The Customer Service Operations Excellence Issues - University of East London - Case Study Example

PROBLEM MENT: It is true that good service starts with focus in people. The minute an or an organization stops the art of lip servicing and starts to offer real customer service is the time the organization steps out of the competition league. It is because they will have earned customer loyalty that will help them maintain the sales and supplies. Attitudes determine how the employees handle the customers and this means that they have the key to the success of any organization. Supply management on the other hand has to deal with the management of a network of interconnected chains of distributions that deal with the ultimate production and provision of products and services required by the end user who in this case is the customer (Debra p.35). The two, customer service and management of interconnected premises work hand in hand to promote the premise amongst the customers and also other businesses in the same line of marketing. The distribution of raw materials has to be done with attitudes that are in the least friendly to the customers to ensure that the customers remain loyal to your products. The way these are interconnected to bring out the desired product is very important to learn and is the case where we have to involve individual companies to come up with some critical analysis of the desired output. ACADEMIC CONTENT: The University of East London is a very prestigious institution with a commitment to widening access and regional development. This is through building links with like-minded partners to develop facilities and event management training and products that suite the market of East London. Supply in the school entails the planning and management of all facilities that are involved in sourcing, procurement, logistics management and also conversion of services into worthy business retails. It is a very crucial sector that requires involvement of all the people to come up with improved ways of handling the products that emanate from the institution. There are many researches that have in the recent past looked deep into the issue of offering consumer based services. According to Tech- republic .com, the recent competition in the market has caused a lot of stir among different organizations and this implies that they have to come up with different ways in which they can woo the customers and retain them for as long as possible. For a long time, institutions strive to achieve excellence in the customer care field and this implies that all the employees must play part in ensuring that they achieve their targeted goals (Pega 2009). True customer service has however turned out to be very elusive and this implies real improvement is desired in overall service quality reduces the risk of revenue loss due customer dissatisfaction and also in a way increases the customer profitability and the customer’s likelihood to recommend. This is what every organization is yearning for: a customer friendly environment. According to Debra () it is evident that providing quality services helps improve on the profit margins. Achieving the relevant skills to deal with the customers is the only way that the people in the institution can learn to come up with the required information and be able to turn it into business intelligent. The other way is to offer incentives to the employees to come up with a way in which the reduction of customer dissatisfaction can be brought to minimal scales via proper training to the employees to offer them more knowledge on handling customers. The other way is to offer rewards that will help retain and attract more employees and encourage them to put more effort into their work. The other will include the coming up with innovative skills that will help develop sales and service skills that will enable the employees to come up with the required interactive skills o associate with the customers (Bobby 2006). FINDINGS: It is the wish of every institution and organization to provide excellent service to maintain customer loyalty and in the mean time increase the company profits. The institution has moved out from the crowd by standing out in the excellence of its provision of quality services. It is important to note that all the activities that appertains the transformation of goods from one form to the other are supposed to be well channelled to offer the most elaborate means of reaching the consumer and this has to be in the most elaborate way that we will achieve the most out of them. Material flow from the upstream suppliers includes elaborate measures to ensure that the semi-finished and finished goods are distributed to all the targeted consumers in the quickest way possible. But what exactly is the secret to maintaining an excellent customer-producer relationship? It is evident from what Brian (2003) that static organization structures tend to be forms of obstacles in achieving the targeted goals. It is clear that they are mostly to be blamed for inept consideration of non-routine requests and inquiries leaves the customers unsatisfied. The only secret that the university has taken into much consideration and consequently put into use is the empowerment of the employees to attend to the customer’s requests and inquiries. This was after noting that in unorganized companies and organizations, the focus on the external outcomes rather that the internal processes really cost them very many customers. The most important thing in the distribution of services and goods is having the best and most elaborate means of dealing extensively with the consumer. It is hard to deal with them if the only goal of the company is to have better gains without working out plans to relay on how they are going to achieve the most out of the consumer and also maintain loyalty. The institution has really had a lot of internal restructuring to provide services that really meet the demands of the consumer by turning complaints into plans for better reciprocation in terms of service delivery. In the beginning, the institution lacked better customer interaction, but the inauguration of a business unit that really handled the customer-producer relationships working to give the institution a better understanding of how the consumer should be best handled. The reported improvement in the institution after the re-structure can be noted in the table below. ID SENDER RECIEVER TYPE RESULT COMMENT 1 Joe &sons company Elvis Procurement delay Dealt with More procurement done with the compliant 2 East London college Jarvis Delayed supplies Being worked on The compliant is confident after assurance from the manager 3 Lube Tec co. Elvis Shipment delayed Processed Shipment done and appreciated by the client These three cases just show that the relegation of duties helped in coming up with ways in which they could effectively handle their clients and also help in achieving results by ensuring that they work on their complaints in time and ensure the satisfaction of the client. The attention spun of the employee was the first issue that was looked in to in detail as the attention accorded to the customer makes him feel appreciated and cherishes the services offered. It is important to note that the way an employee secures the attention of the customer is the most important issue that will determine whether the customer will come back for more and create some loyalty with the institution. According to Tony Cram (2007), the reaction accorded to the inquiries of the made by the customer really dictates how the customers will perceive the company from the very start. It is also clear that the way a company or institution can measure its service provision is through the consumer reaction and also the profits accrued during a given period. The University of East London has established all these and is proud to be the sole provider of procurement services in the whole of East London and its environs (Lawrence p.65). Something that is lacking though is the a customer care representative to improvise on handling cases of non-routine customer service that often occurs when the customer’s expectations are not met immediately or have not yet been met since the reporting was done. This requires that the people in the front office have to be very innovative and creative enough to handle these emergent issues at the very instant they arise. The most important thing in the world is having a very elaborate system in which all the people concerned will have to be involved in coming up with suitable compromise or solution that will appease and please the customer (Lawrence p.65). This is the only area that has really put the people in the institution at logger heads with the consumers as this is the most difficult area to attend to compared to the routine requests. It is one of the areas that need be looked at by the institution management to come up with the desired end product and the general satisfaction of the customer (Debra p.34). Another issue that dogs the institution is the unreliability of the transactions that are meant to handle the way that people are interested in coming up with quality service delivery. It has been noted that unreliability of the company to come up with the required mechanism to handle the incoming transactions and outgoing supplies really leads to stalling of businesses and also hinders the provision of requisite necessities. It is important to note that the most important part of an institution is to come up with standards that favour the dispensation of products. It is important that all institutions in the supply chain management should into consideration of all the possible occurring events that constitute of factors that could disrupt the supply of goods. Below is the recommend way of handling issues that are emergent and those that are meant to enhance effectiveness in an organization. Cause effect diagram (Lawrence, 2004). Incentives is the other thing that lacks in this institution and it implies that the institution has to restructure is payments and modes of rewards to encourage the workers to give the relevant service to the customers. Brian (2003) notes that inadequate incentives force the employees to come up with ways in which they will just see the day end and receive their pay at the end of the day. It is important to note that the employees feel short changed by the employers as they are not effectively rewarded for their results. Thus it is clear that poor results are an indication of lack of accountability for results achieved. It is through this that the study met with these challenges that we have to come to a conclusion that the system of offering incentives is required to ensure that the employees feel appreciated for whatever they do and also have the customers appreciate the way they are treated by the employees of the institution (Tech republic 2009). The managers are also seen to withhold duties that will challenge the employees. This is wrong as the employee will in turn withhold their capability and tune themselves to do everything in return to their regular pay or their fixed incentives. It is important to note that the only way that the employees can maximise on their potentials and capabilities is through the direct reward of efforts. This will also motivate them to actually perform their duties excellently and serve the customers efficiently. CONCLUSION: The only way that we can combat these vices that drive away our clients is through the use of relevant materials and well laid out strategies to ensure the customer of quality services. It is important to note that the only way that we can achieve comprehensive reforms in an organization is through the application of various theories that do emphasize on maintaining the customer’s loyalty to the organization’s products. This means that they have to look for alternative methods to ensure service is granted to the people (Cram 2007). Good services enhance loyalty and in turn enhance revenue collection and sales. From the graph below, we note that sales for the institution have greatly decline ever since the start of the year. This is evidenced by the decline in profits. Graph on revenue and sales in ‘000 (Lawrence, 2004) The first way to enhance the quality of services and conversely improve on revenue collection is through the cultivation of better skills to handle their clientele (Lawrence,). The other way is to have good interaction with consumers and this means that we have to look into ways of looking into complains and enquiries. The institution should relegate information through cross training to offer the necessary information to all the employees to decentralize information from one source to every source available. This will increase efficiency and also enable the employees to use their capability to the maximum (p.243). RECOMMENDATIONS: It is important to note that the institution must institute an overhaul of the management structure to ensure that the people in institution are all held accountable through their actions. It is also important to note that the employees play a great role in the attraction and retention of customers thus we recommend that the institute give incentives to the employees to motivate them. They should also ensure reliability through efficiency in transactions. These will ensure that what they receive is per their expectations. Timely response to all the enquiries raised by a client is very important as this will retain more customers due to efficiency and effectiveness of the people involved in handling the complaints. Independence in terms services offered implying that there must be a difference between offering services in relation to the input and agreement of other employees. This will ensure that customer care representatives do not rely on managers to offer services. Specific strategies that look into the handling of employees should be clearly set to see performance improvement and encourage teamwork in recognition to work done. The people will be motivated to work in a free environment and will in turn act responsibility and commitment to achieve the goals of the organization. References: Brian M. 2003, the Customer Service Theory, as viewed on 20th May, 2009 Cram T. 2007, Good Start, Great Finish: Customer Service Excellence as viewed on 20th May, 2009, Debra J 2003, Customer Service Excellence, Washington: McGraw-Hill Professional, p.76-83 Haag, S., Cummings, M., McCubbrey, D., Pinsonneault, A., & Donovan, R. (2006), Management Information Systems for the Information Age (3rd Canadian Ed.), Canada: McGraw Hill Ryerson Lawrence D 2004, Basics of Supply Chain Management, Califonia: CRC press, p.65 Pega-systems Inc 2009, Reducing Operational Costs while Improving Customer service, as viewed on 20th May, 2009, Tech republic 2009, quality customer service, as viewed on 20th May, 2009, Willmont J. 2005, Transforming ‘Good’ customer service to ‘Great’, viewed on 20th May, 2009, http://www.capeconsulting.com/articles/StakeholderMagazinePDF.pdf Read More