Module 7 Final Report

CEN‟s Horizontal European Services Standardization Strategy In response to Mandate M/371 (CHESSS) Modules 4 & 5 The customer satisfaction continuum - Customer Satisfaction Assessment, Responding to Complaints, Redress Provision and Dispute Resolution Final Report 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................. 3 2. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 5 3. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................... 7 Table 1: CHESSS MODULES 4 & 5 – CONCEPT LINKS ............................... 8 4. FINDINGS .................................................................................................... 9 5. CONLUSIONS ........................................................................................... 42 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................ 66 8. ANNEXES .................................................................................................. 75 ANNEX A: Service Lifecycle Model ............................................................ 75 ANNEX B: Questionnaire ........................................................................... 85 ANNEX C: World Café Discussions ........................................................... 93 ANNEX D: The CHESSS – Key Concepts survey ...................................... 98 ANNEX E: Complimentary service life cycle material ............................... 104 ANNEX F: Taking an outcomes approach in service development .......... 109 ANNEX G: DIRECTIVE 2006/123/EC- Articles 21 and 22 ....................... 116 2 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A significant factor during the period of the CHESSS Initiative has been the emergence into the public domain of several new standards relating to service provision. These include the ISO Quality management, customer satisfaction series, which has added guidelines for external dispute resolution (ISO 10003), and a code of practice for achieving customer satisfaction (ISO 10001) to the previously published guideline for handling complaints (ISO 10002). In addition, further work on monitoring customer satisfaction (ISO TC 10004) is underway. This suite of standards, for the first time, incorporates recognition that customer expectations play as large a part in determining customer satisfaction with a service as do the expressed needs that are likely to have occasioned the commissioning of the service in the first place and their availability has, to some extent, changed the context of the module 4 and 5 feasibility study. Notwithstanding this welcome and potentially very valuable body of guidance, the module 4 and 5 studies have identified several areas where further standards input has the potential to enhance the quality of service provision, raise customer confidence in services and improve the movement of services across national borders. The service aspects for which recommendations for further work are made include: Facilitating the adoption of a customer centric approach to service provision Harnessing technology to enhance communication and interaction between service provider and customer; Enhancing customer awareness and engagement through improved information exchange; Providing benchmark Standards for complaint and redress provision; Further investigation in relation to dispute resolution; The development of a standard for customer satisfaction indices (CSI) to facilitate the development of a pan-European CSI; Standard to facilitate demonstration of quality in service provision. Development of European Standards to provide benchmark methods for complaints handling, redress provision and potentially dispute resolution, together with the development of a standard to underpin a pan-European Customer Satisfaction Index, will assist in promoting a uniformity of approach to service provision across the EU that in turn, will make engagement by customers in cross-border sourcing more likely. It is suggested that the involvement of the already established European Consumer Centre network would offers additional options for the implementation of a pan-European approach to complaint handling and redress and the possibility of subsequently 3 including the provision of alternative dispute resolution procedures, based on a set of standard principles. Promotion of a generic, outcomes focused approach to services standardization will assist in the creation of a customer centric service provision culture across the EU, based on sound universal principles of customer engagement, open interaction, and service partnership. It is acknowledged that standards for service deliverables, providing specification for the particular service to be delivered (e.g. a haircut or domestic cleaning), will be needed in many instances. It will therefore be necessary that these be developed on a service by service basis, by the experts in each field. Where such ‗service specifications‘ are developed it will be possible for the generic service provision standard to be incorporated by cross-reference. Equally it could be decided that the service specification be applied in tandem with the generic service provision standards but either way, together they will constitute a comprehensive specification, capable of underpinning service provision likely to meet the expectations of all but the most fastidious of customers. This combination will have the added benefit that the use of service provision standards embodying principles that have been tried and tested in the service sector generally, should make their use more attractive to services and their customers, who have not previously had the opportunity or incentive to do so. Placing customer centricity at the heart of service management thinking will be the key to success in improving levels of customer satisfaction with service provision in Europe. However, given the business pressures that bear on service provider decisions in the modern world, both in the boardroom and for SME service providers, this will not be an easy task. An added benefit derived from the wider adoption of customer centric service provision strategies will be their impact on vulnerability. A concern expressed by those seeking to promote inclusivity in services has been the difficulty of doing so without labeling people as vulnerable. The customer centric service model, has the benefit of being inherently inclusive and therefore capable of addressing the needs of vulnerable people without requiring that vulnerabilities be specifically identified. It is a conclusion of this study that applied together, these recommendations have the potential to increase customer confidence in service providers in a manner that could help to overcome reluctance to source services across national borders. It is suggested that this, together with the greater service provider confidence that should come from having access to acknowledged good practice, will encourage providers to actively consider making their services available at new locations. 4 2. INTRODUCTION Although recognized as being complimentary, modules 4 and 5 were conceived as separate research projects with the following objectives: For Module 4 Customer satisfaction assessment: • Identify a range of methods capable of contributing to assessment of service beneficiary satisfaction with regard to the content and delivery of services; • Assess the relevance of the methods identified to specific service sectors and identify any considered to be applicable cross-sectorially; • Select any methods for service beneficiary satisfaction assessment considered to be appropriate for use as benchmark methods in future services standardization. For Module 5 Complaint, redress and dispute resolution (CRDR): • Examine the difficulty of lodging complaints and obtaining redress for inadequately delivered services; • Establish whether national differences in regulation and approach could make pan-European procedures inoperable; • Identify proven systems and procedures that have the potential to deliver viable, cost effective handling of customer complaints and provisions for redress; • Recommend options with the potential to overcome customers‘ concerns and improve comparability between competing service offerings. They had the particular brief of identifying whether there were general difficulties or inadequacies (real or perceived) associated with these aspects of service provision, that might be depressing the customer view of service quality and as a result impeding the take up of services across national borders. They aimed to determine whether or not a future programme of standardization or standards related activity might be able to assist in improving the situation. With much of the research undertaken in the two modules leading to shared conclusions and recognition that all aspects of ‗information transferring (including billing) between service provider and customer are critical to the service process and therefore to ‗customer satisfaction‘, it was decided to look for a service lifecycle model that would assist our identification and understanding of the relationships between the common aspects of service provision. In the event, we were unable to identify an appropriate model and it was found helpful to develop a model that incorporated the stages common to all service provision This model, the need for which was identified initially to serve the interests

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