ICMI's Customer Management Insight - September 2007 - (Page 10) contact center spotlight A financial services call center that thrives on a culture of respect and appreciation for both customers and agents. American Express de España BY GREG LEVIN I could have taken the easy way out in writing this article and just filled the space allotted with a list of all the contact center awards that American Express de España has won over the years. Instead, however, I thought it more valuable to highlight the key reasons why this Spanish contact center is so often called to the podium to accept a coveted trophy or plaque. But before I do even that, I first must highlight a single word: “Relationships”; for it is Amex de España’s thriving relationships with its customers and its agents that truly drive the center’s consistent success. Via such things as a comprehensive “Voice of the Customer” initiative and an undying focus on employee development and retention, Amex de España sustains rapport, trust and loyalty with all the key players: the people who contact the center, and the people who work in it — perpetuating the center’s ability to achieve its ambitious mission to do “ordinary things in an extraordinary way. ” TUNING IN TO THE VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER Managers at Amex de España are constantly hearing voices. No, they aren’t crazy — unless being highly attentive to emerging customer needs is a sign of insanity, in which case, these Spaniards are positively bonkers. As part of an impressive Voice of the Customer initiative, the contact center has multiple processes in place to help capture the customer experience and act on the findings. Among these processes are: transactional customer satisfaction surveys (email-based — sent following a contact); customer focus groups; “customer listening” programs (side-by-side call monitoring); a customer relations report (tracking all complaints and compliments); feedback from the contact center’s agents; and call monitoring reports. Managers continuously integrate the critical data and feedback from each of these sources into a “live” Voice of the Customer action plan and — together AMERICAN EXPRESS DE ESPAÑA AT A GLANCE with agents, members of other departLOCATION: Madrid, Spain ments, and upper management — work to ensure that key customer issues are HOURS OF OPERATION: 24x7 resolved or improved. FTEs: 150 “To be successful, we must value and respect the customers, says Pepa ” SERVICES PROVIDED: All customer service for local credit card customers Fernandez, customer service leader at and foreign credit card customers traveling in Spain. Amex de España. “They give us thouCHANNELS HANDLED: Phone, IVR, email and Web self-service sands of opportunities each year to NUMBER OF CONTACTS HANDLED: Approximately 1 million per year achieve this success. Taking care and listening to what they have to say NOTABLE: Strategic “Voice of the Customer” initiative demonstrates becomes the most important part of our unparalleled commitment to callers and quality. Highly employee-centric — jobs. Their voice has to be heard and resulting in enviable employee retention and satisfaction rates. acted upon. ” COMMITMENT TO AGENTS = AGENT COMMITMENT M All this attention to the customer doesn’t detract from Amex de España’s commitment to engaging and holding on to the highest performing agents. And hold on to agents it does — close to 50 percent of the center’s staff has icmi’s insight www.icmi.com | SEPTEMBER 2007 10 http://www.icmi.com
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