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Abstract
For several decades various supply and production philosophies like JIT, TQM and 6Ω have been widely discussed and implemented as critical means for production oriented companies to optimise their flow of material and products. Although one might expect service oriented companies to strive for an equally good understanding of their flow of customers that is not common practise today. It’s a fair question to ask why that is? With current technologies and understanding it is possible for service providers to reap the benefits from managing their flow of customers just like the production oriented companies manage the flow of material and products. This practise is what we call Customer Flow Management (CFM).
Customer Flow Management = managing the flow of customers and their experience from initial contact to final service delivery
CFM helps companies adopt a consumer-centric perspective and begins when a customer makes an appointment for a visit or enters a shop, bank, hospital or a public sector service centre. It stresses the importance of planning and monitoring the customer’s entire visit, possibly also capturing data and information at each point of contact with a member of staff or self-service point. Furthermore it can link all the service points together, helping managers understand the dynamics of the customer’s visit and ultimately their experience.
In short, CFM can link the vast amount of customer information gathered in CRM databases to the real-time activities targeting and influencing the customers present in the service provider’s premises.
The benefits of this approach are significant. In the short-term it can increase sales and productivity by up to 30% and decrease costs by up to 30% by ensuring that the right customer is at the right place, at the right time and is serviced by the most appropriate staff member. It also increases customer and staff satisfaction by reducing the actual as well as the perceived waiting time and creating a relaxed environment characterised by a controlled and fair waiting process. It can also generate data and insights to drive ongoing business improvements with a mid- to long-term perspective.
So, based on 27 years of experience from more than 110 markets across the world we believe we are well positioned to propose an answer to our own question. And we believe it is a simple one – most service providers are not aware of the vast possibilities available and the potential impact they might have on their business. This white paper is an attempt to set this right by describing the opportunities embedded in CFM.
