Certified Customer Service Program in Qatar Financial Center - Case Study Example

Certified Customer Service Program Student’s Name: Institution: Date: . Certified Customer Service Program Introduction An effective customer service program needs to serve various functions an organization delivers to its clients in an effective way. It needs to have the capability to satisfy users’ expectations to make them more confident about the ability of a firm to meet and satisfy their needs. An effective customer service program needs to be staffed with staff to handle different types of customers’ queries and opinions (Fogli 2006). The Qatar Financial Center needs to develop a more efficient customer service program to serve the needs of different customers that make inquiries more appropriately. The program seeks to streamline all customer service functions that are related to immigration to give users a more efficient and worthwhile service experience whenever they interact with important people in the firm. This paper will discuss about the how certified customer service program in Qatar Financial center needs to be implemented to improve its performance in the industry. Customer Service Situation There are many changes that are taking place in the external environment which have an impact on the firm’s operations in the industry. These changes require the firm to institute high quality customer service practices to make its operations more competitive in the industry. There are also crucial changes in technology, lifestyles and consumer awareness which impact on the manner in which customers engage with organizations in different environments. As a result, a firm needs to be well prepared to deal with these changes to ensure its internal work culture is dynamic and flexible to new industry trends (Fogli 2006). Qatar Financial Center needs to come up with ways of establishing important links with its customers to give it a competitive position in the market. This approach will help the firm to consolidate its position in the industry which has been threatened by new firms which have strong levels of performance. A key issue the firm needs to consider is the intense competition that exists in the country at the moment. This challenges the firm to do more to implement important programs that can help it strengthen the relationships it has with its customers. Customers have more expectations whenever they use services offered by the firm and these expectations need to be satisfied to increase their loyalty. As a result, all programs must be well designed to cater to different services the firm offers its customers in the industry (Kamin 2012). Customer loyalty can be easily diverted to other firms if services offered do not conform to expectations of the firm’s clients in the market. The firm needs to implement effective communication plans that make it possible for all stakeholders to understand what it does and its long term vision in the industry. This approach will help the firm to be well prepared to deal with different challenges it is likely to face in the industry. Appropriate strategies need to be implemented to make it possible for managers and employees to understand customers better. The firm needs to develop effective human resource strategies to make its employees acquire important skills that can help them serve the needs of customers better. Employees need to be trained on how to handle customers from different cultural, religious and social backgrounds to enable the firm achieve its agenda in the market. All customer service employees in the organization need to be empowered to make important decisions within their work environments. This will ensure they are able to respond effectively to customers’ queries and inquiries (Kamin 2012). Employees who interact with customers on a regular basis should be able to articulate the firm’s vision in the market and they need to be well informed about important processes in the firm to help them serve customers appropriately. It is important for the firm to implement other key guidelines to add value to its important processes. Information sharing in the firm will help all employees to collaborate with each other to solve different problems they face in their respective workstations. Managers should share important information with employees to make it easy for them to perform their responsibilities. They need to encourage employees to discuss various issues of interest freely to enable all stakeholders come up with vital solutions to various problems that the organization faces in the industry. Employees should also be encouraged to share different ideas freely to make them feel that they are valued by the firm (Kamin 2012). This will encourage them to make different types of sacrifices to enable the firm move forward. They should be ready to forego their comfort to serve customers who are experiencing different types of problems to make them more satisfied with the direction the firm is moving in. Communication formats to be used to keep in touch with customers should be clear and well defined. It is important for the firm to put in place important procedures to be followed by customers and employees to handle different types of customer care issues. The firm needs to create an effective platform in which both employees and customer service staff are able to interact comfortably (Gibson-Odgers 2007). If possible, customer service employees should be well equipped to respond to customer queries quickly to improve customers’ experiences and perceptions about the firm. The firm needs to have a 24 hour customer service center to ensure all attendants are available to serve different customers who have various types of queries about services offered. Therefore, this will ensure customers’ issues and queries are given the necessary attention at any time of day. This will make customers more confident about the firm and it will encourage them to consume services offered by the firm in the market. Integration of Customer Service with Technology Many people are spending more time on the internet, which is a vital tool for communication and interaction. The firm needs to develop appropriate platforms through which important service queries can be addressed. One of the main ways to achieve this is by getting more involved in various social media platforms which are popular with different users. Through social media, the firm can be able to update customers about new information about services and products the firm intends to introduce in the market and their significance. This approach will make it possible for all stakeholders to understand the direction the firm is moving in and how this is likely to impact on the relationships they have with the firm. Social media allows customer service staff to interact with customers in real time to address their concerns more effectively (Gibson-Odgers 2007). As a result, customer service staff will be in a position to respond to various issues raised by customers promptly to make them appreciate the quality of services they are offered by the firm. The firm needs to keep in touch and find out information about mainstream attitudes that customers have towards various communication technologies used to keep in touch with them. Technologies which are chosen should appeal to a cross section of customers to ensure they are easily accessible to all stakeholders involved. The firm’s website needs to be interactive with customers to make them get important updates about different issues they are faced with. Customers need to be in a position to have a live chat with the firm’s customer service staff regarding different issues they are facing (Luke 2012). This will make them get accurate and reliable information from the staff to strengthen their trust in the firm and its operations. A frequently asked questions segment can be included in the website to give customers important answers about common questions they are likely to ask as they consume the firm’s products. This will save the time spend by customer service staff while responding to customers’ queries. The firm needs to institute quality communication practices to make its customer service program well designed to handle large customer queries. Many companies face a lot of problems with call centers due to high levels of congestion in telephone lines that are being used. The Qatar financial center needs to define its customer help lines more effectively to make them accessible to all customers that seek help from staff. This will improve customers’ perceptions about the quality of services the firm offers in the industry. The firm needs to invest in diverse technological platforms to ensure customers have alternative choices through which they can interact with customer service staff (Luke 2012). This will minimize unnecessary delays in customer service which have a negative contribution to the firm’s image in the industry. Another key issue the firm needs to consider is the language to be used to communicate to customers. Even though English is the most used international language, Arabic and other languages are widely spoken in Qatar and other neighboring Gulf states. All customer service employees need to have multi-lingual skills to make them well equipped to handle different customer queries raised by customers in the firm (Harding 2011). The firm needs to institute cross cultural management practices to make its internal operations more competitive to meet the demands and expectations of diverse customers from different countries and cultural backgrounds. There are many Indians, Filipinos, Chinese and people from other countries who are not fluent in English or Arabic. The firm needs to develop an appropriate solution to ensure their needs are responded to in time whenever they have various issues regarding the quality of services they are offered by the firm. Benchmarking and Measuring Quality of Customer Care Customer service is intangible and cannot be quantified. However, the quality of customer care can only be assessed through perceptions and opinions. The firm needs to use external bodies to benchmark the quality of service it offers its customers to ensure it is better than the quality of services offered by other firms in the industry. The firm needs to certify its customer service program to ensure it conforms to best practices observed in other places in the world. It needs to strive to implement excellent customer service programs in its operations to obtain positive ratings in its services (Harding 2011). Positive ratings will improve customers’ perceptions towards the firm and it will increase their loyalty to various services it offers in the industry. Benchmarking will help managers to compare different services offered by the firm to its customers to ensure they serve its interests in the industry more effectively. Comparisons that are made between different operations a firm is engaged in make it possible for all stakeholders to improve their planning to improve internal and external performance in the firm. It is also necessary for the firm to create more avenues through which different stakeholders can meet and discuss different customer service issues it faces in the industry. This will help all participants to find out if there are any changes in perceptions and performance of various services offered by a firm after a specific period of time (Willingham 2005). As a result, the firm’s management will be well equipped to deal with periodic changes in the quality of service offered. The firm will also be in a better position to deal with various trends that have an impact on its performance in the industry. The quality of customer service offered by a firm can be measured through different methods. A firm needs to encourage its customers to contribute their opinions and suggestions to help it understand different issues they are facing as they use its services. If many customers have complaints, this will show that the firm is not attaining quality standards it has set for itself. Many complaints from customers show that they are not satisfied with the quality of service they are being offered and this requires the firm to conduct a review to find out why this is happening. A review can be able to uncover different problems that have not been given adequate attention in the firm and how they need to be solved (Willingham 2005). Therefore, it is important for a firm to make sure that its services offer the desired levels of value to customers. This will make them more satisfied with the customer service experience being offered. Other sensitive issues should also be taken into consideration when measuring the quality of services offered by the firm. Airport delays, accidents, political turbulence and bad weather are factors that are beyond the control of the firm yet they have a big influence on its operations in the market. Therefore, the firm needs to have effective risk mitigation measures to ensure customers get prompt information about various calamities that may have an effect on immigration. Effective response and risk mitigation makes stakeholders have more confidence in the firm’s ability to resolve different problems they are facing (Knapp 2010). The firm needs to establish linkages with other public and private institutions to gather more information about different unexpected events which are likely to have an impact on its operations in the industry. This will make the firm well prepared to handle different types of risks that are beyond its control. Benchmarking and measurement of customer service quality will help the firm understand existing levels of customer awareness and how they impact on its operations in the industry (Willingham, 2005). The firm needs to understand how customers perceive its services and the value they attach to them to come up with effective strategies to maintain their loyalty. The firm also needs to understand how it needs to use its resources to implement effective customer care strategies that respond to existing needs in the market. As a result, this approach will help the firm to take control of important processes in the external market environment which have an impact on its long term operations in the industry (Knapp 2010). Client satisfaction surveys can be used to find out the levels of service quality in the firm and how they are likely to impact on relationships it has with its clients in different markets. Design of Customer Service Program The firm needs to ensure its customer service program meets the needs of its clients effectively. Since it handles customers from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, the firm needs to carry out a market profile study to understand its target customers and their backgrounds (Willingham, 2005). This will guide all employees on how to serve different customers to increase their levels of comfort and satisfaction. The firm also needs to focus on the manner in which its services are used by its customers and how this is likely to have an effect on its operations. As a result, the firm will be in a better position to coordinate all internal and external operations that have an impact on its performance in the industry (Knapp 2010). It needs to strengthen the value of its services to make them more exclusive and suitable for its target clientele. As a result, the firm will be able to understand the expectations of its customers and how they are to be managed to strengthen their belief in its internal and external systems. There are different factors that have impact on the way customers form expectations about a particular firm’s operations in the industry. Customers’ personal needs are important because they determine what they want out of particular service sold to them by a firm. The firm needs to find out consumers’ personal needs and how they are to be satisfied to design an appropriate service that meets their needs (Goodman 2009). Customers’ previous experiences while using a service influence their future expectations about service offered by a firm. Therefore, a firm needs to ensure that all its service offerings are high quality to ensure customers’ experiences are not negatively affected. This will improve customers’ loyalty towards a specific service. The environment in which a service is offered influences a customer’s expectations about the quality of service he or she is likely to get. Therefore, it is important for a firm to improve the appearance of its customer service centers to make its customers have positive perceptions. The RATER framework enables firms to focus on customer satisfaction to improve its appearance in the industry it operates in. The firm needs to make its services more responsive and helpful to customers’ queries and problems. It also needs to assure its customers that its employees are capable of answering their queries and resolving different types of problems they are facing. The firm needs to improve its professional reputation to instill confidence in its customers that it is able to resolve all problems they are facing as they use its services (Goodman 2009). The firm also needs to show its customers that it cares about different issues they are facing and is doing all it can to provide effective solutions to them. Lastly, the firm needs to demonstrate that it is reliable by keeping its promises to customers. It should provide solutions to all the problems they are facing within the stipulated timelines to win their trust and commitment. Qatar Financial Center needs to develop an appropriate organizational philosophy to make all stakeholders more willing to satisfy the needs of customers. Managers need to encourage employees working under them to have positive attitudes towards work to increase their commitment to the organization. As a result, more employees will be willing to sacrifice their time and comfort to solve different problems customers are facing. All internal and external processes must have quality checks and standards to ensure the firm satisfies the expectations of its clients in the market (Goodman 2009). The firm also needs to put in place steps that encourage workers to provide excellent service to different customers they are serving to make them more responsible and diligent. This approach will help the firm to be more competitive in the industry to improve its financial performance. Conclusion In conclusion, the firm needs to carry out a radical transformation in its customer service operations. This will help it compete effectively with other firms in the industry. Qatar Financial Center needs to implement effective customer service policies to improve the relationships it has with its customers. References Fogli, L 2006, Customer service delivery: research and best practices, Wiley, San Francisco. Gibson-Odgers, P 2007, The world of customer service, Cengage Learning, Mason. Goodman, JA 2009, Strategic customer service: managing the customer experience to increase positive word of mouth, build loyalty and maximize profits, Amacom, New York. Harding, G 2011, Customer service importance - various perspectives on where society stands, Grin Verlag, Berlin. Kamin, M 2012, Customer service training, Routledge, New York. Knapp, D 2010, A guide to customer service skills for the service desk professional, Cengage Learning, Mason. Luke, J 2012, Fast forward your customer service: 10 steps to achieve exceptional customer satisfaction, Candid Creation Publishing, Singapore. Willingham, R 2005, Integrity service: treat your customers right-watch your business grow, Simon And Schuster, New York. Read More