BT - Business Transformation Winners
BT Consumer is one of the largest providers of voice, broadband, TV, and Wi-Fi services in the UK. They service over 10.3 million home phones and 9.3 million broadband customers.
The company has over 10,000 advisors located across the UK and in India, with their largest UK customer service centres located in Newcastle, Warrington, Swansea, Enniskillen, and Dundee.
BT took home the top trophy in the Business Transformation category at the UK Customer Experience Awards 2017 and we look at their recent advancements and initiatives which afforded them this winning spot at the awards.
Business Context Behind the Changes
In an increasingly competitive and saturated market, acquiring customers has become a difficult task. Customer retention stands at the forefront in the telecommunications industry and for BT, improving customer service capability was no longer just a matter of pride but a financial imperative for business.
BT Consumer set out a strategy in September 2013 to be the industry’s leader in customer service. To achieve this, they recognised a set of goals that had to be accomplished:
- Become multi-channel enabled
- Design and deliver a simplified operating model
- Have customer interactions onshore
- Simplify processes and systems
- Be powered by data and insight
- Develop a high-performance workforce
Customer Experience Delivered
Between late 2013 and early 2017, BT has drastically improved the level of service they provide, following the goals stated above. Their outstanding advancements have been highlighted below.
- The design and implementation of a new operating model
BT’s new operating model is built on customer journey insight that allows them to ‘see the world as the customers do’. Helping to minimise customer effort, the new model focuses on ownership, accountability, and case management. - Simplification of tools that BT’s advisors use to solve customer problems
The simplification of these tools along with the web-based tool that BT's advisors use (Consumer.com), led to them being available for customers to use themselves on BT.com. Furthermore, over 1.4 million customers have downloaded the MyBT app and gained direct access to these tools. - Bringing call centres back into the UK and Ireland
By recruiting 2,200 new advisors, and working with the unions to transform attendance patterns, UK based advisors are readily available for customers. - Ensuring that all new products are launched with a ‘Customer First’ ethos
‘BT Mobile’ was the first new product to be launched with this ethos, and this idea is now embedded in all launches. BT has taken the ‘Customer First’ ambition and delivered new products, the sole objective of which is to make things better for customers. - Dedicated to providing quality assurance
BT monitors the performance of every customer's phone, broadband, and TV service to proactively intervene and fix faults. 1.3 million customers now have problems fixed before they are noticed as a result. - Faster responses for customer inquiries
BT invested in a premium repair service to be able to provide prompt responses when problems do occur. Faults are now fixed on average 24 hours faster than in 2016. - Identification of changing customer behaviours along with the creation of a first-class online digital care channel
A large proportion of customer contacts with advisors has been transferred online via live chat or social media.
Business Impact and Results
BT has achieved significant business benefits as a result of these changes. They have become multi-channel enabled while simplifying processes and systems impacting customer experience.
A simplified operating model has been implemented, leading to increased advisor performance. NPS scores are higher as a result of call centre onshoring and workload has been streamlined with new advisors joining the company.
The UK Customer Experience Awards 2018
Is your organisation delivering great customer experience through recent change or transformation?
If your organisation has already put the customer at its core, then entering the UK Customer Experience Awards is a fantastic way to achieve recognition for your initiatives.
Entering the awards is a valuable opportunity to bring your team together and celebrate your success. Not only that, the finalists receive a benchmarked feedback form from our panel of independent and impartial judges, and you have the opportunity to present your entry live to them at the awards finals in front of other industry leaders.
For more information on how your business can benefit from entering the UK Customer Experience Awards 2018 and to enter online, click here.