30 June 2010

It's only when things go tits up you recognise the value of integration

South Eastern Trains does exactly what the name suggests; operate the train network in the South East corner of the UK. The trains run between five principal terminals in London and the coast. Everywhere is linked, every service is interdependent.

They operate an iPhone app and a web site to share live train running information. My colleague Lyn says this is her most used and valuable app; a big claim considering the gazillions to chosse from.

I’m assuming the train running information runs on a loop according to the timetable with a manual intervention when delays and cancellations occur. When things are running BAU, the digital travel information is perfectly adequate.

Last night the service simultaneous failures at two terminals, a signalling breakdown and a security alert, meant the value of information was at a premium.

A home page message on the web site said the terminal I use was closed, but the train running information app on the iPhone and web said all trains were running to time. So travellers had little choice but to join the thousands of people wanting to get home to hear a man shouting updates from the steps. On what was the hottest working day so far this year.

Separate from fixing what caused the problems and preventing them from happening again, the lessons for the senior leadership team are:

1. Providing accurate travel information is a core offering, not a nice to have, not just during major incidents;
2. Issuing it digitally is the most convenient channel for most customers;
3. The web and iPhone app are therefore business critical systems;
4. Business critical systems are not the sole responsibility of a single function IT, the digital team, the comms team etc;
5. Business critical systems should be fully integrated strategic assets;
6. Strategic assets need operational engagement at the most senior levels;
7. Getting this right on Monday would have transformed the experience for me, thousands of my fellow customers and the people waiting for us;
8. Getting this stuff right makes life easier for staff, helps them to be more productive and reduces the cost of these unavoidable incidents for investors.

26 June 2010

By way of introduction...

It strikes me that the most sensible way to start my blog is share with you an idea of who I and what it’s all about.

I work for one of the top 20 fund manager’s in the world in a world class customer experience and innovation team. I’m not going to claim to be an expert on either of these parts of my job role, and I won’t be providing any financial advice. In fact, the day anyone turns to me for any guidance on making investments, something has gone very wrong.

However, I have led teams in marketing, sales and customer service over the past 20 years and continue to be a student of these disciplines. I am confident I have enough to discuss about most customer facing issues that affect most organisation types.

My experience is based on working in Business to Business (B2B) roles in a FTSE 100 Plc telco, a Dow Jones 30 MNC, small businesses, the public sector, and for my sins, consultancy. Most importantly, like you, everyday I am a consumer and a tax payer.

I will cover most challenges we face as customer professionals, regardless of our discipline and some personal experiences too. I enjoy reflecting on the challenges of management and organisational behaviour related to customers, and you’ll find I have a quite a bit to say about this.

I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I think I have a useful take on some the most important issues we face in a world of ever changing customer expectations and technology.

I welcome your feedback. Please keep it clean, profesional, on message and avoid being abusive.