E-Customer Relationship Management:
Customer Service of Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN)
E-Customer Relationship Management
Customer service is an important aspect of business management because this strategic activity allows the firm to draw consumers to purchase the products or services offered and develop a customer base by developing patronage through the added value of customer service. In firms with networked operations e-customer relationship management (e-CRM) captures the aggregate efforts of the company to utilize customer service to improve its overall value offering to customers. E-CRM constitutes three core strategic activities. First is operational e-CRM that refers to the automation of the customer processes such as sales and after-sales services to achieve greater efficiency in meeting the needs and demands of customers. Second is collaborative e-CRM, which pertains to the efforts on the part of the firm to communicate directly with its customers through self-service options in websites or through email. Third is analytical e-CRM that refers to the continuous collection of customer information for various purposes including determination of customer satisfaction behaviors and the viability of introducing new products or services. (2006)
Customer service is also a means of ensuring business competitiveness. Through e-CRM, business firms are able to integrate technology and information together to determine and assess the perception of customers towards the marketing efforts of the company in order to derive activities directed towards the development of customer loyalty and minimize price sensitivity. ( 2003).
Customer Service of Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN)
Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited is one of the top providers of fixed telecommunications network service (FTNS) in Hong Kong. This firm was established as a subsidiary of City Telecom Limited, which is listed in the HKSE and NASDAQ to make the company international in this sense. The company emerged in the Hong Kong market, which is a very open market. This means that market entry of competitors is easy and consumers are accorded with the option to select the service provider they prefer. (2004) This further means that service broadband network service providers need to build upon their value offering to maintain a competitive advantage. Customer service serves as an important means of enhancing service value. In Hong Kong, there are already nine companies given license to provide FTNS.
As a strategy to develop competitive advantage, HKBN initially offered broadband internet and telephony services. As a means of providing added value, the company decided to engage in pay-TV. (2004) With these services, the company opted to enhance its service offerings by developing a network for these services to make it easier to address customer requests or complaints by easily pulling out sales and after-sales files from a networked database and using this information as basis is communicating with consumers. Information of new consumers and transactions are also recorded in the database. Since, there are three services and customers obtain one, two or all services as a bundle, there is need to establish a networked database system that contains all the information, transactions and communications with consumers that customer service representative can easily access to be able to help the customer with requests and problems. HKBN collaborated with Cisco Systems, Inc. to develop a network system for the company ( 2004), not only for its database but also in linking its three services depending upon the preference of consumers. This means that HKBN applied operational e-CRM through the automation of its customer service database and service delivery systems.
HKBN also applied collaborative e-CRM by offering a number of venues for its customers to communicate with the company. The company has set-up a website that features its three services and service packages together with an option for contacting the company through the site, by email, or though a fixed line telephone. By doing this, the company is able to empower consumers with options in terms of services and service bundles, purchase options, and communication channels. The convenience that this brings to consumers constitutes value to consumers that supports the development of customer loyalty. The importance or value accorded by the company to its consumers draws positive feedback from consumers translated into patronage.
HKBN applied analytical e-CRM by optimizing the use of its networked database. Regular evaluations of tabulated information allow the company to determine growth in the volume of its consumers, the services preferred, and common complaints or requests. These are then used to support the planning process covering the changes that need to be made in operations and management of the firm together with the things that need to be maintained or enhanced as these support customer loyalty and market base expansion. By molding its marketing strategies towards actual consumer needs, the company achieved a respectable market base to make the firm one of the leading FTNS providers in the country.
HKBN applied a holistic approach to customer service by targeting not only the needs and requirements of consumers but also ensuring that its employees can keep up with consumers. Since the company developed service and database networking, the company needed to enhance the knowledge and skills of their employees to be able to work within the networked processes and systems. The customer service department of HKBN worked with Cisco’s customer advocacy support team to allow information sharing on the use of the networked services and the management or organization of the information database ( 2004). Apart from information sharing, hands-on training was also implemented to ensure that the employees were able to not only efficiently manage the linking of broadband to telephony service but also to integrate these two services with pay-TV services. The target of the company is to provide additional service offering but maintaining the quality of its previous services and providing its new service with the same quality as its news services. Since the company wanted to maintain service quality even with a new service, it had to upgrade the knowledge and skills of its employees to accept and use its networked systems in order to achieve quality standards and efficiency in service provision as well as sales and after-sales services. These would eventually translate into customer satisfaction. If the firm is able to maintain customer satisfaction, it would be able to establish a customer base enhancing its competitiveness.
HKBN went beyond consumer expectations in a number of ways. First is by expanding its services to provide convenience in obtaining internet, telephone and pay-TV services as a bundle from a single quality-based company. Second is by empowering consumers by opening various channels of communication with consumers whether for sales or after-sales. Third is automating its information database to make it easier for the company to understand the needs or demands of consumers and offer convenient B2C relations. Fourth is information sharing and training of its employees on the technical and operations aspects of its networked system to provide efficient service to consumers. Fifth is streamlining its whole operations towards customer satisfaction by implementing a holistic approach.
Conclusion
The customer service of HKBN was able to support its goal of achieving competitive advantage to become an industry leader through the application of e-CRM. The company exceeded the needs and demands of its consumers by providing a holistic customer service that covered not only knowing and meeting the needs and requirements of consumers but also enhancing the competencies of employees in using the innovative knowledge and tools of the company to understand consumer issues and build long-term service relationships with consumers as well as streamlining its entire operations to ensure that it will be able to meet imminent changes in future consumer needs and demands.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment