Term Project Alternative 2

Customer Service Valuation Project

See also: Term Project Alternative 1, Case Analysis General Guidance.

NOTE: References below are to Anton and Petouhoff's (A&P) Customer Relationship Management book unless otherwise noted. Excerpts from this book will be passed out to the class, however, you may wish to purchase the book if you select this Alternative for your Term Project.

1. Identify a company or activity that will let you work with their customers to conduct a customer survey and subsequently analyze the information. It may be bricks and mortar or an e-commerce business (activity). But you must have both placement and access to observe the business, survey the customers and employees, talk to and work with the managers.

2. You may work in groups (five-seven to a group) or individually. Each project is to cover a different company or activity (if the company is large enough, a different branch of the company). The important thing is that customer service is related to the point of contact with the customer. A McDonald's in Belgium will differ from one in Germany or the UK. The legal office at Baumholder will be different from the one in Heidelberg or Ramstein. All the organizational policies and training in the world will not change that reality. Hence, unless you are physically close to others classmates, or select an e-commerce business, group work will be limited.

3. Select an activity with a significant customer service function. You will want there to be enough people in the function so that they can conduct business and talk to you when needed.

4. Your project will have four distinct phases:

You will submit a formal report on both the project and your research-investigative methods; i.e., your formal report will have at least two major sections – one covering the content or substance of your investigations and a second covering your research methods and decisions.

Your report will be fully documented and presented in technical report writing style.

 

Phase 1: Know your client and the customer. Describe what exists at present in detail. Make sure you understand the system and processes within which customer service is supposed to occur. Map the customer service process using a Deployment Flowcharts or Swimlane Diagrams. You will later revise your Phase 1 submission and send the revised version to me along with your Phase 2 input. (due 7 March 2003)	For the 10 Feb deadline, this understanding will admittedly be more limited that it must be in the end. I understand that; because of time constraints, I want to force the pace a little and get you out on the street. Your appreciation of the current situation will grow as you progress through the survey, so be satisfied at first with a general description of the firm, its general strategy, products and services, main competitive advantage in the marketplace, customer service policy and the perceived response of customers to the firm, its products and services. Update your Process Map at the end of Phase 2-4 as need be to reflect your improved understanding of the situation.
Phase 2: Complete your understanding of the Operational CRM features of the activity you are investigating. Focus on the issues Anton and Petouhoff (A&P) raise. See their models in Fig. 1.1 and 1.2 (A&P, pg 4 & 7) for help in asking the right questions. Provide as many answers to those questions as you can. Supplement A&P with Anton's 1996 CRM text, especially Chapters 1-3 and 9-11. There are many useful operational concepts here some of which he has repeated in A&P. This will lead you to expand your study to the key concepts and models in A&P Chapters 1-5. Analyze the change and process management activities and the use of teams in the target organization. Identify stakeholder characteristics. (See A&P, pp. 123-124.)	Under Operational CRM, A&P focus on effective and efficient use of People (first), Processes, and Technology (last). Relate customer service to the firm's profit and loss statement (or for a non-profit activity, a cost-beneift analysis). Address the customer relationship (see Fig. 1.12) and the key success factors for CS employees (see Fig. 1.13). Assess the approach to both risk and change management in your target activity. Where possible test the emotional life cycle of projects (A&P, Fig. 3.5, p. 48). Apply the CRM model (A&P, Fig. 3.13, p. 61) to your target activity. Assess the people in the customer service activity using the CRM Successful People Process (SPP™) and the DISC behavior model (A&P, Fig. 4.1, p. 73). Create a DISC profile for supervisors, lead customer service reps, and others you deem necessary to help understand the dynamics of the target activity. Complete the picture with a Personal Values Profile (PVP) for these same individuals.
Phase 3: Explore Analytical CRM features of the activity you are investigating. Establish the Customer Lifetime Value for your target activity. (See A&P, Ch. 6-7.) Benchmark, internally and externally, your CRM Center. (See A&P, Ch. 8.) Using Fig 8.1 as a model, compare your target activity with others. Recommend improvement initiatives. Measure the people who provide the service. (See A&P, Ch. 9.) Assess the measures in place, recommend different measures, assess the performance feedback system. Assess the ROI of training in your target activity. (See A&P, Ch. 10.) Assess the ROI of improved customer service. (See A&P, Ch. 11.) Apply the SP3M model to your target activity (See A&P, Ch. 12, Table 12.2, and Fig 12.5) Assess the use of Technology to leverage investments in CRM in your target activity. (See A&P, Ch. 13.) Address the Key Performance Indicators for your activity.	Under Operational CRM, A&P focus on effective and efficient use of People (first), Processes, and Technology (last). Provide background justification and calculations for your final results as a part of the analysis. Your activity will likely vary from the ones discussed in A&P's book. Focus on the similar area and apply as many of the concepts, tools, and models as possible and as much of the logic as as well. There will be some disconnects, particularly if your are investigating a public service or not-for-profit organization.
Phase 4: Analysis and Reporting You are to tie together the prior phases of this project and recommend a course of action for the client. Typically this will include a recap of what processes and service levels exist, logical methods for improving customer service, establishing different levels of customer service, improving customer service representative training and performance. You are to prepare a technical report of your results and your methods (for an outline, see below). This will be a formal report of your research and results for the client and me of your activities, conclusions and recommendations based on that activity.	Your class reports must be turned-in in MS Office and Excel formats. I do not want a PowerPoint presentation lacking extensive analytical background reasoning and data. This is not a course in technical report writing so I do not propose to review with you here how to construct a project or research report properly. See your Technical Report Writing book, on-line guides, etc. If your client requests a separate report, please send me a copy of that report. Otherwise, provide your client with a copy of what you send me. (Out of courtesy, address the report to both of us.) If you have severe misgivings about the quality of your method, conclusions, or recommendations, you may delay providing your report to your client until after you receive my comments.
As a minimum your report should include: Title Page ToC Executive Summary Purpose Background Your Project activities Phase 1 summary - The Current Situation Phase 2 summary - Operational CRM Phase 3 summary - Analytical CRM Analytical methods Report of Analysis Conclusions (substantive) Include at least responses to the following points: How did your findings differ from what you initially expected to find at the start of the project? New areas for investigation arising from your results. Management practices that, if modified, might result in an improvement in customer attitudes. Employee training required and justified by forecast ROI. Customer Service Level changes justified by forecast ROI. Conclusions (procedural) Lessons learned for future investigations Continual assessment requirements Resource requirements (used vs. required) Methods that would make analysis better, simpler, or faster Suggestions for improvement Qualitative vs. Quantitative methods Specific comments on Anton's methods Recommendations For use of your results For management action to improve customer service or perceptions Appendices as noted above Works Cited or Bibliography Added items as you see fit. Provide professional credit to the works of others throughout your report. This is not a cast-iron outline. It does describe the main elements I expect to see in your reports. You may use any approved writing guide.

See the assignment schedule for key dates. Plan and work ahead, please.

Document your efforts. Your report must include an appendix that details your methodology.

Group projects will normally be larger in scope than individual projects; hence you may need to begin your field work early.

Unless otherwise excused, use the MS Office suite of programs to prepare your report. Diagrams made in programs such as Visio or Inspiration must be converted to .gif or .png files before inclusion in your report. (Use .png or .jpg for complex color pictures.) For ease of posting to WT or e-mailing to me, you may need to use several different files. If you do, make sure they are well referenced internally so that it is absolutely clear how the whole project comes together and interrelates.

Use as many of the tools and strategies that you already know or will learn in this course as possible. However, the intent of this customer service project is for you to demonstrate what you will have learned from the concepts and techniques presented in this course. I want to see diagrams and charts, not just words. Note in Anton how words are used to amplify, tables, charts and diagrams - and diagrams are used to capture and communicate so much more than simple words can do.

Where sources other than your texts are used, please include a complete bibliographic reference and final summary of works cited. I should be able to find any quote or paraphrase with relative ease in the original source. Just as importantly, unless the idea, details, graphics, etc. are uniquely your own (and presented for the first time in this report) or in that body of knowledge termed 'general' by a non-specialist, make sure you cite your sources. If you use some else's idea, exact words, graphics, etc., give them credit. If you use a paper you or someone else has written for a prior class or purpose, include it in your references. Be careful. Do not unintentionally plagiarize what has been called 'intellectual property.'