Accenture Service Transformation Rethink

8/3/2019 Accenture Service Transformation Rethink

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Accenture Service Transormation

Rethink, Redene, Reinvent

Transorming customer serviceor high perormance


2/122 Rethink, Redene, Reinvent

2 Rethink, Rene, Reinvent

Reinvent


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Accenture Service Transormation 3

With poor service quality remaining the

number one orce pushing customers

into the arms o waiting competitors, the

message to companies is clear: the key

to growth and protability is to retaincustomers by delivering a satisying

experience. Satised customers cost

up to 25 percent less to serve and can

generate up to 30 percent more new

revenue. Moreover, a companys ability

to win customer loyalty is the dening

characteristic o high perormance in

marketing and customer management,

according to Accenture research.

But attracting and keeping customers

or the long haul has never been harder.Their expectations continue to rise,

regardless o the economic climate.

Thirty eight percent o consumers

say they have higher expectations or

customer service today compared with

one year ago: service should be aster,

more convenient and more inormed,

among other actors. Fity-seven percent

say they have higher expectations today

than they did ve years ago.

From the consumers point o view,

the verdict is in: Companies are not

keeping pace with their customers

expectations. Globally, only 40 percent

o respondents tell us that companiesmeet their expectations requently or

alwaysa decline o 13 points since

2007. As consumers expect more and

more, they eel their expectations are

being met less and less. Their high rate

o switching is a direct result o this

widening gap.

How to redefine theservice experience

Findings like these show how

imperative it is or enterprises to move

beyond a one-size-ts-all approach to

customer serviceparticularly those

serving a diverse customer base in

which customer preerences and values

vary widely by age, location, intention

and many other actors.

Companies understand that dierent

consumers desire dierent things

and value them dierently. However,

companies tend to address these

dierences only in their marketingstrategy and neglect them in the later

stages o the customer lie cycle. We

believe that dierentiated messages

and treatment are core principles to be

applied throughout the entire lie cycle,

including the post-purchase realm o

customer service, technical support and

even collections.

In a truly customer-centric model,

companies would dierentiate

service experiences using theclosely understood expectations and

requirements o specic customer

segments, and according to the current

and potential value o those segments.

This model would help avoid

overinvesting in aspects o the

experience that customers do not value

commensurately to the cost o

Why rethink customer service?

Consumers have become more diverse, more demanding and less loyal than ever. The

problem o consumers switching the companies they do business with has never been

more acute worldwide. Nearly seven out o 10 consumers (69 percent) took their business

elsewhere at least once during the past year because o poor customer service, according

to the 2009 Accenture Consumer Satisaction survey. Thats a 10-point increase over the 59

percent who switched in 2007and the highest level o switching in the surveys history.


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4 Rethink, Redene, Reinvent

delivering them. Delivering value-

based service experiences also

results in more predictable customer

behavior and, ultimately, higher loyalty

among a companys most importantsegments. Moreover, as customers at

the lower value levels experience the

service elements they expect, they

also become less likely to deect, and

they join the ranks o protable, loyal

segments sustaining the enterprise.

10 universal truths

We have ound that observing 10

universal truths o the customer

service experience helps companiesachieve the optimal balance o what

is satisying to the customer and

protable or the company.

1. Customers have a single view o

their providers, but rarely do providers

have a single view o them. Most large

enterprises have a product-centric view

o customers: over time, they

have developed multiple product lines

and designed customer interactions

around individual oerings rather the

total customer experience. Customers,

however, see just one providerand oneexperienceregardless o the number

o products or services they receive

rom that provider. Service leaders know

how to deliver a single, relevant view

o customers and a common experience

across the enterprise. They understand

the moments o truth in the client

lie cycle and remove internal barriers

that can result in disjointed service

experiences.

2. Companies should move away romone-size-ts-all support models and opt

or more tailored customer experiences

based on customer value and need.

All customers are not created equal

nor do they have the same service

needs. Serving every customer through

the same undierentiated model will

inevitably disappoint some expectations

and is likely to result in excessive

support costs. Instead, companies should

dierentiate treatments by thinking

o the holistic value o the customer

across products and services (page

9)including dierentiated processes,

tools and agent skill levels. The keyelement, however, is the customers

ability to congure the experience,

with the degree o conguration

possible tied to the customers value

to the company and changing needs.

For instance, a company may decide

to enable its highest-value customers

to choose which channels they use to

obtain service, which agents they want

to interact with and which service

options they expect to be oered.

Service leaders give more valuable

customers more ability to congure and

personalize their service experience,

according to individual needs and

preerences.

3. Any enterprise serves a nite number

o distinct customer intentions.

However, ew would be able to list

those intentions i asked. When it

comes to understanding why customers

Companies should move away from one-size-

fits-all support models and opt for more tailored

customer experiences based on customer value

and need.


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10 Things We Know About Customer Service


Customers have a single view of their providers, butfew providers have a single view of their customers.

Most companies still serve their customers, no

matter how diverse, using a one-size-fits-all model.

Customers request customer service for a finite

number of reasons, yet few companies know what

those reasons are.

The more customers use multiple channels toobtain customer service, the more integration and

transparency across channels they expect.

Its in the nature of most customers to serve

themselves, if these conditions exist: availability,

speed, consistency and accuracy.

Many changes that help companies reduce theircustomer service costs will also help them raise

customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Customers dont expect perfectionthey expect

precision.

Even large enterprises can give customers a

general store experience at scale with the customer

service technology now available.

Analytics capabilities add no value on their own

its the application of insight that creates value.

At most companies, its time to rethink the role

that customer service agents serve.


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seek service, virtually every company

knows the high-level reasons. Yet high-

level inormation is not enough. Our

experience shows that when customers

contact companies or service, their

intentions oten cross unctional and

service channel boundaries, and they

end up being transerred rom agent

to agentone o the most rustrating

aspects o the service experience.

Service leaders begin with a customer-

centric view o intentions, resulting

in more ecient processes, improved

customer experiences and higher

workorce perormance.

4. Customers may use multiple service

channels to satisy their intentions,

and they expect integration and

interaction visibility across all channels.

Channel integration is the biggest

service challenge acing enterprises this

decade. Collaboration tools and support

channelsrom telephones, mobile

devices, interactive voice response (IVR)

and the Web, to set-top boxes, kiosks,

social networks, micro-blogging, retail

and eld servicewill prolierate aster

than ever beore, all aiming to improve the

customer experience. However, i channels

are not well integrated, customers

become rustrated quickly. Service leaders

develop an integrated service-enablingtechnology stack that provides seamless

cross-channel customer experiences, with

the fexibility to accommodate uture

technological innovations.

5. Its human nature to sel-serve as

long as these variables are present:

availability, speed, consistency and

accuracy. Customers will naturally

sel-serve i they can access a capability

that clearly satises their intention,

completes the transaction aster and

achieves a similar level o quality or

success as agent contact. I any one o

these actors is absent, however, sel-

service generally ails. Service leaders

design their customer enablement

programs with this in mind. They view

sel-service as a customer experience

enhancement in addition to a cost-

savings tool and pay close attention to

generational and cultural preerences.

6. Contrary to popular belie, the cost-

versus-quality tradeo does not apply to

customer service. In act, the same actors

that drive reductions in customer service

costs also are strongly correlated with

higher customer satisaction and loyalty.

Many air travelers, or example, preer to

check in and print their boarding passes

rom home computers or airport kiosks. This

is a customer-controlled experience that

meets customers expectations or speed,

convenience and personalization. Likewise,

improved resolution or call transer rates

not only reduce service costs but improve

customer satisaction. Service leaders are

vigilant in optimizing costs while serving

the customers desire or control, pulling

every lever o the customer-care value

equation (see sidebar on page 11t).

7. Customers dont expect perection,

they expect precision. Loyalty is much

more tightly linked to how well an

enterprise responds to a customers

support needs than to eliminating the

customer touch altogether. Too oten we

hear, The best contact is the one that

didnt happen at all. But relationships

are based on interactions. Companies

requently all victim to thinking that i

they havent heard rom their customers,

then their customers must be happy.

Service leaders maximize the valueo every touch. They leave a lasting

impression with customers that says, We

know you, value your time, appreciate

your business, apologize or any

inconvenience we may have created and

will act with precision to make it right.

8. Customer service technology is reaching

the point where even large enterprises

can deliver the general store experience

at scale. Remember the good old days,

when you could walk into your avorite

local store and be served by someone

who knew your name, preerences and

purchase history? He could provide

tailored advice, recommendations and

experience that perectly matched your

needs. Each visit deepened your loyalty

and kept you coming back. Unortunately,

large enterprises historically have been

unable to create that same connection,

more oten delivering a series o disjointed

and aceless interactions connected

only by a brand name. Service leaders

apply technology to deliver one-to-one

customer experiences at scale. They also

enable the delivery o these experiences

by having the right people in place at key

touch-points.

9. Analytics alone add no value. It is

the application o insight that matters.Prepare or one o the most overused

buzzwords o the twenty rst century.

All enterprises will talk about analytics,

but ew will apply them to deliver

improved customer experiences. But

analytics can be applied to power the

general store experience. A central

decisioning engine can pre-process

all that is known about the customer

against a companys nite set o

customer intentions and business

events. Predictive analytics can have

the next best action predened and

available to all support personnel and

channels. Service leaders know how to

apply analytics to tailor their service

models to meet the needs o target

customers at an appropriate cost.

10. Most enterprises need to rethink

the role o service agents. Most service

transactions still involve live agent

supportparticularly the most complex

interactions. Yet ew companies use these

touch points to learn how to improve

either individual transactions or the

overall experience. Our research indicates

that the top-perorming 10 percent o

customer service agents produce six

positive interactions or every negative

one, while the bottom 10 percent produce

only three positive interactions or every

our negative encounters. Given that

labor cost typically accounts or nearly

two-thirds o service delivery costs,

measuring, analyzing and improving live-

agent interactions can yield large returns.

Reocus the role o service agents on

supporting corporate strategy, deepening

customer relationships and increasing

revenue. Service leaders recognize that

understanding what drives service

agent perormance is a key element in

maximizing the value o each customer

interaction.


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How to reinvent theservice experience

We can help transorm your service

organization to deliver dierentiated

customer experiences that reduce

churn and improve protability. With

our help you can:

Improve the service experience at

both transactional and relationship

levels.

Develop cost-efcient service

delivery that balances value to the

customer with enterprise value.

Get the right answer to the right

customer through the right channel at

the right time.

Enable a differentiated serviceproposition across the entire value

chain and customer lie cycle.

Access the right person every time to

answer every inquiry the rst time.

We have the depth and breadth o

experience to analyze and transorm

every aspect o your customer

experience, rom the time a service

request is received until the time

it's completed, across every channel

and every employee that helps shape

this experience. We can help you

continuously monitor and ne-tune

customer contact so that you sustain

initial cost benets and continue to

deliver a satisying service experience

even as customer expectations change.

Our comprehensive portolio o

solutions and servicesstrategic,

analytical and operationalis anchored

in proprietary methods, sophisticated

tools, well-tested and pre-integratedarchitectures and processes, and

a worldwide network o resources

or solution delivery and operations

management.

Accentures service transormation

group oers three sets o services.

Differentiated service strategy and

channel integration

We help you evaluate current service

operations, segment and analyze the

customer base, and devise a customer

experience blueprint that balances

the cost o service with the current

and potential value o your customer

relationships. The blueprint leveragesyour brand positioning and adds

behavioral insights and attitudinal

inputs rom customers to develop the

appropriate service experience across

key channels.

Our dierentiated service-experience

oering helps you develop and

implement a customer experience

blueprint across the enterprise and

reengineer processes to deliver the

desired moments o truth across keytouch points to reinorce your brand

value proposition. We incorporate

customer behavioral insights to

continually rene the experience,

ensuring that treatments are

appropriately targeted and result in

desired customer behavior. We also

identiy and implement the required

employee skills, competencies and

perormance measurements to support

delivery o the desired customer

experience.

Our work helps you obtain a better

return on investment or capital

spending on new service initiatives and

leverage new revenue opportunities

across your customer base.

Our customer enablement and channel

integration oering helps you identiy

high-impact opportunities by tracking

customer intentions and behaviors

rom channel to channel to understandpreerences, ailure points and how

each channel aects one another.

In this way automated channels not

only reduce cost, they also increase

customer satisaction and revenue.

We use educational strategies to

increase customer usage and maximize

the benets o particular channels.

By receiving consistent inormation

and capabilities across all channels,

and leveraging the strength o each

channel, customers get the right

answer no matter how they choose to

interact.

Our proven design, development,

testing and reporting solutions also

reduce time to implementation and

speed the realization o benets.

Service delivery management and

optimization

We work with you to enable and

optimize technology that better

supports your customers in real time

and improves your operating margins.

Our service-enabling technology and

architecture oering streamlines your

operations and provides visibility acrossall touch points within one ramework

so that the experience can be quantied

rom the customers perspective.

Customer contacts can be routed to

the best sourcing option using business

rules you dene, such as contact history,

service tier, quality, cost or ulllment

time. We also leverage desktop analytics

to optimize tool usage, drive adoption

and quantiy bottlenecks.

Our service operations and analyticsoering helps companies dene a

common ramework and business

capability to manage customer-centric

metrics. We identiy areas that can

drive down the cost o service and

ramp up revenue while providing a

consistent customer service experience.

We use global benchmarks and

nancial modeling to reveal operational

opportunities, and advise on contact-

center consolidations that can improve

nancial results and enhance tacticalservice delivery. We also apply metrics

to drive strategic and tactical workorce

management. In addition, we reengineer

vendor management to better achieve

service targets at the lowest cost.


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Six components are necessary to deliver

a dierentiated customer experience.

1. Dene customer segments based on

their value so that you can dierentiate

the service experience. This example shows

ve tiers ranging rom basic to premier

customers between segments that can

be migrated to a sixth dynamic segment.

Further dierentiation is typically provided

within some support tiers, based on

customer tenure, demographics, etc., but

or simplicity we show a very basic value-

based segmentation here.

2. Establish a central decisioning engine to

determine the next best action. This com-

mon repository contains an inventory o

all the reasons customers need to interact

with you as an enterprisesuch things as

customer preerences and intentions, prod-

uct usage, purchase and service history,

and levels o satisaction and engagement.

Wrap all this inormation into call-routing

rules so that the next best service action is

predened and customers preerred chan-

nels are congured beore your customers

contact the service provider.

3. Integrate support channels more tightly

to provide dierentiated experiences.

Customers have more channels

available today and they want to hop

seamlessly among them dependingon their intentions. Channels must be

congured according to which ones your

customers preer and how valuable those

customers are to you. Customers who

have customized their service experience

according to their needs will take that

actor into account when deciding

whether to switch providers. Lower tiers

represent less valuable customers, who

may have only a ew pre-determined

service options available. Top tiers

represent the most valuable customers,who may have more dynamic service

optionsor example, the opportunity to

congure their own service team.

4. Optimize cost to serve. Leverage labor

arbitrage, agent perormance management

and skills-based routing so that you can

better match customer value with cost

eectiveness. For example, you might oer

premier customers specic installation or

repair times while oering lower-value

customers repair windows. Strategic

sourcing allows you to serve lower-value

customers or intentions rom lower-cost

locations or through lower-cost channels.

5. Monitor and continuously deepen your

customer relationships. Customer loyalty

is developed depending how well you

respond to what your customers are telling

youand on how well you can predict

what they need. Engaged customers also

make targeted up-selling easier.

6. Prepare nancial models that track

what it costs to serve each customer

segment. Rather than calculate the cost

o serving generic customers ater the

act, proactively create nancial models in

advance or what you can aord to spend

to satisy the intentions o each customer

segment and make it protable. This

ensures that you are producing a higher

level o protability when implementing a

dierentiated service experience.

How to deliver dierentiated service experience


Tier 1Premier

Tier 2Preerred

Tier 3Potential

Tier 4Core

Tier 5

Basic

DynamicTier

Customer ServiceExperience EngineUses Business Rules and

Data Feeds to Determine

"Next Best Action"

Call routing rules

Policies/procedures

Upsell/cross-sell

Agent/technician selection

Billing/credits

Channel(s) leveraged

Communication plan

CustomerPreerencesand Intentions

Top Tiers: Customer-controlled, based onpreerences and intention.

Purchase History,Service History

Lower Tiers: Limited choice based on inten-tion and predeined rules.

Monitored and Deepened RelationshipsEngages customers and aids in targeted up-selling

Optimized Cost to Servethrough strategic sourcing, empowered agents and an operations architecture focused on delivering experi-

ences as cost effectively as possible

Product UsageInormation

Middle Tiers: Pre-conigured bundles basedon preerences and intention.

CustomerEngagement

Score

Proactive Financial Model: Sets cost-to-serve based on segmentsValue-based Customer

SegmentsCentral Decisioning

High

Value

Integrated Channels/Differentiated Experiences

Interaction/Channel Selection

Chat-email-IVR-Retail-Web-Field-Phone-Emerging"DIY"Channels


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Service execution

We ocus on your workorce and

transaction processes to enhance

service, add revenue, and increasecross- and up-selling opportunities.

Our service workorce and processes

oering helps you measure, manage

and maximize workorce perormance

throughout the employee lie cycle,

including onboarding, service delivery

and career management. By aligning

workorce and culture, we can help

you reduce costs and add revenue.

Cost savings result rom increased

employee engagement, less attrition,better attendance, improved selection

and intake processes, lower average

call handling time and increased rst

contact resolution. Additional revenue

results rom better account retention,

higher cross-sell and up-sell ratios,

solution selling and improved coaching

rom ront-line managers.

Our service transactions and processing

oering addresses convergent billing,

revenue assurance and real-time

prepaid and postpaid billing. Unique

assets leverage our years o experiencein telecommunications billing to

increase customer value, reduce costs,

add revenue, improve speed to market

and simpliy service.

Achieving high performance

Companies that want to grow their

business with protable customer

relationships must adopt new service

models that have the potential to

appeal to a more varied consumerbase while also delivering the right

experiences to the right customers.

How well a company is able to

target the right sets o customers

and use technology to create service

experiences that appeal to those

customers will be crucial, especially

in emerging markets, where customer

loyalty appears to be particularly

elusive.

Organizations that recognize they neednot be all things to all people and,

consequently, deliver a dierentiated

service experience when and where it

matters most will be best positioned

to outperorm their competitors and

accelerate their organizations journey

to high perormance.

We can help

transform

your service

organization

to deliver a

differentiated

customer

experience that

reduces churn

and improves

profitability.


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Contrary to common belie, lower costs

and higher customer satisaction are

not mutually exclusive. Consider these

recommendations or optimizing the

customer care value equation.

Reduce minutes persubscriber

Decrease contact rate

Eliminate issues that detract from the

experience and remove the root causes

or service inquiriesincluding, or

example, simpliying pricing and billing,

improving point-o-sale practices,

monitoring service outages and product

deects, and identiying channel or

policy inconsistencies.

Enable customer self-service where

possible based on customer intention,

channel and preerence. Actively

identiy and x sel-service break

points resulting in unsuccessul service

transactions.

Reduce transfers and misdirected

calls through customer-centric processdesign, agent-level perormance

monitoring, misroute analysis, etc.

Improve resolution rates by

implementing new metrics that drive

resolution accountability to the service

agent level, identiying perormance

outliers and integrating knowledge

management capabilities.

Increase handling efficiency

Streamline business processes to make

each interaction more ecient.

Give service personnel the tools they

need to minimize interaction time.

Optimize call handling to ensure

seamless inormation transer and

routing to the most capable agents.

Value the customers time: shift

interactions to ofine channels when

possible.

Standardize the processes to establish

the benchmark or call handling: mostcompanies vary widely in call handling

eciency.

Give supervisory agents the tools and

insight they need to coach and manage

their teams to higher perormance

levels.

Decrease cost per unit

Improve agent yield

Agent yieldtotal talk minutes divided

by total payroll minutesgenerally

exceeds 60 percent at high-perormance

businesses (approximately 6,000

minutes per agent per month). Agent

yield is a better assessment o overall

perormance than occupancy or other

traditional call center metrics.

Improve agent yield by decreasing

o-phone activitiesor example, make

training more ecient and timely, oruse low-volume times to support back-

oce transactions.

Continuously monitor forecasts

and adhere to schedules to maintain

orecast accuracy, optimal stang and

service delivery quality.

Reduce the number of small call

queues and virtualize call volume across

centers.

Add as much variable stafng aspossible to your sourcing mix: use part-

time agents, vendors and home workers

to sta peak-call intervals without

aecting overall agent yield.

Manage attrition and absenteeism.

Optimize vendor contracts tominimize cost per unit

Motivate call center vendors to

compete or your volume at the

interval-level. Generally, we recommendsourcing at least 40 to 50 percent o

total volume through third parties,

spread across three to our vendors.

Establish cost-per-productive-

minute contracts to shit the risk

o underutilization to the vendor.

Ultimately, a vendors perormance

determines the volume it receives

relative to other suppliers.

Labor arbitrage

Use offshore labor strategically to

minimize cost.

However, take care to align sourcing

strategy with customer intentions and

customer segments.

Reduce operationsoverhead

Minimize overhead allocations, such

as IT, human resources, etc.

Generally manage the central

operations team to ve to seven percent

o total care operational expense.

Centralize scheduling and workforce

planning.

Automate manual quality monitoring:

rather than monitoring three to ve

calls per agent per month, ocus on

monitoring perormance outliers inthe workorce. Leverage technology and

analytics to assess every interaction

instead o the statistically insignicant

number typical o most companies.

Turning belies into action



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Copyright 2010 Accenture

All rights reserved.

Accenture, its logo, and

High Perormance Deliveredare trademarks o Accenture.

About AccentureCRM SolutionsAccentures Customer Relationship

Management service line helps

organizations achieve high

perormance by transorming their

marketing, sales and customer serviceunctions to support accelerated

growth, increased protability and

greater operating eciency. Our

research, insight and innovation,

global reach and delivery experience

have made us a worldwide leader,

serving thousands o clients every

year, including most FORTUNE

100 companies, across virtually all

industries.

About AccentureAccenture is a global management

consulting, technology services and

outsourcing company, with more than

181,000 people serving clients in

more than 120 countries. Combining

unparalleled experience, comprehensive

capabilities across all industries and

business unctions, and extensive

research on the worlds most successul

companies, Accenture collaborates

with clients to help them become

high-perormance businesses and

governments. The company generated

net revenues o US$21.58 billion or

the scal year ended Aug. 31, 2009. Its

home page is www.accenture.com.

Accenture Service Transformation Rethink

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