Customer Management

Our monthly roundup of insight, analysis and new thinking on customer management and customer relationships

What next for the contact centre?

How we’re putting loneliness on hold

The latest news and views from CapitaOff the Press+

In conversation with Anne Marie Forsyth of the CCA

The South African agents who love UK callsThe Capita team that’s truly golden

INTELLIGENCE

SECTOR DIGEST

Last year Facebook was leaping into the chatbot fray with abandon – 30,000 of them operating by September.

This year… not so much. The social network is scaling back its AI efforts after reports that 70% of Facebook Messenger chatbots are actually failing to fulfil users’ requests. Facebook is shifting focus to answering a more limited set of questions, but getting them right.

Brands need to focus more on contact centre data and customer experience feedback if they are to save costs, increase organisational efficiency and build stronger customer relationships. A US study by Clarabridge, who supply customer experience software solutions, surveyed 1600 contact centre agents and customers. The aim was to compare their views on interactions and common frustrations, and see where they connected.

26% of agents said feedback on customer service was collected, but never distributed to other departments in the organisation.

Only 25% of agents felt “completely satisfied” by their last call. Customers put it at 15% .

48% of agents said customers were “angry and impatient” and 34% felt they didn’t have the authority to resolve the customer’s issue.

67% of consumers in this US-based survey admitted to raising their voices when dealing with contact centres.

Clarabridge CEO Mark Bishof said the survey showed the most common frustrations were frequently shared by agent and customer alike, adding that executives were underestimating an “unprecedented opportunity to use contact centre data for continual business improvement.”

In recent weeks Harvard Business Review has weighed in on the customer service metric debate with a report chastising Average Handling Time as ‘a relic of the old service world.’

… It’s an inappropriate measure in this age, they argue, because customers are aware of its existence and can ‘hear the stopwatch ticking’ as agents try to conclude calls.

…It’s also a culture killer for empathy and what HBR calls ‘network judgment’ – where agents figure things out together rather than being fixated on the clock or the script. Time for it to go, declared a trio of HBR customer service experts in February.

About face on chatbots? Where your advisors think you’re going wrong

1min23s, 1min24s, 1min25s…

AI Customer Management

Customer Management

26%

25%

48%

67%

Setting brands a tough equation to balance, customers are saying they want both more security and more personalisation. A survey by Opinium Research of 24,000 consumers across 12 countries has revealed that 89% say they need to know how secure their information is, but equally 80% increasingly expect providers to personalise services for their needs. And that’s a challenge.

Promise you won’t tell anyoneData Security

Ocado is to start pushing real-time personalised shopper marketing campaigns based on customers’ online behaviour.

It’s working with relationship marketeers Selligent to deliver rapidly tailored messages, building on Ocado’s 2016 adoption of an AI programme to organise customer emails.

Personal in real time

Retail

The proportion of customers who’d be keen to see voice identification introduced (well at least in the Asia/Pacific region, according to a recent voice biometrics survey). Of an admittedly modest 900-strong sample of consumers from Australia to India, 88% said they were up for voice ID, 55% said they considered answering security questions to a stranger over the phone frustrating and 46% said it soured their contact experience.

DON’T BUY A CONTACT CENTRE PHONE SYSTEM IN

THE SAME WAY YOU BUY A WASHING

MACHINE.

At first a slightly odd warning from open-source software author James Passingham, but the point he’s making is that modern washing machines come with 20 different programmes when we only use three on average. And phone systems frequently arrive with a mass of complexity aimed at eliminating human error, yet all the while customers are asking for things to be simpler and service more personal. “At a time when every consumer survey shows that voice and personal communication are still favoured over all other channels by a long way, this isn’t good news.”

The increasing desire for ‘faster, sooner’ from customers is making it tough for retailers to keep their supply chain systems and technologies up to expectations. A survey of 200 retailers by ecommerce experts Convey showed only 3% of them think their current systems could support their goals to improve customer service, while 66% felt existing systems did nothing to enhance it. This leaves many retailers scrabbling to shake out the legacy supply chain technologies holding them back in the modern ‘anytime, anywhere, anyhow’ shopping paradigm.

Eighty-eight percent 88% Press button one for iron dry

!

Supply chains feeling the digital pressure

Picture worth a thousand codes

Technology Contact centre technology

Retail

Webchat and messaging

Twitter has been humanising its direct messages, adding customer service agents’ names, titles and pictures so it’s more obvious that there’s a person not a robot responding to your enquiry.

T-Mobile has been the first to jump on the idea, with more brands expected to follow.

Scrapping scripts and tick sheets has paid off for Screwfix. Their less formalised ‘simply better service’ initiative bagged them the Customer Service Initiative of the Year award at the Retail Week Awards in March.

Judges said that Screwfix’s ambitious reforms of how it considers its customers, stores and staff had produced a like-for-like sales rise in their latest results and an expansion of their customer base. Advisor to advisor transfers in their contact centre had been cut, while customers’ views on ease of shopping and making contact were both improved.

Fixing it for customersCustomer experience

In a developing stance against offshoring in a Trump America, March saw a bipartisan bill introduced in the US Congress to strip companies that move contact centres overseas of grants or guaranteed loans from the government. Part of the bill’s aim was to produce a public shaming list of ‘bad actors’ shifting jobs overseas, but stopped short of mandating against companies moving call centres offshore at all (a threat hinted at earlier during the Presidential campaign).

America turns the screw on offshoring

Outsourcing

What did Health Insurance CEO Alan Murray learn when he spent some hours fielding calls in his own contact centre?

To listen: “Is the caller calm and patient, expecting a prolonged and detailed conversation? Or is she rushed, talking on her car’s speakerphone with three kids screaming in the background?” The experience taught Murray that if you don’t have the empathy to figure that out and allow for it, you won’t have a successful company, no matter what business you’re in.

To be proactive: with random acts of kindness for customers such as sending them a handwritten card of congratulations for a new baby.

To always look on the bright side: ”Sure, a lot of customer service has to do with listening to gripes and complaints and problems,” reflects Murray, “but it’s also an opportunity to have a direct conversation with the people who use your product or your service and to hear just how much it means to them.” Writing in Entrepreneur magazine, the CEO of CareConnect Insurance in the US maintained that now, no matter how busy he is, he always clears a few hours a week in his schedule to get on the line in his contact centre and stay up to date with customer feedback.

A CEO mans the phones

Customer management

Argos has topped the charts for its omni-channel offering. A look at 30 leading UK non-food retailers by ecommerce consultants Practicology concluded that Argos lead the pack in the variety and performance of its cross-channel shopping journeys.

…Close behind were House of Fraser and John Lewis. All three demonstrated “extensive support” for those shoppers who used multiple touchpoints before completing purchases.

…Meanwhile retailers further down the list suffered from the inability to offer information on in-store stock, poor signage for in-store pickup, no click-to-call numbers on their mobile site, online editorial-style content that wasn’t shoppable, and numerous other issues.

…Random historical note: Argos was named after the Greek city in which founder Richard Tompkins was holidaying when he had the idea for the stores in 1973.

King of the multiple journeyOmnichannel

File under “who knew that was a problem?” Capital One has declared its latest chatbot to be neither male nor female but “gender-neutral”, giving it the name Eno, which is One backwards. (Well, guess Neo is already taken, but wonder what Brian Eno thinks about it?) The decision was apparently in response to criticism that too many digital assistants have female names like OK Google or Cortana or Siri or Bixby or…er… ok Alexa. To make Eno seem more human, Capital One customers can also instruct it via emojis; a bag of money to request an account balance, a thumbs up to confirm a payment. Should you feel the unaccountable urge to inquire of the chatbot what its gender might be, Eno will slyly say “Binary”. See what they did there?

Chatboth

eno

Banking

John Lewis’ new Partner App is set to roll out across the phones of 8,000 staff in 20 stores, so they can quickly check stock across all branches without visiting stock rooms or tills. The retailer trialled at it at their Cambridge store where customer feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The app cut response times and meant partners didn’t need to leave customers to answer a question or complete a sale. It’s a £4m investment for JLP.

Empowering partners

Retail

Anne Marie Forsyth Chief Executive, CCA

In conversation with

The CCA – or Contact Centre Association as it was originally christened – boasts some of the UK’s deepest insights into what makes contact centres tick. For 20 years it’s been gathering knowledge about the behaviours, beliefs, technology and talent that help centres deliver customer service excellence.

The CCA’s Global Standard and Excellence Awards have become benchmarks by which organisations judge the quality of their service, and the CCA now extends its reach into strategy and thought leadership for the industry.

We asked CCA Chief Executive Anne Marie Forsyth where she sees the contact centre and customer service industries going, and what the centre – and agent – of tomorrow will look like.

So how did CCA begin?“We started in the days when call centres were springing up all over the place. Back then they were just that - ‘call’ centres. They were relatively simple things and the main agenda at the time was where to site them - often in remote areas or cities where manufacturing had been decimated - and how to populate them. We really began by helping people get that off the ground. I was one of the founders and CCA is now 20 years old.

And what about today?“Now we’re more about helping organisations understand the value of customer relationships. Yes we focus on contact centres, but not exclusively, and those centres can be very different from the early days. They might be virtual, there might be organisations with mixed models - insourcing, outsourcing, global sourcing all mixed together - then there’s homeworking and of course lots of different channels.

“Often the biggest challenge we help organisations with today is how to make sense of that complex structure, and to ensure it makes sense to the customer as well, who doesn’t see any of what goes on in the background.

“So our agenda is very much about that complexity, about helping organisations achieve operational excellence, and around strategic support in, essentially, getting more out of the customer.”

What’s involved in doing that?“Well we have an industry thought leadership group that includes 43 leading organisations. Collectively they make up about 25% of customer service in the UK with major brands across all sectors from finance to outsourcing to media. So that’s quite a bit of expertise.

“We encourage them to think not just about today’s customer service but about tomorrow’s challenges, though we don’t think very far ahead… I think the times of making ten-year plans are gone. This is such a fast-paced and constantly changing industry that organisations are more concerned with the issues of today and the next few years, rather than decades ahead.

“Our USP, which I think we do very well, is always looking for new ways to share. When we bring together like-minded organisations and experts at webinars or in task groups, we spread all those inputs to the rest of the industry. I think that’s incredibly valuable.”

There’s a massive, pent up demand for authenticity, empathy and real conversations, but often that hasn’t been allowed to happen to any great degree.

“

You’re also known for your Global Standard that independently audits customer service excellence. What’s involved and how do you measure it?

“The Global Standard is now version 6, evolving to version 7, and it’s the definitive standard for customer service and contact centres. We introduced it to the market in 2001 and it’s been continuously reviewed ever since, with hundreds of organisations contributing to the process.

“We use independent assessors from major organisations such as BSI, but also individual industry experts as well. There’ll be many of them out there, visiting organisations all the time.

“It’s very definitely not a ticking the box exercise.

“As part of our Strength Finder process our assessors are looking for cohesiveness and communication throughout an organisation. Does what the board says it does for customer service actually match up to what’s delivered on the frontline? And if customers are having a problem, is there a route to rapidly identifying and solving it?

How can you judge one organisation’s ‘excellence’ against another’s?

“I think there’s a whole series of non-prescriptive measures of what a well run organisation should be doing around its customer service.

“Of course they’ll all be doing it differently. For example, if you’re working in a highly regulated environment, then within that context you’ll have to prove you’re being fair to customers and listening to what they say. Whereas in, say, a public sector housing organisation, your strategy and objectives may be quite different. Your call lengths are longer, you’ll have a chain of supply, and many of the calls may be about getting things fixed by other suppliers.

“But that doesn’t mean they can’t still apply the same standard, because the standard takes account of what sort of organisation you are.

“And you can also measure excellence in its component parts, which is what our Excellence Awards are about.

“I’d have to say the standard of award submissions over the last five years has risen incredibly. One of the most frequent comments we get from our judges is that things are so tight at the final stage of the process. There are just so many good applicants.”

What do organisations that go through the Global Standard process get out of it, other than the recognition itself?

“Organisations who’ve done it talk so positively about it - about how it brings the whole organisation together. How it helps them break down silos. How it makes everybody focus on the things they’re doing for the customer that need improving. How it highlights what they’re doing right that perhaps they didn’t even realise they were doing so well.

What are the big questions you’re getting asked at the moment?

“The sort of questions we hear a lot right now are things like: ‘what is everybody else doing about

artificial intelligence, robotics and automation? Our board has asked us, and we need to understand it.’

“I think that can be a sign of what boards get wrong and struggle with. They’re just not sufficiently digitally aware of the issues

involved. Not always, but often, boards tend to be made up of older people who are used

to a command and control structure. They don’t appreciate that often it’s their very junior people who

are their lifeline on this subject.

“In fact one of the big strands for us this year is leadership.

“None of the things we talk about in customer service – the improvements, the excellence – is achievable without good leadership that leads on behalf of the customer. Leadership that, when it comes across something it doesn’t understand, asks for views that are much wider than those of the board.”

Are there areas where you think the industry has misjudged what’s happening in customer service?

“One of the changes people over estimated was the degree to which call centres would decline. There was a feeling, say five or six years ago, that voice was on its way out. Everything was going to be on web chat, self serve, etc, so we weren’t going to need as many people, which meant we didn’t have to put as much effort into recruiting and training them.

“But while automation is happening in other areas, we still have a lot of people answering phones, and for them the challenges are bigger than ever because they are dealing with so much more complexity. For example, organisations tell us that some of their younger staff are really stretched and stressed by the complex and emotional stuff coming at them from callers who may be in dire circumstances. They struggle to deal with it. In my view there’s been an under investment in people… and people are rightly coming back into fashion.”

None of the things we talk about in customer service – the improvements, the excellence – is achievable without good leadership that leads on behalf of the customer.

“

What about the future of the contact centre?“In a way I think that’s tied up with the search for authenticity and agent empowerment. We might start to look at different ways of working to encourage that.

“When did we ever say that people doing selling have to be glued to their desks all the time? What’s wrong with getting up and wandering around while helping a customer? We’ve got wireless everything, do we really need to sit – especially when we have a growing problem with obesity and sedentary jobs in this country?

“Also, if you’re a young person, you’re used to sorting all this stuff on your mobile, while you’re mobile. That’s the way Millennials are thinking and organisations will need to recruit very differently to make future contact centres work.

“I think we’re going to see more community-based centres of contact excellence. Yes, large, traditional contact centres will continue because not everything moves quickly. You’ll still need a lot of centralised services for financial services and the public sector. But you’re going to see many more models of communication set up around hubs, spokes and distributed models.

“I think you’ll see more homeworking. That’s a hockey stick curve with lots of organisations trialling it for contingency reasons, but my guess is there’ll come a point when it suddenly takes off.

“We don’t need confidentiality for everything, so why couldn’t agents be solving customers problems on the bus, train or whatever, and bringing their own devices into work and so on? A truly digital native workforce.

“We also tend to forget that a massive chunk of contact centre activity is around the health service, social services, charities and so on.

“I personally think there will be a lot more employment in this sector for people caring and serving people, but it will be differentiated from the way it is today. I think we will become much more aware of the power of groups - groups of Millennials coming together in an organisation, problem solving, forming communities, handling multiple enquiries at the same time, through chat, for people like themselves.

“I believe we are in a transition phase at the moment, with some key drivers that are going to tip events, and Millennials are definitely one of them.

“Finally I’d say that as a CEO your job is to find better ways to do business. To do that you have to truly understand how customer service will help you meet your strategic aims. You’ll need to make some hard decisions over the next few years, and you can’t do that without knowing the truth of these things.

“So for me one of the big challenges in this industry is leadership that is too comfortable sitting on 97% CSAT rates. When you dig down deeper, that impressive looking figure could be obscuring all sorts of other problems. And I believe those problems are hiding because organisations are not listening to their people and practising authenticity. It’s absolutely essential.”

For more information on the work the CCA does, go to: www.cca-global.com

What customers think. (10,000 of them…)

Earlier this year Capita Customer Management hosted a webinar to consider the State of the Customer Service Nation in 2017.

A range of speakers explored the latest satisfaction figures, the role of social media and what can be learned from the best-in-service businesses.

It was so popular that we’ve decided to rebroadcast some of the material in Intelligence for those who missed the webinar when it was originally aired. First up are the highlights of the Institute of Customer Service’s twice-yearly Customer Satisfaction Index. Drawn from surveys of more than 10,000 customers, it forms a snapshot of how customers were thinking as 2017 kicked off.

That’s up 0.8 compared to early 2016 and is the fourth consecutive growth in customer satisfaction, now at its highest point since July 2013.

But though overall satisfaction shows a gratifying creep upwards, there are quirks elsewhere in the figures.

The UK Customer Satisfaction Index score as 2017 got underway was 77.8

The top tenAmazon.co.uk is the top rated organisation. Behind Amazon in the top ten are ASOS.com, John Lewis, M&S (both food and non-food), Waitrose, Nationwide, first direct, Greggs, giffgaff and Iceland.

…and the top 5038% of the top 50 are from the two retail sectors (food and non-food). Twenty organisations that feature in 2017 were not there in last year’s list.

The big result

Between the best and worst

The gap between the highest and lowest performers has narrowed, largely thanks to the lowest scorers improving their game. This is particularly noticeable among utilities, banks, transport and telcos.

65% of utilities and 44% of transport organisations that received a UKCSI score in both January 2016 and 2017, have improved their rating by at least two points. Of the 14 train operating companies in the UKCSI, eight have seen their score increase by at least two points.

…and what separates themThe biggest differentiators between the top 50 organisations and the other 180 in the UKCSI appear to be their quality of complaint handling and ability to deliver a good, over-the-phone experience. However the gap has dwindled.

Is on the increase. The number of customers who said everything was right first time with their most recent contact was

3.4% up on last year.

Right first time

Satisfaction has grown in all 13 sectors (with the exception of automotive, which stays flat).

Across the sectors

Customers are working harder…

Customer effort, flat since January 2015, has lifted by 0.3. Small, but it does imply people are having to put more effort into their relationships with organisations to make them work.

…but not recommending as much…Meanwhile the Net Promoter score (a measure of advocacy among consumers) fell by 5.2 points.

...and running into problemsThe number of customers experiencing problems with an organisation grew from 12.6 to 13.1%. That’s odd, thought the ICS, as a growth in overall satisfaction is generally partnered by a fall in problems. More of those customers also ended up making a complaint. Late delivery, slow service and the suitability or availability of goods and services were the most common irritants.

Those retail food companies with a UKCSI at least one point higher than the sector average achieved year-on-year sales growth averaging at 7.2%. Those with a UKCSI one point lower...just 0.2% growth.

Tesco secured one of the sector’s largest satisfaction increases of 1.2 points. Across the same period (and perhaps not unconnected) its sales grew by 2.2% compared to last year.

Banks with the highest customer satisfaction scores have been the most successful in adding current accounts. The four banks included in the CASS Dashboard whose UKCSI sat higher than the sector average in January 2016 – Nationwide, TSB, Santander and Halifax – collectively achieved an average of 24,476 net current account gains, representing 66% of all current account gains recorded by the CASS.

Customer service pays

In summary, the January 2017 UKCSI report said…

“Many organisations are performing better on some of the essential elements of customer service, especially in getting things right first time and dealing with problems and complaints. But it has become more challenging to convert improvements in customer service to tangible customer loyalty and advocacy. We have identified six key areas of focus that will help organisations develop customer experience strategies that deliver sustained performance and generate loyalty and recommendation.

1. Making experiences easier 2. Preventing problems at source 3. Consistency across channels, especially the crucial channels of over-the-phone and email 4. Moving seamlessly between fast efficient service and proactive, empathetic help and advice 5. Prioritising customer satisfaction means prioritising employee engagement6. Understanding the broader context of the customer’s relationship with your organisation”

How the Institute of Customer Service pulls the index together.

The UKCSI looks at the state of customer satisfaction across 13 sectors, based on an online survey of 10,000 consumers, chosen to represent the UK adult population by region, age and gender. The January 2017 UKCSI comprises 42,500 responses, 3,000 from each sector except for utilities, which includes 6,500 responses. Customers are asked to rate their experience of dealing with a specific organisation in the previous three months.

Customers rate their experience for over 30 metrics covering staff professionalism, quality and efficiency, ease of doing business, timeliness, problem solving, complaint handling and attitudes towards trust and reputation.

244 organisations received a UKCSI rating. These include 230 named organisations and 14 generic providers including “your local Council”, “your local restaurant/takeaway” etc.

Satisfaction shifts depending on the ‘intensity’ of a customer’s

relationship. For example, in the transport sector, those who use an organisation every day show significantly lower satisfaction

than those using it once a week.

FrequencyThe gap between the highest

and lowest performers has narrowed, largely thanks to

the lowest scorers improving their game. This is particularly

noticeable among utilities, banks, transport and telcos.

“Do the sums and companies where employee engagement has improved by one point see a 0.41% uplift in customer satisfaction.

Employee engagement

Channels and choices

Interactions via websites, chat, apps and text are all up, but email has seen a particular surge

That could be a reflection of the rise in customers experiencing problems with organisations. Email is often the favoured choice for potentially challenging conversations, notes the ICS.

from 4.9% to 9%.

Old vs young

The satisfied young are catching up with the satisfied old. Older customers routinely demonstrate higher satisfaction levels, but this year the gap between the oldest and youngest groups has narrowed to 7.4 points against 8.4 in 2016.

Younger customers can be particularly harsh in their assessment of online experiences, as well as helpfulness and competence of staff. Yet it turns out they’re often happier with complaint handling than older groups. This is most likely because making complaints is something that particularly rankles with older customers, suggests the ICS.

Off the Press+Our roundup of stories, events, successes and ideas from across Capita.

What we’ve been doing and what we’re doing next.

Though I’ve only been in this interim role for a couple of months, it’s already struck me how many excellent things are happening within Capita Customer Management and how many great opportunities there are to improve and strengthen our partnerships.

I’ve spent the last couple of months making my rounds, getting to know the business better and meeting our clients. As someone with a long background in customer service and customer experience – before coming to Capita I was at Vodafone for 10 years, most recently heading up customer services worldwide – I can see a huge number of positives.

We’re building on a very high level of daily delivery where we’re already seeing very high satisfaction scores. Our partnerships are delivering really good, steady performances and there’s enormous potential to move to the next level.

We’re already bringing a differentiated customer experience to our clients’ customers, and there are opportunities to improve the experience for those customers even further.

The set of brands we have, and the breadth of sectors we work in, are also very inspiring.

When I’ve talked to our clients it’s clear they feel Capita is trustworthy, but

they would like to see a higher level of innovation driving the service

forward. And that is absolutely our ambition.

They’ve also voiced concerns on issues around our IT

infrastructure – something we’ve mentioned in previous

issues of Off the Press. So I’m pleased to say we’ve now signed

off on a very solid plan to address them. It involves not just immediate provisions being implemented in April to improve stability, but some long term solutions to give us a more trustworthy IT environment. Importantly we’re not betting on one big new system but several ‘irons in the fire’ that will give us a great deal more stability.

Meanwhile our pipeline is well filled with new brands and clients, and we’re hoping to become the preferred bidder for a number of them very soon.

Finally, one of the impressions I’ve taken away from these first two months has been the willingness of our people to go further on customer experience. In fact many have been crying out to be able to spend more time on it and for us to be more people focused.

I can say there is a real push now from the board on engagement… a new course of action in the company to increase the engagement of our staff and give them the chance to deliver exceptional customer service. And that seems hugely exciting to me.

VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE

Peter Doveren

Managing Director, Capita Customer Management UK and South Africa

"We’re already bringing a differentiated customer experience to our clients’ customers, and there are opportunities to improve the experience for those customers even further."

AWARDS

Each year Capita celebrates the excellence and achievements of its people with an awards lunch. This year it was at One Whitehall Place, London, on January 30th.

All the award winners - both individuals and teams - had been nominated by their own colleagues, as recognition of the inspiration, leadership and support they demonstrated in their day-to-day jobs.

And here are those winners...

In Poland, Capita is a star. In fact the Outsourcing Star. It’s a title Capita Poland carried off for the second year running at the Outsourcing Stars Gala in Lublin (in the BPO of the Year category). And at the annual CEE Shared Services and Outsourcing Awards Gala in Warsaw, Capita Poland secured Business Process Outsourcer of the Year for the third time in a row. The awards are a testament to the team’s success, rapidly building a reputation across the CEE region, even though only established in 2011.

IMMERSED IN THE ARMY The striking ‘With Heart. With Mind.’ officer campaign by Capita’s Army Recruitment (RPP) team won no fewer than four categories in the recruitment industry's prestigious RAD Awards in January. That included the most sought after Work of the Year award, marking out the campaign as the very best the judges had seen during 2016. They declared it exceptional: “a truly immersive candidate experience that gave a real flavour of Army life; combining intelligent use of virtual reality with physical challenges and a very high standard of presentation.”

CAPITA PEOPLE AWARDS 2017 FAME AND FAVOUR

IN POLAND

Award Gold Silver Bronze Highly Recommended Presented by

Leadership Di Main L&P Zurich

Vicky-Jo WarhamUKRB

Mick DorrnUpdata

Chris Strike, Group HRBen Foster, Healthcare Decisions

Andy ParkerChief Executive

TeamworkPaul Wooldridge, Caroline

Howard, Helen Richardson & Tracie Chandler, CIBS

Bina Patel, Jean McCarthy, Jackie

Goodyear & Diana Holdcroft, PiP

Richard Sherrington, Mark Knight, Roger

Salton & Mark TaylorTVL

Gavin Dale, Ryan Shone, Chris Ellard & James Ball, KnowledgepoolShazia Ismail, Maria Chiware, Ben Walker & Theo Bierman, Updata

Peter Hepworth, Divisional Managing

Director,Commercial Services

Innovation &Improvement Zahra Mawani, TVL Shrinivas Kowlagi

Capita India

Carl Malone, Paul McGovern

CIBS Life & Pensions

Nigel Mynett, Project ServicesColin Ingram, BBC Audience ServicesBelinda Livesey, Environmental Health

Nick Greatorex, Group Finance Director

Charitable Support

& Community Engagement

Dusty Miller & Simon Carter, EMS

Dee Potter, Kurtis Bruney, Richard Whiteside & Lee

BirchDixons Carphone

Louisa Muckle, Emma Close, Kayla

Honour Fire Service College

Ryan Judson, Remediation ServicesAdam Gwilliam, Julie Yates & Mandi Matejko, Claims & Underwriting Team L&P Thomas Alderman, Local Government

Shona Nichols, Executive Director,

Corporate Communications

Inter DivisionalCollaboration

Kate Jenner, Simon Welch, Peter Franklin, Lilian Brett

CGS Barnet Partnership

Ian Scholes, Kate Sirett, Nigel Foster &

Ingrid Jackson Ops Improvement, IT, Capita Transition

and Group HR

Nicola Crosbie, Ciara McCoy, Chris Lunt

Capita SIMS, Managed IT Services,

Micro Librarian Systems

Scott Sherwood, David Tasker, Helen Kowalczyk and Jacob Hughes, Fund solutionsAisling Hannon, Banking & Debt SolutionsDave Megan, Workplace servicesLauren Taylor & Andy Hudgell Mike Snow, James Ottaway, Stacy Chance and Bryony Kelly

Chris SellersGroup Business

Development Director

Service Excellence

Lisa TseDebenhams

Karl Buttgen Travel & Events

Richard JohnsonLocal Government

Scott Sherwood, Fund SolutionsJoey Hopkinson, Remediation Services

Vic GysinGroup Operations & Performance Director

AWARDS

The strong, collaborative partnership Capita Travel and Events has built with Direct Line Group paid off in the 2017 Business Travel Awards. It earned them the award for Travel Team of the Year, with judges saying the team’s work together represented “a true example of listening to your travellers. Simply brilliant and a worthy winner.”

…picked up two well-deserved gongs from the Corporate Adviser Awards in March – Best Use of Technology and Firm of the Year. They were also Highly Commended as Pension Adviser of the Year. For the technology prize it was CEB’s work with Police Mutual that earned them top spot. Commenting on the Firm of the Year submission, the judges noted CEB’s commitment to governance and innovations in member engagement, and how their analytics skills set them apart from other contenders.

The CRN Channel Awards exist to acknowledge the effort involved in delivering technological solutions, services and support to UK organisations. In January they recognised the work of Trustmarque, part of Capita’s IT Enterprise Services business, in the public sector by naming them Public Sector Provider of the Year. Trustmarque’s aim is to make the lives of frontline public sector staff easier, and change the perception of what technology can achieve. Since being acquired by Capita in June 2016, its presence in the public sector has grown rapidly.

Capita’s digital agency Orange Bus beat off a slew of big name competitors to walk away with the prestigious Large Agency of the Year award at the Northern Digital Awards 2017. Its work in the private and public sectors (including HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions) has seen Orange Bus grow in stature over the last six months, and judges took into account not just the level and calibre of business obtained but the standard of work delivered.

TRAVELLING TO EXCELLENCE

CAPITA EMPLOYEE BENFITS

ENTERPRISING EFFORTS FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR

FRUIT OF THEIR LABOURS

WELCOMING NEW CLIENTS

The Northern Ireland Education Authority has extended its contract with Capita to provide ICT services for over 1,100 schools in Northern Ireland. The original £170m five-year contract began in 2012. This two-year extension - worth above £50m - will take it to March 2019. Capita provides a managed IT service to every primary, post-primary and special needs school in Northern Ireland, supporting 300,000 pupils and 50,000 teachers and staff. We also provide Capita SIMS management software to every school.

Santander has appointed Capita to provide corporate real estate services across its UK portfolio over the next three years. Capita Real Estate and Infrastructure will provide a full range of professional services including valuation, acquisition and disposal, lease advisory and management services, and will give strategic advice to help Santander unlock value from its real estate portfolio.

Supporting 300,000 pupils

Unlocking value for Santander

Capita Employee Benefits has taken a key step to winning more Local Government Pension Scheme contracts. It’s been appointed to the National LGPS Procurement Framework for both third party pension administration and pension administration support services. The framework helps such pension schemes explore new partnerships faster and more easily. It also gives them the confidence that potential partners – including CEB - meet the strict criteria they need. Capita’s inclusion is a demonstration of the breadth of solutions we offer.

Ready to help local government

PENSIONSEDUCATION

REAL ESTATE

Head of Corporate Responsibility

Ricky Alfred

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Ricky Alfred, head of our CR team, introduces what might just be the ultimate volunteering project for Capita Customer Management agents.

Like a lot of companies, Capita believes in giving people time off to volunteer. The challenge we have is that a lot of our people are on the phone, and need to be on the phone to deliver the contracts we have. And it’s also where their skills lie.

“There is absolute merit in the traditional models of volunteering in the community – decorating, painting, gardening, etc – but that requires something in the local community that needs painting or decorating to make it work.

“We wanted to find a way to help our people support something they cared about, that was accessible to everyone, would have a positive local and societal impact, and would put those special skills to use. A project that would be beneficial for everybody, where the business gets something out of it too because our people are practising the very skills that make them so valuable to our clients.

“So we went out searching for what we could do on the phone, and we happened on The Silver Line.

“In the UK we have an ageing population; not just an ageing population but one that’s becoming ever more isolated. That’s not through anybody’s fault, it’s just the nature of the beast. Among the elderly there is a growing number of people who may not have a proper conversation with anybody for weeks on end.

“The Silver Line is a charity started by Dame Esther Rantzen in 2012. It’s a friendship service that offers a helpline to older people in danger of becoming isolated and lonely and, basically, just chats to them.

“We thought that was perfect. It involves all the skills our people use – empathy, active listening, relationship building.

THE

Silver Lining

“

“So we’ve launched a pilot, and I’d have to say our people have really stepped up – we were heavily oversubscribed with those wanting to help. We’ve identified our first volunteers from a couple of retail clients, as we thought part of this older demographic might already feature among their shoppers.

“Once a week our guys will make an outbound call of 20 to 25 minutes with an elderly person suggested by The Silver Line, just to have a chat and to ease that sense of loneliness. We’re looking to get training happening in April, and once we’ve tested our system and the technology that supports it, we’ll roll it out to the wider population across Capita.

“It also fits with our own experience. For some time we’ve been aware of calls coming into our centres from elderly people where they don’t have an account, and they don’t have an order and you think ...why are they calling? It could be they are just calling for a chat.

“As a business how do we benefit? Because our people have a chance to hone those empathetic phone skills – the ones that move customer contact to customer experience. They can do that outside of their usual call profile and KPIs – the clock is not ticking. Our people will be relationship building in a different way, with someone they initially do not know, and in situations that will not be known to them. Dealing with that will sharpen their thinking and responses in those situations.

“At the same time we can help tackle the increasingly important societal issue of isolation – an issue that can even affect younger people, despite social media – and it all comes together in a really nice package!

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Sparked by an article Dame Esther Rantzen wrote in 2011 charting her own sense of solitude after losing her husband. A huge response from elderly people echoing her thoughts led to the Department of Health awarding an initial grant for Dame Esther to pilot a friendship scheme in 2012 and later The Silver Line was backed by lottery funding.

Since its launch the charity has received over one million calls – two thirds at night and weekends when no other helpline for the lonely elderly is available. They now receive 10,000 calls every week – more than half from elderly people saying they have, quite literally, no one else to talk to.

Today The Silver Line resolves to offer free, confidential information, friendship and advice to older people 24/7, every day of the year. It’s also a member of the coalition carrying on the work of late MP Jo Cox – The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness.

www.thesilverline.org.uk

The History of The Silver Line

“In the UK we have an ageing population; not just an ageing population, but one that’s becoming ever more isolated.”

“

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

The number of steps Capita Asset Services trudged through Jersey’s picturesque hills to raise £2500 for local charities. Sixty staff from Jersey’s Capita office braved the winter chills throughout January to walk the equivalent of 200 times round the island, in aid of Jersey Cancer Relief and Mind Jersey. Their donation will go towards supporting residents finding it difficult to cope financially because of their illness and help provide important intervention services for young people.

The Step Up Charity Challenge is Capita’s annual fund raising event for the Prince’s Trust, with an amazing 386 teams walking a virtual route to raise money for the charity.

This year virtual strollers from across the entire organisation found themselves on a course linking London, Cardiff, Belfast and finally Stirling, with a bonus route across Germany for those still up for a bit of exercise. A quiz at each 200-mile mark also allowed them to gain extra points.

It was a spectacular success, bigger than ever, as the amazing results and stats below should prove.

£32,781

2,300

362,954,686

7

392

4,429,385

Number of steps in total taken by the teams

Number of times that would have got them around the equator

The length in miles of the ‘bonus’ German route linking Berlin, Leipzig, Cologne and Dusseldorf

Eat, Sleep, Walk, Repeat – winners of the team who ‘stepped’ the furthest

How much the teams have raised so far

Number of people involved, including supporting colleagues, friends and family

Capita employees working for Sheffield City Council have raised £2000 for Sheffield’s Children’s Hospital, one of only four dedicated children’s hospital trusts in the UK.

19,716,488

Step Up

It began as three friends running for fun. It ended across the finishing line of the Dubai Marathon. The original running club, formed in the Capita Dubai office, quickly attracted other colleagues keen to train regularly. Its members eventually went on to compete in the marathon and the 10k, many achieving personal bests and raising £950 for charity in the process.

Dashing for the line in Dubai

Claire Quigley, the Trust’s Head of Corporate Partnerships said:

The Prince’s Trust is absolutely delighted by the continued support of Capita employees, who have once again gone the extra mile by taking part in the Capita Step Challenge. Every day thousands of young people come to us for help. Thanks to your support we are helping to change lives and futures across the UK. Once again Capita exceeds all expectations! On behalf of the Prince’s Trust, we want to say a massive thank you!

“

“

Anyone who’s ever helped their kids with maths homework will know the cry: “but what use is it in real life?” CEB colleagues have been doing their bit to answer that particular imponderable. Working with client Marsh they helped deliver a BRAIN workshop at vin Norwich. Standing for Broker, Risk And Insurance Numeracy, BRAIN gives students a chance to play Insurance Broker. Working in teams they employee the maths they’ve learned to help their ‘clients’ get the best insurance deals. Three events to date and all popular. Think of it as training the brokers of the future.

Capita Employee Benefits

ZURICH GOLD

To achieve the Investors in People Gold Standard establishes your organisation as one of the very top ‘people’ performers in the country.

It’s a sign that you’ve achieved the highest scores in motivation and development, and continually involve your teams in the vision and ideas behind your business.

It’s also the accreditation earned by Capita’s Zurich team; 800 front and back office individuals whose work together has garnered recognition that comes to very few organisations in the UK.

Since 2006 Capita has delivered customer servicing, policy administration and new business, plus claims activities and the associated technology to support Zurich’s UK life and pensions business – a partnership that began as one of the country’s largest outsourcing contracts for open book and pension administration services.

Getting started at ground level

When the group first decided to go for IIP accreditation, meeting the basic standard was relatively straightforward, remembers Customer Service Manager Nikki Moss, a key organiser and driving force behind the team’s ambition for gold.

“It’s a set of practices you would expect in any well run professional organisation. But when you’re talking about moving up to IIP’s Gold Standard, that’s something else. That’s about a culture where people are motivated and encouraged to perform at outstanding levels.”

At Gold level IIP expects businesses to move beyond development and training: to encouraging individuals to challenge, to be free to make mistakes in the name of advance and innovation, to be able to stretch themselves and take responsibility for their own development and direction.

People Power “It becomes about involving people in decision making that affects

the business,” says Nikki. “Seeking their views and inputs in an open way, weaving them into the business plans, then keeping people informed of progress and being willing to

change direction if we need to. And communicating that too.”

What’s involved in the processPreparing for Gold involves a mass of

documentation, then a rather nerve-wracking week in which IIP assessors descend on the business and interview, at random, 10% of the staff to see if they agree with and support what’s been said.

“Then the results of all of that are compared to the standards and we get a phone call saying yes you achieved it, or no you didn’t. And we did!”

As the Gold Standard has developed, it’s also got tougher. Today anonymous surveys are part of the process, along with assessors sitting in on team meetings and training.

So what does it all mean for the Zurich team?

“For us as individuals, and as a collective group, we know we can hold our heads up against any other organisation as an exceptionally well performing team,” concludes Nikki. “Our team work, our focus on the customer and our desire to make things better for them are all things we can feel incredibly proud about.

“It also means we can attract great new recruits, because people want to be in an organisation where they know they are going to be developed and stretched.” And from the Capita perspective, it’s an excellent recommendation to potential new clients. “They could be looking to transfer over hundreds of people beneath Capita’s wings, and they’ll want to know those people are going to be looked after well.”

“When you’re talking about moving up to IIP’s Gold Standard, that’s something else. That’s about a culture where people are motivated and encouraged to perform at outstanding levels.”

…OR HOW ONE CAPITA TEAM WENT FOR GOLD

Points that the Investors in People assessors particularly noted about Capita Zurich’s application.

• Strong evidence of Capita values• Excellent team work• People feel valued• Happy to embrace change• A culture of coaching and mentoring

ZURICH GOLD

Capita’s Zurich Team…has been handed a five-star rating on service excellence by AKG Financial Analytics. Performance in surveys, awards, service charters, organisational philosophy and feedback were all taken into account when judging the excellence of Zurich’s Retail Platform.

How Zurich's then Head of Global Customer Care, Tim Culling, responded on hearing the Golden news…

This is FANTASTIC - and so well deserved. Having seen the culture in action, and been able to spend time with some of the people that you have invested in, I am so impressed with the passion, knowledge and quality of Capita Zurich people.

The percentage of UK organisationsconsidered good enough to merit Gold Standard3%

The number of different standards organisations have to hit, within the assessment, to reach Gold126The number Capita Zurich actually hit132

And what about Zurich themselves? What did it represent to them?

“They place a lot of trust in us in terms of what we are doing on their behalf,” affirms Nikki. “So to have the confidence that somebody independent, working against a set of national standards, can say we are as good as good can be… that’s fantastic for them.”

““

THE AGENTS’ ANSWER

We often feature agents in our newsletter, talking about the job they do and revealing a few of the secrets involved in being on the other end of the call. But our teams are not just based in the UK. This time we thought we’d go to Capita’s Cape Town centre and ask a few of our colleagues what it’s like taking calls in South Africa, the parts of the job they most enjoy and the SA team’s reputation for energy and enthusiasm.

On the line from South Africa

“I always like it when customers are shocked to hear I’m in South Africa… because they’ve been looking for me in store!”

Hendricks

Yusrah

Esau

Anthea

Plaatjie

Nomampondomise

Martin

Ethan

THE AGENTS’ ANSWERSo what do you think is special about working from South Africa?

The diversity we have here, and I feel that all South Africans are very friendly. We put ourselves in the customers’ shoes so we can understand where they are

coming from, and we always try to satisfy the customer and the business at the same time.

Great Customer service. We are customer centric and strive for excellence on all our calls. I feel since I’ve started here it has become a family to me as we are

always happy! The approach and open vibe we have is amazing. We confide in each other and I feel that is the centre of our campaign - having a relationship with everybody; my team and my customers who come from all parts of the UK.

We all come from different backgrounds with different cultures, however we still work well together by earning the trust of each other and respecting one another. I

believe that because of our diversity, we each have something different to offer our customers while still providing the same awesome service.

The weather! And the different cultures in South Africa are so diverse. I feel that we are very welcoming. What makes it even better is we have unique traditional foods

and it attracts a lot of people, so South Africa is amazing!!

What do you think is the secret to building a good relationship with a customer over the phone?

Being confident. Believing in yourself and Capita. You can earn your customer’s trust through that, and deliver a great customer experience.

Just having that smile in your voice plays a massive role in your calls because you can hear when somebody smiles.

Even something as simple as asking “how are you doing today” plays a massive role for me in building rapport.

What do you like most about your job?

The customers I deal with and hearing the joy I bring to them with their orders. I feel like a Fairy Godmother at the end of the day! Also just listening

to the customer is a good feeling; sometimes you know they just need someone to listen to them.

Dealing with different sorts of people every day. It’s great to come to work knowing you’re helping people.

The people I work with! We’re more like family.

Being able to build new relationships every day while maintaining the ones we already have.

Tell us some funny or memorable moments.

The most memorable would have to be my very first call ever, taken back in November 2014. I was a nervous wreck! But I’ve grown so much since that

first call and that nervousness seems strange looking back now.

The dress up and theme days we have within our unit are always good, like the Masquerade Ball or Halloween Day. Everybody participates, dresses up and shows off!

I always like it when customers are shocked to hear I’m in South Africa… because they’ve been looking for me in store!

Your latest news, views and stories - straight from the floor

VOLKSWAGEN

In the last few months CSC has seen two important additions to our team: ‘Yorkshire’ Jason (our new Account Director, Jason McKinley) and ‘Aussie’ Jason (our Partnership Director, Jason Allen).

Here we give both of them the chance to introduce themselves, and say what excites them about the future for CSC.

JASON MCKINLEY

Where are you from?

A small village in the middle of nowhere; Patrington, east of Hull, close to Spurn Head. In fact I’m moving back there from Reading, where I’m currently based. My husband is buying a house in the village and it’s where my family still live.

How did you get to Capita?

Not an obvious journey… I studied Geography and Geology at Manchester University. I worked for Thames Water for 14 years. My claim to fame would be project managing a new well at Buckingham Palace! Eventually I headed up Billing Operations at Thames Water – 13 million customers – then went to HomeServe, helping to champion putting the customer first. In fact investigating best practices in

THE

Two Jasons

complaint handling has become one of my specialist subjects and is a real driver for me.

I’ve been with Capita for two-and-a-half years. As Transformation Director I’ve continued to focus on operations where there are challenges and opportunities to not only make improvements, but to grow.

What was your first impression of the CSC?

When I first came to the CSC it was with my Transformation Director’s hat on, and I was pleased to see lots of positives, right from my first day here. I see a lot of passion and focus on the customer and a real culture of supporting colleagues and working together as teams.

What is your vision for the CSC?

I haven’t come here with a master plan, and I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to lay down the law. I am very much in listening mode, and working closely with the Brands to understand their values and ambitions, before sharing our vision. But I’ve got lots of ideas, and we’re going to busy with lots of innovations.

We’re already working with ŠKODA on the launch of an online ‘live tour’ for the Kodiaq in early April. More Brands are adopting Live Chat/Social Media, as customers are becoming more and more demanding about the ways they prefer to contact us and it’s great that we’re offering more channels. But there’s so much more we can be doing within our Digital Hub. More about that in the future.

I’m really excited about being here at the CSC. We’ve got so much to look forward to and so many successes to celebrate, if we all work together and truly make that boat go faster.

JASON ALLEN

Tell us a little about yourself and your role here at Capita?

I joined Capita just over a month ago and I am really pleased to be working with the team as Partnership Director. I’ve heard loads about the great work done on behalf of VWG. Personally I’m a big advocator of employee engagement and making the workplace a more enjoyable environment. I’m a firm believer that happy employees = happy customers, so if we’re having a good time we should see strong CSAT scores too.

And what about before Capita?

I’m really lucky that I’ve had some dream jobs during my career, such as being the CEO of Australia’s biggest car racing event, and CEO of the Waratahs, one of Australia’s leading rugby union teams. Being a typical sports-mad Aussie, these have definitely been highlights for me!

Tell us something about your attitude to business.

When Capita’s partnership with Three launched earlier this month, I was with the team and they’d displayed some fantastic famous quotes about partnerships. One quote that really resonated with me was from the author, Jodi Picoult:

“The act of reading is a partnership, the author builds a house, but the reader makes it a home”.

Customer Technical Support Specialist When the questions start to get tricky, it’s Pete Bell you need on the phone. Pete works on the Technical Team, providing specialist support across the CSC.

Tell us a bit about yourself and who you work for.

“I think I’m a hard working person who gets on with everyone who works for CSC. I’m hands on and always willing to help anyone at any time, in and out of my working hours. I recently won the ‘Customer Service Recognition’ award for 2016.”

What’s your role and your background?

“My role is Customer Technical Support Specialist, which involves supporting all areas, from Frontline calls to Case Managers who can have difficult cases to deal with, and we sometimes have to help manage. Also we help the Parts team who ask questions about which parts are fitted in different models and whether a TPI (a reference for an ongoing technical issue) is relevant to the car. An important part of the role is working with the Mobility Team (who keep customers on the road) with timing jobs on customer vehicles.

“The Technical Team also carry out training on demonstration cars across all brands with all teams here at the CSC, so it gives everyone a chance to increase their product knowledge.”

3) Give us an example of a typical day. What sort of questions and situations do you come up against?“A typical day for me is answering Frontline questions, often about oil specifications, timing belts and other queries their customers raise. I also carry out training most days, and I look after our cases which involve offering goodwill or dealing with any enquiries from the Police where they need specialist technical input.”

Pete BellTHE AGENT’S ANSWER

VOLKSWAGEN

How has your job changed over the years and why do you still like it?

“I’ve seen all sorts of changes, including different managers and new processes, and I’ve seen the CSC grow and improve. The main reason I like working here is the people, but I’ve always enjoyed working with cars too. I’ve been a technical specialist for 30 years and I’m always happy to share ideas and put them forwards. I hope that’s a way I’ve been able to help VWG.”

What do you think is the secret to building a good relationship, both with customers and colleagues?

“The secret is to be friendly, to get to know the customer and to communicate well with them. And I try to share our knowledge with all the other agents. It’s good when they thank me for being helpful and showing them what’s happened.”

VWG Digital Hub expands

Customers increasingly want to contact brands through the channel of their choice, be it social media, web chat or other digital routes. Our Volkswagen Customer Service Centre’s Digital Hub has been fielding such contacts for Audi and Volkswagen Passenger cars for over a year, and now two more brands - ŠKODA and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles – have joined in. The Hub’s teams work closely with the brands’ social media marketing agencies, taking on conversations that require in-depth brand knowledge and customer service skills. The intention is to help customers get the information they need, and contact experts about various products and services, faster and easier. Look out for a more detailed story of how the Hub works in a future issue.

I think this is a great quote because we can say the same about our partnerships with our clients. Our clients create and provide their business/offer (the house). What we do in connecting with their customers (often during those critical ‘moments of truth’) and being the voice of their business, helps bring it to life and gives it personality. It makes the house a home.

From a business point of view I think that once you get the people piece right, everything else should follow. That’s the key to success.

Your latest news, views and stories - straight from the floor

Customer Experience Advisor for Debenhams

Lisa recently picked up the Gold Award in the Capita People Awards for Service Excellence in recognition for the fantastic work she does for Debenhams. So we asked her about it.

Tell us a bit about yourself and who you work for.

“My name is Lisa Tse. I work for Debenhams at Capita and started in 2012 so it has nearly been five years.”

What’s your role and your background?

“I work as a customer experience advisor taking inbound calls. I’ve also had the opportunity to support other departments, such as communications, and I am currently working with the risk and compliance team. Prior to working for Capita I worked as a sales associate for TK Maxx, so I have strong customer service background!”

Give us an example of a typical day – what sort of questions and situations do you come up against?

“There are different queries from customers ranging from chasing orders to booking a personal shopper appointment. During major sales it can be very busy and for the majority of the time the calls relate to placing orders and stock checks.

“From experience you can get a day where you find you get a lot of general queries with no complaints at all, and then on other days you find that you get a number of escalated calls that are more challenging to resolve, e.g. a customer who has multiple failed collections of a return or an ongoing disputed delivery.”

Lisa Tse

What do you think is the secret to building a good relationship with a customer over the phone? How do you set customers at their ease?

“To always put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Be empathetic to their situation when something has gone wrong. Reassure them and let them know how you are going to resolve their issue. And always follow through on any actions you have promised the customer.”

What do you think is special about working for Debenhams?

“I do find that with Debenhams there are good opportunities to progress if you want to.

Prior to peak time, everyone is encouraged to express their interest for other roles on the unit. This gives you the chance to experience something different and new. You can then decide if that particular role is right for you and something you want to pursue.”

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given about being an agent?

“As an advisor you will always come across irate customers who will voice their dissatisfaction and it can feel like they are shouting at you. Therefore keep in mind that it is not you that they have a problem with. Do that and you’ll stop you taking any comments that the customer says personally, and you’ll

perform better on the call.”

What was it like winning the Gold Award? Why do you think you won it?

“It was unexpected and it felt great to be recognised. I’m the type of person who has a high standard when it comes to my own performance. I always complete tasks to the best of my ability and never expect anything in return as in my mind I’m only doing my job. So to have my operations manager nominate me and then win was an amazing feeling.”

“I will always remember the moment where I was waiting for my name to be called and being so nervous. I had an image of myself walking to the stage and tripping over! Thankfully that didn’t happen.”

DEBENHAMSTHE AGENT’S ANSWER

“ I was so nervous. I had an image of myself walking to the stage and tripping over!”

If you have feedback, questions or any thoughts on what you’d like us to cover, please contact: Jo Knight, Client Experience, Customer Managementjo.knight@capita.co.uk07710 384705

www.capitacustomermanagement.co.uk

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