Customer Service Topic Sheets

Self-service is the practice of serving oneself when interacting with a supplier of goods or services. eService is a term used to describe self-service via the internet

This topic explores how specific responsibility and hence accountability for customer service rests with an appropriate person and how the ethos of collective responsibility and individual accountability sit with each other.

A Mission Statement defines what an organisation does. A Vision Statement describes what the organisation wants to become.

A contact centre or call centre is a centralised office used for receiving and/or making customer contacts by telephone, email fax or webchat

Organisations are now accommodating a wide variety of work practices. Roles in customer service are ideal for such flexibility.

Performance Management can be defined as a way of managing people that encourages and helps them to make optimum use of their capabilities for the achievement of the organisation’s business strategies and objectives.

Speech recognition technology (hardware and software) can be used to enable customers to communicate with an organisation or an individual to communicate with a personal computer

Change management is defined as the process of changing one or more aspects of an organisation, e.g. processes, technology, people’s roles and responsibilities, reporting structures, facilities, place and hours of work.

Recruiting the right person for a position requires a thorough, systematic approach and a commitment of management time. The adverse consequences of a wrong recruitment decision can be far reaching

The headline measure of overall customer satisfaction that organisations monitor from one period to the next does not benefit from one widely understood and universally adopted methodology.