Question

YakkaTech, Inc. is an information technology services firm employing 1,500 people throughout Washington and Oregon. YakkaTech has a consulting division, which mainly installs and upgrades enterprise software systems and related hardware on the client's site. Yakka-Tech also has a customer service division that consists of four customer contact centers serving clients within each region. Each customer service center consists of a half-dozen departments representing functional specializations (computer systems, intranet infrastructure, storage systems, enterprise software systems, customer billing, etc.). These centers typically have more than two dozen employees in each department. When a client submits a problem to the center using the online form, the message or call is directed to the department where the issue best applies. The query is given a "ticket" number and assigned to the next avail-able employee in that department. Individual employees are solely responsible for the tickets assigned to them. The employee investigates and corrects the issue, and the ticket is "closed" when the client agrees that the problem has been resolved. If the client experiences the same problem again, even a few days later, a new ticket is issued and sent to whichever employee is available to receive the ticket. A client's problems are almost always handled by different employees each time, even when the issue is sent to the same department. Furthermore, when a customer center department is heavily backlogged, clients are redirected to the same department at another regional center, where the problem can be addressed more quickly. At one time, YakkaTech operated more than a dozen small customer contact centers throughout the region, because client problems had to be diagnosed and resolved onsite. Today, employees can investigate most software and hardware system faults from the center through remote monitoring systems, rather than personally visit the client. Consequently, eight years ago, Yakka Tech amalgamated its customer service operations into four large regional centers. Customer service staff work entirely within the center. When a client visit is required, the ticket is transferred to an individual or team in the consulting business, who then visits the client. Yakka Tech's customer service business has nearly doubled over the past five years, but with this growth has come increasing customer complaints regarding poor quality service. Many say that employees seem indifferent to the client's problems. Others have commented on the slow response to their problems where the issue requires the involvement of more than one

what symptoms in this case suggest that something has gone wrong? what are the main causes of the symptoms? what actions should yakkatech executives take to correct the problems?

Answer 1

Symptoms in this case suggest that something has gone wrong

1. Client problems always handled by different employees each time- It seems that there is no channel of communication in the department.

2. Increasing customer complaints.

3. Employees having difficulties with motivation and employee engagement.

4.Slow response to client’s problems

5. Employees felt disconnected from the consequences of their work.

The main causes of the symptoms

1. The management failed to understand the employees problems.

2. Employees feel demotivated and job dissatisfaction that leads to poor customer service, job quitting and also low performance.

3. When the company consolidated its care centers the employees began taking on more of a workload.

Actions should yakkatech executives take to correct the problems

1. Motivating employees to learn new skills.

2. The company needs to put more emphasis into understanding what drives their employees.