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Resource ManagementManage Customer EngagementBSBCUE602 Manage Customer Engagement Information

BSB61015 ADVANCED DIPLOMA OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

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WORKBOOK | © 2018 YOUNG RABBIT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PACIFIC COLLEGEBSB61015 ADVANCED DIPLOMA OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT | MANAGE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT_V1.5

This workbook has been designed for use in conjunction with information and materials provided at lecture and tutorial

sessions.

Students should attend all timetabled sessions so they can obtain all subject information. Students should read and

understand all materials provided.

Information that is available in digital form is not included in this workbook in the interest of the environment.

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Edition: 1st Edition

Release date: Feb 2017

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ContentsUnit of Competency .......................................................................................... iv

BSBCUE602 Manage Customer Engagement Information ............................... ivGrading System ............................................................................................... ivAssessment 1 ................................................................................................... vAssessment 2 .................................................................................................. viLegend ............................................................................................................ vii1. Select and Set Activity and Transaction Records and Measurements ........... 1

Activity 1.1 .............................................................................................................9Activity 1.2 ...........................................................................................................17

2. Collect Data ................................................................................................ 21Activity 2.1 ...........................................................................................................31

3. Analyse MIS Resulting from Customer Contact Activities ........................... 32Activity 3.1 ...........................................................................................................35

4. Prepare and Present Information ............................................................... 36Activity 4.1 ...........................................................................................................59

Appendix 1. References .................................................................................. 60Appendix 2. Seven Metrics to Watch for Call Centre Success .......................... 61Appendix 3. Call Centres and Contact Centres ............................................... 67Appendix 4. Case Study – Stocklands ............................................................. 69

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UNIT OF COMPETENCYBSBCUE602 Manage Customer Engagement Information

Elements

1. Select and set activity and transaction records and measurements

2. Collect data

3. Analyse MIS resulting from customer contact activities

4. Prepare and present information

GRADING SYSTEMHigh Distinction (HD) 85% and above

Distinction (D) 75-84%

Credit (Cr) 65-74%

Pass (P) 50-64%

Not yet competent (NYC) Below 50%

For further information on the Units of Competency, please visit www.training.gov.au, or refer to your Course Outline booklet.

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ASSESSMENT 1

Course NameBSB61015Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management

Subject/module Manage Customer Engagement

Assessment methodPart A – Question and AnswerPart B – Question and Answer

Weighting 50%

Units of CompetencyBSBCUE602 Manage Customer Engagement Information

Instructions1. Assessments should be completed as per your trainer’s instructions.2. Assessments must be submitted by the due date to avoid a late

submission penalty.3. Plagiarism is copying someone else’s work and submitting it as your

own. You must write your answers in your own words and include a reference list. A mark of zero will be given for any assessment or part of an assessment that has been plagiarised.

4. You may discuss your assessments with other students, but submitting identical answers to other students will result in a failing grade. Your answers must be yours alone.

5. Your trainer will advise whether the assessment should be digitally uploaded or submitted in hard copy. Assessments that are digitally uploaded should be saved in pdf format.

6. You must pass both assessments in the subject to pass the subject.7. All assessments are to be completed in accordance with WHS regulatory

requirements.

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ASSESSMENT 2

Course NameBSB61015Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management

Subject/module Manage Customer Engagement

Assessment methodPart A – Case StudyPart B – Scenario

Weighting 50%

Units of CompetencyBSBCUE602 Manage Customer Engagement Information

Instructions1. Assessments should be completed as per your trainer’s instructions.2. Assessments must be submitted by the due date to avoid a late

submission penalty.3. Plagiarism is copying someone else’s work and submitting it as your

own. You must write your answers in your own words and include a reference list. A mark of zero will be given for any assessment or part of an assessment that has been plagiarised.

4. You may discuss your assessments with other students, but submitting identical answers to other students will result in a failing grade. Your answers must be yours alone.

5. Your trainer will advise whether the assessment should be digitally uploaded or submitted in hard copy. Assessments that are digitally uploaded should be saved in pdf format.

6. You must pass both assessments in the subject to pass the subject.7. All assessments are to be completed in accordance with WHS regulatory

requirements.

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LEGENDNot all ICONS are used in this workbook

Research/Investigate

This tells you to go and find out some information

Activity/Provide notes

This indicates that you need to take notes and/or complete an exercise/activity in this workbook

Reference material/manuals

This means you should look to sample of organisations’ policies and procedures or to some other learning material, resources to complete this exercise/activity.

Think

Take some time to think about the information and record your own ideas

Talk

Talk to your peers, colleagues – swap ideas.

Reading

Selected extra reading requirements.

Sydney FerriesYouTube

Youtube

Selected Youtube requirements.

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1. SELECT AND SET ACTIVITY AND TRANSACTION RECORDS AND MEASUREMENTS1.1 Analyse business plan and budget to identify relevant business information needs Developing a content strategy for customer engagement

Content can serve many goals, however customer engagement is always an intermediate goal in developing a content plan, a “strategy”. Content for customer engagement is about being relevant and responding to customer needs. It means providing value and utterly focusing on the wants, emotions, likes and behaviour of the “focus audience”, the content marketer’s term for the people that organisations would like to interact and do business with. An ‘engaging’ content marketing strategy is not about the content you think you need to have. It is about the content you must have in order to engage the people, knowing what they want.

Customer-centric marketing teams think of their customer base as their greatest long-term investment. Whether it concerns content production or other aspects of your content strategy: customer engagement always depends on the “customer-centric” value of the content you provide. The usefulness of the information you provide to customers. Combine this with the simple fact that relevance drives consumption and is the essential attribute marketers must deliver in order to be successful in content marketing.

The many faces of customer engagement

Many marketers look at engagement as getting others to act. Engagement is about providing experiences and answers to questions and needs of clients and customers. When you solve someone’s issues / problems / answer questions or simply deliver what they expect and need across their journey or on have information posted on your website, you also engage them as they have access to information and receive what they want.

A content strategy is a consistent plan to offer great customer experiences using content, which obviously starts with understanding the essential informational needs of so-called target audiences. Think about the core content people need to find on your website, for instance.

However, it goes further than that. Content plays a role in all stages and can fulfil a huge number of business and marketing goals or help fulfil them in an integrated and customer-centric way, before, during and after a customer buys a product or service. The need to engage through relevance applies for virtually all potential content marketing goals. Think about branding, for instance. The purpose of branding is to build emotional connections with names of brands i.e Samsung, Sony, Apple, iphone, you appeal or in other words: you engage customers here as well.

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Customer-centricity and relevance go hand-in-hand and are essential characteristics of content for customer engagement. To become knowledge brokers and use content in an insightful way to build rapport with target audiences, businesses must pay more attention to content marketing performance. The goal is to create strategic conversations with decision makers and influencers to acquire leads, build trust and shorten selling cycles. If the content doesn’t engage (you need to measure and set goals, these are other obvious parts of a content strategy), there isn’t much sense in having it.

Content marketing Return on Investment (ROI) is based on these and other outcomes. As eye catching, interesting content is one of the top three reasons people follow brands on social media and is an essential driver of customer engagement; content marketing should not focus on self-serving messages or assumptions made by the organisation.

Analysing the organisation’s business plan and budgets to identify relevant business information needs, involves understanding the strategic direction of the business, budget plans and their purpose, forms of business ownership. Managing budgets, budgeting verses financial management, planning and controlling business activities. Allocating costs to appropriate areas, understanding goals, objectives, time frames, budget cycles and business best practice in budgeting.

Forms of business ownership

Sole Trader f A single person owns and controls the business and are liable for all debts

Partnership

f Two or more persons own and control the business f Agreements may be needed and partners are personally liable for debts

Company

f One or more persons own the business through holding shares in the business

f Day to day running of the business is undertaken by directors

What is a financial plan?

A financial plan is a summary of an organisation’s financial goals or needs for the future, as well as a plan on how to achieve them.

What are Budgets?

Budgets are financial documents outlining planned outcome of future income and expenditure and a key component of an organisation’s overall plans. They draw critical information from strategic plans and ensure that financial position is consistent with the mission or purpose of the organisation. Budgets have three main purposes:1. Plan for future income, expenditure and profits2. Guide for decision making3. Tool for monitoring business performance

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f A Budget “variance” is the difference between planned and actual performance

f Managers monitor variance to ensure• Costs do not run out of control• Profit targets are kept in mind• To identify circumstances where business strategies might need to be

reviewed

Budgeting VS financial management

A budget is a systematic method of allocating: f Financial f Physical and f Human resources to achieve strategic goals

Companies develop budgets to: f Monitor progress towards their goals f Help control spending and f Predict cash flow and profits

Review Historic and

Forecast Activity

Control Budgets

Apply Cost Assumptions

Negotiate Budget with Appropriate Authorities

Prepare Draft Budget

Build Communica-tion Package

The Budget CycleManagers need to plan, implement, monitor and control, and review

Budgets can be: f Short term (monthly

or quarterly e.g. sales budgets)

f Medium term (annually e.g. the business plan)

f Lon term (three to five years e.g. the strategic plan)

The budget cycle can be short term (monthly / quarterly), medium (annually) or long term (three to five years). Managers need to follow the five step budget cycle (Plan, Implement, Monitor, Control and Review). (See diagram above).

Budget – (Planning, control and contingency)

Planning budgets involves cash flow projections, long and short-term budgets

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and plans, operational plans, financial projections, setting targets and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Controlling budgets involves: continuous assessment of actual performance against a budget or standard / target, corrective action through contingency plans or revisiting plans as well as reviewing invoices and sales receipts.

Contingency plans allows for times when the budget and financial plans is no longer working properly and other options need to be taken to prevent budget / costs blow out.

Allocating costs using the ABC model

To facilitate planning and control, the budget process needs to match costs with the business’s productive activities, and with those managers responsible for the productive activities of the business,

Activity-Based Costing (ABC) is a special costing model that: f Identifies activities in an organisation f Assigns the cost of resources via these activities to all products / services

provided to customers f Supports strategic decisions regarding pricing, outsourcing and process

improvement initiatives

The ABC model assigns more indirect costs (overheads) into direct costs compared to conventional costing models

Master budgets to cost centres

In order to break an organisation’s budget into various cost centres you will need to determine the following:

f The basis of cost centre splits f The name and number of cost centres f The metrics for each cost centre e.g customer number, production numbers,

sales amount, sales units f The basis for allocating overheads e.g. per client, by use, equally between the

cost centres f When splitting a master budget into cost centres, the first aspect to focus on

is the revenue or production details. These will help determine the allocation of overheads

Best practice budgeting (6 steps)1. Link budget development to corporate strategy

f Clearer understanding of corporate goals f Greater support for goals f Better coordination of tactics f Stronger company wide performance f Fewer revisions f Faster and less costly budget process f Less frustration

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2. Allocate resources strategically f Within companies, managers compete for scarce resources f Budgeting involves making choices between alternatives f Best practice requires:

• Careful evaluation of operational plans and operational budget submissions

• Evaluation of risk• Cost-benefit analysis and • Contingency planning

3. Link incentives to performance measures not budget targets f Budgets are a means to an end, not an end in themselves f Incentives for managers should be linked to strategic objectives

4. Link cost management efforts to budgeting f Accurate cost information is essential to the budget process f Activity-based costing (ABC) identifies the real cost of producing, selling and

delivering products and services f Variance analysis examines differences between budgeted and actual

costs and supports the identification of weaknesses and opportunities for improvements in productivity or efficiency.

5. Reduce budget complexity and cycle time f Streamlining the budget process saves time, money and disruption to core

activities f Avoid unnecessary complexity f Avoid excessive detail f Use information technology to automate budget processes f Train staff I budget processes and techniques

6. Develop budgets that accommodate change f Faster and more effective response to competitive threats and opportunities f Flexibility increases the scope for mangers’ initiative f Flexibility reduces incentives for managers to build safety margins into

budget estimates and promotes more accurate and more efficient budgeting f Report changes in business conditions a the same time the budgets are

reviewed f Encourage contingency planning to facilitate flexibility

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Shareholders have an influence on an organisation in regards to products and services followed by the board of directors and the Chief Executive officer (CEO). Marketing Manager is responsible for sales advertising and public relations. Human Resources Manager is responsible for recruitment, training and salaries. Operations Manager is responsible for Acquisition Production and Distribution. Finance Manager is responsible for budgets and costs to ensure that the organisation does not over spend.

The diagram above clearly shows that the CEO is responsible to the Board of Directors for the strategic plans of the organisation.

The senior management team (CEO, Marketing Manager, Human Resources Manager, Operations Manager and Finance Manager) are responsible for business planning.

Unit managers (Sales, Advertising, Public Relations, Recruitment, Training, Salaries, Acquisition, Production and Distribution) are responsible for Operational plans.

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There are five steps in the financial management process (refer to diagram above)1. Plan 2. Develop budgets3. Implement 4. Monitor5. Evaluate / Control

Budgeting VS financial management

A budget is a systematic method of allocating: f Financial f Physical and f Human resources to achieve strategic goals

Companies develop budgets to: f Monitor progress towards their goals f Help control spending and f Predict cash flow and profits

Internal dimension f Budgets are primarily concerned with the internal management of the

enterprise f A budget is a quantified action plan for a defined period of time f Budgets are used by managers to:

• Set sales and revenue targets• Estimate and control costs• Achieve profit objectives• Manage cash flows

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External dimension f Financial reports are primarily concerned with the relationship of the

enterprise with its’ external stakeholders f The company’s financial results are reported to:

• Shareholders• Banks• The Australian Stock Exchange• Government regulators (e.g. ATO and ASIC)

Financial management

Every business needs to have its financial resources managed well.

Financial resources include: money, shares, inventory, furniture and fittings, buildings / premises – these are all assets that have a financial value to an organisation. Great financial management involves:

f Providing management with accurate and timely information to help make planning decisions

f Analysing financial information and reporting on operating results and overall financial position of the organisation for the reporting period

f Allowing planned objectives to be achieved f Ensuring adequate controls are in place f Allowing for delegation of duties f Sharing the workload f Predicting financial success / difficulty and what action to take

This is where budgets come into the organisation, they assist with managing financial resources, so that the issues may be identified before they escalate.

Budget Summary

You should now be able to understand budgets and their purpose, various forms of business ownerships, management and budgets, budgeting vs. Financial Management, planning and control, allocating costs, master budget to cost centres, budgets, planning and management, budget cycle, as wells as the six steps to best practice budgeting.

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Activity 1.1

1. What is “customer-centric” marketing?

2. What is a Financial Plan?

3. What are Budgets and what are their three main purposes?

4. Explain Activity Based Costing (ABC) model when allocating costs.

5. What is meant by the term “variance” in budgets?

6. How does a Business Plan and Budget help to identify relevant business information needs?

7. Explain the Financial Management Process.

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8. What are the five steps in financial management process?

9. Explain Internal Dimension and External Dimension in regards to budgeting vs financial management.a. Internal Dimension

b. External Dimension

10. Explain

a. budget planning,

b. control

c. contingency

11. How are budgets allocated?

12. a. What is Best Practice Budgeting?

b. Explain the six steps used in best practice budgeting

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1.2 Identify possible contact pathwaysThe process of customer engagement: a conceptual framework

JLH Bowden – Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 2009 – Taylor & Francis

The intent of the model of customer engagement, is to provide management with a guide on how to effectively engage with the customer and build strong business relationships and to seek information that may be used to manage and moderate customer interactions. It, is therefore primarily concerned with examining the formation and development of customer–brand relationships.

(See link):

http://bit.ly/2AFZjTd

C.M. Sashi, Department of Marketing, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA researched customer engagement, buyer-seller relationships, and social media in his paper he develops a model of the customer engagement cycle with include: connection, interaction, satisfaction, retention, loyalty, advocacy, and engagement as stages in the cycle. It arrays customers in a customer engagement matrix according to the degree of relational exchange and emotional bonds that characterize their relationship with sellers. Four types of relationships emerge: transactional customers, delighted customers, loyal customers, and fans.

The customer engagement cycle

On the basis of the preceding discussion, we suggest that customer engagement focuses on satisfying customers by providing superior value than competitors to build trust and commitment in long-term relationships. Engaged customers become partners who collaborate with sellers in the value adding process to better satisfy their needs as well as the needs of other customers.

The interactivity of social media greatly facilitates the process of establishing enduring intimate relationships with trust and commitment between sellers and buyers. Customer engagement is turning on customers by building emotional bonds in relational exchanges with them. The process of building customer engagement constitutes a customer engagement cycle.

The notion of a customer engagement cycle has previously been used to refer to awareness, consideration, inquiry, purchase, and retention stages, which appear to represent stages in the purchase process that customers use to decide the specific product to be purchased, albeit with a feedback loop for future purchases, rather than customer engagement and might apply the first time new customers choose what product to buy.

We propose that the stages of the customer engagement cycle are: f connection f interaction, f satisfaction, f retention, f commitment, f advocacy,

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/MTP1069-6679170105

https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=mEJZlpAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra

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f engagement

Connection f The prerequisite for establishing relational exchange with emotional bonds is

for sellers and customers to connect with each other. f The connections may be established using both traditional offline methods

like salespersons and new digital online methods like social networking. f Customers may use existing connections with sellers and other customers to

satisfy a need or they may seek new connections with sellers and customers outside their current circle.

f Sellers searching for customers may also establish connections. The needs of customers may prompt a search for products that are potential solutions and sellers could assist customers in the process and help them choose particular solutions and products.

f Sellers can also establish connections with potential customers before needs arise so as to be in a position to suggest existing products as solutions or even develop new products to meet these needs.

Interaction

Customers can interact with seller personnel and other customers. Before the internet these connections were limited by available technology like word-of-mouth, letters, and telephone to narrow circles of family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances constrained by location.

However, with Web 2.0, texting, instant messaging, email, blogging, virtual worlds and social networking are examples of tools that enable more frequent, faster, and richer interactions among much larger groups of connected individuals and organisations or communities.

Sellers can play an active role in the formation of these communities using social media supplemented by the tools traditionally used to serve customers. Interactions among sellers and their customers can improve understanding of customer needs, especially changes in these needs over time, and facilitate modifications to existing products or the development of new products to better satisfy these needs. Social interaction in virtual worlds, for example, where users communicate and interact in real time can be used to connect with customers, provide information and experiences, and obtain customer input (Tikkanen et al., 2009).

Satisfaction

Only if interactions between a seller and a customer, or among the members of a community including seller and customers result in satisfaction will they stay connected and continue to interact with one another and progress towards engagement. Satisfaction is not an end in itself as the use of customer satisfaction surveys and ratings sometimes implies but an intermediate step in strategies to achieve the goals of an organisation (Mittal and Kamakura, 2001).

Indeed, it has been argued the goal of marketing is not satisfaction but customer empowerment through partnerships with sellers that enable customer communities to mutually construct their desires and products

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(Firat and Dholakia, 2006). Satisfaction is a necessary condition for customer engagement. But it is not sufficient for customer engagement. Satisfaction with interactions during a purchase process may precede or follow the purchase and dissatisfaction at any stage can disrupt the process and result in customer exit. Satisfaction, however, may not result in repurchases and a long-term relationship may not ensue.

Retention

Customer retention can result from either overall satisfaction over time or highly positive emotions. Overall satisfaction over time emerges as a result of repurchases and implies a long-term relationship between seller and customer but not necessarily highly positive emotions for each other.

A customer’s highly positive emotion for a seller do not imply that the customer has a long-term relationship with the seller. Thus retention may be the result of enduring relationships without emotional bonds or emotional bonds without a long-term relationship.

Commitment

Commitment in a relationship has two major dimensions: affective commitment and calculative commitment (see Gustafssonet al., 2005). Calculative commitment is more rational and results from a lack of choice or switching costs. For example, a customer who enjoys a particular cuisine like Vietnamese or Peruvian food may patronize a restaurant nearby because of a lack of alternatives and regularly dine at the restaurant.

Calculative commitment leads to higher levels of customer loyalty and enduring relationships with sellers. Affective commitment is more emotional and results from the trust and reciprocity in a relationship. In the example of the customer who regularly dines at a particular restaurant, the diner could become friends with the wait staff who remember the diner’s preferences and provide exceptional service on most visits.

Affective commitment leads to higher levels of trust and emotional bonds in relationships with sellers. Customer loyalty may be considered the result of calculative commitment to a product, brand, or company while customer delight is the result of affective commitment to a product, brand, or company.

Advocacy

Delighted customers may keep their delight to themselves or in a connected world interact with others in their social networks to spread the word about their positive experiences with a product, brand, or company. Loyal customers lacking an emotional bond to the seller they regularly patronize may not offer unsolicited encomiums about the product, brand, or company to others despite their enduring relationships with the seller or they may offer recommendations when presented with the opportunity to do so on a purely rational basis free of emotional attachment.

In a study of customer commitment and word-of-mouth communication regarding hair salons and veterinary services, affective commitment is positively related but calculative commitment (termed high sacrifice commitment in

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the study) is not related to word-of-mouth communication (Harrison-Walker, 2001), suggesting that at least in offline interactions, delighted customers communicate their delight to others in their Customer engagement social networks but loyal customers are less prone to do so.

Only if loyal customers in long-term relationships develop emotional bonds will they likely become advocates fora product, brand, or company. Sellers as well as customers can play advocacy roles in relationships. Urban (2004) suggests that digital technologies like the internet have shifted the emphasis from relationship marketing with its slogans like “customer care” and “delight your customer” to acting in the customers’ best interests and becoming advocates for them.

Sellers must find the best products for their customers even if those offerings are from competitors because: “If a company advocates for its customers, they will reciprocate with their trust, loyalty and purchases – either now or in the future” (Urban, 2004).

Customers in turn become advocates for sellers among those with who they have connections and interactions. In the future, sellers and customers are expected to look after each other’s interests and the focus will be on exchange of values that transcend their self-interest (Nordin, 2009).

Engagement

When delighted or loyal customers share their delight or loyalty in interactions with others in their social networks and become advocates for a product, brand, or company, the foundation has been laid for proceeding to the next and perhaps most important step in the cycle, customer engagement.

Both customer delight and customer loyalty are necessary for customer engagement. Customer engagement occurs when customers have strong emotional bonds in relational exchanges with sellers. Customer engagement expands the role of customers by including them in the value adding process as co-creators of value.

The inclusion of customers in the creation of value enhances satisfaction of the needs of customers as well as sellers, especially as these needs change over time. As engaged customers develop new connections, they become advocates for the seller in interactions with other customers and non-customers.

Customer engagement turns customers into fans who remain wedded through ups and downs in intimate enduring relationships and even proselytize for the product, brand, or company. When problems arise in relationships with customer engagement, they are likely to be resolved through passive acceptance or constructive discussion rather than venting or disengagement (see Hibbardet al.,2001). The exchange relationship between seller and customer and among customers becomes more relational and emotional bonds among them become stronger, and lead to new connections and interactions, creating a virtuous customer engagement.

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1.3 Identify measurement methods and MIS used in each step in engagement pathway Metrics for Call Centre Environments

Metric is another term used to describe a measure of success. In the reading Seven Call Centre Metrics, the International Customer Management Institute explains which measures it is important to focus on to ensure success within a call centre environment.

(See link): http://bit.ly/1oqRmuuWhat Is a Management Information System?by David Ingram, Demand Media

Management information systems use technology to assist managerial decision-making.

Related ArticlesHow Is a Management Information System Useful in Companies? http://bit.ly/2hrZ9HqThe Features of an Information Management Systemhttp://bit.ly/2iVt8beImportance of the Management Information Systemhttp://bit.ly/2z1qsUmTop Ten Promotional Strategieshttp://bit.ly/1R1nQGH

A management information system (MIS) is a set of systems and procedures that gather information from a range of sources, compile it and present it in a readable format. Managers use an MIS to create reports that provide them with a comprehensive overview of all the information they need to make decisions ranging from daily minutiae to top-level strategy. Today’s management information systems rely largely on technology to compile and present data, but the concept is older than modern computing technologies.

Significance

The main purpose of a management information system is to make managers’ decision-making more efficient and productive. By pooling information from a range of sources into a single database and presenting the information in a logical format, an MIS can provide managers with everything they need to make highly informed decisions and perform in-depth analysis of operational issues.

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Information

An MIS can collect nearly any type of information managers require. They can view financial data such as daily revenues and expenses at a glance and attribute them to specific departments or groups. Performance indicators such as the timeliness of projects or the quality of products coming off an assembly line can help managers pinpoint areas of needed improvement. Staff can manage schedules for work shifts, incoming deliveries and outgoing shipments from any place linked to the MIS.

A management information system can facilitate collaboration and communication as well. Employees can edit and share documents and communicate relevant information on anticipated developments and warnings across the organisation.

Related Reading: How Is a Management Information System Useful in Companies? http://bit.ly/2hrZ9Hq

Reports

The ability to create reports is one of a management information system’s most valuable features. Internal reports present information in a way that managers can understand, by including all relevant data and grouping data in a logical manner. For example, a report viewed by a corporate manager for a restaurant chain may show revenue, expenses, labour-hours and volume of each outlet, allowing him to see which store makes the most money per employee on the floor and which stores have higher expenses compared to revenue and volume – an indicator of waste or theft.

According to the U.S. Department of Labour, non-profit organisations can use an MIS to automatically generate reports required by the federal government. This allows employees and volunteers to focus their time on more productive activities and can reduce errors and the costs associated with resubmitting federal reports.

Benefits

Front-line employees can use an MIS to perform their jobs more effectively as well. For example, employees at all levels can consult an MIS to check on the status of inventory items, view stats related to their specific department or group and request internal transfers of materials.

Requirements

A management information system can be a costly investment. In addition to purchasing an MIS software package and hiring extra IT personnel to oversee and maintain the system, a company must train all employees to use the system. Front-line employees often perform the first two steps in an MIS, data collection and input, leaving them with less time to focus on productive activities; this can increase overall salary expenses. Weigh the costs of an MIS against the potential benefits before implementing this tool in your small business

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Activity 1.2

1. Explain what an Information System is and briefly outline how it works?

2. List the functions of an Information System.

3. What are the Benefits of a Management Information System in the organisation?

4. What are the Requirements of a Management Information System?

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1.4 Configure information systems to capture required measurements

1.5 Develop and implement testing procedures for transaction and call/engagement pathway measurementsIn order to maximise the value of information, it must be captured, analysed, quantified. An information system is a computer system that provides management and to construct an information system, based upon organisational requirements the system should be configured to grant access to the different partitions of MIS.

Related Reading: Management Information Systems http://bit.ly/2msl2fi

Management Information Systems

All businesses share one common asset, information. Regardless of the type of business, it does not matter if they manufacture goods or provide services. It is a vital part of any business entity, whether a sole proprietorship or a multinational corporation.

Information enables us to determine the need to create new products and services. Information tells us to move into new markets or to withdraw from other markets. Without information, the goods do not get made, the orders are not placed, the materials are not procured, the shipments are not delivered, the customers are not billed, and the business cannot survive.

But information has far lesser impact when presented as raw data. In order to maximize the value of information, it must be captured, analysed, quantified, compiled, manipulated, made accessible, and shared. In order to accomplish those tasks, an information system (IS) must be designed, developed, administered, and maintained.

Information Systems

An information system on a computer system that provides management and other personnel within an organisation with up-to-date information regarding the organisation’s performance; for example current inventory and sales. It is usually linked to a computer network, which is created by joining different computers together in order to share data and resources. It is designed to capture, transmit, store, retrieve, manipulate, and or display information used in one or more business processes. These systems output information in a form that is usable at all levels of the organisation: strategic, tactical, and operational.

Systems that are specifically geared toward serving general, predictable management functions are sometimes called management information systems (MIS). A good example of an MIS report is the information that goes into an annual report created for the stockholders of a corporation (a scheduled report). The administration of an information system is typically the responsibility of the information technology (IT) department within an organisation.

Some applications have infringed on the familiar MIS landscape. Enterprise

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resource planning (ERP) software and executive information systems (EIS) both provide packaged modules and programs that perform the same functions as traditional MIS, but with greater functionality, flexibility, and integration capabilities.

Mainframes

The original computerised information systems were based on mainframes. “Mainframe” is a term originally referring to the cabinet containing the central processor unit or “main frame” of a room-filling computer. After the emergence of smaller mini-computer designs in the early 1970s, the traditional large machines were described as “mainframe computers,” or simply mainframes. The term carries the connotation of a machine designed for batch rather than interactive use, though possibly with an interactive time-sharing operating system retrofitted onto it.

It has been conventional wisdom in most of the business community since the late 1980s that the mainframe architectural tradition is essentially dead, having been swamped by huge advances in integrated circuit design technology and low-cost personal computing. Despite this, mainframe sales in the United States enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence in the 1990s, as prices came down and as large organisations found they needed high-power computing resources more than ever. Supporters claim that mainframes still house 90 percent of the data major businesses rely on for mission-critical applications, attributing this to their superior performance, reliability, scalability, and security compared to microprocessors.

The Internet

The Internet has opened up further developments in information systems and the exchange of information via web-based e-mail, intranets and the web. These technologies allow for much faster data and information exchange and greater access for more users. Web-casting and video conferencing allow for real-time information exchanges. Mobile computing technologies accessed by handheld devices, such as multi-functional mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and podcasting (via iPods), are offering further modes of communication.

Information system design and administration

The design of an information system is based on various factors. Cost is a major consideration, but there certainly are others to be taken into account, such as the number of users; the modularity (the degree to which a system’s components may be separated and recombined) of the system, the ease with which new components can be integrated into the system and which outdated or failed components can be replaced; the amount of information to be processed; the type of information to be processed; the computing power required to meet the varied needs of the organisation; the anticipated functional life of the system and/or components; the ease of use for the people who will be using the system; and the requirements and compatibility of the applications that are to be run on the system.

There are different ways to construct an information system, based upon organisational requirements, both in the function aspect and the financial sense. Of course, the company needs to take into consideration that hardware that is purchased and assembled into a network will become outdated rather quickly. It

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is almost self evident that the technologies used in information systems steadily increase in power and versatility on a rapid time scale. Perhaps the trickiest part of designing an information system from a hardware standpoint is straddling the fine line between too much and not enough, while keeping an eye on the requirements that the future may impose.

Applying foresight when designing a system can bring substantial rewards in the future, when system components are easy to repair, replace, remove, or update without having to bring the whole information system to its knees. When an information system is rendered inaccessible or inoperative, the system is considered to be “down.”

A primary function of the maintaining an information system is to minimize downtime, or hopefully, to eradicate downtime altogether. The costs created by a department, facility, organisation or workforce left idle by an inoperative system can become staggering in a short amount of time. The inconvenience to customers can cost the firm even more if sales are lost as a result, in addition to any added costs the customers might incur.

Another vital consideration regarding the design and creation of an information system is to determine which users have access to required information. The system should be configured to grant access to the different partitions of data and information by granting user-level permissions for access. A common method of administering system access rights is to create unique profiles for each user, with the appropriate user-level permissions that provide proper clearances.

Individual passwords can be used to delineate each user and their level of access rights, as well as identify the tasks performed by each user. Data regarding the performance of any user unit, whether individual, departmental, or organisational can also be collected, measured, and assessed through the user identification process.

The OSI seven-layer model (http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/knowledge/OSI_model.html) attempts to provide a way of partitioning any computer network into independent modules from the lowest (physical/hardware) layer to the highest (application/program) layer. Many different specifications can exist at each of these layers.

A crucial aspect of administering information systems is maintaining communication between the information systems’ staff, who have a technical perspective on situations, and the system users, who usually communicate their concerns or needs in more simple terminology. Getting the two sides to negotiate the language barriers can be difficult, but the burden of translation should fall upon the IS staff. A little patience and understanding can go a long way toward avoiding frustration on the part of both parties.

There is more to maintaining an information system than applying technical knowledge to hardware or software. IS professionals have to bridge the gap between technical issues and practicality for the users. The information system should also have a centralized body that functions to provide information, assistance, and services to the users of the system. These services will typically include telephone and electronic mail “help desk” type services for users, as well as direct contact between the users and IS personnel.

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/knowledge/OSI_model.html

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/knowledge/OSI_model.html

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2. COLLECT DATA2.1 Identify data collection methods in information technology systems usedFor an introduction please view the presentation at

http://bit.ly/2msl2fi

Re-Defining Customer Relationship Management (CRM): It’s All About Customer Engagement

In the 20th century technology is very sophisticated; many options are available to customers which enables them to change the rules on how they would like to receive / buy products and sevices.

There has been an increase in the internet traffic since 2000 with increased mobile internet use. In 2016 it is projected that mobile internet traffic will increase to 58%. Mobile is changing the way we work and communicate to allow for work-life balance.

In 2015, it was estimated that 55% of sales people would access sales applications exclusively through smart phones and tablets and 60% of internet users would opt in mobile customers service as a first option.

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Statistics in 2014 confirm that 72% of influencers / customers are younger than 45 years; this is the younger generation that are internet / mobile savvy and complete more of their transactions, sales, interactions and communications using computers / tablets and mobiles.

Customers’ expectations are increasing and they demand to have the latest and most sophisticated technology that they can use anywhere and anytime they require it. Innovation is aiming at introducing more options for todays’ modern internet / mobile users.

Organisations no longer need to be as aware of customer awareness, interests, desires and actions.

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New innovative ideas and the use of modern methods of technology to engage with the customers make it a lot easier to manage customer engagement and build long tern relationships.

This is how modern customers prefer to be engaged and managed in regards to all their needs. Customers want to experience awareness, discovery, interest, consideration, advocacy, use and action.

As technology changes, over one million sales representatives will be employed in 2020 compared with today. (See diagram above).

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The statistics of 2014 confirm that 66% of customers are willing to spend more with companies who provide superior customer service.

49% of buyers prefer to make work-related purchases on websites (shopping online).

From Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to Consumer Electronic Control (CEC) – a paradigm shift (see diagram above).

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The organisation’s vision is to enable customers to provide feedback on their experiences throughout their journey.

Organisations are now expected to engage with customers and provide products and services via an omnichannel approach to sales that seeks to provide the customer with a seamless shopping experience whether the customer is shopping online from a desktop or mobile device, by telephone or in a bricks and mortar store.

What distinguishes the omnichannel customer experience from the multichannel customer experience is that there is true integration between channels on the back end. For example, when a store has implemented an omnichannel approach, the customer service representative in the store will be able to immediately reference the customer’s previous purchases and preferences just as easily as the customer service representative on the phone can or the customer service webchat representative can. Or the customer can use a desktop computer to check inventory by store on the company’s website, purchase the item later on with a smartphone or tablet and pick up the product at the customer’s chosen location

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For example commerce marketing, service and sales are now completed via the omnichannel customer engagement platform (see diagram above). It is now time

to engage customers like never before (Source: http://bit.ly/2hsRUiq

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2.2 Monitor quantitative and qualitative data collection to ensure accuracyThe two main methods used to analyse data are quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative analysis is when standard questions are given to a sample of consumers and their responses can be quantified in statistics or mathematical models. Quantitative research is quite often known as survey research, which is very common in marketing.

For example, Telstra may wish to determine what people think about Telstra (beliefs), how they view Telstra compared with Optus (attitudes) and what services they currently use (behaviour). Many large companies use surveys to regularly measure satisfaction levels of the customer service provided by their staff. A quantitative analysis would result from this type of survey.

Qualitative analysis is when either an individual consumer or a small group of consumers is probed in-depth concerning their motivations, opinions about a product and values. In qualitative research, the sample is quite small and often conducted on a face-to-face basis by the researcher. It may not have a set of specifically ordered questions, and the researcher has much greater flexibility in probing the consumer’s responses.

Note: quantitative refers to collection of data which can be used in statistical or mathematical models and qualitative refers to more subjective feedback.

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2.3 Ensure data collection is segmented or sorted as required and provides the correct levels of informationSurveys

Surveys are a good way of gathering a large amount of data and providing a broad perspective and can be administered electronically, by telephone, by mail or face-to – face. Mail and electronically administered surveys have a wide reach, are relatively cheap to administer, information is standardised and privacy can be maintained. They do, however, have a low response rate, are unable to investigate issues to any great depth, require that the target group is literate and do not allow for any observation.

As surveys are self-reported by participants, there is a possibility that responses may be biased, particularly if the issues involved are sensitive or require some measure of disclosure of trust by the participant. It is therefore vital that surveys used are designed and tested for validity and reliability with the target groups who will be completing the surveys.

Questions within the survey can be asked in several ways and include:

Closed questions f Closed questions are usually in the format of yes/no or true/false options.

Open-ended f Open-ended questions on the other hand leave the answer entirely up to the

respondent and therefore provide a greater range of responses. Additionally, the use of scales is useful when assessing participants’ attitudes (qualitative)

Multiple choice questions... f A multiple choice question may ask respondents to indicate their favourite

topic covered in the program, or most preferred activity (Quantitative as the number of responses is counted)

Interviews

Survey Interviews can be conducted face-to-face or by telephone. They can range from in-depth, semi-structured to unstructured depending on the information being sought.

Face to face survey interviews are advantageous since: f detailed questions can be asked f further probing can be done to provide rich data f literacy requirements of participants is not an issue f non verbal data can be collected through observation f complex and unknown issues can be explored f response rates are usually higher than for self-administered questionnaires.

Disadvantages of face-to-face survey interviews include: f they can be expensive and time consuming f training of survey interviewers is necessary to reduce interviewer bias and

ensure that surveys are administered in a standardised way

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f they are prone to interviewer bias and interpreter bias (if interpreters are used)

f sensitive issues maybe challenging.

Telephone survey interviews

Telephone interviews according to Bowling, yield just as accurate data as face-to-face interviews.

Telephone survey interviews are advantageous as they: f are cheaper and faster than face-to-face interviews to conduct f use less resources than face-to-face interviews f allow the interviewer to clarify questions f do not require literacy skills.

Disadvantages of telephone survey interviews include: f having to make repeated calls as calls may not be answered the first time f potential bias if call backs are not made so bias is towards those who are at

home f only suitable for short surveys f only accessible to the population with a telephone f not appropriate for exploring sensitive issues.

Focus groups

Focus groups or group discussions are useful to further explore a topic, providing a broader understanding of why the target group may behave or think in a particular way, and assist in determining the reason for attitudes and beliefs. They are conducted with a small sample of the target group and are used to stimulate discussion and gain greater insights.

Focus groups and group discussions are advantageous as they: f are useful when exploring cultural values and health beliefs f can be used to examine how and why people think in a particular way and

how is influences their beliefs and values f can be used to explore complex issues f can be used to develop hypothesis for further research f do not require participants to be literate.

Disadvantages of focus groups include: f lack of privacy/anonymity f having to carefully balance the group to ensure they are culturally and

gender appropriate (i.e. gender may be an issue) f potential for the risk of ‘group think’ (not allowing for other attitudes, beliefs

etc.) f potential for group to be dominated by one or two people f group leader needs to be skilled at conducting focus groups, dealing with

conflict, drawing out passive participants and creating a relaxed, welcoming environment

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f are time consuming to conduct and can be difficult and time consuming to analyse.

For further information please refer to http://bit.ly/2jpdo41

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Activity 2.1

1. What types of Information can a Management Information System collect?

2. What type of Reports does the Management Information System produce?

3. List the key points a Manager should keep in mind in order to get the most out of Information System?

4. List some of the ways that data can be collected, give examples of each?

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3. ANALYSE MIS RESULTING FROM CUSTOMER CONTACT ACTIVITIES“A marketing information system (MIS) is a management information system (MIS) designed to support marketing decision making. Jobber (2007) defines it as a “system in which marketing data is formally gathered, stored, analysed and distributed to managers in accordance with their informational needs on a regular basis.”

3.1 Identify call / engagement traffic and transaction patterns and other trends and activities

3.2 Apply correct data analysis methodologies

3.3 Accurately interpret dataInformation system functions

Document and record management

A management information system is used for generating reports including inventory status reports, financial statements, performance reports etc. These reports are essential for analysing different aspects of business. They also help to answer ‘what-if’ questions like what would be the effect on cash flows of a company if the credit term is changed for its customers etc. MIS reports also support decision making and help to integrate the decision maker by the quantitative / qualitative model being used. These automated systems allow managers to make decisions for smooth & successful operation of businesses. The systems includes computer resources, people, and procedures used in the modern business enterprise.

Document and record management may well be the most crucial aspect of any information system. Some examples of types of information maintained in these systems would be accounting, financial, manufacturing, marketing, and human resources. An information system can serve as a library. When properly collected, organized, and indexed in accordance with the requirements of the organisation, its stored data becomes accessible to those who need the information.

The location and retrieval of archived information can be a direct and logical process, if careful planning is employed during the design of the system. Creating an outline of how the information should be organized and indexed can be a very valuable tool during the design phase of a system. A critical feature of any information system should be the ability to not only access and retrieve data, but also to keep the archived information as current as possible.

Collaborative tools

Collaborative tools can consist of software or hardware, and serve as a base for the sharing of data and information, both internally and externally. These tools allow the exchange of information between users, as well as the sharing of resources. As previously mentioned, real-time communication is also a possible function that can be enabled through the use of collaborative tools.

http://www.geekinterview.com/question_details/39184

http://www.geekinterview.com/question_details/39184

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Data mining

Data mining, or the process of analysing empirical data, allows for the extrapolation of information. The extrapolated results are then used in forecasting and defining trends.

Query tools

Query tools allow the users to find the information needed to perform any specific function. The inability to easily create and execute functional queries is a common weak link in many information systems. A significant cause of that inability, as noted earlier, can be the communication difficulties between a management information systems department and the system users.

Another critical issue toward ensuring successful navigation of the varied information levels and partitions is the compatibility factor between knowledge bases. For maximum effectiveness, the system administrator should ascertain that the varied collection, retrieval, and analysis levels of the system either operate on a common platform, or can export the data to a common platform. Although much the same as query tools in principle, intelligent agents allow the customisation of the information flow through sorting and filtering to suit the individual needs of the users. The primary difference between query tools and intelligent agents is that query tools allow the sorting and filtering processes to be employed to the specifications of management and the system administrators, and intelligent agents allow the information flow to be defined in accord with the needs of the user.

Key points for managers

Managers should keep in mind the following advice in order to get the most out of an information system:

f Use the available hardware and software technologies to support the business. If the information system does not support quality and productivity, then it is misused.

f Use the available technologies to create and facilitate the flow of communication within your organisation and, if feasible, outside of it as well. Collaboration and flexibility are the key advantages offered for all involved parties. Make the most of those advantages.

f Determine if any strategic advantages are to be gained by use of your information system, such as in the areas of order placement, shipment tracking, order fulfilment, market forecasting, just-in-time supply, or regular inventory. If you can gain any sort of advantage by virtue of the use of your information system, use it.

f Use the quantification opportunities presented by your information system to measure, analyse, and benchmark the performances of an individual, department, division, plant, or entire organisation.

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An information system is more than hardware or software. The most integral and important components of the system are the people who design it, maintain it and use it. While the overall system must meet various needs in terms of power and performance, it must also be usable for the organisation’s personnel. If the operation of day-to-day tasks is too daunting for the workforce, then even the most humble of aspirations for the system will go unrealised.

A company will likely have a staff entrusted with the overall operation and maintenance of the system and that staff will be able to make the system perform in the manner expected of it. Pairing the information systems department with a training department can create a synergistic solution to the quandary of how to get non-technical staff to perform technical tasks. Oft times, the individuals staffing an information systems department will be as technical in their orientation as the operative staff is non-technical in theirs. This creates a language barrier between the two factions, but the communication level between them may be the most important exchange of information within the organisation. Nomenclature out of context becomes little more than insular buzzwords.

If a company does not have a formal training department, the presence of staff members with a natural inclination to demonstrate and teach could mitigate a potentially disastrous situation. Management should find those employees who are most likely to adapt to the system and its operation. They should be taught how the system works and what it is supposed to do. Then they can share their knowledge with their fellow workers. There may not be a better way to bridge the natural chasm between the IS department and non-technical personnel. When the process of communicating information flows smoothly and can be used for enhancing and refining business operations, the organisation and its customers will all profit.

Read more on weblink: http://bit.ly/2zGITgj

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Activity 3.1

1. List a brief summary of the conditions you must comply with when collecting, recording and disclosing information.

2. Explain the Use and Disclosure of Information.

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4. PREPARE AND PRESENT INFORMATION4.1 Identify stakeholders for engagement centre information

4.2 Tailor engagement centre information presentations for each stakeholder as appropriate

4.3 Present both short – and long-term engagement centre information system reports as requiredThe Privacy Act and the Telecommunications Act place various restrictions on the information you can collect from customers, the ways in which you can collect it, the times at which It can be collected, methods of recording and storing information and the information you can disclose to other parties.

The following is a brief summary of the conditions you must comply with when collecting, recording and disclosing Information:1. You must not collect personal information unless the Information is

necessary for one or more of the enterprise’s functions or activities.2. You must collect personal information only by lawful and fair means – not in

an unreasonably intrusive way.3. At or before the time (or, if that is not practicable, as soon as practicable

after) an organisation collects personal information about an individual from the individual, the organisation must take reasonable steps to ensure that the individual is aware of:a. the identity of the organisation and how to contact it.b. the fact that he or she is able to gain access to the information.c. the purposes for which the information is collected.d. the organisations (or the types of organisations) to which the information

might be disclosed.e. any law that requires the particular information to be collected.f. the main consequences (If any) for the individual if all or part of the

information is not provided.4. If it is reasonable and practicable to do so, an organisation must collect

personal information about an Individual only from that individual.5. If an organisation collects personal information about an Individual from

someone else, it must take reasonable steps to ensure that the individual is or has been made aware of this (except to the extent that making the Individual aware of the matters would pose a serious threat to the life or health of any individual).

6. The collection of sensitive information (health, beliefs, sexual preference, religion etc) must be directly and demonstrably related to the primary purpose of the collection. It can be collected if the individual has consented; the collection is required by law; or its collection can be justified in direct relation to the enterprise’s operations (e.g. health insurance, life insurance etc in accordance With rules established by competent health or medical

37



bodies that deal with the obligations of professional confidentiality which bind the organisation).

Use and disclosure of information1. An organisation must not use or disclose personal information about an

individual for a secondary purpose without the consent (which might be a reasonable expectation) of the person from whom it is collected.

2. Information can be disclosed if the organisation reasonably believes that the use or disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent public or personal harm, or is related to unlawful activity, or the disclosure is required under law.

Data quality

An organisation must take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information it collects uses or discloses is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

Data security

You and your enterprise must take reasonable steps to protect the personal information you hold from misuse, loss or unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. The enterprise must also take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently re-identify personal information if it is no longer needed.

Openness

Your enterprise must clearly document expressed policies on its management of personal information. This document must be made available to anyone who asks for it and must describe generally, what sort of personal information the enterprise holds, for what purposes, and how it collects, holds, uses and discloses that information.

Access

If an organisation holds personal information about an individual, it must provide that individual with access to the information on request. No charge can be made for access to the information; however, a reasonable charge can be made for hard or electronic copies of information. The individual requesting the information must provide sufficient identification to ensure security.

Benefits of stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder engagement framework (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development)

http://bit.ly/2icghly

Effective stakeholder engagement enables better planned and more informed policies, projects, programs and services. Stakeholder engagement can be mutually beneficial for the Department and our stakeholders. For stakeholders, the benefits of engagement include the opportunity to contribute as experts in their field to policy and program development, have their issues heard and participate in the decision-making process.

For the Department, the benefits of stakeholder engagement include improved information flows by tapping into local knowledge and having the

38


opportunity to ‘road-test’ policy initiatives or proposals with stakeholders.

The earlier stakeholders are engaged, the more likely these benefits are to be realised.

Some of the benefits of stakeholder engagement for both stakeholders and the Department are summarised below.

Benefits for the Department include: Benefits for stakeholders include:

• Higher quality decision-making• Increased efficiency in and

effectiveness of service delivery• Improved risk management

practices – allowing risks to be identified and considered earlier, thereby reducing future costs

• Streamlined policy and program development processes

• Greater engagement with stakeholder interests – ensuring services are delivered in collaboration with stakeholders and provide outcomes which meet community needs

• Enhanced community confidence in projects undertaken

• Enhanced capacity to innovate

• Greater opportunities to contribute directly to policy and program development

• More open and transparent lines of communication– increasing the accountability of Government and driving innovation

• Improved access to decision-making processes, resulting in the delivery of more efficient and responsive services

• Early identification of synergies between stakeholder and Government work, encouraging integrated and comprehensive solutions to complex policy issues

The stakeholder engagement process

There is no ‘one size fits all’ model for stakeholder engagement. The stakeholder engagement process described in this guide should be tailored to the particular needs of the project, stakeholders and the situation.

Ensuring appropriate engagement requires good judgement. Asking the ‘what’, ‘who’ and ‘how’ questions are essential in determining the most appropriate ways to engage stakeholders.

Poorly thought through engagement practice can create mistrust, waste stakeholders’ time and lead to ‘engagement fatigue’ – a reluctance to participate in future consultations.

Table 3 below provides an overview of the four key steps associated with stakeholder planning and highlights the supporting worksheets within the guide to assist with the completion of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan.

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Key Component Action Supporting Template or Worksheet

Step 1

What is the purpose?

Identify why engagement is important for your policy, project or service

Identify what outputs or outcomes you want to achieve by undertaking stakeholder engagement

Worksheet 1

Template 1

Step 2

Who to engage?

Create a list of relevant stakeholders

Map each stakeholder onto the quadrants of the Stakeholder Analysis Tool to determine suitable level of engagement

Worksheet 2

Template 1

Step 3

How to engage?

Choose suitable method of engagement

Plan engagement logistics (timing, resourcing and responsibilities)

Determine key messages to communicate

Consider stakeholder engagement risks

Template 1

Step 4

Evaluate the engagement process

Develop performance measures to assess each stage of the engagement process

Worksheet 3

Identify the relevant stakeholders

Identifying the stakeholders who need to be engaged is one of the most difficult and important parts of the planning process and likely to be the key to the overall success of engagement.

The Department has interactions with an extensive range of stakeholders who hold varying levels of interest and influence in relation to the Department’s policy and project objectives. Stakeholders’ interests and influence can change depending on the issue, at what point in the process they are being engaged and who is affected.

To identify the relevant stakeholders you need to create a list of stakeholders and then analyse each stakeholder’s interest and influence.

Create a list of relevant stakeholders

There are no absolute rules in terms of selecting stakeholders for engagement. Sometimes, it is important to be as open and inclusive as possible. At other times, it is important to target engagement, to create a cohesive group that builds strong relationships and ownership. The selection of stakeholders will depend on the purpose of the engagement and the wider policy and project objectives.

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Whilst every engagement process is unique, there are some general questions that will assist you in identifying appropriate stakeholders.

These include:• Who is responsible for the wider project or policy?• What individuals or groups have a stake or an interest in the issue?• Who is influential in the policy arena?• Who makes the decisions?• Who can influence decisions?• Who is critical to delivery?• Who will potentially be impacted by the outcomes?• Who will contribute resources?• Who can slow or stop the project?• Who is excluded and may not have been considered?• What point in the process are stakeholders being engaged? (e.g.

development of policy or a response to policy)• Have you considered the voiceless, marginalised and harder to

reach stakeholders who may include those with limited ICT literacy or access, Indigenous groups or those from culturally and linguistic diverse groups with low English language proficiency?

Stakeholders may include: f Information technology department or help desk f Marketing department f Owners of database or system f Team leader or manager f Training department

Choose a suitable method of engagement

The Stakeholder Engagement Spectrum below outlines suggested ways to engage stakeholders according to each of the five engagement levels (inform, consult, involve, collaborate and empower).

Select the corresponding engagement method/s you plan to utilise and populate these into your Stakeholder Engagement Plan. More information on methods of engagement, including their benefits and limitations, is provided in Part C.

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Inform Consult Involve Collaborate EmpowerS

take

hold

er e

ngag

emen

t goa

l

To provide balanced, objective, accurate and consistent information to assist stakeholders to understand

the problem, alternatives, opportunities and/or solutions.

To obtain feedback from stakeholders on analysis, alternatives and/ or outcomes.

To work directly with stakeholders throughout

the process to ensure that

their concerns and needs are consistently understood and considered.

To partner with the stakeholder including the development of

alternatives, making decisions and the identification of preferred solutions.

To place final decision-making in the hands of the stakeholder.

Met

hods

of e

ngag

emen

t

Fact sheets

Websites

Open houses

Newsletters, bulletins, circulars

Websites, external and edugate

Public comment

Focus groups

Survey

Public meetings

Web 2.0 tools

Workshops

Deliberative polling

Web 2.0 tools

Forums

Web 2.0 tools

Reference groups

Facilitated consensus building forums for deliberation and decision-making

Experimental projects

Facilitation of direct dialogue between stakeholders and government

Local governance

Joint planning

Communicating with stakeholders f A suitable and approved communication plan must be developed to

effectively reach the correct stakeholders. f Create a database of how each stakeholder expects to receive the

information f Does it include precise details or an overview? f How do they prefer to be communicated with, for example, electronically, in

person etc

Be careful with issuing information sent through a broadcast e-mail that may breach some forms of confidentiality.

f In these cases, it may be more secure and private to advice the stakeholder in person.

f Choose your medium of communication carefullyFurther reading: http://bit.ly/1Dezje9

Tips on keeping your online customers active

One of the most fundamental lessons that every marketer learns during the first day on the job is that it costs around six to seven times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one.

Daniel Binns of Epsilon said that in today’s ultra-competitive market, where

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revenues are under pressure every quarter and margins are continuously squeezed, this lesson is more relevant than ever.

The problem is that we now live in an omnichannel world. The brave new realm of always-on communications means consumers are presented with more choice through more channels than ever before. Brands have more opportunities to connect with customers than in the past, but also have to fight harder to win a share of attention in a fiercely competitive market.

Winning customers is only half the battle though. Once a brand has connected with a consumer, it needs to devote time and attention to keeping the emotional bond between itself and the customer alive. Let it stagnate and the impact will be felt on the bottom line.

Online American grocer FreshDirect experienced just this. Founded during the DotCom boom, by 2008 and after several rounds of substantial investment, the company was struggling badly. Due to their self-confessed issues with customer service, repeat business was almost unheard of. The only thing keeping the company afloat was its ability to churn through customers, mostly by offering heavily discounted incentives for first-time buyers.

In 2008, the company took the drastic and controversial decision to discontinue all incentives for first-time buyers, and concentrate on improving the service offered to existing ones. Despite internal disagreements and concerns, the strategy paid off and today the company is back in the black and expanding rapidly.

The trick…isn’t to acquire new customers,” said CEO Richard S. Braddock at the time, “it’s to make them loyal.”

Options and examples of reactivating customer base

Research by Management Consultancy firm Brain & Company has found that customer attrition rates could reach 50% if databases are left dormant over a five year period. Indeed, it is not unusual for big brands to have a 50% inactive customer base, which can potentially equal millions of customers and millions of dollars in lost revenue.

It is therefore surprising that more brands are not focusing on re-activating their customer base. There are, of course, a few notable exceptions. Kraft foods has a hugely successful email campaign to re-activate lapsed customers with the incentive of discounts off a huge range of products, while Costa Coffee personalises each email to its customers with details about their accrued loyalty points to stimulate in-store purchases. However, a significant proportion of brands have not yet prioritised the targeting of lapsed customers.

The current financial environment around the world understandably makes brands aware of embarking upon what they perceive as a high-cost, high-risk strategy. Indeed, it makes sense to accurately balance both customer acquisition and re-activation strategies, but to ignore re-acquisition initiatives completely is to overlook potential revenue gains. Re-acquiring customers not only helps increase revenue, it can also directly affect profitability. At a conservative estimate, a brand can expect huge gains from re-engaged subscribers to be 50% above the rest of the ‘active’ file.

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No short cut for data analysis and reporting

A brand’s customer database is its most valuable asset.

Understanding why customers have become inactive is critical to devising the best-bet engagement and communication approach. Brands must use past activity and behavioural interactions to increase the chance of re-activation.

Data like activity rate, purchase behaviour, channel preferences – all of this will help an organisation shape the best customer profile to pick to re-activate. Combining these tactics with careful analysis will allow an organisation to increase the chance of choosing the best options from a dormant file and increasing Return On Investment (ROI).

With such potential locked up in a database, it may be tempting in some instances to dive straight into teasing out these potentially lucrative customers. Testing, however, is a brand’s best friend. Although tempting, it is unwise to target the entire customer set once re-activation targets have been identified from the data. In the first instance a sample should be approached, and then a full blown campaign rolled out based on the initial results.

Understanding how lapsed customers were previously interacting with the brand is a vital step in this process. If it was via email, contacting them again via email is probably the most suitable choice (unless the records show they historically opted for another communication channel).

Forrester recently found that while 33% of transactions by new customers involve more than one trackable touchpoint, 48% of repeat customers visit multiple trackable touchpoints, largely because those customers are more likely to be email subscribers and email is a significant driver of traffic to retail sites. As a result, 30% of transactions by repeat shoppers started with a click on an email from the retailer.

Email alone is not enough

Customers need to be able to easily engage with the email, as well as the website. Brands should aim for an optimised, content heavy, dynamic, relevant site with a simple payment process.

Forrester found that 75% of consumers seeking customer service online turned to another channel when a firm’s website let them down. Of the channels they switched to, the phone was by far the most popular. If customers are forced to turn to the telephone, this not only increases the support costs to the brand, but also increases the customer dissatisfaction. Indeed, the research found that when trying to purchase a product or service online, 17% of US consumers who failed to complete their goal took their business to a competitor.

Many retailers now complement their customer outreach programmes with at least some form of social media strategy. Social media is a powerful instrument for reinforcing personal relationships, but in most cases that isn’t quite transferable with commercial relationships.

In the majority of cases it is not appropriate to use social media as a re-activation tool. Many lapsed customers may have been dormant for many years, and it may be the case that brands have never connected with them via social media

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in the past. In fact, recent research from Forrester found that fewer than 1% of transactions for both new and repeat shoppers could be traced back to trackable social links.

That said, there may be occasions when social outreach could prove successful. A study from Pew Research Centre in 2011 found that 13% of US adults use Twitter. Depending on the demographic of a brand’s customers, it is possible to achieve match rates of between 9% and 18% between Twitter and a brand’s email list.

While social channels such as Twitter don’t offer the ability to reach a significant proportion of a lapsed customer base, those they can reach are often extremely connected and very valuable to a brand.

Whatever method is most appropriate, re-activating and reconnecting lapsed customers is a powerful strategy for any brand looking to directly impact its bottom line. Social media and technological advances may have increased the amount of channels available to consumers, but conversely this omnichannel environment is actually a gift to brands. If CMOs can start to successfully re-activate lapsed customers, brands can start to utilise the immense power of the omnichannel world.

The top 10 tips for re-activating your customer base1. Use previous activity and purchase history to drive interactions. The insight

drawn from historical transactional and behavioural data and the analytics is fundamental to the design, implementation and success of re-invigorating the inactive.

2. Identify a control group and isolate people to measure. By selecting a control group you are by inference testing.

3. Test the control group from profile selection to messaging and communication components (e.g. timing, offers, personalisation, cadence, creative, channel, follow up actions, etc.). Data and sound metrics are fundamental to successfully testing the selection.

4. Identify an appropriate period for lapsed interaction. For example, the purchasing cycle of a car versus a newspaper subscription is completely different. When considering whether someone is “lapsed” remember that it should be relevant to your market.

5. Ensure email correspondence contains a strong, memorable subject line to create engagement.

6. Play with the creative to ensure relevant content hits lapsed customers (e.g. “Free”). While subject lines in emails prompt people to open emails, the creative is the prompt for them to act.

7. Make any communications interactive and easy for the customer to do something, whether that is visiting the website, completing a survey or making a purchase.

8. Reduce cadence – once re-engaged reduce the cadence to maintain engagement.

9. Treat the re-activation file as an additional acquisition file. Customers that are successfully re-activated and subsequently nurtured have the potential to become the most loyal and profitable. Compare the metrics to your acquisition data not your house file.

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10. Take a lifetime value approach. For example, re-activated customers may produce no revenue in the first month, but could then produce gradually increasing revenues in subsequent months. It might not be huge but in the end it is better than a lapsed customer contributing nothing to the bottom line.

Present short – and long-term engagement centre information system reports

http://bit.ly/2ihf5wY

‘Customer engagement (CE) marketing places conversions into a longer term, more at long-term engagement, encouraging customer loyalty and advocacy through regular contact. In August 2006, McKinsey & Co published a report which said that by 2010 CE components will be measured if CE is to reflect loyalty long-term rather than short-term. For example customers may be on the CE system for a short period of time whilst they are conducting business with the organisation hence they are known as short-term customers, long-term CE is when customers stay with the organisation for longer periods of time and remain loyal.

http://bit.ly/2zZmLyI

What does it mean to engage with your customers? How do you know if it’s happening and how are you measuring it? We spend a lot of time talking about engagement, but what does it really mean? This week we look at a conceptual model for customer engagement, plus examine what small and midsize business (SMBs) can do to build loyalty programs, and the role mobile is playing in our digital future.

Re-defining Engagement in the Age of Digital Transformation

Customer Engagement Analyst, Esteban Kolsky, authored a new paper (in partnership with Thunderhead.com) entitled Engagement for a Changing World

(http://bit.ly/2zBplKF).

It’s based on in – depth research with 33 senior managers of customer experience strategies and it’s a very interesting paper to read.

Based on the idea that organisations don’t really know how to engage customers, and there’s a lack of a well-defined and agreed upon definition of engagement (at least for the business world), Kolsky outlined a conceptual model for customer engagement and tested it with many of the organisations he interviewed.

Some key points from the paper: f 75% didn’t know how to engage with customers f 66% had no customer relationship strategy in place f 33% don’t even know if their customers trust them

What we fail to understand, yet need to know, is how brands and customers should interact to the mutual benefit of both. And it’s not as simple as looking at engagement between two people and matching that to a brand and a person.

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Kolsky has attempted to define engagement by outlining three critical elements: common goals (or the alignment of needs), common rules (the sharing of knowledge) and currency (trust). These things help create and improve engagement, not for a single interaction, but over time.

According to Kolsky, level of trust is a key indicator of level of engagement. He found that trust aligns closely to the core attributes of a brand’s promise, which typically includes repeatability, accuracy, unselfishness and longevity.

The paper also discussed how you can measure engagement, and that the measurement is different for the consumer versus the brand. It’s measured by the value delivered to a client (which is monetary at each interaction, but emotional over the long run) and by the value delivered to the brand (again monetary over the short-term, but over the long term is defined by the Customer Lifetime Value(CLV)).

One final point that I found very interesting (and I do recommend you read the entire paper) is that according to his research, 4 out of 5 brands are deluged with data and information about their customers, but have no idea how to organize and use that information. So it’s not as simple as getting the data – it’s what you do with it that counts.

The 2014 US Digital Future

ComScore released a new report, 2014 U.S. Digital Future in Focus

(http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers/2014/2014-US-Digital-Future-in-Focus)

which takes a look at how digital technologies are shaping our experiences in 2014.

Based on its research, comScore found that as of December 2013, 56% of US digital media consumers utilise multiple platforms. They also found that the most disruptive shift has been from desktop to mobile – something many

http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers/2014/2014-US-Digital-Future-in-Focus

http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers/2014/2014-US-Digital-Future-in-Focus

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organisations understand and are working with today.

There’s a lot of interesting facts in this report, including things such as: f 53% of Facebook’s revenue is through mobile advertising f Native advertising is the key to monetizing and growing ad revenues –

especially through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter f 84% of Americans watch video online, and video ads now account for 5.7% of

total viewing time f Only 46% of campaign impressions had the opportunity to be seen

Mobile definitely has a big impact on digital marketing strategies these days. The rise in mobile-first social networks like Snapchat, Instagram, Vine and others, as well the increased viewing of most social networks primarily on mobile clearly show mobile needs to be at the forefront of any strategy.

ComScore looked at how mobile affects search, noting that most search done on mobile is location-relevant, and points to a rise in voice-activated search. However, comScore also found that the majority of internet activity on mobile happens within an app – so what does that mean for search?

Finally, online retail spending was up 14% in 2013 and mobile accounted for 10.5% of online spending, showing it’s a growing market.

Overall I think it’s important that brands continue to develop and implement strong cross-channel customer experience strategies. That is the key to success this year and beyond.

SMBs Focus on Current Customers

BIA/Kelsey and Manta did a joint study of 1000 small businesses in the US

http://bit.ly/2iWcfwY

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and found that over half focus much of their attention on existing customers rather than on acquiring new customers. The problem is, most don’t have a loyalty program in place to drive customer retention and repeat sales.

According to the study, 61% of SMBs generate 51% of their annual revenue from repeat customers. In addition, 62% of the marketing budget is spent on existing customers. This is actually the opposite of what BIA/Kelsey found in 2012, showing that things have definitely changed.

Why the change in focus? Research has shown that it’s much more expensive to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one – almost ten times more. The report also points out that happy existing customers can help bring new customers into the fold (influencers anyone?).

While SMBs see the importance of existing customers, the study shows that only 34% have a loyalty program and that most of the programs in place are offline programs. Part of the challenge here is a lack of proper tools with only 29% of brands using a CRM system to store customer information.

The report offers ten tips to help jumpstart a loyalty program. A few of these include:1. Start with the end in mind: What is the goal you want to achieve with a loyalty

program and how will you measure if you’ve achieved it?2. Go Social: Figure out where your customers are engaged on social media

and build a social community.3. Automate: Automate as much as you can to make the management easier.4. Integrate: Integrate a number of services to support automating email,

mobile and social communications in a central interface.5. Go mobile: Enough said.

All of the research is quite telling. Marketers have a lot of work to do. It’s simply not as simple as hoping your agency has the answers, and it’s certainly not as simple as throwing content in every direction hoping something sticks. Strategies and implementation plans are created for a reason. Understanding

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the customer and prospective customer’s journey is critical.

Just remember though, think agile, embark on short stints to try things and learn, and adapt as you go. Getting bogged down in months of strategy will put you behind the competition. The smart ones learn and adapt as they go.

TODAY’S MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS ARE ANTIQUATED

Marketing measurement is daunting with the digitisation of mass media, fragmentation of customer attention, and social computing activities becoming mainstream. Marketers inevitably discover that the marketing metrics in place today fail to tell the full story about their customers. Even in online channels, where tracking individual behaviour is possible, the metrics like impressions and response rates are relics of a time when marketers controlled the messages. But so far, most marketers fail to take action because they:

f Can’t agree on the metrics that matter. From traditional mass metrics like GRPs (gross rating points), direct mail campaign response rates, and same store sales volumes to online metrics like site stats, transaction data, and click-through rates, there’s just too much to take in. Now marketers must consider adding individual metrics related to social media content, online sentiment, in-store loyalty card usage, brand awareness, and many more. With so much feeding into the assessment of a person’s relationship with the brand, it’s difficult to decide which of the myriad metrics actually matter.

f Can’t obtain the data to drive these metrics. Marketers must wrestle down the numerous data sources to capture the presence, value, impact, and degree of customer interactions across channels. This is easier said than done. One financial services marketer we spoke to described the problem, “We have seventeen systems that contain valuable customer data. But we have no visibility into these systems and no means to navigate the data.” To further exacerbate the problem, marketing must work with a fractious partner – IT.

f Can’t apply these metrics to inform marketing strategy. Most marketers want a silver bullet, and they don’t want to work for it. And metrics continue to be a lens into the past — they’re seldom useful to drive future direction. To inform marketing strategy effectively, marketers need these metrics delivered in a fashion that makes them actionable. But marketers struggle with poor delivery mechanisms, inadequate analytical skills, and an inability to take quantitative insight and turn it into creative output that resonates with customers.

Can’t prove the value of enhanced insight. Not only do marketers struggle with justifying the necessary expenditures for a metrics system, but they also need to prove to management how these metrics boost customer insight — let alone revenues. As one marketer so eloquently said, “We haven’t been able to look at ROI in an integrated fashion. So we haven’t been able to look at the contribution per channel in a multichannel campaign. We really want to be able to track that, but it’s hard.” Companies lack institutional commitment across brands and a wide variety of technology, analytical, and marketing skills. © 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Measuring Engagement For Marketing Leadership Professionals

http://bit.ly/2iYb14j

http://docplayer.net/14458535-June-10-2008-measuring-engagement-by-brian-haven-and-suresh-vittal-for-marketing-leadership-professionals-making-leaders-successful-every-day.html

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ENGAGEMENT MEASUREMENT OFFERS A FRAMEWORK FOR A NEW, CONNECTED ERA

Marketers need an intuitive framework that allows them to move away from treating customers as generic segments to focusing on an individual’s buying process. To work, any framework must align with the multifaceted buying process of today, not the linear process of the past. So how can marketers navigate these troubled waters? Engagement — the level of involvement, interaction, intimacy, and influence that a person has with a brand over time — is the new approach necessary for mapping today’s intricate customer behaviours into an actionable strategy while aligning them with a person’s buying process.

Revisiting The Engagement Framework

Engagement measurement encompasses the quantitative and qualitative metrics collected from both online and offline channels. It comprises the concrete individual metrics from store visits and online purchases, to the softer, aggregated insights from brand awareness studies, sentiment, loyalty, and advocacy.

Our definition of engagement is: Engagement is the level of involvement, interaction, intimacy, and influence an individual has with a brand over time.

Four components make up the engagement framework — the four I’s:

Involvement— the presence of a person at the various brand touchpoints. Metrics include Web site visitors, time spent per page, physical store visits, impressions from mass media advertising, etc. Data sources include Web Analytics, store traffic reports, etc.

Interaction — the actions people take while present at those touchpoints.

Metrics include click-throughs, online transactions, in-store purchases, uploaded photos or videos, etc. Data sources include eCommerce platforms, POS systems, social media platforms, etc.

Intimacy — the affection or aversion a person holds for a brand.Metrics include sentiment measurement in blog posts, blog comments, discussion forums, customer service call sentiment, etc. Data sources include brand monitoring services, survey responses, customer service call centres, etc.

Influence — the likelihood a person is to advocate on behalf of the brand.Metrics include brand awareness, loyalty, affinity, repurchases, Net Promoter, satisfaction ratings, forwarded content, etc. Data sources include market research services, brand monitoring, customer service call centres, surveys, etc.

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Aligning the Engagement Framework to the Buying Process

Applying the four I’s of engagement allows marketers to go from measuring behaviour to honing in on individuals’ buying processes. Any buying process that is relevant in today’s complex marketing environment must include an understanding of the buyers’ interactions with peers, brands, venues, and media. A buyer’s path through this complex landscape traverses four key stages: discovery, evaluation, use, and affinity.

f Involvement metrics help measure activities following discovery.A person can discover a brand in three primary ways: 1. observing others with the brand; 2. initiating the discovery on his own; or 3. being encouraged by others. Involvement allows marketers to measure a

person’s presence and what a person does after discovering a product or service.

In order to engage with a brand, a person needs to know about it first. Involvement metrics include unique site visitors, TV ad impressions, Web site page views, time spent per page, and in-store visits, which help marketers understand how and when a person discovers a product or service.

f Interaction metrics track actions following evaluation. People use three primary criteria when evaluating a brand:1. Determine credibility; 2. assess viability; and 3. determine relevance.

Interaction metrics enable marketers to measure the specific actions people take when deciding whether a product is right for them. Interaction metrics include first-time purchases online or offline, loyalty card registrations, requests for free samples, comments on blogs, user-generated content, and click-throughs on banner ads. These metrics help marketers understand how and when prospects evaluate products, supporting their transition into customers.

f Intimacy metrics monitor opinions during and after use. Use has three primary characteristics:1. usefulness of its features and functions to accomplish a goal; 2. usability of those features and functions when in operation; and 3. the desirability based on repeated activity with the product or service

(positive or negative).

Intimacy tracking allows marketers to measure people’s attraction (or distaste) toward the brand after a person acquires the product or service and uses it. Intimacy metrics include satisfaction rates, sentiment in customer service calls, brand affinity, and sentiment in online forums and review sites like TripAdvisor.com, which help marketers understand the opinions people develop during and after their use of a product.

f Influence metrics assess expressiveness as a person develops affinity. f A person’s feelings manifest themselves in three primary ways: passion level

for the brand (favourable or not); expression of passion through sentiment

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(verbal conversation, written text, or produced content); and advocating for, or against, the brand. Influence presents an opportunity for marketers to measure the impact individuals have on others, feeding into their discovery process. Influence metrics include Net Promoter Scores, friend connections in online communities, fan Web sites, content forwarded to friends, word-of-mouth, viral user-generated content, and loyalty, which help marketers understand the affinity and passion a brand engenders.

AN ENGAGEMENT MEASUREMENT STRATEGY REINVIGORATES CUSTOMER INSIGHT

Let’s make one thing clear from the outset – measuring engagement is no easy task. An effective engagement measurement strategy requires deep business understanding, a strong data foundation, robust analytical skills, and simple user interfaces that communicate marketing’s performance. Most marketing organisations lack the skills, staff, tools, and techniques needed to handle this growing complexity. Four key steps guide marketers to an engagement strategy. The first three — definition, auditing, and assessment — evaluate needs and existing capabilities. The fourth step, prioritisation, determines the plan for acquiring the required metrics.

Define The Constitution Of Engaged Customers

Business models, product or service types, stage in the buying process, and even the emotions a brand evokes often dictate a customer’s goals. It’s these complex behaviours that marketers must understand to develop a definition for an engaged customer. To define engagement, marketers should:

f Align audience needs with existing capabilities. To define an engaged customer, marketers must clearly articulate audience types (e.g., personas) and the goals of each audience type (see Figure 2-2). For instance, a wireless device maker like Samsung might create six personas, like “soccer mom” or “business tycoon” to identify the most common users of their devices Next, marketers must identify core business functions that meet these customer goals. In our example, Samsung would create personalized photo-sharing landing pages for the “soccer moms.” The relevant metrics for this function are application downloads, usage, and duration; tracking these will show how “soccer moms” are engaging with Samsung’s photo-sharing tool.

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f Improve each segment’s experience with the brand. Understanding the motivations of customers improves marketers’ ability to deliver relevant messages and experiences. The payoff? Marketers can foster customer engagement and expose opportunities to create new products and services that meet the needs of existing and prospective customers. Engagement metrics allow marketers to track how they perform to plan, identify the gaps in their strategy, and recognize the customer segments whose expectations they fail to meet.

Audit Engagement Measurement CapabilitiesIdentifying goals and metrics is one important part of measuring engagement. But marketers may not have access to all the metrics or the data sources that define these metrics. Marketers must audit their measurement capabilities to:

f Take stock of all existing data sources. To audit engagement capabilities, marketing analytics teams must:1. agree on the definition of each metric; 2. identify inputs to each metric; and 3. locate the sources that host these inputs .

For instance, when defining engagement metrics, Gap might determine that customer profitability is an excellent indicator of “intimacy” in the engagement framework. Now, in the audit step, Gap would identify the inputs that determine profitability (i.e., acquisition cost, average order value, or frequency of purchase) and find that the data that drives these metrics resides partly in its point-of-sales system and partly in its loyalty card system.

f Establish a baseline that supports planning. Auditing helps marketers understand what each metric means and where the underlying data lives. The payoff? The outcome of the audit kick-starts the engagement initiative by ensuring that internal stakeholders are all in agreement on the engagement definition. Taking stock of existing and needed

f Measurement capabilities guarantees that all parties agree on the measurement inventory required. Additionally, marketers get a better sense of the data required to make engagement measurement a reality.

Assess the Value of Each Metric

Auditing uncovers the data that is readily accessible or challenging to procure, but assessment helps marketers interpret the innate value each metric provides to informing the engagement profiles. The reality most marketing organisations face is that all metrics aren’t equally accessible. Assessment enables marketers to:

f Assign costs associated with engagement metrics. Assessment requires marketing managers and marketing technologists to quantify:1. the financial cost of obtaining each metric; 2. the people and skills necessary to interpret the meaning of each metric; 3. the changes in processes necessitated to procure these metrics; and 4. the clarity each metric brings to engagement (see Figure 2-4).

For instance, when assessing metrics, Proctor & Gamble’s Beinggirl.com might

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discover that relevant metrics like program registration and story submissions are more costly but more beneficial than metrics like number of free sample requests and customer satisfaction rates.

f Establish business value. Assessment helps marketers conduct a simple cost-benefit analysis and identify the most valuable metrics. This enables marketers to evaluate the business ramifications of each metric. In this step, marketers are asking questions like: “How does the metric change my view of customer types?” “What incremental insight does the metric give to my existing understanding of customer needs?” “How do my organisational processes need to change to acquire these metrics?” The answers to these questions allow marketers to understand the contribution and costs of each metric.

Prioritise the Acquisition of Engagement Metrics

Assessing the value of each metric helps determine cost to obtain them, but prioritisation allows marketers to decide the order in which to obtain metrics. Why is prioritisation important? All marketing organisations have finite budgets and limited time to explore the myriad measurement options. Prioritisation allows marketers to:

Classify metrics based on value. Marketing leaders must approach prioritisation by mapping the metrics into four categories:

1. No Brainers (low cost, high value); 2. Why Nots (low cost, low value); 3. Plan Aheads (high cost, high value); and 4. Throw Aways (high cost, low value)

For instance, outdoor gear and clothing retailer, Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), might determine that linking membership card usage to engagement is extremely valuable and economical to obtain, whereas tracking customer sentiment at the store level is equally valuable but very expensive.

• Plan for engagement measurement. This type of analysis helps Tesco prioritise the metrics to obtain in the short term and those that need additional planning. Additionally, prioritisation allows marketers to identify the resources and skills necessary to implement the engagement measurement project plan.

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Figure 2 – Three Steps To Identifying Your Engagement Measurement Capabilities

http://bit.ly/2ihf5wY

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Online customer engagement refers to:1. A social phenomenon enabled by the wide adoption of the internet in the late

1990s and taking off with the technical developments in connection speed (broadband) in the decade that followed. Online CE is qualitatively different from the engagement of consumers offline.

2. The behaviour of customers that engage in online communities revolving, directly or indirectly, around product categories (cycling, sailing) and other consumption topics. It details the process that leads to a customer’s positive engagement with the company or offering, as well as the behaviours associated with different degrees of customer engagement.

3. Marketing practices that aim to create, stimulate or influence CE behaviour. Although CE-marketing efforts must be consistent both online and offline, the internet is the basis of CE-marketing.

4. Metrics that measure the effectiveness of the marketing practices which seek to create, stimulate or influence CE behaviour.

Customer engagement is a business communication connection between an external stakeholder (consumer) and an organization (company or brand) through various channels of correspondence. This connection can be a reaction, interaction, effect or overall customer experience, which takes place online and offline.

CE behaviour became prominent with the advent of the social phenomenon of online CE. Creating and stimulating customer engagement behaviour has recently become an explicit aim of both profit and non-profit organisations in the belief that engaging target customers to a high degree is conducive to furthering business objectives.

Shevlin’s definition of CE is well suited to understanding the process that leads to an engaged customer. In its adaptation by Richard Sedley the key word is ‘investment’.”Repeated interactions that strengthen the emotional, psychological or physical investment a customer has in a brand.”

A customer’s degree of engagement with a company lies in a continuum that represents the strength of his investment in that company. Positive experiences with the company strengthen that investment and move the customer down the line of engagement.

What is important in measuring degrees of involvement is the ability of defining and quantifying the stages on the continuum. One popular suggestion is a four-level model adapted from Kirkpatrick’s Levels:1. Click – A reader arrived (current metric)2. Consume – A reader read the content3. Understood – A reader understood the content and remembers it4. Applied – A reader applies the content in another venue

Concerns have, however, been expressed as regards the measurability of stages three and four. Another popular suggestion is Ghuneim’s typology of engagement.

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Degrees of Engagement Low Medium High Highest

Adoption Collaborative Filtering Content Creation Social

Bookmarking, Tagging,

Adding to group

Rating, Voting, Commenting, Endorsing, Favouritising

Upload (User Generated Content), Blogging, Fan community participation, Create mash-ups, Podcasting, Vlogging

Adding Friends, Networking, Create Fan Community

The following consumer typology according to degree of engagement fits also into Ghuneim’s continuum: Creators (smallest group), Critics, Collectors, Couch Potatoes (largest group).

Engagement is a holistic characterisation of a consumer’s behaviour, encompassing a host of sub-aspects of behaviour such as loyalty, satisfaction, involvement, Word of Mouth advertising, complaining and more.

f Satisfaction: Satisfaction is simply the foundation, and the minimum requirement, for a continuing relationship with customers. Engagement extends beyond mere satisfaction.

f Loyalty – Retention: Highly engaged consumers are more loyal. Increasing the engagement of target customers increases the rate of customer retention.

f Word of Mouth advertising – advocacy: Highly engaged customers are more likely to engage in free (for the company), credible (for their audience) Word of Mouth advertising. This can drive new customer acquisition and can have viral effects.

f Awareness – Effectiveness of communications: When customers are exposed to communication from a company that they are highly engaged with, they tend to actively elaborate on its central idea. This brings about high degrees of central processing and recall

f Filtering: Consumers filter, categorise and rate the market from head to tail, creating multiple, overlapping folksonomies through tagging, reviewing, rating and recommending.

f Complaint-behaviour: Highly engaged customers are less likely to complain to other current or potential customers, but will address the company directly instead.

f Marketing intelligence: Highly engaged customers can give valuable recommendations for improving quality of offering.

The behavioural outcomes of an engaged consumer is what links CE to profits. From this point of view,

“CE is the best measure of current and future performance; an engaged relationship is probably the only guarantee for a return on your organisation’s or your clients’ objectives.” Simply attaining a high level of customer satisfaction does not seem to guarantee the customer’s business. 60% to 80% of customers who defect to a competitor said they were satisfied or very satisfied on the

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlogging

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survey just prior to their defection.

The main difference between traditional and customer engagement marketing is marked by these shifts:

f From ‘reach or awareness focused’ marketing communications and their metrics (GRP or pageview) towards more targeted and customised interactions that prompt the consumer to engage with and act on the content from the outset.

f From absolute distinctions and barriers between an organisation and its target customers towards the participation of consumers in product development, customer service and other aspects of the brand experience.

f From one-way, top-down, formal B2C and B2E interaction to continuing, dialogic, decentralised and personalised communications initiated by either party.

Short-term and Long-term customer engagement reports

It is very important to develop reports of both short-term and long-term customers to ensure that accurate date is obtained and saved for reporting of figures / statistics. It is also a future reference for the organisation. The content of the reports depends on the purpose of the report and how it will be used to transfer information to various stakeholders. Tailored in-house system have the capacity to allow for the filtering of data and the production of the required reports.

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Activity 4.1

1. What are the methods used to engage with stakeholders for engagement centre information?

2. Give a brief explanation on short – and long-term engagement centre information system reports and why they are important?

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APPENDIX 1. REFERENCES• http://bit.ly/2AFZjTd

• http://bit.ly/1oqRmuu

• http://bit.ly/2msl2fi

• http://bit.ly/1CgNQ8j

• http://bit.ly/2hAUZRz

• http://bit.ly/2jpdo41

• http://bit.ly/1Dezje9

• http://bit.ly/2zZmLyI

• http://bit.ly/2iYb14j

• http://bit.ly/2ihf5wY

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APPENDIX 2. SEVEN METRICS TO WATCH FOR CALL CENTRE SUCCESSBy ICMI EDITORS | Published: February 16, 2011 |Source: http://www.icmi.com/Resources/Metrics/2011/02/Seven-Metrics-to-Watch-for-Call-Center-Success

About International Customer Management Institute (ICMI)

For nearly 30 years, ICMI has been in the business of improving contact centres. Whether it be your people, your processes or your strategy, we want to partner with you to take your customer service to the next level.

Also known as the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), we are the leading global provider of comprehensive resources for customer management professionals – from the frontline agents to executives – who wish to improve customer experiences and increase efficiencies at every level of the contact centre. Since 1985, ICMI has helped more than 50,000 organizations in 167 countries through training, events, consulting, and informational resources.

We live in an information intensive world, making it hard, at times, to cut through the wealth of data to get at what actually matters. The most successful contact centres have winnowed out the distracting facts and figures – won’t actually call that information, since it doesn’t always truly inform – to get to the real heart of what should be measured to mark success around and continuously improve the customer experience. It’s really a balancing act:

Basing an entire service strategy on the number of calls handled per hour or on average handle time will inevitably damage contact quality but quality metrics that aren’t balanced quantitative and efficiency measurements can have an adverse effect on the customer experience – and the call centre’s cost.

Here are the seven key metrics ICMI has identified – with the help of top-performing centres and expert industry stakeholders.

1. FIRST CALL RESOLUTION

Recent research suggests that no single KPI has a bigger impact on customer satisfaction than does first call resolution (FCR). Customer contact research and consulting firm Service Quality Measurement (SQM) Group finds that for every 1% improvement in FCR, you get a 1% improvement in customer satisfaction. In a study of more than 150 contact centres, SQM found that centres that achieved “world class” customer satisfaction ratings had a FCR average of 86%, while centres that were not among the elite in customer satisfaction had a FCR average of only 67%.

Increased customer satisfaction isn’t the only big benefit realized by contact centres that achieve high FCR. These centres typically also enjoy:

f Lower operating costs. A low FCR rate breeds a high number of repeat callers – reducing the cost burden of callbacks, especially in high volume contact centres.

f Reduced revenue at risk. SQM research shows that if the customer’s issue is

http://www.icmi.com/Resources/Metrics/2011/02/Seven-Metrics-to-Watch-for-Call-Center-Success

http://www.icmi.com/Resources/Metrics/2011/02/Seven-Metrics-to-Watch-for-Call-Center-Success

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resolved on the first call, only 3% of those customers are at risk of defecting to your competitors compared to a whopping 38% of customers at risk of doing so if their issue isn’t resolved on the first contact.

f Higher employee satisfaction. The strain on agents who must contend with frequent callbacks from often frustrated customers is significant and invariably leads to low morale, poor customer service and high agent turnover. However, when agents are given the tools and training they need to achieve high FCR, they feel empowered and confident on calls. Invariably, customers take notice.

While FCR has been identified as a critical KPI for contact centres, there is some question about what exactly constitutes a “resolved call.” Some centres consider a call resolved if the agent didn’t need to transfer it. Others deem a call resolved if there is no follow-up work to complete after it.

Aiming for calls that require neither transfers nor follow-up work is a sound approach to high quality service, but it is incomplete from an FCR measurement standpoint, say experts, because it fails to take into account something essential the customer’s perspective. It’s important to let the customer tell you if their issue has been resolved, whether through real time or near real time customer feedback channels, such as post call IVR surveys, online surveys, live surveys or immediate email based surveys.

2. SERVICE LEVEL/RESPONSE TIME

Service level and response time are classic metrics, and they’re fundamental to effective management of the contact centre and the customer experience. These metrics tell you how accessible the centre is to customers, how many agents are needed to provide efficient service or how your centre’s service compares to others in your industry.

Service level is defined as: “X percent of contacts answered in Y seconds,” e.g., 80% of calls answered in 20 seconds. Response time (which is the equivalent of service level for transactions that don’t have to be handled the moment they arrive) is defined as: “100% of contacts handled within N days/hours/minutes,” e.g., all customer email inquiries will be handled within four hours.

In essence, service level and response time objectives tie the resources you need to the results you want to achieve. These metrics measure how well you are getting customer contacts in the door and into the hands of agents (and thus are essential for planning and budgeting). They are the clearest indication of what customers experience when they attempt to reach your contact centre.

When establishing and assessing service level and response time objectives, the important thing isn’t merely how high your overall stated objectives are, but how consistently the centre hits those objectives throughout the day.

Don’t be lulled into thinking solid performance here is the only thing to watch. A centre can achieve its objectives, yet still be wasting resources, creating extra work and providing poor quality.

Accessibility is an enabler, not a guarantee of quality or of customer delight. Accessibility means that contacts are getting in and being handled efficiently so

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that the contact centre has the opportunity to accomplish its mission of ensuring long lasting customer satisfaction and loyalty. If quality is poor, things such as repeat contacts, unnecessary contacts and escalations and complaints will eventually drive service level down and frustrate your customers.

3. ADHERENCE TO SCHEDULE

Adherence to schedule is a measurement of how much time during an agent’s shift he or she is logged in and handling contacts or at least available to do so. Most centres choose an adherence objective around the 85% to 90% range, meaning that each agent is expected to be available to handle contacts .90 x 60 minutes, or 54 minutes each hour.

Adherence is comprised of time spent in interacting with customers, as well as time spent in after call work, making necessary outbound calls and waiting for calls to arrive. Time taken for lunch, breaks, training, etc., is not counted as time assigned to handle contacts, and thus is not factored into adherence to schedule measurements.

While always an important metric in contact centres, adherence to schedule has taken on an even more significant role of late as centres have learned to focus more on what really matters, and on what agents can control. Where average handle time and calls per hour used to rule the metric roost, centres have discovered that agents are merely slaves to such measurements and that these metrics aren’t indicative of whether staff is in the right place at the right times, doing what they are supposed to be doing. Agents can’t control how many calls are coming in or how long a transaction might take on the customer side, but they can be held accountable for where they are and what they are doing.

This is not to say that contact centres should completely do away with more traditional productivity metrics. After all, the centre needs to have an idea about how many calls a typical agent is handling and how long those calls are lasting to help pinpoint any scheduling adjustments that may have to be made. The good news is that when placing a stronger emphasis on adherence to schedule by having agents in the right places at the right times, things like average handle time and calls per hour tend to take care of themselves. That is assuming the centre has taken time to provide agents with adequate training and a quality mindset, and that the centre has done a decent job of forecasting and scheduling.

That said, there is the danger of focusing too stringently on adherence to schedule watching agents’ every move with the help of workforce management technology and inevitably eliciting cries of micro management from them.

Here are several recommendations from ICMI for ensuring solid adherence stats that agents won’t find intrusive:

f Train each agent on how much of an impact he or she has on the queue, and on customer accessibility and satisfaction.

f Establish concrete service level and response time objectives that everybody knows, understands and accepts.

f Educate agents on the essential steps involved in resource planning to ensure that they understand how schedules are produced.

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f Develop appropriate priorities for the wide range of tasks your agents perform on the job. Provide real time information to agents and back it up with training on how to interpret that data. Track and manage schedule adherence at the supervisory level, as conditions dictate.

f Track schedule adherence for the entire group for planning purposes and to assess how well management has created a process that enables appropriate schedule adherence.

4. FORECASTING ACCURACY

Forecasting accuracy – better described as forecasted contact load vs. actual contact load is a performance metric that reflects the percent variance between the number of inbound customer contacts forecasted for a

particular time period and the number of said contacts actually received by the centre during that time. It is a critical, high level objective in all contact centre environments.

Underestimating demand leads to understaffing. This, in turn, leads to long wait times in queues, frustrated customers, burned out agents and high toll-free costs (due not only to the long hold times, but also to the longer call times that might result from dedicating a portion of the call to caller complaints about hold times). However, overestimating demand results in waste, overstaffing and increased idle time.

Forecasted call load is available from the system used for forecasting (e.g., the center’s workforce management system or spreadsheets) while actual call load is tracked by the ACD, workforce management system, email response management system, Web servers wherever data is available. Forecasting accuracy should not be reported as a summary of forecasted versus actual contacts across a day, week or month, but rather as an illustration of accuracy for each reporting interval, typically half hours.

5. SELF SERVICE ACCESSIBILITY

The quest of most contact centres to deflect from the agent queue as many basic transaction types as possible. These calls are shunted to self service systems mainly IVR and interactive Web applications. This can help enhance service efficiencies and cut costs it also frees up agents to use their valuable skills to assist customers with more complex issues, thus keeping staff engaged and motivated.

But some centres get so caught up trying to lure customers off the phones and into self service that they forget to track something essential: how well the self service systems actually “treat” customers.

Self service accessibility has emerged as a critical metric in this age of automation and customer centricity. Leading contact centres gauge not only how many customers begin self service transactions via IVR and the Web, but also how many complete those transactions without live agent assistance. Centres with a serious focus on effective self service have invested in tools that record customer interactions with IVR apps and Web sites.

Such tools help to pinpoint any system glitches or snags that hinder the

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customer experience and that cause customers to “zero out” to email or chat with a live agent or simply abandon their online shopping cart. In addition to specialized monitoring tools, some centres have invested in diagnostic technologies that perform proactive load balancing tests to ensure that IVR systems and Web self service tools are prepared to effectively and efficiently handle high volumes of contacts a sort of self service check up.

Many contact centres also survey customers following a self service transaction to gather direct feedback on their experiences. While not the most proactive or definitive method for gauging self service accessibility, surveys are a good way to uncover how your valued customers feel about your automated service options.

6. CONTACT QUALITY

This is a very common and critical customer centric performance metric in all contact centres, regardless of industry, function and size. Top centres track contact quality as a high level, centre wide metric, as well as an individual agent performance measure.

Contact quality is typically assessed via the monitoring and recording of agent interactions with customers, with quality assurance specialists or supervisors rating the contact using a comprehensive evaluation form that features key criteria that the centre feels contributes to a quality interaction from the customer’s perspective.

Each criterion is usually assigned a numeric value by those conducting monitoring and weighed based on its impact on customer satisfaction and the centre’s goals and requirements.

• Common quality criteria include such things as: Use of appropriate greetings and other call scripts Courtesy and professionalism

• Capturing key customer data• Providing customers with correct and relevant information First contact

resolution• Accuracy in data entry and call coding• Grammar and spelling in text communication (email and chat)

While monitoring and recording is by far the most common method used for assessing contact quality, some quality measurements may come from ACD-based call coding, from reports generated by customer information systems.

7. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Customer satisfaction is one of the most critical metrics for any contact centre. Studies have revealed, and common sense supports, a critical and direct correlation between customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, corporate revenues and employee morale and performance.

All companies are aware of the importance of securing high customer satisfaction, and all claim to have a strong focus on customer centric practices. But, not all go about measuring customer satisfaction in the most precise and most consistent ways, nor do all have an effective process in place for analysing and acting on the findings.

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While there is no standard method for calculating customer satisfaction, there are certain common practices and processes that enable leading centres to not only effectively and efficiently keep tabs on just how much customers dislike them, but also to make key improvements before customers take their business elsewhere.

Customer satisfaction measurement has evolved beyond mail surveys (delivered by post) and phone interviews days after the customer’s interaction transpired. The big trend now is to survey callers immediately after the interaction occurs, when the experience is fresh in the customer’s mind and before problems can escalate. Top centres typically do this via IVR based post call surveys, similar to the type described in the previous section on first contact resolution. Callers are asked a series of questions about their interaction with the agent, their feelings about the organization and their plans to continue doing business with the company. They are asked to rate each question on a numeric scale (often 1 to 5) for easy customer satisfaction calculation. Many surveys also feature a couple of open ended questions for more detailed customer feedback.

Today’s advanced IVR survey apps can be programmed to recognize when a customer gives an abnormally low overall rating and to send an alert to the centre manager or quality assurance team. The system can capture (via CTI) the caller’s identity and link it to the actual recording of the call in question for complete analysis of the interaction. After reviewing the survey responses and the call, the manager can quickly call the customer to “repair damage” and hopefully restore trust and loyalty.

Of course, not all customers contact the centre via phone, thus IVR based surveys alone are insufficient for holistic customer satisfaction measurement. Progressive centres also gauge how satisfied customers are who have chosen to interact with the company via email or chat. To do so, they send a survey like the IVR based one to these customers via email or program the survey to pop up on the customer’s screen upon completion of an online interaction.

ROAD TO SUCCESS PAVED WITH METRICS

The metrics your centre embraces have an impact on the customer experience that simply can’t be ignored. Of course, not every metric can be completely customer centric there are operations costs and business needs that must also be considered focusing strictly on straight productivity metrics and managing a contact centre primarily as a cost centre simply is no longer feasible.

Emphasizing and balancing the view of the metrics here will ensure that your company keeps customer satisfaction and loyalty high while enabling your centre to be an efficient, high performing, critical business entity.

This post was written by the ICMI editors.

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APPENDIX 3. CALL CENTRES AND CONTACT CENTRESCall centre is the common term for a telephone-based human-service operation. A call centre provides tele-services, namely services in which the customers and the service agents are remote from each other. The agents, who sit in cubicles, constitute the physical embodiment of the call centre. With numbers varying from very few to many hundreds, they serve customers over the phone, while facing a computer terminal that outputs and inputs customer data. The customers, possibly up to thousands at a given instant, are only virtually present: they are either being served or they are delayed in, what we call, tele-queues. Those waiting to be served share a phantom queue, invisible to each other and the agents serving them, waiting and accumulating impatience until one of two things happens – an agent is allocated to serve them (through a supporting software), or they abandon the tele-queue, plausibly due to impatience that has built up to exceed their anticipated worth of the service.

Contact centres are the contemporary successors of call centres. In addition to phone services, they interface with customers via the internet, email, chat and fax. Call or contact centres are the preferred and prevalent way for many companies to communicate with their customers. (Fortune-500 companies are estimated to operate, on average, 30 call centres each.) The call centre industry is thus vast, and rapidly expanding in terms of both workforce and economic scope. For example, it is estimated that 70% of all customer-business interactions occur in call centres and that $700 billion in goods and services were sold through call centres in 1997. These figures have been expanding 20% annually. Three percent of the U.S. working population is currently employed in call centres. This amounts to 1.55 million agents, and some estimates actually go up to 6 million.

The modern call centre is a complex socio-technical system. Some view call centres as the business frontiers but others as the sweat-shops of the 21st century. Either way, within our service-driven economy, telephone services are now unparalleled in scope, service quality and operational efficiency. Indeed, in a large best-practice call centre, hundreds of agents can cater to thousands of phone callers per hour; agent utilization levels can average between 90% to 95%; no customer encounters a busy signal and, in fact, about half of the customers are answered immediately; the waiting time of those delayed is measured in seconds, and very few abandon while waiting.

The design of the modern call centre, and the management of its performance, surely must be based on sound scientific principles. This is manifested by a growing body of academic multi-disciplinary re – search, devoted to call centres, and ranging from Mathematics and Statistics, to Operations Research, Industrial Engineering, Information Technology and Human Resource Management, all the way to Psychology and Sociology..

†The text is adapted from “Empirical Analysis of a Call Center”, by A. Mandelbaum, A. Sakov, S. Zeltyn, Technion Technical Report, 2001; and from “Introduction to Mathematical Models of Call Centres”, preprint by G. Koole and A. Mandelbaum, 2001.

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CALL CENTERS (CENTRES)Research Bibliography with AbstractsAvishai MandelbaumFaculty of Industrial Engineering and Management Technion—Israel Institute of TechnologyHaifa 32000, Israel

E-mail: [email protected] Version 6: December 23, 2004Downloadable from: http://ie.technion.ac.il/serveng

mailto:[email protected]

http://ie.technion.ac.il/serveng

http://ie.technion.ac.il/serveng

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APPENDIX 4. CASE STUDY – STOCKLANDS

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MANAGEMENT

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Administration (International Education)

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f FNS40615 Certificate IV in Accounting f FNS50215 Diploma of Accounting f FNS60215 Advanced Diploma of

Accounting f ICT50815 Diploma of Systems Analysis

and Design f SIT30616 Certificate III in Hospitality f SIT50416 Diploma of Hospitality

Management f SIT30216 Certificate III in Travel f SIT50116 Diploma of Travel and Tourism

Management f CHC30113 Certificate III in Early Childhood

Education and Care f 10005NAT Certificate IV in Communicative

TESOL

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APC also offers the following courses:

ACCOUNTING BUSINESS

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For further information on APC courses please see Student Services, email [email protected] with your enquiry, or visit our website at www.apc.edu.au

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