Mistrust is a barrier to customer service

The new all-party group for customer service identifies failing trust in utilities as a barrier to customer satisfaction and service innovation. The Institute of Customer Service writes.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Customer Service (APPGCS) was founded in July 2014 with the aim of raising awareness and understanding of customer service among parliamentarians and establishing a dialogue with UK organisations across all sectors.

Members are invited to quarterly meetings to debate the impact of customer service on economic growth and business performance in different sectors. The main meeting topics will cover driving improvements in the quality of public services for citizens, building on positive business performance of organisations and developing employability for individuals through customer service skills training.

Customer service is extremely important to the UK economy: over 70 per cent of the working population perform roles that involve dealing directly with customers and the service sector generates around 78 per cent of GDP. Quality and competence in customer service therefore has a significant impact on the UK’s competitiveness and quality of public services.

In addition, there are growing challenges for all sectors arising from increasing customer expectations. The general public is better informed, often has greater choice, is less tolerant of organisations that fail to meet expectations and can use a variety of communication channels to express its opinions.

Fortunately, there is growing recognition of the links between customer service and organisations’ sustainable business performance, so these challenges are receiving attention and resource allocation.

After the initial meeting in July, the second meeting of the APPGCS took place on 13 October, at the Houses of Parliament, focusing on the challenges and opportunities facing the utilities sector in terms of its customer service strategy.

Emma FitzGerald, director of gas distribution at National Grid, and Steve Hayfield, director of customer service, B2C, at EDF presented their organisations’ visions and priorities for customer service strategy. Both speakers acknowledged that the utilities sector as a whole faces a challenge in trying to improve customer satisfaction, and they highlighted strategies to deal with it.

Presentations were followed by a discussion with MPs and other attendees, including chief executives and customer service directors from Northern Powergrid, GDF Suez, Anglian Water, Northern Gas Networks, Wales & West Utilities, Carillion, UK Power Networks, Southern Water, IMServ, Morrison Utility Services, Yorkshire Water, Thames Water, Eon Smart Energy and Ofwat.

Trust, transparency and greater simplicity were identified as key factors required to deliver sustained improvements in customer satisfaction. In research from the Institute of Customer Service, trust and reputation have also been found to be fundamental. This leads to a key challenge for organisations to demonstrate they are acting fairly and in the interests of customers at all times.

Both keynote speakers highlighted the potential of technologies such as smart metering to provide simpler, more innovative flexible services. However, the successful deployment of smart meters will largely depend on how effectively the sector addresses the engineering skills shortage.

The successful deployment of smart meters will also depend on the sector’s ability to re-establish customer trust. Indeed, customers need to trust organisations’ ability to install the meters and should be reassured that their data will be used appropriately.

Customers want to be able to deal in a seamless and straightforward way with utilities, whichever channel of communication they use. Organisations therefore need to focus on delivering consistent and straightforward experiences, whether someone contacts them face to face, on the telephone or online. Training and empowering frontline employees is central to good delivery.

There is an opportunity for different types of utilities and infrastructure providers to collaborate in scheduling major work projects to minimise disruption. Co-operation and collaboration between providers and key stakeholders within the sector will be key for success during the upcoming years in order to successfully implement transformative changes such as smart metering.

Attendees will be taking the points into consideration for review in the next six months and the institute will work with them to provide updates about progress and developments in order to drive progression and improvements across the sector.

The next meeting will take place on 20 January.