JEREMIAH ASSOCIATES

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Client

Regional bank
 

Engagement
Our client had grown rapidly through a series of regional bank acquisitions. As a result, the culture of “Customer Service” had grown muddled. Believing that sales grow from “client delight,” the Director of Sales wished to reestablish customer service as the number one priority of the bank. We were engaged to create a signal event for the corporation to announce its rededication to customer service.

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Deliverable
The “Corporate Experience” we designed had three inter-related segments: a stand-alone self-study Customer Service module, a structured classroom Learning Event and a coordinated Corporate Communications Campaign. The signal Learning Event created a “living laboratory” in which each participant pursued a personal development regimen, with guidance from a supportive team and a business coach.

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Result
We implemented the full campaign for the Call Center over a six-month period. Evaluations were excellent and senior management support increased. The learning events were subsequently incorporated into the core curriculum for all bank new hires. An ongoing corporate magazine was added to the battery of existing corporate communication vehicles and a quarterly recognition program was institutionalized to keep customer service “top of mind.”

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NEW ACCOUNTS

Client
Trading and Settlement applications vendor

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Engagement
The client needed to redesign and update training materials for their New Accounts application module. Current reference material had grown unwieldy over the past 16 years as functionality was added and changes were made to meet industry and regulatory requirements. As a result, customer conversion and application training materials were fragmented and ineffective. In addition, there were few reference tools available for use after training was completed.

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Deliverable
After reviewing their current New Account reference manuals to assess type of information and format, we interviewed the client’s technical and business staff and their customers who had recently converted to the client’s system to determine their use of and perception of the value of the materials. After analyzing the results of the interviews, we restructured the reference materials into two sections: one of data required for conversion activities and another of topics to be referenced post conversion. This resulted in minimal redundancy and served to focus on the critical issues. We also created a numbering scheme to support future enhancements and new functions. To complement the reference materials, we developed a “Quick Reference” card containing commonly used functions and associated system commands.

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Result
Once these materials were implemented, the client experienced a higher degree of comprehension of the New Accounts module’s functions and the Customer Service desk noted a decrease in post conversion calls related to this module.

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TRADER QUICK REFERENCE

Client
Inter-dealer broker with global offices trading bonds, equities, currencies and derivatives

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Engagement
With multiple trading systems there was a need to provide traders and trade support staff with a quick reference guides for the critical data fields of specific trading systems. Each reference guide was to be concise and easy to use. The purpose of our engagement was to ease staff transition between trading systems and reduce errors.

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Deliverable
We observed traders and trade support staff in the performance of their task to identify their interaction with product reference data, entry of order and execution details. Some staff from each group were interviewed to solicit their input and explore areas of potential improvements. Meetings with Operations and Compliance staff were also conducted to determine additional areas of improvement..

We identified four functions that would deliver immediate improvements in the trader’s use of the trading systems and address the functions causing reporting, operations and compliance exceptions. These exceptions were related to recording order and execution details and trade reporting to internal and external trade tacking systems.

We designed 2-side laminated pages that summarized and presented the four functions in a manner that staff could easily reference, highlighting the common areas causing productivity and accuracy issues.

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Result
These job aids reduced incomplete trades requiring reentry or problem resolution. In addition trades were reported, to clients and regulators, on a timely basis. Traders and Trade Support staff have continued the use of the original four job aids and have developed additional aids to address ot