Translation based on an article which was published in the Players of Life magazine.  2010

Authors: Gabriel Bovea  Sociologist MBA in Management. Luis Torres. Industrial Engineer. MBA in International Business.

Does your company have a sharp defintion of Service Strategy? This is the first question that a consultant specialized in quality of service will ask you in your first encounter. The purpose of this question is to understand if the Mission and Vision of your company are aligned with the best practices while managing the relationship with your customers, and the importance of a service strategy in present and future business.

Designing a service strategy consists on the integration of complex elements that, when established as a business plan, will result in a set of rules and procedures to be followed.

Nowadays, this topic includes a scientific methodology that combines multidisciplinary professionals in the fields of technology, management, operations, marketing, legal advice, compliance, business and services. In order to implement the strategy, it will be necessary to integrate all those involved precisely to ensure that all the designed infrastructure is activated in a coherent and reinforced way against any event to the company’s customers.

There is a movement towards a new dominant logic of service that was initiated in the academic environment and lately has been adopted by widely recognized companies in the field, such as IBM.

The first article that generated the movement was presented in the newspaper Journal of Marketing, in 2004, entitled “Evolving to a new logic for marketing” by Vargo & Lusch. The article proposes that a provision of service rather than product is fundamental for economic exchange. The article explains how the first exchange model was based on “product” that was generally the result of a manufacturing process. The dominant logic at that time focused on tangible resources, including value and transactions.

In recent decades, new perspectives have emerged that may revise that logic. The new logic focuses on intangible resources, co-creation of value and relationships. Under the new logic, successful organizations must give priority to planning and implementing an strategy of service aligned with the values of the organization. Here are some of the key elements that should be considered in a service strategy.

Channels strategy:

Channels are a key element in the service strategy. They provide a direct contact with the clients. The way in which organizations interact with their clients is vital to understand the business potential that exists behind the commercial relationship between them.

The level of knowledge of its clientele; the proximity that exists between them will allow the execution of new businesses generating loyalty and persistence in the commercial relationship. To ensure that these business expectations get achieved, the most competitive organizations undertake a “close” relationship with their customers, empowering their distribution channels and after-sales services.

Accessibility:

Managing an effective and close relationship with customers is facilitated by implementing technology, from the most basic solutions to the implementation of the most sophisticated systems. For this, it is necessary to clearly design a strategy for accessing customer information in all available channels.

Among the channel options we have: Personalized attention, telephone attention, through automated voice recognition systems, web channels, instant messaging and social networks. All the previous channels are perfectly alignable in terms of providing a coherent perception of the service model, allowing the users and customers to obtain the same impression regardless of the selected channel used.

The uniformity of the channels and their efficiency depends to a large extent on the homologation of the service offer. The differentiation between them must be given only in terms of security and risk parameters, which are currently valid.

Efficiency:

Are our products and services really efficient? How many transactions initiated in an automated channel are solved in their entirety through the same channel and how many clients must complete a transaction through the cross-use of multiple channels?

If channels are efficient (from the customer’s perspective) they will allow the user to obtain a satisfactory experience in terms of time, easy understanding of the system, easy handling of security mechanisms and the certain perception that he has resolved his service expectation.

Risk Management:

The parameters of risk and security in transactions are intended to protect organizations from losses generated by fraud problems, also allow customers to use their financial instruments in a controlled risk environment that will result in a perception positive of your organization. When we have an experience contrary to the one described above, clients evaluate the possibility of changing their service provider, this is a consequence of a feeling of insecurity that guides them to review options that offer more effective risk management mechanisms compatible with their comfort.

In this sense, the most effective security mechanisms are those designed under a precise knowledge of the business portfolio, who is our client?, what is their socioeconomic profile?, their preferences, lifestyle, essential elements to define how they will be identified in access channels, under mechanisms that guarantee the organization efficient and controlled management of operational risk.

Client’s voice:

Customer relationship management ( CRM ) systems are mostly oriented towards the cross-selling of multiple products and services. However, it is very important to obtain a closer and more detailed perception of the opinion that customers have of our products. In order to obtain this important input, it is necessary for companies to obtain feedback from their clients, or through web satisfaction surveys as formal measurement instruments such as market studies, among others.

The results of these studies will often bring the feeling that the client is never satisfied on the one hand, however they will more than compensate the efforts made by the company, either in generating new business or guaranteeing loyalty and persistence in the commercial relationship.

The difference between the expectations and perceptions of the client:

One of the instruments most used in measuring the quality of service is SERVQUAL, which was designed by Parasuraman Zeithaml and Berry in 1988.

This instrument, which has been tested in different industries, contains five dimensions:

  1. Tangibility: The degree to which a product or service can generate a concrete image
  2. Reliability: Ability to deliver the promised service reliably and accurately
  3. Answer: Availability to help customers and provide timely service
  4. Empathy: Individual attention care by employees, among themselves and customers
  5. Guarantee: Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to generate trust Although it has been criticized and updated by several, SERVQUAL is still based on it: we must measure both the expected service (expectations) and the experiences (perceptions) of our clients. The difference between these two results in the quality of service

Our opinion is that the simplest elements delivered to the clientele in a timely and efficient manner, are the key to obtain their loyalty; The courteous, respectful treatment, the appropriate response, the interest for the client and the concern to generate a solid relationship are attributes that make the difference between products and service providers in any market segment.

A well-designed channels strategy implemented through competitive human resources, solid ethical principles and the use of appropriate technology will allow a uniform perception of the service model of your company, making your orientation known by exceeding the client’s expectations, which, the latter pays with loyalty and new business relationships.