An opportunity not a problem

The prevailing attitude to customer service units in many organisations is that they represent a cost that has to be reduced. Admittedly, developments in IVR technologies and the increasing use of self-service web applications by people may have led people to think that customer service costs should come down dramatically but, as customers’ lives become more complex, this has proved not to be the case.

Organisations face a choice: compete on the basis of service or compete on some other basis (e.g. product innovation or least cost). All of these approaches require that value be released by tapping the innovative potential of the organisation’s people and identifying and eliminating unnecessary work. It is Open Chord’s contention that the most beneficial thing an organisation can do is to use that released value to deliver superior service as this will:

• Reduce the cost of acquiring new customers as existing customers will be more loyal.
• Improve the morale of front-line staff with the knock-on effect of reducing staff attrition costs.

Open Chord can help organisations deliver superior customer service by working with people to improve their capability to innovate in support of improved customer experiences and more effective ways of working.