guycad$
In Search Of Free Speech
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Pompton Lakes, NJ
| PHB's and real life.
You have to remember when it comes to (mis)management, you're always dealing with someone else's agenda. In particular, in large corporations, you typically deal with middle manager's to whom have been delegated some piddling authority but whom have no real say and do no real work. After all, they're "managers".
Such 'policy setters' are usually concerned with making themselves look essential to the company. The gauge of an excellent manager can often be taken by the risks they are willing to run. Risky actions which favor the customer are often avoided like the plague. Actions were the manager can point and say "I protected the company." are the forte of the small minded 'play it safe' manager. After all, it's hard to argue with actions which 'protect the company'.
The managers of call centers who are 'threatening' colleagues who help in the forums fear having their responsibilities reduced. Such managers are probably measured on how many calls they deal with etc. Because their metric is based upon the numbers of complaints they receive, they actually have a dis-incentive to support any action which benefits the company as a whole.
Finally, there is no easy way to measure how many customers get their answers and issues resovled from/in a user forum. This makes it difficult to for forum participation proponents within a company to garner support for their position. A truly savvy COO however, will understand that not everything that is important can be easily measured.
As far as liability issues are concerned, all of these companies have law firms on permanent retrainer. I say, let the lawyers risk having to do a little work. It'll be good for them and get them off their butts. This happens to be another group within a corporation which have a dis-incentive to potentially risky actions. Think about it for a moment. Corporate lawyers on retainer have already been paid. Do you really think they'll advocate any action where they may have to do work?
Just my opinion. YMMV.
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My Pictures.People who describe M$ software as 'mediocre' don't know the half of it.WinDoze Free 2003 |
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cfdingman
join:2001-12-19
Leeds, ME
| Can't argue with the thrust of these observations but can't resist a clarifying comment about corporate lawyers. Typically the retainer doesn't cover any and all work, so an outside attorney would welcome a chance to work out policies that help a corporation balance its risks against the value of customer service through postings. However, neither the manager nor the in-house counsel at these companies are likely to want to incur the added legal expense of doing this, so the easy route for these naturally risk-averse folks is to say "no." It takes insightful leadership to tell them that's not an acceptable answer, and instead they need to fashion a genuine solution to the risks they've identified. The editorial on this site sounds the right note to encourage top management to understand that the stone wall strategy is not productive in the long run. |
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guycad$
In Search Of Free Speech
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Pompton Lakes, NJ
| You make a good point. And yes, I know the 'retainer' doesn't cover any and all work. But given the rather obscene levels of retainers at the corps we're talking about, they damn well should! 
hehe - but you're also right in pointing out that that really doesn't change the natural tendency to be risk-averse anyway.
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My Pictures.People who describe M$ software as 'mediocre' don't know the half of it.WinDoze Free 2003 |
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moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to guycad$
said by guycad$  :
The managers of call centers who are 'threatening' colleagues who help in the forums fear having their responsibilities reduced. Such managers are probably measured on how many calls they deal with etc. Because their metric is based upon the numbers of complaints they receive, they actually have a dis-incentive to support any action which benefits the company as a whole.
Just my opinion. YMMV.
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My Pictures.People who describe M$ software as 'mediocre' don't know the half of it.WinDoze Free 2003
I really would like to know if the call center managers are actually measured by their complaints. I have a feeling that complaints are blamed on the phone tech and not the call center manager. They are also not bothered by turnover.
I can imagine ISP's calling EDS:
ISP: "You guys handled 500 calls last Monday. Good job."
EDS: "Thanks, we try."
ISP: "It seems though you had 300 complaints from that day alone."
EDS: "Hmmmm, must have been a rude tech, we'll get rid of him ASAP."
ISP: "Cool, otherwise your call volume is great."
EDS talking to Call Center Manager (CCS):
EDS: "Call volume was o.k. but we got a lot of customer complaints."
CCS: "Hmmmm, must be that one tech who posts on BBR. I'll fire him the next time he is 30 seconds late from a bathroom break."
EDS: "O.k. Call HR and make sure you have the correct paperwork."
ISP to media:
ISP: "The level of customer service we provide is exceptional."
media: "What about all the complaints being reported by your customers?"
ISP: "These complaints are less than 1% of of our business. The vast majority of customers have no complaints."
The fact of the matter is that all businesses lie to the public concerning their customer satisfaction. Look at Comcast during the transition.
Truth is, companies care less and less about customer satisfaction and more about that bottom line. Instead of touting their own benefits, they shout about the competition's problems. How many people have seen how those cable companies went against DSS services with their negative ads. Direct TV has shown their good points and have mostly kept away from talking negative about the cable companies.
In one recent article of PC World, customer satisfaction of companies like Dell have gone down. Why? Companies spend less and less on customer service. They try to rely on their name. If they keep doing this their name will be mud soon. |
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guycad$
In Search Of Free Speech
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Pompton Lakes, NJ
| Poor choice of words on my part. Having managed an internal call/tech support center, it's been my general observation that people call to complain about their problems.  I was not referring to the number of complaints managers received about their departments.
"number of complaints they receive" was intended to mean "number of problem calls they field".
I hope this is a bit clearer.
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My Pictures.People who describe M$ software as 'mediocre' don't know the half of it.WinDoze Free 2003 |
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