and the pay rates. It is important that the company employees the right pay scale for the employees. Also, inclusion of incentive pay will also help to keep the employees motivated and will permit the performance to also improve to a great extent. Timeline for Change The implementation of the new systems and new teams will be spread out over a period of time and all processes will run hand in hand simultaneously. A brief overview of the timeline has been discussed below. A graphical presentation is also presented after this discussion. 1. Appointment of new manager: Initially hire a head in charge for Customer service depart, who is UK Chinese as majority is UK Chinese. This will allow the manager to have a better rapport with the employees. Also, it is important that the manager has a strong command over English and Chinese. Time period required: 1 month 2. Implement the technical system: Here the newly appointed manager will need to provide detailed needs for the new technical systems. Here the manager will need to provide complete details of the system requirements. Time period required: outsourced 3 months for development. The three month will start from the time the new manager is appointed. 3. Development of teams: Here the newly appointed manager will need to develop the new teams and to ensure that the teams are divided based on their tasks and are trained accordingly as well. a. Forming the enterprise client team: About 20 people, the most experienced from the call centre. These people need to have the ability to manage high net worth clients individually. b. Core Technical team – Here the most experienced with complete knowledge of the product will need to be chosen c. Core Sales order processing team – Here the most experienced with detailed knowledge of the product and sales processes need to be chosen. Timeline required – 3 months from the time the new manager is appointed. 4. Finally, the implementation of new CRM system a. Develop the rest of the customer Support team for SOHO. Here combine rest of sales order processing and call centre employees and train with basic details (scripted) b. Basic training for SOHO guys. Basic issues, possible issues, and steps to solve 1. Appointment of new manager 2. Implement the technical system 3. Development of teams 4. Implementation of new CRM system and Development of SOHO and customer service team On the whole, the development of the processes, teams as well as the overall customer relationship management systems can be completed within a period of 4 months. Post this, the monitoring of performance and regular upgrades will only be required. Monitoring Performance Finally, once the overall Customer relationship Systems is implemented, it is crucial to monitor the performance and to make the necessary changes accordingly. As very well explained by Dyche & Longman, “The bottom line here is that, while you should be working toward eventual enterprise CRM, such a vision doesn’t happen overnight and trying to force it to happen could take a lifetime. The better your view of how a finite and clearly described CRM solution can help deliver long-term benefits to the company, the more likely you are to get the support you need” (Dyche & Longman, 2002). Hence here to gain the best from the customer relationship management systems, the company needs to continuously monitor the teams. Here statistics can be firstly drawn out for the number of calls that are received on a monthly basis to each team. Based on these numbers the new manager for the customer service team can work on ensuring that the demands of the calls are easily met by the teams. In the case that more employees are needed for meeting the demand, then the manager requires to higher the required personnel and to train them and allocate them to the pertaining teams. Conclusions Customers are important stakeholders of the company. Any mistakes, low levels of service or any lack in service can lead to loss of customers. It is crucial that the company consider implementing a strong change plan at the earliest to allow Huanghe Technology to not only keep up the service to the customers but also ensure customer retention. As seen above, the best solution for the company will be to implement CRM as it aims at achieving several objectives attached to its chief objective of better customer approach and acceptance from the customers (Customer Relationship Management, 2007). Implementing the above plan will allow the company to a) simplify the sales processes, b) improve the process designs, c) ensure better customer service and finally, d) discovering the actual need of the customer and catering to it in order to increase customer satisfaction (Brown, 2000). Bibliography Abrahamson, E. (2003). Change Without Pain: How Managers Can Overcome Initiative Overload, Organizational Chaos, and Employee Burnout . Harvard Business Press. Beasty, C. (2007). The Name of the Game: Personalization. Customer Relationship Management , 16-17. Bose, R., & Sugumaran, V. (2003). Application of knowledge management technology in customer relationship management. Knowledge and Process Management , 3. Brown, S. (2000). Customer Relationship Management: A Strategic Imperative in the World of E-Business. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Customer Relationship Management. (2007). Integration for a Customer-Centric View. UK: Sage. Dyche, J., & Longman, A. W. (2002). Planning Your CRM Program . Retrieved January 23, 2011, from Chapter 7: http://media.techtarget.com/searchCRM/downloads/CRMHandbook_Ch7.pdf Evans, M., O’Maley, L., & Patterson, M. (2004). Exploring Direct and Customer Relationship Marketing. London: Thomson Learning. McCabe, B., & Wolfe, M. (2000). Making the (right) Customer King. Global Telecoms Business , p42. Morgan, G. (1997). Nature Intervenes - Organizations as Organisms. c09_1 - 36. Schein, E. H. (1998). Organizational Culture. Retrieved August 24, 2010, from http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/1721.1/2224/1/SWP-2088-24854366.pdf Read More