Company develops innovative system that rethinks customer satisfaction to rapidly
get feedback, resolve problems
If astronauts can be conditioned to sense problems and respond to them, can a business
organization be conditioned in the same way? An innovative customer satisfaction tool
being developed by Xerox Corporation behavioral specialists is showing that
maybe it can.
Originally designed to sense and respond to customer problems, the Sentinel Customer
Satisfaction Assurance System™ actually modified organizational behavior when it was
tested by Xerox and its research partner IBRC Inc., according to Vince Vaccarelli and
Barbara von Bergman, managers of the Xerox Business Research Group and inventors of the
system.
In fact, the Sentinel pilot was so effective that Xerox plans to expand it around the
world. So far, it is being used in some 40 major customer accounts.
A Web-based, supercharged customer relationship management system that's unique enough
for Xerox to patent, Sentinel defines customer satisfaction as the absence of problems.
So with the customer's permission, Sentinel e-mails a simple question to every worker
that relies on Xerox at specific customer sites: "Do you have any problem, comment or
suggestion for Xerox?"
That question may sound like a standard customer satisfaction survey, but Sentinel is
about as much like one as radar is like a flashlight. It differs in both scope and
execution, according to Vaccarelli.
While traditional satisfaction surveys are administered periodically to a sampling of
people, Sentinel e-mails a monthly "check-in" to everyone at the customer site who might
rely on Xerox in any way.
That way Sentinel catches emerging problems. More important, it routes problems for
immediate resolution. Happy workers simply delete the e-mail or click on a happy face
and write a comment or suggestion, but people with problems click on a frowning face,
opening a dialog box and starting what is known as an "adaptive loop*," Vaccarelli
said.
Respondents are linked to a Web site where they explain the problem in their own words.
The system instantly and automatically notifies the designated Xerox account manager that
there is a problem, creates an electronic problem ticket, prompts an immediate telephone
call to the worker, and activates a tenacious adaptive loop that keeps the issue on
Xerox's front burner until the worker confirms that the problem has been resolved.
Sentinel conditions Xerox and its customers as effectively as feedback systems used by
NASA condition astronauts to react to emergencies, according to Vaccarelli. It teaches
Xerox people to sense what's going on and make adjustments in real time, instead of waiting
for a customer complaint and then following with protracted problem solving. It conditions
customers to give feedback because they know it will be acted upon.
In the pilot installation, customer satisfaction rates rose to above 95 percent, and Xerox
was able to tabulate and report on problems, learn from comments and suggestions, and
document satisfaction with pages of compliments.
What started as a customer satisfaction measurement tool could cause Xerox to rethink
the way it delivers customer service. A future version of the system could integrate
text mining and pattern recognition capabilities -- developed by Xerox researchers -- to
continuously monitor and learn from customer problems and experiences, building on a
Sentinel knowledge base to communicate with customers, suggest solutions, and short-circuit
potential problems.
*Adaptive Enterprises: Creating and Leading Sense-And-Respond Organizations,
Stephan Haeckel, 2001.
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