…… Part of The Basics series. First published in January 2015 ……
How easy is it for your customer-facing people to …
- Find the information they need,
- Provide rapid service,
- Collaborate with their customers and colleagues,
- And in general have a smooth and efficient work experience?
Responses:
- Very easy
- Relatively easy
- Somewhat difficult
- Very difficult
- Impossible
Only 10 organizations out of 303 participants responded “very easy”!
I was not surprised. Last year only 9 responded “very easy”.
How do these 10 organizations differ?
Demographically, they vary widely.
- They are headquartered in 5 different countries in 3 continents: Australia, Denmark, the US, the UK and New Zealand.
- They range in size from 1,000 to over 75,000 employees.
- The youngest organizations are 5 years old, the oldest are 90 and 100 years old.
- Their sectors of activity include banking, construction/engineering, consumer products & services, government, professional services, and TMT (telecommunications, media, technology).
- They have different types of workforces ranging from 100% Desk-Office to 60/40 percent Floor-Field/Desk-Office.
- They self assess their own social collaborative maturity at different levels.
More importantly, what do they have in common?
- 9 out of 10 are dominant or major players in their industry.
- 8 out of 10 say “Business and operational performance” is a strategy driver.
- 7 out of 10 evaluate their management style as “open and participatory” when it comes to top management, communication, HR and IT.
- 6 out of 10 share the priority enterprise goal: “Customer satisfaction”.
Quick conclusion: Something is seriously wrong with the digital workplace when it comes to the customer-facing workforce.
If only 10 out of over 300 people say their customer-facing workforce finds it “very easy” to serve customers, there is something we need to understand and solve