Improving Internal and External Customer Service
Many people associate customer service with industries such as banking, food service, retail sales, and other commercial ventures. A greater variety of organizations, however, are adopting customer service concepts in the delivery of their products and services.
Governmental organizations in particular have adopted this perspective. Constituents are now often considered customers and dealings with them are framed as products and services. Some organizations are also expanding the definition of customer to include internal consumers of products and services that facilitate the organizational mission.
Once a service oriented perspective is adopted, organizations often recognize how critical employee service behaviors are to meeting organizational goals. They realize that improving customer service is a central business issue that needs to be approached with the right tools to develop and enhance employees' service-related capabilities. HumRRO's experience in developing human resource solutions has been applied to this challenge in a number of settings.
One important activity when attempting to develop a service orientation in an organization is performing diagnostic activities to identify the capability of the organization to create and deliver services. HumRRO performed this type of diagnostic service for the Air Force Research Labs-Human Effectiveness Directorate (AFRL/HE). Examples of some of the core internal services studied were personnel, security, finance, and budget planning functions.
HumRRO conducted focus groups and interviews to identify internal service providers, the core services they deliver, customers associated with each service, and success factors for service delivery. We analyzed qualitative data and used the results to develop two Web-based surveys: one for internal service providers and another for customers. We analyzed survey data and used the results to create a list of actionable recommendations for the AFRL/HE.
Another area where HumRRO has developed customer service-related solutions is associated with Customer Relationship Management (CRM). CRM is a set of work systems and processes designed to manage customer relationships strategically, often by employing an enterprise-wide perspective and utilizing sophisticated data management and analytic software tools. Contributing to change management activities for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), HumRRO created a training course titled CRM Fundamentals. The purpose of the course is to provide employees who interact with customers with an understanding of the core philosophy of CRM and the activities involved in its implementation. HumRRO staff worked with DLA leaders to develop a communication strategy and training tool that provide employees with the information needed to prepare them for this change-management effort.
HumRRO is currently working with DLA to create a CRM competency model for employees who deal with external customers. Since DLA is still in the early stages of introducing CRM, HumRRO is tasked with defining the critical competencies required of employees during the implementation of CRM (to facilitate the transition to the new business environment) and after CRM has been fully implemented. These requirements demand a unique method for defining and validating competencies beyond the traditional survey-oriented approach.
Using strategies originally developed in work for the U.S. Army, HumRRO is applying future-oriented job analysis methods to define competencies in light of expected future requirements and changes in the work environment. The project also identifies competency gaps for customer-facing employees by determining what competency levels employees currently have and what levels they will need to effectively execute CRM once it is implemented.
