Page 29 - SPiCE Magazine (September 2019)

28 The SPiCE Magazine • Technology Features: Rocking it @ 40 The SPiCE Magazine • Technology Features: Rocking it @ 40 29

CX Transformation, Documentation What I got from my friend’s story was that she found it rare to actually be satisfied with how her not-so-ideal

By Hana Sta. Ines – Lao, Supervisor, Customer Service, Parañaque, PH circumstance was handled. Sure, it’s easy to keep your composure and professionalism if the client/customer
on the other end is exhibiting the same.

Recently, I caught up with a friend and she told me a “But you know what, I could not bring myself to be mad
But more often than not, they reach out to customer support to complain and berate – instances which can
story about her weekend. at him (customer service officer),” I asked why. “Each
bring out the worst in the best of support representatives. In a world where we all constantly find ourselves
time he explained that there was no way to
Using the online payment option for an app, she went on either end of this spectrum (support – customer), it has never been more important to remind ourselves
reverse the charge - mind you, at this point I was
on her errands but was stopped short by an SMS in- that creating connections with people whom we interact with can be more profound – and we get to do
being annoyingly repetitive – I can feel that he is
forming her that she went over her credit limit and will that everyday.
very sorry for me. He sounded like a supportive friend
be charged a fee accordingly. This came as a surprise
counselling me through a rough patch. That’s rare.
as she was sure the due amount was paid for the day
So I hung up, still charged the fee, but, strangely
before. She called the customer hotline for the issuing
enough, feeling a bit better.”
bank and was informed that though the payment was
made, it may take up to 2-3 business days before it If you have any experience in customer management
reflects on the account and (remember, this happened (in person, phone, chat, emails, forums, etc.), you know
on a weekend) once the transaction is approved, the that this call would have gone any number of ways; and
system will automatically charge the over limit fee: a most of them won’t be good. What sets this experience
whopping Php 750 for going over the credit limit by a apart is that the officer was genuinely empathetic to-

mere Php 18. Needless to say, said friend was frus- wards the customer, and he made that clear, otherwise,
trated. However, her next words surprised me: my friend will not have reacted the way she did.

This now is the focus of Customer Service’s track for the remainder of the In Photos: Rise CX Transformation Launch at the Parañaque Site in July 2019
year and beyond: CX Transformation

The purpose: Collectively achieve a high sense of Customer Experience focus which, in turn, steers us
away from the convention of transactional Customer Service. This is not to say that KPIs cease to be
important, but rather, upping the standards by going beyond just the metrics and putting the customer’s
overall experience at the heart of it all.

I order to achieve this, the Customer Service Management developed a series of programs designed around
activities and initiatives aimed at reminding each and every member of the Customer Service team that what
they do is crucial and very important; no task, no matter how seemingly small, is too menial or irrelevant when
we are interacting with customers first hand. Being front liners that we are, we sometimes define a customer’s
experience about a product/service/company. We get the brunt of the blame and anger over things we have
no control over and it’s not always a good day. But I think one of the reason why we keep doing what we do is
because we want and need to help others.

Processing a book or journal over the phone made sure that the client receives it in time for a project. Or how
that author who had thousands of questions, emails endlessly going back and forth, got published and was able
to complete her doctorate degree requirement and eventually, graduate (this actually happened to me and she
kindly sent me a note and a scarf from Indonesia which I still keep and treasure to this day).