Customer

care strategy

of HMT
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Perseverance, inspiration and motivation have always played a key role in

the success of any venture. Working on this project was a challenge and

made us a bit filtery in the beginning.

At this level of understanding, it is often difficult to understand a wide

spectrum of knowledge without proper guidance and advice .hence, we

take this opportunity to express our heart felt gratitude to MR.

XXXXXXXXX, for his round o’clock enthusiastic support and

commentaries which made this project successful, we are thankful to him

for making impossible look easy for us.

We also extend our sincere gratitude to MR. XXXXXXXXXXX, for his

inspiration, encouragement and for the impetus obtained throughout the

course of our project.

Finally, we would to like to thanks XXXXXXXXXXX and all of

XXXXXXXXXXXXX department, for their motivation and encouragement

throughout our endeavor.

 Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Introduction of the company

3. SWOT analysis

4. Customer Care Strategy - An Overview

5. Drivers of change

6. Performance management arrangements

7. Customer care strategy improvement plan 2007-2010

 Chapter 1

Introduction
 Introduction

HMT major change programme “Customer First” is underway to improve

the way services are delivered to our customers. Visible changes have

already been delivered in the One Stop Shops; all have been refurbished

providing a modern, friendly environment and technology has been used

to introduce community computers and new systems.

This Customer Care Strategy has been developed to support the

Company in achieving its aim of being a “High Performing Company” and

will provide staff, partners and other stakeholders with a clear view of

what customer focus means for HMT. Our customers will experience:

• Accessing services through a variety of mechanisms including

contacting us in writing, by telephone, by visiting one of our One

Stop Shops or through our website

• Accessible buildings providing a modern and pleasant environment

• Enquiry resolution at first point of contact wherever possible

• Waiting to be served in as short a time as possible

• Customer Services staff giving promises on service delivery times

wherever possible
 • Value for money through improved services and more efficient

processes

• Very high customer satisfaction levels

The Company is keen to deliver Value for Money to company tax payers

across the Borough and to continue improving customer experiences, but

this is becoming increasingly challenging as stretching government

targets and new area inspection regimes are introduced.

Customers access Company services through a range of access channels

other than the traditional One Stop Shops including telephone, website,

post and facsimile. We are continually looking for new opportunities to

increase accessibility to our services such as SMS text messaging and

partnership working.

It is essential that we treat customers in a consistent way, operating strict

policies in respect of Data Protection where personal information is not

disclosed unless the law permits or requires us to, or we have the consent

of our customer.

Our Equality and Diversity Policy clearly demonstrates our commitment to

providing excellent service to all our customers. We are continually

looking for ways to improve service delivery; you views are therefore,
important to us. We need to understand what our customers experience

when dealing with the Company.

Our Customer First Programme will provide efficient services that respond

to the majority of enquiries at the first point of contact. The following key

performance measures are embedded into our processes and will be

monitored regularly.

Our Priorities

• We will resolve 85% of your enquiries received at the One Stop

Shops at the first point of contact by 2010

• We will serve 90% our customers visiting the Main One Stop Shop

within 15 minutes by 2010

• We will answer 90% of telephone calls to the main enquiry number

(01270 529529) within 10 seconds by 2010

• We will provide a website that 90% of customers who use the web

site find it easy to navigate around by 2010.

• We will ensure that 85% of our customers are satisfied with the

handling of their enquiry in the One Stop Shops by 2010

• We will reduce the volume of abandoned telephone calls to our

main enquiry number to 5% by 2010

 Chapter 2

Introduction of

the company
 Introduction of the company

Hindustan Machine Tools was incorporated in 1953 by the Government

of India as a machine tool manufacturing company. Over the years

diversified into watches, tractors, printing machinery, metal

forming presses, die asting & plastic processing machinery, CNC systems

& bearings. Successful technology absorption in all product groups

through collaborations with world renowned manufacturers and further

strengthened by continuous in-house R&D. Today, HMT comprises six

subsidiaries under the ambit of a holding company, which also manages

the tractors business directly.

HMT Limited has 18 manufacturing units.The constituent subsidiaries are

given below while the holding company retains the tractors business

group.

HMT’s tractor business commenced its operations in 1971 in technical

collaboration with M/s MOTOKOV, Czechoslovakia. HMT started the

operation with the manufacture of 25 HP tractor at the manufacturing plant

in Pinjore, Haryana state. Over the years, it has developed tractors

ranging from 25 HP to 75 HP.

HMT Limited took over Praga Tools Limited as one of its subsidiaries

1988. Praga Tools Limited was established in May, 1943 as Praga Tools

Corporation Limited to manufacture machine tools with its head quarters

at Secunderabad. It was renamed as Praga Tools Limited in 1963. It is

mainly involved in manufacture of machine tools including CNC machines.

 Our Vision and Mission

• To establish ourselves as one of the world’s premier companies in

the engineering field having strong international competitiveness

• To achieve market leadership in India through ensuring customer

satisfaction by supplying internationally competitive products and

services

• To achieve sustained growth in the earnings of the group on behalf

of shareholders
 Our Corporate Objectives & Goals

• To encourage the modernisation of Indian Industry through the

supply of engineering goods and services of world class excellence

• To maintain technological leadership through continuous efforts to

update product technology and manufacturing methods

• To globalise our operations by developing a mix of international

markets and businesses

• To ensure a satisfactory return on capital employed, to meet the

growth needs and the aspirations of our stakeholders

• To present an active, pleasant and productive working environment

Our Corporate Strengths
Chapter 3

SWOT

ANALYSIS
 SWOT ANALYSIS

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

“Time and tide wait for none.” The proverb is aptly applicable in the

present case.HMT watches a household name in the yester years have

conic to a stage where no one is even aware of the brand name itself

barring few of our elders. What actually happened? What made HMT lose

its sheen? HMT is known for high quality and reliability. But somewhere

along the line HMT has forgotten to tighten its bolts. Let us discuss about

sonic of the key issues regarding HMT.

Internal environment: Company has a record of good industrial relations

and it has never had any labor or industrial relations problem. Company’s

liquidity position has been quite comfortable and it has adequate land and

buildings available. Apart from all these company has an established

production technology, which is flexible enough to adapt to new

technology. But there are sonic downsides too. The company seems to

suffer from bad work habits. There is a lack of team spirit and discipline.

Its selective retailer policy did not do very well. Some of the authorized

retailers started acting as whole sellers. Because of this HMT completely

lost control over final consumer price and the trade. One major downside

of HMT was that its production was not market driven. They were

producing whatever they wanted. They did not take any cue The watch

market
SWOT analysis of HMT:

Strengths:

• Mechanical watches: HMT is the market leader in mechanical

watches which serves to the lower segment of the society. HMT has a

strong hold in this segment but to make sure that players like titan and

timex do not occupy the stance HMT needs to do its homework.

• Brand equity: HMT has a very strong brand image. People know

HMT because of its quality and reliability.

• Production and training facility: production facility is flexible enough

to adapt to new technologies. Training program is one of the best in

the country. Industrial relations: company has very good industrial

relations. Till today company did not encounter any kind of labor or

industrial relations problem which can put company in to jeopardy.

• Adequate assets: company has commensurate amount of land,

building and machinery available.

Weaknesses:

• No emphasis on R&D and design: HMT did not pay much

attention to aesthetics and design. While its competitor titan kept

innovating its products with latest technology, features and design,

HMT was still grappling with its basic design models.

• Retailer policy: HMT did not have control measures over its

retailers; hence they lost control over prices and the trade.

• Lack of team spirit and awareness: HMT’s motivational

strategies- punishment/reward have been inadequate, resulting in

low utilization of human and machine capacities.

• Trade audits: No regular trade audit was being carried out by

the company to check what was actually happening in the market.

• Management levels: The ground level HMT staff has nearly

six rungs of bureaucracy to go through before a general manager in

sales or marketing could take a field decision.

Opportunities:

• Diversification of products: there are good diversification

possibilities in products. Apart from mechanical watches HMT can

also focus on anadigi, digiana, multifunction, digital, stopwatch,

alarm, thin etc.

• Exports: export market can be tapped.

• Market segmentation: company can expand the market launching

products suitable for different customer profiles e.g.: youth, gift

fashion, sports, novelty etc.

• Enlarge network of sale outlets: An effective distribution system is

mandatory for company’s success.

• Product improvement: Company can manufacture product based on

current customer preferences, combining technology and aesthetic

appeal together to enhance the experience.

Threats:

• From competitors: titan, timex, citizen, swatch etc.

• Spurious operators: People who indulge in fraudulent activities.

Misusing the brand name. Authorized service agents: For foreign

smuggled watches.

• Regional players: With their cheap prices and availability.

Unorganized manufacturing. The above mentioned analysis gives

us a fair idea of the industry and the HMT watch company as such.

Situation analysis and swot helps us to understand the pillars on

which a company stands as well as the vulnerabilities. Both these

helps in formulating a strategy catering to company’s needs in the

near future.
The possible opportunities for HMT could be (based on swot and sa):

Make its mechanical niche stronger, by improvising designs and smart

pricing. Company has good manufacturing and production units; it is

possible to go for a joint venture with an established partner which is

capable of providing good leadership and direction to the company. Since

titan and other competitors are catering to the upper segment of the

market, HMT can continue to focus on the lower strata with attractive

plans and offers. Company can also go for diversification of products as

titan has done but this looks little risky because titan already has a strong

hold there.

My strategy: I would like to capitalize on the brand equity of HMT. It can

continue to serve the lower segments as it is, but to make its presence felt

in the market, company has to use a promotional and advertising strategy

zeroing on the emotional attachment and bond with the customers. It will

be a strategy focused on the rejuvenation of the brand but at the same

time making customers realizes the trust and reliability about the brand.

And based on this leverage HMT does have an option to launch a new

series of products in to the market.

Company will make handcrafted watches (first to do in India). It will have

boutiques at strategic points. Customers can choose the color and dial
shape for the low end watches, but for the high end ones customers can

have choice of choosing functions(alarm, chronometer, cosmographetc.)

at a little extra premium. The elite customer can also choose metal of his

strap(gold, silver, platinum etc.) the delivery time for these watches will be

one week. Company can enhance its image by providing excellent sales,

service and reparability centers. This strategy is somewhat similar to what

swatch had used. Apart from all this company can also give watches for a

trial period of two days with a little advance and proof of residency to let

customer feel the watch, whether it suits his/her style or personality and

status.

After the first advertising campaign, company can launch a second

campaign for its new product series with a tag line “WATCH

YOURSELF”. This campaign would be targeted towards urban and

fashionable youth whose demands keep changing with the latest fashion.

Company will capitalize on the current fashion trend and make watches

according to the market demand. For lower segment attractive pricing and

discounts would be helpful. These watches must be rugged and should

work in extreme conditions. Company can also improvise the website by

providing features of online shopping, exhibiting various designs, new

products, store locations etc.

SEGMENTATION:

Generic product class : watch

Generic need : to tell time

Product categories : clock, wrist watch, pocket watches, cell phone, pda’s,

laptops, etc. Variants : analog ,quartz

Customer segmentation : students,farmers,labour, aspirers, fashionable

youth, achievers, affluents. Based on the response difference,different

segments are as follows:

Students

Price range: 600-1500

Product: functional quartz, digital, attractive colors.

Average frequency of purchase &occasion: parents give them gifts may

be every two years. %age of users: 20% %age of margin: 10%

Promotion: through TV commercials, student products (school bags,

health drinks, stationery etc.)

Demographic: educated Psychographic: carefree, not money conscious,

wants cool looks. Labors

Price range: 400-1000

Product: rugged, basic time function, can be mechanical or quartz,

steel make.

Average frequency of purchase: once in 10 years.

%age of users: 20% %age of margin: 10% Promotion: pos, cinemas, radio

programs Demographic: not educated barring few. Psychographic:

religious, money conscious, want value.

Farmers

Price range:1500-2500

Product: steel or gold make, quartz/analog, rich looks Average frequency

of purchase: every five years. big festivals when he has a good harvest.

%age of users: 8% %age of margin: 10% Promotion: village fairs, pos,

newspapers, radio, TV. Demographic: educated Psychographic:

traditional, believe in quality and word of mouth of their elders, religious.

Urban youth
Price range: 1000-5000

Product: flankier, trendy, attractive, must go with the style, colorful.

Average frequency of purchase: every year.

%age of users: 22%

%age of margin: 18%

Promotion: internet, magazines, events, sports, TV

Demographic: educated and style savvy. Psychographic: fun loving,

expressive, fad conscious.

Executives/achievers

Price range: 5000-30000

Product: automatic, multifunctional, quartz, digital

Average frequency of purchase: 5-7 years

%age of users: 12%

%age of margin: 25%

Promotion: magazine( fortune, forbes etc.), TV, internet. Demographic:

highly educated Psychographic: reminder of what he is, has achieved,

wants good things always.

Affluent

price range: >50000

product: jeweled, automatic, gold, platinum classy and artistic looks

average frequency of purchase: every two years. %age of users: 5%

%age of margin: 15 Promotion: jewellary shops, magazines

Demographic: educated, status conscious Psychographic: hedonistic.

Ladies exclusive

Hmt can open an exclusive outlet only for ladies. This outlet will have

watches for the urban teenage girls, housewives, working women, as well

as for affluent ladies. Ladies can come and choose their colors, style,

matching jewelry etc. They will have an option to customize their

needs. Special orders for marriages and engagements will be considered.

Promotions can be done through TV and ladies specific events like teej,

raksha bandhan, karva choth, etc.

MARKET:

Indian watch market is very heterogeneous and is estimated at 25 million

watches a year, with 50% being sold by the organized sector.

Titan is the runaway market leader, with domestic sales of 6 million

watches a year. There are 190 million watch-owning Indians; between

them they own about 210 million watches. Urban India accounts for 120

million of these watches and 90 millions are on rural wrists. More men

than women own watches in India, and more working women than

housewives own watches. Hmt should focus first on tier 1 and tier two

cities and then gradually penetrate towards tier three towns and cities.

Company has to position itself very carefully because other product

variants like mobi-watch (watch with a cell phone) and handheld devices

may try to snatch the market share. The whole idea of buying and wearing

a watch must be an experience. If HMT can deliver above mentioned

offerings with a strong distribution chain, a controlled retailer policy, with a

wide market research, future is no longer beyond their control. HMT will

emerge as a winner.
 Chapter 4

Customer Care

Strategy - An

Overview
 Customer Care Strategy - An Overview

Our major change programme “Customer First” is underway to improve

the way services are delivered to you. Visible changes have already been

delivered in the One Stop Shops; all have been refurbished providing a

modern, friendly environment and technology has been used to introduce

community computers and new systems.

This Customer Care Strategy has been developed to support us in

achieving our aim of being a “High Performing Council” and will provide

staff, partners and other stakeholders with a clear view of what customer

focus means for us. You will experience:

 Accessing services through a variety of mechanisms including

contacting us in writing, by telephone, by visiting one of our One

Stop Shops or through our website

 Accessible buildings providing a modern and pleasant environment

 Enquiry resolution at first point of contact wherever possible

 Waiting to be served in as short a time as possible

 Customer Services staff giving promises on service delivery times

wherever possible
  Value for money through improved services and more efficient

processes

 Very high customer satisfaction levels

Drivers of Change

We are keen to deliver Value for Money to you across the Borough and to

continue improving customer experiences, but this is becoming

increasingly challenging as stretching government targets and new area

inspection regimes are introduced.

Access Channels

You access our services through a range of access channels other than

the traditional One Stop Shops including telephone, website, post and

facsimile. We are continually looking for new opportunities to increase

accessibility to our services such as SMS text messaging and partnership

working.

Confidence & Security

It is essential that we treat you in a consistent way, operating strict

policies in respect of Data Protection where personal information is not

disclosed unless the law permits or requires us to, or we have consent

from you.
Equality & Diversity

Our Equality and Diversity Policy clearly demonstrates our commitment to

providing excellent service to you. We are continually looking for ways to

improve service delivery; your views are therefore, important to us. We

need to understand what you experience when dealing with us.

Our Customer First Programme

Our Customer First Programme will provide efficient services that respond

to the majority of enquiries at the first point of contact. The following key

performance measures are embedded into our processes and will be

monitored regularly.

Our Priorities

 We will resolve 85% of your enquiries received at the One Stop

Shops at the first point of contact by 2010

 We will serve 90% our customers visiting the Sandbach One Stop

Shop within 15 minutes by 2010

 We will answer 90% of telephone calls to the main enquiry number

(01270 529529) within 10 seconds by 2010

 We will provide a website that 90% of customers who use the web

site find it easy to navigate around by 2010

  We will ensure that 85% of our customers are satisfied with the

handling of their enquiry in the One Stop Shops by 2010

 We will reduce the volume of abandoned telephone calls to our

main enquiry number to 5% by 2010

Our customers’ experience:

Accessing services through a variety of mechanisms including contacting

us in writing, by telephone, by visiting one of our One Stop Shops or

through our website

• Accessible buildings providing a modern and pleasant environment

• Enquiry resolution at first point of contact wherever possible

• Waiting to be served in short a time as possible

• Customer services staff giving promises on service delivery times

wherever possible

• Value for money through improved services and more efficient

processes

• Very high customer satisfaction levels

• The delivery of the strategy will be shaped using the following

guiding principles:

• Services will be based around customer needs

• Self service will be available for those who can

• We will have a one stop approach

• The majority of enquiries will be resolved at the first point of contact

• Customers will have a choice of access channels

• Service & Performance Standards will be promoted and monitored

regularly

• Better use of technology will deliver efficiencies

• Staff will be appropriately trained and motivated

 Chapter 5

DRIVERS OF

CHANGE
 DRIVERS OF CHANGE

Our Customer First Programme

Our Medium Term Corporate Strategy 2006-2010 confirms that improving

our customer experience through our Customer First Programme is a key

priority for us in achieving our goal of being a High Performing industry.

We embarked on our Customer First Programme in 2006/7 to become a

customer focused organisation, providing customers with the range of

quality of service they expect by investing in our One Stop Shops, ICT

systems and staff.

This Customer Care Strategy will underpin successful implementation of

many of our plans through the provision of a friendly, supportive, efficient

and effective service that meets the needs of our customers. Our High

Performance Business Plan contains strategic performance measures

relating to customer satisfaction, enquiry resolution rates and telephone

answering.
Value For Money

Our Medium Term Corporate Strategy 2006-2010 confirms that providing

customers with value for money by making best use of our resources is

another key priority for us in achieving our goal of being a High

Performing Company. Customers have increasing expectations in the

services we deliver. Effective customer services should encourage a

proportion of customers to use alternative more cost effective methods of

contact than personal visits to our One Stop Shops enabling us to drive

forward improvement through technology

Customer satisfaction and service levels are excellent in some services,

and not so good in others. Our customers are increasingly sophisticated

and have rising expectations that our services match those of other

service providers such as the private sector. Changing expectations are

partly driven by developments in technology, such as the use of the

Internet, email, mobile telephones and digital television. Our services

must be built around the needs of our customers providing them with

accessibility, convenience, responsiveness and inclusiveness.

ACCESS CHANNELS

A “channel” is a vehicle for an organisation to communicate with its

customers and for customers to communicate with the organisation. Some

access channels will deliver services as part of their operation. We offer

customers access to our services through the traditional One Stop Shops,

Telephone, Website, Post and Facsimile. We are continually looking for

new opportunities to increase accessibility to our services such as SMS

text messaging and partnership working. customers ant to access

services and whilst it’s important to maintain investment across the board,

it does highlight the importance of on-going and future investment in the

Telephone and Website channels.

One Stop Shops

Our Customer Services Section provides customers with a valuable

personal visit experience through 5 One Stop Shops each of which are

located in our 5 main towns and the Customer service centre. To meet the

needs of our customers, various access times are available dependant

upon the service and location.

The combination of dedicated and co-located centres has proved popular

with our customers as they provide high levels of service with high levels
of resolution at the first point of contact. We have seen the volume of

enquiries handled by our One Stop Shops and Customer service centre

increase recently with 210,864 enquiries being handled in 2006-7,

compared to 180,780 enquiries in 2005-2006.

Telephone

The Companies’ main switchboard function is located at the Main offices

and every member of staff has a direct dial telephone number. The

Companie’s switchboard during 2005/06 processed 91,189 calls, which

increased in 2006/07 to 97,112. To improve accessibility to services

through the telephone, we have recently introduced a range of golden

numbers for customer facing services such as Streetline, Planning and

Benefits. Outside of office hours (Monday – Friday 9.00 am – 5.00 pm)

our main contact number is transferred to Message Pad, our Out of Hours

service provider. The Out of Hours service was procured in partnership

with the other Companies through the country. The contract has been in

operation for approximately 5 years and was very recently re-tendered to

ensure value for money is being achieved. Message Pad answers the

telephone identifying themselves as HMT and use the Company website

to resolve enquiries at the first point of contact where possible. On

occasions when it is not possible to resolve the enquiry Message Pad

forward enquiry details electronically to us.

We also have our own Emergency Number which is operated by the

CCTV service, receiving on average 100 enquires every month, on issues

such as noise nuisance, drainage and traffic lighting issues.

Our website has been developed thorough consultation with Officers,

Members and customers. This development enables customers to access

Company services at their convenience 24 hours a day, every day,

thereby reducing the volume of telephone and face to face transactions

with the Company.

Our website underpins the delivery of services across all channels as it

provides a single source of information is held centrally and updated

regularly. This means that we can ensure information is consistent and

accurate when dealing with our customers. Continuous improvement has

moved our web site from C+ status in 2005 to T-Status in 2007 in the

SOCITM (Society of Information Technology Managers) Better Connected

Process.

New Opportunities Since December 2003 a wide range of alternative

payment mechanisms have been introduced providing customers with

more choice and convenience in paying for Company services. These

alternative methods include the telephone, internet, through a visit to one

of our One Stop Shops or by visiting a local Pay Point facility that are

available in Post Offices and other local shops using a debit or credit card.

In September 2004 the Company introduced electronic billing for

Company Tax and Non Domestic Rates providing customers with an

opportunity to receive bills through electronic mailing systems. As well as

improving the service to customers it reduced the costs involved in the

billing process therefore delivering value for money. The service was

improved again in February 2007 as facilities were developed for

customers to check Company Tax and Non Domestic Rate accounts on-

line.

Through a connection to Central Government’s Planning Portal the

Company is developing facilities to receive and process planning

applications and building control applications on-line in the near future.

CONFIDENCE AND SECURITY

In order to treat customers in a consistent way and resolve the majority of

enquiries at the first point of contact it is necessary to join up services,

which requires us to earn the confidence of our customers.

We operate strict policies in respect of Data Protection and will not

disclose personal information to anyone other than as described in our

Data Protection Act registration, unless the law permits or requires us to,

or we have the consent of our customer.

We implement a range of policies and technologies in order to hold

personal information securely, and our practices are thoroughly audited.

Our staff regularly receives training to ensure that they understand and

comply with our policies.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

We are committed to provide the best possible service in a friendly and

courteous manner, but we know that we can always improve in what we

do. We are therefore keen to hear the views of our customers on their

experiences when dealing with the Company.

Since May 2005 customer feedback be they comments, compliments or

complaints are captured in our e-Contacts system before they are

distributed to the appropriate service. Our e-Contact system has a

performance target of providing customers with a response using their

preferred access channel within 10 workings days. Our formal complaints

procedure is managed by the Chief Executive’s Personal Assistant and is

used by customers who have been unable to resolve their issue through

our informal mechanisms. It is promoted widely through our One Stop

Shops and website and has performance targets of providing customers

with an acknowledgement within 3 working days and a response within 10

working days.

Formal complaints are reported regularly to our Standards Committee.

Our formal complaint process does have an appeals procedure but if

customers are still unhappy with the response, they can refer the
complaint to their local Companylor or the Local Government

Ombudsman.

Definition of a complaint

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction from a customer about a

standard of service, action or lack of action in a company service

requiring rectification.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

We have adopted an Equality and Diversity Policy, which is promoted on

our website and outlines our commitment to equality of opportunity for all

in relation to the services, and functions we carry out and the employment

practice we follow. It demonstrates how we will meet our duty under the

Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

Staff are trained and supported in carrying out their duties in implementing

our equality and diversity policies and in particular our duties under race

equality and disability discrimination legislation.

OUR CUSTOMER FIRST PROGRAMME

We are striving to provide a more efficient customer service that responds

promptly to enquiries at the first point of contact. Personal visits and

telephone calls will be handled in a friendly and professional manner and

the quality and amount of information and services available on our

website will continue to increase enabling customers’ access to Company

services 24 hours a day. Current working practices are based upon

traditional manual processes with customer services staff being heavily

reliant upon technical expertise from support staff for enquiry resolution.

The vision described in our Medium Term Corporate Strategy 2006-2010

clearly states that by 2010 we want to deliver services that meet the

needs of our customers and provide high levels of customer satisfaction.

This will be achieved through our ‘Customer First Programme’, which is a

set of projects described below that will transform service delivery.

Busines Process Reengineering - Delivering streamlined processes and

system interfaces that improve the handling of enquiries at the first point

of contact once agreed cut-off points have been identified

Achievements to Date

“As is” process mapping completed for all Revenues & Benefits and top

20% of Streetscape processes “To be” process mapping completed for all
Revenues and Benefits and top 20% of Streetscape processes in

aspirational Level 1, 5 processes with Revenues & Benefits identified for

improved Level 2 Service Delivery, with scripting and e-form approach

being developed

Next Steps

Complete identifying scripting and e-form requirements Identify the next

range of process that will be used to test the newly developed improved

Level 2 service delivery approach for robustness Commence review of

corporate formal and informal complaints processes Consider the legacy

of proposed back office efficiency savings provided by Tameside’s BPR

expertise Buildings - Delivering improved accessibility to customers in all

of our One Stop Shops

Achievements to Date

Middlewich & Alsager One Stop Shop refurbished to address DDA

compliance issues Congleton One Stop Shop opened March 2007 Main

flag ship One Stop Shop opened May 2007 People & Communications –

Reviewing our customer service role to ensure we have the right staff with

the right skills and knowledge that will deliver the services that meet the

needs of our customers.

Achievements to Date

• Focus groups undertaken to develop Service part of Service &

Performance

• Standards publication

• Internal Customer Services Training programme developed

• Phase 1 of Customer Services Training delivered by May 2007

• Resources paper prepared and initially considered by Management

Team in August 2007

Next Steps

• Roll out Phase 2 of the newly developed Customer Services

Training

• Prepare a detailed training and development plan for

implementation of the agreed improved Level 2 service delivery

approach

• ICT Systems - Delivering improved technological support to front

line services including a Customer Relationship Management

system and website support that will enable front line staff to

resolve the majority of enquiries at the first point of contact.

Achievements to Date

CRM Phase 1-3, Streetscape Confirm and Dip & Workflow systems

implemented Website T - Status achieved March 2007 New telephone

system implemented Next Steps Implement CRM Phase 4

Retain web site T-Status

Service & Performance Standards/ Charter Mark / Contact Centre -

Delivering a consistent level of service to all customers regardless of their

chosen access channel

Achievements to Date

Service Level Agreements agreed with all front line services Service &

Performance Standards publication produced Customer Charter & Give

us Your Views leaflet revised Performance data published in the Main

One Stop Shop Gap Analysis of Charter Mark criteria completed Charter

Mark application form submitted with a Pre-Assessment date identified for

early December 2007

Next Steps

Charter Mark on-line submission to be completed Pre-Assessment date

undertaken early in November 2007 Assessment completed January 2008

Feasibility study to be undertaken on a Contact Centre

 Chapter 6

DRIVERS OF

CHANGE
 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

We have identified clear wins for our customers as a result of our

Customer First Programme, with our key performance measures being

embedded into our Customer Charter, Service & Performance Standards

publication and the Customer Services Section Plan.

Our Priorities

We will resolve 85% of your enquiries received at the One Stop Shops at

the first point of contact by 2010 We will serve 90% our customers visiting

the Main One Stop Shop within minutes by 2010 We will answer 90% of

telephone calls to the main enquiry number (01270 529529) within 10

seconds by 2010

We will provide a website that 90% of customers who use the web site

find it easy to navigate around by 2010.

We will ensure that 85% of our customers are satisfied with the handling

of their enquiry in the One Stop Shops by 2010

We will reduce the volume of abandoned telephone calls to our main

enquiry number to 5% by 2010 Service performance will be measured and

managed through our Business Planning Framework; with quarterly

corporate performance management reports include progress on key

actions, performance measures, financial and project management

performance and report to all our stakeholders including customers and

partners through our website. Our Customer Care Strategy Improvement

Plan will be embedded into the Customer Services Section Plan, which is

also monitored on a quarterly basis.

 Chapter 7

CUSTOMER CARE

STRATEGY

IMPROVEMENT PLAN

2007-2010
 CUSTOMER CARE STRATEGY IMPROVEMENT PLAN 2007-2010

Improvement Key Task(s) Lead Officer Target

To deliver the To monitor delivery of Programme Completed

Customer First the Customer First Manager every

Programme Programme reporting month

and progress on a

regular basis to the

Board
To obtain Charter To prepare and submit Customer January

Mark recognition a Charter Mark Services 2008

for Customer application Manager /

Services Supervisor
To undertake a To prepare a draft Customer December

feasibility study on feasibility study on Services

2007
a corporate corporate Contact Manager

Contact Centre Centre March

Customer
2007
To present draft Services

Contact Centre Manager

Feasibility Study to

Management Team
To provide a high To increase the Customer March

quality services to percentage to 85% of Service 2010

customers enquiries received in Assistant

contacting the the One Stop Shops

Company through that are resolved at the

the One Stop first point of contact

Shops and Tourist

To increase the
Information Centre
percentage of

customers visiting the

One Stop Shops

served within 15

minutes to 90%

To increase customer

satisfaction with the

handling of enquiries in

the One Stop Shops

and Tourist Information

Centre to 85%
 To provide value for

money to customers by

monitoring the cost of

providing a service

within the One Stop

Shops and Tourist

Information Centre
To provide a high To increase the Telephonists March

quality services to response to 90% of 2010

Customer
customers telephone calls made to
Services
contacting us using the Companie’s Main
Manager/
the telephone Enquiry number

answered within 10 ICT Manager

seconds to 90%

To increase the

response to 70% of

telephone calls made to

the Companie’s other

Golden numbers

answered within 10

seconds
To increase the

response to 70% of

telephone calls made to

the Companie’s direct

dial numbers answered

within 10 seconds

To decrease the

percentage of

abandoned telephone

calls made to the

Companie’s Main

Enquiry number to 5%

To provide value for

money to customers by

monitor the cost of

providing a telephone

service
To continually Complete an equality Customer March

improve the impact assessment on Services 2010

Customer Care the current Customer Manager/

Strategy Care Strategy 2007-

Equality
2010
Officer

Review the 2007- 2010

Customer Care

Strategy
To improve web To increase the number Customer March

site communication of times the community Services 2010

with customers computer are used to Supervisor/

1,000 Manager

To monitor the

percentage of users

finding the Companie’s

web site easy to

navigate around
To employ the right To complete Phase 1 of Training & January

staff providing the be-spoke Customer Development 2008

them with the Services training Officer

rights skills to course

resolve the
To complete Phase 2 of
majority of
the be-spoke Customer
enquiries at the
Service training course
first point of

contact
To provide a fair To complete a review Senior September

and robust of the formal and Performance

2008
customer feedback informal complaints Officer /

process process Customer

Services
To implement
Manager
recommendations from

the Review
To be aware of To complete a self Customer March

improvement assessment of the Services 2009

progress against National e-Service Manager

the National e- Delivery Standards

Service Delivery
To implement
Standards
improvements identified

through the self

assessment
To be aware of the To attend NWEGG Customer March

new Customer Service Services 2008

Comprehensive Network Meetings on Manager

Area Assessment the new PMF

Performance
To implement relevant
Management
performance measures
Framework
from PMF into

Customers Services

Section Plan
To investigate the To investigate the Customer March

benefits a mystery benefits that could be Services 2008

shopping function delivered by mystery Manager/

may bring to the shoppers Customer

organisation Services
To introduce the
Supervisor
scheme if appropriate