The Project Phase

The Project phase

Workforce

The existing staff will be responsible for the new product, alongside the existing offering. Therefore an intensive training programme on Information Technology (IT); enhancements and new product features will be required. To improve the overall quality and service provision, customer acquisition techniques and friendly handling of difficult customers will be covered during the training. Mr Small will work with the training department to develop a training plan which will take at least four days per group to deliver (each group has about 10 employees). Therefore, he will have to schedule the training so that the normal business will not be hampered by too few staff in the Call Centre. The new training approach will also have a long term influence, because training updates for employees will be held at least once a year.

One of the aims of the training is to reshape corporate culture so as to engender a commitment to high efficiency and excellent service. This will demand empowering the workforce to focus on customer service, together with better collaboration between staff, by using more teamwork, to raise the overall efficiency levels of the operation. Mr Small will also have to install a feedback process to evaluate the

satisfaction level of the staff, to help identify continuous improvement areas. Better motivation will be achieved by introducing a new incentive system, using positive customer feedback as a measure for rewards.

Facilities & equipment

The current workspace/workstation for a Call Centre staff member is a small, open 'boxlike' area (less than one square metre), containing a terminal, keyboard and telephone. The boxes are very close together and do not have a proper noise protection. Staff complains about the workstations, because with the background noise of five or more colleagues, concentration is difficult, and the number of data input

errors are high. Staff have little space to write notes, so for example, noting down a telephone number to return a call to a customer is very difficult. After looking at the staff's workspace, Small realised they would have to modify the building in order to create more space and provide noise protection. He thought that only by providing a convenient and ergonomic workspace would he be able to ensure his staff's full commitment to performance improvements. A careful forecast of future demand will be necessary in order to install the right number of new workstations and avoid under/over utilisation of resources.

Technology

A new terminal mask (template or standard screen) for the Call Centre needs to be developed by the Information Systems Department (ISD). This mask must contain all questions that need to be answered by the customer. To ensure