Copyright © 2013 Tata Consultancy Services Limited
Andrea Kis Service Management and Integration Consultant
April 2013
Business Relationship Management & the Service DeskWhy the service desk must build business relationships if it wants to prosper
Document NameTCS Confidential
Agenda
Business Relationship Management and ITIL
Personal Relationships
Service Interactions
Rather being punched than call customer services?
BRM is like being in a relationship
The Service Desk’s role in BRM
Real life examples
Q&A
Document NameTCS Confidential
Content
‘At some point in our lives we can all be both customers and service providers.’
Andrea Kis
Takeaways
•Understand business relationship management from a non-process structured point of view
•How to improve customer satisfaction by building relationships
•Advice for empowering service desk staff so they build relationships
- 3 -
Document NameTCS Confidential
Business Relationship Management
“Business Relationship Management aims to maintain a positive relationship with customers. ITIL Business Relationship Management identifies the needs of existing and potential customers and ensures that appropriate services are developed to meet those needs. “
ITIL v2011
- 4 -
Document NameTCS Confidential
The Theory of Personal Relationships
The categories of personal relationships:
What ties us together?
What’s in it for me?
The focus must be on the relationship from the viewpoint of the customer rather than the service supplier or supporter.
- 5 -
Document NameTCS Confidential
The Two Types of Service Interaction
- 6 -
Traditional: Service Relationship
Newer form: Service Encounter
People went to the same butcher, the same barber, the same doctor and the same bank teller when they needed service. Takes places between two
strangers who do not expect to interact in the future.
Document NameTCS Confidential
The Hybrid Service Interaction
Hybrid model: Pseudo relationship
Don’t fall into the trap of ‘fake relationships’
- 7 -
Document NameTCS Confidential
Rather being punched than call customer services?
Result of a ‘fake relationship’
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/customer_service
- 8 -
Document NameTCS Confidential
BRM is like being in a relationship
Treat your customer
s right Be fair and
honest with them, build their
trust
Listen to your
customers
Show them you
care
Treat them like a valued partner
Help them to
understand life on the
Service Desk
Show them their feedback & opinion matters.
Be open about your
mistakes
Take responsib
ility, regardless of the
outcome
- 9 -
Document NameTCS Confidential
The Service Desk’s role in BRM
Good BRM requires understanding and effort
from both parties (the Service Desk and
customers/the business).
- 10 -
Empower the SD
Define their role in the BRM
process
Prepare them for encounters anywhere at
anytime
Prepare the team to become the
ambassadors of a service provider
Provide them training on
customer/business awareness
Prepare the SD for the changing
customer needs/business
requirements
Provide them with the right tools for their
trade
Make them help the business to
understand life on the Service Desk
The Service Desk Manager should
lead by example – influence BRM
Document NameTCS Confidential
The Evolving BRM and the Service Desk
Customer relationships can evolve and change over time, just as the Service Desk can change and evolve too.
The Service Desk plays a vital role in this change
An Individual or team’s behaviour
determines the relationship
Service Desk = IT (Support Provider)
in the eyes of the Business
- 11 -
Document NameTCS Confidential
Summary - The Service Desk plays a vital role in BRM
BRM is easy, it is a natural behaviour we practice without thinking about it in our personal lives.
- 12 -
TRAINCOAC
H EMPOWER
LET THE TEAM BUILD REAL RELATIONSHIPS
GIVE THEM THE RIGHT TOOLS
LET THEM LEAVE THEIR DESKS
Document NameTCS Confidential
BRM examples from those working on the Service Desk
“There is nothing quite like ensuring that the team is aware of what the business does to ensure that our customers know we understand what they do. Recently I have sent Service Desk Technicians out to our mobile information units (buses) for the day. This gives us a real insight into the issues experienced by them and the customers value being ‘listened to’ by the Service Desk.”
“Building that relationship with the customer starts from the time a Service Desk Technician picks up the phone. Yet it seems to be one of the areas that is not always addressed. Listening/silent monitoring calls identified that some technicians were very good at engaging with customers. It became clear that comprehensive training was required for all technicians to ensure that the customer experience when contacting the Service desk was always of a high standard now referred to ‘Customer Etiquette’. One of the examples is that we don’t always assume that the customer is available to talk to us when we call. I truly believe you can get more out of the customer if you have made the effort to understand your customer and your customer needs.”
Lena Gaston, Service Desk Manager – Macmillan Cancer Support
http://www.macmillan.org.uk
- 13 -
Document NameTCS Confidential
“When I worked for a major New Zealand broadcaster, I initiated a new Service Desk team, replacing the existing team with people from a non-technical background with people with customer facing skills. They ranged from an ex-desktop support engineer, through to an ex-Vodafone CSR to an ex-repo man.
The repo man was excellent in the fact that he was able, through his training and experience, to diffuse difficult situations and bring irate customers back "onside". The new team were also good at keeping customers / users (if Rob England is watching, then he will have a view on whether these are customers or users :-) ) informed and updated. Visibility and communication are more important in a way than speedy resolution times.
Although the latter is important too.”
“The other example was with a NZ energy provider where I mentored the SD manager, and explained to her the benefits of getting out and talking to the business more.
I encouraged her to go to the power station, go and talk to the trading teams and build relationships, and get to understand what they wanted from the SD. One thing I didn't mention was the fact that by building these relationships, when things did go wrong, they knew that the SD understood and cared, so they were more tolerant.”
James Gander , Gander Service Management Ltd. www.gander.co.nz
- 14 -
BRM examples from those working on the Service Desk
Document NameTCS Confidential
Q&A
- 15 -
Thank you for listening
Twitter: @AndieKisLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/andiekis