with, the Service Desk Manager opposed introducing automated password resets because it would adversely affect his SLA performance by removing these quick-toresolve requests. In that same organisation, the Level 2 team leads resisted sharing knowledge with the Service Desk( to increase First Level Resolution) for the same reason.
Prioritises and resources customer-focused initiatives. Saying that becoming customer-centric is a high priority- along with lots of other high priorities- does not cut it. As Steven Covey once said,“" The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
Makes customer satisfaction a standing agenda item of management meetings. Walking the walk means putting customer satisfaction at the top of the management agenda. Not at the bottom where it gets bumped off when time runs out. The CIO and her management team need to take an active interest in customer satisfaction scores, trends, response rates, how team scores compare to each other, the themes that are emerging from customer feedback, and the progress being made on service improvement initiatives.
Recognises and rewards customer-focused behaviour. When the CIO visibly recognises individuals and teams for providing great service, it shows everyone that customercentricity is truly important.
Democratises customer feedback and insights. A rookie mistake, when it comes to measuring customer satisfaction, is using it to calculate a monthly score which then gets buried on page 16 of a monthly management report. Customer feedback, themes( what are we great at, what we suck at), and scores need to be shared with everyone in IT.
“ The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen”
~ Simon Sinek, Author‘ Start With Why’ &‘ Leaders Eat Last’
If your CIO is not already on board, you need to win her over. To quote Forrester Research …
“ Every successful transformation we studied began with a customer experience epiphany by a CxO. If that realisation hasn’ t happened yet, CX pros can help create the spark of inspiration with executives”.
Here’ s some tips for helping to create that spark of inspiration:
Tip 1- Establish a“ coalition of the willing” with your colleagues. This is what John Kotter advocates in his excellent book‘ Leading Change’. Find people around who are open to change and invite them to join you in creating a movement that inspires and infects those around them.
Tip 2- Show your CIO that customer-centric practices work. Make some changes and actually prove they’ ve had a positive impact. Emphasise whatever benefits resonate most with your CIO. What’ s important to her? Measurement? Productivity? Improving service? Saving money?
Tip 3- Avoid describing what you’ re doing as being a“ better way”. Describe it as an“ alternative way”. And allow your CIO to get the credit for any improvements!
# 2 THREE LISTENING POSTS
The foundation for a customer-centric culture is plenty of timely customer feedback.
There are lots of different ways to collect feedback, such as electronic surveys, focus groups, and interviews. We’ re going to focus on surveys because they’ re by far the most cost effective.
Surveys enable you to get feedback from large numbers of people, in a short amount of time, and for the lowest cost. We recommend collecting customer feedback via three‘ listening posts’:
1. Transactional surveys. 2. Relationship surveys. 3. Compliments and complaints.
Practical Tips
What can you do without leadership? Without CIO leadership, you will not be successful in becoming customercentric. If you go it alone, it will be difficult and any success you do achieve will be short-lived.
Net Promoter is a set of practices for collecting and acting on customer feedback. It provides a practical, effective and customer-friendly way to do both transactional and relationship surveys. In case you’ re not familiar with Net Promoter, let’ s start with a one minute intro …
11 itSMF Bulletin— November 2017