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Evolution of operations during COVID - Coggle Diagram
Evolution of operations during COVID
So what can we / they do?
Listen to the Voice of the customer
Certainly start with what the customer want
Opening an account today is not advantage, it is a basic service
But the customer experience with the bank can become an advantage
And starting on the wrong foot does not give the bank a good head start
They want it fast and easy for them, not for the bank
But surely the two can be considered
so the bank employee will spend his time actually helping customers instead of saying he cannot help
Can we take the opportunity of this pandemic to reflect on what we can do to simplify our operations?
We have today a lot of means and resources
They can be of great support to our operations
Especially for service based businesses
While we all understand the necessity to cut short term costs and adjust to the current pandemic
Some can definitely take advantage of that to rethink how they operate
And get ahead of competition, get that competitive advantage to run better, leaner
So what to do?
Certainly there is no some already made solutions
But various things can be done
Review your processes, being customer-facing, certainly the most important for customer satisfaction, or non-customer facing, which are important in terms of costs
Take advantage to test what can be done remotely, and that could become what should be done remotely.
Make sure you have visual management for your customers
And not only the standard signs explaining how to wash your hands and keep 1.5 m distance from each other
But visual management that actually gives your customer valuable information about the services they seek
Keep it simple if you want them to actually read it, being on the website, at the outlet
And then collect the necessary information high enough in the process so you can detect issues and problems and not create wastes down the line for you and your customers
A lot of times, the information is so overwhelming that you cannot find anything, which is the same as no information
Making sure to include that in your processes, and not let your clients hanging not knowing or creating wastes and creating no value
But what's wrong with it? with an operational perspective
Such a huge amount of waste being created
Well take just the guy at the bank
3 customers in about 20 minutes
3 customers he said he coud do nothing for them
he basically wasted a good 20 minutes not creating value for any of his customers
then take our case: we have spent about
We have spent time exchanging emails with the bank, to set up an appointment
They created work in progress, with a waiting time of 2 weeks before the appointment
We spent 45 minutes one way, meaning an hour and half of our time going from our house to the bank and back
We lost that amount of time to work, spend time with family or go buy our cheese at that great store around the corner of our house
We have waited in front of the bank, hoping they would open on time and so we would have our appointment
and we ended up having absolutely no output from all that time and effort spent.
With no value created at all
No output, no value for the customer
A lot of waiting, transportation, which will create rework
Could that process have been done remotely, in a short 15 minutes from the get go?
Which have triggered the fact that some documents were missing?
And allow for adjustments?
Or even have a ready check list, or explanatory note sent to the customer, explaining what is needed and the online process?
and making online signature of the documents to validate?
Not listennig to the voice of the customer
And then take the other customers
the first one having to call the bank to be told they cannot help him
or the bank employee who answers the phone just to say he can do nothing... certainly a waste of overproduction
Or the other one being told that he should write an email to get an appointment but in any case there will be no appointment for the next two weeks
I don't think in 2020, close to 2021, a customer values the fact that he needs to come to an outlet to be told no one can do anything for him
Or just have to wait without knowing or not have the right information
Reflecting on an experience at a bank
Need to open an account
Contacted some bank
Some of them not answering emails
Having to call several times at different numbers, to be told I would be contacted by someone
But never heard anything
Got in touch with a bank
Exchanging emails with an employee
Several emails as he is not giving all the necessary information
And as they do not open account remotely, I have to plan for an appointment
Appointment which is 2 weeks later, as only appointments are taken during COVID 19, in only one agency to limit traffic and support home working
Day of the appointment comes
Need about 45 minutes of public transport to get to the bank outlet
as they only have a few outlets open for meeting - COVID reasons
We get to the outlet a few minutes early, but its closed
We obviously have to guess that they have a break between 1 PM and 2 PM, so they only open at 2 PM.
Wasn't displayed anywhere either
At 2:05, someone let us in, and ask us to wait
Hearing someone on the phone explaining to a client that he cannot do anything for him, he has to use the app, use the website to do the operations
Then someone else rings at the bell, he comes and explains that he cannot do anything for him and he has to call the number to book an appointment
It is 2:10, and he asked us whether we need help, which we do.
Well his colleagues was supposed to tell him that his appointment had arrived, but failed to do it.
Opening the account
We finally get in and seat down, just to be asked what brought us
little surprised we explain the situation
To which he explained that we cannot open the account as we have not brought the documents we were supposed to have, which no one told us about.
So we went back for another 45 minutes public transport the other way
Does that sound familiar to you? Is it common in banks and other service industry?
conclusion
This is a quick summary with a few ideas thrown out here.
And there are certainly others we could find
But the key message is that the pandemic, no matter how bad and difficult it is, can create the opportunities
to keep your employees while improving your operations
to always make your service better, through continuous improvement
while developing a cutting edge operations truely oriented towards making your service better for your customer