Effectively leveraging consumer complaints for regulatory compliance, customer-centricity and competitive advantage

Page created by Eugene Rowe
 
CONTINUE READING
Effectively leveraging consumer complaints for regulatory compliance, customer-centricity and competitive advantage
Effectively leveraging
consumer complaints for
regulatory compliance,
customer-centricity and
competitive advantage

While emerging regulations present a number of challenges to US financial
organizations, these mandatory actions can be transformed into significant
benefits for the business and its customers. Charter UK, market leaders in
enterprise complaints and customer feedback management, can prove that with
the right people, systems and processes in place, firms can reinvent their
approaches to managing complaints in a way that exceeds regulatory obligations,
vastly improves operational efficiency, and delivers a world-class
customer experience.
Effectively leveraging consumer complaints for regulatory compliance, customer-centricity and competitive advantage
Executive summary
The US regulatory landscape is changing, and robust legislative
measures, guidelines, and principles designed to protect
consumers will require financial organizations to radically
overhaul their customer feedback procedures and
complaints-handling processes.

With the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reforms and the National Mortgage      With the CFPB mandated to improve openness, efficiency, and accuracy in
Settlement as key drivers for change, new rules and regulations        the capture of complaints and feedback from consumers, firms will need
promulgated and enforced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau   to demonstrate the steps they are taking to improve the speed of
(CFPB) demand fundamental, wide-ranging improvements to the current    response, resolution, and consistency of outcomes to customers.
customer service standards offered by large financial
services organizations.                                                In addition, the launch of the CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database will
                                                                       also serve to raise the profile of complaints and the way they are resolved
                                                                       in the public arena, which will lead to an increase in the number of
Effectively leveraging consumer complaints for regulatory compliance, customer-centricity and competitive advantage
complaints firms will receive as well as an increased risk of reputational   Typically, this means that many firms are collecting customer insight that
and brand damage.                                                            yields no tangible return on investment (ROI). However, understanding
                                                                             the root cause of customer dissatisfaction, as well as being able to
Unsurprisingly, many firms are likely to be massively underprepared for      identify and fix service and process failures, is critical to drive continuous
the scale of the challenge and the impact of the increasing level of         business improvements.
complaints that they will face as a result of the heightened scrutiny.
Meeting the regulatory demands will require a strategic step change in       Taking a holistic view of all customer feedback is critical to not only
how they capture, manage, and leverage all forms of customer feedback.       support Voice of the Customer (VoC) and Customer Experience
                                                                             Management (CEM) programs, but also to underpin business
While the importance of proactively soliciting customer comment is           improvement strategies, such as Lean, Kaizen, and Six Sigma, and
commonly understood, the value that can also be leveraged from               to drive a more customer-centric organization.
unsolicited feedback, such as customer complaints, is not as
widely recognized.                                                           While some firms will view these changes as burdensome, increasingly
                                                                             the companies that are winning – the smarter organizations – are
                                                                             recognizing the ROI that effective complaints management can yield.
Effectively leveraging consumer complaints for regulatory compliance, customer-centricity and competitive advantage
These firms understand that effectively collecting and understanding all     However, it is our experience that from the outset many firms will
forms of customer feedback has a significant economic impact, and they       underestimate the true scale of the problem. This is, of course,
are therefore embracing the opportunity to improve customer focus and        unsurprising when you consider that these firms have never before had to
implement business benefits that will be reflected in their bottom line      measure their complaints volumes and remediation activity.
almost immediately.
                                                                             Therefore, they will quickly come to realize that today’s view of customer
Business benefits aside, to ensure compliance with the new and quickly       complaints is just the tip of the iceberg, and that the burden of managing
evolving customer services regulations, US financial organizations will at   complaints in the new regulatory landscape will be considerable if they do
the very least need to prove they have adequate resources and                not adopt the right strategy.
up-to-date procedures to receive, respond to, and resolve a much
greater level of customer feedback.
Effectively leveraging consumer complaints for regulatory compliance, customer-centricity and competitive advantage
“progressive organizations will find
themselves well ahead of the curve”
Effectively leveraging consumer complaints for regulatory compliance, customer-centricity and competitive advantage
“makes the difference between mediocre
   organizations and market leaders”
Creating a culture of continuous
improvement
Many financial organizations do not fully understand the cost               Our expertise lies in understanding that technology is not always the
that ineffective complaints management can have, and how it                 panacea to all complaints management challenges. It is also vital to
can impact operational efficiency, growth, and profitability, as            ensure that people, systems, and the company culture are synchronized
well as the broader customer experience.                                    to maximize the effectiveness of any enterprise complaints-handling and
                                                                            feedback management deployment.
With over 20 years’ expertise working in the UK, one of the most heavily
regulated consumer finance markets in the world, Charter UK                 We help large financial organizations to implement a strategic step
understands that reacting to regulations on a rule-by-rule basis is not a   change to not only meet regulatory demand, but also to leverage
viable strategy; rather, meeting regulatory challenges and instilling       complaints for profitability and build a culture of
service improvements go hand-in-hand.                                       continuous improvement.

Charter UK is a recognized visionary in this field, working with many       For firms wishing to achieve this goal, the critical element is to have a
leading organizations such as Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of           consistent approach to complaints-handling and the ability to understand
Scotland, Santander, and other global brands outside financial services     the root cause of customer dissatisfaction and missed expectation across
such as Harrods, Toyota, Lexus, McDonald’s, Hertz, and Starbucks.           the entire organization.
Charter Continuum™ is considered to be a strategic enterprise-wide              down by financial regulators, but are also taking advantage of detailed
platform that allows firms to adapt to today’s multi-channel environment        root cause analysis to understand customer requirements, enhance
by ensuring that a single view of customer complaints can be achieved           product design, and improve service delivery.
across the entire organization.
                                                                                This actionable business intelligence is being used in board-level
This level of insight prevents unidentified processing errors, customer         decision-making in some of the world’s largest
service bottlenecks, and other inefficiencies. It also ensures that firms are   customer-facing organizations.
not only meeting the new and quickly evolving principles and rules set
“no business is possible without the customer”
Martin Dodd, Customer Services Director of Lloyds Banking Group, says: “The real leading edge capability
that Charter Continuum has given us is root cause understanding – the ability to understand why customers are
 complaining, so that we can fix the problems straight away. As you can imagine, with an organization our size,
              fixing these processes early on will allow us to reduce our expenditure substantially.”
Helping Lloyds Banking Group become
the best bank for customers
Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) serves over 30 million retail and             of control and information to respond consistently, efficiently,
corporate customers globally. Having an overt goal to become             and cohesively.
the best bank for customers, LBG is setting new standards in
providing an unrivalled multi-channel banking experience for its         With more accurate insight into the quality and accuracy of VoC and root
customers and making service excellence a priority at every level        cause data now available across the Group, LBG’s customer service
of the Group.                                                            management team is finally able to understand clearly what product,
                                                                         service, systems, or process improvements are necessary in order to
The Board of LBG has made a public commitment to address service         remove entire categories of customer complaints.
failures and reduce customer complaints. We are supporting these
strategic ambitions by providing LBG with the largest single             This forensic information has enabled LBG to reduce complaints by 35
complaints-handling platform of any bank in Europe.                      percent in just 12 months. It has also allowed it to resolve 95 percent of
                                                                         complaints at the first point of contact, as well as significantly improve
Today, over 70, 000 LBG employees across all of its brands are able to   customer satisfaction and its Net Promoter Score.
access a single enterprise-wide Charter Continuum platform 24/7. This
allows them to deal with or gain pertinent information and insight       Charter UK has helped LBG to achieve this by embedding and tightly
regarding customers’ complaints, claims, and comments.                   integrating the Charter Continuum platform into all of its major systems,
                                                                         reducing the inefficiencies in its complaints-handling processes and
Throughout the whole organization, customer service representatives      ultimately allowing the Group to realize a fast and significant ROI.
and case workers are now equipped with an unrivalled breadth and depth
The Charter Continuum advantage
Charter Continuum’s unrivalled detailed data gathering and                    organizations to implement a ‘best practice’ approach to
reporting functions provide the strategic visibility and analytics            complaints-handling, combined with robust management information
necessary to meet (and improve upon) current and future                       reporting and root cause analysis intelligence functionality.
regulatory demands.
                                                                              Achieving best in class customer-centricity
This allows firms to identify problem areas in their systems, processes,      The enterprise capability of the platform enables organizations to gain
and structure, which drives continuous improvement throughout the             valuable insights into customer requirements across the entire
organization, enabling them to use customers’ experiences of their            organization and various touchpoints, giving them an edge over
products or services to help improve quality.                                 their competitors.

Charter Continuum is recognized to significantly reduce operational costs     Satisfied and loyal customers who want to come back to an organization
and improve service delivery by increasing the speed of response and          again and again are one of the true benefits of excellent
optimizing workforce efficiency. Ultimately, the platform enables financial   complaints-handling. Charter Continuum delivers this and ensures
                                                                              financial organizations can adhere to regulatory challenges because it has
                                                                              the flexibility to adapt to a changing regulatory landscape.
“the flexibility to adapt to a
changing regulatory landscape”
Benefits for the financial services industry
• 	An efficient and cost-effective solution to a financial organization’s   •	The ability to extend the customer service function to the front line of
   need to comply with industry regulation, mitigating the risk of              business operations, thereby empowering staff to capture complaints
   potential financial penalties                                                and feedback at the first point of contact and maintain consistency
                                                                                and quality of service delivery
•	A consistent yet adaptable approach to complaints and feedback
   outcomes in a highly changeable regulatory environment                    •	A Powerful management dashboard delivers an end-to-end view of
                                                                                complaints and where they sit in the business, with every stage
•	Complaints and customer feedback handled in an open, constructive,           transparent and auditable.
   transparent, and fair manner

•	Powerful reporting capabilities that enable firms to analyze the root
   causes of complaints and gain a consistent view of all customer
   concerns and issues across the business
Conclusion
The changing regulatory landscape in the US presents a                    Progressive organizations will embrace the opportunity to improve
number of challenges. However, firms need to be looking                   customer focus and implement business benefits that will be reflected in
beyond compliance alone, to focus on the strategic benefits of            their bottom line almost immediately.
strengthening their brand, improving efficiency, and ensuring
that they have a flexible system in place for whatever changes            These are the firms who will find themselves well ahead of the curve and
the regulator decides to impose.                                          doing much more than just meeting the demands of an evolving
                                                                          regulatory environment, but also achieving an enhanced, consistent
Charter Continuum users bear testimony to the fact that, with effective   customer experience, increased customer satisfaction, and significant
complaints management, firms can ensure regulatory compliance and         operational efficiency gains.
achieve customer-centricity as a direct outcome.
About us
Charter UK- the great British company with
worldwide appeal

Since 1992, Charter UK has grown its reputation as a specialist provider      and integrated approach to capturing, managing and analysing
of Enterprise Complaints and Feedback Management software solutions           complaints and feedback. We help businesses to achieve a strategic
to some of the world’s leading brands and customer-facing                     step-change that is proven to deliver an enhanced customer experience,
organisations, who operate in over 32 territories globally.                   improve customer efficiency, and drive business improvements, whilst
                                                                              at the same time yields significant cost reductions and efficiency gains.
Headquartered in the UK, our award-winning software suite Charter
Continuum™ is successfully deployed across multinationals operating in        Renowned for its flexibility, reliability and powerful Root Cause Analysis
the financial services, retail, utilities, transport, leisure, automotive,    and Management Information reporting capabilities, Charter Continuum
manufacturing, food and beverages, public sector and not-for-profit           delivers real business benefits with a measurable return on investment.
sectors. Charter Continuum enables our customers to adopt a consistent

US Office                                                                     UK Office
112 W. 34th Street                                                            2 Church Street Walton-On-Thames
17th and 18th Floors                                                          Surrey KT12 2QS, United Kingdom
New York City, NY                                                             Tel: +44(0)845 5 198 960
10120, USA                                                                    Fax: +44(0)845 5 198 961
Tel: +1 212 502 7096
                                               Email: info@charter-uk.com • Website: www.charter-uk.com
                                                                     ©2012 CHARTER UK
You can also read