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CCA Excellence Awards 2009 - Customer Service Case Study with Vodafone
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“I can honestly say that the relationship we have with HEROtsc is far and away the best I have experienced”.
Vodafone Outsource Relationship Manager.
The Background
HEROtsc has received a number of industry awards and recognitions. Its most recent was a Highly Commended in the Best Outsourcing Partnership Category of the 2009 CCA awards. Here we look in detail at the special relationship with our client Vodafone and the innovative, customer-pleasing and money-saving initiatives that prompted this industry accolade.
The Philosophy
HEROtsc has an over-riding philosophy that dominates every aspect of our relationship with our clients.
We don’t just work for them. We work with them.
We don’t just hear what they want us to do – and deliver those basic requirements.
We examine every aspect of our clients’ customer relation needs and use our experience and knowledge to suggest improvements to the services we have been asked to provide.
These special relationships don’t happen overnight. They are built up over months then years of trust and the development of a mutual understanding of clients’ aims and ambitions. They are then augmented by a shared desire to maximise the potential of both companies.
The Client
Vodafone is one of the world’s leading mobile phone companies – and has been a HEROtsc client for a number of years. In our sites in Kilmarnock and Dunoon, we now handle all Vodafone’s Pay As You Go Customer Service Issues for the UK.
In that time, HEROtsc has built up a detailed knowledge of Vodafone’s PAYG operation and its customer service demands and requirements.
Most importantly, it has also won the trust and admiration of Vodafone and established a positive and mutually beneficial working relationship with a client whose image and blue-chip status demands the very best.
The Partnership
We view our role with Vodafone as a partnership - and a constantly evolving relationship that seeks to improve the service we give to our client and our client’s customers.
Our customer service advisors don’t just speak to Vodafone customers on individual problems. The company studies call volumes and subject matters and constantly analyses these figures and trends.
We are keenly aware of customer dissatisfaction among the calls we handle and constantly examine these types of calls in case they might lead to a deeper problem. Once identified the company will suggest a possible solution and set up a small pilot project to test this theory on some incoming calls.
Should this prove successful, HEROtsc will then suggest to Vodafone that this pilot project be introduced across the entire programme. In this way Vodafone gets constant feedback from those directly on the front line of customer service and can base their business decisions on the best possible information. The in-depth knowledge of the Vodafone business and trust gained through years of top-quality service allows HEROtsc to identify potentially serious customer service issues and suggest possible and timely solutions to them.
The Example
One of Vodafone’s most popular packages is their Family Plan – which, among its many benefits, allows family members to enjoy free calls to each other. Earlier this year, despite its undoubted popularity, HEROtsc staff began to notice a steady increase in the number of dissatisfied customers who were on this plan – and to monitor the causes of these calls.
The HEROtsc staff noticed a growing unhappiness with the method changing the members of the user group within the Family Plan. Callers were complaining it was too complicated and cumbersome to add or delete names. Due to customer confusion, this problem was causing lots of people to call Vodafone and, sometimes, have to call back more than once. This resulted in high volumes of Family calls, which was expensive as well as a poor customer experience. Having spotted the problem, HEROtsc then gave considerable thought to the best ways of resolving this.
Their solution, recommended to and accepted by Vodafone, was to introduce a change in the system allowing the customers to make these changes themselves – either via their mobile or via a website. HEROtsc advisors were also retrained to describe how these automated routes worked to each customer - preventing the need to call again. It has worked. From being among the top five subjects of dissatisfaction handled by HEROtsc for Vodafone, this aspect has now dropped well down the complaints league.
This solution has not only enhanced Vodafone’s reputation with their customers – it has saved them money. Less customers complaining has meant almost 50% less calls to the customer relations services team – and a subsequent drop in costs incurred by Vodafone.
The Testimonials
Vodafone Outsource Relationship Manager:
“In six years of this role with Vodafone, I have worked with many suppliers and partners. I can honestly say that the relationship we have with HEROtsc is by far and away the best I have experienced.
“There is an absolute buy-in to our strategy to make things easier for our customers and remove unnecessary calls from the estate – even though efficiency ultimately means less business for them!.
“They also have a very detailed knowledge of our customer base – to the point of suggesting and creating initiatives that will drive customer satisfaction.”
Vodafone Head of Consumer Marketing:
“We have a robust partnership with HEROtsc who have not only delivered a consistently high level of service but have used their understanding of our customers needs to re-engineer processes to remove waste and enhance the experience.
“They are mature in their thinking around contractual experiences and are confident to back their capability commercially – which helps balance the risk between the two companies.”
HEROtsc Business Manager:
“I have never worked in such a collaborative and integrated client and outsourcer relationship. Vodafone have involved HEROtsc in the highest levels of decision making and offered us a unique level of creative freedom.
“Consequently we have combined to create a culture of constant improvement with unified goals and financial rewards for both parties that has been delivering consistently excellent results and mutually beneficial successes.”
The Award
With the enthusiastic support of the client, HEROtsc used their relationship with Vodafone as the basis of their entry for the Best Outsourcing Partnership Category of the 2009 CCA Global Excellence Awards.
To the delight of both companies the judges recognised the strength and skills of the HEROtsc/Vodafone entry which made the final shortlist and was then Highly Commended at the awards’ presentation.
