Understanding Services and Processes

While there is a lot of discussions regarding importance of services , the processes which make services attractive sometimes are not quite visible. Similarly, no matter how good our core service offerings are, if the processes associated with the services are not efficient, the whole service take a beating.

I am sharing some keynotes for an interesting article which speaks of Service operations and the processes (both visible and invisible) . The article has appeared in today's edition of BusinessLine and can be accessed by the following link

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/ashima-goyal/article2224382.ece

The bank suddenly decided to implement KYC norms the regulator had mandated a long time ago. Customers got a letter threatening dire action, such as freezing or closing accounts that were not KYC-compliant. It asked for proof of residence and proof of identity, giving two weeks to complete the formalities. The bank has crores

of customers

The letter somehow forgot to mention that you were required to refill the account opening form. So the only result of a first trip was getting the form.

Sending someone with the documents and the filled form did not work because it turned out the account holder had to sign in front of the clerk. Again, the letter did not mention this. So, a third trip followed.

The milling crowds were left to find out from each other what they were supposed to do. After standing in a queue you found out that you had to take a token. After sitting and waiting patiently for your number to be called, you figured out that you had to be standing in the queue when it was your turn, else the next token number would be taken up. Then the clerk wanted the original phone bill as well as the copy — again, this had not been clarified earlier. A fourth trip followed. At last the clerk could check whether the numbers on the photocopied bill matched those in the original, and he finally knew his

OBSERVATIONS: When any large organisation goes for any process change, the focus should not only be limiting to the operational efficiencies. Big companies, especially PSUs tend to forget about the customers. This would bring a severe dent on their overall business, especially in times when the whole fight is going on in the “Potential” level.

Further, in case of big companies, it becomes even more important to have a robust mechanism of addressing customer related processes. As discussed in the previous class as well, the case of Nokia V/s the local Indian mobile manufacturers provides a classical instance which demonstrate the effect of neglecting the processes which are related to customers.